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...
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...
Reconstructionist Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism (יהדות רקונסטרוקציוניסטית, yahadút rekonstruktsyonistit or יהדות מתחדשת yahadút mitkhadéshet) is a modern Jewish movement that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization and is based on the conceptions developed by Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). The movement originated as a semi-organized stream within Conservative Judaism and developed from the late 1920s to...
What Is Zionism? Zionism (צִיּוֹנוּת Tsiyyonut after Zion) is the nationalist movement of the Jewish people that espouses the re-establishment of and support for a Jewish state in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel (roughly corresponding to Canaan, the Holy Land, or the region of Palestine). Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as a national...
Haredim And Zionism The relationship between Haredim and Zionism became more complex after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. From the start of political Zionism in the 1890s, Haredi leaders voiced objections to its secular orientation, and before the establishment of the State of Israel, the vast majority of Haredi...
Jewish Science Jewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues. It is an interpretation of Jewish philosophy that was originally conceived by Rabbi Alfred G. Moses in the early 1900s in response to the growing...
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...
Purim Purim (פּוּרִים) Pûrîm “lots“, from the word פור pur, translated as ‘lot’ in the Esther, perhaps related to Akkadian pūru ‘stone, urn’; also called the Festival of Lots) is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an Achaemenid Persian Empire official who was planning to kill all the Jews, as...
Torah Wisdom From The Jewish Sages This article covers Torah Wisdom From The Jewish Sages. Rabbi Simcha Bunam of Pshis’cha – People are not to blame for the fact that they sin. Indeed, they withstand great temptation though their strength is negligible. They are, however to blame for the fact that...
Wisdom From The Old Testament This article covers Wisdom From The Old Testament Exhortation to Righteousness, the Key to Life 1 Love righteousness,* you who judge the earth;a think of the LORD in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart;b 2 Because he is found by those who do not...
Words Of Wisdom In the spirit of Kohelet, which is a feature of Sukkot, I share with you some of my favorite words of Halachic and Talmudic wisdom. For a daily dose of Torah wisdom be sure to check out (and ‘Like’!) the “Torah Wisdom” page on Facebook. The walls...
Wisdom/Hokhmah/Sophia: This article covers Wisdom/Hokhmah/Sophia. Feminine Images of the Divine in Second Temple Judaism Rabbinic Source About Wisdom and Proverbs The Canonicity of Proverbs Shabbat 30b The Book of Proverbs too they desired to hide, because its statements are self-contradictory. Yet why did they not hide it? They said, “Did...
Female Aspects Of Deity: Searching For Lady Wisdom We will explore material in biblical and near biblical texts concentrating on the strand of tradition concerning the divine Wisdom figure, called Lady Wisdom (Hochma in Hebrew, Sophia in Greek). We will read the accounts of Lady Wisdom stretching from the Hebrew...
The Character Of Wisdom This article is about The Character Of Wisdom. An Introduction to Old Testament Wisdom Literature Wisdom Literature is a term applied to the Old Testament canonical books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and sometimes to the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon). It also includes the Apocryphal books...
Wisdom Literature: Ben Sirach And Wisdom Of Solomon Jewish Literature of the Greco-Roman Period Wisdom literature is a genre that has roots deep in ancient Near Eastern culture. There are exemplars of wisdom literature from Egypt of the 2nd millennium B.C.E., and from not too much later written in Mesopotamia....
Psalms The Book of Psalms (תְּהִלִּים, Tehillim, “praises”), commonly referred to simply as Psalms or “the Psalms“, is the first book of the Ketuvim (“Writings”), the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and thus a book of the Christian Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, ψαλμοί, psalmoi, meaning “instrumental music” and, by extension, “the words...