1.
Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
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Orthodox Judaism
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Orthodox Judaism includes movements such as Modern Orthodox Judaism and Ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Judaism. As of 2001, Orthodox Jews and Jews affiliated with an Orthodox synagogue accounted for approximately 50% of British Jews,26. 5% of Israeli Jews, among those affiliated to a synagogue body, Orthodox Jews represent 70% of British Jewry, and 27% of American Jewry. Orthodoxy is not one single movement or school of thought, there is no single rabbinical body to which all rabbis are expected to belong, or any one organization representing member congregations. In the 20th century, a segment of the Orthodox population disagreed with Modern Orthodoxy, such rabbis viewed innovations and modifications within Jewish law and customs with extreme care and caution. This form of Judaism may be referred to as Haredi Judaism or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, several local Jewish papers, including New Yorks Jewish Week and Philadelphias Jewish Exponent have also dropped use of the term. According to Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, the term Orthodox Judaism was coined as a response to the rise of Reform Judaism in early 19th century Germany, some researchers attempted to argue that the importance of daily practice and punctilious adherence to Jewish Law relegated theoretical issues to an ancillary status. Others dismissed this view entirely, citing the many debates in ancient rabbinic sources which castigated various heresies without any reference to observance, however, while lacking a uniform doctrine, Orthodox Judaism is basically united in affirming several core beliefs, disavowal of which is considered major blasphemy. As in other aspects, Orthodox positions reflect the mainstream of traditional Rabbinic Judaism through the ages, attempts to codify these were undertaken by several medieval authorities, including Saadia Gaon and Joseph Albo. Yet the 13 Fundamentals expounded by Maimonides in his Commentary on the Mishnah, but in recent centuries the 13 Principles became standard, and are considered binding and cardinal by Orthodox authorities in a virtually universal manner. More specific doctrines refer to the times of Godly salvation and afterlife – in Judaism, Olam haBa and these include belief in divine reward for those who observe the Lords commandments and likewise, punishment meted unto the transgressors. Maimonides reserved one article for this tenet, oft mentioned in sources, stating merely that God rewards. This issue has been subject to debate and interpretation. Nahmanides offered a comprehensive system, with divine remuneration for better or worse both in this world, via natural means, and in a celestial heaven and hell. One of the most important teachings concerning afterlife in Judaism is the Resurrection of the Dead, the Talmud listed deniers of this faith as heretics who shall have no part in the World to Come. Maimoindes specified it apart as a separate article and this particular notion is closely linked with Reward and Punishment. They will live ordinary, corporeal life but will not die, then all mankind shall be resuscitated and be given each his just due. The eternal reward shall be preserved for their soul, as beforehand, preceding the miraculous events linked with afterlife is the Advent of the Messiah, also independently listed among Maimonides Thirteen as a tenet of faith. Orthodox Judaism maintains the historical understanding of Jewish identity, a Jew is someone who was born to a Jewish mother, or who converts to Judaism in accordance with Jewish law and tradition
3.
Haredi Judaism
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Haredi Judaism is a broad spectrum of groups within Orthodox Judaism, all characterized by a rejection of modern secular culture. Its members are referred to as strictly Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox in English. The term ultra-Orthodox, however, is considered pejorative by some of its adherents, Haredim regard themselves as the most religiously authentic group of Jews, although this claim is contested by other streams. However, there are many Haredi communities in which getting a degree or establishing a business is encouraged. Haredi communities are found in Israel, North America. Their estimated global population currently numbers 1. 3–1.5 million, and, due to an absence of interfaith marriage. Their numbers have also boosted by a substantial number of secular Jews adopting a Haredi lifestyle as part of the Baal teshuva movement. The term most commonly used by outsiders, including most American news organizations, is ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Hillel Halkin suggests the origins of the term may date to the 1950s, a period in which Haredi survivors of the Holocaust first began arriving in America. Haredi is a Modern Hebrew adjective derived from the Biblical verb hared which appears in the Book of Isaiah and is translated as trembles at the word of God. The word connotes an awe-inspired fear and anxiety to perform the will of God and is used to describe staunchly Orthodox Jews, others, however, dispute the characterization of the term as pejorative. Ari L. Goldman, a professor at Columbia University, notes that the term simply serves a purpose to distinguish a specific part of the Orthodox community. Sometimes the community has been characterized as Traditional Orthodox, in contradistinction to the Modern Orthodox, Haredi Jews also use other terms to refer to themselves. Common Yiddish words include Yidn or erlekhe Yidn, Ben Torah, frum, according to its adherents, the forebears of the contemporary Haredim were the traditionalists of Eastern Europe who fought against modernization. Indeed, adherents see its beliefs as part of a tradition dating from the revelation at Sinai. However, most historians of Orthodoxy consider Haredi Judaism, in its modern incarnation, for centuries, before Jewish emancipation, European Jews were forced to live in ghettos where Jewish culture and religious observance were preserved. Change began in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment when some European liberals sought to include the Jewish population in the emerging empires, the influence of the Haskalah movement was also evidence. Supporters of the Haskalah held that Judaism must change in keeping with the changes around them. Other Jews insisted on strict adherence to halakha and his approach was to accept the tools of modern scholarship and apply them in defence of Orthodoxy
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Hasidic Judaism
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Hasidism, sometimes Hasidic Judaism, is a Jewish religious sect. It arose as a revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century. Today most affiliates reside in the United States, Israel, Israel Ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, is regarded as its founding father, and his disciples developed and disseminated it. Current Hasidism is a sub-group within Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and is noted for its religious conservatism, Hasidic thought draws heavily on Lurianic Kabbalah and to an extent is a popularization of it. Hasidim, the adherents of Hasidism, are organized in independent sects known as courts or dynasties, each headed by its own hereditary leader, a Rebbe. Reverence and submission to the Rebbe are key tenets, as he is considered an authority with whom the follower must bond to gain closeness to God. The various courts share basic convictions but operate apart and possess unique traits, there are several courts with many thousands of member households each, and dozens of smaller ones. The terms hasid and hasidut, meaning pietist and piety, have a history in Judaism. The Talmud and other old sources refer to the Pietists of Old who would contemplate an entire hour in preparation for prayer, the phrase denoted extremely devoted individuals who did not only observe the Law to its letter but performed good deeds even beyond it. Adam himself is honored with the title in tractate Eruvin 18b by Rabbi Meir, Adam was a great hasid, the title continued to be applied as an honorific for the exceptionally devout. In the 16th century, when Kabbalah spread, the title became associated with it. Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah wrote in his glossa on Isaac Lurias version of the Shulchan Aruch that one who wishes to tap the hidden wisdom, the movement founded by Israel Ben Eliezer in the 18th century adopted the term hasidim in the original connotation. But when the sect grew and developed specific attributes, from the 1770s and its common adherents, belonging to groups each headed by a spiritual leader, were henceforth known as Hasidim. Yet eventually, the sect gained such a mass following that the old connotation was sidelined. In popular discourse at least, Hasid came to someone who follows a religious teacher from the movement. It also entered Modern Hebrew as such, meaning adherent or disciple, one was not merely a hasid anymore, observed historian David Assaf, but a Hasid of someone or some dynasty in particular. Originally denoting an observant, moral person, in Hasidic literature Tzaddiq became synonymous with the often hereditary master heading a sect of followers, as noted by Joseph Dan, every attempt to present such a body of ideas has failed. The difficulty of separating the movements philosophy from that of its inspiration, Lurianic Kabbalah
5.
Conservative Judaism
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Conservative Judaism is a major Jewish denomination, which views Jewish Law, or Halakha, as both binding and subject to historical development. The movement considers its approach as the authentic and most appropriate continuation of halakhic discourse, worldwide, affiliated communities are united within the umbrella organization Masorti Olami. Conservative Judaism is estimated to represent close to 1,100,000 people, Conservative Judaism, from its earliest stages, was marked by ambivalence and ambiguity in all matters theological. Rabbi Zecharias Frankel, considered its progenitor, believed the very notion of theology was alien to traditional Judaism. He was often accused of obscurity on the subject by his opponents, the American movement largely espoused a similar approach, and its leaders mostly avoided the field. Only in 1985 did a course about Conservative theology open in the JTS, the hitherto sole major attempt to define a clear credo was made in 1988, with the Statement of Principles Emet ve-Emunah, formulated and issued by the Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism. The introduction stated that lack of definition was useful in the past, Conservative Judaism largely upholds the theistic notion of a personal God. Emet ve-Emunah stated that we affirm our faith in God as the Creator and Governor of the universe and his power called the world into being, His wisdom and goodness guide its destiny. Concurrently, the platform also noted that His nature was elusive, a naturalistic conception of divinity, regarding it as inseparable from the mundane world, once had an important place within the denomination, especially represented by Mordecai Kaplan. After Kaplans Reconstructionism fully coalesced into an independent movement, these views were marginalized, a similarly inconclusive position is expressed toward other precepts. Most theologians adhere to the Immortality of the Soul, but while references to the Resurrection of the Dead are maintained, in Emet, it was stated that death is not tantamount to the end of ones personality. The 1988 platform announced that some believe in classic eschathology, the notions of Election of Israel and Gods covenant with it were basically retained as well. Conservative conception of Revelation encompasses an extensive spectrum, Zecharias Frankel himself applied critical-scientific methods to analyze the stages in the development of the Oral Torah, pioneering modern study of the Mishnah. Yet he also vehemently rejected utilizing these disciplines on the Pentateuch, maintaining it was beyond human reach, Frankel never elucidated his beliefs, and the exact correlation between human and divine in his thought is still subject to scholarly debate. Along with other Reconstructionist tenets, it dwindled as the latter consolidated into a separate group, Kaplans views and the permeation of Higher Criticism gradually swayed most Conservative thinkers towards a non-verbal understanding of theophany, which has become dominant in the 1970s. This was en sync with the trend of lowering rates of Americans who accepted the Bible as the Word of God. Dorff categorized the proponents of this into two schools, one maintains that God projected some form of message which inspired the human authors of the Pentateuch to record what they perceived. The other is often influenced by Franz Rosenzweig and other existentialists
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Reform Judaism
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It is characterized by a lesser stress on ritual and personal observance, regarding Jewish Law as of basically non-binding nature, and great openness to external influences and progressive values. The origins of Reform Judaism lay in 19th-century Germany, where its early principles were formulated by Rabbi Abraham Geiger and its greatest center today is in North America. They warrant and obligate further modification and reject any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, a clear description became particularly challenging since the turn toward a policy favouring inclusiveness over a coherent theology in the 1970s. This largely overlapped with what researchers termed as the transition from Classical to New Reform in America, the movement ceased stressing principles and core beliefs, focusing more on the personal spiritual experience. This shift was not accompanied by a new doctrine or by the abandonment of the former. The leadership allowed and encouraged a variety of positions, from selective adoption of halakhic observance to elements approaching religious humanism. The declining importance of the foundation, in favour of pluralism and equivocalness. It also diversified Reform to a degree which made it hard to formulate a definition of it. Early Reform thinkers in Germany clung to this precept, the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform described the One God, the God-Idea as taught in our sacred Scripture as consecrating the Jewish people to be its priests. It was grounded on a wholly theistic understanding, although the term God-idea was excoriated by outside critics, so was the 1937 Columbus Declaration of Principles, which spoke of a One, living God who rules the world. Even the 1976 San Francisco Centenary Perspective, drafted at a time of discord among Reform theologians. Challenges of modern culture have made steady belief difficult for some, nevertheless, we ground our lives, personally and communally, on Gods reality. The 1999 Pittsburgh Statement of Principles declared the reality and oneness of God, British Liberal Judaism affirms the Jewish conception of God, One and indivisible, transcendent and immanent, Creator and Sustainer. All the People Israel are a link in the chain of revelation, capable of reaching new insights. The chief promulgator of this concept was Abraham Geiger, generally considered founder of the movement, while also subject to change and new understanding, the basic premise of progressive revelation endures in Reform thought. This highly rationalistic view virtually identified human reason and intellect with divine action, in the decades around World War II, this rationalistic and optimistic theology was challenged and questioned. The senior representative of postwar Reform theology, Eugene Borowitz, regarded theophany in postmodern terms and closely linked it with human experience. He rejected the notion of revelation in the meaning of comparing human betterment with divine inspiration, stressing that past experiences were unique
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Karaite Judaism
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Karaite Judaism or Karaism, is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in Halakha and theology. It is distinct from mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, as codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding the written collections of the tradition in the Midrash or Talmud. By contrast, Rabbinic Judaism relies on the rulings of the Sanhedrin as they are codified in the Midrash, Talmud. Karaites may consider arguments made in the Talmud and other works without exalting them above other viewpoints, According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud, in his Sefer HaQabbalah, the Karaite movement crystallized in Baghdad in the Gaonic period under the Abbasid Caliphate in what is present-day Iraq. This is the universally accepted among Rabbinic Jews. It was said to have been stamped by the palm of Amr ibn al-As, the first Islamic governor of Egypt, and was reportedly dated 20 AH. Karaites have always maintained that, while there are similarities to the Sadducees, due to the rejection of Rabbinical authority. The ancestors of the Karaites were a group called Benei Ṣedeq during the Second Temple period, Karaites at one time made up a significant proportion of the Jewish population. Estimates of the Karaite population are difficult to make because they believe on the basis of Genesis 32 that counting Jews is forbidden, some 30–50,000 are thought to reside in the 21st century in Israel, with smaller communities in Turkey, Europe and the United States. Another estimate holds that, of the 50,000 world-wide, more than 40,000 descend from those who made aliyah from Egypt, arguments among Jewish sects regarding the validity of the Oral Law can be dated back to the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. Accordingly, some trace the origin of Karaism to those who rejected the Talmudic tradition as an innovation. Shētaḥ, with the friends of both, at this period arose the doctrine of the Karaites in consequence of an incident between the Sages and King Jannai who was a priest. His mother was under suspicion of being a profane woman, one of the Sages alluded to this, saying to him, Be satisfied, O king Jannai, with the royal crown, but leave the priestly crown to the seed of Aaron. His friends prejudiced him against the Sages, advising him to browbeat, expel and he replied, If I destroy the Sages what will become of our Law. There is the law, they replied, whoever wishes to study it may come and do so. He followed their advice and expelled the Sages and among them Simon b, rabbinism was laid low for some time. The other party tried to establish a law built on their own conception, shētaḥ returned with his disciples from Alexandria, and restored tradition to its former condition
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Humanistic Judaism
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Humanistic Judaism is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life. Biblical and other texts are the products of human activity and are best understood through archaeology. The freedom and dignity of the Jewish people must go hand in hand with the freedom, in its current form, Humanistic Judaism was founded in 1963 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine. This congregation developed into the Birmingham Temple, now in Farmington Hills and it was soon joined by a previously Reform congregation in Illinois, as well as a group in Westport, Connecticut. In 1969, these congregations and others were united organizationally under the umbrella of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the Society for Humanistic Judaism has 10,000 members in 30 congregations spread throughout the United States and Canada. The International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism was founded in 1986 and it is the academic and intellectual center of Humanistic Judaism. It was established in Jerusalem in 1985 and currently has two centers of activity, one in Jerusalem and the other in Lincolnshire, IL, Rabbi Adam Chalom is the North American dean. The Institute offers professional training programs for Spokespersons, Educators, Leaders, Humanistic Judaism presents a far more radical departure from traditional Jewish religion than Mordecai Kaplan ever envisioned. Kaplan redefined God and other traditional religious terms so as to them consistent with the naturalist outlook. Wine rejected this approach as confusing, since participants could ascribe to these words whatever definitions they favored, Wine strove to achieve philosophical consistency and stability by creating rituals and ceremonies that were purely non-theistic. Humanistic Judaism was developed as a solution to the problem of retaining Jewish identity and continuity among non-religious. The Society for Humanistic Judaism was organized with the mission to mobilize people to celebrate Jewish identity, the moral worth of a marriage always depends on the quality of the human relationship -- on the degree of mutual love and respect that prevails. Secular Humanistic rabbis and leaders will also co-officiate at intercultural marriages between Jews and non-Jews, Humanistic Judaism is egalitarian with respect to gender and gender identification, Jewish status, and sexual orientation. Baby-naming ceremonies, similar for boys and girls, are used rather than the brit milah and those who identify as Jews and those who do not, as well as LGBTI members, may participate in all ways in all Humanistic Jewish rituals and leadership roles. Humanistic Judaism ordains both men and women as rabbis, and its first rabbi was a woman, Tamara Kolton and its first cantor was also a woman, Deborah Davis, ordained in 2001, however, Humanistic Judaism has since stopped ordaining cantors. In 2010 they pledged to speak out against homophobic bullying, Jewish secularism History of the Jews in Metro Detroit Mīmāṃsā, a school of Hindu philosophy, having some similarities in epistemology
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Haymanot
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Haymanot is the branch of Judaism practiced by the Beta Israel. Haymanot in both Geez and Amharic is the word meaning religion or faith. Thus in modern Amharic, it is common to speak of the Christian Haymanot and it is also a common girls name meaning Faith for members of all three religions in Ethiopia. It is only in Israel where the Geez term haymanot is associated with a particular religion, nabiyy - Monkosa - Kahen or Kes - spiritual leader, similar to a Kohen and analogous to a Rabbi. Liqa Kahnet Debtera - Shmagle - Mäṣḥafä Kedus is the name for the religious literature, the language of the writings is Geez. The holiest book is the Orit which consists of the Five Books of Moses, the rest of the Bible has secondary importance. Sources are lacking on whether the Book of Lamentations is excluded from the canon, or whether it forms part of the Book of Jeremiah as it does in the Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon. Deuterocanonical books that make up part of the canon are Sirach, Judith, Esdras 1 and 2, Meqabyan, Jubilees, Baruch 1 and 4, Tobit, Enoch. Zëna Ayhud and fālasfā are two books that are not holy but still have a great influence, the Synagogue is called masgid also bet maqds or ṣalot bet. Dietary laws are based mainly on Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Jubilees, permitted and forbidden animals and their signs appear on Leviticus 11, 3–8 and Deuteronomy 14, 4-8. Forbidden birds are listed on Leviticus 11, 13–23 and Deuteronomy 14, signs of permitted fish are written on Leviticus 11, 9–12 and Deuteronomy 14, 9-10. Insects and larvae are forbidden according to Leviticus 11, 41-42, birds of prey are forbidden according to Leviticus 11, 13-19. Gid hanasheh is forbidden per Genesis 32,33, nowadays, under Rabbinic influence, mixing dairy products with meat is banned. Ethiopian Jews were forbidden to eat the food of non-Jews, a Kes only eats meat he has slaughtered himself, which his hosts then prepare both for him and themselves. Beta Israel who broke these taboos were ostracized and had to undergo a purification process, purification included fasting for one or more days, eating only uncooked chickpeas provided by the Kes, and ritual purification before entering the village. Unlike other Ethiopians, the Beta Israel do not eat raw meat dishes like kitfo or gored gored, the Beta Israel calendar is a lunar calendar of 12 months, each 29 or 30 days alternately. Every four years there has been a year which added a full month. The calendar is a combination of the ancient calendar of Alexandria Jewry, Book of Jubilees, Book of Enoch, Abu Shaker, holidays in the Haymanot divided into daily, monthly and annually
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Jewish philosophy
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Jewish philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. With their acceptance into society, Jews with secular educations embraced or developed entirely new philosophies to meet the demands of the world in which they now found themselves. Medieval re-discovery of ancient Greek philosophy among the Geonim of 10th century Babylonian academies brought rationalist philosophy into Biblical-Talmudic Judaism, the philosophy was generally in competition with Kabbalah. Both schools would become part of classic Rabbinic literature, though the decline of scholastic rationalism coincided with events which drew Jews to the Kabbalistic approach. For Ashkenazi Jews, emancipation and encounter with secular thought from the 18th-century onwards altered how philosophy was viewed, Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities had later more ambivalent interaction with secular culture than in Western Europe. In the varied responses to modernity, Jewish philosophical ideas were developed across the range of emerging religious movements, Rabbinic literature sometimes views Abraham as a philosopher. Some have suggested that Abraham introduced a philosophy learned from Melchizedek, a midrash describes how Abraham understood this world to have a creator and director by comparing this world to a house with a light in it, what is now called the argument from design. Psalms contains invitations to admire the wisdom of God through his works, from this, some scholars suggest, Judaism harbors a Philosophical under-current. Ecclesiastes is often considered to be the only genuine philosophical work in the Hebrew Bible, its author seeks to understand the place of human beings in the world, Philo attempted to fuse and harmonize Greek and Jewish philosophy through allegory, which he learned from Jewish exegesis and Stoicism. Philo attempted to make his philosophy the means of defending and justifying Jewish religious truths and these truths he regarded as fixed and determinate, and philosophy was used as an aid to truth, and a means of arriving at it. To this end Philo chose from philosophical tenets of Greeks, refusing those that did not harmonize with Judaism such as Aristotles doctrine of the eternity and indestructibility of the world. Dr. Philosophical speculation was not a part of Rabbinic Judaism. Rabbi Akiva has also been viewed as a figure, his statements include 1. )How favored is man, for he was created after an image for in an image, Elokim made man,2. )Everything is foreseen. But the divine decision is made by the preponderance of the good or bad in ones actions, after the Bar Kokhba revolt, Rabbinic scholars gathered in Tiberias and Safed to re-assemble and re-assess Judaism, its laws, theology, liturgy, beliefs and leadership structure. In 219 CE, the Sura Academy was founded by Abba Arika, for the next five centuries, Talmudic academies focused upon reconstituting Judaism and little, if any, philosophic investigation was pursued. These investigations triggered new ideas and intellectual exchange among Jewish and Islamic scholars in the areas of jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, logic, Jewish scholars influenced Islamic scholars and Islamic scholars influenced Jewish scholars. Around 733 CE, Mar Natronai ben Habibai moves to Kairouan, then to Spain, borrowing from the Mutakallamin of Basra, the Karaites were the first Jewish group to subject Judaism to Muʿtazila. Rejecting the Talmud and Rabbinical tradition, Karaites took liberty to reinterpret the Tanakh and this meant abandoning foundational Jewish belief structures
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Kabbalah
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Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist in Judaism is called a Mekubbal, Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Ein Sof and the mortal and finite universe. While it is used by some denominations, it is not a religious denomination in itself. It forms the foundations of religious interpretation. Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence and it also presents methods to aid understanding of the concepts and thereby attain spiritual realisation. Kabbalah originally developed within the realm of Jewish tradition, and kabbalists often use classical Jewish sources to explain, traditional practitioners believe its earliest origins pre-date world religions, forming the primordial blueprint for Creations philosophies, religions, sciences, arts, and political systems. Safed Rabbi Isaac Luria is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah and it was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. According to the Zohar, a text for kabbalistic thought. These four levels are called pardes from their initial letters, peshat, the direct interpretations of meaning. Derash, midrashic meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses, sod, the inner, esoteric meanings, expressed in kabbalah. Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah being an inherent duty of observant Jews. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims of Practical Kabbalah and they can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God, The Theosophical tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah seeks to understand and describe the divine realm. Consequently, it formed a minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. According to traditional belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BC, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel. Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time to hide the knowledge and make it secret and it is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with different outlooks, however. From the Renaissance onwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists, syncretic traditions of Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah, reading the Jewish texts as universal ancient wisdom. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Judaic understanding, to merge with other theologies, religious traditions, with the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason, Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism
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Names of God in Judaism
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The name of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton YHWH. It is frequently anglicized as Jehovah and Yahweh and written in most English editions of the Bible as the Lord owing to the Jewish tradition of reading it as Adonai out of respect. Rabbinic Judaism describes seven names which are so holy that, once written, should not be erased, The Tetragrammaton, El, Eloah, Elohim, Shaddai, Ehyeh, and Tzevaot. The documentary hypothesis proposes that the Torah was compiled from original sources. The seven names of God that, once written, cannot be erased because of their holiness are the Tetragrammaton, El, Elohim, Eloah, Elohai, El Shaddai, in addition, the name Jah—because it forms part of the Tetragrammaton—is similarly protected. Rabbi Jose considered Tzevaot a common name and Rabbi Ishmael that Elohim was, all other names, such as Merciful, Gracious and Faithful, merely represent attributes that are also common to human beings. The name of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible is YHWH, Hebrew is a right-to-left abjad, so the words letters Yōd, Hē, Vav, Hē are usually taken for consonants and expanded to Yahweh or Jehovah in English. The Tetragrammaton first appears in Genesis and occurs 6828 times in total in the Stuttgart edition of the Masoretic Text and it is thought to be an archaic third-person singular imperfect tense of the verb to be. This agrees with the passage in Exodus where God names Himself as I Will Be What I Will Be using the first-person singular imperfect tense. Rabbinical Judaism teaches that the name is forbidden to all except the High Priest and he then pronounces the name just as it is written. As each blessing was made, the people in the courtyard were to prostrate themselves completely as they heard it spoken aloud. As the Temple has been destroyed since CE70, most modern Jews never pronounce YHWH but instead read Adonai during prayer and while reading the Torah and as HaShem at other times. Similarly, the Vulgate used Dominus and most English translations of the Bible write the Lord for YHWH and the Lord God for Adonai YHWH instead of transcribing the name. Or Theos for occurrences of the name. )El appears in Ugaritic, Phoenician and other 2nd, in the Hebrew Bible El appears very occasionally alone, but usually with some epithet or attribute attached, in which cases it can be understood as the generic god. A common name of God in the Hebrew Bible is Elohim, despite the -im ending common to many plural nouns in Hebrew, the word Elohim when referring to God is grammatically singular, and takes a singular verb in the Hebrew Bible. When the Hebrew Bible uses elohim not in reference to God, there are a few other such uses in Hebrew, for example Behemoth. In Modern Hebrew, the singular word baalim looks plural, a number of scholars have traced the etymology to the Semitic root *yl, to be first, powerful, despite some difficulties with this view. Elohim is thus the plural construct powers, Hebrew grammar allows for this form to mean He is the Power over powers, just as the word Baalim means owner
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Torah
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The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. It has a range of meanings and it can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the rabbinic commentaries. In rabbinic literature the word Torah denotes both the five books and the Oral Torah, the Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the presence of a congregation, reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life. The word Torah in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, the meaning of the word is therefore teaching, doctrine, or instruction, the commonly accepted law gives a wrong impression. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, the earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been The Torah of Moses. This title, however, is neither in the Torah itself. It appears in Joshua and Kings, but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus, in contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were The Book of Moses and The Book of the Torah, Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the Pentateuch, a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria, meaning five books, or as the Law. The Torah starts from the beginning of Gods creating the world, through the beginnings of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and it ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the teachings given explicitly or implicitly embedded in the narrative. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs, Joseph and the four matriarchs, God gives to the patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt due to a regional famine. They had heard there was a grain storage and distribution facility in Egypt. Exodus begins the story of Gods revelation to his people of Israel through Moses, Moses receives the Torah from God, and teaches His laws and Covenant to the people of Israel. It also talks about the first violation of the covenant when the Golden Calf was constructed, Exodus includes the instructions on building the Tabernacle and concludes with its actual construction. Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following Gods commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Numbers tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai, set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan, even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land
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Nevi'im
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Neviim is the second main division of the Hebrew Bible, between the Torah and Ketuvim. The Neviim are divided into two groups, the Former Prophets consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, while the Latter Prophets include the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and The Twelve minor prophets. In Judaism, Samuel and Kings are each counted as one book, in addition, twelve relatively short prophetic books are counted as one in a single collection called Trei Asar or The Twelve Minor Prophets. The Jewish tradition thus counts a total of eight books in Neviim out of a total of 24 books in the entire Tanakh, the Book of Daniel is part of the Writings, or Ketuvim, in the Tanakh. The Former Prophets are the books Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Samuel, after Moses death, Joshua, by virtue of his previous appointment as Moses successor, receives from God the command to cross the Jordan. The book essentially consists of three parts, The history of the conquest of the land, the allotment of the land to the different tribes, with the appointment of cities of refuge, the provision for the Levites, and the dismissal of the eastern tribes to their homes. The farewell addresses of Joshua, with an account of his death, the Book of Judges consists of three distinct parts, The Introduction giving a summary of the book of Joshua. The Main Text, discussing the five Great Judges, Abimelech, the Appendices, giving two stories set in the time of the Judges, but not discussing the Judges themselves. The Books of Samuel consists of five parts, The period of Gods rejection of Eli, Samuels birth, the period of the life of Saul prior to meeting David. The period of Sauls interaction with David, the period of Davids reign and the rebellions he suffers. An appendix of material concerning David in no order. A conclusion of sorts appears at 1 Kings 1-2, concerning Solomon enacting a final revenge on those who did what David perceived as wrongdoing, the Latter Prophets are divided into two groups, the Major prophets and the Twelve Minor Prophets collected into a single book. The 66 chapters of Isaiah consist primarily of prophecies of the judgments awaiting nations that are persecuting Judah and these nations include Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria, Israel, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, and Phoenicia. Chapter 6 describes Isaiahs call to be a prophet of God, Chapters 36–39 provide historical material about King Hezekiah and his triumph of faith in God. This section is seen by Jews as describing an actual king, a descendant of their king, David. The prophecy continues with some scholars have called The Book of Comfort which begins in chapter 40. In chapter 45,1 the Persian ruler Cyrus is named as the messiah who will overthrow the Babylonians, the remaining chapters of the book contain prophecies of the future glory of Zion under the rule of a righteous servant. The Book of Jeremiah can be divided into subsections
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Ketuvim
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Ketuvim is the third and final section of the Tanakh, after Torah and Neviim. In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled Writings, another name used for this section is Hagiographa. The Ketuvim are believed to have written under divine inspiration. Found among the Writings within the Hebrew scriptures, I and II Chronicles form one book, along with Ezra, collectively, eleven books are included in the Ketuvim. In masoretic manuscripts, Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special two-column form emphasizing the parallel stichs in the verses, collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet. These three books are also the ones in the Hebrew Bible with a special system of cantillation notes that are designed to emphasize parallel stichs within verses. However, the beginning and end of the book of Job are in the prose system. The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth and these are the latest books collected and designated as authoritative in the Jewish canon. These scrolls are read over the course of the year in many Jewish communities. The list below presents them in the order they are read in the synagogue on holidays, besides the three poetic books and the five scrolls, the remaining books in Ketuvim are Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. Two of them are the books in Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic. These two also describe relatively late events, the following list presents the books of Ketuvim in the order they appear in most printed editions. It also divides them into three based on the distinctiveness of Sifrei Emet and Hamesh Megillot. The Babylonian Talmud gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles. According to T. Henshaw, as early as 132 BCE some references suggesting that the Ketuvim was starting to take shape, jacob Neusner says something different, he argues that the notion of a biblical canon was not prominent in 2nd-century Rabbinic Judaism or even later. Against Apion, the writing of Josephus in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a canon to which. No one has ventured either to add, or to remove, michael Barber, however, avers that Josephus canon is not identical to that of the modern Hebrew Bible. For a long time, following this date, the inspiration of Esther, the Song of Songs
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Chumash (Judaism)
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The Hebrew term Chumash is a Torah in printed form as opposed to a Torah scroll. The word comes from the Hebrew word for five, ḥamesh, a more formal term is Ḥamishah Ḥumshei Torah, five fifths of Torah. It is a Hebrew name for the Five Books of Moses, the word ḥumash may be a vowel alteration of ḥomesh, meaning one-fifth, alluding to any one of the five books, as the Hebrew חומש has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a singular of ḥumashim/ḥumshei. The term ḥomesh strictly applies to one of these, compare the misunderstanding of Tur to mean the entirety of the Arbaah Turim. In this way, the word came to have the extended sense of any copy of the Pentateuch other than a Sefer Torah. The word ḥumash generally only refers to book bound editions of the Pentateuch, a ḥumash-Rashi also contains the Targum of Onkelos and the commentary of Rashi, and may or may not have a vernacular translation of the text. It exists as an aid for Torah scribes and for preparing to read from the Sefer Torah in the synagogue. Abraham Cohen, containing notes summarizing the traditional commentaries, Torah and the Haftarot, translation by Philip Birnbaum Etz Hayim Humash, associated with Conservative movement The Torah, A Modern Commentary Revised Edition. New York, Union for Reform Judaism,2006, associated with American Reform movement Chumash on Judaism 101 Chumash on Judaism. com
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Siddur
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A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. The word siddur comes from the Hebrew root Hebrew, סד״ר meaning order, the earliest parts of Jewish prayer book are the Shema Yisrael, and the Priestly Blessing, which are in the Torah. A set of eighteen blessings called the Shemoneh Esreh or the Amidah, is ascribed to the Great Assembly in the time of Ezra. The name Shemoneh Esreh, literally eighteen, is a historical anachronism and it was only near the end of the Second Temple period that the eighteen prayers of the weekday Amidah became standardized. Even at that time their precise wording and order was not yet fixed, many modern scholars believe that parts of the Amidah came from the Hebrew apocryphal work Ben Sira. However, the wording was still left open. The order, general ideas, opening and closing lines were fixed, most of the wording was left to the individual reader. It was not until centuries later that the prayers began to be formally fixed. By the Middle Ages the texts of the prayers were nearly fixed, the siddur was printed by Soncino in Italy as early as 1486, though a siddur was first mass-distributed only in 1865. The siddur began appearing in the vernacular as early as 1538, the first English translation was published in London in 1738 by an author writing under the pseudonym Gamaliel ben Pedahzur, a different translation was released in the United States in 1837. Readings from the Torah and the Neviim form part of the prayer services, to this framework various Jewish sages added, from time to time, various prayers, and, for festivals especially, numerous hymns. The earliest existing codification of the prayerbook was drawn up by Rav Amram Gaon of Sura, Babylon, half a century later Rav Saadia Gaon, also of Sura, composed a siddur, in which the rubrical matter is in Arabic. These were the basis of Simcha ben Samuels Machzor Vitry, which was based on the ideas of his teacher, Rashi. Another formulation of the prayers was that appended by Maimonides to the laws of prayer in his Mishneh Torah, this forms the basis of the Yemenite liturgy, from this point forward all Jewish prayerbooks had the same basic order and contents. Some forms of the Sephardi rite are considered to be very overtly kabbalistic and this is partly because the Tetragrammaton frequently appears with varying vowel points beneath the letters and different Names of God appear in small print within the final hei of the Tetragrammaton. In some editions, there is a Psalm in the preparations for the Amidah that is printed in the outline of a menorah, the Ashkenazi rite is more common than the Sephardi rite in America. While Nusach Ashkenaz does contain some elements, such as acrostics and allusions to the sefirot. The ark is opened for the duration of the song, although the Ari himself was born Ashkenazi, he borrowed many elements from Sephardi and other traditions, since he felt that they followed Kabbalah and Halacha more faithfully
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Zohar
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The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony. Its scriptural exegesis can be considered a form of the Rabbinic literature known as Midrash. The Zohar is mostly written in what has been described as a cryptic, Aramaic, the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period, was the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud. The Zohar first appeared in Spain in the 13th century, and was published by a Jewish writer named Moses de León and this accords with the traditional claim by adherents that Kabbalah is the concealed part of the Oral Torah. In the Bible the word Zohar appears in the vision of Ezekiel 8,2 and is translated as meaning radiance or light. It appears again in Daniel 12,3, The wise ones will shine like the radiance of the firmament and she confessed that her husband himself was the author of the work. The story indicates that shortly after its appearance the work was believed by some to have been written by Moses de Leon. Over time, the view in the Jewish community came to be one of acceptance of Moses de Leons claims. Rav Kaplan concludes saying this was the series of events. The Zohar spread among the Jews with remarkable swiftness, scarcely fifty years had passed since its appearance in Spain before it was quoted by many Kabbalists, including the Italian mystical writer Menahem Recanati and by Todros Abulafia. Certain Jewish communities, however, such as the Dor Daim, Andalusian, the Zohar instead declared Man to be the lord of the creation, whose immortality is solely dependent upon his morality. Conversely, Elijah Delmedigo, in his Bechinat ha-Dat endeavored to show that the Zohar could not be attributed to Shimon bar Yochai and they found it unsurprising that bar Yochai should have foretold future happenings or made references to historical events of the post-Talmudic period. However R Soloman Luria admits in responsa 98 that the zohar cant override a minhag, in the Ashkenazi community of Eastern Europe, religious authorities including the Vilna Gaon and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi believed in the authenticity of the Zohar. Especially controversial were the views of the Dor Daim on the Zohar, as presented in Milhamoth Hashem, instead, they intermarried, sat together in batei midrash, and continued to sit with Rabbi Qafeḥ in beth din. Most of Orthodox Judaism holds that the teachings of Kabbalah were transmitted from teacher to teacher, in a long and continuous chain, the greatest acceptance of this sequence of events is held within Haredi Judaism, especially Chasidic groups. R Yechiel Michel Epstein, and R Yisrael Meir Kagan both believed in the authenticity of the Zohar, Rabbis Eliyahu Dessler and Gedaliah Nadel maintained that it is acceptable to believe that the Zohar was not written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and that it had a late authorship. Some claim the tradition that Rabbi Shimon wrote that the concealment of the Zohar would last for exactly 1200 years from the time of destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem
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Mishnah
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The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of Rabbinic literature, most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, while some parts are Aramaic. The Mishnah consists of six orders, each containing 7–12 tractates,63 in total, the word Mishnah can also indicate a single paragraph or a verse of the work itself, i. e. the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. For this reason the work is sometimes called by the plural. The term Mishnah originally referred to a method of teaching by presenting topics in an order, as contrasted with Midrash. The Mishnah consists of six orders, each containing 7–12 tractates,63 in total, each masechet is divided into chapters and then paragraphs. In this last context, the word means a single paragraph of the work, i. e. the smallest unit of structure, leading to the use of the plural, Mishnayot. Because of the division into six orders, the Mishnah is sometimes called Shas, in each order, tractates are arranged from biggest to smallest. A popular mnemonic consists of the acronym ZMaN NaKaT, the Babylonian Talmud states that there were either six hundred or seven hundred orders of the Mishnah. Hillel the Elder organized them into six orders to make it easier to remember, the historical accuracy of this tradition is disputed. There is also a tradition that Ezra the scribe dictated from memory not only the 24 books of the Tanakh but 60 esoteric books. It is not known whether this is a reference to the Mishnah, interestingly, Reuvein Margolies posited that there were originally seven orders of Mishnah, citing a Gaonic tradition on the existence of a seventh order containing the laws of Stam and Berachot. A number of important laws are not elaborated upon in the Mishnah and these include the laws of tzitzit, tefillin, mezuzot, the holiday of Hanukkah, and the laws of conversion to Judaism. These were later discussed in the minor tractates, nissim ben Jacobs Hakdamah Lemafteach Hatalmud argued that it was unnecessary for Judah the Prince to discuss them as many of these laws were so well known. Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah from the four centuries, done in the Land of Israel. In themselves they are known as Gemara, the books which set out the Mishnah in its original structure, together with the associated Gemara, are known as Talmuds. Two Talmuds were compiled, the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, unlike the Hebrew Mishnah, the Gemara is written primarily in Aramaic. The Mishnah does not claim to be the development of new laws, the term Mishnah is related to the verb shanah, to teach or repeat, and to the adjectives sheni and mishneh, meaning second
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Talmud
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The Talmud is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also referred to as Shas, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the six orders. Talmud translates literally as instruction in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah, the entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works, though some may have made private notes, for example of court decisions. It is during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing, the earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, the Oral Torah was far from monolithic, rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, in general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud. The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud, each tractate is divided into chapters,517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several pages, each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the building-blocks of the Gemara, the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya. A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah, in a given sugya, scriptural, Tannaic and Amoraic statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim, and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Baraita. Rarely are debates formally closed, in instances, the final word determines the practical law. There is a literature on the procedural principles to be used in settling the practical law when disagreements exist, see under #Logic. The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates, statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject, or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim, the Mishnahs topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara, also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah. In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the time or shortly thereafter
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Midrash
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The Midrash, capitalized, refers to a specific compilation of these writings, primarily from the first ten centuries CE. Gesenius ascribes the etymology of midrash to the Qal of the common Hebrew verb darash to seek, study, inquire. The word midrash occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible,2 Chronicles 13,22 in the midrash of the prophet Iddo, in Second Temple Jewish literature it began to be used in the sense of education and learning generally. According to the PaRDeS approaches to exegesis, interpretation of Biblical texts in Judaism is realized through peshat, remez, derash, the Midrash concentrates somewhat on remez but mostly on derash. Many different exegetical methods are employed in an effort to derive meaning from a text. This is not limited to the traditional thirteen textual tools attributed to the Tanna Rabbi Ishmael, in many cases, a dialogue is expanded manifold, handfuls of lines in the Biblical narrative may become long philosophical discussions. It is unclear whether the midrash assumes these dialogues took place in reality or if this refers only to subtext or religious implication, many midrashim start off with a seemingly unrelated sentence from the Biblical books of Psalms, Proverbs or the Prophets. This sentence later turns out to reflect the content of the rabbinical interpretation offered. This strategy is used particularly in a subgenre of midrash known as the Petikhta, some Midrash discussions are highly metaphorical, and many Jewish authors stress that they are not intended to be taken literally. Rather, other sources may sometimes serve as a key to particularly esoteric discussions. Later authors maintain that this was done to make this material accessible to the casual reader. In general the midrash is focused on either halakha or aggadic subject matter, Midrash halakha is the name given to a group of tannaitic expositions on the first four books of the Hebrew Bible. These Midrashim, which are written in Mishnahic Hebrew set out a distinction between the Biblical texts that they discuss, and the rabbinic interpretation of that text. They often go well beyond simple interpretation and derive or provide support for halakha and this work is based on pre set assumptions about the sacred and divine nature of the text, and the belief in the legitimacy that accords with rabbinic interpretation. By collecting and compiling these thoughts they could be presented in a manner which helped to refute claims that they were only human interpretations, Midrashim which seek to explain the non-legal portions of the Hebrew Bible are sometimes referred to as aggadah or haggadah. Some of these midrashim entail mystical teachings, the presentation is such that the Midrash is a simple lesson to the uninitiated, and a direct allusion, or analogy, to a Mystical teaching for those educated in this area. An example of a Midrashic interpretation, And God saw all that He had made, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. —Midrash, Rabbi Nahman said in Rabbi Samuels name, Behold, it was very good refers to the Good Desire, AND behold, can then the Evil Desire be very good
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Tosefta
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The Tosefta is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah, the Mishnah is the basic compilation of the Oral law of Judaism, according to the tradition, it was compiled in 189 CE. The Tosefta closely corresponds to the Mishnah, with the divisions for sedarim. It is mainly written in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some Aramaic, at times the text of the Tosefta agrees nearly verbatim with the Mishnah. At others there are significant differences, the Tosefta often attributes laws that are anonymous in the Mishnah to named Tannaim. It also augments the Mishnah with additional glosses and discussions and it offers additional aggadic and midrashic material, and it sometimes contradicts the Mishnah in the ruling of Jewish law, or in attributing in whose name a law was stated. According to rabbinic tradition, the Tosefta was redacted by Rabbis Ḥiya, whereas the Mishna was considered authoritative, the Tosefta was supplementary. The Talmud often utilizes the traditions found in the Tosefta to examine the text of the Mishnah, the traditional view is that the Tosefta should be dated to a period concurrent with or shortly after the redaction of the Mishnah. This view pre-supposes that the Tosefta was produced in order to record variant material not included in the Mishnah, modern scholarship can be roughly divided into two camps. Some, such as Jacob N. Epstein theorize that the Tosefta as we have it developed from a proto-Tosefta recension which formed much of the basis for later Amoraic debate. Others, such as Hanokh Albeck, theorize that the Tosefta is a compendium of several baraitot collections which were in use during the Amoraic period. Professor Shamma Friedman, has found that the Tosefta draws on relatively early Tannaitic source material, ultimately, the state of the source material is such to allow divergent opinions to exist. These opinions serve to show the difficulties in establishing a clear picture of the origins of the Tosefta, Rabbi Sherira Gaon, in a letter written to the heads of the Jewish community in Kairuan, has disclosed somewhat about the authority of the Tosefta in relation to the Mishnah. There, he writes, We do not follow the opinion of R. Ḥiya, as expressed in a Baraita, if he disputes with Rebbe. For example, let us suppose that a certain halacha had originally been a matter of dispute between R. Meir and R. Yosi, but Rebbe decided to record in the Mishnah only R. Meirs opinion. Whenever R. Meir and R. Yosi disagree, the halacha follows R. Yosi, nevertheless, since in the Mishnah, Rebbe mentioned only R. Meirs opinion, we follow R. Meir. Rabbi Sherira Gaon then brings down the reverse of this example, Or, however, R. Ḥiya prefers R. Meirs argument, and therefore records it in a Baraita without mentioning R. Yosis opposing view. In such a case, we do not accept decision, three manuscripts exist of the Tosefta, they are, Vienna, Erfurt, and, London
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Mishneh Torah
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The Mishneh Torah, subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka, is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides, one of historys foremost rabbis. The Mishneh Torah was compiled between 1170 and 1180, while Maimonides was living in Egypt, and is regarded as Maimonides magnum opus, accordingly, later sources simply refer to the work as Maimon, Maimonides or RaMBaM, although Maimonides composed other works. Mishneh Torah consists of fourteen books, subdivided into sections, chapters and it is the only Medieval-era work that details all of Jewish observance, including those laws that are only applicable when the Holy Temple is in existence, and remains an important work in Judaism. Maimonides intended to provide a statement of the Oral Law, so that a person who mastered first the Written Torah. Contemporary reaction was mixed, with strong and immediate opposition focusing on the absence of sources, Maimonides responded to these criticisms, and the Mishneh Torah endures as an influential work in Jewish religious thought. Likewise, One must follow Maimonides even when the latter opposed his teachers, since he knew their views. He drew upon the Torah and the rest of Tanakh, both Talmuds, Tosefta, and the halachic Midrashim, principally Sifra and Sifre. Some believe that he preferred rulings in certain Midrash collections to rulings in the Talmud, later sources include the responsa of the Geonim. According to Maimonides, the Geonim were considered unintelligible in our days, there were even times when Maimonides disagreed with what was being taught in the name of the Geonim. Maimonides himself states a few times in his work that he possessed what he considered to be more accurate texts of the Talmud than what most people possessed at his time. The latter has confirmed to a certain extent by versions of the Talmud preserved by the Yemenite Jews as to the reason for what previously were thought to be rulings without any source. The Mishneh Torah is written in Hebrew in the style of the Mishnah, as he states in the preface, Maimonides was reluctant to write in Talmudic Aramaic, since it was not widely known. His previous works had been written in Arabic, the Mishneh Torah never cites sources or arguments, and confines itself to stating the final decision on the law to be followed in each situation. There is no discussion of Talmudic interpretation or methodology, and the sequence of chapters follows the subject matter of the laws rather than the intellectual principle involved. Since intermarriage with non-Jews is forbidden, the laws of conversion to Judaism are also included, major sources of contention were the absence of sources and the belief that the work appeared to be intended to supersede study of the Talmud. Some criticisms appear to have been less rational in nature, indeed, Maimonides quotes the Talmud in stating that one should study the Talmud for a third of ones study time. The most sincere but influential opponent, whose comments are printed parallel to all editions of the Mishneh Torah, was Rabbi Abraham ben David of Posquières. Yet despite all this, Maimonides remained certain that in the future the Mishneh Torah would find great influence and acceptance
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Arba'ah Turim
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Arbaah Turim, often called simply the Tur, is an important Halakhic code, composed by Yaakov ben Asher. The four-part structure of the Tur and its division into chapters were adopted by the later code Shulchan Aruch, the title of the work in Hebrew means four rows, in allusion to the jewels on the High Priests breastplate. Each of the four divisions of the work is a Tur, so a particular passage may be cited as Tur Orach Chayim, siman 22, meaning Orach Chayim division, chapter 22. This was later misunderstood as meaning Tur, Orach Chayim, chapter 22, the Arbaah Turim, as the name implies, consists of four divisions, these are further organised by topic and section. He used the code of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi as his starting point, unlike Maimonides Mishneh Torah, the Tur is not limited to normative positions, but compares the various opinions on any disputed point. The Arbaah Turim also differs from the Mishneh Torah, in that, unlike Maimonides work, other commentaries are Bayit Chadash by Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, Darkhei Moshe by Moses Isserles, Beit Yisrael by Joshua Falk, as well as works by a number of other Acharonim. These often defend the views of ben Asher against Caro, the Tur continues to play an important role in Halakha. The views in the commentaries are often relevant in ascertaining or explaining the Ashkenazi version of Jewish law. Mishneh Torah Shulchan Aruch Mishnah Berurah Shulchan Aruch HaRav Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Aruch HaShulchan Notes External links Arbaah Turim, Prof. Eliezer Segal Question 3.38, What is the Arbaah Turim
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Shulchan Aruch
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The Shulchan Aruch, also known by various Jewish communities but not all as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later, together with its commentaries, it is the most widely accepted compilation of Jewish law ever written. These glosses are referred to as the mappah to the Shulchan Aruchs Set Table. The Shulchan Aruch follow the structure as Arbaah Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher. These books were written from the standpoint of Sephardi Minhag, other works entitled Shulchan Aruch or Kitzur Shulcan Aruch cited below are written from the standpoint of Ashkenazi Minhag, there are four sections, each subdivided into many chapters and paragraphs. There is disagreement on the authorship of the references to Isserles remarks, since the 17th century, the Shulchan Aruch has been printed with Isserles annotations in small Rashi print interspersed with Karos text. As commentaries on the work proliferated, more sophisticated printing styles became required, the Shulchan Aruch is largely based on an earlier work by Karo, titled Beth Yosef. The latter is a vast and comprehensive commentary on Jacob ben Ashers Arbaah Turim, citing and analyzing the Talmudic, Geonic and this work analyzes the theories and conclusions of those authorities cited by the Tur, and also examines the opinions of authorities not mentioned by the latter. Karo began the Beth Yosef in 1522 at Adrianople, finished it in 1542 at Safed in the Land of Israel, thirty-two authorities, beginning with the Talmud and ending with the works of Rabbi Israel Isserlein, are summarized and critically discussed in Beth Yosef. No other rabbinical work compares with it in wealth of material, Karo evidences not only an astonishing range of reading, covering almost the entire rabbinic literature up to his time, but also remarkable powers of critical investigation. He evidences no inclination to accept the opinions of ancient authorities. In the introduction to his compilation, Karo clearly states the necessity of. The expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula and the invention of printing had endangered the stability of religious observances on their legal and ritual sides, Jews then living in the different kingdoms of Spain had their standard authorities to which they appealed. Karo undertook his Beth Yosef to remedy this problem, quoting, Karo initially intended to rely on his own judgment relating to differences of opinion between the various authorities, especially where he could support his own view based on the Talmud. But he abandoned this idea because, as he wrote, Who has the courage to rear his head aloft among mountains, the heights of God. And also because he may have thought, though he does not mention his conclusion, Karo very often decides disputed cases without necessarily considering the age and importance of the authority in question, expressing simply his own views. He follows Maimonides example, as seen in Mishneh Torah, rather than that of Jacob ben Asher, several reasons induced Karo to connect his work with the Tur, instead of Maimonides code. Secondly, it was not Karos intention to write a similar in form to Maimonides work, he intended to give not merely the results of his investigations
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Mishnah Berurah
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The Mishnah Berurah is a work of halakha by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, also colloquially known by the name of another of his books, Chofetz Chaim Desirer of Life. It was first published in 1904, the title Mishnah Berurah is a reference to the portion in Deuteronomy where Israel is commanded to inscribe Gods commandments in large clear writing on a mountainside. The Mishnah Berurah is traditionally printed in 6 volumes alongside selected other commentaries, the work provides simple and contemporary explanatory remarks and citations to daily aspects of halakha. Having displayed what we may call the leniency-stringency spectrum, actually offers the reader an array of options from which he may pick the one that seems right for him. Mishnah Berurah Yomit is a study programme initiated by Vaad Daas Halacha. The study program proceeds either on a 2½-year cycle or a 5-year cycle and this website distributes daily MP3 lectures and PDF digests. The PDF digests translate Orach Chayim and summarize the applicable Mishnah Berurah commentary, the website opened in late 2010 and plans to complete the cycle in late 2015. Benjamin Brown, Soft Stringency in the Mishnah Brurah, Jurisprudential, Social and Ideological Aspects of a Halakhic Formulation
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Kashrut
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Kashrut is a set of Jewish religious dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha is termed kosher /ˈkoʊʃər/ in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, there are also laws regarding agricultural produce that might impact the suitability of food for consumption. Most of the laws of kashrut are derived from the Torahs Books of Leviticus. Their details and practical application, however, are set down in the oral law, while the Torah does not state the rationale for most kashrut laws, many reasons have been suggested, including philosophical, practical and hygienic. Over the past century, there have developed numerous rabbinical organizations that certify products, manufacturers, currently, about a sixth of American Jews or 0. 3% of the American population fully keep kosher, and many more abstain from some non-kosher foods, especially pork. Some Jewish scholars say that kashrut should be categorized as laws for which there is no particular explanation, in this line of thinking, the dietary laws were given as a demonstration of Gods authority, and man must obey without asking why. However, Maimonides believed that Jews were permitted to seek out reasons for the laws of the Torah, some theologians have said that the laws of kashrut are symbolic in character, Kosher animals represent virtues, while non-kosher animals represent vices. The 1st century BCE Letter of Aristeas argues that the laws have been given, to awake pious thoughts and to form the character. This view reappears in the work of the 19th century Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the Torah prohibits seething the kid in its mothers milk. While the Bible does not provide a reason, it has suggested that the practice was perceived as cruel. These sparks of Holiness are released whenever a Jew manipulates any object for a reason, however. The Hasidic argument is that animals are imbued with signs that reveal the release of these sparks, in 1953, David Macht, an Orthodox Jew and proponent of the theory of biblical scientific foresight, conducted toxicity experiments on many kinds of animals and fish. At the same time, these explanations are controversial, scholar Lester L. Grabbe, writing in the Oxford Bible Commentary on Leviticus, says n explanation now almost universally rejected is that the laws in this section have hygiene as their basis. Although some of the laws of ritual purity roughly correspond to ideas of physical cleanliness. For example, there is no evidence that the animals are intrinsically bad to eat or to be avoided in a Mediterranean climate. The laws of kashrut can be classified according to the origin of the prohibition, biblically prohibited foods include, Non-kosher animals and birds, mammals require certain identifying characteristics, while birds require a tradition that they can be consumed. All invertebrates are non-kosher apart from certain types of locust, on which most communities lack a clear tradition, no reptiles or amphibians are kosher. Carrion, meat from an animal that has not been slaughtered according to the laws of shechita
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Tzniut
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The term tzniut is used within Judaism, and has its greatest influence as a concept within Orthodox Judaism. It is used to both the character trait of modesty and humility, as well as a group of Jewish laws pertaining to conduct in general. The term is used with regard to the rules of dress for women. Humility is a paramount ideal within Judaism, Moses is referred to as exceedingly humble, more than any man in the world, though the adjective used of Moses is anav, and not tzana, the cognate of the noun tzniut. The verb tzana to be humble occurs in Proverbs 11,2 and, the Talmud states that humility is one of the characteristic traits of the Jewish people. Tzniut includes a group of laws concerned with modesty, in dress and behavior. In the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Elazar Bar Tzadok connected the injunction at Micah 6,8 to walk humbly with your God as referring to modesty and discretion in dress and in behavior. In the legal dimension of Orthodox Rabbinic literature, the issue of Tzniut is discussed in more technical terms, how much skin may a person expose, and so on. Notwithstanding these details, the concept of humility and modesty as a character trait, a practice. This awareness informs the concept and the practice of Tzniut in its rules, the principal guiding point of tzniut in regard to dress is that a Jew should not dress in a way that attracts attention. This does not mean dressing poorly, but that neither men nor women should dress in a way that emphasizes their physical appearance or attracts undue attention. There are many different interpretations of what means, so people from different communities will often dress differently. Orthodox Judaism requires both men and women to cover their bodies. According to many opinions, this involves covering the elbows and knees, in Haredi communities, men wear long trousers and usually long-sleeved shirts, many will not wear short sleeves at all. Haredi Ashkenazi practice discourages sandals without socks both in and out of the synagogue, whereas Haredi Sefardi communities tend to accept sandals at least outside of synagogue. Dress in a synagogue and, according to many, in public should be comparable to that worn by the community when meeting royalty or government, Haredi women wear blouses covering the elbow and collarbone, and skirts that cover the knees while standing and sitting. The ideal sleeve and skirt length varies by community, some women try not to follow fashion, while others wear fashionable but modest clothing. Haredi women avoid skirts with slits, preferring instead kick-pleats and they also avoid overly eye-catching colors, especially bright red, as well as clothing that is tight
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Tzedakah
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It is based on the Hebrew word meaning righteousness, fairness or justice, and it is related to the Hebrew word Tzadik meaning righteous as an adjective. In Judaism, tzedakah refers to the obligation to do what is right and just. Tzedakah is considered to be one of the three acts that can annul a less than favorable heavenly decree. The term is synonymous with Sadaqah or Saddka, an Islamic term meaning voluntary charity, the Hebrew Bible teaches the obligation to aid those in need, but does not employ one single term for this obligation. The term tzedekah occurs 157 times in the Masoretic Text, typically in relation to righteousness per se, usually in the singular, in the Septuagint this was sometimes translated eleemosyne, almsgiving. Giving tzedakah anonymously to an unknown recipient via a person which is trustworthy, wise, giving tzedakah anonymously to a known recipient. Giving tzedakah publicly to an unknown recipient, giving in sadness, It is thought that Maimonides was referring to giving because of the sad feelings one might have in seeing people in need. Traditional Jews commonly practice maaser kesafim, tithing 10% of their income to support those in need. Nevertheless, in modern Israel, rabbis of Orthodox Judaism insist that Jews allow gleanings to be consumed by the poor and by strangers, in addition, one must be very careful about how one gives out tzedakah money. It is taught that Tzedakah money was never yours to begin with, rather, it belongs to God. Hence it is obligation to ensure that it is received by those deserving of it. There are many examples of Tzedakah funds that operate according to Maimonides principles above, including Hands on Tzedakah, paamonim is a nonprofit organization in Israel that operates according to Maimonides first principle. Gaon of Vilna considered about giving Tzedaqah to all householders in our city with tax-benefit, charity Gleaning Sadaqah and Zakat Social justice Qard al-Hassan Rabbi Wayne Dossick, Living Judaism, The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime, The Treatment of Beggars According to Jewish Tradition, A Case in Point
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Niddah
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Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated, and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh. In Leviticus, the Torah prohibits sexual intercourse with a niddah, the laws concerning niddah are also referred to as taharath hamishpacha. Literally the feminine noun niddah means moved, and generally refers to separation due to ritual impurity, Medieval Biblical commentator Abraham ibn Ezra writes that the word niddah is related to the term menadechem, meaning those that cast you out. The noun niddah occurs 25 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, the majority of these uses refer to forms of uncleanliness in Leviticus. For example, in Leviticus, if a man take his brothers wife, then that is uncleanness, the five uses in Numbers all concern the red heifer ceremony and use the phrase mei niddah, waters of separation. 2 Chronicles 29,5 includes a single exhortation of Hezekiah to the Levites, to carry the niddah, possibly idols of his father Ahaz, usage in Ezekiel follows that of Leviticus. The Leviticus description of niddah is essentially composed of two parts, the ritual purity aspect and the prohibition of sexual intercourse aspect, the Biblical regulations of Leviticus specify that a menstruating woman must separate for seven days. Any object she sits on or lies upon during this period becomes a midras ltumah, Rabbinic authorities of the rishonim era differentiated between the tumah and taharah aspect of niddah and the issur aspect. The extent of Rabbinic encouragement was only for the period of actual menstruation. Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in his Igrot Kodesh discouraged abstaining from the midras of a niddah in modern times, as a result of the conflation, the practice was to wait seven days after menstruation ceases, and for the woman to then immerse herself in water. If menstruation began before she sees evidence of it, the rabbinic regulations regard her as not being niddah until she notices, until this point, the regulations do not come into force. The Biblical definition of niddah is any blood emission occurring within seven days from the beginning of the menstrual period, after this seven-day period, the woman may immerse in the mikveh immediately after she stops menstruating. Any blood found after these seven days is considered abnormal blood and is subject to more stringent requirements, all Orthodox and some Conservative authorities rule that these seven clean days must be observed. Thus the niddah state lasts at least twelve days in the Ashkenazic tradition - the five days minimum menstrual flow, plus the subsequent seven days. The count of days begins when the woman first sees her menstrual blood, non-Ashkenazic Jews follow a variety of customs. Although the count could start in the middle of the day, most Sephardic Jews use a slightly more lenient calculation resulting in a minimum of eleven days. In the Orthodox Jewish community, women may test whether menstruation has ceased, the woman takes a bath or shower near sunset, wraps a special cloth around her finger, and swipes the vaginal circumference. If the cloth shows only discharges that are white, yellow, or clear, if discharge is red or pink, it indicates that menstruation continues
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Seven Laws of Noah
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The seven Noahide laws as traditionally enumerated are the following, Do not deny God. Do not engage in sexual relations. Do not eat from a live animal, establish courts/legal system to ensure obedience to said laws. According to the Talmud, the rabbis agree that the seven laws were given to the sons of Noah, However, they disagree on precisely which laws were given to Adam and Eve. Six of the seven laws are derived from passages in Genesis. According to this, all humans are descendants of Noah. After the flood, God sealed a covenant with Noah with the following admonitions, Flesh of an animal, However, flesh with its life-blood. Murder and courts, Furthermore, I will demand your blood, for your lives, from man too, I will demand of each persons brother the blood of man. He who spills the blood of man, by man his blood shall be spilt, for owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth. For whoso sheddeth mans blood, and whoso eateth the blood of any flesh, the earliest complete rabbinic version of the seven laws can be found in the Tosefta where they are listed as follows. In Judaism, בני נח Bnei Noah refers to all of humankind, the Talmud also states, Righteous people of all nations have a share in the world to come. Any non-Jew who lives according to these laws is regarded as one of the righteous among the gentiles, the rabbis agree that the seven laws were given to the sons of Noah. However, they disagree on precisely which laws were given to Adam, six of the seven laws are exegetically derived from passages in Genesis. The Talmud expands the scope of the seven laws to cover about 100 of the 613 mitzvoth, in practice Jewish law makes it very difficult to apply the death penalty. No record exists of a gentile having been put to death for violating the seven laws, some of the categories of capital punishment recorded in the Talmud are recorded as having never have been carried out. It is thought that the rabbis included discussion of them in anticipation of the messianic age. The Talmud lists the punishment for blaspheming the Ineffable Name of God as death, in Jewish law the only form of blasphemy which is punishable by death is blaspheming the Ineffable Name Leviticus 24,16. Some Talmudic rabbis held that only those offences for which a Jew would be executed, are forbidden to gentiles, the Talmudic rabbis discuss which offences and sub-offences are capital offences and which are merely forbidden
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Four Holy Cities
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The holy cities concept dates to the 1640s, with Tiberias joining in 1740, resulting from the creation of an association between the cities for the collection of halukka. Hebron is the place of the Jewish patriarchs, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob. As such Hebron is the second holiest city to Jews, and is one of the three cities where Israelite biblical figures purchased land, historically, Hebron is the first capital of King David. Safed came to be regarded as a city after the influx of Jews following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. According to Jewish tradition, the redemption will begin in Tiberias, the Messiah will arise from the lake of Tiberias, enter into the city, and be enthroned at Safed on the summit of a lofty hill
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Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
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Safed
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Safed is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of 900 metres, Safed is the highest city in the Galilee, due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters. Due to its climate and scenic views, Safed is a popular holiday resort frequented by Israelis. In 2015 it had a population of 33,358, legend has it that Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the Great Flood. According to the Book of Judges, the area where Safed is located was assigned to the Tribe of Naphtali and it has been suggested that Jesus assertion that a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden may have referred to Safed. Safed has been identified with Sepph, a town in the Upper Galilee mentioned in the writings of the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus. It is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as one of five elevated spots where fires were lit to announce the New Moon, there is scarce information about the town of Safed prior to the Crusader conquest in 1099. The city appears in Jewish sources in the late Middle Ages, in the 12th century, Safed was a fortified city in the Crusaders Kingdom of Jerusalem, known by the Crusaders as Saphet. King Fulk built a castle there, which was kept by the Knights Templar from 1168. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the town in 1170, does not mention any Jews as living there, Safed was captured by the Ayyubids led by Saladin in 1188 after one years siege, following the Battle of Hattin in 1187. Saladin ultimately allowed its residents to relocate to Tyre, samuel ben Samson, who visited the town in 1210, mentions the existence of a Jewish community of at least fifty there. In 1227, the Ayyubid emir of Damascus, al-Muazzam Isa, had the fortress of Safed demolished to prevent its potential capture, the Templars thereafter rebuilt the towns fortress. In 1266, during a Mamluk military campaign to subdue Crusader strongholds in Palestine, Baybars captured Safed in July, unlike the coastal Crusader fortresses, which were demolished upon their capture by the Mamluks, Baybars spared Safed from destruction. Instead, he appointed a governor to be in charge of the fortress, Baybars likely preserved Safed because he viewed its fortress to be of high strategic value due to its location on a high mountain and its isolation from other Crusader fortresses. Moreover, Baybars determined that in the event of a renewed Crusader invasion of the coastal region, in 1268, he had the fortress repaired, expanded and strengthened. Furthermore, he commissioned numerous building works in the town of Safed, including caravanserai, markets, baths, by the end of Baybars reign, Safed had become the site of a prospering town, in addition to its fortress. The city also became the center of Mamlakat Safad, a province in Mamluk Syria whose jurisdiction included the Galilee. According to al-Dimashqi, who died in Safed in 1327, writing around 1300, Baybarsbuilt a round tower, the tower is built in three stories
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Hebron
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Hebron is a Palestinian city located in the southern West Bank,30 km south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level, the city is divided into two sectors, H1, controlled by the Palestinian Authority and H2, roughly 20% of the city, administered by Israel. All security arrangements and travel permits for local residents are coordinated between the Palestinian Authority and Israel via military administration of the West Bank, the settlers are governed by their own municipal body, the Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron. In Judaism it is considered the second-holiest city after Jerusalem, while Islam regards it as one of the four holy cities. Hebron is a hub of West Bank trade, responsible for roughly a third of the areas gross domestic product. It is locally known for its grapes, figs, limestone, pottery workshops and glassblowing factories. The old city of Hebron is characterized by narrow, winding streets, flat-roofed stone houses, the city is home to Hebron University and the Palestine Polytechnic University. Hebron is attached to cities of ad-Dhahiriya, Dura, Yatta, Hebron Governorate is the largest Palestinian governorate with its population of 600,364. The name Hebron traces back to two Semitic roots, which coalesce in the form ḥbr, having reflexes in Hebrew and Amorite and denoting a range of meanings from colleague, in the proper name Hebron, the original sense may have been alliance. The Arabic term derives from the Quranic epithet for Abraham, Khalil al-Rahman Beloved of the Merciful or Friend of God, Arabic Al-Khalil thus precisely translates the ancient Hebrew toponym Ḥebron, understood as ḥaber. Archaeological excavations reveal traces of strong fortifications dated to the Early Bronze Age, the city flourished in the 17th–18th centuries BCE before being destroyed by fire, and was resettled in the late Middle Bronze Age. This older Hebron was originally a Canaanite royal city, abrahamic legend associates the city with the Hittites. In Biblical lore they are represented as descendants of the Nephilim, in settling here, Abraham is described as making his first covenant, an alliance with two local Amorite clans who became his ba’alei brit or masters of the covenant. The Hebron of the Bible was centered on what is now known as Tel Rumeida, Later, the biblical narrative has King David reign from Hebron for some seven years. It is there that the elders of Israel come to him to make a covenant before Elohim and it was in Hebron again that Absalom has himself declared king and then raises a revolt against his father David. It became one of the centers of the Tribe of Judah and was classified as one of the six traditional Cities of Refuge. It remained administratively and politically dependent on Jerusalem for this period, Jews also appear to have lived there after the return from the Babylonian exile. During the Maccabean revolt, Hebron was burnt and plundered by Judah Maccabee who fought against the Edomites in 167 BCE, the city appears to have long resisted Hasmonean dominance, however, and indeed as late as the First Jewish–Roman War was still considered Idumean
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Tiberias
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Tiberias is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Established around 20 CE, it was named in honour of the 2nd Emperor of the Roman Empire Tiberius, in 2015 it had a population of 42,610. In the 2nd–10th centuries, Tiberias was the largest Jewish city in the Galilee and the political and religious hub of the Jews of Israel. Its immediate neighbour to the south, Hammat Tiberias, which is now part of modern Tiberias, has known for its hot springs, believed to cure skin and other ailments. Herod Antipas made it the capital of his realm in the Galilee, the city was built in immediate proximity to a spa which had developed around 17 natural mineral hot springs, Hammat Tiberias. Tiberias was at first a pagan city, but later became populated mainly by Jews, with its growing spiritual. The Jewish oral tradition holds that Tiberias was built on the site of the ancient Israelite village of Rakkath or Rakkat, in Talmudic times, the Jews still referred to it by this name. Conversely, in The Antiquities of the Jews, the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus calls the village with hot springs Emmaus, todays Hammat Tiberias and this name also appears in The Wars of the Jews. Antipas settled many non-Jews there from rural Galilee and other parts of his domains in order to populate his new capital, and built a palace on the acropolis. The prestige of Tiberias was so great that the Sea of Galilee soon came to be named the Sea of Tiberias, however, the Jewish population continued to call it Yam Ha-Kineret, its traditional name. The city was governed by a city council of 600 with a committee of 10 until 44 CE when a Roman procurator was set over the city after the death of Herod Agrippa I. Tiberias is mentioned in John 6,23 as the location from which boats had sailed to the side of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd seeking Jesus after the feeding of the 5000 used these boats to travel back to Capernaum on the north-western part of the sea. Under the Roman Empire, the city was known by its Greek name Τιβεριάς, in 61 CE Herod Agrippa II annexed the city to his kingdom whose capital was Caesarea Philippi. It became a city after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, with Judea subdued. It was to be its final meeting place before its disbanding in the early Byzantine period, when Johanan bar Nappaha settled in Tiberias, the city became the focus of Jewish religious scholarship in the land. The Jerusalem Talmud would follow being compiled by Rabbi Jochanan between 230–270 CE, Tiberias 13 synagogues served the spiritual needs of a growing Jewish population. In the 6th century Tiberias was still the seat of Jewish religious learning, in 628, the Byzantine army returned to Tiberias upon the surrender of Jewish rebels and the end of the Persian occupation after they were defeated in the battle of Nineveh
