Based on a discussion we had between a few of the Judaism adherents here on RF, we thought we'd set up this thread to answer some basic, common questions about Judaism. Everyone's welcome to ask follow-ups and we'll do our best to answer them. Other Jews/Noahides - welcome to correct me, add points I may have missed or add the interpretations of your own denominations.
Reminder: This is the Religious Q&A section, so no debating.
Part 1:
1. What are Jews/Who is a Jew?
Jews are an ethno-religious group, so even non-practicing Jews are still Jewish. Judaism is the religion of these people.
Until not long ago, the majority consensus for this question was: a. Someone born to a Jewish mother (with that mother's Judaism defined either by criteria a. or the following criteria b.) or, b. Someone who properly converted. Karaite Judaism concluded that as most lineages in the Tanach are traced paternally, so too is a person's Jewish identity. More recently, the American Reform movement decided to include people who only have a Jewish father, even if their mother isn't Jewish. Later, the majority of British Reform reached a similar decision. Some Progressive Judaism communities also hold this. Reconstructionist Judaism holds that if the person is the child of either a Jewish father or mother and was raised Jewish, is a Jew. Such people aren't regarded as Jewish by any other denominations. Orthodox Halacha (law) states that these people are considered "Zerah Yisrael" (=Heb. Seed of Israel) and if they honestly wish to return to their paternal roots, there's more interest in helping these people than other people attempting conversion.
2. What about Samarians/Black Hebrew Israelites?
Samarians, called "Shomronim" in Hebrew, are not considered Jewish. The Tanach describes how these people came to live in Israel - gentile people who were exiled by the Assyrians to Samaria in Israel, and these people subsequently decided to attempt to keep the Torah. Not having properly converted, they are not Jewish.
Black Hebrew Israelites are a group (deemed cultish by some) that was founded by two African-American Christians named Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy, who both claimed that they had revelations in which they believed that God told them that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Christian Bible. The two went on to found the first two BHI churches. BHIs have no connection to the Jewish people and are not considered neither Jewish nor Zerah Yisrael.
3. What about Karaites?
Karaites are Jewish. They are a Jewish denomination that split off from Mainstream Judaism around the 8th century CE. Their main dispute with the mainstream views is that they reject the validity of the Oral Torah. As such, many of their halachic (=Jewish law) customs are different, even vastly different from other, more traditional denominations of Judaism. Because of this, for many centuries, there were disputes among Rabbinical authorities on whether or not could a traditional Jew marry a Karaite Jew. In the past century, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, ruled that such marriages are allowed.
4. What about Messianic Jews?
Messianic Jews, provided that their maternal lineage is Jewish or they had properly converted at some point in their lives and this conversion was not revoked (which happens sometimes) upon their becoming Messianics, are Jews through and through. Messianic Judaism, however, is not a Jewish denomination but rather a Christian denomination. Messianic Jews are generally viewed as heretic Jews (with various halachic ramifications depending on the denomination).
It is widely understood by Jews that Messianic organizations such Hebrew-Christians and Jews for Jesus were created by Christian missionary groups as a means to entice more Jews to convert to Christianity, by allowing them to keep some of their Jewish identity.
5. What are your beliefs?
Jewish beliefs vary between denominations and sub-denominations. There is no one belief on anything, save for two things: The absolute unity and uniqueness of God and the non-divinity, non-prophecy of Jesus and other divinity or prophecy claimants such as Mohammed and Baha'u'llah.
6. What are Jewish denominations?
The three largest denominations are:
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
Two smaller denominations are: Reconstructionist and Humanistic.
Other than these, there are several sub-denominations within these main ones, such as Ultra-Orthodox, Jewish Renewal and Chassidic.
7. Wait, there's a difference between Ultra-Orthodox and Chassidic?
Yes. Chassidic Jews are usually part of a sub-group within Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, divided into various Chassiduyot (Heb. roughly translates as "courts"). The Chassidic movement was started by Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov in what is now Ukraine and spread fast throughout Eastern Europe. As such, most Chassidic Jewish families trace their origins to those countries. Many Chassidic courts (though not all) are named after the town in which the court originated. Some of the largest Chassidic courts are: Chabad, Satmar and Belz, with the latter two named after European towns.
8. What about Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemeni, etc - aren't those denominations?
No. Those terms refer to the cultural, diaspora-rooted background of different Jewish communities - for example, Ashkenazi Jews come from various parts of Europe, in particular: Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other countries. Sephardi Jews originated in Spain and upon being exiled in 1492 CE, moved to different countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, North Africa and Greece. Some even settled in Israel. Yemeni Jews come from Yemen. And so forth. Because of these diverse backgrounds, different halachic traditions and customs developed over the centuries. According to Orthodox Judaism, if a person wishes to change his traditions to those of a different community, he has to unravel his vow of forever being a member of that community (and being subjected to its halachic tradition and customs) - a process that must be done in front of a court of three. Women who marry into a different community do not need to unravel their vows.
9. What do you believe about the Messiah/the Messianic age?
As mentioned previously, there is no one Jewish belief on anything. I'll present the Orthodox view and other Jews may of course add their views:
In Orthodox Judaism, the Messiah is a mortal man, a descendant of King David whose role in the world is much more geo-political than religious. The Messiah, called "Mashiach" in Hebrew, needs to fulfill a set of tasks in order to be crowned Messiah. The tasks are:
a. Winning all of the Jewish people's wars/defeating all of the Jewish people's enemies.
b. Building the Third Temple atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
c. Bringing all of the Jewish people back to the land of Israel.
d. Reinstating the Jewish-Davidic monarchy.
Any messianic claimants that failed to complete these tasks (all of them, so far) are considered false messiahs (Jesus, Shabbtai Tzvi are among the most famous examples).
10. How do you seek forgiveness without a Temple? For that matter, how do you keep all of the commandments without a Temple?
Sacrifices were only ever one part of the atonement process (called Teshuvah in Hebrew). The other, more central parts were: a. expressing regret, b. verbalizing the confession and c. taking upon oneself to not sin again. Today, as we no longer have a Temple and cannot bring sacrifices, we stick to the other components of atonement. In traditional Judaism ("rabbinic") there is also a concept of "oness rachmana patrei" Talmudic Aramaic for one who is under duress, is exempted by God - when one cannot fulfill a certain commandment because it is out of his hands, he is exempted from keeping it. This idea is the same with regards to any other commandments we are unable to keep, such as building the Temple.
11. What are Jewish scriptures?
Jewish scriptures, called Torah in general, are divided into two categories: The Written Torah and the Oral Torah (also known as the Written Tradition or Law and the Oral Tradition or Law).
The Written Torah is made up of 24 books, divided into three sections, called Tanach for short:
Torah - the Five Books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,
Nevi'im (prophets) - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets.
Ketuvim (writings) - Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra & Nehemiah and Chronicles.
The Oral Torah was originally just that - passed down verbally from teacher to student, from father to son, until it was eventually codified in what is known as the Mishnah. Later, similar codices were written, such as the Sifra. A few centuries after the Mishnah was written, the Talmud was codified. The Talmud was written in order to explain the Mishnah and to pass on various mystical teachings that hadn't been included in the Mishnah. Over the next 1500 years or so many more texts were added to the Oral Tradition - in some sense, every Jewish text is part of the Oral Tradition, making it endless. However, there are some texts that are more important than others. Kabbalistic texts are also part of the Oral Torah.
12. What don't you like about interfaith discussions/debates?
Being told we do not understand our own scriptures, including our rabbinical texts. Being told that Christians are spiritual Jews. Being told that we aren't real Jews and some other group are the real Jews. Missionizing attempts. Being told that our messiah is Jesus.
To be continued (by me or by other RF Jews/Noahides)...
Reminder: This is the Religious Q&A section, so no debating.
Part 1:
1. What are Jews/Who is a Jew?
Jews are an ethno-religious group, so even non-practicing Jews are still Jewish. Judaism is the religion of these people.
Until not long ago, the majority consensus for this question was: a. Someone born to a Jewish mother (with that mother's Judaism defined either by criteria a. or the following criteria b.) or, b. Someone who properly converted. Karaite Judaism concluded that as most lineages in the Tanach are traced paternally, so too is a person's Jewish identity. More recently, the American Reform movement decided to include people who only have a Jewish father, even if their mother isn't Jewish. Later, the majority of British Reform reached a similar decision. Some Progressive Judaism communities also hold this. Reconstructionist Judaism holds that if the person is the child of either a Jewish father or mother and was raised Jewish, is a Jew. Such people aren't regarded as Jewish by any other denominations. Orthodox Halacha (law) states that these people are considered "Zerah Yisrael" (=Heb. Seed of Israel) and if they honestly wish to return to their paternal roots, there's more interest in helping these people than other people attempting conversion.
2. What about Samarians/Black Hebrew Israelites?
Samarians, called "Shomronim" in Hebrew, are not considered Jewish. The Tanach describes how these people came to live in Israel - gentile people who were exiled by the Assyrians to Samaria in Israel, and these people subsequently decided to attempt to keep the Torah. Not having properly converted, they are not Jewish.
Black Hebrew Israelites are a group (deemed cultish by some) that was founded by two African-American Christians named Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy, who both claimed that they had revelations in which they believed that God told them that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Christian Bible. The two went on to found the first two BHI churches. BHIs have no connection to the Jewish people and are not considered neither Jewish nor Zerah Yisrael.
3. What about Karaites?
Karaites are Jewish. They are a Jewish denomination that split off from Mainstream Judaism around the 8th century CE. Their main dispute with the mainstream views is that they reject the validity of the Oral Torah. As such, many of their halachic (=Jewish law) customs are different, even vastly different from other, more traditional denominations of Judaism. Because of this, for many centuries, there were disputes among Rabbinical authorities on whether or not could a traditional Jew marry a Karaite Jew. In the past century, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, ruled that such marriages are allowed.
4. What about Messianic Jews?
Messianic Jews, provided that their maternal lineage is Jewish or they had properly converted at some point in their lives and this conversion was not revoked (which happens sometimes) upon their becoming Messianics, are Jews through and through. Messianic Judaism, however, is not a Jewish denomination but rather a Christian denomination. Messianic Jews are generally viewed as heretic Jews (with various halachic ramifications depending on the denomination).
It is widely understood by Jews that Messianic organizations such Hebrew-Christians and Jews for Jesus were created by Christian missionary groups as a means to entice more Jews to convert to Christianity, by allowing them to keep some of their Jewish identity.
5. What are your beliefs?
Jewish beliefs vary between denominations and sub-denominations. There is no one belief on anything, save for two things: The absolute unity and uniqueness of God and the non-divinity, non-prophecy of Jesus and other divinity or prophecy claimants such as Mohammed and Baha'u'llah.
6. What are Jewish denominations?
The three largest denominations are:
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
Two smaller denominations are: Reconstructionist and Humanistic.
Other than these, there are several sub-denominations within these main ones, such as Ultra-Orthodox, Jewish Renewal and Chassidic.
7. Wait, there's a difference between Ultra-Orthodox and Chassidic?
Yes. Chassidic Jews are usually part of a sub-group within Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, divided into various Chassiduyot (Heb. roughly translates as "courts"). The Chassidic movement was started by Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov in what is now Ukraine and spread fast throughout Eastern Europe. As such, most Chassidic Jewish families trace their origins to those countries. Many Chassidic courts (though not all) are named after the town in which the court originated. Some of the largest Chassidic courts are: Chabad, Satmar and Belz, with the latter two named after European towns.
8. What about Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemeni, etc - aren't those denominations?
No. Those terms refer to the cultural, diaspora-rooted background of different Jewish communities - for example, Ashkenazi Jews come from various parts of Europe, in particular: Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other countries. Sephardi Jews originated in Spain and upon being exiled in 1492 CE, moved to different countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, North Africa and Greece. Some even settled in Israel. Yemeni Jews come from Yemen. And so forth. Because of these diverse backgrounds, different halachic traditions and customs developed over the centuries. According to Orthodox Judaism, if a person wishes to change his traditions to those of a different community, he has to unravel his vow of forever being a member of that community (and being subjected to its halachic tradition and customs) - a process that must be done in front of a court of three. Women who marry into a different community do not need to unravel their vows.
9. What do you believe about the Messiah/the Messianic age?
As mentioned previously, there is no one Jewish belief on anything. I'll present the Orthodox view and other Jews may of course add their views:
In Orthodox Judaism, the Messiah is a mortal man, a descendant of King David whose role in the world is much more geo-political than religious. The Messiah, called "Mashiach" in Hebrew, needs to fulfill a set of tasks in order to be crowned Messiah. The tasks are:
a. Winning all of the Jewish people's wars/defeating all of the Jewish people's enemies.
b. Building the Third Temple atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
c. Bringing all of the Jewish people back to the land of Israel.
d. Reinstating the Jewish-Davidic monarchy.
Any messianic claimants that failed to complete these tasks (all of them, so far) are considered false messiahs (Jesus, Shabbtai Tzvi are among the most famous examples).
10. How do you seek forgiveness without a Temple? For that matter, how do you keep all of the commandments without a Temple?
Sacrifices were only ever one part of the atonement process (called Teshuvah in Hebrew). The other, more central parts were: a. expressing regret, b. verbalizing the confession and c. taking upon oneself to not sin again. Today, as we no longer have a Temple and cannot bring sacrifices, we stick to the other components of atonement. In traditional Judaism ("rabbinic") there is also a concept of "oness rachmana patrei" Talmudic Aramaic for one who is under duress, is exempted by God - when one cannot fulfill a certain commandment because it is out of his hands, he is exempted from keeping it. This idea is the same with regards to any other commandments we are unable to keep, such as building the Temple.
11. What are Jewish scriptures?
Jewish scriptures, called Torah in general, are divided into two categories: The Written Torah and the Oral Torah (also known as the Written Tradition or Law and the Oral Tradition or Law).
The Written Torah is made up of 24 books, divided into three sections, called Tanach for short:
Torah - the Five Books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,
Nevi'im (prophets) - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets.
Ketuvim (writings) - Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra & Nehemiah and Chronicles.
The Oral Torah was originally just that - passed down verbally from teacher to student, from father to son, until it was eventually codified in what is known as the Mishnah. Later, similar codices were written, such as the Sifra. A few centuries after the Mishnah was written, the Talmud was codified. The Talmud was written in order to explain the Mishnah and to pass on various mystical teachings that hadn't been included in the Mishnah. Over the next 1500 years or so many more texts were added to the Oral Tradition - in some sense, every Jewish text is part of the Oral Tradition, making it endless. However, there are some texts that are more important than others. Kabbalistic texts are also part of the Oral Torah.
12. What don't you like about interfaith discussions/debates?
Being told we do not understand our own scriptures, including our rabbinical texts. Being told that Christians are spiritual Jews. Being told that we aren't real Jews and some other group are the real Jews. Missionizing attempts. Being told that our messiah is Jesus.
To be continued (by me or by other RF Jews/Noahides)...
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