Judaism

Judaism
Links: Pages on Judaism, Other Religions
God(s)	Atheist / Monotheist / Polytheist / Other
Adherent	Jew
Adherents	Jews
Texts	Tanakh and Talmud
Afterlife	Yes
Founding
Heritage	Prehistoric
Area of Origin	Babylon (mostly - now Iraq) and Israel
When	1st millennium BCE
Founder	As a combination of prehistoric practices which became organized in Babylon
Numbers in the UK (Census results)
2001	259 927	2011	263 000
Jews Worldwide (Pew & WM)
World: 0.225%. Israel (75.6%), Gibraltar (2.1%), USA (1.8%), Monaco (1.7%), Belize (1%), Canada (1%), Cayman Islands (0.8%), Bahrain (0.6%), Moldova (0.6%), UK (0.5%), Australia (0.5%), Argentina (0.5%), France (0.5%) 1

Judaism is one of the most ancient religions, and became largely codified in Babylon in the 6th century BCE₂. It was perhaps the first religion to be comprehensively monotheistic. Jews believe that God has a special covenant with the Jewish community₃, as testified to in the Torah. From Judaism sprang both Christianity and Islam. Judaism is counted as one of the great world religions_4,5,6.

1. Main Pages on Judaism
2. Numbers of Jews Around the World, by Country
3. Calendar (2024)
4. Types of Judaism
5. About Judaism
6. The Disputed Ancient History of the Jews
7. Links

1. Main Pages on Judaism

• Anti-Semitism (2017)

• Endorsement of Violence and Murder in the Old Testament (2016)

• Non-Religious Secular Jews (Cultural Judaism) (2016)

• Fundamentalist Judaism and Jewish Terrorism (2016)

• Anti-Semitism: 2000 Years of Christian Love (2004)

• 1st Century Christian Ebionites: The Original Christians? (2012)

• Satan and The Devil in World Religions: 2.3. Judaism and Christianity (Satan, The Devil) (2014)

• Religious Dogmas Against Marrying Outsiders (Exogamy): 1. Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)

• Why Do Women Have to Cover Their Hair in Judaism, Christianity and Islam? (2013)

Moral Debates

• The Battle Between Monotheism and Homosexuality: Religious Prejudice Versus Equality: 3.2. Judaism (2014)

• Abraham's Attempted Sacrifice of His Son Isaac: Genesis 22:1-18 and Qur'an 37:99-113 (2012)

• Ethics Of Reciprocity like the Golden Rule and the Wiccan Rede Do Not Work: In Judaism it is expressed in Shabbat 31a: That which is hateful unto thee do not do unto thy neighbour. This is the whole of the Torah. The rest is commentary (2015)

• Animal Sacrifice and Blood Rituals in Traditional World Religions and Satanism: Judaism is an example of a religion with detailed rituals involving animal sacrifice

Book Reviews

• Review of "The Jewish War" by Flavius Josephus

• Review of 'The Dead Sea Scrolls' by S. Hodge

Links and other pages:

• YAHWEH - God of the Hebrews

• Swasticross - The Cross and The Swastika: The Swastika wasn't always a symbol of evil; there are Jewish swastikas found in ancient synagogues side-by-side with the star of David

2. Numbers of Jews Around the World, by Country

#religion

The way that the religious and cultural identity of the Jews is intermingled means that statistics often include both religious Jews and secular (non-religious) ones. For example, atheist Jews make up a sizeable portion of Jews worldwide.

As a result of the Holocaust in the 20th century CE there was a dramatic and rapid move in Jewish numbers away from Europe₃.

The population of only one country is half (or mostly) Jew (2011)₁. Comparing those 1 country(ies) to the rest of the world:

• Jew countries' average life expectancy at birth (82.3yrs) is better than the global average (71.3yrs).₉

• Jew countries' average fertility rate is 2.91, compared with the global average of 2.81. Values above 2.1 cause population growth, putting further strain on the Earth's resources. See: The Population of the Earth.₁₀

• Jew countries are richer than the global average with an average Gross National Income (GNI; per capita) of $41 524. This compares to the global average of $20 136.₁₁

• Jew countries' scoring on the UN's Gender Inequality Index (0.10) is excellent compared to the global average (0.36).₁₂. See Religion Versus Womankind.

• When it comes to tolerance of homosexuality and LGBT rights, Jews' countries are better than the global average, scoring 48 on the Social and Moral Development Index LGBT component compared with the global average of 12.6.

• In Ethiopia, Jews are organized as Beta Israel (House of Israel) and known to outsiders as the Falasha or Felasha₁₃. Although they are traditionally said to be descendants of Queen Sheba and King Solomon, their ancestors are actually local converts to Judaism from between 100BCE to 100CE₁₃. The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)₁₄ says that their origin is unknown but that the Falashas have never had any copies of any Jewish Hebrew texts and knew nothing of the Talmud₁₅ (which would not be the case for descendants of Jewish royalty), and, DNA tests have now proven that the Falasha are indeed truly descendants of their fellow Ethiopians rather than from Hebrew stock₁₆. After Ethiopia converted to Christianity in the 4th century CE, the Falasha Jews were persecuted violently for many centuries, until the Catholic Church in the 15th and 16th centuries eventually crushed them and confiscated all their lands. As the Catholic Church slowly lost its power, their "conditions improved in the late 19th and 20th centuries, at which time tens of thousands of Falasha lived in the region north of Lake Tana"₁₃, near the border with Sudan. From 1975 they were permitted by Israel to immigrate and they began to do so slowly until the Sudanese civil war of 1991 threatened the entire community and 20,000 of them were evacuated to Israel₁₇. As of 1997, only around 500 remained in Ethiopia₁₇.

3. Calendar (2024)

#religious_calendars

4. Types of Judaism₁₈

#judaism #poland #secularisation #theism #USA

There are four main forms of Judaism.

• Orthodox Judaism "sees itself as the upholder of traditional Judaism. Hebrew is the language used at all services, and traditional Jewish law (halakhah) is observed concerning food and behaviour. Among [them] are the Hassidic Jews, whose dress and lifestyle is that of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, particularly Poland, where the Hassidic movement began. They are distinguished by their black clothing, long coats, and tall or wide hats"₁₉.

• Liberal Judaism (called "Reform Judaism" in the USA)... "This arose in the early nineteenth century as an attempt to make Judaism a more modern faith, unencumbered by what its founders saw as outdated dietary laws and the exclusive use of Hebrew in worship. It also embraced modern biblical scholarship; for example, it does not teach that Moses wrote the five books of the Torah. [...] They observe some dietary laws, but not nearly as many as those observed by the Orthodox"₁₉. See: "What is Liberal Judaism" on liberaljudaism.org.

• Conservative Judaism is primarily found in the USA and is known elsewhere as "Reform Judaism". "It seeks to observe the traditional Jewish laws (halakhah), but also allows modifications, so long as these are seen to be loyal to the Law and to developments of the laws over the centuries. For example in 1960 the Conservative Jews agreed to the use of electricity on the sabbath and to using a car to travel to the synagogue - something Orthodox Judaism would not permit"₁₉.

• Secular Judaism describes the modern advent of the non-religious Jew, who engages in cultural practices and family customs but is not religious, and probably not even theistic. This describes a large proportion of Jews_20,21,22, "for example, less than a third of American Jews are members of one of the religious movement into which Judaism is divided"₂₁. Also known as "cultural Jews".₂₂. See: Non-Religious Secular Jews (Cultural Judaism).

5. About Judaism₁₈

#agnosticism #atheism #christianity #egypt #germany #islam #israel #spain #USA

• Calendar: "The Jewish calendar is lunar, but every few years a thirteenth month is added to keep in step with the solar year. The new day beings at nightfall, so festivals begin in the evening. The years are counted from the traditional Jewish dating of the creation of the world, thus CE 2000 is the Jewish year 5760"₂₃.

• Diet and Food Laws are complicated. Collectively they are called kushrut. Everyone knows that Jews don't eat pig, but also rabbit, hare, camel and rock badger are all forbidden. "The only land animals that are kosher are those that both chew the cud and have a cloven hoof. [...] Fish must have both fins and scales, so shellfish are [forbidden too]. Animals and birds must be ritually slaughtered in the correct manner by an adult Jew, and certain parts of the animal may not be eaten. Meat must be drained of blood before being cooked. Meat products and dairy products may not be eaten together or at the same meal, and great care is taken in Orthodox Jewish households to keep them separate at every stage of preparation"₂₄. As a result of these laws, it is almost impossible for Jews to eat-out in normal restaurants or to visit non-Jews' houses for meals₂₄. "It is one of the issues over which the Reform and Orthodox are most divided, for Reform Jews have a much wider definition of what is kosher"₂₄. As a result of these superstitious practices, Judaism, alongside Islam, has found itself associated with brutal ritual animal slaughter practices. For more, see: "Animal Sacrifice and Blood Rituals in Traditional World Religions and Satanism" by Vexen Crabtree (2008).

• The Holocaust afflicted the Jews as a result of the racist doctrines of Germany under the Nazis. 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War 2₂₅, and they saw themselves as carrying on God's work, basing their biases on a long history of Christian anti-semitism. See: Anti-Semitism: 2000 Years of Christian Love.

• Holy Places: "Israel is regarded as the historic "Promised Land." The Western Wall in Jerusalem, an important place of prayer, is all that is left of the last Jewish Temple, destroyed in CE 70"₃.

• Holy Scriptures and Writings:

  • Tanakh: The "TaNaKh" is named after the first consonants of the 3 portions of scripture - Torah₂₆, Nevi'im and Ketuvim₂₇, totalling 24 books. For details, see Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Holy Bibles Across Different Traditions.
  • Talmud: This consists of two parts. (1) The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral sayings compiled and published in 200CE₂₈, and (2) the Germara, which is commentary and rabbinical analysis of Jewish law. "The Talmud was finalized by the sixth century CE"₂₈.

• Religious Studies and Good General Education: In the USA when it comes to knowing basic facts about Christianity and world religions, a Pew Forum poll in 2010 found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons, know most of their facts, all being able to answer over 20 out of 30 questions on religion. Mainline Protestants and Catholics were less knowledgeable. The biggest factor contributing to this was the level of general education, which is better amongst Jews.₂₉

• Symbol: "The menorah, a seven-branched candlestick, stood in the Temple in Jerusalem in ancient times, and its design is described in the Torah. The central branch is said to represent the sabbath, the day when God rested after creating the world"₃.

• The influence of Jewish Magic:

  “The importance of the Torah in the formation of the founding myths of grimoires is clear, as is the influence of Jewish magic in the Graeco-Egyptian papyri. [...] During the twelfth century some Spanish Jewish intellectuals became particularly interested in astral magic, for instance, incorporating it into their theologies and philosophies of medicine. Through the Jewish scholarly community it subsequently permeated more widely in Europe. [...] As to the circulation of Jewish grimoires in medieval Europe the picture is less clear. We know how prominent Jewish magic was in Egypt in late antiquity, and it was a considerable influence on the later Arabic tradition, but determining what was available in the medieval period is, for the moment, a matter of guesswork.”

  "Grimoires: A History of Magic Books" by Owen Davies (2009)₃₀

6. The Disputed Ancient History of the Jews

In his description of Humanistic Judaism, Prof. Partridge notes that modern secular academics dispute the entire Biblical pseudo-history of the Jewish peoples.

“According to Sherwin Wine, the major exponent of Humanistic Judaism, the traditional conception of Jewish history is mistaken. In his view, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never existed. Furthermore, the Exodus account is a myth: 'There is no historical evidence to substantiate a massive Hebrew departure from the land of the Pharaohs. As far as we can surmise, the Hebrew occupation of the hill country on both sides of the Jordan was continuous. The 12 tribes never left their ancestral land, never endured 400 years of slavery, and never wandered the Sinai desert.' Moreover, Moses was not the leader of the Hebrews, nor did he compose the Torah. In this light, it is an error to regard the biblical account as authoritative; rather it is a human record of the history of the Israelite nation, the purpose of which is to reinforce the faith of the Jewish nation. [...] Humanistic Judaism thus offers an option for those who wish to identify with the Jewish community despite their rejection of the traditional understanding of God's nature and activity.”

"Encyclopedia of New Religions" by Christopher Partridge (2004)₃₁