Judaism


Judaism is the religion and culture of the Jewish people. The tenets and
history of Judaism constitute the historical foundation of many other
religions including Christianity and Islam.

Judaism does not characterize itself as a religion. Rather, Jews have
traditionally thought of Judaism as a culture with its own history, language
(Hebrew), ancestral homeland, liturgy, philosophy, set of ethics, religious
practices, and the like. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan has thus described Judaism as
an evolving religious civilization.

The subject of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament) is the history of
the Israelites (also called Hebrews) and their relationship with God.

Jewish denominations

   * Orthodox Judaism: This group of movements includes Hasidic Judaism,
     Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism
   * Conservative Judaism (Outside of the USA it is known as Masorti
     Judaism)
   * Reform Judaism (Outside of the USA also known as Progressive Judaism
     and in the U.K. as Liberal Judaism)
   * Reconstructionist Judaism

Who is a Jew

Jewish law considers someone born of a Jewish mother, or converted in accord
with Jewish Law, Jewish. (Recently, American Reform and Reconstructionist
Jews have included those born of Jewish fathers and gentile mothers if the
children are raised as Jews.)

A Jew who ceases practicing Judaism and becomes a non-practicing Jew is
still regarded as a Jew. A Jew who does not accept Jewish principles of
faith and becomes an agnostic or an atheist is also still considered to be a
Jew in good-standing in the Jewish community, albeit one who is in error.
However, when a Jew converts to another religion, such as Buddhism or
Christianity, that person loses standing as a member of the Jewish community
and becomes known as an apostate. However, while the person is outside the
Jewish community and has views that are considered non-Jewish, that person
is still Jewish by ethnicity and is regarded as such by Jewish law.

Principles of Faith

Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith,
but unlike Roman Catholicism, has never developed a binding catechism. A
number of formulations of Jewish beliefs have appeared, most of which have
much in common with each other, yet they differ in certain details. A
comparison of several such formulations demonstrates a remarkably wide array
of tolerance for varying theological perspectives.

Below is a summary of Jewish beliefs. A more detailed discussion of these
beliefs, along with a discussion of how they developed, may be found in the
article on Jewish principles of faith.

   * Monotheism - Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the
     belief in one God. God is conceived of as eternal, the creator of the
     universe, and the source of morality.

   * God is One - The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for
     Jews to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism. Interestingly, while
     Jews hold that such conceptions of God are incorrect, they generally
     are of the opinion that gentiles that hold such beliefs are not held
     culpable.

   * God is all powerful. The different names of God are ways to express
     different aspects of God's presence in the world. See the entry on The
     name 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.
     Rabbinic Judaism holds that the Torah is the same one that was given to
     Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah that
     we have today is exactly the same as it was when it was received from
     God by Moses with only minor scribal errors. Due to advances in
     biblical scholarship, and archeological and linguistic research, most
     non-Orthodox Jews reject this principle. Instead, they may accept that
     the core of the Oral and Written Torah may have come from Moses, but
     the written Torah that we have today has been edited together from
     several documents.

   * 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; the
     description of this covenant is the Torah itself. Contrary to popular
     belief, Jewish people do not simply say that "God chose the Jews." This
     claim, by itself, exists nowhere in the Tanach (the Jewish Bible) or
     the Siddur (the Jewish prayerbook). Such a claim could imply that God
     loves only the Jewish people, that only Jews can be close to God, and
     that only Jews can have a heavenly reward. The actual claim made is
     that the Jews were chosen for a specific mission; to be a light unto
     the nations, and to have a covenant with God as described in the Torah.
     Reconstructionist Judaism rejects also this variant of chosenness as
     morally defunct.

   * 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. A classical rabbinic work, Midrash Avot de
     Rabbi Natan, states: "One time, when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was
     walking in Jerusalem with Rabbi Yehosua, they arrived at where the
     Temple in Jerusalem now stood in ruins. "Woe to us," cried Rabbi
     Yehosua, "for this house where atonement was made for Israel's sins now
     lies in ruins!" Answered Rabban Yochanan, "We have another, equally
     important source of atonement, the practice of gemilut hasadim (loving
     kindness), as it is stated: 'I desire loving kindness and not
     sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6).

The liturgy of the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) states that
prayer, repentance and tzedakah (charity) atone for sin.

Christianity and Judaism

There is a separate article for Comparing and contrasting Judaism and
Christianity, and on the idea of the Judeo-Christian tradition. A distinct
article exists on Christianity and anti-Semitism.

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 refers to a group of evangelical Christian religious
movements, self-identified as Jewish, that believe that Jesus Christ is part
of God and the messiah. Even though many Messianic Jews are ethnically
Jewish, they are not considered part of the Jewish community by any
mainstream Jewish groups.

Islam and Judaism

There is a separate article on the relationship between Islam and Judaism,
and on Islam and anti-Semitism. There is an article on Projects working for
peace among Israelis and Arabs.

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 occured in response to the enlightenment (late
1700s to early 1800s) leading to the post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers,
and then the modern Jewish philosophers.

The Torah and Jewish law

The basis of Jewish law and tradition is the Torah, also known as: the five
books of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Chumash. According to traditional
counting methods, there are 613 mitzvot (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 priestly tribe), some only to those who practice
framing 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 were based on the written text of
the Torah alone (the Sadducees, the Karaites), most Jews believed in 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 Tanach (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, oral, sources. This parallel set of
material was originally trasmitted orally, and came to be known as the "the
oral law". Some of the methods by which it is derived can be found in
halakhic Midrash. However, 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 not based on a literal
reading of the Torah or Tanakh, but on the combined oral and written
tradition, which includes the Tanakh, the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the
Talmud and its commentaries. These have been summarized into codes of Jewish
law by various Torah scholars, such as Rabbis Alfasi, Maimonides, Ya'akov
ben Asher, Karo etc.

Halakha is 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.

Excommunication

Cherem is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is
the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. Except in rare
cases in the Ultra-Orthodox community, cherem stopped existing after The
Enlightenment, when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy,
and Jews were integrated into the greater gentile nations which they lived
in. A fuller discussion of this subject is available in the cherem article.

Holidays

Jewish life is bound up with religious tradition, and is celebrated in an
annual cycle of Jewish holidays.

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 (observed for one week), 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 one year.

Other topics, each with its own entry

   * The entry on Rabbis discusses the role of the rabbi, and provides links
     to entries on many imporant rabbis.
   * The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament} sets up a distinction between
     regular Israelites and a priestly caste called the Kohanim. A
     discussion of the Jewish priesthood may be found in its own entry,
     Kohen.
   * Rabbinic literature - discusses the many works of classical Judaism
   * Kosher aka Kashrut - The Jewish dietary laws; this entry deals with the
     rationale for the existence of these laws, describes which foods are
     and aren't Kosher.
   * Shabbat - This entry is about the Jewish view of the Sabbath, the role
     that it plays in Judaism, and the rules governing its observance.
   * There is an entry on the Role of women in Judaism.
   * There is an entry on the Rabbi, the spiritual leader in Jewish
     communities
   * The Temple in Jerusalem is no longer extant, but it still plays an
     imporant 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 Role of the cantor in Judaism discusses the role of the cantor
     (hazzan) as an emissary of the congregation.
   * The tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl.
   * Jewish eschatology - Jewish views of the messiah and the afterlife.
   * A summary of Jewish views of homosexuality can be found here.
   * The entry on the Mussar Movement concerns the ethical teachings of
     Judaism.
   * Holocaust theology
   * Halakha (Jewish law and custom) and the responsa literature.
   * The article on 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 Judaism Timeline

There is a separate entry which has Jewish history timeline.

Jewish sects and denominations before the Enlightenment

Rabbinic 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 A.D. there were several large sects of Jewish
leadership, generally each differently seeking a messianic salvation as
national autonomy from the Roman Empire: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots
and Essenes. Of these, only the Pharisees survived ideologically; their
ideological offshoot, the Rabbis, soon took control over the religion, and
from this all modern sects are descended. Christianity at one point was
related to a Jewish faction that believed in Jesus as messiach, but through
preaching to the Roman masses, this sect of Jewish Christians, rejected by
Jews and Christians alike, disappeared.

Some Jews in the 8th century 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 Tanach.
Interestingly, they soon developed oral traditions of their own which differ
from the Rabbinic traditions. These Jews formed the Karaite sect, which
still exist to this day, though they are much smaller than the rest of
Judaism. Rabbinic Jews hold that Karaites are Jews, but that their religion
is an incomplete and erroneous form of Judaism.

Over time Jews developed into distinct ethnic groups: the Ashkenazi Jews (of
Eastern Europe and 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.

Development of Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism was founded by Israel ben Eliezer (1700-1760), also known as
the Ba'al Shem Tov, or the 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; it came
to the United States during the large waves of Jewish emigration in the 1880s.

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
messainic sect. Since then all the sects of Hasidic Judaism have been
subsumed into mainstream Orthodox Judaism, particulary Ultra-Orthodox Judaism.

Development of modern denominations in response to the Enlightenment

In the late 18th century Europe, and then the rest of the world, was swept
by a group of intellectual, social and political movements that taken
together were referred to as the Enlightenment. These movements promoted
scientific thinking, freethought, and allowed people to question previously
unshaken religious dogmas. Like Christianity, Judaism developed several
responses to this unprecedented phenomenon. Initially, the European Jewish
community began to develop into two separate worldviews; one of which saw
the enlightenment as positive, and one of which saw it as negative. The
enlightenment meant equality and freedom for many Jews in many countries, so
it was felt that it should be warmly welcome. Scientific study of religious
texts would allow Jews to study the history of Judaism, and one could
discover how it had developed over time.

Some Jews felt that these endeavours would bring much to Judaism. Others,
however, noted that this same era allowed Jews, for the first time, the
ability to easily assimilate into Christian society; this was a powerful
attraction for many Jews, since only by becoming a Christian (at least
nominally) would one be certain to have equal rights and civil liberties.
Further, historical study of the development of the religion might call into
question some previously held dogmas about Judaism; if a few beliefs were
found to be incorrect, where would one draw the line? In response to these
issues, Jews favouring the enlightenment developed into a community known as
Reform Judaism, and Jews opposed to the enlightenment developed into a set
of loosely linked communities known as Orthodox Judaism. This loose
differentiation did not hold for long. The various groups in Orthodox
Judaism had differing attitudes on how to respond, and they developed into a
number of different groups, including Modern Orthodox Judaism and
Ultra-Orthodox Judaism; the latter entry discusses how and why the
enlightenment led to the development of the modern Jewish denominations.

A third school of thought then developed which held that halakha (Jewish law
and tradition) was not static, but rather had always developed in response
to changing conditions. This approach, Positive-Historical Judaism, held
that Jews should accept halakha as normative (i.e. binding) yet must also be
open to developing the law in the same fashion that it had developed in the
past. This school of thought gave birth to the communities now known as
Masorti Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Traditional Judaism.

In recent years, smaller splinter movements have developed:
Reconstructionist Judaism and Humanistic Judaism. In terms of their spectrum
of beliefs and practices, Reconstructionist Judaism now overlaps with Reform
Judaism, and Humanistic Judaism is now identical to secular humanism.

Non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism recognize Orthodox Judaism as a valid
and legitimate form of Judaism, despite theological differences. Most of
Orthodox Judaism, however, does not recognize any form of Judaism as
authentic except for itself; many Orthodox Jews view non-Orthodox forms of
Judaism as non-Jewish.

The issue of Zionism was once heavily divisive in the Jewish community.
Secular non-Zionists believed that Jews should integrate into the countries
in which they lived, rather than moving to Israel; religious non-Zionists
believed that the return to Israel could only happen with the coming of the
Messiah, and that attempting to re-establish Israel earlier was disobeying
God's plan. After the painful events of the twentieth century, such as World
War II and the Holocaust, secular anti-Zionism has largely disappeared;
however many Hasidim are still opposed to Zionism on religious grounds. One
specific example is the Neturei Karta.

The state of Judaism among Jews today

In most western nations, such as the USA, England, Israel and South Africa,
many secularized Jews have long since stopped participating in religious
duties. Many of them recall having religious grand-parents, but grew up in
homes where Jewish education and observance was no longer a priority. They
have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties. On the
one hand they tend to cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the
other hand the influences of western mentality, daily life and peer-pressure
tears them away from Judaism. Recent studies of American Jews indicate that
many people who identify as being of Jewish heritage no longer identify as
members of the religion known as Judaism. The various Jewish religious
denominations 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)

In the last 50 years 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. There is a separate article on the Baal
teshuva movement, the movement of Jews returning to observant Judaism.
However, this gain has not offset the demographic loss due to intermarriage
and acculturation.

Meanwhile, Christianity has inspired sects such as Jews for Jesus and
Messianic Judaism, and people discontented with mainstream Judaism have
founded Judeo-Paganism. Because those movements incorporate religions other
than Judaism along with Judaism, mainstream Jewish movements don't consider
the Jews for Jesus, Messianic Judaism, or Judeo-Paganism to be part of the
Jewish religion. Some adherents to those movements identify themselves as
Jews nonetheless.