Individual Report: Exploring Jewish and Christian Cultural Differences

This report provides a comparative analysis of Jewish and Christian cultures. The introduction defines culture and highlights the focus on understanding the similarities and differences between the two cultures. The findings section explores Jewish and Christian cultures, including their religious beliefs, practices, and societal norms. It then delves into the application of Social Cognitive Theory and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to identify and explain the cultural differences and similarities. The report examines environmental factors, behavioral patterns, and personal beliefs within each culture. It highlights the importance of respect, safety, love, and self-actualization as shared needs across both cultures. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the distinct characteristics and commonalities between Jewish and Christian people, supported by the theoretical frameworks discussed. The report includes references and an appendix with a cultural autobiography.

Assessment 2 Individual
Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
FINDINGS ......................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION Culture is a characteristic and knowledge of specific group of
people which includes religion, cuisine, social habits, language, music and arts. In simple term, it
can be said that there are several people who belong from various culture and live in same
country (Cavelti and et.al., 2012). They are mainly different in some terms such as food, clothes,
daily living habits etc. This assignment is going to throw light on two distinct culture for
understanding their similarities and differences. Thus, Jewish and Christianity is explained in this
whole project for analysing their major facts and figures with the help of significant theories.
FINDINGS
Jewish Culture and Religion - Judaism is the religion which is followed by Jewish
people and it is also world's oldest Abrahamic culture. They believe in one god and the rules and
regulation followed by them come out from Torah;it is their holly book. In the same women's
and men's not treated equally they think that female is weak as compared to male in every
contrast. Most importantly, they are strict toward their culture and follow all the norms written in
Torah. Jewish don't follow anything related to Jesus because they says that god is one
(Tamati,Gilbert and Pisoni, 2013). Apart from this, education which is considered necessary for
every gender whether they can be male or female. But here, in this religion women's are not
promoted for education even several restrictions are implemented on them related to clothes,
talking, walking and so on. I belong from Jewish culture and live in United Kingdom.
Christianity Culture and Religion – It is the world's biggest religion. In this there is
about 2.1 billion followers all over the world. This culture believe in teachings of Jesus Christ
who lived in Holy Land 2000 years ago (Christianity, 2014). The people of this culture are
highly inspired by Western Culture. Christianity give equal opportunities related to education,
freedom, job and so on given to men's as well women's both. They believe in Jesus and follow all
the rules and regulation given in Bible which is their Holly book. Because they believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God and the holy spirit. All the important days related to their life and culture
are celebrated in church these are Easter, Christmas, marriage, death etc. Apart from this, major
drawback is that they don't follow their religion strictly and youngster are not even aware about
it. For instance, my friend is from Christianity religion.
Difference and similarities between Jewish and Christian culture
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Social Cognitive Theory – This theory explains the influence of particular person
experience, environmental elements effect on individual health behaviour as well actions of
others. Key components involved in social cognitive theory are Self-efficacy, expectations,
behavioural capabilities, self-control, expectancies, reinforcements and observational learning. In
this report, this theory help in identifying differences between two culture people who live in
same country they are Jewish and Christian (Ustinova and et.al., 2011). Apart from this, social
cognitive theory have their own views that people learn many things by watching others activity.
In psychology, the same describe personality of person in term of how they think and react
towards social environment. Implementation in relation of differences are as follows :-
Basis Jewish Christian
Environmental Environmental factor include social
norms, community and cultural
influences. For a person who belongs to
Jewish culture, it is required to follow
all the norms and traditions due to
various restriction. Jews culture denotes
several laws and customs on the basis of
contemporary trends as orthodox,
conservative and Reform. In Jewish,
there is a specific law for dispute,
divorce and others.
Christian are not so superstitious
because they believes to live an open
life with full of freedom. My friend
consider his/her faith in ability, work
and its outcomes. They lives a life
that consider less regulations,
equality in gender and so on. Majorly
they lives a friendly life with family,
friends and relatives.
Behaviour Jewish purse their learning and
behavioural approaches on the basis of
their culture and norms. I began my
primary education from my parents and
family members. Individual who
belongs to Jewish family seems to be
highly dedicated toward their culture. In
the terms of thoughts, Jewish culture has
major influence in my overall actions.
In Christians families, since they are
inspired by western communities so
after a certain age group, parents
give freedom to their children for
living their life by their own rules and
regulations. In terms of education,
learning and understanding, there is
no specific restrictions or norm that
they needs to be considered in their
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life. This is the main reason that the
youngsters are not as much aware
about their religion.
Personal In Jewish culture, people are following
norms, regulations, traditions and rituals
which are going on from the ancient
time period. These are the only reasons
that Jewish people seems to be more
superstitious and orthodox. In my
family, we also follow several cultural
norms which is the reflection of our
culture and tradition.
Christians always believes to adopt
new culture on the basis of several
changes. They believes in living an
open minded life in which they
provide equal authority to men and
women. These kind of things assist to
make a huge differentiation between
Jewish and Christian culture.
Hierarchical pyramid with five levels in which needs of individual is explained at
different level. It is based on assumption and in this urgency of requirement can varies. There are
5 needs i.e., physiological, safety, social, self-esteem and self-actualization. The same is utilising
for determining similarities between different cultural people which are from Jewish and
Christianity (Lehavy and Merkley, 2011). Because every person have similarities in the needs
and wants for them culture don't matter. Explanation of this are as follows :-
Basis Jewish and Christians
Esteem Each and every culture assist to teach us respect for each and everyone.
Me and my friend who belongs to Jewish and Christian culture believes
in respect and self-esteem so that we can develop value for others as well
as for ourself too. These are strength and major similarity of two
different cultures. On the basis of these things, we can create recognition
in society for our religion easily.
Safety needs Each and everyone wants to live in a positive, safe and secure
environment. For this, it is required to reduce level of inequality from the
society. Safety can be consider personal, job, health security and so on.
These are the major similarity between Jewish and Christian culture that
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it denote elements of own as well as others security for a social welfare
term.
Love and belongings Each and every person have emotions toward friends, family, animal and
so on either he/she belongs from Jewish culture or Christian. For
example my friend belong from Christian family and I am Following
Jewish tradition still we are very close friends. In fact, our families also
share sentiments, foods, festival as well as celebrate various occasions
with each others. Hence, it shows that every individual have similar
feelings and emotions towards other.
Biological needs Being a human, each and every individual have some basic needs as;
food, shelter, water, clothing, reputation and so on. Culture can not
discriminate a person for such things. Everyone has equal requirement
and need for these things. If these needs are not satisfied then it is hard to
function optimally in daily routines. Biological needs are similar for
everyone either they are Christian or Jewish.
Self- actualization In a society, each and every individual wants to be a recognizing
personality on the basis of their working approaches and social
contributions. Therefore, Culture such as Christian, Jewish, Buddhism,
Hinduism and Muslims can never exclude an individual on the basis of
self actualization. For example; Me and my friend both wanted to
become one of the most successful person at societal place by getting
inspired with various famous leaders such as; Nelson Mandela, Mark
Zuckerberg. Hence, it shows that every one have a dream to develop
their personality by coming up with creative ideas in which culture
doesn't get influenced.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment, it has been concluded that people from different religion are
distinctive from each other in many terms such as language, clothes, food and so on. Not this
much only, they are even distinct in thoughts also as well rules and regulation followed by them.
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Throughout the report major similarities and dissimilarities is founded between Jewish and
Christian people. It is summarised with the assistance of several theory such as Social cognitive
and Maslow hierarchy theory.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cavelti, M. and et.al., 2012. Assessing recovery from schizophrenia as an individual process. A
review of self-report instruments. European psychiatry.27(1). Pp,19-32.
Tamati, T.N., Gilbert, J.L. and Pisoni, D.B., 2013. Some factors underlying individual
differences in speech recognition on PRESTO: A first report. Journal of the American
Academy of Audiology. 24(7). pp,616-634.
Ustinova, K. and et.al., 2011. Effect of robotic locomotor training in an individual with
Parkinson's disease: a case report. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology.
6(1). pp,77-85.
Lehavy, R., Li, F. and Merkley, K., 2011. The effect of annual report readability on analyst
following and the properties of their earnings forecasts. The Accounting Review. 86(3).
pp.1087-1115.
Online
Christianity,2014.[Online].Available
through:<http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/>.
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APPENDIX
1. Cultural autobiography of a different culture Family structure and relationships, role
of:
Parents: Aapo Sofer (father's name), Abarrane Sofer (Mother's name)
Grandparents: Abner Sofer (grand father), Abilence Sofer (grand mother)
Other family members: Abram Sofer (Younger Brother) and Adah Sofer (elder Sister)
2. Nationality(ies) of yourself, parents , grandparents
Yourself: British
Parents; mother: British ; Father: British
Grandparents; British grandmother: British , grandfather: British
3. Rituals of family life:
Daily living: My daily living rituals as per my Jews religion is getting up in the morning then I
wash my hand. After this, get dressed up for walking and then decency in the lavatory. Approx.
11:00 am I get clean for prayer or Torah Study which is morning Benedictions. Now in the
mid of the day, I take my lunch and went for some sports activity. again in the evening get
ready for prayer. In the night, I have dinner with all my family member and we usually talk
about overall day activity with parents.
Special occasions: Birth: In the Jews tradition, baby boy named on eight day after birth at a Brit Milah. On
the other hand, baby girl is named in the first two weeks after their birth as well girl
name will be announced when her father is called up to the Torah and this day close to
when the girl is born, although practice often has baby girls named at the Torah reading
on the first Shabbat following birth. Now a days, some improvement take place because
of that ceremony take place which is not much popular and named as Simchat bat for
naming baby girl. These celebration takes place in many modern Orthodox Ashkenazi
communities. Marriage: In my religion, wedding ceremonies include a Ketubah. it is contract that is
signed by two witness. Their is ring also which is owned by the groom and given to the
bride under the wedding canopy and the breaking glass.
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 Death rituals: As per the Jewish Tradition, the person who died should have to be
buried as soon as possible, generally in the 24 hours after death. But it can be delay also
because of some legal or practical reason. Reason can be to avoid spiritual holidays and
to wait for reaching of family members. Moreover, immediately after death their an
prayer which is named as Dayan Ha'Emet is recited and a shomer. After that, guardian is
allotted to the dead body from the moment of death until its burial. Assigned person can
be a family member, mouring friend, member of synagogue and chevra kadisha. After
all this process, family member or loved one washed or get purified by the member of
the chevra kadisha who are of similar gender of the person passed away. Then body will
dry away and dressed in a plain white shroud of linen or muslin. If the person from
family is male then he will buried in a spiritual of skullcap, known as a kippah or
yarmulke, a prayer shawl, called tallit. After funeral, reception is given at home or
synagogue and bereaved. In this, meal is cooked by the friends or by any social group.
4. Who holds the most “status” in your family? Why?
My grandfather hold most “status” position in my family because they are most experienced
then all others. They have capabilities of handling any type of situation as well my grandfather
is oldest person.
5. Environment where you grew up :
Home: I grew up in a healthy and friendly environment i.e. at my home where me and my
siblings learned a lot about our traditions and cultures. My parents always be with us as a friend
so that we can share our problems and blessings with them. Daily, after dinner me and my
family sitting together and share our whole day activities. This type of environment helps in
taking advises of parents in several topics so that I can resolve my issues easily.
Physical Surroundings: I am living in a positive and healthy environment because my house is
surrounded with greenery. In our society, several physical surroundings are available as a
garden, swimming pool, gym, swings and so on. Greenery is a most important things for
healthy and clean environment that assist to make us physical, mental and emotional well-
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being.
6. Individuals and /or institutions(church, college, etc.) which have had a strong influence
on you
My college life have great influence on me because at this place I learn lots of things which will
help me in becoming good and successful person.
7. Mobility moving from country to country; moving from class to class; profession to
profession:
Your own: I have done my schooling in UK and college too but for some professional and
engineering courses, I went US for a short duration.
Your family’s: In order to expand our family business, my father goes on country to country
sometimes with family or sometime alone.
8. Education:
Where
I have completed my schooling, Bachelors and Masters in UK. For some professional and
technological courses, I went Israel, so that I can develop my career easily.
How long?
Schooling taken 14 years, Bachelors 3 years and Masters pursuing for 4 years.
In between them, a Electrical diploma of 1 year.
Principal influences?
Education has major influence in my life. It assist me in building knowledge, understanding and
accountability for career goals and success.
Education of yourself:
School: Physics, Chemistry and Maths
College: BEng (Hons) Electrical engineering (Electronics) (Bachelors)
Meng (Hons) Electrical engineering (Electronics) (Masters)
Diploma: Certificate in electronic engineering technology
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Parents:
Father: Masters in business administrations in Finance
Mother: Intermediate (School level)
Grandparents:
Grand father: Intermediate (School level)
Grand mother: Intermediate (School level)
9. Other aspects of your life or influences upon it of importance to you
a. Is punctuality important to you? Why or why not?
Yes, for me punctuality is important because it show how I respect for other person and
time. If I don't do work on time or come it give my wrong impression in front of others.
In some situations I also got late due to some reason but one day mistake will cover
because of daily punctuality.
b. What is the most important meal of the day?
For me, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
c. Do you eat foods that are indigenous to your culture? Why or why not? If you
answered yes, name some of the foods that you eat. If you answered no, what types
of foods do you eat?
Yes, I eat foods that are indigenous to my culture because its shows our loyalty towards
culture. Type of these foods are Beet-and-horseradish, cabbage-based products, blini,
porridge, boiled potatoes, freshly baked bread, vegetarian borscht.
10. Did you ever live with your grandparents or extended family?
Yes, till now 4 to 5 times I lived with my grandparents and extended family. These are some
occasion or marriage of my brother and sister.
11. How important is religion in your family? Why ?
In my family, religion is very important because it crave a better understanding of the tradition
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