Abraham, the covenant and the Torah — Judaism

What the specification asks for

Paper 2, Section 1, 1.1 (Judaism). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

Abraham argues God down over Sodom, and a few chapters later walks up a mountain to sacrifice his son without a word of protest. The same man. The tradition preserved both, and its founder is therefore somebody who knows when to challenge and when to submit — with no rule provided for telling which is which.

What it means

The specification names three figures and wants all of them. Abraham as founder, with the covenant, the journey to Canaan, the birth of his sons and the test of faith. Moses as prophet, with his birth, early life, the Exodus and Sinai. And Maimonides, with the Thirteen Principles.

Brit is covenant, the binding relationship between the Almighty and the Jewish people. The Akedah is the binding of Isaac, Abraham's test of faith — and the story ends with the sacrifice stopped, which the tradition reads as a rejection of child sacrifice rather than a demand for it. Sinai is where the covenant was made with a whole people rather than one family, and where the Torah was given.

Maimonides' Thirteen Principles, written in the twelfth century, are the nearest thing Judaism has to a creed. Orthodox Judaism treats them as authoritative doctrine; Reform Judaism regards them as a historically important formulation rather than as binding. Judaism has never made a creed a condition of membership.

The through-line is covenant: a relationship established with Abraham, extended to a people with content in law at Sinai, and stated as propositions a thousand years later by Maimonides.

Why believers hold it

The reasoning is that Judaism is constituted by a relationship rather than by a doctrine, so its founding figures are the ones through whom the relationship was made or clarified. Abraham begins it, Moses extends it from a family to a people and gives it content, and Maimonides states in propositions what had been carried in practice. That sequence explains why Judaism's nearest thing to a creed arrives so late and remains contested.

It also makes ranking the figures a real question rather than a trivia exercise. Moses is the more consequential, because the Torah is what a Jew actually lives; Abraham is the more foundational, because the relationship precedes the law and the tradition names itself by his covenant; and Maimonides is arguably the most important for understanding Judaism today, which is the clause the specification actually asks about.

Two objections deserve real answers. The Akedah is a troubling foundation, since a God who asks for a child's life has asked something unforgivable whatever happens next — and the Jewish reading is that the story exists to end child sacrifice, that the point is the hand being stopped, and that the demand is never repeated. And the historicity of Abraham and the Exodus cannot be established from the evidence; the tradition's claim is about identity and covenant, and Pesach's function of retelling in the first person does not depend on establishing a date.

The deepest point is the one Abraham himself supplies. Preserving both the argument over Sodom and the silence at the Akedah gives Jews a model of faith in which challenge and submission are both available — which is more demanding than either alone, and it is why protest theology and strict obedience are both recognisably Jewish afterwards.

Where it comes from

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  What it is doing here: Supplies the founding relationship and its sign, which is why Judaism is constituted by a covenant rather than by a set of beliefs.

• The Torah — the Ten Commandments (Aseret ha-Dibrot) — Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:6–21 (translated)

  Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

  The commandments given at Sinai, covering duty to God and duty to other people, and the basis of Shabbat observance.

  What it is doing here: Gives the content the covenant acquires at Sinai, which is what turns a relationship with a family into a law for a people.

• The Torah; said in daily prayer — Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (the Shema) (translated)

  Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  The central declaration of Jewish faith — the absolute oneness of God — said morning and evening, written in the mezuzah and the tefillin.

  What it is doing here: States the belief Maimonides' Principles later systematise, and does it as a summons rather than as a proposition.

• The structure of the Tanakh — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim

  Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — Law, Prophets, Writings.

  The three divisions of the Hebrew scriptures, whose initials give the name Tanakh. The Torah has the highest authority.

  What it is doing here: Locates the Torah as the highest authority within the scriptures, which is why Moses' role is different in kind from anybody's afterwards.

Where it bites

It shows in the daily liturgy, which names the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rather than an abstraction; in Pesach, which retells the Exodus every year in the first person; in brit milah, which enacts the covenant on the eighth day of a life; and in the Ani Ma'amin, the sung form of Maimonides' Principles, which was famously sung by Jews going to their deaths during the Shoah.

That last example is worth using because it answers the question the specification actually asks — the importance of these figures for understanding Judaism today — with something that happened rather than something asserted.

What people get wrong

People think: The Akedah shows that God approves of child sacrifice.

Actually: The story ends with the sacrifice stopped, and the Jewish reading is that it exists to end the practice rather than to license it. The point of the narrative is the hand being held, and the demand is never repeated anywhere in the tradition.

People think: The Thirteen Principles are a creed a Jew must accept to be Jewish.

Actually: Jewish status does not depend on belief; it comes from birth or conversion. Maimonides' Principles are the most widely accepted summary of Jewish belief and Reform Judaism treats them as historically significant rather than as binding — which is exactly the kind of difference the paper rewards naming.

People think: Judaism is the Old Testament part of Christianity.

Actually: Judaism is a living religion with its own scriptures and a two-thousand-year tradition of rabbinic interpretation. It matters here because Abraham, Moses and Maimonides are read through Jewish categories — covenant, prophecy, legal codification — and reading them through Christian ones is an error the examiners record.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Answer about importance rather than narrating a life; that is the distinctive Paper 2 failure.
• Include Maimonides, whom the wording names alongside Abraham and Moses.
• Read the Akedah as ending child sacrifice rather than commanding it.
• Say which criterion you are ranking by if you rank the figures — relationship or content.
• Do not treat the Thirteen Principles as determining who counts as Jewish.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

This unit carries three figures and the specification names all of them: Abraham as founder, with the covenant, the journey to Canaan, the birth of his sons and the test of faith; Moses as prophet, with his birth, early life, the Exodus and Sinai; and Maimonides, with the Thirteen Principles. The through-line is covenant — a relationship established, renewed with a people, and later summarised as doctrine.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Brit (also b'rit, covenant)

Covenant; the binding relationship between the Almighty and the Jewish people.

Akedah (also Akeidah, the Binding)

The binding of Isaac; Abraham's test of faith.

Exodus (also Yetziat Mitzrayim)

The departure from slavery in Egypt, the founding event of the Jewish people.

Sinai

The mountain at which the covenant was made with the whole people and the Torah given.

Thirteen Principles (also Ani Ma'amin)

Maimonides' summary of Jewish belief, the nearest thing Judaism has to a creed.

What Judaism teaches

• shared — Abraham is the founder of Judaism, and the covenant established with him is the beginning of the relationship the whole tradition rests on.
• shared — Moses is the greatest of the prophets: he led the Exodus and received the Torah at Sinai, where the covenant was made with the entire people rather than with one family.
• shared — The Akedah is Abraham's test of faith, and the story ends with the sacrifice stopped — which the tradition reads as a rejection of child sacrifice rather than a demand for it.
• common — Maimonides' Thirteen Principles are the most widely accepted summary of Jewish belief, though Judaism has never made a creed a condition of membership.
  • Reform (Progressive) Judaism — Regards the Principles as a historically important formulation rather than as binding doctrine.

Why it teaches this

The reasoning is that Judaism is constituted by a relationship rather than by a doctrine, so its founding figures are those through whom the relationship was made or clarified. Abraham begins it, Moses extends it from a family to a people and gives it content in law, and Maimonides — a thousand years later — states in propositions what had been carried in practice. That sequence is why Judaism's nearest thing to a creed arrives so late and remains contested.

Sources of authority

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  How to use it: The covenant is the reason Jewish identity is a relationship rather than a set of opinions, and it is why Brit Milah is a covenantal act and not a custom.

  What it does not settle: The covenant's relation to the land is politically contested and the specification does not require that argument.

• The Torah — the Ten Commandments (Aseret ha-Dibrot) — Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:6–21 (translated)

  Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

  The commandments given at Sinai, covering duty to God and duty to other people, and the basis of Shabbat observance.

  How to use it: The Sabbath commandment is grounded in creation itself, which is why Shabbat is described as sanctifying time rather than as a day off.

  What it does not settle: How strictly the commandments bind divides Orthodox from Reform Judaism, and that divergence is worth naming.

• The Torah; said in daily prayer — Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (the Shema) (translated)

  Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

  The central declaration of Jewish faith — the absolute oneness of God — said morning and evening, written in the mezuzah and the tefillin.

  How to use it: It is belief and practice in one object: the words on the doorpost mean the household's whole life is meant to be lived inside the claim.

  What it does not settle: Uncontested across Jewish traditions, so it distinguishes none of them from another.

• The structure of the Tanakh — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim

  Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — Law, Prophets, Writings.

  The three divisions of the Hebrew scriptures, whose initials give the name Tanakh. The Torah has the highest authority.

  How to use it: Knowing that the divisions are ranked explains why a Torah command outweighs a prophetic exhortation in halakhic reasoning.

  What it does not settle: Structure, not interpretation. The Oral Torah's authority is what divides the traditions.

Different interpretations

• The Akedah read as a test Abraham passes by obedience, and read as a test he passes by hearing the second voice that stops him; both readings are ancient and the second is increasingly emphasised.
• The covenant read as conditional on obedience and read as unbreakable; the prophets use both, and the tension is productive rather than a contradiction.
• Maimonides' Principles read as the definition of Jewish belief and read as one great thinker's summary; Orthodox and Reform Judaism differ on this, and the difference is worth naming.

Differences within Judaism

All hold Abraham as founder and Moses as the greatest prophet. The genuine difference concerns the nature of revelation at Sinai and the authority of Maimonides' summary.

• Orthodox Judaism — Torah given at Sinai as recorded; the Thirteen Principles function as authoritative doctrine.
• Reform (Progressive) Judaism — Torah as divinely inspired and humanly shaped; the Principles as historically significant rather than binding.

Application to the issue

It shows in the daily liturgy, which names the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; in Pesach, which retells the Exodus every year in the first person; in brit milah, which enacts the covenant on the eighth day; and in the Ani Ma'amin, the sung form of Maimonides' Principles, which was famously sung by Jews going to their deaths in the Shoah.

Arguments supporting

• Moses is more important than Abraham, because the covenant with the whole people is made through him. — Sinai gives the Torah, which is the content of Jewish life; Abraham gives the relationship without its terms. (shared)
  Answered by: Without Abraham there is no people at Sinai, and the tradition names itself after the covenant with him.
• Maimonides matters more today than either, because he made Jewish belief statable. — The Thirteen Principles are what allows Judaism to say what it holds when asked. (shared)
  Answered by: Judaism functioned for a millennium without them, which suggests they clarified rather than constituted the tradition.

Arguments challenging

• The Akedah is a troubling foundation for a religion. — A God who asks for a child's life has asked something unforgivable, whatever happens next. (shared)
  Answered by: The Jewish reading is that the story exists to end child sacrifice — the point is the hand being stopped, and the tradition never repeats the demand.
• The historicity of Abraham and the Exodus cannot be established. — Archaeological evidence for a mass exodus is disputed. (non-religious)
  Answered by: The tradition's claim is about identity and covenant, and Pesach's function — retelling in the first person — does not depend on establishing a date.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether Judaism is founded on a relationship or on a text. Abraham represents the first and Moses the second, which is why ranking them is a real question rather than a trivia exercise.

Defensible conclusions

• Moses is the more consequential figure, because the Torah is what a Jew actually lives, and Sinai is where the covenant acquires content.
• Abraham is the more foundational, because the relationship precedes the law and the tradition names itself by his covenant.
• Maimonides is the most important for understanding Judaism TODAY, which is the clause the specification actually asks about — and that is a defensible reading of the question rather than a dodge.

Not defensible

• Reading the Akedah as approving child sacrifice, which reverses the story's own conclusion.
• Treating the Thirteen Principles as a creed that determines Jewish membership; Jewish status does not depend on belief.

Exam use

• Outline · 4 marks — Outline two events in the life of Abraham, or two teachings of Moses. Two, each developed.
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain why Abraham is important for Jews: the covenant, the journey, the test of faith, and what each still means.
• Discuss · 10 marks — 'Moses is the most important figure in Judaism.' Rank by relationship or by content, and say which criterion you are using.

Common mistakes

• Narrating a life when the question asks about importance — the distinctive Paper 2 failure.
• Reading Jewish figures through Christian categories, which the examiners record.
• Omitting Maimonides, whom the Issue 2 content names explicitly alongside Abraham and Moses.

“Judaism is the Old Testament part of Christianity.” — Judaism is a living religion with its own scriptures, its own two-thousand-year tradition of rabbinic interpretation, and its own account of what God requires. The Tanakh is not the Christian Old Testament in either arrangement or authority.

Write instead: The Tanakh has three divisions — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — and is read alongside the Talmud and rabbinic tradition. Jewish teaching about the afterlife, salvation and law is developed on its own terms. The scriptures overlap substantially, and the differences in ordering, canon and interpretation are real. Naming the Tanakh's structure is directly examinable at Paper 2 1.2.

Grade 9 insight

Abraham argues with God about Sodom and obeys without a word at the Akedah — the same man, in adjacent chapters. A Level 4 answer refuses to resolve that too quickly: the tradition preserved both, and the figure it calls its founder is therefore someone who knows when to challenge and when to submit, without a rule that settles which is which. That is a more demanding model of faith than either obedience or protest alone, and it explains why both are available to Jews afterwards.

Carry on through Judaism

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