Judaism

The term Judaism refers to the religion, tradition, and culture of the Jewish people. Historically, it is the oldest of the three main Abrahamic religions, a group that is based on and includes Christianity and Islam, originated in the Middle East and has the spiritual tradition identified with Abraham. It has the smallest number of faithful among them.

Although there is no single body that systematizes and fixes the dogmatic content of Judaism, its practice is based on the teachings of the Torah, also called the Pentateuch, made up of five books. In turn, the Torah or the Pentateuch is one of the three books that make up the Tanaj (or Old Testament), to which divine inspiration is attributed.

In Orthodox religious practice, oral tradition also plays an important role. According to the beliefs, it was given to Moses along with the Torah and preserved since his time and that of the prophets. The oral tradition governs the interpretation of the biblical text, the codification and the commentary. This oral tradition was transcribed, giving birth to the Mishnah, which would later be the basis of the Talmud and a huge body of exegesis, developed to this day by scholars. The compendium of the laws extracted from these texts forms the Jewish law or Halacha.

The main feature of the Jewish faith is the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, personal and provident God, who would have created the universe and chosen the Jewish people to reveal to them the law contained in the Ten Commandments and the ritual prescriptions of the books third and fourth of the Torah. Consequently, the norms derived from such texts and from oral tradition constitute the life guide of the Jews, although their observance varies greatly from one group to another.

Another characteristic of Judaism that sets it apart from other monotheistic religions is that it is considered not only as a religion, but also as a tradition, a culture, and a nation. The other religions transcend various nations and cultures, while Judaism considers religion and culture conceived for a specific people. Judaism does not require non-Jews to join the Jewish people or adopt their religion, although converts are recognized as Jews in the full sense of the word.

Terminology: Hebrews, Jews, Israelites

According to the Tanakh, the tradition goes back to Abraham, called the first Hebrew (from the Hebrew עִבְרִי, ivrí: "he who comes from the other side"), to have come to the land of Canaan from Mesopotamia following the call of God (Genesis), about 4000 years ago. Abraham is considered patriarch by the three main monotheistic creeds, which is why they are also known as the Abrahamic religions.

In the Bible, Jews are referred to as the "sons of Israel" (Exodus; note the extension in meaning between verses 1 and 7); and, later, they were called "the people of Israel" or "Israelites". The name Israel was given to the patriarch Jacob, Abraham's grandson, by the angel with whom he wrestled, who in blessing him called him Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, from Hebrew: "one who has wrestled with God", Genesis). The term «Jew» appears only later (Esther 2:5), and comes from the kingdom of Judah (from the Hebrew יְהוּדָה, Yehudah, son of Jacob); kingdom that was formed by two of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel, the only remnants after the split between this kingdom and that of Israel and the destruction of the latter after the exile of the ten tribes that formed it at the hands of Assyria, in the year 722 a. C.: «Yahveh, therefore, became very angry against Israel, and removed them from before his face; and there remained only the tribe of Judah».(2Kings 17:18)

Who is Jewish?

Israel is the country with the highest percentage of Jewish population on its borders. His own essence as a State is intimately related to Judaism.

Jewish identity does not depend primarily on accepting beliefs or following a particular lifestyle. It is the subject of debate among Jewish religionists, philosophers, and sociologists about who is considered a Jew. Within the Jewish religion, there are three branches that make it up and each of them has its own version of who is recognized as a Jew.

First of all, Orthodox Judaism upholds that Jewish law (halacha) establishes that one who has been born of a Jewish mother or has undergone a conversion process (giur) conducted by a rabbi, a Jewish community (the synagogue) and finalized before an orthodox beit din (Jewish court), is Jewish by definition.

Secondly, Conservative Judaism defends the same points, with the particularity that the accepted conversion processes are those carried out by Orthodoxy (the aforementioned process) or by the beit din proper to Judaism. Conservative Judaism.

Third, Reforms believe that Jews are those who were born to Jewish parents or converted before an Orthodox, Conservative beit din or before a Reform rabbi (it should be noted that every rabbi reformist is free to decide when a proselyte becomes a Jew). At this point it should be added that the American Reform rabbis established that the children of a Jewish father could be considered as such if they received some type of Jewish education. This is because 57% of Jewish men chose to marry Gentile women.

Karaite Jews, citing practices from the Tanakh, consider anyone born to a Jewish father to be a Jew.

Therefore, being a Jew is a matter of biological ancestry or spiritual adoption, through becoming a proselyte, biological or spiritual descendants of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. According to halacha, a Jewish person can be a Christian or a Muslim without losing his formal status as a Jew, but losing religious and community rights, such as the right to burial in a Jewish cemetery.

Despite all this, converting to Judaism from another confession (or none at all) is possible, since the Talmud mentions the following: «The rabbis say: "If someone comes and wants to be a convert, they they say to him: 'Why do you want to be a convert? Don't you know that the Jews are harassed, harassed, persecuted and cornered, and that many problems afflict them?' If you answer: 'I know, and I'm not worthy', then they receive it without any further argument being necessary.

However, in practice it will be an arduous and complex task, since the Torah must be followed by the entire community. There was a time when Christianity considered the conversion of its faithful to Judaism a serious offense, and they defended themselves by alluding to this obligation arguing that for this reason there is no benefit in converting to Judaism or any reason to encourage conversion.

This point is one of the most differentiating Judaism from Christianity or Islam, since anyone can belong to these last two monotheistic religions just by professing and respecting their beliefs.

Fundamentals of Judaism

These are some of the principles on which the Jewish religion is based or that characterize it.

• Judaism is based on Tanach (what Christians call the Old Testament), a compendium of 24 books that tells the story of man and Jews, from Creation to the construction of the Second Temple, and also includes religious, moral and legal precepts; philosophy, prophecies and poetry, among others. His first five books, all known in the name of "the Torah" or "Pentateuch", are considered written by divine inspiration and, therefore, sacred, and his public reading in the synagogue on Monday, Thursday and Saturday forms a fundamental part of the Jewish worship, which has validated the Jewish people the name of "the People of the Book".
• The Torah is the first source of the seven basic moral precepts that bind every human being as such (“The Seven Precepts of the Children of Noah”; Genesis), and of the 613 religious precepts that compel the Jews (613 mitzvot): 365 that impose to abstain from action — one for every day of the year — and 248 precepts that positively compel to do — one for every organ of the body. The Biblical precepts are commented, explained, extended and implemented by the different exegeseseses that wrote the oral traditions: the Mishnah and the whole in which it is included: the Talmud.
• The legal, ethical, moral and religious precepts that emanate from the Torah, and that together with their explanation of the Mishnah constitute the main legal corpus of Judaism, the Talmud, are known as the Jewish law or Halajá (ה deה,ה,ה,הcaה, "camino"), whose main compilative source and recognized by the Jews around the world—as well as a very rich literature halájica Over the centuries, it is the medieval book "Shuljan Aruj" (END. מ. הןה., "the table served"). The commandments of the Halacha command the full cycle of observant Jewish life, from circumcision to birth (Genesis), passing through the food (the Cashrut, מהרוה, Leviticus), intimate life (Leviticus), the dress (Leviticus), and thus all the main milestones of man's life, until his death.
• The most solemn prayer of the Jewish religion, which reflects the very essence of the monotheistic belief, appears in the fifth and last book of the Torah: "Hey, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" (cf..................... Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ejad Deuteronomy 6:4). Believers recite it twice a day, in the morning prayers (cf. Shajaritand of the night (Arvit).
• The Jewish symbol of our days par excellence is the star of David (the recordן betrayed). Maguén David“David’s Shield”, see in the staff above), so called by the belief that King David adopted him as a symbol of weapons in his war shield and in that of his soldiers, although he appears with his current meaning far later, to the Middle Ages. The oldest known symbol of Judaism is the seven-armed ritual candelabra (מ, hinted at) Menorah), formerly located in the Tabernacle (Exodus) and then in the first (1Kings 7:49and second Temple of Jerusalem.
• Jewish life is governed by a calendar based on the combination of the lunar monthly cycle and the solar year, whose origins date back to biblical times, and by which the festivities and rites of religion are governed to this day.

Kipá (traditional Jewish solidarity) and Menorah (the seven-armed ritual chandelier), two of the most well-known symbols of Jewish tradition.

• The most venerated Jewish festival is the Shabbat (from the Hebrew END ENDּ de ּ ּ ּ,, Saturday, "rest, cessation of activity", Genesis), considered sacred and surpassed, in solemnity, only for the Day of Forgiveness or Yom Kipur, precisely called also "Saturday Sabbath". Its relevance in Jewish life is such that it is included among the Ten Commandments, which are considered divine word (Exodus, Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
• The leadership of the traditional Jewish community is in the hands of the rabbi, a culte and docta in the Halacha that leads to his acolytes not only in the spiritual and religious, celebrating the Jewish cult, its festivities and celebrations, but gains the respect of his flock as a moral authority and community leader, providing advice, solving problems and dimitting all the conflicts that might arise among its members.
• The Jewish cult is celebrated in the temple or synagogue, which also serves as a place of community gathering and meeting, for which purpose the prayer in public requires a minimum of ten men. The synagogue replaces the Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed in the 70th year and a unique place of prayer and pilgrimage until its physical disappearance. In the same way, the ritual sacrifices that were made there were replaced by prayer paths, which the pious Jew raises three times a day: to the dawn (...... Shajarit), in the afternoon (מה, Minjá... and at nightfall (Arvit). In festive days you add a fourth to half tomorrow (Musaf), and only in Yom Kipur closes the celebration with a fifth prayer (. Ne'ilá).
• The religion and the Jewish people forever consecrated the land of Israel, the sacred land, as one of its main axis, already from their very dawn (Genesis), becoming an integral part of Jewish idiosyncrasy: the world divides between the Holy Land and all the rest, called diaspora. Thus the synagogues of the whole world are built in the face of Israel; prayers and festivities agree with their weather and seasons; much of the precepts can be fulfilled only by treading their soil, to name a few. Within the land of Israel occupies Jerusalem a unique place in Jewish devotion, and within the city the remains of the Temple of Solomon, the so-called "Muro de los lamentas", is considered the most sacred of the sites. They share with Jerusalem their status of holiness, to a lesser extent, also the cities of Hebron, Safed and Tiberias.
• The Jewish people identified from the beginning with the Hebrew language, considered "sacred language" (sheer language). leshon hakódesh), in which the Torah and most of the Jewish literature are written. Relegated to the condition of a dead language for centuries, reserved for prayer, literature and legal and theological texts, it was recovered as a spoken and modernized language with the resurgence of Zionism and adopted as an official language of the State of Israel.

History

The rolls of the Torah, open for its public reading in the synagogue.

The Jewish community in Israel was dominated by various ancient empires. The Assyrians were followed by the Babylonians and then the Persians until their conquest by the Greeks. It is at this time (circa 170 B.C.) when a revolution led by Judas the Maccabee ("hammer", Hasmonean) broke out, managing to place the entire territory of ancient Israel back under Jewish rule. The Hasmonean Kingdom of Judah ultimately passed into the hands of the Roman Empire.

Israel was conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II, at the end of the 8th century BCE. C. The kingdom of Judea could continue for a century and a half, until in the year 586 BC it was conquered by the Babylonians, commanded by Nebuchadnezzar II. In that year, the first temple, the central place of Jewish religious activity at the time, was destroyed. Many of the Jews were banished from Israel and taken as slaves to Babylon (present-day Iraq), making up the first Jewish Diaspora. During the exile in Babylon, the Jews write what is known as the "Babylonian Talmud" (Talmud Bavli), while Jews still established in Judea write the 'Jerusalem Talmud'. These two manuscripts represent the first manifestations of the Torah in written form, and the Babylonian Talmud is the one currently used by Jewish communities. The subsequent conquest of Babylon by the Persians allowed many Jews to return to their homeland after 70 years in Babylonian exile. A new Second Temple was built and the old practices were reinstated.

It is in the year 70 AD. C., when a new rebellion breaks out and the Second Temple is destroyed. Many Jewish inhabitants are sold into slavery and scattered throughout the confines of the Roman Empire, a process known as the "diaspora". The story of Masada demonstrates the daring of the Jewish soldiers of the time. Numerous Jewish communities flourished in the Sasanian Empire and in the Roman Empire.

In the early Middle Ages the Khazar kingdom (on the Volga steppe) adopted Judaism as its official religion, but the extent of this conversion among the peoples subject to the Khazar khan is still disputed.

The hegemony of Christianity in Europe meant numerous persecutions against the Jewish people, which led to frequent and repeated expulsions. Many communities had to live in segregated neighborhoods called ghettos, but it is also true that in other periods they enjoyed greater tolerance, without ever being fully accepted.

During the Middle Ages, no matter how many professional merchants were sought, none were found, or rather they were only Jews. Only they, from the Carolingian period, practiced trade regularly, to such an extent that in the language of that time, the words judaeus and mercator were almost synonymous. A few settled in the south of France, but the majority came from the Muslim countries of the Mediterranean, from where they moved, passing through Spain, to the west and north of Europe. They were all Radhanites, perpetual traveling merchants, thanks to whom superficial contact with Eastern religions was maintained.

Their trade was exclusively in spices and precious fabrics, which they painstakingly transported from Syria, Egypt and Byzantium to the Carolingian Empire. Jewish merchants catered to a very small clientele. The profits they made must have been very important, however it should be considered that their economic role was not transcendental.

In the Muslim world, despite some episodes of persecution and massacres (especially in the first century of Islam's expansion), the Jews were tolerated as one of the "People of the Book" –in exchange for the payment of important tributes and numerous restrictions–, in some cases reaching high positions in the Caliphate administration both in Damascus and in Baghdad and Córdoba. However, the fact that they were tolerated never freed them from their legal status as dhimmis, which condemned them to numerous discriminations and a situation of submission.

Spanish Jews, known as Sephardim, were forced to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in 1492 by the Edict of Granada. Many found refuge in the Ottoman Empire; Even today, Sephardic Jews live in cities like Istanbul or Izmir who retain medieval Spanish as their language.

There was no other Jewish state in Israel until 1948, when its independence was finally declared.

Bible story

Jewish history dates back to ancient Biblical traditions. When Noah's ark ran aground on Mount Ararat, the sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) gave rise, respectively, to the Semites of the Near East, the Hamites of Africa, and the Japhethites of the rest of the world.

Abraham, father of the Jews, upon receiving the order from Yahweh to settle in the land of Canaan, set out immediately, leaving his homeland, Ur, of the Chaldeans (Mesopotamia). Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob were nomadic herders.

His descendants were driven by famine to the land of Goshen, in the delta of the Nile River. But the Pharaoh of Egypt, seeing that they were growing unstoppably and becoming powerful, reduced them to slavery. With Moses anointed as leader and lawgiver, God's chosen people headed toward Canaan, the promised land.

The dramatic march from Egypt across the Red Sea and the 40-year pilgrimage through the desert are important milestones in the history of the Israelite people. The Jews, once the city of Jericho had been conquered, settled in the agricultural area of Canaan, a land from which in the Bible it is said that "milk and honey flowed".

Once established in Israel, the land was divided among the twelve tribes: Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Ephraim, Dan, Benjamin, Reuben, Judah, and Simeon. Over time it went from a theocracy to a monarchical form of government, and the most famous kings of the time were Saul, David and his son Solomon, with his capital in Jerusalem. After Solomon's reign, the nation split into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judea in the south, where the Jews take their name.

Books

• The Tanach, that part of the Bible called the Old Testament by Christians consists of 24 books:
  • The Torah, literally "the Doctrine", or Pentateuch or five first books of the Bible of Christians, considered of divine origin, and called by tradition as "Escribed Torah" (Torah she-bijtav - أعربي ה أعربية).
  • The Neviim or Book of the Prophets.
  • The Ketuvim (literally "The Writings").
• The Mishnah, gathering of oral traditions and exegesis of the Torah, delivered according to the belief directly to Moses by the Lord on Mount Sinai, transmitted orally from generation to generation, and compiled at the end of the centuries by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasí, in the second century.
• The Talmud or Gemara, formed by a voluminous corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus hab corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus hab corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus corpus of interpretations and comments attributed to the Amorites, scholars who lived in the centuryIIafter the Mishnah edition. Typically, Talmud also understands the subsequent comments whose origin dates back to the medieval, among which stands out Rabbi Shelomó Yitzjaki (“Rashi”, for his initials in Hebrew).

In the Middle Ages, two works considered the center of halakhic literature arose:

• The Shulján Aruj, compilation and codification of the entire Halacha by themes, the work of Rabbi Yosef Karo of Safed in the sixteenth century, whose norm is accepted practically by the entire Jews.
• The Mishne Torah of Maimonides, called in Hebrew Moshe Ben Maimon (or even Rambam, for their initials). The Yemeni Jews prefer the latter before the Shuljan Aruj.

It is also worth noting the importance of the fundamental book of the Jewish Kabbalah:

• The Zóhar, mystical book written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yojai (or Rashbi, for his initials in Hebrew).

Demographics

According to Professor Sergio Della Pérgola, an expert in demography of the Jewish people at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 2001 there were 13,200,000 Jews living in the world, of whom 4.9 million resided in Israel (approximately 37% of the total), while the remaining 8.3 million did so in the Diaspora, the name given by Jews to the Jewish community outside of Israel.

The largest concentration of Jewish population was in Israel. The largest urban center in the Jewish world was the metropolitan area of Gush Dan—or Greater Tel Aviv—with 2.5 million, followed by New York with 1.9 million; Haifa, with 655,000; Los Angeles with 621,000, Jerusalem with 570,000, and Southeast Florida with 514,000 Jews (2001 data).

In 2010, according to The Jewish Population of the World, whose source is the American Jewish Year Book and the North American Jewish Databanka of the University of Connecticut, the number it was 13,430,000 Jews in the world. Around 6,039,600 resided in the Americas (5,275,000 in the United States), around 5,741,500 in Asia (5,703,700 in Israel), around 1,500,000 in Europe, 115,100 in Oceania, and 76,200 in Africa. figures that change permanently.

Jewish Holidays

Days of repentance (or forgiveness)

• Rosh Hashanah, "New Year", 1 and 2 of Tishrei (first month of the Hebrew calendar).
• Yom Kipur, "Day of Forgiveness," 10 Tishrei.

Pilgrimage festivals and liberation festivals

• Sucot, "Feast of the Cabins" or "Tabernacles", from 15 to 22 Tishrei.
• Shavuot, feast of the Torah, 6 of Sivan.
• Pésaj, the feast of unleavened bread, 15 of Nisan.
• Purim, 14 Adar.

Holidays that do not appear in the Torah

• Jánuca, "Fiesta de las Luminarias", from 25 Kislev to 2 (or 3) from Tebet.
• Your B'shvat, New Year of Trees, 15 Shevat.
• Lag Baómer, 18 from IyarOmer account.

Commemorations that do not appear in the Torah

• TiSha Be'av, "Destroying the Temple", 9 Av.

Fasting days

• Fast of Guedaliá, Tsom Guedaliá3 Nizan.
• A fast of 10 Tebet, Tsom will roast betebet10 Tebet.
• Esther's fast, Ta'anit Ester13 Adar.
• Fast of the 17th of Tamuz, Tsom shiv'á asar betamuz17 Tamuz.
• Fast of the 9th of Ab, Tsom tish'á be'av9 of Ab.
• Yom Kippur fast, Tishrei's 10th fast.

Modern Commemorations

• Yom Hashoah, day of mourning for the victims of the Holocaust, 27 Nizan.
• Yom Hazikaron, day of mourning for the fallen in the wars, 4 Iyar.

Modern Holidays

• Yom Ha'atsmaut, Day of the Independence of Israel, 5 Iyar.
• Yom Yerushalayim, Day of Reunification of Jerusalem, 28 Iyar.

Synagogues

Since AD 70, when the Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the synagogue has been the preferred place of worship, although Judaism does not issue a preference for a specific place to worship. said activity. In Hebrew, the synagogue is called Bet Haknesset (בית הכנסת) or "gathering place".

Men, upon entering the synagogue, generally put a kippah or yarmulke on their heads. It is also customary to use spaces normally intended for study for prayer. Members of the Jewish clergy are called rabbis or dayanim.

Currencies of Judaism

Judaism is not a monolithic religion nor does it present absolute cohesion or unity. Reform, Orthodox and Masorti Jews maintain relations with each other, not always cordial, but they are organized into completely autonomous groups. The differences between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews, or practicing and non-practicing according to the Orthodox, is considered a long-term threat to the stability of the state of Israel, where the majority is non-practicing but political and religious power is in the hands of the orthodox.^{[citation needed]}

Those three main branches of Judaism are linked through the rabbinic tradition of the Middle Ages and the Talmud, although the importance they give to that tradition varies from one to another. All three groups come from the common stock of the Pharisees, who at the beginning of the Christian era represented the largest trend within Judaism. Even today, there are some Samaritans and Karaites, dissidents from the point of view of rabbinic orthodoxy, in the Middle East.

Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

Also known as haredi (those who tremble before God), it presents two doctrinal differences with the orthodox, a particularly devout practice, and its distance from Zionism. It has two large subdivisions:

Hasidism

Hasidic Judaism is an ultra-Orthodox movement. Hasidism was created in Poland in the early 18th century. Its founder was Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, also known as the "Baal Shem Tov". Followers of Hasidism wished to create a more joyful and less academic Judaism. They are currently divided into multiple trends. The Chabad-Lubavitchers sub-subgroup is distinguished by its efforts to attract Jews, especially non-practicing ones, to the variety of Judaism that to them is the only authentic one, and by its geographical expansion to achieve this end. They are represented in more than 1,000 cities in 80 countries, and are the largest Jewish organization in the world.

Mythnagism

Also ultra-orthodox, the mitnagdim (from Hebrew מתנגדים, opponents), on the contrary, reject some positions of Hasidism, such as the intensive study of the hidden part of the Torah. It is a more unified current.

The ultra-Orthodox, due to their almost non-existent marriage outside their own variety of Judaism, and due to their large families, are experiencing a demographic boom.

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism (Hebrew: יהדות רפורמית) is one of the great branches of the Jewish religion (Rabbinic Judaism) today, of Ashkenazi origin, along with Orthodox Judaism and Conservative or Masorti Judaism'. Reform Judaism (also called progressive or progressive) defends individual autonomy regarding the interpretation of religious precepts (Hebrew: מצוות mitzvot).

Principles of reformism

They are not meant to be dogmatic:

• The existence, singularity and unity of God.
• The eternity and the spiritual nature of God.
• The Torah was inspired and progressively revealed by God.
• The spread of ethical monotheism.
• Science should be part of the guide to systematic reformism, which focuses on humanity as the first objective. Based on the rationalism of Maimonides or Rambam (from the Hebrew acronym, מה"é).
• The affirmation of the three pillars of Judaism: God, the Torah and Israel.
• The adaptation and response of Judaism to the challenges of today, as it has always done so in order to survive. Judaism must be purified and the weed cut.
• The arrival of the Messianic era is the responsibility of all; Jews and non-Jews.

Approaches

• Exclusive adherence to the Torah and the rest of the Tanach as God-inspired writing. The works of rabbinical literature called "oral will", namely Mishná and Guemará (Talmud), Midrash and medieval literature such as Mishné Torah, are also consulted. Similarly, they are treated with high valuation (and constant and indispensable use) the Responsa and Sidur (Jewish prayer book). For the reformists the "oral will" (and therefore the Halacha), although it is recognized as part of the "sacred text" together with the Tanaj, is not considered as "divine revelation", but rather as a set of opinions and reflections inspired by the Torah "written" in many cases, with a high degree of ethical purity which contributed to its thinkers and authors to seek an intimate approach to God, but not divine. Therefore, reformism considers the movements that give definitive authority to the traditional halajá or claim that its approach to halajá is the only or most authentic expression of Judaism. The Torah "written" (the only existing one for reformism) is treated as progressive revelation or "living document".

• Rejecting sexual segregation and defending women ' s rights. Men and women pray in the reformist synagogues jointly. The reformism was the first movement to begin the ordination (Hebreo: старики) of rabbis women.

• Absence of fundamentalism in its interpretation of religious precepts. These precepts were written by people influenced by their society, and a literalist interpretation should not be made, but appropriate to the context.

• Firm commitment to social justice and reparation for the world. (Tikún Olam). [1]

• Consideration of the Jewish Messiah as a symbol of an idyllic society (It was Messianic) in which the principles of peace and fraternity are fulfilled, and not as an individual person who will establish that order.

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is one of the branches of the Jewish religion today, along with Reform Judaism and Conservative or Masorti Judaism. It is distinguished from them by its rigorous adherence to Halacha. It lacks a central doctrinal authority allowing some variation in practice. It affirms that the Pesach holiday, the Shabbat (Saturday) and all the precepts of the Torah (both the written one and the one they call part & #34;oral torah"), were given by God himself to Moses more than 3,323 years ago on Mount Sinai. They believe that Moses in turn taught these laws to the entire Israelite people, that as a single entity he agreed to comply with them before knowing what they consist of or the reason for each one of them, with a single provision of indivisible entity. In keeping with its attitude toward contemporary culture, Orthodox Judaism is informally divided into Modern Orthodox Judaism, which seeks to align its practices and studies to some extent with the contemporary social situation, though it is firm on halacha, the religious Zionism that it links Orthodox Judaism with Zionism and Haredi Judaism, which rejects any innovation that its leaders consider contrary to the spirit of the Torah.

Orthodox Judaism arose as an adverse response to the growth of Reform Judaism in 19th-century Germany. This is guided mainly by the Halacha or Jewish law specified in the Talmud and codified in the Shulchan Aruch. These in turn are based on the Torah. He considers that the laws were delivered not only to this generation, but also directed to all their descendants, and contain in themselves all the facets that one might think that require their application.

In orthodox Judaism, one who has converted to Judaism by rules other than those of Halacha is not accepted as a Jew. The Orthodox rabbi is the only one who can celebrate a -religious- marriage in Israel (and he will not marry a Jew with a non-Jew).

Beliefs

Orthodox Judaism bases its beliefs on the thirteen principles of faith of Moses Maimonides. Its principles are:

• The Existence of God
• Eternity, singularity and unity of God
• The Spiritual and Abstract Nature of God
• Only to Him and not to another must direct our prayers
• Moses is the greatest and chief prophet
• God delivered the Torah on Mount Sinai and cannot be changed
• God knows future human acts
• God rewards goodness and punishes evil
• God will send a Messiah
• God will raise the dead

Conservative Judaism

Also known as Masorti or traditionalist Judaism (from the Hebrew masoret, מסורת "tradition"). This movement was formed in the United States through the merger of two distinct groups: the Reformists and the Orthodox. They emphasize that the Jews constitute a nation (Am Israel), but that this cannot be identified, in its entirety, with the state of Israel.

Conservatives do not follow Jewish law in its entirety, but lean towards interpretations that are more open to the modern world, not always based on the majority opinion of the sages (talmidim or hachamim).

Secular Judaism

Secular Jews are those who belong to the Jewish people by family descent, in accordance with the laws of Judaism, yet make little or no effort to practice Jewish law. Most secular Jews are indifferent to Judaism, which forms a relatively small part of their identity. The latter differentiates them from secular humanist Jews. In Hebrew, mainly in Israel, secular Jews are known as chilonim (in Hebrew, חילונים‎), singular jiloní (חילוני).

Secular Humanist Judaism

Secular humanist Judaism is a current that sees man as the center of the world and Jewish life, unlike other currents that emphasize the centrality of God. For the secular humanist Jews, religion and its laws should not necessarily govern the behavior of the individual. This current highlights universal humanist values, which are historically based on Jewish sources. The different books of Judaism are highlighted as sources of inspiration for the concepts of freedom, justice, social justice, solidarity, respect and help for others, tolerance and others.

This current, like the reform, is one of the attempts to adapt Judaism and make it compatible with the different possibilities of secular and nationalist identities that arise as a consequence of the French Revolution.

Minor currents

Reconstructionist Judaism

Karaite Judaism

Karaism is a religious current of Judaism, known by that name, which comes from the Hebrew term קראית (Qaraim: "readers") and, which is also designated as Bené mikrá, which means "followers of Scripture', who recognize the Tanakh as the only highest authority, in opposition to the Bene mishnah, followers of tradition. Proclaims the right of every Jew to study the Hebrew Scriptures freely, regardless of rabbinical interpretation or the Talmud; due to their emphasis on Scripture, they were called from the 8th century "Qara'ìm& #34;.

Nazarene Judaism

Nazarene Judaism is a Jewish movement, whose belief base is found in the Tanakh, in addition to taking into account both the writings of the first disciples of Yeshua of Nazareth (without considering them gospels) and texts from Jewish sources, such as the Talmud and the Qumram manuscripts. The term should not be confused with the Nazarenes, but is a name in Judaism for the disciples of Yeshua, who were Jews (orthodox according to the acceptance of the time), and who in Christianity would come to be called apostles.

The most notable thing in the Nazarene current (as well as the messianic one) is its belief that Yeshua of Nazareth is the mashiaj chosen by Hashem, separating it from the bulk of Judaism that sees the arrival of the messiah as an accomplished fact impossible. However, Nazarene Jews do not believe in trinitarian concepts, nor in the divinization of the messiah, nor in the virgin birth or other dogmas that form the dogmatic basis of Christianity.