Outline Of Judaism

Page Contents

The following outline (Outline of Judaism) is provided as an overview of and topical guide to 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.

History

Jewish Mythology
Origins of Judaism
Jewish History
History of The Jews in The Roman Empire

Pre-monarchic period

Ugaritic mythology – The Levant region was inhabited by people who themselves referred to the land as ‘ca-na-na-um’ as early as the mid-third millennium BCE
Ancient Semitic religions – The term ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic speaking peoples of the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa. Its origins are intertwined with Mesopotamian mythology.
El (deity) – the supreme god of the Canaanite religion and the supreme god of the Mesopotamian Semites in the pre-Sargonic period.
Elyon – “God Most High”
El Shaddai – “God Almighty”
Elohim – a grammatically singular or plural noun for “god” or “gods” in both modern and ancient Hebrew language.
Asherah – a Semitic mother goddess, the wife or consort of the Sumerian Anu or Ugaritic El, the oldest deities of their pantheons
Baal – a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning “master” or “lord” that is used for various gods who were patrons of cities in the Levant and Asia Minor
Yahweh – the national god of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah.
Tetragrammaton – YHWH

Monarchic period

United monarchy

Main article: Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)

King Saul – the first king of the united Kingdom of Israel.
Ish-bosheth – the second king of the united Kingdom
King David – the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel
King Solomon – the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah
Solomon’s Temple – the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount (also known as Mount Zion), before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE.

Further information:

Tel Dan Stele – a stele (inscribed stone) discovered in 1993/94 during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel.
Mesha Stele – a black basalt stone bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC ruler Mesha of Moab in Jordan.

Position in which a Jewish kohen places his hands and fingers during the Priestly Blessing, detail of a mozaic in the Synagoge of Enschede, Netherlands

Further information:Jeremiah

Kingdom of Israel

Main article: Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)

Kings of Israel

House of Jeroboam

House of Baasha

Baasha
Elah

House of Zimri

Zimri

House of Omri

Omri
Ahab
Ahaziah
Joram

House of Jehu

House of Shallum
House of Menahem

Pekahiah

House of Pekah
House of Hoshea

Major events

Assyrian captivity – 720 BC
Ten Lost Tribes

Return from captivity

Second Temple period

Development of Rabbinic Judaism

Main articles: Origins of Rabbinic Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, Origins of Christianity, and Split of early Christianity and Judaism

Articles on Judaism’s Religious Books

Judaism’s Religious Books
Jewish Religious Texts
Dead Sea Scrolls
Hebrew Bible
Biblical apocrypha
Jewish Apocrypha
- Book of Jubilees also called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis)
Jewish Commentaries on The Bible
Jewish English Bible Translations
Sirach (Wisdom of Sirach)
Book of Wisdom: The Wisdom of Solomon or Book of Wisdom
The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus
Talmud
- Jesus in The Talmud
Torah

Oral Torah development

Judaism’s Sacred texts

Written Torah

Tanakh(Hebrew Bible)
- The Torah
  - Chumash–a Torah in printed form
  - Sefer Torah
  - Targum
- Nevi’im
- Ketuvim

Oral Torah

Oral Torah
- Talmud (as encompassing the main Oral Law)
  - Jerusalem Talmud
  - Babylonian Talmud
    - Mishnah, the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions known as the “Oral Torah“.
      - Gemara, rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah
      - Aggadah, a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.
- Tosefta, a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah
- Midrash, the genre of rabbinic literature which contains early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (aggadah) and occasionally the Jewish religious laws (Halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture (Tanakh).
Midrash Halakha
Mussar
Geonim, presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community worldwide in the early medieval era
Rishonim, the leading rabbis and poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulchan Aruch (Hebrew: שׁוּלחָן עָרוּך, “Set Table”, a common printed code of Jewish law, 1563 CE) and following the Geonim (589-1038 CE)
Acharonim, the leading rabbis and poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present, and more specifically since the writing of the Shulchan Aruch (Hebrew: שׁוּלחָן עָרוּך, “Set Table”, a code of Jewish law) in 1563 CE.

Rabbinic literature

The 16 Scrolls of the complete Tanakh, Old Testament Scrolls on display in Glen Rose, Texas

Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. But the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Hazal (ספרות חז”ל; “Literature [of our] sages [of] blessed memory,” where Hazal normally refers only to the sages of the Talmudic era). This more specific sense of “Rabbinic literature“—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. On the other hand, the terms meforshim and parshanim (commentaries – commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of Rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts.

Mishnaic literature

The Mishnah and the Tosefta (compiled from materials pre-dating the year 200) are the earliest extant works of rabbinic literature, expounding and developing Judaism’s Oral Law, as well as ethical teachings. Following these came the two Talmuds:

The Jerusalem Talmud, c. 450
The Babylonian Talmud, c. 600
The minor tractates (part of the Babylonian Talmud)

The Midrash

The midrash is the genre of rabbinic literature which contains early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah, as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (Aggadah) and occasionally the Jewish religious laws (halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Tanakh. The term midrash also can refer to a compilation of Midrashic teachings, in the form of legal, exegetical, homiletical, or narrative writing, often configured as a commentary on the Bible or Mishnah.

Later works by category

Major codes of Jewish law

Halakha

Jewish thought, mysticism and ethics

Aggadah:
- Aggadic Midrashim
- Ein Yaakov
Jewish philosophy:
Jewish mysticism
Kabbalah:
- Kabbalah: Primary texts
- Book of Life
- Jewish mystical texts
- Sepher Yetzirah
- Bahir
- Zohar
- Sefer Raziel HaMalakh
- Pardes Rimonim
- Etz Hayim
The works of Hasidic Judaism:
- The Tanya (Likutei Amarim)
- Likutey Moharan
Musar literature:

Liturgy

The Siddur and Jewish Liturgy
Piyyut (Classical Jewish poetry)

Later rabbinic works by historical period

Works of the Geonim

The Geonim are the rabbis of Sura and Pumbeditha, in Babylon (650 – 1250) :

She’iltoth of Achai Gaon
Halachoth Gedoloth
Emunoth ve-Deoth (Saadia Gaon)
The Siddur by Amram Gaon
Responsa

Works of the Rishonim (the “early” rabbinical commentators)

The Rishonim are the rabbis of the early medieval period (1000 – 1550), such as the following main examples:

The commentaries on The Torah, such as those by Rashi, Abraham ibn Ezra and Nahmanides.
Commentaries on the Talmud, principally by Rashi, his grandson Samuel ben Meir and Nissim of Gerona.
Talmudic novellae (chiddushim) by Tosafists, Nahmanides, Nissim of Gerona, Solomon ben Aderet (RaShBA), Yomtov ben Ashbili (Ritva)
Works of halakha (Asher ben Yechiel, Mordechai ben Hillel)
Codices by Maimonides and Jacob ben Asher, and finally Shulkhan Arukh
Legal responsa, e.g. by Solomon ben Aderet (RaShBA)
Jewish philosophical rationalist works (Maimonides, Gersonides etc.)
Kabbalistic mystical works (such as the Zohar)
Mussar literature ethical works (Bahya ibn Paquda, Jonah of Gerona)

Works of the Acharonim (the “later” rabbinical commentators)

The Acharonim are the rabbis from 1550 to the present day, such as the following main examples:

Important Torah commentaries include Keli Yakar (Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz), Ohr ha-Chayim by Chayim ben-Attar, the commentary of Samson Raphael Hirsch, and the commentary of Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Important works of Talmudic novellae include: Pnei Yehoshua, Hafla’ah, Sha’agath Aryei
Codices of halakha e.g. Mishnah Berurah by Yisrael Meir Kagan and the Aruch ha-Shulchan by Yechiel Michel Epstein
Legal responsa, e.g. by Moses Sofer, Moshe Feinstein
Kabbalistic mystical commentaries
Philosophical/metaphysical works (the works of the Maharal of Prague, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and Nefesh ha-Chayim by Chaim of Volozhin)
Hasidic works (Kedushath Levi, Sefath Emmeth, Shem mi-Shemuel)
Mussar literature ethical works: Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Yisrael Meir Kagan and the Mussar Movement
Historical works, e.g. Shem ha-Gedolim by Chaim Joseph David Azulai.

Meforshim

Meforshim is a Hebrew word meaning “(classical rabbinical) commentators” (or roughly meaning “exegetes”), and is used as a substitute for the correct word perushim which means “commentaries”. In Judaism this term refers to commentaries on The Torah (five books of Moses), Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud, responsa, even the siddur (Jewish prayerbook), and more.

Classic Torah and Talmud commentaries

Classic Torah and/or Talmud commentaries have been written by the following individuals:

Geonim
- Saadia Gaon, 10th century Babylon
Rishonim
- Rashi (Shlomo Yitzchaki), 12th century France
- Abraham ibn Ezra
- Nachmanides (Moshe ben Nahman)
- Samuel ben Meir, the Rashbam, 12th century France
- Levi ben Gershom (known as Ralbag or Gersonides)
- David Kimhi, 13th century France
- Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor, 12th century France
- Nissim of Gerona, the RaN, 14th century Spain
- Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1508)
- Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, 16th century Italy
Acharonim
- The Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, 18th century Lithuania
- The Malbim, Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser

Classical Talmudic commentaries were written by Rashi. After Rashi the Tosafot were written, which was an omnibus commentary on the Talmud by the disciples and descendants of Rashi; this commentary was based on discussions done in the rabbinic academies of Germany and France.