History UsefulNotes / Judaism

If you go by Jewish TV characters, it would seem that one in every three people is Jewish. On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' this is literally true; two out of the six main characters are Jewish (Ross and Monica, for those keeping score, and ''possibly'' Rachel.) Judaism is usually portrayed as one of three major world religions, along with Christianity and Islam. The truth is that out of some six-and-a-half-billion people in the world, only fourteen-and-a-half-million are Jewish, which works out to just 0.215% of the world's population, making Judaism the 11th most populous religion. It's listed as one of the world's major religions because both Christianity and Islam were developed from Judaism (the first and second largest religions in the world, respectively). Christianity was originally a sect of Judaism created to reform the Jewish community, and Islam saw itself as a continuation of the Abrahamic tradition which has its roots in Judaism and the old prophets. The three are collectively known as the "Abrahamic religions" because they all trace a direct lineage back to Abraham (there are also many smaller Abrahamic religions apart from these three). In the UK, according to the 2001 census, Jews were outnumbered three to two by people who claimed "[[Franchise/StarWars Jedi]]" as their religion. There were, however, as many as 18 million Jews (using the widest possible definition) before UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, or about 0.5% of the world population at the time. Also, Jews comprise about 2% of the population of the United States and have always been its second-most-populous religion. The reason Jewish characters are so common may be because of the absurdly high percentage of Jewish people in the entertainment industry. It may also be due to many shows being written in New York City, which has the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel: 1.54 million Jews lived in New York in 2011 (about 18.5% of the city's total population), and in the 1950s, ''2.5'' million Jews lived in the Big Apple (which, because the city was smaller then, comes out to just under a ''third'' of the total population: so one out of every three people ''was'' Jewish).

Israelis are a whole different creature from American Jews, resulting in the media either portraying the two as exactly the same or portray "Jewish" and "Israeli" as two very different things (usually a bit more serious, and closer to reality). Israelis consist of a mix of Ashkenazic Jews (who form the ethnic plurality) mixed with Sephardic (Iberian) Jews, Mizrachic (Middle-Eastern) Jews, Yemenite Jews, and Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) who each have their own cultures. People do tend to lump Sephardic and Middle-Eastern Jews together, which may or may not be accurate depending on where the specific population came from.

** ''Yeshivish'' Orthodox can be seen as the midpoint between Haredim and Modern Orthodox Jews (see below). Although somewhat insular, they are not as "cultish" as Haredim. Often, Yeshivish men will devote themselves to full-time Torah study for several years or even their entire life. Those who don't tend to be heavily involved in the kinds of business that can be run as a moderately close-knit network while interacting regularly with the outside world; real estate is a particularly common line of business for Yeshivish Jews, but so is running old-school kosher delis (the kind goy foodies--let alone less-observant Jewish foodies--make special pilgrimages to Brooklyn and Queens for). Yeshivish also refers to the type of English many of the men speak, a mix of Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, and English.

'''The Temple''': The Temple in Jerusalem holds an important place in Jewish philosophy, but its value varies from one sect to the next. The Orthodox pray that the Temple will be rebuilt so Jews can go back to doing animal sacrifices there like in the old days. The Conservative prayers ask for the Temple to be rebuilt, but consider that we have moved beyond the need for sacrifices. (Some Orthodox agree with this belief, but not to the point of changing their prayers.) Reform Jews do not believe the Temple in Jerusalem is needed any more at all, and thus they often call their own houses of worship "temples." The Kotel, known in English as the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, is the one remaining feature from the second Temple (it was destroyed by conquerors and rebuilt once); it is a retaining wall built around the artificial platform at the top of the mountain upon which the Temple was built. The Kotel has gained respect as the holiest site available to Jews due to its proximity to the Temple Mount, and many go there to pray at the closest place a Jew can currently get to where the Temple once stood. This is also because many rabbis forbid Jews from going onto the temple mount for fear of entering a location restricted to the ritually pure - and the rites that make someone ritually pure aren't available nowadays.

Assimilation is a big topic of debate. Nowadays, especially in America, Jews want to be part of society at large, but don't want to lose their own identities; similarly, right now in America, this balancing act is generally possible. In other countries...it varies.

UsefulNotes/Kabbalah]]]]

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UsefulNotes/JewishLifeEvents]]

Tanakh calls the afterlife "sheol", meaning "underworld". It was considered to be the destination for all men and woman, good and bad. However, Jewish scholars didn't know whether to take these mentions of Sheol as a metaphor to explain what people did not know came after death, or an actual form of afterlife. Regardless, there are today two forms of afterlife commonly accepted: Gan Eden and Gehenna. Gan Eden is your typical heaven model, the reward for the righteous, but Gehenna is a bit different. Gehenna is a place of fiery torment, however it is extremely lax. Your torture does not occur on the Sabbath, and you can only spend up to a year in Gehenna before you are sent to Gan Eden. Souls become closer to this by repenting whilst in Gehenna or by having their living relatives bless them through traditional prayers of mourning. Ultimately, we all go to Gan Eden, though some think if you are a truly horrible person, your soul is destroyed once you leave Gehenna.

* ''Kashrut'', a set of dietary restrictions. The most famous part of this is the banning of pork and shellfish and not mixing meat and dairy. Even once an animal is kosher, it must be killed in a kosher manner (a method used to reduce pain as much as possible) and "koshered," or have the blood removed (blood isn't kosher). The separation of milk and meat goes far beyond not having pepperoni pizza: kosher households have two sets of dishes and two sets of silverware (one for dairy and one for meat) and may have two ovens and two sinks (if they don't, they will follow specific rules for cleaning between use). In certain extremes, a kitchen may go so far to have two countertops, two microwaves, and separate placemats and napkins.

* ''Renewal'': A weird hybrid of Reform Judaism and Hasidism, arising in the 1960s counterculture and only coalescing into a real movement around the 1980s in North America. Extremely liberal in social positioning and views on Halakha (that's the Reform aspect), but drawing a lot from the Kabbalistic mysticism of the Hasids, particularly Chabad. Accordingly known (mostly derogatorily) as "hippie Judaism", they're not terribly different in that respect from the Christian [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus Freaks]] who arose from the counterculture around the same time, but unlike the Jesus Freaks they tended to stay pretty left on social issues.

* ''Renewal'': A weird hybrid of Reform Judaism and Hasidism, arising in the 1960s counterculture and only coalescing into a real movement around the 1980s in North America. Extremely liberal in social positioning and views on Halakha (that's the Reform aspect), but drawing a lot from the Kabbalistic mysticism of the Hasids, particularly Chabad. Accordingly known as "hippie Judaism", they're not terribly different in that respect from the Christian [[JesusWasWayCool Jesus Freaks]] who arose from the counterculture around the same time, but unlike the Jesus Freaks they tended to stay pretty left on social issues.

* ''Renewal'': A weird hybrid of Reform Judaism and Hasidism, arising in the 1960s counterculture and only coalescing into a real movement around the 1980s in North America. Extremely liberal in social positioning and views on Halakha (that's the Reform aspect), but drawing a lot from the Kabbalistic mysticism of the Hasids, particularly Chabad. Accordingly known as "hippie Judaism", they're not terribly different in that respect from the Christian Jesus Freaks who arose from the counterculture around the same time, but unlike the Jesus Freaks they tended to stay pretty left on social issues .

* ''Humanistic'': A minuscule offshoot of Reform Judaism, which outdoes Reconstructionist Judaism by being completely nontheistic. That's right, a sect of Judaism without any official opinions about God (with a strong implication that He doesn't actually exist). In this sense, it's Cultural Judaism, but with organized rituals and philosophy. Like Reconstructionism, it's hyper-local and originated in the United States, arising in the 1960s among the followers of Rabbi Sherwin Wine in the northern suburbs of UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}. Disproportionately influential due to Rabbi Wine's extensive writings and (extremely liberal) advocacy.

** ''Reconstructionist'': A movement developed in the United States in the 1920s and 30s when a Rabbi named Mordecai Kaplan felt that Judaism must be reconciled with the modern world. Reconstructionist Judaism is ''much'' more liberal than Orthodox Judaism, and many followers of Reconstructionist Judaism are Deists or have a more Kabbalah-style view of God. However, Reconstructionists ''can'' be more conservative than Reform Jews: often times in Reconstructionism one is supposed to observe Jewish law and custom as much as one possibly can. Reconstructionism is also the origin of concepts like "eko kashrut," wherein traditional Jewish dietary law is modified to take into account issues of environmentalism and social justice. Note: While Kaplan was based in New York, Reconstructionist Judaism is actually strongest around UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, as its organizational headquarters and main (and only) seminary are in the northern suburb of Wyncote. Reconstructionism is a ''very'' small sect (less than 5% of American Judaism, even less than that worldwide), and Montgomery County, PA is one of the few places you're even remotely likely to run into one if you're not actively seeking them out.

In the other direction, many Orthodox Jews only recognize converts to Judaism if they had an Orthodox conversion. The Israeli government recognizes people who have had Reform and Conservative conversions as Jewish for the purpose of immigration, but the Israeli Rabbinate—which controls marriage in the country—does not, meaning that such people may face troubles getting married, unless they marry abroad.

In the other direction, many Orthodox Jews, as well as the Israeli government, only recognize converts to Judaism if they had an Orthodox conversion.

The variable of the Ashkenazic movements isn't religiosity but how each movement views the binding nature of the various laws spread out in the Torah and elaborated on in the Talmud. In broad terms, Orthodox Jews are like Scalia and take an originalist perspective--the Torah and Talmud are normative and binding--while Conservative Jews are like Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg--the Torah and Talmud are normative, but is "living"--and Reform Jews argue that the rules in the Torah and Talmud are guidelines. Reconstructionist Jews also take the guideline viewpoint, but believe that for the sake of Jewish culture, certain rituals should be preserved.

A final quick note: asking every Jewish person you meet what their opinion is on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, or expecting every Jewish person to have an opinion, is rude at best.

Note that "Jews for Jesus" and "Messianic Jews", despite their names, are not accepted as Jews by pretty much all mainstream practitioners. Belief in the deity of Jesus in any way, or that the same Messiah could come twice, is seen as incompatible with Jewish philosophy. These organizations are viewed as, essentially, Christianity dressed up with Jewish ritual to entice unaffiliated or ignorant Jews to the fold.

'''Racial Judaism''' is the least interesting one. There are Jews everywhere, and probably of every racial group, whatever "race" means, since scientists never really defined it; usually racial schemes with more than [[RuleOfThree three races]] include at least one with no Jews before 1492. Genetic studies have confirmed that Ashkenazic Jews are most related to Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian Muslims. Mass sampling DNA analysis has recently confirmed [[http://www.livescience.com/47755-european-jews-are-30th-cousins.html that almost if not all European Jews have common ancestors within the past 30 generations.]]

** ''Yeshivish'' Orthodox can be seen as the midpoint between Haredim and Modern Orthodox Jews (see below). Although somewhat insular, they are not as "cultish" as Haredim. Often, Yeshivish men will devote themselves to full-time Torah study for several years or even their entire life. Those who don't tend to be heavily involved in the kinds of business that can be run as a moderately close-knit network while interacting regularly with the outside world; real estate is a particularly common line of business for Yeshivish Jews, but so is running old-school kosher delis (the kind ''goyim'' make special pilgrimages to Brooklyn and Queens for). Yeshivish also refers to the type of English many of the men speak, a mix of Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, and English.

** ''Yeshivish'' Orthodox can be seen as the midpoint between Haredim and Modern Orthodox Jews (see below). Although somewhat insular, they are not as "cultish" as Haredim. Often, Yeshivish men will devote themselves to full-time Torah study for several years or even their entire life. Those who don't tend to be heavily involved in the kinds of business that can be run as a moderately close-knit network while interacting regularly with the outside world; real estate is a particularly common line of business for Yeshivish Jews, but so is running old-school kosher delis. Yeshivish also refers to the type of English many of the men speak, a mix of Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, and English.

** ''Yeshivish'' Orthodox can be seen as the midpoint between Haredim and Modern Orthodox Jews (see below). Although somewhat insular, they are not as "cultish" as Haredim. Often, Yeshivish men will devote themselves to full-time Torah study for several years or even their entire life. Those who don't tend to be heavily involved in the kinds of business that can be run as a moderately close-knit network while interacting regularly with the outside world; real estate is a particularly common line of business for Yeshivish Jews, as are old-school kosher delis. Yeshivish also refers to the type of English many of the men speak, a mix of Biblical Hebrew, Yiddish, and English.

** ''Yeshivish'' Orthodox can be seen as the midpoint between Haredim and Modern Orthodox Jews (see below). Although somewhat insular, they are not as "cultish" as Haredim. Often, Yeshivish men will devote themselves to full-time Torah study for several years or even their entire life. Yeshivish also refers to the type of English many of the men speak, a mix of Biblical Hebrew and English.