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Judaism
Judaism (יהודה, Yehudah, “Judah”) is the religion of the Jewish people. It is an ancient, monotheistic, Abrahamic religion with the Torah as its foundational text. It encompasses the religion, philosophy, and culture of the Jewish people.
Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. Judaism encompasses a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization.
Jewish History Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenistic period (323 BCE – 31 BCE) and the earliest mention...
Noahide Laws According to Jewish tradition, the Noahide Laws (Hebrew: שבע מצוות בני נח, Sheva mitzvot b’nei Noach), also called the Brit Noah (“Covenant of Noah”) refer to seven religious laws that were given by G-d to Adam and Noah, which are considered to be morally binding on non-Jews. These laws are listed in the Talmud and...
Slaughter Offering A slaughter offering in the Hebrew Bible (זָבַח, zevakh) is a type of Jewish animal sacrifice. The term specifically refers to the slaughter of an animal to God followed by a feast or a meal. This is distinguished from the burnt offering, shechita, guilt offering, sin offering, korban sacrifice, and the gift offering (Hebrew minchah). A common subcategory of...
Korban In Judaism, the korban (קָרְבָּן qorbān), also spelled qorban or corban, is any of a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah. The plural form is korbanot, korbanoth or korbans. A korban was a kosher animal sacrifice, such as a bull, sheep, goat, or a dove that underwent shechita (Jewish Ritual Slaughter). Sacrifices could also consist of...
Jewish Atheism Jewish atheism refers to the atheism of people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish. Because Jewish identity is ethnoreligious (i.e., it encompasses ethnic as well as religious components), the term “Jewish atheism” does not inherently entail a contradiction. Based on Jewish law’s emphasis...
Jewish Reactions to Intelligent Design The reaction of Jewish leaders and organizations to intelligent design has been primarily concerned with responding to proposals to include intelligent design in public school curricula as a rival scientific hypothesis to modern evolutionary theory. Intelligent design is an argument for the existence of God, based on the...
Anger in Judaism Anger in Judaism is treated as a negative trait to be avoided whenever possible. The subject of anger is treated in a range of Jewish sources, from the Bible and Talmud, to Halacha, Kabbalah, Hasidism and contemporary Jewish sources. Main articles: Sin, What Is Sin? In Tanach In the Book of Genesis, Jacob condemned the anger that...
Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (חב”ד), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic movement. Chabad is one of the world’s best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world. READ ⇒ Hasidic Judaism Founded in 1775 by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the name “Chabad”...
Musar Movement The Musar movement which was Developed by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (also Mussar movement) is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Lithuania, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar (מוּסַר), is from the Book of Proverbs (1:2) describing moral conduct, instruction or discipline, educating oneself...
Sefer Torah Sefer Torah (ספר תורה; “Book of Torah”; plural: ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah), is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning: of the Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is...
Composition of the Torah The composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was a process that involved multiple authors over an extended period of time. While Jewish tradition holds that all five books were originally written by Moses sometime...
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּיפּוּר, or יום הכיפורים), also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of...
Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning “head [of] the year”, is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), literally “day of shouting or blasting”. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים Yamim Nora’im. “Days of Awe”) specified by Leviticus 23:23–32 that occur...
Jewish Ethnic Divisions Jewish ethnic divisions refers to a number of distinctive communities within the world’s ethnically Jewish population. Although considered one single self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinctive ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, mixing with local populations, and subsequent independent evolutions. As long...
Torah Reading Torah reading (קריאת התורה, K’riat haTorah, “Reading [of] the Torah“; Kriyas haToire) is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark,...
Synagogue A synagogue (from Ancient Greek συναγωγή, synagogē, ‘assembly’; Hebrew: בית כנסת bet knesset, ‘house of assembly’, or בית תפילה bet tefila, “house of prayer”; Yiddish: שול shul, Ladino: אשנוגה esnoga, ‘bright as fire’, or קהל kahal) is a Jewish or Samaritan house of worship. Synagogues have a large place for prayer (the main sanctuary) and may also have smaller rooms for study...
The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the World War II genocide of the European Jews. Between 1941 and 1945, across German-occupied Europe, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and...
Messiah in Judaism The Messiah in Judaism (מָשִׁיחַ, māšîaḥ; χριστός, khristós, ‘anointed, covered in oil’) is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology, who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is...
Jewish Christian Early Christianity had its roots in Hellenistic Judaism and the Jewish messianism of the first century and Jewish Christians were the first Christians. Christianity started with Jewish eschatological expectations, and it developed into the veneration of a deified Jesus after his earthly ministry, his crucifixion, and the post–crucifixion experiences of his followers. The inclusion of gentiles led to a growing split...
Jewish English Bible Translations Jewish English Bible translations are English translations of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the Masoretic Text, in the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions (Hebrew–English). Jewish translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible; all such translations eschew the Christological interpretations...
