Avoda, or Avodah (Hebrew : עֲבוֹדָה, romanized: ʿăḇoḏāh, lit. 'work, worship, and service') means serving God in Judaism and in Modern Hebrew can simply mean "work".
In its original, traditional sense, avodah was applied to sacrifices offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. The word was also used to describe the epitome of sacrificial rite, the complex and fraught main service of the High Priest of Israel on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). Today it refers to a liturgical reenactment of the aforementioned ceremony which is recited during the Mussaf Amidah of Yom Kippur. [1]
In Hasidic philosophy, avodah generally refers to divine service (or worship). For example, it is part of the divine service to serve God with joy. [2]
Avodah is one of the two concepts that underlie the ideology of the Bnei Akiva movement; the other is Torah. [3]
In this ideological framework, the word was originally utilised in a strictly agricultural context. "Avodah" meant working on a kibbutz.[ citation needed ] In more recent years, Bnei Akiva has had to redefine the terminology. Tens of thousands of its members currently live, or plan to live in an urban setting in Israel and it is generally perceived that the needs of Israel have developed somewhat since Bnei Akiva was founded. The movement has therefore subtly redefined Avodah, to mean work that contributes towards the building up of the land of Israel.[ citation needed ]
Judaism is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people. Judaism evolved from Yahwism, an ancient Semitic religion of the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age, likely around the 6th/5th century BCE. Along with Samaritanism, to which it is closely related, Judaism is one of the two oldest Abrahamic religions.
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Avodah or Avoda, literally means "work, worship, and service" in Hebrew.
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The Avodah is a poetic description of the Yom Kippur Temple service. It is recited as part of the Mussaf service of Yom Kippur, and is often considered one of the most solemn and impressive portions of the Yom Kippur prayer service. Different poems are recited in different communities, for example Amitz Koach among most Ashkenazi Jews and Atah Konanta among most Sephardic Jews.