{joo'-day-izm} Judaism, the religion of the \TJews\t, claims over 14 million adherents throughout the world. It is the oldest living religion in the Western world. Historically, Judaism served as the matrix for Christianity and Islam, the other two great monotheistic religions, which together with Judaism claim half the world's population as adherents. BELIEFS Judaism was the first religion to teach \Tmonotheism\t, or belief in one God. This belief is the basis of Judaism and is summed up in the opening words of the Shema, recited daily: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deut. 6:4). Jews believe that God's providence extends to all people but that God entered into a special \Tcovenant\t with the ancient Israelites. They do not believe that they were chosen for any special privileges but rather to bring God's message to humanity by their example. Belief in a coming \Tmessiah\t has been a source of optimism for Jews. The beliefs of Judaism have never been formulated in an official creed; Judaism stresses conduct rather than doctrinal correctness. Its adherents have a considerable measure of latitude in matters of belief, especially concerning the messianic future and immortality. Judaism is a this-world religion; its objective is a just and peaceful world order on earth. This hope is assured by the belief that God is the Lord of history as well as of nature. The basic source of Jewish belief is the Hebrew \TBible\t (called the "Old Testament" by Christians), especially its first five books, called the \TTorah\t or the Pentateuch. The Torah was traditionally regarded as the primary revelation of God and his law to humanity; it is considered as valid for all time. Its laws were clarified and elaborated in the oral Torah, or the tradition of the elders, and were eventually written down in the \TMishnah\t and \TTalmud\t. Thus, Judaism did not stop developing after the Bible was completed. The traditional Jewish prayer book is an important result of this process of development, reflecting the basic beliefs of Judaism as well as changes in emphasis in response to changing conditions. During the Middle Ages, systematic codes of talmudic law were compiled. Jewish literature--legal, ethical, philosophic, mystical, and devotional--is virtually endless. PRACTICES Judaism has a system of law, known as \Thalachah\t, regulating civil and criminal justice, family relationships, personal ethics and manners, social responsibilities--such as help to the needy, education, and community institutions--as well as worship and other religious observances. Some laws once deemed very important, for example, laws governing the offering of sacrifice and most rules of ceremonial defilement and purification, have not been practiced since the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70. Individual practices still widely observed include the dietary laws (see \Tkosher\t); rules concerning the marital relationship, daily prayer, and study; and the recital of many blessings, especially before and after meals. The \TSabbath\t and festivals are observed both in the home and in the \Tsynagogue\t, a unique institution for prayer and instruction that became the model for the church in Christianity and for the mosque in Islam. Traditionally observant Jews wear tefillin, or PHYLACTERIES, on their forehead and left arm during morning prayers, and affix to their doorposts a mezuzah, a little box containing a parchment scroll inscribed with passages of the Torah that emphasize the unity of God, his providence, and the resulting duty of serving him. In accordance with biblical law, men wear a fringed shawl (tallith) during prayer. Covering the head is a widespread custom. The Jewish religious calendar, of Babylonian origin, consists of 12 lunar months, amounting to about 354 days. Six times in a 19-year cycle a 13th month is added to adjust the calendar to the solar year. The day is reckoned from sunset to sunset. The Sabbath, from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, is observed by refraining from work and by attending a synagogue service. Friday evening is marked in the home by the lighting of a lamp or candles by the woman of the household, the recital of the kiddush (a ceremonial blessing affirming the sanctity of the day) over a cup of wine, and the blessing of children by parents. The end of the Sabbath is marked by parallel ceremonies called havdalah. Similar home ceremonies occur on the festivals. The holidays prescribed in the Torah are the two "days of awe," \TRosh Hashanah\t (New Year) and \TYom Kippur\t (Day of Atonement), and three joyous festivals, \TPassover\t, \TShavuoth\t (Feast of Weeks), and the Feast of \TTabernacles\t. Later additions are the festive occasions of \TChanukah\t and \TPurim\t, and the fast of the Ninth of Av (Tishah be-Av), commemorating the destruction of the Temple. On the 8th day after birth, male children are circumcised as a sign of the covenant with Abraham; the boy is named during the ceremony (see \Tcircumcision\t). Girls are named at a synagogue service. At the age of 13, a boy is deemed responsible for performing the commandments (\Tbar mitzvah\t). To mark his new status, the bar mitzvah takes part in the Bible readings during a synagogue service. (The synagogue service is sometimes popularly referred to as the bar mitzvah.) A similar ceremony for girls (bat mitzvah) is a recent innovation. Somewhat older is the confirmation ceremony for both sexes introduced by Reform Judaism; it is usually a class observance on or near Shavuoth. Judaism has characteristic, but not unparalleled, customs concerning marriage and death and mourning. The importance attached to recital of the KADDISH prayer by mourners dates from the Middle Ages. The prayer itself is much older and was originally recited as the conclusion of a sermon; it is related in thought and language to the "Lord's Prayer" of Christians. After the disasters during the First Crusade, the Jews of central and later eastern Europe introduced a memorial service on Yom Kippur and on other holidays; they also began to observe the anniversary of the death of parents. HISTORY In the biblical account, the patriarchs \TAbraham\t, \TIsaac\t, and \TJacob\t received the revelation of the one, true God, who promised special protection to the Israelite tribes (of whom there were 12, descended from the 12 sons of Jacob, who was also called Israel). Origins Many 19th-century scholars held that monotheism gradually emerged out of \Tpolytheism\t, the evolution being complete only with the great prophets in the 8th century BC and later. Today many are convinced that monotheism was already a reality in the days of \TMoses\t (13th century BC) and that later prophets developed more fully only the ethical and spiritual implications of the belief. All the Israelite tribes agreed on the worship of one God named Yahweh (see \TGod\t); they shared the memory of slavery in Egypt, the deliverance under Moses, and the Mosaic covenant and revelation at Sinai. Although some practices were borrowed from surrounding peoples (agricultural festivals, civil jurisprudence), the Israelite religion was kept pure of paganism through the strenuous efforts of the prophets. Unparalleled in any other Near Eastern religion are Judaism's prohibition of images, observance of the Sabbath, dietary laws, legislation guaranteeing support of the poor as a matter of right, and protection of slaves and animals against cruelty. When a loose tribal confederation was replaced by a national state under Kings \TSaul\t and \TDavid\t a national Temple in Jerusalem helped unify the people spiritually. After the division of the kingdom following the death (c.933) of \TSolomon\t, the northern kingdom of Israel also had national shrines (see \TIsrael, Kingdom of\t; \TJudah, Kingdom of\t). Prophets The \Lprophet\ls exercised decisive influence on all development in Israel. From the time of the 11th-century-BC prophet Samuel, they ceased to be mere soothsayers and became more and more national leaders, speaking in the name of God (the Hebrew word for prophet is navi, meaning "spokesman"). They upheld strict principles of justice and humanity, criticizing bluntly the most powerful forces in the nation. They warned of national disaster unless a radical improvement of religious and moral standards was realized. The reform movement led by King \TJosiah\t (c.640-609 BC), based on the Book of \TDeuteronomy\t, was probably undertaken under prophetic influence; the reforms included abolishing all local shrines and sanctuaries and limiting sacrifice to the Temple in Jerusalem. This dramatized belief in one God and reduced the importance of sacrifice in the daily life of the worshiper. The gap left by the abolition of the local shrines was eventually filled by the establishment of the \Tsynagogue\t, but there is no clear reference to this new institution until some four centuries later. The most mature and eloquent expression of prophetic ideals is found in the recorded speeches of the later prophets, beginning in the 8th century BC with the prophet Amos. The Exile and Foreign Influences The fall of both kingdoms and the \TBabylonian Captivity\t (586-538 BC) were perceived as a confirmation of the prophetic predictions and therefore of the truth of their message. Thus the Israelites were prepared to listen to the prophets of hope who now appeared, promising not only national restoration but also the ultimate redemption of all peoples from idolatry, injustice, and war. Returning exiles were leaders in the revival of the Palestinian center (now confined to the area of the former southern kingdom of Judah) and the building of the Second Temple. The high priests usually served as official representatives to the Persian government and to the succeeding empires. In the middle of the 5th century BC, the final form was given to the Torah--in the opinion of many scholars, a composite of laws, narratives, and poems dating from different periods, but with beginnings going back to Moses; and the people formally accepted the Torah as the rule for their life. Shortly thereafter the \TSamaritans\t broke away from the main body of Judaism; small numbers of this sect still survive. During this period, prophecy waned and finally disappeared, but the writings of the great prophets were compiled and accepted as sacred literature. Other books were composed--notably, wisdom literature, such as \TJob\t--and many of them were eventually included in the Bible. Some elements of Persian religion were incorporated into Judaism: a more elaborate doctrine of \Langel\ls; the figure of \TSatan\t; and a system of beliefs concerning the end of time, including a predetermined scheme of world history, a final judgment (see \TJudgment, Last\t), and the \Tresurrection\t of the dead. These ideas were expounded in many visionary documents called apocalypses; none of them was included in the Hebrew Bible except the Book of \TDaniel\t (see APOCALYPSE THEME; \Tapocalyptic literature\t; \Teschatology\t). Hellenism and Judaism Following the conquests of Alexander the Great (d. 323 BC), Judea (as Judah came to be called) passed under the rule of Alexander's Egyptian successors (the Ptolemies) and later his Syrian successors (the Seleucids). Under these Hellenistic rulers, Jewish life was changed both inwardly and outwardly, in Palestine and in the growing \TDiaspora\t. In Alexandria, which acquired a large Jewish population, novel forms of Judaism emerged. The Bible was translated into Greek (the \TSeptuagint\t), the first of innumerable translations. New explanations of the Torah were devised in the 1st century AD by \TPhilo of Alexandria\t. The Greek language and customs also affected Palestinian Jewry; the Jewish emphasis on study may be in part the result of Greek influence. But while many Jews were attracted to pagan customs and attitudes, the majority resisted these trends. The attempt of the Seleucid king \TAntiochus IV\t to impose the Greek religion by force aroused open rebellion led by the \TMaccabees\t, a Jewish priestly family. During the short period of Judean independence under the Maccabees (also called Hasmoneans) a movement of proselytizing began that was apparently not organized but was nevertheless energetic. Large numbers of persons, disillusioned with the old pagan cults, adopted Judaism formally or attached themselves unofficially to the synagogue. The Sects The worldliness of the later Maccabees alienated most of their subjects, and effective leadership passed more and more to pious and learned laymen, especially after the Romans established control in 63 BC. These laymen formed the party of the \TPharisees\t (separatists); democratic in spirit, the Pharisees sought to adapt the laws of the Torah to changing needs, utilizing old popular traditions (oral Torah), which they expanded by the free method of \Tmidrash\t, or verse-by-verse interpretation of scripture. Their opponents, the \TSadducees\t, were drawn largely from the wealthy classes and from the priesthood; conservative in religious matters, the Sadducees interpreted scripture strictly, disregarding the oral tradition and popular customs, and rejecting the doctrine of resurrection. The Pharisees were followed by the majority; all subsequent Judaism was pharisaic, and the roots of Christianity and Islam are found in pharisaic Judaism. (The \TEssenes\t were a sort of right-wing, monastic splinter group of the Pharisees; they probably wrote the \TDead Sea Scrolls\t.) Talmudic or Rabbinic Judaism After the disastrous revolt against Rome in AD 66-70, the pharisaic leaders, whose successors bore the title \Trabbi\t, rallied the people around the synagogue and the academies of learning. Through centuries of effort (recorded in the Mishnah, Talmud, and many works of midrash) they produced a disciplined and loyal Jewish community. The earliest Christians differed from other Jews chiefly in their belief that Jesus was the messiah. But under the leadership of Saint Paul and others, gentile Christianity soon became dominant, and the break between the two religions became complete. When the Roman Empire became officially Christian in the 4th century AD, the Jews became subject to many discriminatory laws, including a prohibition against seeking or even accepting converts. In the 4th century, religious and legal leadership was assumed more and more by the Babylonian center of learning; and from the 5th century, the Babylonian Talmud was generally accepted as the authoritative source of law. Thereafter world leadership remained with the Babylonian scholars; the heads of the academies, called Gaonim ("excellencies"), provided information and advice on legal and other questions to the Diaspora communities. In the 8th century, the sect of \TKaraites\t broke away, rejecting tradition and rabbinic authority, and seeking to live by the letter of the biblical law. After four centuries of vigorous activity, the sect declined; today only remnants survive. Philosophy and Mysticism By AD 1000, the Babylonian center was in decline, but new centers of Jewish culture emerged in North Africa and in Muslim Spain. (The Spanish Jews, together with the oriental communities, came to be known as \TSephardim\t, and those of Christian Europe as \TAshkenazim\t. The two groups differ somewhat in liturgical forms, in the pronunciation of Hebrew, in their music, and in many customs.) Under tolerant rulers, Jews participated actively in the Arabic cultural renaissance. In addition to commentaries on the Bible and Talmud, they also wrote extensively on grammar, science, and philosophy, usually in Arabic, and produced outstanding poetry in Hebrew, both religious and secular. Although the first important Jewish philosopher was the Gaon \TSaadia\t in Baghdad (10th century), nearly all of his important successors were of Spanish origin, including the preeminent \TMaimonides\t. These philosophers were scholastics, like their Muslim and Christian contemporaries, drawing largely on the works of Aristotle and the Neoplatonists. Like Philo, they tended to explain difficult Bible passages as allegories. Their writings were welcomed by intellectuals trying to harmonize revealed religion with the new scientific learning. But the masses were not interested in them, and many of the orthodox leaders regarded the new doctrines as subversive. After the death of Maimonides, his admirers and detractors waged a bitter struggle in Christian Spain and the Provence. His last important successor, Chisdai Crescas (d. 1410), undertook a critique of Aristotle in the interest of simple faith. More lasting and widespread was the influence of \TKabbalah\t ("tradition"), a term that includes various mystical doctrines and practices. Mystical elements appear in the old apocalypses and in talmudic and gaonic literature. There were mystical movements in Europe as well, culminating in the 13th and 14th centuries in southern France and northern Spain. A wealth of kabbalistic writings was produced, including the Zohar ("splendor") of Moses de Leon (13th century). There are many kabbalistic systems. In addition to true mystical experience, they contain mythological and magical elements, reinterpretations of biblical and talmudic passages and of prayers and commandments, Neoplatonic ideas, and messianic speculations. The tragedies that befell the Jews of Spain, culminating in the expulsion of 1492, called for stronger comfort than rational philosophies could offer. This was in some measure provided by Kabbalah, with its enthralling mysteries and increasing emphasis on messianism. The Jews of central and eastern Europe also cultivated Kabbalah. These communities were unsurpassed in talmudic learning; French scholars contributed much to biblical studies also. They introduced a number of legal changes to improve the status of women including a formal ban on polygamy. The 17th century saw a revival of Jewish life in Palestine. An attempt to revitalize the legal system by creating a new \TSanhedrin\t, or central court, was unsuccessful. But a 17th-century mystical revival had a profound effect on Jewish thought and liturgy. The messianic speculations of this new Kabbalah, taught by Isaac \TLuria\t, and the massacres of Polish Jewry in 1648 formed an explosive combination; in 1665 a Turkish Jew, \TSabbatai Zevi\t, proclaimed himself the messiah. There had been many such messianic claimants over the centuries, but they never achieved more than a local following; Sabbatai's announcement, however, shook world Jewry. Thousands of believers left their homes to join him in Palestine. When Sabbatai broke under threats and accepted Islam, there was widespread disillusionment and despair. Yet a substantial number of believers kept up an underground Sabbatean movement for over a century, finding kabbalistic justifications for their leader's apostasy and awaiting his triumphant return. A more positive mystical movement arose in eastern Europe in the 18th century. It was founded by \TBaal Shem Tov\t and was known as \THasidism\t. Its leaders were versed in the mysteries of Kabbalah, but they addressed themselves to the unlearned masses, teaching them a simple and joyous faith and encouraging them to express their religious feelings in ecstatic song and dance. Initially opposed by the rabbinic leaders as heretical, Hasidism survived such attacks and is today regarded as representative of extreme Orthodoxy. The movement declined for a time because it fostered "the cult of personality" and encouraged superstition, but it seems to have regained vitality in some American cities and in Israel. Modern Developments Except for these mystic stirrings, Jewish life from the 16th to the 19th centuries--the \Tghetto\t period--was rather torpid. But gradually modern scientific and philosophic ideas penetrated the ghetto. These influences began to be felt in the West during the 17th century. The Enlightenment of the 18th century witnessed discussion of improving the situation of Jews and led to their emancipation under the impact of the American and French revolutions. Though progress in Germanic lands was slow and disappointing, and in eastern Europe and in the Muslim lands virtually nonexistent, the impact of new ideas was felt everywhere among Jews. The Jewish community no longer provided its members with political status. Wherever Jews received citizenship, the old Jewish community lost its authority; in the New World it had never existed, and in Russia it was dissolved by government order in 1844. No longer subject to community discipline, confused by new social and intellectual conditions, Jews were uncertain of their place in the modern world. One response was Haskalah, the Hebrew word for "Enlightenment," which sought to bring modern knowledge and ideas to large numbers of Jews, using chiefly writings in modern Hebrew. Moses \TMendelssohn\t made the pioneer effort in 18th-century Berlin. His program--to combine modern education with strict Orthodox practice--was ineffective; his efforts led rather to assimilation, even to Christian baptism for worldly advancement. In Austrian Poland (Galicia), Haskalah was more fruitful, resulting in new efforts to study Jewish history and literature by modern critical methods ("the science of Judaism"), a trend continued with great success in Germany. In Russia, the attempt at popular education, with the slogan "Be a Jew at home and a man elsewhere," was soon recognized as futile because of the government's viciously anti-Jewish policies. In its place, a movement for Jewish nationalism arose--first expressed in secular literature in Hebrew--decades before the rise of political \TZionism\t. Later a strong socialist movement developed in urban centers, and these Jewish socialists spoke in Yiddish, the folk language, rather than in Hebrew. In the West, Enlightenment led to attempts at religious reconstruction, partly as a response to spreading indifference and apostasy that ghettoized Orthodoxy could not check. The first reforms were external, to provide a more decorous and attractive synagogue service, with portions of the service read in the language of the country, organ and choral music, and the revival of preaching. These changes aroused Orthodox opposition and sometimes government intervention. The Reformers had recourse to the newly developing "science of Judaism," showing that Judaism had always grown and changed. Eventually they developed a modernist theology, rejecting the literalist understanding of Scripture and the changeless authority of the halachah. They upheld a doctrine of progressive revelation, equating the revelation of God with the education of the Jewish people and of all humanity. They rejected the traditional prayers that asked for a return to the land of Israel and the restoration of sacrifices. Instead of a personal messiah, they envisioned a messianic age of brotherhood and peace; and instead of bodily resurrection, they taught a purely spiritual immortality. They discarded many traditional observances as no longer meaningful, modified others, and introduced new ones, such as confirmation. They also affirmed the equality of women in religious matters. A second group of modernists held similar theoretical views, but retained traditional practice with only limited modifications; they became the spiritual fathers of Conservative Judaism in the United States. All parties, including the Orthodox Jews in western countries, were perfervid in patriotism toward their several lands. All were deeply affected by 19th-century liberalism--optimistic, universalistic, and convinced of the reality of progress. The modernist movements, starting in Germany, had only modest success in Europe, but expanded greatly in North America. They have since acquired followers in Latin America, South Africa, Australia, and Israel. The terms Reform, Liberal, Progressive, Conservative, and Reconstructionist are used in various countries with varying shades of meaning; all designate nonorthodox versions of Jewish religion. New forms of Jewish community and synagogue organization, mostly on a voluntary basis, emerged in the 19th century. The old rabbinic academies (Yeshivoth) confined instruction to the Talmud and its commentaries. At this time modern rabbinical seminaries were established whose students were exposed to the whole range of Jewish history and lore and were required to obtain a university degree as well. Important works were written on Jewish theology, displaying Kantian and post-Kantian influences. Completely new were trends toward a secularist understanding of Jewish life, more or less completely rejecting religion and finding a substitute in nationalistic and cultural activities. The prevailing liberal, optimistic mood gradually cooled as official oppression and widespread hatred continued in eastern Europe while \Tanti-Semitism\t also flourished in the West. Jewish thinkers exhibited an increasing sense of the tragic element in human life, in the style of existentialism. The trend toward Jewish nationalism took concrete form in the movement of Zionism. Initially opposed by many religious leaders of all parties and by the Jewish socialists, Zionism was vindicated by the march of events, culminating in the \THolocaust\t. World Jewry, despite many divisions and disagreements, is today united in concern and support for the State of Israel, which was established in 1948. At present, because of political circumstances, rigid Orthodoxy is the only form of Judaism officially recognized in Israel, for example, in solemnizing marriages and in military chaplaincy. But a large part of the population is remote from formal religion, and the modernist versions have difficulty making their message heard. A great exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union began in the 1970s and reached new heights in the early '90s. In the West, despite loss of members, mixed marriages, and a serious drop in the Jewish birthrate, religious institutions are flourishing. The number of synagogues and synagogue members increased dramatically after World War II. There has been a remarkable resurgence of Orthodoxy after a long period of decline, and modernist groups are placing greater emphasis on tradition and ceremony. Bernard J. Bamberger Bibliography: Agus, Jacob, The Evolution of Jewish Thought (1959) and The Jewish Quest (1983); Baeck, Leo, The Essence of Judaism, rev. ed. (1948; repr. 1987); Bamberger, B. J., The Story of Judaism, 3d ed. (1971); Blau, Joseph L., Modern Varieties of Judaism (1966); Blech, B., Understanding Judaism (1991); Cohen, Arthur A., The Natural and Supernatural Jew (1962); Fackenheim, E.L., What is Judaism? (1988); Finkelstein, Louis, The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religions, 4th ed. (1971); Gilbert, M., ed., The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization (1991); Glazer, Nathan, American Judaism, 2d ed. (1973); Goldberg, D., and Rayner, J., The Jewish People (1987); Goldin, Judah, The Jewish Expression (1970); Heschel, Abraham J., God in Search of Man (1955; repr. 1972); Meyer, Michael, The Origins of the Modern Jew (1967; repr. 1972) and, as ed., Ideas of Jewish History (1987); Neusner, Jacob, The Life of the Torah: Readings in the Jewish Religious Experience (1974) and The Way of the Torah, 4th ed. (1988); Silver, D., and Martin, B., A History of Judaism, 2 vols. (1974); Sobel, Z., and Beit-Hallahmi, B., eds., Tradition, Innovation, Conflict: Judaism in Contemporary Israel (1991); Wigoder, G., Encyclopedia of Judaism (1989).