10 Principles Of Judaism (Principle 1) The Divine Spark Within Us

These Ten Principles of Judaism are a Rational, Ethical and Spiritual approach to Judaism for our modern world, based on traditional Jewish values.

The Ten Principles of Judaism establish that Jews should believe in Judaism because they believe in these fundamental ideals.

In opposition to those scientific and philosophical views that define human beings in predominantly biological or psychological terms, Judaism tries to understand individuals from the spiritual side of humanity. It is an understanding of what is within us that can transcend and transform the physical, biological and mental, enabling us to recognize what makes human beings special and unique individuals.

Judaism seeks to define human beings in terms of what they are able to envision and strive for. The spiritual side of humanity aspires to create a nobler and greater order that embodies the values of truth, beauty, goodness and holiness. It is this element within us that the Bible refers to as 'the image of God in humanity' and which our principle refers to as the spark of the Divine. Human beings are all endowed with a sense of the holy, a sense that cannot be reduced to our biological or psychological nature.  

What this first Principle asserts is that unless human beings are connected to those values that transcend the physical, biological and psychological, and are rooted in the spiritual - namely truth, goodness, beauty and holiness - then we are not fully human. The only way to be fully human is to strengthen that which is an ideal for us: beliefs that inspire us, nourish us, and to which we can be devoted.

 



Please view our video excerpt of the 10 Principles of Judaism, Principle 1 by clicking here.



To view the full 10 Principles of Judaism, please click here to the left.