Religion and Peace in Judaism and the Prophetic vision of peace on Earth: HSC Studies of Religion II

What this dot point is asking

Religion and Peace is a Studies of Religion II study completed "within the same TWO religious traditions". For each tradition you must investigate how peace is understood through sacred texts, outline the principal teachings about peace, demonstrate how the tradition guides the individual to inner peace, and discuss its contribution to world peace.

For Judaism, the syllabus names a specific textual focus: "the Prophetic vision of peace on Earth". That means Isaiah, Micah and the other prophets must be at the centre of your answer, supported by the Torah, the Psalms and rabbinic teaching. Pair this page with Buddhism, Hinduism or the existing Christianity and Islam pages.

The answer

1. The understanding of peace in Judaism

The Hebrew shalom comes from the root sh-l-m, meaning whole, complete or sound. Shalom therefore includes:

• Peace with God, through covenant faithfulness and obedience to the mitzvot;
• Peace between people, in the family (shalom bayit), the community and among nations;
• Peace within the self, a settled and trusting heart;
• Peace in creation, the harmony the prophets foresee.

Shalom is so central that a biblical altar is named for it: Gideon "built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Adonai-shalom" (Judges 6:24), "the LORD is peace". Jews greet one another with shalom and Shabbat shalom, and many central prayers end with a request for peace.

2. The Prophetic vision of peace on Earth

Isaiah 2:2 to 4 and Micah 4:1 to 4. Two prophets give almost the same oracle. "In the end of days", all nations stream to "the mountain of the LORD'S house" to learn God's ways: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." God will "judge between the nations", and "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruninghooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:4). Micah adds a picture of ordinary security: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; And none shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken" (Micah 4:4).

What it teaches: peace is universal (all nations), grounded in knowing God's ways, achieved by transforming weapons into tools of life, and experienced as security and plenty for every family.

Isaiah 11:1 to 9. A righteous ruler from the line of Jesse (David's father) will judge the poor with justice, and creation itself will be at peace: "And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid ... And a little child shall lead them" (11:6). "They shall not hurt nor destroy In all My holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea" (11:9).

What it teaches: peace is cosmic and messianic, the healing of all relationships, and it comes with "the knowledge of the LORD".

Isaiah 32:17

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; And the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever." Peace is the product of justice (tzedakah), not a substitute for it.

Isaiah 9:5 and 57:19 to 21

The promised ruler is called Sar-shalom, "Prince of peace" (Isaiah 9:5 in Jewish numbering). God offers "Peace, peace, to him that is far off and to him that is near", but "There is no peace ... concerning the wicked" (57:19, 21): peace cannot coexist with wickedness.

Jeremiah 29:7

To the exiles in Babylon: "And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the LORD for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." This became the charter for Jewish life in the diaspora: work for the good of the society in which you live.

How Jews read the vision

Most Jewish tradition places its full realisation in the messianic age. Maimonides writes that "In that era, there will be neither famine or war", and "The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know God" (Mishneh Torah, Kings 12:5, trans. Touger); the sages "did not yearn for the Messianic era in order to have dominion over the entire world" but to be free to study Torah (12:4). The vision is not only a future hope but a standard to act towards now.

3. Principal teachings about peace

• Pursue peace actively. "Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it" (Psalm 34:15). Hillel taught: "be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them close to the Torah" (Pirkei Avot 1:12).
• Peace is the greatest blessing. "The Holy One, Blessed be He, found no vessel that could contain blessing for Israel save that of peace, as it is written: 'The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace'" (Mishnah Uktzin 3:12, the last words of the Mishnah).
• The world stands on peace. "On three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth and on peace" (Pirkei Avot 1:18).
• The Torah exists for peace. Maimonides teaches that peace is so great that the whole Torah was given to make peace in the world, citing Proverbs 3:17: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace" (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Chanukah 4:14, paraphrased).
• Peace before war. "When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it" (Deuteronomy 20:10). War is a last resort, and the rabbis distinguished obligatory from elective wars (Mishnah Sotah 8:7), limiting the latter.
• For the sake of peace. Rabbinic law makes many rulings mipnei darkhei shalom, "because of the ways of peace", including support for the non-Jewish poor.
• Tikkun olam. "Repairing the world" expresses the Jewish duty to help make the world just and peaceful.

4. How Judaism guides the individual to inner peace

Shabbat

Every seventh day Jews stop work and rest (menuchah), with candles, family meals, prayer and study. Shabbat is often described as a taste of the messianic peace, and the greeting "Shabbat shalom" names it.

Prayer

The daily Amidah ends with a blessing for peace, and the Kaddish closes with a prayer that God, who "maketh peace in His high places" (Job 25:2), will make peace for us. Bedtime prayer and the Psalms offer trust: "In peace will I both lay me down and sleep" (Psalm 4:9); "He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul" (Psalm 23:2 to 3).

Trust in God (bitachon)

"The mind stayed on Thee Thou keepest in perfect peace; Because it trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

Teshuvah (repentance)

During the Ten Days of Repentance and on Yom Kippur, Jews examine their deeds, seek forgiveness from people they have wronged and from God, and are reconciled. Guilt and resentment give way to peace.

Torah study

Studying and living the Torah, whose "paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17), gives life meaning and direction.

Shalom bayit

Peace in the home is so valued that the rabbis permitted bending other rules to preserve it; lighting Shabbat candles is associated with peace in the household.

How they connect

Inner peace in Judaism is not withdrawal from the world but wholeness lived through mitzvot, relationships and community.

5. How Judaism contributes to world peace

The vision itself. Isaiah's "swords into plowshares" is one of the most influential images of peace in world history; a version of it appears on the wall of Ralph Bunche Park opposite the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Leaders

• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 to 1972) marched with Martin Luther King Jr at Selma in 1965 and opposed the Vietnam War, drawing on the prophets' passion for justice. (NESA's 2025 marking guidelines used Heschel as a significant person in Judaism.)
• Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (1948 to 2020), Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, argued in The Dignity of Difference (2002) that religions must honour those who differ from them if the world is to avoid a "clash of civilisations".

Organisations

• Rabbis for Human Rights (founded in Israel in 1988) defends the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians on the basis of Jewish tradition.
• Oz VeShalom-Netivot Shalom is a religious Zionist peace movement that argues for peace and compromise from within Orthodox Judaism.
• In Australia, the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia (JCMA) "was established in Melbourne in 2003", at the invitation of Rabbi Jonathan Keren Black, to run an annual residential conference of Jews, Christians and Muslims; it has also taken Jewish-Christian-Muslim panels into Victorian secondary schools (JCMA history page).

Limits and criticisms

• Texts of war. The Tanakh includes commanded wars; the rabbis limited and regulated war but did not abolish it.
• Extremism. In 1994 Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron, and in 1995 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a religious extremist opposed to the Oslo peace process. Both acts were condemned across mainstream Judaism, but they show how religious language can be abused.
• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jews hold widely different views about security, land and peace. A careful answer notes this diversity without treating any one position as "the Jewish view".

Evaluating Judaism's contribution

In one sentence

Judaism understands peace as shalom, wholeness with God, others, self and creation, taught above all in the Prophetic vision of nations that "beat their swords into plowshares" and "learn war" no more, commanded in the call to "Seek peace, and pursue it", cultivated in Shabbat, prayer and teshuvah, and carried into the world through interfaith and human-rights work, while texts of war, extremism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict show the distance still to travel.

Try this

Q1. Outline the principal teachings about peace in Judaism. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Shalom as wholeness, pursuing peace (Psalm 34:15, Avot 1:12), justice as the basis of peace (Isaiah 32:17), with texts.

Q2. Explain how the Prophetic vision of peace on Earth informs Jewish understanding of peace. (6 marks)

• What the marker wants. Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3 to 4, Isaiah 11:6 to 9, what each teaches, and how Jews apply the vision now.

Q3. Discuss how Judaism is contributing to world peace. (20 marks, often paired with a second tradition)

• What the marker wants. The vision, teachings, named leaders and organisations, limits and a judgement.