In this article, we will explain some misconceptions you need to know about Jewish schools and how you can benefit from Jewish learning.

Some people fear taking their kids to Sydney Jewish schools in NSW because they think that Jewish beliefs clash with their own beliefs. However, most of these concerns are just misconceptions and when you learn the truth about Jewish education, you will love it more than you ever expected. First of all, it is important to understand that a Jewish-based education doesn’t go against Christian norms. It is crucial to understand that Christians are not idolators. Icons and statues are just prayer tools. They are the means to the end and in this case, the end is the worship of God. This can be compared with the kissing of the Torah scroll at the Jewish worship service where the scroll itself isn’t divine, but it is very much honoured and addressed in a way that an outsider might confuse it with an idol.

Blood and body

When it comes to errors made by outsiders, it is important to consider the matter of what Christians refer to as communion or eucharist. In the early years, Christians were accused by non-Christians of using blood during their worship services. However, when you join Jewish schools as much as Catholic schools, you will learn that Christians didn’t use blood but they used the language of metaphorical blood.

The idea of consuming blood during worship is forbidden throughout the Jewish tradition. When seen in historical context, Jesus might have spoken about wine and bread served at the Last Supper as His blood and body. In the first century, people sacrificed animals as part of religious culture. However, Gentiles and Jews alike believed in the power of blood to be able to honour and appease Heaven and cleanse sin. Thus-in what is hyperbolic, Jesus knowing He was going to die, may have spoken of his body in such sacrificial terms.

In the Middle Ages, European Christians told a lot of stories of Jews stealing the sacred bread and sticking pins into it. At that point, the bread would bleed blood. When government-sponsored disputes between Jews and Christians were popular, the notion that the presence of Jesus was in the wine and bread eaten during the Christian worship service was a target of the Jewish polemic. One rabbi even said that if Jesus descended to inhabit bread every time it was consecrated and served then Heaven would be full of holes.

Protestant reformation

When you take your kids to Sydney Jewish schools NSW, they will learn more about the history of religion and insights into Jewish faith and life. We will just give you a brief clue. The protestant reformation was started by Martin Luther. This is when churches disagreed on the question of actual presence in the Eucharist. The concepts of consubstantiation and transubstantiation started during this time. Transubstantiation is associated with the Roman Catholic church. It is the belief that the bread and wine used are actually converted to the blood and body of Christ. On the other hand, consubstantiation was developed by Martin Luther and states that bread and wine are not actually transformed but they exist in union with the blood and body.