History UsefulNotes / Judaism

90% of Jews in the United States are Ashkenazic Jews (Jews who lived in Eastern Europe during diaspora). The other major Jewish groups are Sephardic (from Spain and Portugal) and Mizrahi ("Eastern", mainly from the Arab World, but also including Persian-speaking Jews from Iran and Central Asia and Turkish-speaking Jews from, er, Turkey). The Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions have largely merged, as the expulsion of the Jews following the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs Reconquista]]'' of 1492 sent the Sephardim into exile, mostly into Muslim-ruled lands with preexisting Mizrahi populations; as there were a ''lot'' of Sephardim, their traditions were mixed into the local Mizrahi ones in a largely seamless whole. There are other, smaller groups, most famously the Cochin and Bene-Israel Jews of India, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the vanishing Kaifeng Jewish community of Northern China. ''Only Ashkenazic Jews have the "categories" of denominations most Americans are familiar with (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.)''

90% of Jews in the United States are Ashkenazic Jews (Jews who lived in Eastern Europe during diaspora). The other major Jewish groups are Sephardic (from Spain and Portugal) and Mizrahi ("Eastern", mainly from the Arab World, but also including Persian-speaking Jews from Iran and Central Asia and Turkish-speaking Jews from, er, Turkey). The Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions have largely merged, as the expulsion of the Jews following the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs Reconquista]]'' sent the Sephardim into exile, mostly into lands with preexisting Mizrahi populations. There are other, smaller groups, most famously the Cochin and Bene-Israel Jews of India, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the vanishing Kaifeng Jewish community of Northern China. ''Only Ashkenazic Jews have the "categories" of denominations most Americans are familiar with (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.)''

90% of Jews in the United States are Ashkenazic Jews (Jews who lived in Eastern Europe during diaspora). The other major Jewish groups are Sephardic (from Spain) and Mizrahi ("Eastern", mainly from the Arab World, but also including Persian-speaking Jews from Iran and Central Asia and Turkish-speaking Jews from, er, Turkey), but Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions have largely merged. There are other, smaller groups, most famously the Cochin and Bene-Israel Jews of India, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the vanishing Kaifeng Jewish community of Northern China. ''Only Ashkenazic Jews have the "categories" of denominations most Americans are familiar with (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.)''

Jews don't really have a central authority of any sort (being in diaspora for 2000 years will do that for you). After the loss of the Temple in AD 70--when diaspora began--the closest thing to a central authority Jews had was made up of senior rabbis arguing until they could reach a consensus, or at least a compromise, which would eventually propagate to most Jewish communities by word-of-mouth. And those rabbis ''loved'' to argue. (As the saying goes, "Two Jews, three opinions!") So this entry will try to hit the highlights, especially the common portrayals of Jews in media, but it is by '''no means''' comprehensive, complete, or guaranteed to be accurate for any given Jew.

* ''Conservative'': Considers itself a happy medium between the very conservative Orthodoxy and the more liberal sects. Conservative Judaism believes that Jewish law is binding, but takes a more "living constitution" approach to adapt to modernity. For example, Conservative Jewish rabbis have held that driving on Shabbat--an activity all Orthodox rabbis prohibit--is permissible if that is the only way someone can attend synagogue (an important concession to the large number of Jews living in car-dependent American suburbia). Conservative Jews also ordain women and have non-gender-segregated services. Probably the broadest in terms of how closely its members follow Mitzvot (commandments): on the "right," Conservative Jews will resemble Modern Orthodox Jews though they may be looser in keeping kosher; on the "left," they may be indistinguishable from Reform. Open Orthodoxy, because it ordains women, has been frequently accused of being truly Conservative (whether this is true is up for debate; it is included as Orthodox because that is what it identifies as). In recent years, Conservatism has been trending very leftward, especially on social issues.

* ''Conservative'': Considers itself a happy medium between the very conservative Orthodoxy and the more liberal sects. Conservative Judaism believes that Jewish law is binding, but takes a more "living constitution" approach to adapt to modernity. For example, Conservative Jewish rabbis have held that driving on Shabbat--an activity all Orthodox rabbis prohibit--is permissible if that is the only way someone can attend synagogue. Conservative Jews also ordain women and have non-gender-segregated services. Probably the broadest in terms of how closely its members follow Mitzvot (commandments): on the "right," Conservative Jews will resemble Modern Orthodox Jews though they may be looser in keeping kosher; on the "left," they may be indistinguishable from Reform. Open Orthodoxy, because it ordains women, has been frequently accused of being truly Conservative (whether this is true is up for debate; it is included as Orthodox because that is what it identifies as). In recent years, Conservatism has been trending very leftward, especially 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).

* ''Humanistic'': A minuscule offshoot of Reform Judaism, which outdoes Reconstructionist Judaism by being completely nontheistic. 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.

** ''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.

90% of Jews in the United States are Ashkenazic Jews (Jews who lived in Eastern Europe during diaspora). The other major Jewish groups are Sephardic (from Spain) and Mizrahi (Arab), but Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions have merged. There are other, smaller groups, most famously the Cochin and Bene-Israel Jews of India, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the vanishing Kaifeng Jewish community of Northern China. ''Only Ashkenazic Jews have the "categories" of denominations most Americans are familiar with (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.)''

If you go by Jewish TV characters, it would seem that [[YouHaveToHaveJews 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).

One reason for this, of course, is that most of the Jewish immigrants to America from the late 1800s and up were Ashkenazim. They settled in [[BigApplesauce New York City]], most notably the Lower East Side, and as they got more affluent, the Upper West Side; by now the idea of New York without Jews is practically impossible. Bagels, corned beef, random Yiddish words, and much more are part of New York's DNA. So, it's not surprising that a lot of television writers have had more exposure to Jews than Americans in other parts of the country or viewers in other parts of the world, leading to the BigApplesauce trope that YouHaveToHaveJews.

UsefulNotes/JewishLifeEvents\\

JewishCreators]]

UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays
JewishCreators]]

UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays]]

If you go by Jewish TV characters, it would seem that [[YouHaveToHaveJews 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 was a reinterpretation of both Judaism and Christianity from an Arabic perspective. 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).

** As one follow the continuum right into extreme/fringe Orthodoxy, modesty becomes a common justification for sexist practices that don't have a real basis in Jewish law or tradition.

** Orthodox ''shuls'' are practical affairs; there are prayer leaders, but most prayers are silent or mumbled, especially during the week. Prayers are all in Hebrew, except for the rare Aramaic segment. Most positions of importance are given to men, except the President of the synagogue and a few members of the executive board may occasionally be women. Non-Orthodox congregations mix things up somewhat, with more church-like performances, choirs, audio equipment, etc., and allow female cantors (also called hazanim) and rabbis, which the Orthodox do not allow.

'''Literalism''': It is very important to note that simply reading the Bible will not give you a good idea of Jewish laws. Almost nothing in the Bible is taken at face value; for example, the famous line "an eye for an eye" is actually interpreted as paying the ''monetary value'' of an eye after gouging someone's eye out [[note]]to be specific, the rabbis said that this passage was talking about compensatory damages for personal injury, and took another segment to be talking about punitive damages, yet another for medical damages, and so on. I kid you not, in the holy texts of this religion is a giant book on torts law. And they wonder why so many Jews become lawyers.[[/note]]; it also serves as a limitation on revenge, not a prescription for horrible punishments as it's often imagined. A number of the commandments given in the Bible are not currently practised even by the Orthodox, since they only apply when the Temple in Jerusalem is standing, and said Temple was razed 20 centuries ago.

The physical aspects are the racial ones: curly dark hair, large noses and ears, dark complexion, occasionally a "swarthy" look, et cetera. Yiddish - basically a dialect of Middle German with huge numbers of words taken from Hebrew and Polish and written using the Hebrew alphabet - that was the main language among Ashkenazim (Ashkenaz refers to Germany), is often [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage a second language]], or at least a great choice for cursing. A tendency towards being short seems to have been reversed with the advent of better nutrition; many American Jews are taller than all of their grandparents.

** With regards to straight sex and relationships overall--Judaism is a very liberal religion. In the context of marriage sex is encouraged, and prohibitions on birth control focus more on the method (i.e. whether a condom or birth control) than the result. A fetus is a potential life, not an actual life, and abortion is not only allowed but required when the life of the mother is in danger. The vast, vast majority of rabbis allow abortion for the health (mental or physical) of the mother as well. Furthermore, Judaism has strict rules regarding consent within a marriage and has always allowed for divorce by reason of incompatibility.

Still, traditional Jewish thought on the afterlife has typically ranged from "We don't know," to intimations that there's nothing at all (as it says in Ecclesiastes, "The dead know nothing, neither have they any more reward,"). With the notable exceptions of Maimonides and Nachmanides, we leave any mention of the afterlife at naming it "Ha'Olam Ha'Ba" (the Next World), because it's unknowable to the living. Interestingly, Olam HaBa is the name used to describe the future messianic age, leading some to believe that truly is the afterlife.

Still, traditional Jewish thought on the afterlife has typically ranged from, "We don't know," to intimations that there's nothing at all (as it says in Ecclesiastes, "The dead know nothing, neither have they any more reward,"). With the notable exceptions of Maimonides and Nachmanides, we leave any mention of the afterlife at naming it "Ha'Olam Ha'Ba" (the Next World), because it's unknowable to the living. Interestingly, Olam HaBa is the name used to describe the future messianic age, leading some to believe that truly is the afterlife.

* "Karaite": this very, very small sect of Judaism does not follow Rabbinic Law (they follow the rules as outlined in the Torah, not as interpreted and expanded on in the Talmud). For some reason, when atheists criticize Judaism, they seem to assume that Jews are Karaite Jews.

** ''"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.
** ''"Modern Orthodox"'' a mostly North American phenomenon, consisting of people who want to keep the full gamut of Orthodox laws while still being active members of world society. Most Orthodox editors on this wiki will probably consider themselves Modern Orthodox, though the label is rather wide. Runs very close to the more conservative forms of Conservative Judaism.
** ""Sephardic"" Judaism is predominately Orthodox. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews do not fit into these neat boundaries; they prefer to use terms such as "masorti" (which is, confusingly, also a term for Conservative Judaism in many areas), "observant," or "traditionalist."
** ""Open Orthodox"" is a mostly New York and Chicago phenomenon. Modern Orthodox Jews are still Orthodox, and for reasons too complicated to detail here, Modern Orthodox Jews do not ordain women or allow women to lead prayers; Open Orthodoxy does. It is a relatively recent phenomenon started by an Orthodox rabbi who, among many things, [[http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.666064 supports (though does not perform) same-sex marriage]]. It differentiates itself from Conservative Judaism because it (1) believes, like all Orthodox Jews, that the Torah and Oral Laws were given from God to the Jews at Mt. Sinai and (2) requires strict adherence to Jewish law (conservative Judaism technically does, but not all conservative Jews--or even many--follow this). An Open Orthodox rabbinical school ordains women, which the Modern Orthodox school strongly condemned.

There are three aspects of Judaism: the religion, the race, and the culture. Note that not all Jews are the same ratio of these. In fact, rarely will any two Jews be the same.

90% of Jews in the United States are Ashkenazic Jews (Jews who lived in Eastern Europe during diaspora). The other major Jewish groups are Sephardic (from Spain) and Mizrahi (Arab), but Mizrahi and Sephardic traditions have merged. There are other, smaller groups, most famously the Cochin and Bene-Israel Jews of India, the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and the vanishing Kaifeng Jewish community of Eastern China. ''Only Ashkenazic Jews have the "categories" of denominations most Americans are familiar with (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.)''

** With regards to sex and relationships overall--Judaism is a very liberal religion. In the context of marriage sex is encouraged, and prohibitions on birth control focus more on the method (i.e. whether a condom or birth control) than the result. A fetus is a potential life, not an actual life, and abortion is not only allowed but required when the life of the mother is in danger. The vast, vast majority of rabbis allow abortion for the health (mental or physical) of the mother as well. Furthermore, Judaism has strict rules regarding consent within a marriage and has always allowed for divorce by reason of incompatibility.

* Praying three times a day, though this was instituted in the early centuries CE after the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of animal sacrifices. Men are traditionally supposed to pray with a group of at least ten men (a ''minyan''). Men wear ''tefillin'' (black boxes with leather straps) on their heads and arms, and wrap themselves in a white ''tallit'' (prayer shawl) for morning prayers only. In Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism, women wear tefillin and tallit as well; Reform Jews generally don't use tefillin.

* The Israeli government is actually a little divided on this. Any convert to Judaism (whether Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox) is eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, which offers automatic Israeli citizenship to any Jew who wants it; however, the Rabbinate does not accept non-Orthodox conversions, and the Rabbinate has control over marriage and burial. So while the Israeli government would give you citizenship because you're a Jew, the Israeli Rabbinate would deny your marriage application to another Jew because you are not, in their eyes, Jewish. And when you die, you wouldn't be able to buried in a Jewish cemetery. Needless to say, this causes some tension in Israel.
** The Israeli government also recognizes Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews, with different religious practices), Samaritans (dwindling remnants of biblical Israel's northern tribes), and Karaites (non-rabbinical Jews, who reject any source of religious authority other than the Tanakh) as Jews, even when the major congregations may not.