''Avoda'', or ''Avodah'' (), literally means "work, worship, and service" in
Hebrew. In a modern context, usually referring to business-type activities, it can also mean
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
work and, more traditionally, serving God.
Original meaning
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
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
on
Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). Today it refers to
a liturgical reenactment of the aforementioned ceremony which is recited during the
Musaf Amidah
The ''Amidah Amuhduh'' ( he, תפילת העמידה, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' at each o ...
of Yom Kippur.
In
Chassidism
Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism ( he, חסידות), alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic ''rebbes'', often in the form of commentary on the ...
''avodah'' generally refers to divine service (or worship). For example, it is part of the divine service to serve God with joy.
Bnei Akiva: ''Torah ve'avoda''
''Avodah'' is one of the two concepts that underlie the
ideology
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...
of the
Bnei Akiva movement; the other is
Torah.
בני עקיבא – תנועה של עם ?
/ref>
In this ideological framework, the word was originally utilised in a strictly agricultural context. "Avodah" meant working on a kibbutz. 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.
See also
* Torah im Derech Eretz
References
{{Wiktionary, עבודה
Political philosophy
Hebrew words and phrases
Work
Jewish animal sacrifice