udaism 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 selfgovernment, 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."

Rabbinical view
According to religious Jews, the Biblical patriarch Abraham was the first Jew. Rabbinic
literature records that he was the first to take on the world and proclaim the folly of
idolatry. As a result, God promised he would have children, starting with Isaac, who
would carry on his work and inherit the land of Israel (then called Canaan) after having
been exiled and redeemed. According to the Bible, God gave Isaac's son Jacob the name
Israel, meaning "he who struggles with God", and dedicated his descendants to be his
nation.
God sent Jacob and his children to Egypt; after they eventually became enslaved, God
sent Moses to redeem the Israelites from slavery. After the Exodus from Egypt, God led
them to Mount Sinai and give them the Torah, and eventually brought them to the Land
of Israel.
God set aside the descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother, to be a priestly class within the
Israelite community. They first officiated in the tabernacle (a portable house of worship),
and later their descendants officiated in the Temple in Jerusalem
Once they had settled, the tent was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years during
which time God provided great men, and occasionally women, to rally the nation after he
sent enemies to attack them. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to
the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the temple in Shiloh.
The people of Israel then told Samuel the prophet that they had reached the point where
they needed a permanent king like other nations had. God knew this was not best for the
Jews, but acceded to this request and had Samuel appoint Saul, a great but very humble
man, to be their king. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command
conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint David in his stead.
Once David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a
permanent temple. As a reward, God promised David that he would allow his son to build
the temple and the throne would never depart from his children. David's son Solomon
built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem.

After Solomon's death, the kingdom was split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Israel had a variety of kings, but after a few hundred years, because of the rampant
idolatry God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel and exile its people. The kingdom of
Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem and contained the temple, remained under the
rulership of the house of David. However, idolatry increased to the point that God
allowed Babylon to conquer it, destroy the temple which had stood for 410 years and
exile its people to Babylon, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy
years.
After seventy years the people were allowed back into Israel under the leadership of Ezra,
and the temple was rebuilt. This second temple stood for 420 years after which it was
destroyed by the Roman general (later emperor) Titus. This is the state in which it is to
remain until a descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel (the current
existence of the Islamic Dome of the Rock doesn't matter to the Rabbinical view).
The Torah given on Mount Sinai was summarized in the five books of Moses and
together with the books of the prophets is called the Written Torah. The details which are
called the Oral Torah were to remain unwritten. However as the persecutions of the Jews
increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, they were recorded in the
Mishna, and the Talmud, as well as other holy books.

Critical Historical view

According to critical historians, two characteristics distinguish Judaism from the other
religions that existed when it first developed. One characteristic was monotheism. The
significance of this belief is not so much the denial of other gods; although this element is
fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism, according to many critical Bible scholars the Torah
often implies that the early Israelites accepted the existence of other gods (see Elohim).
Rather, the significance lies in that Judaism holds that God created and cares about
people. In polytheistic religions, humankind is often created by accident, and the gods are
primarily concerned with their relations with other gods, not with people. (In other words,
Judaism is rather like Tenrikyo in a sense, in that it is a monotheistic religion that
developed in a polytheistic world.)
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 worshiping 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 was the only God
(and thus, the God of everyone), and that the record of His revelation (the Torah)
contained 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 (similar to the Christian 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 Israeland Moses) struggle with God.
Modern critical scholars hold 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).

Principles of faith
Main article: Jewish principles of faith
While Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith, it has
never developed a binding catechism. That is, there is no formal agreed-upon dogma (set
of orthodox beliefs.) While individual 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
adherence 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).
A number of formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared; most of them have
much in common, yet they differ in certain details. A comparison of them demonstrates a
wide array of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Below is a summary of
Jewish principles of faith. A more detailed discussion of these beliefs, along with a
discussion of how they developed, is found in the article on Jewish principles of faith.

Monotheism - Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in one

God. God is conceived of as eternal, the creator of the universe, and the source of
morality.
God is one - The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for Jews to hold; it
is considered akin to polytheism. Interestingly, while Jews hold that such
conceptions of God are incorrect, they generally are of the opinion that gentiles
that hold such beliefs are not held culpable.
God is all powerful (omnipotent), as well as all knowing (omniscient). The
different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in
the world. See the entry on The name of God in Judaism.
God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew
Bible and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be
linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about
God.
To God alone may one offer prayer. Any belief that an intermediary between man
and God could be used, whether necessary or even optional, has traditionally been
considered heretical.
The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud,
are held to be the product of divine Revelation. How Revelation works, and what
precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a
matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among
Jews.
The words of the prophets are true.
Moses was the chief of all prophets.
The Torah (five books of Moses) is the primary text of Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism
holds that the Torah is the same one that was given to Moses by God on Mount
Sinai. Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah that we have today is exactly the
same as it was when it was received from God by Moses with only minor scribal
errors. Due to advances in biblical scholarship, and archaeological and linguistic
research, most non-Orthodox Jews reject this principle. Instead, they may accept
that the core of the Oral and Written Torah may have come from Moses, but the
written Torah that we have today has been edited together from several
documents.
God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who
violate them.
God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with God; the description
of this covenant is the Torah itself. Contrary to popular belief, Jewish people do
not simply say that "God chose the Jews." Jews believe that they were chosen for
a specific mission; to be a light unto the nations, and to have a covenant with God
as described in the Torah. This idea is discussed further in the entry on the chosen
people. Reconstructionist Judaism rejects the concept chosenness as morally
defunct.
The messianic age. There will be a moshiach (messiah), or perhaps a messianic
era.

The soul is pure at birth. People are born with a yetzer ha'tov, a tendency to do
good, and with a yetzer ha'ra, a tendency to do bad. Thus, human beings have free
will and can choose the path in life that they will take.
People can atone for sins. The liturgy of the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur) states that prayer, repentance and tzedakah (dutiful giving of
charity) atone for sin. Atonement is deemed only meaningful is accompanied by
sincere decision to cease unacceptable actions, and then only if appropriate
amends to others are honestly undertaken. It covers wrongdoings by which a
person has fallen short of divine wishes in his daily life, and thus there is always a
"way back" to God. In Judaism, sin is more considered in terms of a wrongful
action, contravening divine commandment to live a holy life, than wrongful
thought. A more detailed discussion of the Jewish view of sin is available in the
entry on sin.

What makes a person Jewish?

According to Jewish law, someone is considered to be a Jew if he or she was born of a
Jewish mother or converted in accord with Jewish Law. (Recently, the American Reform
and Reconstructionist movements have included those born of Jewish fathers and gentile
mothers, if the children are raised practicing Judaism only.)
A Jew who ceases to practice Judaism is still considered a Jew, as is a Jew who does not
accept Jewish principles of faith and becomes an agnostic or an atheist; so too with a Jew
who converts to another religion. However, in the latter case, the person loses standing as
a member of the (practicing) Jewish community and becomes known as an apostate in
said community, though this might not affect his standing with non-practising Jews. In
the past, family and friends would often formally mourn for the person, though this is
rarely done today.
The question of what determines Jewish identity was given new impetus when, in the
1950s, David ben Gurion requested opinions on mihu Yehudi ("who is a Jew") from
Jewish religious authorities and intellectuals worldwide. The question is far from settled
and is one of the recurrent tensions in Israeli politics and in the divide between Orthodox
vs. Reform (or Conservative) Judaism.
.

Jewish law
Main article: Halakha

The basis of Jewish law and tradition ("halakha") is the Torah (the five books of Moses).
According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the Torah. Some of these
laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to Kohanim and Leviyim
(members of the tribe of Levi), some only to those who practice farming within the land
of Israel, and many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed.
Less than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.
While there have been Jewish groups which were based on the written text of the Torah
alone (the Sadducees, the Karaites), most Jews believed in what they call the oral law.
These oral traditions originated in the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were latter
recorded in written form and expanded upon by the Rabbis.
Rabbinic Judaism has always held that the books of the Tanakh (called the written law)
have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to the text of
the Torah, where many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned
without explanation or instructions; this, they argue, means that the reader is assumed to
be familiar with the details from other, i.e. oral, sources. This parallel set of material was
originally transmitted orally, and came to be known as "the oral law".
By the time of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi (200 CE) much of this material was edited together
into the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this law underwent discussion and debate
in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon), and the
commentaries on the Mishnah from each of these communities eventually came to be
edited together into compilations known as the two Talmuds. These have been expounded
by commentaries of various Torah scholars during the ages.
Halakha, the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of the
Torah, and the oral tradition - the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its
commentaries. The Halakha has developed slowly, through a precedent-based system.
The literature of questions to rabbis, and their considered answers, is referred to as
responsa (in Hebrew, '"Sheelot U-Teshuvot".) Over time, as practices develop, codes of
Jewish law are written that are based on the responsa; the most important code, the
Shulkhan Arukh, largely determines Jewish religious practice up till today.

Daily prayer
See also Jewish services
There are three daily prayers, named Shacharit, Mincha (literally: flour-offering) and
Maariv. The main component of each set of prayers is the shemonah esrei ("eighteen"),
which on weekdays consists of nineteen blessings (one was added in the time of the
Mishna, but the name remains). It is said quietly while standing at attention, and is
repeated by the hazzan during shacharit and mincha. On the Sabbath and Holidays,
various other blessings are added to and deleted from the central part of the prayer, and a
fourth prayer (mussaf) is added.

During Shacharis and Maariv, Shemonah Esrei is preceded by the reading of Shema
Yisrael, and the blessings surrounding it.
In addition, various versions of Kaddish are said. The whole Kaddish is said following
Shemonah Esrei, and the Orphans' Kaddish is said by mourners as is the Rabbis' Kaddish.
Half Kaddish is also said a number of times.
Most of the prayers can be said in solitary prayer, but Kaddish and Kedusha require a
minyan (prayer quorum).

Shabbat and holidays

Main articles: Shabbat and Jewish holidays
Shabbat is the weekly day of rest; it plays an important role in Jewish practice and is the
subject of a large body of religious law. Likewise, the annual cycle of Jewish holidays
plays an important role in communal life.

Dietary laws: Kashrut

The laws of kashrut ("keeping kosher") are the Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with
Jewish law is termed kosher, and food not in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah or
treif. From the context of the laws in the book of Leviticus, the purpose of kashrut is
related to ritual purity and holiness. See the article on kashrut for more details.

Life-cycle events
Life-cycle events occur throughout a Jew's life that bind him/her to the entire community.

Brit milah - Welcoming male babies into the covenant through the rite of
circumcision.
Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah - Celebrating a child's reaching the age of majority,
becoming responsible from now on for themselves as an adult for living a Jewish
life and following halakha.
Marriage
Mourning - Judaism has a multi-staged mourning practice. The first stage is called
the Shiv'ah (observed for one week), the second is the shloshim (observed for one
month) and for those who have lost one of their parents, there is a third stage,
avelut yud bet chodesh, which is observed for one year.

Clergy
Note that the following positions are not mutually exclusive. The same person is often
qualified to fill more than one of the following positions, and often does.

Rabbi of a congregation - Jewish scholar who is charged with answering the

religious questions of a congregation. Usually requires semicha (Rabbinical
ordination). A congregation does not necessarily require a Rabbi. However, at
least some of the members need to have some knowledge of the laws of prayer.
Hassidic Rebbe - Rabbi who is the head of a Hassidic dynasty.
Hazzan (cantor) - Person who is charged with leading the prayers in the
synagogue. Chosen for a good voice, knowledge of traditional tunes,
understanding of the meaning of the prayers and sincerity in reciting them. A
congregation does not need to have a dedicated hazzan. Any participant who
knows how to lead the prayers can be the hazzan for that prayer session.

Clergy-like positions

Dayan (judge) - expert in Jewish law who sits on a beth din (rabbinical court) for
either monetary matters or for overseeing the giving of a bill of divorce. A dayan
always requires semicha.
Hazzan (cantor) - in some synagogues, the leader of prayer in place of a rabbi.
Hazzans are chosen for their vocal qualities and expertise in nusach or other
musical notations alongside Hebrew texts.
Kohen (priest) - patrilineal descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses. The first one
called up at the reading of the Torah, performs the priestly blessing, as well as
having other unique laws. In the Temple in Jerusalem, the kohanim were charged
with performing the sacrifices.
Levi (Levite) - Patrilineal descendant of Levi the son of Jacob. Called up second
to the reading of the Torah. When there is a temple in Jerusalem, they have
additional responsibilities and privileges.
Mohel - performs the brit milah (circumcision). An expert in the laws of
circumcision who has received training from a qualified mohel.
Shochet (ritual slaughterer) - slaughters all kosher meat. In order for meat to be
kosher, it must be slaughtered by a shochet who is expert in the laws and has
received training from another shochet, as well as having regular contact with a
rabbi and revising the relevant guidelines on a regular basis.
Sofer (scribe) - Torah scrolls, tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzahs (scrolls put on
doorposts), and gittin (bills of divorce) must be written by a sofer who is an expert
in the laws of writing.
Rosh yeshivah - head of a yeshiva. Somebody who is an expert in delving into the
depths of the Talmud, and lectures the highest class in a Yeshiva.
Mashgiach of a yeshiva - expert in mussar (ethics). Oversees the emotional and
spiritual welfare of the students in a yeshiva, and gives lectures on mussar.
Mashgiach over kosher products - supervises merchants and manufacturers of
kosher food to ensure that the food is kosher. Either an expert in the laws of
kashrut, or (generally) under the supervision of a rabbi who is expert in those
laws.
Gabbai (sexton) - Calls people up to the Torah, appoints the Hazzan at for each
prayer session if there is no standard Hazzan, and makes certain that the
synagogue is kept clean and supplied.

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; nonOrthodox forms of Judaism hold that these principles have evolved over time, and thus
allow for more leeway in what individual adherents believe.