Judaism is the religion and culture of the Jewish people and one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths. It is also one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The tenets and history of Judaism constitute the
historical foundation of many other religions, including Christianity and
Islam.
Introduction
Judaism does not easily fit into common Western categories, such as religion,
race, ethnicity, or culture. This is because Jews understand Judaism in terms of its 4,000-year history. During this stretch of
time, Jews have experienced slavery, anarchic self-government, theocratic self-government, conquest,
occupation, and exile; they have been in contact, and have been influenced by ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern
movements such as the Enlightenment and the rise of nationalism. Thus, Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very
categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension."
According to both traditional rabbinic Jews and critical historical scholars, a number of ideas distinguish Judaism from the
other religions that existed when it first developed. One characteristic was monotheism. The significance of this idea lies in that Judaism holds that God created, and cares about,
humankind. In polytheistic religions, humankind is often created by accident, and the gods are primarily concerned with their
relations with other gods, not with people.
Second, the Torah specifies a number of laws to be followed by the Children of Israel.
Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The
Children of Israel similarly had a temple, priests, and made sacrifices -— but these were not the sole means of worshiping
God.
In comparison to other religions, Judaism is not primarily concerned with an afterlife, tending to elevate everyday life to
the level of a temple, and worshipping God through the spectrum of everyday life and actions instead.
Rabbinical view
According to religious Jews, the Biblical patriarch Abraham was the first Jew. Rabbinic literature records that he was the first to reject idolatry and preach monotheism. As a result, God promised he would have children, starting with Isaac, who would carry on his work and inherit the land of Israel (then called Canaan) after
having been exiled and redeemed. God sent the patriarch Jacob and his children to Egypt;
after they eventually became enslaved, God sent Moses to redeem the Israelites from slavery. After the Exodus from Egypt, God led
them to Mount Sinai and give them the Torah, and eventually brought them to the Land of Israel.
God set aside the descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother, to be a priestly class within
the Israelite community. They first officiated in the tabernacle (a portable house of worship), and later their descendants
officiated in the Temple in Jerusalem
Once they had settled, the tabernacle was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years during which time God provided
great men, and occasionally women, to rally the nation after he sent enemies to attack them. As time went on, the spiritual level
of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the tabernacle in Shiloh.
The people of Israel then told Samuel the prophet that they had reached the point where they needed a permanent king like
other nations had. God knew this was not best for the Jews, but acceded to this request and had Samuel appoint Saul, a great but
very humble man, to be their king. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God
told Samuel to appoint David in his stead.
Once David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple. As a reward, God
promised David that he would allow his son to build the temple and the throne would never depart from his children. This was
because for all his greatness, David was primarily a war king who had subdued other pagan tribes, and inappropriate to build a
temple representing peace. David's son Solomon built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem.
After Solomon's death, the kingdom was split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel had a variety of kings, but
after a few hundred years, because of the rampant idolatry God allowed Assyria to
conquer Israel and exile its people. The kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem and contained the temple, remained under
the rulership of the house of David. However, idolatry increased to the point that God allowed Babylon to conquer it, destroy the
temple which had stood for 410 years and exile its people to Babylon, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy
years.
After seventy years the people were allowed back into Israel under the leadership of Ezra, and the temple was rebuilt. This second temple stood for 420 years after which it was destroyed by the Roman
general (later emperor) Titus. This is the state in which it is to remain until a
descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel (the current existence of the Islamic Dome of the Rock doesn't matter to the
Rabbinical view).
The Torah given on Mount Sinai was summarized in the five books of Moses and together with the books of the prophets is called
the Written Torah. The details which are called the Oral Torah were to remain unwritten. However as the
persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, they were recorded in the Mishna, and the
Talmud, as well as other holy books.
Critical historical view
Although monotheism is fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism, according to many critical Bible scholars the Torah often implies that the early Israelites accepted the existence of other gods. However, they viewed their
God as the Creator and the one that mankind was morally bound to worship alone. Historians hold that the significance of
monotheism is that God created and cares about people. In polytheistic religions, humankind is often created by accident, and the
gods are primarily concerned with their relations with other gods, not with people.
By the Hellenic period most Jews had come to believe that their God was the only God (and thus, the God of everyone), and that
the record of His revelation (the Torah) contained within it universal truths. This
attitude may reflect growing Gentile interest in Judaism (some Greeks and Romans
considered the Jews a most "philosophical" people because of their belief in a God that cannot be represented visually), and
growing Jewish interest in Greek philosophy, which sought to establish universal truths.
Jews began to grapple with the tension between the particularism of their claim that only Jews were required to obey the
Torah, and the universalism of their claim that the Torah contained universal truths. The result is a set of beliefs and practices concerning both identity, ethics,
one's relation to nature, and one's relation to God, that privilege "difference" -— the difference between Jews and
non-Jews; the differences between locally variable ways of practicing Judaism; a close attention to different meanings of words
when interpreting texts; attempts to encode different points of view within texts, and a relative indifference to creed and
dogma.
The subject of the Hebrew Bible is an account of the Israelites' (also called Hebrews) relationship with God as reflected in their history from the beginning of time until the building of the Second Temple (approx. 350
BCE). This relationship is generally portrayed as contentious, as Jews struggle between their faith in God and their
attraction for other gods, and as some Jews (most notably, Abraham, Jacob -- later known as Israel—and Moses) struggle with God. Modern scholars also suggest that the Torah consists of a variety of inconsistent texts that were edited together in a way that calls attention to
divergent accounts (see Documentary hypothesis).
While Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith, it has never developed a fully binding catechism. It is difficult to
generalize about Jewish theology because Judaism is non-creedal; that is, there is no agreed-upon dogma (set of orthodox beliefs)
that most Jews believed were required of Jews. While individual Jewish rabbis, or sometimes entire groups, at times agreed upon a
firm dogma, other rabbis and groups disagreed. With no central agreed-upon authority, no one formulation of Jewish principles of
faith could take precedent over any other.
The ancient historian Josephus emphasizes practices and traditions rather than
beliefs when he describes the characteristics of an apostate (a Jew who does not follow traditional customs) and the requirements
for conversion to Judaism (circumcision, and adherence to traditional customs). Despite the above, in Orthodox Judaism some principles (e.g. the Divine origin of the Torah) are
considered important enough that public rebellion against them can put one in the category of "apikoros" (heretic).
Principles of faith
Main article: Jewish principles of
faith
A number of formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared; most of them have much in common, yet they differ in
certain details. A comparison of them demonstrates a wide array of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. See the
article on Jewish principles of faith.
- God is one - Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in
one God, the eternal creator of the universe and the source of morality. The idea of God as a
duality or trinity is heretical for Jews
to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism.
- God is all powerful (omnipotent), as well as all knowing (omniscient). The different names of God are ways to express
different aspects of God's presence in the world. See the entry on Names of God in Judaism.
- God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew Bible
and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be
impossible to talk about God.
- To God alone may one offer prayer. Any belief that an intermediary between man and God could be used, whether necessary or
even optional, has traditionally been considered heretical.
- The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of
divine Revelation. How Revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter
of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among Jews.
- The words of the prophets are true.
- Moses was the chief of all prophets.
- The Torah (five books of Moses) is the primary text of Judaism.
- God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them.
- God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with God; see Jews as a chosen people.
- The messianic age. There will be a moshiach (messiah), or perhaps a messianic era.
- The soul is pure at birth. People are born with a yetzer ha'tov, a tendency to do good,
and with a yetzer ha'ra, a tendency to do bad. Thus, human beings have free will and can choose the path in life that they will
take.
- People can atone for sins through words and deeds, and without intermediaries. The liturgy of the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur)
states that prayer, repentance and tzedakah (dutiful giving of charity) atone
for sin. Atonement is deemed only meaningful if accompanied by sincere decision to cease unacceptable actions, and then only if
appropriate amends to others are honestly undertaken. It covers wrongdoings by which a person has fallen short of divine wishes
in his daily life, and thus there is always a "way back" to God. In Judaism, sin is more considered in terms of a wrongful
action, contravening divine commandment to live a holy life, than wrongful thought. A more detailed discussion of the Jewish view
of sin is available in the entry on sin.
The traditional Jewish bookshelf
Jews are often called the "people of the book," and Judaism has an age-old intellectual tradition focusing on text-based
Torah study. The following is a basic, structured list of the central works
of Jewish practice and thought. For more detail, see Rabbinic
literature.
Related Topics
What makes a person Jewish?
See main article: Who is a Jew
According to Jewish law, someone is considered to be a Jew if he or she was born of a Jewish mother or converted in accord
with Jewish Law. (Recently, the American Reform and Reconstructionist movements have included those born of
Jewish fathers and gentile mothers, if the children are raised practicing Judaism only.)
A Jew who ceases to practice Judaism is still considered a Jew, as is a Jew who does not accept Jewish principles of faith and becomes an agnostic or
an atheist; so too with a Jew who converts to another religion. However, in the latter case, the person loses standing as a
member of the Jewish community and becomes known as an apostate. In the past, family and friends would often formally mourn for
the person, though this is rarely done today.
The question of what determines Jewish identity was given new impetus when, in the 1950s, David ben Gurion requested opinions on mihu
Yehudi ("who is a Jew") from Jewish religious authorities and intellectuals worldwide. The question is far from settled and
occasionally resurfaces in Israeli politics.
Jewish philosophy
Main article: Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. Early Jewish philosophy
was influenced by the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and Islamic philosophy. Major Jewish philosophers include Solomon ibn
Gabirol, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides and Gersonides. Major changes occurred in response
to the enlightenment (late 1700s to early 1800s) leading to the
post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers, and then the modern Jewish philosophers.
Jewish law
Main article: Halakha
The basis of Jewish law and tradition ("halakha") is the Torah (the five books of
Moses). According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the
Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to Kohanim and
Leviyim (members of the tribe of Levi), some only to those who practice farming within the land of Israel, and many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed. Less than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.
While there have been Jewish groups which claimed to be based on the written text of the Torah alone (e.g. the Sadducees, the Karaites), most Jews believed in what they call the oral law. These
oral traditions originated in the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were latter
recorded in written form and expanded upon by the Rabbis.
Rabbinic Judaism has always held that the books of the Tanakh (called the written
law) have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to
the text of the Torah, where many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned
without explanation or instructions; this, they argue, means that the reader is assumed to be familiar with the details from
other, i.e. oral, sources. This parallel set of material was originally transmitted orally, and came to be known as "the oral law".
By the time of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi (200 CE) much of this material was
edited together into the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this law underwent
discussion and debate in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon), and the commentaries on the
Mishnah from each of these communities eventually came to be edited together into
compilations known as the two Talmuds. These have been expounded by commentaries of
various Torah scholars during the ages.
Halakha, the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of
the Torah, and the oral tradition - the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its commentaries. The Halakha has developed
slowly, through a precedent-based system. The literature of questions to rabbis, and their considered answers, is referred to as
responsa (in Hebrew,
'"Sheelot U-Teshuvot".) Over time, as practices develop, codes of Jewish law are written that are based on the responsa; the most
important code, the Shulkhan Arukh, largely determines Jewish religious
practice up till today.
Daily prayer
See also Jewish services
There are three daily prayer services, named Shacharit, Mincha (literally: flour-offering) and Maariv or
Arvit. The main component of each set of prayers is the Shemonah Esrei ("eighteen"), which on weekdays consists of
nineteen blessings (one was added in the time of the Mishna, but the name remains). See Amidah. The Shma is recited at shacharit and maariv. Most of the prayers can be said in
solitary prayer, but Kaddish and Kedusha require a minyan (prayer
quorum).
Shabbat and holidays
Main articles: Shabbat and Jewish holidays
Shabbat is the weekly day of rest; it plays an important role in Jewish practice and is the subject of a large body of
religious law. Likewise, the annual cycle of Jewish holidays plays an important role in communal life.
Dietary laws: Kashrut
main article: Kashrut
The laws of kashrut ("keeping kosher") are the Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord
with Jewish law is termed kosher, and food not in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah or treif. From the context of the laws
in the book of Leviticus, the purpose of kashrut is related to ritual purity and holiness.
Life-cycle events
Life-cycle events occur throughout a Jew's life that bind him/her to the entire community.
- Brit milah - Welcoming male babies into the covenant through the rite of
circumcision.
- Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah - Celebrating a child's reaching the age of
majority, becoming responsible from now on for themselves as an adult for living a Jewish life and following halakha.
- Marriage
- Mourning - Judaism has a multi-staged mourning practice. The first stage is called the Shiv'ah (literally
"seven", observed for one week) during which it is traditional to sit at home and be comforted by friends and family, the second
is the shloshim (observed for one month) and for those who have lost one of their parents, there is a third stage, avelut yud
bet chodesh, which is observed for eleven months.
Community leaders
Specialists for worship
Judaism does not have a clergy, in the sense of full-time specialists required for religious services. Technically, the last
time Judaism had a clergy was prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., when priests attended to the Temple and sacrifices. The priesthood is an inherited position, and although priests no longer
have clerical duties, they are still honored in many Jewish communities
- Kohen (priest) - patrilineal descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses. In the Temple, the kohanim were charged with performing the sacrifices. Today, a Kohen is the first one called up at
the reading of the Torah, performs the priestly blessing, as well as complying with other unique laws.
- Levi (Levite) - Patrilineal descendant of Levi the son of Jacob. Today, a Levite is
called up second to the reading of the Torah.
From the Rabbinic Period to the present, Judaism has required
specialists or authorities for the practice of very few rituals or ceremonies. A Jew can fulfil most requirements for prayer by
himself. Some activities -- reading the Torah and haftarah (a supplementary
portion from the Prophets or Writings); the prayer for mourners; the blessings for bridegroom and bride; the complete grace after
meals -- require a minyan, the presense of ten adults (Orthodox Jews and some Conservative Jews require ten adult men;
some Conservative Jews and Reform Jews include women in the minyan).
Jewish prayer services do involve two specified roles:
- Shaliach Tzibur or
Shatz (leader -- literally "agent" or "representative" -- of the congregation) leads those assembled in prayer, and
sometimes prays on behalf of the community. When a shatz recites a prayer on behalf of the congregation, he is not
acting as an intermediary but rather as a facilitator. The entire congregation participates in the recital of such prayers by
saying amen at their conclusion; it is with this act that the shatz's prayer becomes the prayer of the
congregation. Any adult capable of speaking Hebrew clearly may act as shatz (Orthodox Jews and some Conservative Jews
allow only men to act as shatz; some Conservative Jews and Reform Jews allow women to act as shatz as well).
- Baal Koreh (master of the reading)
reads the weekly Torah portion. The requirements for acting as baal koreh are the
same as those for the shatz.
Note that these roles are not mutually exclusive. The same person is often qualified to fill more than one role, and often
does.
Many congregations, especially larger ones, also rely on a:
- Gabbai (sexton) - Calls people up to the Torah, appoints the shatz for each prayer session if there is no standard
shatz, and makes certain that the synagogue is kept clean and supplied.
The three preceding positions are usually voluntary and considered an honor. Since the Enlightenment large synagogues have often adopted the practice of hiring full-time specialists to perform the
roles of shatz and baal koreh, and this is still typically the case in most Conservative and Reform congretations.
However, in most Orthodox synagogues these positions are filled by laypeople.
- Rabbi of a congregation - Jewish scholar who is charged with answering the legal
questions of a congregation. Orthodox Judaism requires semicha (Rabbinical
ordination). A congregation does not necessarily require a Rabbi. Some congregations have a Rabbi but also allow members of the
congregation to act as shatz or baal koreh.
- Hassidic Rebbe - Rabbi who is the head of a Hassidic dynasty.
- Hazzan (cantor) - a trained vocalist who acts as shatz. Chosen for a
good voice, knowledge of traditional tunes, understanding of the meaning of the prayers and sincerity in reciting them. A
congregation does not need to have a dedicated hazzan.
Specialists for other occasions
- Dayan (judge) - expert in Jewish law who sits on a beth din (rabbinical court) for either monetary matters or for overseeing the giving of a bill of
divorce. A dayan always requires semicha.
- Mohel - performs the brit
milah (circumcision). An expert in the laws of circumcision who has received training from a qualified mohel.
- Shochet (ritual slaughterer) -
slaughters all kosher meat. In order for meat to be kosher, it must be slaughtered by a shochet who is expert in the laws
and has received training from another shochet, as well as having regular contact with a rabbi and revising the relevant
guidelines on a regular basis.
- Sofer (scribe) - Torah scrolls, tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzahs (scrolls put on doorposts), and gittin (bills of divorce) must be written by a sofer who is an expert in the laws of writing.
- Rosh yeshivah - head of a yeshiva. Somebody who is an expert in delving into the depths of the Talmud, and lectures the highest class in a Yeshiva.
- Mashgiach of a yeshiva - expert in mussar (ethics). Oversees the emotional and spiritual welfare of the students in a yeshiva, and
gives lectures on mussar.
- Mashgiach over kosher products - supervises merchants and manufacturers of
kosher food to ensure that the food is kosher. Either an expert in the laws of kashrut, or (generally) under the
supervision of a rabbi who is expert in those laws.
Jewish denominations
In the last two centuries the Jewish community has divided into a number of Jewish denominations; each has a greatly different understanding of what principles of belief a Jew
should hold, and how one should live as a Jew. Most of Orthodox Judaism holds to one particular form of Jewish theology, based on
Maimonides' 13 principles of Jewish faith. Orthodox Jews hold that these principles are unchanging and mandatory; non-Orthodox
forms of Judaism hold that these principles have evolved over time, and thus allow for more leeway in what individual adherents
believe.
Diaspora Judaism
Diaspora Judaism in modern times is commonly divided into the following denominations:
- Reform Judaism (outside of the USA also known as Progressive
Judaism, and in the U.K. as Liberal Judaism) originally formed in
Germany in response to the Enlightenment. Reform Judaism initially defined Judaism as a religion, rather than as a race or culture;
rejected the ritual prescriptions and proscriptions of the Torah; and emphasized the
ethical call of the Prophets. Reform Judaism developed a prayer service in the
vernacular and emphasized decorum during services. Today, many Reform congregations have returned to Hebrew prayers and encourage
some degree of legal observance.
- Orthodox Judaism originally formed in Germany in reaction to
Reform Judaism. Like Reform Judaism, it considered Judaism to be a religion; unlike Reform Judaism, it holds that the Torah was
written by God and Moses, and that the original laws
within it are binding and unchanging. Orthodox Jews generally consider the Shulkhan Arukh to be the definitive codification of Jewish law, and thus assert a continuity between
pre-Enlightenment Judaism and modern Orthodox Judaism. Today many include Hasidic Judaism (which originally developed in reaction against pre-Enlightenment legalistic forms of
Judaism) and Haredi (or Ultra-Orthodox) Judaism as subsets of Orthodox
Judaism.
- Conservative Judaism. Outside of the USA it is known as Masorti (Hebrew for
"Traditional") Judaism. "Masorti" is its official title in the State of Israel as well, although most Israelis use the word in a
more general sense (see below). Conservative Judaism formed in the United States in the late 1800s through the fusion of two
distinct groups: former Reform Jews who were alienated by that movement's emphatic rejection of Jewish law, and former Orthodox
Jews who had rejected belief in the "oral law" (which claims continuity between God's revelation at Sinai and Jewish law as
codified in the Shulkhan Arukh in favor of the critical study of Jewish texts and history. Conservative Jews emphasize
that Jews constitute a nation as well as a religion. Conservative scholars emphasize their identification with the Amoraim, the sages of the Talmud, who embraced open debates over interpretations (and reinterpretations) of Jewish law.
- Reconstructionist Judaism started as a stream
of philosophy by a rabbi within Conservative Judaism, and later became an independent movement.
Many religious Jews do not look at one's denomination as a valid way of designating Jews; instead, if they label Jews it is on
a graduated spectrum of religious observance. According to most Orthodox Jews, Jewish people who do not keep the laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov (the holidays), Kashrut, and family purity
(taharat ha-mishpacha), to at least a minimal level, would be considered non-religious or frei (from Yiddish; free of the yoke of the Torah). Any
Jew who keeps at least those laws would be considered frum (Yiddish--observant and religious), but their level of
frumkeit (religiosity) would depend on whether they keep other laws, how careful they are about the details, and possibly
on how many stringencies they take upon themselves to keep.
Jewish identity in modern Israel
Even though all of the Diaspora denominations exist in Israel, Israelis tend to classify Jewish identity in ways that are
strikingly different than diaspora Jewry. Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni), "traditional"
(masorti), or Haredi. "Secular" is more popular among Israeli families of western (European) origin, whose Jewish
identity may be a very powerful force in their lives, but who see it as largely independent of traditional religious belief and
practice. This portion of the population largely ignores organized religious life, be it of the official Israeli rabbinate
(Orthodox) or of the liberal movements common to diaspora Judaism (Reform, Conservative).
The term "traditional" (masorti) is most common among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e. Middle East, Central
Asia and North Africa). This term, as commonly used, has nothing to do with the official "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in the
State of Israel. There is a great deal of ambiguity in the ways "secular" and "traditional" are used in Israel. They often
overlap, and they cover an extremely wide range in terms of ideology and religious observance.
The term "Orthodox" (Ortodoxi) is unpopular in Israeli discourse (among both "secular" and "religious" alike).
Nevertheless, the spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora exists in Israel, again with some important variations. The
"Orthodox" spectrum in Israel is a far greater percentage of the Jewish population in Israel than in the diaspora, though how
much greater is hotly debated. Various ways of measuring this percentage, each with its pros and cons, include the proportion
of religiously observant Knesset members, the proportion of Jewish children enrolled in religious schools, and statistical
studies on "identity".
What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is commonly called dati (religious) or haredi (ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. The former term includes what is called "Religious
Zionism" or the "National Religious" community, as well as what has become known over the past decade or so as
haredi-leumi (nationalist haredi), which combines a largely
haredi lifestyle with nationist ideology.
Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided into three separate groups along both ethnic and ideological
lines: (1) "Lithuanian" (non-hasidic) haredim of Ashkenazic origin; (2) Hasidic haredim of Ashkenazic origin; and
(3) Sephardic haredim. The third group is the largest, and has been the most politically active since the early 1990s.
Karaism
Unlike the above denominations, which were ideological reactions that resulted from the exposure of traditional rabbinic
Judaism to the radical changes of modern times, Karaite Judaism did
not begin as a modern Jewish movement. The followers of Karaism believe they are the
remnants of the non-Rabbinic Jewish sects of the Second Temple period, such as the Saducees, though others contend they are a sect started in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Karaites, or "Scripturalists," accept only the Hebrew bible and what they view as the Peshat/"Plain or
Simple Meaning";, and do not accept non-biblical writings as authoritative. Some European Karaites do not see themselves as part
of the Jewish community, while most do.
The main article Jewish
views of religious pluralism describes how Judaism views other religions; it also describes how members of each of the Jewish
religious denomination view the other denominations.
History of denominations
See also: Jewish history and Timeline of Jewish history
While the history of the Jews is a subject onto itself, this article will deal with the historical development of the branches
of Judaism.
Historical Jewish sects (-1700)
Judaism at one time was related to Samaritanism; however Samaritans no
longer refer to themselves as Jews, and both groups view themselves as separate religions.
Around the first century CE there were several small Jewish sects: the
Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, and Christians. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE., these
sects vanished. Christianity survived, but by breaking with Judaism and
becoming a separate religion; the Pharisees survived but in the form of Rabbinic
Judaism (today, known simply as "Judaism").
Some Jews in the 8th and 9th centuries adopted the Sadducees' rejection of the
oral law of the Pharisees/Rabbis recorded in the Mishnah (and developed by later Rabbis in the two Talmuds), intending to
rely only upon the Tanakh. These included the Isunians, the Yudganites, the Malikites, and others. They soon developed oral
traditions of their own which differed from the Rabbinic traditions, and eventually formed the Karaite sect. Karaites exist in small numbers today, mostly living in Israel. Rabbinical and Karaite Jews each hold
that the others are Jews, but that the other faith is erroneous.
Over time Jews developed into distinct ethnic groups — amongst others, the Ashkenazi Jews (of Central and Eastern Europe with Russia); the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal and North Africa) and the Yemenite Jews, from the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. This split is cultural, and is not based
on any doctrinal dispute, although the distance did result in minor differences in practice and prayers.
Hasidism
Main article: Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism was founded by Israel ben Eliezer
(1700-1760), also known as the Ba'al Shem Tov (or Besht). His disciples attracted many followers; they themselves
established numerous Hasidic sects across Europe. Hasidic Judaism eventually became the
way of life for many Jews in Europe. Waves of Jewish immigration in the 1880s carried it to the United States.
Early on, there was a serious schism between the Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. European Jews who rejected the Hasidic movement
were dubbed by the Hasidim as mitnagdim, (lit. "opponents"). Some of the reasons
for the rejection of Hasidic Judaism were the overwhelming exuberance of Hasidic worship; their untraditional ascriptions of
infallibility and alleged miracle-working to their leaders, and the concern that it might become a messianic sect. Since then all
the sects of Hasidic Judaism have been subsumed into mainstream Orthodox Judaism, particularly Haredi Judaism.
The Enlightenment and Reform Judaism
Main article: Haskalah, see also: Jewish Denominations
In the late 18th century Europe was swept by a group of intellectual, social and political movements known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment led to reductions in the European
laws that prohibited Jews to interact with the wider secular world, thus allowing Jews access to secular education and
experience. A parallel Jewish movement, Haskalah or the "Jewish Enlightenment,"
began in response to both the Enlightenment and these new freedoms. It placed an emphasis on integration with secular society and
a pursuit of non-religious knowledge. The thrust and counter-thrust between supporters of Haskalah and more traditional Jewish
concepts eventually led to the formation of a number of different branches of Judaism: Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism, many forms
of Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and a number of smaller groups as well.
The Holocaust
While the Holocaust did not immediately affect Jewish denominations, its great
loss of life caused a radical demographic shift, ultimately affecting the makeup of organized Judaism the way it is today.
The present situation
In most western nations, such as the United States
of America, Israel, Canada, United Kingdom and South
Africa, a wide variety of Jewish practices exist, along with a growing plurality of secular and non-practicing Jews. For example, in the world's largest Jewish community, the United States, according
to the 2001 National Jewish Population Survey (http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=83784), 4.3 million out of 5.1 million Jews
had some sort of connection to the religion. Of that population of connected Jews, 80% participated in some sort of Jewish
religious observance, but only 48% belonged to a synagogue.
Religious (and secular) Jewish movements in the USA and Canada perceive this as a
crisis situation, and have grave concern over rising rates of intermarriage and assimilation in the Jewish community. Since
American Jews are marrying at a later time in their life than they used to, and are having fewer children than they used, the
birth rate for American Jews has dropped from over 2.0 down to 1.7 (the replacement rate is 2.1). (This is My Beloved, This is
My Friend: A Rabbinic Letter on Intimate relations, p.27, Elliot N.
Dorff, The Rabbinical Assembly, 1996). Intermarriage
rates range from 40-50% in the US, and only about a third of children of intermarried couples are raised Jewish. Due to
intermarriage and low birth rates, the Jewish population in the US shrank from 5.5 million in 1990 to 5.1 million in 2001. This is indicative of the general population trends
among the Jewish community in the Diaspora, but a focus on population masks the
diversity of current Jewish religious practice, as well as growth trends among some communities, like haredi Jews.
In the last 50 years there has been a general increase in interest in religion among many segments of the Jewish population.
All of the major Jewish denominations have experienced a resurgence in popularity, with increasing numbers of younger Jews
participating in Jewish education, joining synagogues, and becoming (to varying degrees) more observant. Complementing the
increased popularity of the major denominations has been a number of new approaches to Jewish worship, including feminist
approaches to Judaism and Jewish renewal movements. There is a separate article on the Baal teshuva movement, the movement of Jews returning to observant Judaism. Though this gain has not offset
the general demographic loss due to intermarriage and acculturation, many Jewish communities and movements are growing.
Christianity and Judaism
There are a number of articles on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. These articles include:
Since the Holocaust, there has been much to note in the way of reconciliation between some Christians groups and the Jewish
people; the article on Christian-Jewish
reconciliation studies this issue.
Messianic Judaism (sometimes Hebrew Christianity) is the
common designation for a number of Christian groups which include varying degrees of Jewish practice. These groups have attracted
tens (and perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Jews and Christians to their ranks; members identify themselves as Jews. These groups
are viewed highly negatively by all Jewish denominations, which typically see them as covert and deceptive attempts to convert
Jews to Christianity, a view Messianic-Jewish groups strongly contest.
Some Jews have joined other faiths, such as Judeo-Paganism and
neo-paganism. Some adherents to those movements identify themselves as Jews nonetheless.
Islam and Judaism
See also Islam and Judaism and Judeo-Islamic tradition
Under Islamic rule, Judaism has been practiced for almost 1500 years and this has led
to an interplay between the two religions which has been positive as well as negative at times. The period around 900 to 1200 in Moorish Spain came to be known as the Golden age of Jewish culture in
Spain.
The 20th century animosity of Muslim leaders towards the Zionism, the political movement of Jewish self-determination, has led to a renewed interest in the relationship between Judaism and Islam.
Other relevant material:
Miscellaneous topics
- Beta Israel (also pejoratively known as Falasha) are a group of
Black Jews from Ethiopia who are considered by some to be a lost tribe.
- There is an entry on the Role of women in
Judaism.
- The Temple in Jerusalem is no longer standing, but it
still plays an important part in the Jewish faith.
- There is a description of the Jewish services, which describes
the daily prayer services, and offers a guide for visitors to the synagogue
(also: Temple).
- The tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl.
- A kippah or yarmulke (skullcap) is a
head covering worn during prayer by most Jews, and at all times by more traditional Jews — especially Ashkenazim.
- Cherem - ecclesiastical censure by excommunication (rarely practiced in most
Jewish communities nowadays)
- Theology, philosophy and sociology:
Anti-Semitism
Israel
Secular Jewish culture
List of converts to Judaism
Zionism
Jewish law and religion
Comparative
References
- Ancient Judaism, Max Weber, Free Press, 1967, ISBN 0029341302
- Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition and Practice Wayne Dosick.
- Conservative Judaism: The New Century, Neil Gillman, Behrman House.
- American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective Jeffrey S. Gurock, 1996, Ktav.
- Philosophies of Judaism Julius Guttmann, trans. by David Silverman, JPS. 1964
- Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts Ed. Barry W. Holtz, Summit Books
- A History of the Jews Paul Johnson, HarperCollins, 1988
- A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, Jack Wertheimer. Brandeis Univ. Press, 1997.
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing, CD-ROM edition, 1997
- The article on "The American Jewish Identity Survey" by Egon Mayer, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar; a sub-set of The
American Religious Identity Survey, City University of New York Graduate Center. An article on this survey is printed in
The New York Jewish Week, November 2, 2001.
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