Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Originating in the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Tanakh) and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, it is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. This was historically challenged by the Karaites, a movement that flourished in the medieval period, retains several thousand followers today and maintains that only the Written Torah was revealed. In modern times, liberal movements such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic.
Judaism claims a historical continuity spanning more than 3,000 years. It is one of the oldest monotheistic religions, and the oldest to survive into the present day. The Hebrews / Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title "Children of Israel." Judaism's texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i Faith. Many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law.
Jews are an ethnoreligious group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2010, the world Jewish population was estimated at 13.4 million, or roughly 0.2% of the total world population. About 42% of all Jews reside in Israel and about 42% reside in the United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe. The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism (Hareidi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism), Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. A major source of difference between these groups is their approach to Jewish law. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, and that they should be strictly followed. Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more "traditional" interpretation of Judaism's requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of general guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law; today, these courts still exist but the practice of Judaism is mostly voluntary. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, but in the sacred texts and the many rabbis and scholars who interpret these texts.
Defining character and principles of faith
Defining character
Unlike other ancient Near Eastern gods, the Hebrew God is portrayed as unitary and solitary; consequently, the Hebrew God's principal relationships are not with other gods, but with the world, and more specifically, with the people He created. Judaism thus begins with an ethical monotheism: the belief that God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Hebrew Bible, God promised
Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation. Many generations later, he commanded the nation of
Israel to love and worship only one God; that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate God's concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to love one another; that is, Jews are to imitate God's love for people. These commandments are but two of a large corpus of
commandments and
laws that constitute this
covenant, which is the substance of Judaism.
Thus, although there is an esoteric tradition in Judaism (Kabbalah), Rabbinic scholar Max Kadushin has characterized normative Judaism as "normal mysticism," because it involves every-day personal experiences of God through ways or modes that are common to all Jews. This is played out through the observance of the halakhot and given verbal expression in the Birkat Ha-Mizvot, the short blessings that are spoken every time a positive commandment is to be fulfilled.
:The ordinary, familiar, everyday things and occurrences, we have constitute occasions for the experience of God. Such things as one's daily sustenance, the very day itself, are felt as manifestations of God's loving-kindness, calling for the ''Berakhot''. ''Kedushah'', holiness, which is nothing else than the imitation of God, is concerned with daily conduct, with being gracious and merciful, with keeping oneself from defilement by idolatry, adultery, and the shedding of blood. The ''Birkat Ha-Mitzwot'' evokes the consciousness of holiness at a rabbinic rite, but the objects employed in the majority of these rites are non-holy and of general character, while the several holy objects are non-theurgic. And not only do ordinary things and occurrences bring with them the experience of God. Everything that happens to a man evokes that experience, evil as well as good, for a ''Berakah'' is said also at evil tidings. Hence, although the experience of God is like none other, the ''occasions'' for experiencing Him, for having a consciousness of Him, are manifold, even if we consider only those that call for Berakot.
Whereas Jewish philosophers often debate whether God is immanent or transcendent, and whether people have free will or their lives are determined, Halakha is a system through which any Jew acts to bring God into the world.
Ethical monotheism is central in all sacred or normative texts of Judaism. However, monotheism has not always been followed in practice. The Jewish Bible (Tanakh) records and repeatedly condemns the widespread worship of other gods in ancient Israel. In the Greco-Roman era, many different interpretations of monotheism existed in Judaism, including the interpretations that gave rise to Christianity.
Moreover, as a non-creedal religion, some have argued that Judaism does not require one to believe in God. For some, observance of Jewish law is more important than belief in God ''per se''. In modern times, some liberal Jewish movements do not accept the existence of a personified deity active in history.
Core tenets
Scholars throughout Jewish history have proposed numerous formulations of Judaism's core tenets, all of which have met with criticism. The most popular formulation is Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith, developed in the 12th century. According to Maimonides, any Jew to reject even one of these principles would be considered an apostate and a heretic. Jewish scholars have held points of view diverging in various ways from Maimonides' principles.
In Maimonides' time, his list of tenets was criticized by Hasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo. Albo and the Raavad argued that Maimonides' principles contained too many items that, while true, were not fundamentals of the faith.
Along these lines, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and observances rather than religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe Jewish law and maintaining that the requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs. Maimonides' principles were largely ignored over the next few centuries. Later, two poetic restatements of these principles ("''Ani Ma'amin''" and "''Yigdal''") became integrated into many Jewish liturgies, leading to their eventual near-universal acceptance.
In modern times, Judaism lacks a centralized authority that would dictate an exact religious dogma. Because of this, many different variations on the basic beliefs are considered within the scope of Judaism. Even so, all Jewish religious movements are, to a greater or lesser extent, based on the principles of the Hebrew Bible and various commentaries such as the Talmud and Midrash. Judaism also universally recognizes the Biblical Covenant between God and the Patriarch Abraham as well as the additional aspects of the Covenant revealed to Moses, who is considered Judaism's greatest prophet. In the Mishnah, a core text of Rabbinic Judaism, acceptance of the Divine origins of this covenant is considered an essential aspect of Judaism and those who reject the Covenant forfeit their share in the World to Come.
Jewish religious texts
The following is a basic, structured list of the central works of Jewish practice and thought.
Tanakh (
Hebrew Bible) and commentaries
* Mesorah
* Targum
* Jewish Biblical exegesis (also see Midrash below)
Works of the Talmudic Era (classic rabbinic literature)
* Mishnah and commentaries
* Tosefta and the minor tractates
* Talmud:
** The Babylonian Talmud and commentaries
** Jerusalem Talmud and commentaries
Midrashic literature:
* Halakhic Midrash
* Aggadic Midrash
Halakhic literature
* Major Codes of Jewish Law and Custom
** Mishneh Torah and commentaries
** Tur and commentaries
** Shulchan Aruch and commentaries
* Responsa literature
Jewish Thought and Ethics
* Jewish philosophy
* Kabbalah
* Hasidic works
* Musar literature and other works of Jewish ethics
Siddur and Jewish liturgy
''Piyyut'' (Classical Jewish poetry)
Jewish legal literature
The basis of Jewish law and tradition (halakha) is the
Torah (also known as the
Pentateuch or 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 the ancient priestly groups, the
Kohanim and
Leviyim (members of the tribe of
Levi), some only to farmers within the
Land of Israel. Many laws were only applicable when the
Temple in Jerusalem existed, and fewer than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.
While there have been Jewish groups whose beliefs were claimed to be based on the written text of the Torah alone (e.g., the Sadducees, and the Karaites), most Jews believed in what they call the oral law. These oral traditions were transmitted by the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were later recorded in written form and expanded upon by the rabbis.
Rabbinic Judaism (which derives from the Pharisees) has always held that the books of the Torah (called the written law) have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. To justify this viewpoint, Jews 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 haNasi (200 CE), after the destruction of Jerusalem, 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 Babylonia), 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 Shulchan Aruch, largely determines Orthodox religious practice today.
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. Major Jewish philosophers include Solomon ibn Gabirol, Saadia Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides, and Gersonides. Major changes occurred in response to the Enlightenment (late 18th to early 19th century) leading to the post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers. Modern Jewish philosophy consists of both Orthodox and non-Orthodox oriented philosophy. Notable among Orthodox Jewish philosophers are Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and Yitzchok Hutner. Well-known non-Orthodox Jewish philosophers include Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Mordecai Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Will Herberg, and Emmanuel Lévinas.
Related Topics
Torah databases (electronic versions of the Traditional Jewish Bookshelf)
List of Jewish prayers and blessings
Rabbinic hermeneutics
Orthodox and many other Jews do not believe that the revealed
Torah consists solely of its written contents, but of its interpretations as well. The study of
Torah (in its widest sense, to include both poetry, narrative, and law, and both the
Hebrew Bible and the
Talmud) is in Judaism itself a sacred act of central importance. For the sages of the
Mishnah and
Talmud, and for their successors today, the study of Torah was therefore not merely a means to learn the contents of God's revelation, but an end in itself. According to the Talmud,
:These are the things for which a person enjoys the dividends in this world while the principal remains for the person to enjoy in the world to come; they are: honoring parents, loving deeds of kindness, and making peace between one person and another. But the study of the Torah is equal to them all. (Talmud Shabbat 127a).
In Judaism, "the study of Torah can be a means of experiencing God". Reflecting on the contribution of the
Amoraim and
Tanaim to contemporary Judaism, Professor Jacob Neusner observed:
:The rabbi's logical and rational inquiry is not mere logic-chopping. It is a most serious and substantive effort to locate in trivialities the fundamental principles of the revealed will of God to guide and sanctify the most specific and concrete actions in the workaday world .... Here is the mystery of Talmudic Judaism: the alien and remote conviction that the intellect is an instrument not of unbelief and desacralization but of sanctification."
To study the Written Torah and the Oral Torah in light of each other is thus also to study ''how'' to study the word of God.
In the study of Torah, the sages formulated and followed various logical and hermeneutical principles. According to David Stern, all Rabbinic hermeneutics rest on two basic axia:
:first, the belief in the omnisignificance of Scripture, in the meaningfulness of its every word, letter, even (according to one famous report) scribal flourish; second, the claim of the essential unity of Scripture as the expression of the single divine will.
These two principles make possible a great variety of interpretations. According to the Talmud,
:A single verse has several meanings, but no two verses hold the same meaning. It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael: 'Behold, My word is like fire—declares the Lord—and like a hammer that shatters rock' (Jer 23:29). Just as this hammer produces many sparks (when it strikes the rock), so a single verse has several meanings." (Talmud Sanhedrin 34a).
Observant Jews thus view the Torah as dynamic, because it contains within it a host of interpretations
According to Rabbinic tradition, all valid interpretations of the written Torah were revealed to Moses at Sinai in oral form, and handed down from teacher to pupil (The oral revelation is in effect coextensive with the Talmud itself). When different rabbis forwarded conflicting interpretations, they sometimes appealed to hermeneutic principles to legitimize their arguments; some rabbis claim that these principles were themselves revealed by God to Moses at Sinai.
Thus, Hillel called attention to seven commonly used in the interpretation of laws (baraita at the beginning of Sifra); R. Ishmael, thirteen (baraita at the beginning of Sifra; this collection is largely an amplification of that of Hillel). Eliezer b. Jose ha-Gelili listed 32, largely used for the exegesis of narrative elements of Torah. All the hermeneutic rules scattered through the Talmudim and Midrashim have been collected by Malbim in ''Ayyelet ha-Shachar,'' the introduction to his commentary on the Sifra. Nevertheless, R. Ishmael's 13 principles are perhaps the ones most widely known; they constitute an important, and one of Judaism's earliest, contributions to logic, hermeneutics, and jurisprudence. Judah Hadassi incorporated Ishmael's principles into Karaite Judaism in the 12th century. Today R. Ishmael's 13 principles are incorporated into the Jewish prayer book to be read by observant Jews on a daily basis.
Jewish identity
Origin of the term "Judaism"
The term Judaism derives from the Latin ''Iudaismus'', derived from the Greek Ιουδαϊσμός ''
Ioudaïsmos'', and ultimately from the
Hebrew יהודה, ''Yehudah'', "
Judah"; in Hebrew: יַהֲדוּת, ''Yahadut''. It first appears as the Hellenistic Greek ''iudaismos'' in 2nd Maccabees in the 2nd century BCE. In the context of the age and period it held the meaning of seeking or forming part of a cultural entity, that of ''iudea'', the Greek derivative of Persian Yehud, and can be compared with ''hellenismos'', meaning acceptance of Hellenic cultural norms (the conflict between ''iudaismos'' and ''hellenismos'' lay behind the Maccabeean revolt and hence the invention of the term ''iudaismos''). The earliest instance of the term in English, used to mean "the profession or practice of the Jewish religion; the religious system or polity of the Jews," is Robert Fabyan's ''The newe cronycles of Englande and of Fraunce a 1513''. As an English translation of the Latin, the first instance in English is a 1611 translation of the
Apocrypha(
Deuterocanon in
Catholic and
Orthodox Christianity), 2 Macc. ii. 21 "Those that behaved themselues manfully to their honour for Iudaisme."
Distinction between Jews as a people and Judaism
According to
Daniel Boyarin, the underlying distinction between religion and ethnicity is foreign to Judaism itself, and is one form of the dualism between spirit and flesh that has its origin in
Platonic philosophy and that permeated
Hellenistic Judaism. Consequently, in his view, Judaism does not fit easily into conventional Western categories, such as religion, ethnicity, or culture. Boyarin suggests that this in part reflects the fact that much of Judaism's more than 3,000-year history predates the rise of Western culture and occurred outside the West (that is,
Europe, particularly medieval and modern Europe). During this time, Jews have experienced slavery, anarchic and theocratic self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; in the Diasporas, they have been in contact with and have been influenced by ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the Enlightenment (see
Haskalah) and the rise of nationalism, which would bear fruit in the form of a Jewish state in the Levant. They also saw an elite convert to Judaism (the
Khazars), only to disappear as the centers of power in the lands once occupied by that elite fell to the people of Rus and then the Mongols. Thus, 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."
In contrast to this point of view, practices such as Humanistic Judaism reject the religious aspects of Judaism, while retaining certain cultural traditions.
Who is a Jew?
According to traditional Jewish Law, a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism in accordance with Jewish Law. American Reform Judaism and British Liberal Judaism accept the child of one Jewish parent (father or mother) as Jewish if the parents raise the child with a Jewish identity. All mainstream forms of Judaism today are open to sincere converts, although conversion has traditionally been discouraged since the time of the Talmud. The conversion process is evaluated by an authority, and the convert is examined on his or her sincerity and knowledge. Converts are given the name "ben Abraham" or "bat Abraham", (son or daughter of Abraham).
Traditional Judaism maintains that a Jew, whether by birth or conversion, is a Jew forever. Thus a Jew who claims to be an atheist or converts to another religion is still considered by traditional Judaism to be Jewish. However, the Reform movement maintains that a Jew who has converted to another religion is no longer a Jew, and the Israeli Government has also taken that stance after Supreme Court cases and statutes.
The question of what determines Jewish identity in the State of Israel 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 in order to settle citizenship questions. This is still not settled, and occasionally resurfaces in Israeli politics.
Jewish demographics
The total number of Jews worldwide is difficult to assess because the definition of "who is a Jew" is problematic; not all Jews identify themselves as Jewish, and some who identify as Jewish are not considered so by other Jews. According to the ''Jewish Year Book'' (1901), the global Jewish population in 1900 was around 11 million. The latest available data is from the World Jewish Population Survey of 2002 and the Jewish Year Calendar (2005). In 2002, according to the Jewish Population Survey, there were 13.3 million Jews around the world. The Jewish Year Calendar cites 14.6 million. Jewish population growth is currently near zero percent, with 0.3% growth from 2000 to 2001.
Jewish religious movements
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism (or in some Christian traditions, Rabbinism) (Hebrew: "Yahadut Rabanit" - יהדות רבנית) has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the
Talmud. It is characterised by the belief that the
Written Torah (Law) cannot be correctly interpreted without reference to the
Oral Torah and by the voluminous literature specifying what behavior is sanctioned by the law (called
halakha, "the way").
The Jewish Enlightenment of the late 18th century resulted in the division of Ashkenazi (Western) Jewry into religious movements or denominations, especially in North America and Anglophone countries. The main denominations today outside Israel (where the situation is rather different) are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform.
Orthodox Judaism holds that both the Written and Oral Torah were divinely revealed to Moses, and that the laws within it are binding and unchanging. Orthodox Jews generally consider commentaries on the ''Shulchan Aruch'' (a condensed codification of halakha that largely favored Sephardic traditions) to be the definitive codification of Jewish law. Orthodoxy places a high importance on Maimonides' 13 principles as a definition of Jewish faith.
:*Orthodoxy is often divided into
Modern Orthodox Judaism and
Haredi Judaism.
Haredi Judaism is less accommodating to modernity and has less interest in non-Jewish disciplines, and it may be distinguished from
Modern Orthodox Judaism in practice by its styles of dress and more stringent practices. Subsets of
Haredi Judaism include:
Hasidic Judaism, which is rooted in the
Kabbalah and distinguished by reliance on a
Rebbe or religious teacher; and
Sephardic Haredi Judaism, which emerged among
Sephardic (Asian and North African) Jews in Israel.
Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti outside the United States and Canada, is characterized by a commitment to traditional Jewish laws and customs, including observance of Shabbat and kashrut, a deliberately non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish principles of faith, a positive attitude toward modern culture, and an acceptance of both traditional rabbinic and modern scholarship when considering Jewish religious texts. Conservative Judaism teaches that Jewish law is not static, but has always developed in response to changing conditions. It holds that the Torah is a divine document written by prophets inspired by God and reflecting his will, but rejects the Orthodox position that it was dictated by God to Moses. Conservative Judaism holds that the Oral Law is divine and normative, but holds that both the Written and Oral Law may be interpreted by the rabbis to reflect modern sensibilities and suit modern conditions.
Reform Judaism, called Liberal or Progressive Judaism in many countries, defines Judaism as a religion rather than as a race or culture, rejects most of the ritual and ceremonial laws of the Torah while observing moral laws, and emphasizes the ethical call of the Prophets. Reform Judaism has developed an egalitarian prayer service in the vernacular (along with Hebrew in many cases) and emphasizes personal connection to Jewish tradition.
Reconstructionist Judaism, like Reform Judaism, does not hold that Jewish law, as such, requires observance, but unlike Reform, Reconstructionist thought emphasizes the role of the community in deciding what observances to follow.
Jewish Renewal is a recent North American movement which focuses on spirituality and social justice, but does not address issues of Jewish law. Men and women participate equally in prayer.
Humanistic Judaism is a small non-theistic movement centered in North America and Israel that emphasizes Jewish culture and history as the sources of Jewish identity.
Jewish movements in Israel
Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (''hiloni''), "traditional" (''masorti''), "religious" (''dati'') or ''
Haredi''. The term "secular" is more popular as a self-description 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 as a self-description among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e., the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa). This term, as commonly used, has nothing to do with the official Masorti (Conservative) movement. 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" is not popular in Israeli discourse, although the percentage of Jews who come under that category is far greater than in the diaspora. 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''), or "Hardal", which combines a largely ''haredi'' lifestyle with nationalist ideology. (Some people, in Yiddish, also refer to observant Orthodox Jews as ''frum'', as opposed to ''frei'' (more liberal Jews)).
''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''.
Alternative Judaism
Karaite Judaism defines itself as the remnants of the non-Rabbinic Jewish sects of the
Second Temple period, such as the
Sadducees. The Karaites ("Scripturalists") accept only the Hebrew Bible and what they view as the
Peshat ("simple" meaning); they do not accept non-biblical writings as authoritative. Some European Karaites do not see themselves as part of the Jewish community at all, although most do. The
Samaritans, a very small community located entirely around
Mount Gerizim in the
Nablus/
Shechem region of the
West Bank and in
Holon, near
Tel Aviv in Israel, regard themselves as the descendants of the Israelites of the Iron Age
kingdom of Israel. Their religious practices are those of Judaism, but they regard only the written
Torah as authoritative scripture (with a special regard also for the
Book of Joshua).
Jewish observances
Jewish ethics
Jewish ethics may be guided by
halakhic traditions, by other moral principles, or by central Jewish virtues. Jewish ethical practice is typically understood to be marked by values such as justice, truth, peace, loving-kindness (
chesed), compassion, humility, and self-respect. Specific Jewish ethical practices include practices of charity (
tzedakah) and refraining from negative speech (
lashon hara). Proper ethical practices regarding sexuality and many other issues are subjects of dispute among Jews.
Prayers
Traditionally, Jews recite prayers three times daily,
Shacharit,
Mincha, and
Ma'ariv with a fourth prayer,
Mussaf added on
Shabbat and
holidays. At the heart of each service is the ''
Amidah'' or ''Shemoneh Esrei''. Another key prayer in many services is the declaration of faith, the ''
Shema Yisrael'' (or ''Shema''). The ''Shema'' is the recitation of a verse from the Torah (
Deuteronomy 6:4): ''Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad''—"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One!"
Most of the prayers in a traditional Jewish service can be recited in solitary prayer, although communal prayer is preferred. Communal prayer requires a quorum of ten adult Jews, called a ''minyan''. In nearly all Orthodox and a few Conservative circles, only male Jews are counted toward a ''minyan''; most Conservative Jews and members of other Jewish denominations count female Jews as well.
In addition to prayer services, observant traditional Jews recite prayers and benedictions throughout the day when performing various acts. Prayers are recited upon waking up in the morning, before eating or drinking different foods, after eating a meal, and so on.
The approach to prayer varies among the Jewish denominations. Differences can include the texts of prayers, the frequency of prayer, the number of prayers recited at various religious events, the use of musical instruments and choral music, and whether prayers are recited in the traditional liturgical languages or the vernacular. In general, Orthodox and Conservative congregations adhere most closely to tradition, and Reform and Reconstructionist synagogues are more likely to incorporate translations and contemporary writings in their services. Also, in most Conservative synagogues, and all Reform and Reconstructionist congregations, women participate in prayer services on an equal basis with men, including roles traditionally filled only by men, such as reading from the Torah. In addition, many Reform temples use musical accompaniment such as organs and mixed choirs.
Religious clothing
A ''
kippah'' (Hebrew: כִּפָּה, plural ''kippot''; Yiddish: יאַרמלקע, ''yarmulke'') is a slightly rounded brimless skullcap worn by many Jews while praying, eating, reciting blessings, or studying Jewish religious texts, and at all times by some Jewish men. In Orthodox communities, only men wear kippot; in non-Orthodox communities, some women also wear kippot. ''Kippot'' range in size from a small round beanie that covers only the back of the head, to a large, snug cap that covers the whole crown.
''Tzitzit'' (Hebrew: צִיציִת) (Ashkenazi pronunciation: ''tzitzis'') are special knotted "fringes" or "tassels" found on the four corners of the ''tallit'' (Hebrew: טַלִּית) (Ashkenazi pronunciation: ''tallis''), or prayer shawl. The ''tallit'' is worn by Jewish men and some Jewish women during the prayer service. Customs vary regarding when a Jew begins wearing a tallit. In the Sephardi community, boys wear a tallit from bar mitzvah age. In some Ashkenazi communities it is customary to wear one only after marriage. A ''tallit katan'' (small tallit) is a fringed garment worn under the clothing throughout the day. In some Orthodox circles, the fringes are allowed to hang freely outside the clothing.
Tefillin (Hebrew: תְפִלִּין), known in English as phylacteries (from the Greek word φιλακτέριον, meaning ''fortress'' or ''protection''), are two square leather boxes containing biblical verses, attached to the forehead and wound around the left arm by leather straps. They are worn during weekday morning prayer by observant Jewish men and some Jewish women.
A ''kittel'' (Yiddish: קיטל), a white knee-length overgarment, is worn by prayer leaders and some observant traditional Jews on the High Holidays. It is traditional for the head of the household to wear a kittel at the Passover seder in some communities, and some grooms wear one under the wedding canopy. Jewish males are buried in a ''tallit'' and sometimes also a ''kittel'' which are part of the ''tachrichim'' (burial garments).
Jewish holidays
Jewish holidays are special days in the Jewish calendar, which celebrate moments in Jewish history, as well as central themes in the relationship between God and the world, such as
creation,
revelation, and
redemption.
Shabbat
''Shabbat'', the weekly day of rest lasting from shortly before sundown on Friday night to nightfall Saturday night, commemorates God's day of rest after six days of creation. It plays a pivotal role in Jewish practice and is governed by a large corpus of religious law. At sundown on Friday, the woman of the house welcomes the Shabbat by lighting two or more candles and reciting a blessing. The evening meal begins with the Kiddush, a blessing recited aloud over a cup of wine, and the Mohtzi, a blessing recited over the bread. It is customary to have challah, two braided loaves of bread, on the table. During Shabbat Jews are forbidden to engage in any activity that falls under 39 categories of ''melakhah'', translated literally as "work". In fact the activities banned on the Sabbath are not "work" in the usual sense: They include such actions as lighting a fire, writing, using money and carrying in the public domain. The prohibition of lighting a fire has been extended in the modern era to driving a car, which involves burning fuel, and using electricity.
Three pilgrimage festivals
Jewish holy days (''chaggim''), celebrate landmark events in Jewish history, such as the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, and sometimes mark the change of seasons and transitions in the agricultural cycle. The three major festivals, Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot, are called "regalim" (derived from the Hebrew word "regel", or foot). On the three regalim, it was customary for the Israelites to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple.
Passover (''Pesach'') is a week-long holiday beginning on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan (the first month in the Hebrew calendar), that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. Outside Israel, Passover is celebrated for eight days. In ancient times, it coincided with the barley harvest. It is the only holiday that centers on home-service, the Seder. Leavened products (chametz) are removed from the house prior to the holiday, and are not consumed throughout the week. Homes are thoroughly cleaned to ensure no bread or bread by-products remain, and a symbolic burning of the last vestiges of chametz is conducted on the morning of the Seder. Matzo is eaten instead of bread.
Shavuot ("Pentecost" or "Feast of Weeks") celebrates the revelation of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Also known as the Festival of Bikurim, or first fruits, it coincided in biblical times with the wheat harvest. Shavuot customs include all-night study marathons known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot, eating dairy foods (cheesecake and blintzes are special favorites), reading the Book of Ruth, decorating homes and synagogues with greenery, and wearing white clothing, symbolizing purity.
Sukkot ("Tabernacles" or "The Festival of Booths") commemorates the Israelites' forty years of wandering through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. It is celebrated through the construction of temporary booths called ''sukkot'' (sing. ''sukkah'') that represent the temporary shelters of the Israelites during their wandering. It coincides with the fruit harvest, and marks the end of the agricultural cycle. Jews around the world eat in ''sukkot'' for seven days and nights. Sukkot concludes with Shemini Atzeret, where Jews begin to pray for rain and Simchat Torah, "Rejoicing of the Torah", a holiday which marks reaching the end of the Torah reading cycle and beginning all over again. The occasion is celebrated with singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls. Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are technically considered to be a separate holiday and not a part of Sukkot.
High Holy Days
The High Holidays (''Yamim Noraim'' or "Days of Awe") revolve around judgment and forgiveness.
Rosh Hashanah, (also ''Yom Ha-Zikkaron'' or "Day of Remembrance", and ''Yom Teruah'', or "Day of the Sounding of the Shofar"). Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year (literally, "head of the year"), although it falls on the first day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Tishri. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the 10-day period of atonement leading up to Yom Kippur, during which Jews are commanded to search their souls and make amends for sins committed, intentionally or not, throughout the year. Holiday customs include blowing the shofar, or ram's horn, in the synagogue, eating apples and honey, and saying blessings over a variety of symbolic foods, such as pomegranates.
Yom Kippur, ("Day of Atonement") is the holiest day of the Jewish year. It is a day of communal fasting and praying for forgiveness for one's sins. Observant Jews spend the entire day in the synagogue, sometimes with a short break in the afternoon, reciting prayers from a special holiday prayerbook called a "Machzor". Many non-religious Jews make a point of attending synagogue services and fasting on Yom Kippur. On the eve of Yom Kippur, before candles are lit, a prefast meal, the "seuda mafseket", is eaten. Synagogue services on the eve of Yom Kippur begin with the Kol Nidre prayer. It is customary to wear white on Yom Kippur, especially for Kol Nidre, and leather shoes are not worn. The following day, prayers are held from morning to evening. The final prayer service, called "Ne'ilah", ends with a long blast of the shofar.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah (, "dedication") also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight day Jewish holiday that starts on the 25th day of Kislev (Hebrew calendar). The festival is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each of the festival's eight nights, one on the first night, two on the second night and so on.
The holiday was called Hanukkah (meaning "dedication") because it marks the re-dedication of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Spiritually, Hanukkah commemorates the "Miracle of the Oil". According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days - which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil.
Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Bible and was never considered a major holiday in Judaism, but it has become much more visible and widely celebrated in modern times, mainly because it falls around the same time as Christmas and has national Jewish overtones that have been emphasized since the establishment of the State of Israel.
Purim
Purim (
Hebrew: ''Pûrîm'' "
lots") is a joyous Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the
Persian Jews from the plot of the evil
Haman, who sought to
exterminate them, as recorded in the biblical
Book of Esther. It is characterized by public recitation of the Book of Esther, mutual gifts of food and drink,
charity to the poor, and a celebratory meal (Esther 9:22). Other customs include drinking wine, eating special pastries called
hamantashen, dressing up in masks and costumes, and organizing carnivals and parties.
Purim is celebrated annually on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar, which occurs in February or March of the Gregorian calendar.
Other holidays
Tisha B'Av ( or , "the Ninth of Av,") is a holiday of mourning and fasting commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
The modern holidays of Yom Ha-shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) commemorate the horrors of the Holocaust and the achievement of Israel independence, respectively.
Torah readings
The core of festival and
Shabbat prayer services is the public reading of the
Torah, along with connected readings from the other books of the
Tanakh, called
Haftarah. Over the course of a year, the whole Torah is read, with the cycle starting over in the autumn, on
Simchat Torah.
Synagogues and religious buildings
Synagogues are Jewish houses of prayer and study. They usually contain separate rooms for prayer (the main sanctuary), smaller rooms for study, and often an area for community or educational use. There is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. The Reform movement mostly refer to their synagogues as temples. Some traditional features of a synagogue are:
The ark (called ''aron ha-kodesh'' by Ashkenazim and ''hekhal'' by Sephardim) where the Torah scrolls are kept (the ark is often closed with an ornate curtain (''parochet'') outside or inside the ark doors);
The elevated reader's platform (called ''bimah'' by Ashkenazim and ''tebah'' by Sephardim), where the Torah is read (and services are conducted in Sephardi synagogues);
The eternal light (''ner tamid''), a continually lit lamp or lantern used as a reminder of the constantly lit menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem
The pulpit, or ''amud'', a lectern facing the Ark where the hazzan or prayer leader stands while praying.
In addition to synagogues, other buildings of significance in Judaism include yeshivas, or institutions of Jewish learning, and mikvahs, which are ritual baths.
Dietary laws: ''Kashrut''
The Jewish dietary laws are known as ''kashrut''. Food prepared in accordance with them is termed kosher, and food that is not kosher is also known as ''treifah'' or ''treif''. People who observe these laws are colloquially said to be "keeping kosher".
Many of the laws apply to animal-based foods. For example, in order to be considered kosher, mammals must have split hooves and chew their cud. The pig is arguably the most well-known example of a non-kosher animal. Although it has split hooves, it does not chew its cud. For seafood to be kosher, the animal must have fins and scales. Certain types of seafood, such as shellfish, crustaceans, and eels, are therefore considered non-kosher. Concerning birds, a list of non-kosher species is given in the Torah. The exact translations of many of the species have not survived, and some non-kosher birds' identities are no longer certain. However, traditions exist about the ''kashrut'' status of a few birds. For example, both chickens and turkeys are permitted in most communities. Other types of animals, such as amphibians, reptiles, and most insects, are prohibited altogether.
In addition to the requirement that the species be considered kosher, meat and poultry (but not fish) must come from a healthy animal slaughtered in a process known as ''shechitah''. Without the proper slaughtering practices even an otherwise kosher animal will be rendered ''treif''. The slaughtering process is intended to be quick and relatively painless to the animal. Forbidden parts of animals include the blood, some fats, and the area in and around the sciatic nerve.
Jewish law also forbids the consumption of meat and dairy products together. The waiting period between eating meat and eating dairy varies by the order in which they are consumed and by community, and can extend for up to six hours. Based on the Biblical injunction against cooking a kid in its mother's milk, this rule is mostly derived from the Oral Torah, the Talmud and Rabbinic law. Chicken and other kosher birds are considered the same as meat under the laws of ''kashrut'', but the prohibition is Rabbinic, not Biblical.
The use of dishes, serving utensils, and ovens may make food ''treif'' that would otherwise be kosher. Utensils that have been used to prepare non-kosher food, or dishes that have held meat and are now used for dairy products, render the food ''treif'' under certain conditions.
Furthermore, all Orthodox and some Conservative authorities forbid the consumption of processed grape products made by non-Jews, due to ancient pagan practices of using wine in rituals. Some Conservative authorities permit wine and grape juice made without rabbinic supervision.
The Torah does not give specific reasons for most of the laws of ''kashrut''. However, a number of explanations have been offered, including maintaining ritual purity, teaching impulse control, encouraging obedience to God, improving health, reducing cruelty to animals and preserving the distinctness of the Jewish community. The various categories of dietary laws may have developed for different reasons, and some may exist for multiple reasons. For example, people are forbidden from consuming the blood of birds and mammals because, according to the Torah, this is where animal souls are contained. In contrast, the Torah forbids Israelites from eating non-kosher species because "they are unclean." The Kabbalah describes sparks of holiness that are released by the act of eating kosher foods, but are too tightly bound in non-kosher foods to be released by eating.
Survival concerns supersede all the laws of ''kashrut'', as they do for most halakhot.
Laws of ritual purity
The Tanakh describes circumstances in which a person who is ''tahor'' or ritually pure may become ''tamei'' or ritually impure. Some of these circumstances are contact with human corpses or graves, seminal flux, vaginal flux, menstruation, and contact with people who have become impure from any of these. In Rabbinic Judaism, Kohanim, members of the hereditary caste that served as priests in the time of the Temple, are mostly restricted from entering grave sites and touching dead bodies.
Family purity
An important subcategory of the ritual purity laws relates to the segregation of menstruating women. These laws are also known as ''niddah'', literally "separation", or family purity. Vital aspects of halakha for traditionally observant Jews, they are not usually followed by Jews in liberal denominations.
Especially in Orthodox Judaism, the Biblical laws are augmented by Rabbinical injunctions. For example, the Torah mandates that a woman in her normal menstrual period must abstain from sexual intercourse for seven days. A woman whose menstruation is prolonged must continue to abstain for seven more days after bleeding has stopped. The Rabbis conflated ordinary ''niddah'' with this extended menstrual period, known in the Torah as ''zavah'', and mandated that a woman may not have sexual intercourse with her husband from the time she begins her menstrual flow until seven days after it ends. In addition, Rabbinical law forbids the husband from touching or sharing a bed with his wife during this period. Afterwards, purification can occur in a ritual bath called a mikveh.
Traditional Ethiopian Jews keep menstruating women in separate huts and, similar to Karaite practice, do not allow menstruating women into their temples because of a temple's special sanctity. Emigration to Israel and the influence of other Jewish denominations have led to Ethiopian Jews adopting more normative Jewish practices.
Life-cycle events
Life-cycle events, or
rites of passage, occur throughout a Jew's life that serve to strengthen Jewish identity and bind him/her to the entire community.
Brit milah - Welcoming male babies into the covenant through the rite of circumcision on their eighth day of life. The baby boy is also given his Hebrew name in the ceremony. A naming ceremony intended as a parallel ritual for girls, named ''zeved habat'' or brit bat, enjoys limited popularity.
Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah - This passage from childhood to adulthood takes place when a female Jew is twelve and a male Jew is thirteen years old among Orthodox and some Conservative congregations. In the Reform movement, both girls and boys have their bat/bar mitzvah at age thirteen. This is often commemorated by having the new adults, male only in the Orthodox tradition, lead the congregation in prayer and publicly read a "portion" of the Torah.
Marriage - Marriage is an extremely important lifecycle event. A wedding takes place under a ''chupah'', or wedding canopy, which symbolizes a happy house. At the end of the ceremony, the groom breaks a glass with his foot, symbolizing the continuous mourning for the destruction of the Temple, and the scattering of the Jewish people.
Death and Mourning - Judaism has a multi-staged mourning practice. The first stage is called the shiva (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 leadership
Classical priesthood
The role of the priesthood in Judaism has significantly diminished since the destruction of the
Second Temple in 70 CE, when priests attended to the Temple and sacrifices. The priesthood is an inherited position, and although priests no longer have any but ceremonial duties, they are still honored in many Jewish communities. Many Orthodox Jewish communities believe that they will be needed again for a future
Third Temple and need to remain in readiness for future duty.
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 and ceremonies, including the ceremony of redemption of the first-born.
Levi (Levite) - Patrilineal descendant of Levi the son of Jacob. In the Temple in Jerusalem, the levites sang Psalms, performed construction, maintenance, janitorial, and guard duties, assisted the priests, and sometimes interpreted the law and Temple ritual to the public. Today, a Levite is called up second to the reading of the Torah.
Prayer leaders
From the time of the
Mishnah and
Talmud to the present, Judaism has required specialists or authorities for the practice of very few rituals or ceremonies. A Jew can fulfill 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 presence of ten Jews.
The most common professional clergy in a synagogue are:
Rabbi of a congregation - Jewish scholar who is charged with answering the legal questions of a congregation. This role requires ordination by the congregation's preferred authority (i.e. from a respected Orthodox rabbi or, if the congregation is Conservative or Reform, from academic seminaries). 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 kriyah'' (see below).
* Hassidic ''Rebbe'' - rabbi who is the head of a Hasidic dynasty.
Hazzan (note: the "h" denotes voiceless pharyngeal fricative) (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.
Jewish prayer services do involve two specified roles, which are sometimes, but not always, filled by a rabbi and/or hazzan in many congregations. In other congregations these roles are filled on an ad-hoc basis by members of the congregation who lead portions of services on a rotating basis:
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 reciting the prayers clearly may act as ''shatz''. In Orthodox congregations and some Conservative congregations, only men can be prayer leaders, but all Progressive communities now allow women to serve in this function.
The Baal kriyah or ''baal koreh'' (master of the reading) reads the weekly Torah portion. The requirements for being the ''baal kriyah'' are the same as those for the ''shatz''. These roles are not mutually exclusive. The same person is often qualified to fill more than one role, and often does. Often there are several people capable of filling these roles and different services (or parts of services) will be led by each.
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 rabbis and hazzans to act as ''shatz'' and ''baal kriyah'', and this is still typically the case in many Conservative and Reform congregations. However, in most Orthodox synagogues these positions are filled by laypeople on a rotating or ad-hoc basis. Although most congregations hire one or more Rabbis, the use of a professional hazzan is generally declining in American congregations, and the use of professionals for other offices is rarer still.
Specialized religious roles
''Dayan'' (judge) - An ordained rabbi with special legal training who belongs to a ''beth din'' (rabbinical court). In Israel, religious courts handle marriage and divorce cases, conversion and financial disputes in the Jewish community.
Mohel (circumciser) - An expert in the laws of circumcision who has received training from a previously qualified ''mohel'' and performs the ''brit milah'' (circumcision).
Shochet (ritual slaughterer) - In order for meat to be kosher, it must be slaughtered by a ''shochet'' who is an expert in the laws of kashrut and has been trained by another ''shochet.''
Sofer (scribe) - Torah scrolls, ''tefillin'' (phylacteries), ''mezuzot'' (scrolls put on doorposts), and ''gittin'' (bills of divorce) must be written by a ''sofer'' who is an expert in Hebrew calligraphy and has undergone rigorous training in the laws of writing sacred texts.
Rosh yeshiva - A Torah scholar who runs a yeshiva.
Mashgiach of a yeshiva - Depending on which yeshiva, might either be the person responsible for ensuring attendance and proper conduct, or even supervise the emotional and spiritual welfare of the students and give lectures on mussar (Jewish ethics).
Mashgiach - Supervises manufacturers of kosher food, importers, caterers and restaurants to ensure that the food is kosher. Must be an expert in the laws of kashrut and trained by a rabbi, if not a rabbi himself.
History
Origins
At its core, the Tanakh is an account of the
Israelites' relationship with
God from their earliest history until the building of the
Second Temple (c. 535 BCE).
Abraham is hailed as the first
Hebrew and the father of the Jewish people. As a reward for his act of faith in one God, he was promised that
Isaac, his second son, would inherit the
Land of Israel (then called
Canaan). Later,
Jacob and his children were enslaved in
Egypt, and God commanded
Moses to lead
the Exodus from Egypt. At
Mount Sinai they received the
Torah - the five books of Moses. These books, together with
Nevi'im and
Ketuvim are known as ''Torah Shebikhtav'' as opposed to the
Oral Torah, which refers to the Mishna and the Talmud. Eventually, God led them to the
land of Israel where the tabernacle was planted in the city of
Shiloh for over 300 years to rally the nation against attacking enemies. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the
Philistines to capture the tabernacle. The people of Israel then told
Samuel the
prophet that they needed to be governed by a permanent king, and Samuel appointed
Saul 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 King David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple, and as a reward for his actions, God promised David that he would allow his son, Solomon, to build the first permanent temple and the throne would never depart from his children.
Rabbinic tradition holds that the details and interpretation of the law, which are called the ''Oral Torah'' or ''oral law'', were originally an unwritten tradition based upon what God told Moses on Mount Sinai. However, as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, these oral laws were recorded by Rabbi Judah haNasi (Judah the Prince) in the Mishnah, redacted ''circa'' 200 CE. The Talmud was a compilation of both the Mishnah and the Gemara, rabbinic commentaries redacted over the next three centuries. The Gemara originated in two major centers of Jewish scholarship, Palestine and Babylonia. Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the Jerusalem Talmud. It was compiled sometime during the 4th century in Israel. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled from discussions in the houses of study by the scholars Ravina I, Ravina II, and Rav Ashi by 500 CE, although it continued to be edited later.
Some critical scholars oppose the view that the sacred texts, including the Hebrew Bible, were divinely inspired. Many of these scholars accept the general principles of the documentary hypothesis and suggest that the Torah consists of inconsistent texts edited together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts. Many suggest that during the First Temple period, the people of Israel believed that each nation had its own god, but that their god was superior to other gods. Some suggest that strict monotheism developed during the Babylonian Exile, perhaps in reaction to Zoroastrian dualism. In this view, it was only by the Hellenic period that most Jews came to believe that their god was the only god, and that the notion of a clearly bounded Jewish nation identical with the Jewish religion formed.
John Day argues that the origins of biblical Yahweh, El, Asherah, and Ba'al, may be rooted in earlier Canaanite religion, which was centered on a pantheon of gods much like the Greek Pantheon.
Antiquity
The United Monarchy was established under Saul and continued under King David and Solomon with its capital in Jerusalem. After Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel (in the north) and the Kingdom of Judah (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Sargon II in the late 8th century BCE with many people from the capital Samaria being taken captive to Media and the Khabur River valley. The Kingdom of Judah continued as an independent state until it was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BCE, destroying the First Temple that was at the center of ancient Jewish worship. The Judean elite were exiled to Babylonia and this is regarded as the first Jewish Diaspora. Later many of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians seventy years later, a period known as the Babylonian Captivity. A new Second Temple was constructed, and old religious practices were resumed.
During the early years of the Second Temple, the highest religious authority was a council known as the Great Assembly, led by Ezra of the Book of Ezra. Among other accomplishments of the Great Assembly, the last books of the Bible were written at this time and the canon sealed.
Hellenistic Judaism spread to Ptolemaic Egypt from the 3rd century BCE, and became a notable ''religio licita'' throughout the Roman Empire, until its decline in the 3rd century parallel to the rise of Gnosticism and Early Christianity.
After a Jewish revolt against Roman rule in 66 CE, the Romans all but destroyed Jerusalem. Following a second revolt, Jews were not allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem and most Jewish worship was forbidden by Rome. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, prayer took the place of sacrifice, and worship was rebuilt around rabbis who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities (see Jewish diaspora).
Historical Jewish groupings (to 1700)
Around the 1st 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"). The
Sadducees rejected the
divine inspiration of the
Prophets and the
Writings, relying only on the
Torah as divinely inspired. Consequently, a number of other core tenets of the Pharisees' belief system (which became the basis for modern Judaism), were also dismissed by the Sadducees. (The
Samaritans practiced a similar religion, which is traditionally considered separate from Judaism.)
Like the Sadducees who relied only on the Torah, some Jews in the 8th and 9th centuries rejected the authority and divine inspiration of the oral law as recorded in the Mishnah (and developed by later rabbis in the two Talmuds), relying instead 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 a long time, Jews formed distinct ethnic groups in several different geographic areas — amongst others, the Ashkenazi Jews (of central and Eastern Europe), the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal, and North Africa), the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the Yemenite Jews from the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Many of these groups have developed differences in their prayers, traditions and accepted canons; however these distinctions are mainly the result of their being formed at some cultural distance from normative (rabbinic) Judaism, rather than based on any doctrinal dispute.
Persecutions
Antisemitism arose during the
Middle Ages, in the form of persecutions,
pogroms,
forced conversion, expulsions, social restrictions and
ghettoization.
This was different in quality to any repressions of Jews in ancient times. Ancient repression was politically motivated and Jews were treated no differently than any other ethnic group would have been. With the rise of the Churches, attacks on Jews became motivated instead by theological considerations specifically deriving from Christian views about Jews and Judaism.
Hasidism
Hasidic Judaism was founded by Yisroel ben Eliezer (1700–1760), also known as the ''Ba'al Shem Tov'' (or ''Besht''). It originated in a time of persecution of the Jewish people, when European Jews had turned inward to Talmud study; many felt that most expressions of Jewish life had become too "academic", and that they no longer had any emphasis on spirituality or joy. 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.
The movement itself claims to be nothing new, but a ''refreshment'' of original Judaism. Or as some have put it: '' "they merely re-emphasized that which the generations had lost"''. Nevertheless, early on there was a serious schism between Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. European Jews who rejected the Hasidic movement were dubbed by the Hasidim as Misnagdim, (lit. "opponents"). Some of the reasons for the rejection of Hasidic Judaism were the overwhelming exuberance of Hasidic worship, its untraditional ascriptions of infallibility and alleged miracle-working to their leaders, and the concern that it might become a messianic sect. Since then differences between the Hasidim and their opponents have slowly diminished and both groups are now considered part of Haredi Judaism.
The Enlightenment and New Religious Movements
In the late 18th century CE, 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, especially in Central Europe and Western Europe, 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 through reason. With the promise of political emancipation many Jews saw no reason to continue to observe Jewish law and increasing numbers of Jews assimilated into Christian Europe. Modern religious movements of Judaism all formed in reaction to this trend.
In Central Europe, followed by Great Britain and The United States, Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism developed, relaxing legal obligations (especially those that limited Jewish relations with non-Jews), emulating Protestant decorum in prayer, and emphasizing the ethical values of Judaism's Prophetic tradition. Modern Orthodox Judaism developed in reaction to Reform Judaism, by leaders who argued that Jews could participate in public life as citizens equal to Christians, while maintaining the observance of Jewish law. Meanwhile, in the United States, wealthy Reform Jews helped European scholars, who were Orthodox in practice but critical (and skeptical) in their study of the Bible and Talmud, to establish a seminary to train rabbis for immigrants from Eastern Europe. These left-wing Orthodox rabbis were joined by right-wing Reform rabbis who felt that Jewish law should not be entirely abandoned, to form the Conservative movement. Orthodox Jews who opposed the Haskalah formed Haredi Orthodox Judaism. After massive movements of Jews following The Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel, these movements have competed for followers from among traditional Jews in or from other countries.
Spectrum of observance
Countries such as the
United States,
Israel,
Canada,
United Kingdom,
Argentina and
South Africa contain large Jewish populations. Jewish religious practice varies widely through all levels of observance. According to the
2001 edition of the
National Jewish Population Survey, in the United States' Jewish community—the world's second largest—4.3 million Jews out of 5.1 million 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, and fewer than 16% attend regularly.
Birth rates for American Jews have dropped from 2.0 to 1.7. (Replacement rate is 2.1.) Intermarriage rates range from 40-50% in the US, and only about a third of children of intermarried couples are raised as Jews. 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 total population obscures growth trends in some denominations and communities, such as Haredi Judaism. The Baal teshuva movement is a movement of Jews who have "returned" to religion or become more observant.
Judaism and other religions
Christianity and Judaism
Historians and theologians regularly review the changing relationship between some Christian groups and the Jewish people; the article on Christian-Jewish reconciliation studies one recent issue.
Islam and Judaism
The relationship between Islam and Judaism is special and close. Both religions claim to arise from the patriarch Abraham, and are therefore considered Abrahamic religions. As fellow monotheists, Muslims view Jews as "people of the book", a term that Jews have subsequently adopted as a way of describing their own connection to the Torah and other holy texts. In turn, many Jews maintain that Muslims adhere to the Seven Laws of Noah. Thus, Judaism views Muslims as righteous people of God. Jews have interacted with Muslims since the 7th century, when Islam originated and spread in the Arabian peninsula, and many aspects of Islam's core values, structure, jurisprudence and practice are based on Judaism. Muslim culture and philosophy have heavily influenced practitioners of Judaism in the Islamic world.
In premodern Muslim countries, Jews rarely faced martyrdom, exile or forcible conversion, and were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession. Indeed, the years 712 to 1066 CE under the Ummayad and the Abbasid rulers have been called the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. Non-Muslim monotheists living in these countries, including Jews, were known as dhimmis. Dhimmis were allowed to practice their religion and to administer their internal affairs, but subject to certain restrictions that were not imposed on Muslims. For example, they had to pay the jizya, a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males, and were also forbidden from bearing arms or testifying in court cases involving Muslims. Many of the laws regarding dhimmis were highly symbolic. For example, dhimmis in some countries were required to wear distinctive clothing, a practice not found in the Qur'an or hadiths but invented in early medieval Baghdad and inconsistently enforced. Jews in Muslim countries were not entirely free from persecution—for example, many were killed, exiled or forcibly converted in the 12th century, in Persia and by the rulers of the Almohad dynasty in North Africa and Al-Andalus. At times, Jews were also restricted in their choice of residence—in Morocco, Jews were confined to walled quarters (mellahs) beginning in the 15th century and increasingly since the early 19th century.
In the late 20th century, Jews were expelled from nearly all the Arab countries. Most have chosen to live in Israel. Today, antisemitic themes have become commonplace in the propaganda of Arab Islamic movements such as Hizbullah and Hamas, in the pronouncements of various agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and even in the newspapers and other publications of Refah Partisi.
Syncretic movements incorporating Judaism
There are some organizations that combine elements of Judaism with those of other religions. The most well-known of these is the
Messianic Judaism, which arose in the 1960s. It a blends
evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual. The movement states that
Jesus is part of the
Trinity, and
salvation is only achieved through acceptance of Jesus as one's savior. Some members of the movement are ethnically Jewish, and some of them argue that Messianic Judaism is a sect of Judaism. Jewish organizations and religious movements reject this, stating that Messianic Judaism is a Christian sect. The most controversial of these groups is the American
Jews for Jesus, which actively proselytizes ethnic Jews through numerous missionary campaigns in major American cities.
Other examples of syncretism include Judeo-Paganists, a loosely organized set of Jews who incorporate pagan or Wiccan beliefs with some Jewish religious practices, like Messianic Judaism; Jewish Buddhists, another loosely organized group that incorporates elements of Asian spirituality in their faith; and some Renewal Jews who borrow freely and openly from Buddhism, Sufism, Native American religion, and other faiths.
The Kabbalah Centre, which employs teachers from multiple religions, is a New Age movement that claims to popularize the kabbalah, the Jewish esoteric tradition.
See also
Anti-Judaism
Frankism
Jewish views of religious pluralism
Judaism by country
List of converts to Judaism
Sabbateanism
Secular Jewish culture
United States military chaplain symbols
References
Bibliography
Marc Lee Raphael, "Judaism in America" (Columbia University Press, 2003)
Avery-Peck, Alan, and Neusner, Jacob, (eds), "The Blackwell reader in Judaism" (Blackwell, 2001)
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan, "Judaism: history, belief, and practice" (Routledge, 2003)
Avery-Peck, Alan, and Neusner, Jacob, (eds), "The Blackwell Companion to Judaism (Blackwell, 2003)
Boyarin, Daniel 1994 ''A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity'' Berkeley: University of California Press
''Ancient Judaism'', Max Weber, Free Press, 1967, ISBN 0-02-934130-2
''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 American Jewish Identity Survey'', article 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.
Lewis, Bernard (1984). ''The Jews of Islam''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00807-8
Lewis, Bernard (1999). ''Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice''. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31839-7
Stillman, Norman (1979). ''The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book''. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
Day, John. ''Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan''. Chippenham: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
Dever, William G. ''Did God Have a Wife?''. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005.
Walsh, J.P.M. ''The Mighty From Their Thrones''. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1987.
Finkelstein, Israel (1996). ''Ethinicity and Origin of the Iron I Settlers in the Highlands of Canaan: Can the Real Israel Please Stand Up?'' The Biblical Archaeologist, 59(4).
Jews in Islamic countries:
A. Khanbaghi. ''The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran'' (IB Tauris 2006).
External links
;General
Judaism 101, an extensive FAQ written by a librarian.
Judaism article from the 1901-1906 ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
Shamash's Judaism resource page
;Orthodox/Haredi
Orthodox Judaism - The Orthodox Union: Official website
Chabad-Lubavitch: Official website
The Various Types of Orthodox Judaism
Aish HaTorah
Ohr Somayach
;Traditional/Conservadox
Union for Traditional Judaism
;Conservative
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism: Official website
Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel
United Synagogue Youth
;Reform/Progressive
The Union for Reform Judaism (USA)
Reform Judaism (UK): Official website
Liberal Judaism (UK): Official website
World Union for Progressive Judaism (Israel): Official website
;Reconstructionist
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation: Official website
;Renewal
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal: Official website
OHALAH Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal: Official website
;Humanistic
Society for Humanistic Judaism: Official website
;Karaite
World Movement for Karaite Judaism
;Jewish religious literature and texts
Complete Tanakh (in Hebrew, with vowels).
English Tanakh from the 1917 Jewish Publication Society version.
The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi in English
Torah.org. (also known as ''Project Genesis'') Contains Torah commentaries and studies of Tanakh, along with Jewish ethics, philosophy, holidays and other classes.
The complete formatted Talmud online. Audio files of lectures for each page from an Orthodox viewpoint are provided in French, English, Yiddish and Hebrew. Reload the page for an image of a page of the Talmud.
See also
Torah database for links to more judaism e-texts.
;Wikimedia Torah study projects
Text study projects at Wikisource. In many instances, the Hebrew versions of these projects are more fully developed than the English.
Mikraot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible) in Hebrew (sample) and English (sample).
Cantillation at the "Vayavinu Bamikra" Project in Hebrew (lists nearly 200 recordings) and English.
Mishnah in Hebrew (sample) and English (sample).
Shulchan Aruch in Hebrew and English (Hebrew text with English translation).
Category:Monotheistic religions
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af:Judaïsme
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an:Chudaísmo
arc:ܝܗܘܕܝܘܬܐ
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bo:ཡིའུ་ཐའེ་ཆོས་ལུགས།
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br:Yuzevegezh
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fr:Judaïsme
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fur:Ebraisim
ga:An Giúdachas
gl:Xudaísmo
hak:Yù-thai-kau
ko:유대교
hy:Հուդայականություն
hi:यहूदी धर्म
hr:Judaizam
io:Judaismo
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id:Agama Yahudi
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sw:Uyahudi
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lad:Djudaismo
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mt:Ġudaiżmu
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mwl:Judaísmo
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pt:Judaísmo
crh:Yeudilik
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rm:Giudaissem
qu:Hudyu iñiy
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ta:யூதம்
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tt:Yəhüd dine
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tr:Yahudilik
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zh:犹太教
![Shabbat candles (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת, Modern Shabbat Tiberian Šabbāṯ, Ashkenazi pronunciation: Shabbos, Yiddish: שבת [ˈʃabəs], in English: the Sabbath,](http://web.archive.org./web/20120414123238/http://cdn7.wn.com/pd/8e/a2/df96e9aac39e5081b751f1e46f86_medium.jpg "Shabbat candles (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת, Modern Shabbat Tiberian Šabbāṯ, Ashkenazi pronunciation: Shabbos, Yiddish: שבת [ˈʃabəs], in English: the Sabbath,")
![Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul. The majority of Tunisia's population (98%) are Muslims, while 1% follow Christianity and the rest (1%) adhere to Judaism or other religions.[30] However, there are no reliable data on the number of practicing Muslims.](http://web.archive.org./web/20120414123238/http://cdn9.wn.com/pd/44/96/06f112336c58345f4ab03e21354d_medium.jpg "Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul. The majority of Tunisia's population (98%) are Muslims, while 1% follow Christianity and the rest (1%) adhere to Judaism or other religions.[30] However, there are no reliable data on the number of practicing Muslims.")
