Judaism: Beliefs, Practices, and Historical Evolution
Judaism is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon encompassing a total way of life for the Jewish people, comprising theology, law, and myriad cultural traditions. It is characterized by a belief in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets, and by a religious life lived in accordance with scriptures and rabbinic traditions. Jewish religious doctrine encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization.
Core Texts and Traditions
Among Judaism's core texts is the Torah-the first five books of the Hebrew Bible-and a collection of ancient Hebrew scriptures. The Tanakh, known in English as the Hebrew Bible, has the same books as Protestant Christianity's Old Testament, with some differences in order and content. In addition to the original written scripture, the supplemental Oral Torah is represented by later texts, such as the Midrash and the Talmud. The Hebrew-language word torah can mean "teaching", "law", or "instruction", although "Torah" can also be used as a general term that refers to any Jewish text or teaching that expands or elaborates on the original Five Books of Moses.
Rabbinic tradition holds that the details and interpretation of the Law, called the Oral Torah or "Oral Law," were originally unwritten traditions based on the Law given to Moses at Sinai. However, as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, these oral laws were recorded by Judah ha-Nasi in the Mishnah, redacted c. 200 CE. The Talmud was a compilation of the Mishnah and Gemara, rabbinic commentaries redacted over the next three centuries. The Gemara originated in two major centers of Jewish scholarship, Palestine and Babylonia (Lower Mesopotamia). Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the Jerusalem Talmud.
Denominations and Movements
Within Judaism, there are a variety of religious movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. Historically, all or part of this assertion was challenged by various groups, such as the Sadducees and Hellenistic Judaism during the Second Temple period; the Karaites during the early and later medieval period; and among segments of the modern non-Orthodox denominations. Some modern branches of Judaism, such as Humanistic Judaism, may be considered secular or nontheistic. Today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism (Haredi and Modern Orthodox), Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism. Additional smaller liberal Jewish denominations include Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Humanistic, which emphasize Judaism as an evolving culture with shared historical memory.
Orthodox Judaism: Adheres to a strict interpretation, application, and observance of Jewish laws, holidays (refraining from work, commerce, electricity) and dietary restrictions (kashrut). Modern Orthodox Jews tend to obtain high levels of secular education and live lives more integrated into mainstream society. Haredi Jews tend to live and learn separately from mainstream society, and dress more distinctively and moderately. Although sometimes referred to as “ultra-Orthodox,” they prefer Haredi, which means those who tremble in fear of God.
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Conservative Judaism: A centrist denomination that maintains many traditional practices but updates some to suit modern sensibilities. Many keep kosher, and some observe Shabbat and Jewish holidays by refraining from work. Note that "Conservative" in this case does not refer to political leanings.
Reform Judaism: Though its early classical period was in 19th-century Germany and Central Europe, Reform Judaism has undergone its greatest period of growth and development in the United States. Today, Reform Judaism numbers some two million adherents in nearly 40 countries throughout the world.
Origins and Historical Development
Judaism began about 4000 years ago with the Hebrew people in the Middle East. Abraham, a Hebrew man, is considered the father of the Jewish faith because he promoted the central idea of the Jewish faith: that there is one God. At the time many people in the Middle East worshipped many gods. It is said that Abraham and his wife Sarah, who were old and childless, were told by God that their children would be as plentiful as the stars in the sky and that they would live in a land of their own -- the Promised Land. Abraham's son, Isaac, had a son, Jacob, also called Israel. In this way, the descendants of Abraham came to be known as the Israelites.
A significant part of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh is an account of the Israelites' relationship with religion and 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. In Exodus, the second book of the bible, the descendants of Isaac's son Jacob were enslaved in Egypt, and God commanded Moses to lead the Exodus from Egypt in a vision. Rules and commandments were conveyed to Moses at Sinai; accounted in the Torah, or five books of Moses. These books, together with the Nevi'im and Ketuvim, are known as Torah Shebikhtav, as opposed to the Oral Torah, which refers to the Mishnah and the Talmud. The Nevi'im details historical narratives, and prophetic writings, focusing on the Israelites' settlements in Canaan.
God promised the Israelites he would care for them as long as they obeyed God's laws. While still traveling, the Hebrews lived in Egypt where they were enslaved. Moses, a Hebrew, was chosen by God to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt. Moses led the Hebrew people out of the Sinai Desert toward the promised land. At Mt. Sinai, God gave Moses the Law which would guide the Israelites to today. It took many years for the Israelites to finally get to what they thought was the Promised Land - Canaan. After some fighting, the Jews established the Israelite kingdom.
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According to the Hebrew Bible, a 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 destroyed around 720 BCE when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire; many people were taken captive from the capital Samaria to Media and the Khabur River valley. The Kingdom of Judah continued as an independent state until it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, which was at the center of ancient Jewish worship. The Judeans were exiled to Babylon, in what is regarded as the first Jewish diaspora. Later, many of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylon by the Persian Achaemenid Empire seventy years later, an event known as the Return to Zion.
After many years, Canaan was conquered by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and then eventually the Romans. The Israelites once again found themselves enslaved, this time by Babylonians. The Israelites were then taken over by Romans who destroyed much of what had been built in Jerusalem by the Israelites. Most of the Jews were scattered all over the region and eventually moved from place to place to avoid persecution which continues to this day. During the Great Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE), the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. Later, Roman emperor Hadrian built a pagan idol on the Temple Mount and prohibited circumcision; these acts of ethnocide provoked the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136 CE), after which the Romans banned the study of the Torah and the celebration of Jewish holidays, and forcibly removed virtually all Jews from Judea.
Defining "Judaism"
Jews are an ethnoreligious group including those born Jewish, in addition to converts to Judaism. The term Judaism derives from Iudaismus, a Latinized form of the Ancient Greek Ioudaismos (Koine Greek: Ἰουδαϊσμός, from the verb ἰουδαΐζειν 'to side with or imitate the [Judeans]'). Its ultimate source was Hebrew: יהודה, romanized: Yehudah 'Judah' (referring to the Kingdom of Judah), which is also the source of the Hebrew term for Judaism, יַהֲדוּת Yahaḏuṯ. The term Ioudaismos first appears in the Koine Greek book of 2 Maccabees in the 2nd century BCE (specifically 2 Maccabees 2:21, 8:1 and 14:38). In the context of the age and period it meant "seeking or forming part of a cultural entity". It resembled its antonym Hellenismos, a word signifying people's submission to Hellenistic cultural norms.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the earliest citation in English where the term was 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 (1516). "Judaism" as a direct translation of the Latin Iudaismus first occurred in a 1611 English translation of the Biblical apocrypha (the Deuterocanonical books in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy), 2 Macc. ii.
Core Beliefs and Principles
Ethical monotheism is central to all sacred or normative texts of Judaism. However, monotheism has not always been followed in practice. In Maimonides' time, his list of tenets was criticized by Hasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo. 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 or various commentaries such as the Talmud and Midrash.
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Establishing the core tenets of Judaism in the modern era is even more difficult, given the number and diversity of the contemporary Jewish denominations. Even if to restrict the problem to the most influential intellectual trends of the nineteenth and twentieth century, the matter remains complicated. Thus, for instance, Joseph Soloveitchik's (associated with the Modern Orthodox movement) answer to modernity is constituted upon the identification of Judaism with following the halakha whereas its ultimate goal is to bring the holiness down to the world. Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of the Reconstructionist Judaism, abandons the idea of religion for the sake of identifying Judaism with civilization and by means of the latter term and secular translation of the core ideas, he tries to embrace as many Jewish denominations as possible. In turn, Solomon Schechter's Conservative Judaism was identical with the tradition understood as the interpretation of Torah, in itself being the history of the constant updates and adjustment of the Law performed by means of the creative interpretation.
The Torah and its Interpretation
The basis of halakha and tradition 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. While there have been Jewish groups whose beliefs and practices were based on the written text of the Torah alone (e.g., the Sadducees, and the Karaites), most Jews follow the oral law. According to Rabbinical Jewish tradition, God gave both the Written Law (the Torah) and the Oral Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. For centuries, the Torah appeared only as a written text transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition.
In the text of the Torah, many words are left undefined, and many procedures are mentioned without explanation or instructions. 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 (Hebrew Sheelot U-Teshuvot).
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. In the study of Torah, the sages formulated and followed various logical and hermeneutical principles. Thus, Hillel called attention to seven commonly used hermeneutical principles 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.
The Second Temple Period Beliefs
Jesus lived, taught, and died in Palestine in the first century - and the church was born in that social, cultural, and religious context. In order to understand Jesus and the early church well, we need to know about this setting. Key beliefs and practices during the Second Temple period included:
One True God: Jewish people in the ancient world were marked out by their belief that there was only one true God, Yahweh. This monotheism contrasted sharply with the many gods of other faiths, whether the Greek and Roman gods or the many local deities in different parts of the ancient world.
Israel as God’s Chosen People: Election is the belief that the creator of the universe has chosen Israel to be his people and has committed himself to them by a covenant.
God’s Laws (Torah): The law (or torah) was God’s gracious gift to the people he had chosen and redeemed, in order to show them how he wished his people to live, and it was highly prized by first-century Jews. The commandments are being given to a people who are already the people of God, for he has brought them out of slavery in Egypt to be his own people. They are given so that they may know how to conduct their national, family, and individual lives in line with God’s will. Three facets of the law were particularly important by the time of Jesus - namely circumcision, the Sabbath, and the food laws - and these were treated as ‘boundary markers’ which showed who truly belonged to the one true God.
God’s Land and Temple: A key element in God’s covenant with Abraham was the promise of a land. Because the land was promised to them by God, the Jews saw it as holy - for God lived there among them. Within the land, the city of Jerusalem held a special place and within the city. The temple was on Mount Zion, and God had placed his ‘name’ there.
Festivals and Hope for the Future: During the Babylonian exile worship had begun to center more on reading the torah and prayer than on the temple services - for there was no Jewish temple in Babylon. The return from exile established the centrality of the law to Jewish worship, particularly through the work of Ezra the scribe. This developed over the years into the institution of the synagogue, a meeting for worship focused on the reading of Scripture and prayer. It became particularly important in diaspora Judaism - for they lacked access to the Jerusalem temple - but was also important in the land of Israel itself, as we know from Jesus’ regular attendance (Luke 4:16).
Jewish Practices and Observances
Jewish people believe in the Torah, which was the whole of the laws given to the Israelities at Sinai. They believe they must follow God's laws which govern daily life. The Tenakh is the ancient collection of writings that are sacred to the Jews. They were written over almost a thousand years from 1000 to 100 BCE. The Torah is written on scrolls and kept in a special cabinet called the aron hakodish, the holy ark, in synagogues. The Torah is read with a pointer called a yad (hand) to keep it from being spoiled. The Talmud is also an important collection of Jewish writings. Written about 2000 years ago, it is a recording of the rabbis' discussion of the way to follow the Torah at that time.
Key Observances
Shabbat: The Jewish sabbath is observed each week from shortly before sunset on Friday until an hour after sunset on Saturday. Observant Jews refrain from work and commerce and devote time to rest, prayer, religious study, and festive meals with family and friends. Greeting: Shabbat Shalom!
Rosh Hashanah: One of two High Holidays, the Jewish New Year celebrates creation and renewal and marks the beginning of 10 days of introspection. Jews attend synagogue, hear the blast of the shofar (ram’s horn), and enjoy festive meals with family and friends. Greeting: Happy New Year! Shana Tova (Shah-nah’ To-vah’)
Yom Kippur: The second High Holiday is the “Day of Atonement,” the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Jews fast for 25 hours, pray, reaffirm their faith, and ask for God’s forgiveness. Greeting: Have a Meaningful Fast; G’mar Hatima Tova (Guh-mar’ Hah-tee-mah’ To-vah’)
Sukkot: A week-long harvest festival during which Jews build and eat in outdoor huts that commemorate the booths Jews used as temporary dwellings in their biblical wanderings in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. Greeting: Happy Holiday! Chag Sameach (Hag Sah-may’ach)
Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah: Celebrates the completion of the year-long cycle of reading the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible (Torah) and the start of the next cycle. Greeting: Happy Holiday! Chag Sameach (Hag Sah-may’ach)
Hanukkah: Celebrates the rededication of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem when a small bit of oil burned miraculously for 8 days, after the Maccabees ousted the occupying Syrian Greeks and secured the Jews’ religious and political freedom. Greeting: Happy Hanukkah! Hanukkah Sameach (Ha’noo-kah Sah-may’ach)
Purim: Celebrates the rescue of the Jews of ancient Persia from a plot to exterminate them, as recorded in the biblical Book of Esther. Greeting: Happy Purim! Chag Purim Sameach (Hag Poor’im Sah-may’ach)
Pesach / Passover: A week-long festival celebrates the Jews’ freedom and exodus from Egypt. Jews gather at home the first two nights for a special meal (seder) with family and friends. Greeting: Happy Passover! Chag Pesach Sameach (Hag Pay’sach Sah-may’ach)
Yom HaShoah / Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day: Commemorates the Hebrew calendar date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to honor those murdered in the Holocaust and the heroism of European Jews. Established by the State of Israel in 1951. This is the day the Jewish community commemorates the Holocaust, as distinguished from International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which the United Nations designated in 2005 to occur annually on January 27, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Shavuot: Celebrates the Jewish people receiving the Torah (God’s laws) on Mount Sinai. Greeting: Happy Holiday!
Jewish Life Cycle Events
Bar/Bat Mitzvah: Jewish coming-of-age ritual that involves extensive preparation and study, a ceremony at the synagogue, and a celebratory meal or party. Bar mitzvah (boys) at age 13; Bat mitzvah (girls) at age 12 or 13. Greeting: Mazal Tov!
Bris/Brit Milah: The circumcision and naming ceremony on the 8th day after a baby boy’s birth, marking entrance into the Jewish community, followed by a celebratory meal. Greeting: Mazal Tov!
Simchat Bat: The naming ceremony for a baby girl, celebrated any time during the first year of life, marking the baby’s entrance into the Jewish community, followed by a celebratory meal. Greeting: Mazal Tov!
Shiva: A week-long period of mourning for direct relatives after the burial of the dead. Customary practice is a donation to a charity important to the deceased, in lieu of flowers. Greeting: May your loved one's memory be for a blessing.
Kashrut (Kosher Dietary Laws)
Jewish dietary laws that stipulate that meat and milk products cannot be eaten together, and certain animals cannot be eaten at all (e.g., pork; shellfish). Many Jews who keep kosher, particularly Orthodox Jews, will only eat food that has been prepared under the supervision of a rabbi to ensure that all kashrut laws have been strictly followed. There are special dietary laws for the 8 days of Passover, when matzah (unleavened cracker-like flatbread) is eaten, and it is prohibited to eat leavened foods like bread and other grain products.
Jewish Philosophy
Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. Major Jewish philosophers include Philo of Alexandria, 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. 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 Importance of Tzedakah (Charity)
Acts of kindness and charitable giving are among the best ways to connect with G-d and strengthen one’s faith. Jews are encouraged to practice philanthropy through Tzedakah, which is the Hebrew word for charity or righteous giving. It includes both the traditional giving of food and monetary donations to the poor as well as acts of kindness such as visiting the sick or providing comfort to widows and orphans in need.
Tenets of Jewish Philanthropy
Chesed: Chesed, or ‘loving-kindness’, has come to describe a special form of charity in which the recipient benefits from more than just material assistance. Instead, it seeks to help people with their spiritual and emotional needs, as well. A prime example is supporting the sick or volunteering in one’s community.
Tzedakah: Tzedakah refers to acts of Jewish charity and philanthropy that are rooted in justice, fairness, and righteousness. Every Jewish person must help the less fortunate. Tzedakah has been described as “ethical altruism,” and it applies to both individuals and organizations alike. The Torah does not just command us to give to the poor but to advocate on their behalf.
General Observations
In nearly 4,000 years of historical development, the Jewish people and their religion have displayed a remarkable adaptability and continuity. In their encounter with the great civilizations, from ancient Babylonia and Egypt to Western Christendom and modern secular culture, they have assimilated foreign elements and integrated them into their own social and religious systems, thus maintaining an unbroken religious and cultural tradition. Furthermore, each period of Jewish history has left behind it a specific element of a Judaic heritage that continued to influence subsequent developments, so that the total Jewish heritage at any given time is a combination of all these successive elements along with whatever adjustments and accretions have occurred in each new age.
The various teachings of Judaism have often been regarded as specifications of the central idea of monotheism. One God, the creator of the world, has freely elected the Jewish people for a unique covenantal relationship with himself. This one and only God has been affirmed by virtually all professing Jews in a variety of ways throughout the ages. Jewish monotheism has had both universalistic and particularistic features. Along universal lines, it has affirmed a God who created and rules the entire world and who at the end of history will redeem all Israel (the classical name for the Jewish people), all humankind, and indeed the whole world. The ultimate goal of all nature and history is an unending reign of cosmic intimacy with God, entailing universal justice and peace.
Between creation and redemption lies the particularistic designation of the Jewish people as the locus of God’s activity in the world, as the people chosen by God to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). This arrangement is designated a covenant and is structured by an elaborate and intricate law. Thus, the Jewish people are both entitled to special privileges and burdened with special responsibilities from God. As the prophet Amos (8th century bce) expressed it: “You alone have I intimately known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2). The universal goal of the Jewish people has frequently expressed itself in messianism-the idea of a universal, political realm of justice and peace. In one form or another, messianism has permeated Jewish thinking and action throughout the ages, and it has strongly influenced the outlook of many secular-minded Jews.
Law embraces practically all domains of Jewish life, and it became the principle means by which Judaism was to bring about the reign of God on earth. It is a total guide to religious and ethical conduct, involving ritualistic observance as well as individual and social ethics. It is a liturgical and ethical way constantly expatiated on by the prophets and priests, by rabbinic sages, and by philosophers. Such conduct was to be performed in the service of God, the transcendent and immanent ruler of the universe, the Creator and the propelling force of nature, and the one giving guidance and purpose to history. According to Judaic belief, this divine guidance is manifested through the history of the Jewish people, which will culminate in the messianic age. Judaism, whether in its “normative” form or in its sectarian deviations, never completely departed from this basic ethical and historical monotheism.
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