Judaism for Gentiles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Purim

Purim celebrates the Jews' freedom from an edict of death under King Ahasuerus, as described in the Book of Esther, and there is lots of partying, games, children put on pageants, people wear costumes, and there are gift exchanges. The book of Esther is read, and people make lots of noise to drown out the name of the villain, Haman, each time it appears. Children get lots of gifts and adults exchanges gifts sometimes as well, but mainly send baskets of wine and baked goods, and other foods to one another.
It's a very happy holiday.

Answer: False

I'm not sure where this rumor started, but it is not true. Branches of Orthodox Judaism, even the Chassidim and Haredi, accept adult converts. A convert must live a fully observant life for at least a year, and that often means finding a family to stay with, at least over Shabbatot for the year, because a newly observant person needs a lot of guidance.

But people convert to Orthodox Judaism all the time.

Answer: right to left

Hebrew is read from right to left. Many Jewish prayer books have Hebrew on the right leaf, and a transliteration in another language on the left leaf.

Answer: Aramaic

Aramaic was the language of first century Judah, and had been the language of Jews for some time by that point. It is a Semitic language, in the same family as Hebrew.

Answer: True

It takes several minutes to recite the Grace after Meals, which has a set text, and is long enough, that few people have it entirely memorized, even those who say it after every meal. Additionally, there are special passages for Shabbes and holidays, so most people use a prayer book to recite it. There are shorter and longer versions. Sometimes it is recited as a communal prayer.

Answer: True

Some non-Jews find this shocking, but synagogues need to generate revenue, just like churches, and while churches can pass the plate during services, synagogues cannot, due to Shabbes restrictions on handling money. That said, no synagogue closes its doors to a needy family. If someone is genuinely unable to afford the dues, they will be reduced or waived.

Answer: Yiddish

Yiddish is mainly derived from High Middle German (a regional dialect of the middle ages), and is therefore very similar in grammatical structure to this form of German. It is not mutually intelligible to modern German, however. Also, much of the vocabulary of modern Yiddish is derived from Hebrew, and from Slavic languages, as Yiddish was for a long time spoken more widely in Poland, Ukraine and Russia than it was in areas where German was spoken. Words for late 19th and 20th century inventions tend to be English words, as many Yiddish speakers lived in the US at that time, and globally, many 19th and 20th century inventions tend to use English loan words, such as "telephone," "film," and "software."

Ladino is spoken by Sephardic Jews of Southwestern Europe and Northern Africa; Aramaic was the language of inter-testamental Judah; Hebrew is the ancient language of the Israelites, which was revived as the language of the modern state of Israel, although it was used as a written language for the synagogue throughout the 2,000 years of the diaspora.

It's worth noting that many Jews were bilingual, and did in fact, speak the language of the larger country in which they lived, as well as Yiddish. As long as they were confined to shtetls, or separate, often enclosed areas (shtetl means "small town"), and Yiddish was the language of the shtetles, it was the daily language of almost every Jew.

Answer: any grain or legume that can be made into flour and leavened

Except for specially supervised wheat that been carefully kept dry, which is known as "matzah," anything that is a grain or legume, and could be made into flour and leavened is off limits. It doesn't matter whether the theoretical leavening be with yeast, baking soda, or whipped egg whites.

However, not everything ground into a powder is off limits. Coffee is fine. Maxwell House emphasized this once by printing Hagaddot, or books for Passover.

Answer: A male Jew who is at least 13 years old.

"Bar mitzvah" literally means "son of the commandment." A male Jew who is 13 has achieved the age of majority in religious matters, and is now responsible for keeping all the commandments, and doing them on his own, without needing his parents to be responsible for him. A child, for example, is not responsible for a number of commandments: children don't fast on Yom Kippur, and are not required to recite the Mourner's Kaddish. Commandments that children are required to keep, like eating kosher food, are the responsibility of their parents. But after becoming Bar mitzvah, a man is responsible for all the commandments himself. The term for a woman is "Bat mitzvah."

Generally, a boy's becoming Bar mitzvah (and a girl's becoming Bat mitzvah) is celebrated with a service at the synagogue, where he recites the blessing over the Torah for the first time, reads parts of the service material, and his family is honored throughout the service in various ways. Afterwards, there is a reception and party. But none of that is necessary. Any male Jew who turns 13 has become Bar mitzvah, even if it is completely without fanfare.

Answer: eating pork at a friend's house in order not to offend

Even though Judaism teaches that it is generally good to be kind, there is no specific commandment not to offend to the point of breaking other commandments (there is some debate over not offending one's parents, but that is not at issue here). One is allowed to eat non-kosher food if one is literally starving, or it is otherwise medically necessary, but one may not eat non-kosher food just because everyone else is.

When a doctor prescribes a thing, even if a person is not in imminent danger, it is generally agreed that the doctor's orders should be followed, thus diabetics should eat on fast days, and medicines should be given as prescribed, regardless of the rules of Shabbes. Also, the rules of Shabbes MUST be disregarded any time a life appears to be at stake. It would be wrong not to call an ambulance, even on Shabbes, for someone who appears to be in immediate danger, even though using the phone is an activity forbidden on Shabbes.