Judaism is the
religion and
culture of the
Jewish
people and the first recorded
monotheistic faith. The tenets and history of Judaism constitute
the historical foundation of many other religions, including
Christianity and
Islam.
Introduction
Judaism does not easily fit into common Western categories, such
as
religion,
race,
ethnicity, or
culture. This is because Jews understand Judaism in terms of its
4,000 year history. During this stretch of time, Jews have
experienced slavery, anarchic self-government, theocratic
self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; they have been in
contact, and have been influenced by
ancient Egyptian,
Babylonian,
Persian,
and
Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the
Enlightenment and the rise of
nationalism. Thus, Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness
disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not
national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in
dialectical tension." Unlike most other identities (including
other races and religions) Judaism is not a self-enclosed and
bounded phenomenon (A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of
Identity 243-244).
Two things distinguish Judaism from the other religions that
existed when it first developed. First, it was
monotheistic. The significance of this belief is not so much the
denial of other gods. Although this element is fundamental to
Rabbinic Judaism, according to most critical Bible scholars the
Torah
often implies that the early Israelites accepted the existence of
other gods. Rather, the significance lies in that Judaism holds that
God created and cares about people. In polythestic religions,
humankind is often created by accident, and the gods are primarily
concerned with their relations with other gods, not with people.
Second, the
Torah
specifies a number of laws to be followed by the Children of Israel.
Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which
priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of
Israel similarly had a temple, priests, and made sacrifices -- but
these were not the sole means of worshipping God. In comparison to
other religions, Judaism elevates everyday life to the level of a
temple, and worships God through everyday actions.
By the Hellenic period, most Jews had come to believe that their
God is the only God (and thus, the God of everyone), and that the
record of His revelation (the
Torah)
contains within it universal truths. This attitude may reflect
growing Gentile interest in Judaism (some Greeks and Romans
considered the Jews a most "philosophical" people because of their
belief in a God that cannot be represented visually), and growing
Jewish interest in Greek philosophy, which sought to establish
universal truths. Jews began to grapple with the tension between the
particularism of their claim that only Jews were required to obey
the
Torah,
and the universalism of their claim that the
Torah
contained universal truths. The result is a set of beliefs and
practices concerning both identity, ethics, one's relation to
nature, and one's relation to God, that privilege "difference" --
the difference between Jews and non-Jews; the differences between
locally variable ways of practicing Judaism; a close attention to
different meanings of words when interpreting texts; attempts to
encode different points of view within texts, and a relative
indifference to creed and dogma.
The subject of the
Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is an account of the
Israelites (also called Hebrews) relationship with
God as
reflected in their history from the beginning of time until the
building of the
Second Temple (approx. 350 BCE). This relationship is generally
portrayed as contentious, as Jews struggle between their faith in
God and their attraction for other gods, and as some Jews (most
notably,
Abraham,
Jacob
-- later known as
Israel,
and
Moses)
struggle with God. Modern scholars also suggest that the
Torah
consists of a variety of inconsistent texts that were edited
together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts (see
Documentary hypothesis).
While Judaism has always affirmed a number of other
Jewish Principles of Faith, it has never developed a fully
binding catechism. It is difficult to generalize about Jewish
theology because Judaism is non-creedal; that is, there is no
agreed-upon dogma (set of orthodox beliefs) that most Jews believed
were required of Jews. While individual Jewish rabbis, or sometimes
entire groups, at times agreed upon a firm dogma, other rabbis and
groups disagreed. With no central agreed-upon authority, no one
formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedent over
any other.
The ancient historian
Josephus emphasizes practices and traditions rather than beliefs
when he describes the characteristics of an apostate (a Jew who does
not follow traditional customs) and the requirements for conversion
to Judaism (circumcision, and adherance to traditional customs).
Despite the above, in
Orthodox Judaism some principles (e.g. the Divine origin of the
Torah) are considered important enough that public rebellion against
them can put one in the category of "apikoros" (heretic).
Jewish denominations
In the last two centuries the Jewish community has divided into a
number of
Jewish denominations; each has a greatly different understanding
of what principles of belief a Jew should hold, and how one should
live as a Jew. Most of Orthodox Judaism holds to one particular form
of Jewish theology, based on Maimonides' 13 principles of Jewish
faith. Orthodox Jews hold that these principles are unchanging and
mandatory; non-Orthodox forms of Judaism hold that these principles
have evolved over time, and thus allow for more leeway in what
individual adherents believe.
Diaspora Judaism
Diaspora Judaism in modern times is commonly divided into the
following denominations:
-
Orthodox Judaism (includes
Hasidic Judaism,
Haredi Judaism or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and
Modern Orthodox Judaism) - this denomination holds that the
Torah was written by
God and
Moses,
and that the original laws within it are binding and unchanging.
While Orthodox Judaism is in many senses what Judaism has been
since the
Middle Ages, its formation as a movement was a direct response
to the formation of
Reform Judaism.
-
Conservative Judaism. Outside of the
USA it
is known as Masorti Judaism. "Masorti" is its official title in
the State of Israel as well, although most Israelis use the word
in a more general sense (see below). In the philosophy of this
movement, the
Torah,
while unchanging, is subject to interpretation.
-
Reform Judaism (outside of the USA also known as Progressive
Judaism, and in the U.K. as
Liberal Judaism) originally formed in
Germany as a reaction to traditional Judaism, stresses
integration with society and a personal interpretation of the
Torah.
The original intent was to keep Jews "in the fold" who might
otherwise leave the religion and community.
-
Reconstructionist Judaism started as a stream of philosophy by
a rabbi within Conservative Judaism, and later became an
independent movement.
Jewish Identity in Modern Israel
All of the above denominations exist, to varying degrees, in the
State of Israel. Nevertheless, Israelis tend to classify Jewish
identity in ways that are strikingly different than diaspora Jewry.
Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni)
or as "traditional" (masorti). "Secular" is more popular
among Israeli families of western (European)origin, whose Jewish
identity may be a very powerful force in their lives, but who see it
as largely independant of traditional religious belief and practice.
This portion of the population largely ignores or avoids ignores
organized religious life, be it of the official Israeli rabbinate
(Orthodox) or of the liberal movements common to diaspora Judaism
(Reform, Conservative). The term "traditional" (masorti) is
most common among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e. Middle
East, central Asia and North Africa). This term, as commonly used,
has nothing to do with the official "Masorti" (Conservative)
movement in the State of Israel. There is a great deal of ambiguity
in the ways "secular" and "traditional" are used in Israel. They
often overlap, and they cover an extremely wide range in terms of
ideology and religious observance.
The term "Orthodox" (dati) is unpopular in Israeli
discourse (among both "secular" and "religious" alike).
Nevertheless, the spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora
exists in Israel, again with some important variations. The
"Orthodox" spectrum in Israel is a far greater percentage of the
Jewish population in Israel than in the diaspora, though how
much greater is hotly debated. Various ways of measuring this
percentage, each with its pros and cons, include the proportion of
religiously observant Knesset members, the proportion of Jewish
children enrolled in religious schools, and statistical studies on
"identity".
What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is
commonly called dati (religious) or haredi
(ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. The former term includes what is called
"Religious Zionism" or the "National Religious" community, as well
as what has become known over the past decade or so as
haredi-leumi (nationalist ultra-Orthodox), which combines a
largely haredi lifestyle with nationist ideology.
Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided
into three separate groups along both ethnic and ideological lines:
(1) "Lithuanian" (non-hasidic) haredim of Ashkenazic
origin; (2) Hasidic haredim of Ashkenazic origin; and (3)
Sephardic haredim. The third group is the largest, and has
been the most politically active since the early
1990s.
Karaism
Unlike the above denominations, which were ideological reactions
that resulted from the exposure of traditional rabbinic Judaism to
the radical changes of modern times,
Karaite Judaism did not begin as a modern Jewish movement. The
followers of
Karaism believe they are the remnants of the non-Rabbinic Jewish
sects of the Second Temple period, such as the
Saducees, though others contend they are a sect started in the
8th and 9th centuries. The
Karaites, or "Scripturalists," accept only the Hebrew bible
according to what they view as the Peshat/"Plain or Simple Meaning",
and reject all the works of classical rabbinic literature. Some
European Karaites do not see themselves as part of the Jewish
community, while most do.
The main article
Jewish views of religious pluralism describes how Judaism views
other religions; it also describes how members of each of the Jewish
religious denomination view the other denominations.
The Traditional Jewish Bookshelf
Jews are often referred to as the "people of the book", and
Judaism has a longstanding intellectual tradition that focuses on
text-based
Torah study. While this list is not exhaustive, it sums up the
most important works of influence to Jewish practice and thought.
