“Windows To Spirituality”
Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or simply Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכְּנַזִּים, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז Y’hudey Ashkenaz), are a Jewish diaspora population who coalesced in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium. The traditional diaspora language of Ashkenazi Jews is Yiddish (a Germanic language with elements of Hebrew and Aramaic), developed...
History Of The Jews In The Roman Empire The history of the Jews in the Roman Empire traces the interaction of Jews and Romans during the period of the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 476). Their cultures began to overlap in the centuries just before the Christian Era. Jews,...
Judaism And Violence This article covers the relationship between Judaism and violence. Judaism’s doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence. Laws requiring the eradication of “evil”, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. Judaism also contains peaceful doctrines. This article deals with the juxtaposition of Judaic...
Origins Of Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century, after the codification of the Talmud. Rabbinic Judaism gained predominance within the Jewish diaspora between the 2nd to 6th centuries, with the development of the Oral Law (Mishna and Talmud) to...
Judaism And Peace Judaism has teachings and guidance for its adherents through the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature relating to the notion and concept of peace. Shalom Main article: Shalom The Hebrew word for peace is shalom which is derived from one of the names of God. Hebrew root word for “complete” or “whole”...
Sefirot Sefirot (סְפִירוֹת səphîrôṯ), meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals Itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms (Seder hishtalshelus). The term is alternatively transliterated into English as sephirot/sephiroth, singular sefirah/sephirah etc. Alternative configurations of the sefirot are given...
Hermetic Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah (קַבָּלָה (qabalah), meaning ‘reception, accounting’) is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy...
Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a modern syncretic religious movement that combines Christianity—most importantly, the belief that Jesus is the Jewish messiah—with elements of Judaism and Jewish tradition. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Messianic Jews believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and “God the Son” (one person of the...
Karaite Judaism Karaite Judaism or Karaism (יהדות קראית, Yahadut Qara’it from, Qārāʾîm, meaning “Readers”; also spelled Qaraite Judaism or Qaraism) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme authority in halakha (Jewish religious law) and theology. Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down...
Neolog Judaism This article covers Neolog Judaism. Neologs (neológ irányzat, “Neolog Faction”) are one of the two large communal organizations among Hungarian Jewry. Socially, the liberal and modernist Neologs had been more inclined toward integration into Hungarian society since the Era of Emancipation in the 19th century. This was their...
Humanistic Judaism Humanistic Judaism (יהדות הומניסטית Yahadut Humanistit) is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people. It encourages humanistic and secular Jews to celebrate their Jewish identity by participating in Jewish holidays and...
Hasidic Judaism Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism (חסידות, hasidut, originally, “piety”), is a Jewish religious group. It arose as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most affiliates reside in Israel and the United States. Israel Ben Eliezer, the...
Shabbat Shabbat (שַׁבָּת, “rest” or “cessation”), Shabbos, Ashkenazi Hebrew and Yiddish: שבת), or the Sabbath, is Judaism’s day of rest and seventh day of the week. On this day, religious Jews, Samaritans and certain Christians (such as Seventh-day Adventists, the Church of God (Seventh-Day) and Seventh Day Baptists) remember the biblical creation of the heavens and...
Kashrut Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, כַּשְׁרוּת) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jews are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher (כּשר), from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér (כָּשֵׁר), meaning “fit” (in this context: “fit for...
Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully transmitted ever since. Orthodox Judaism, therefore, advocates a strict observance of Jewish Law,...
Shituf Shituf (שִׁתּוּף; also transliterated as shittuf or schituf; literally “association”) is a term used in Jewish sources for the worship of God in a manner which Judaism does not deem to be purely monotheistic. The term connotes a theology that is not outright polytheistic, but also should not be seen as purely monotheistic. The term is primarily used in reference to the...
Christianity And Judaism This article covers the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity is rooted in Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions diverged in the first centuries of the Christian Era. Christianity emphasizes correct belief (or orthodoxy), focusing on the New Covenant as mediated through Jesus Christ, as recorded in the...
Conservative Halakha Conservative Judaism views halakha (Jewish law) as normative and binding. The Conservative movement applies Jewish law to the full range of Jewish belief and practice, including thrice-daily prayer, Shabbat and holidays, marital relations and family purity, conversion, dietary laws (kashrut), and Jewish medical ethics. Institutionally, the Conservative movement rules on Jewish law both through centralized...
Interfaith Marriage In Judaism Interfaith marriage in Judaism (also called mixed marriage or intermarriage) was historically looked upon with very strong disfavour by Jewish leaders, and it remains a controversial issue among them today. In the Talmud and all of resulting Jewish law until the advent of new Jewish movements following the Jewish Enlightenment,...
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism (known as Masorti Judaism outside North America) is a major Jewish denomination which regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people and the community through the generations, more than from divine revelation. It therefore views Jewish law, or Halakha, as both binding and subject to...