Jewish

Judaica (in clockwise from top): chandeliers Shabbat , pitcher for washing hands , Houmash and Tanakh , the read pointer of the Torah , shofar , and box etrog

The term refers to the Jewish tradition , religious culture and lifestyle of the Jews ^, . Judaism has religious elements but is not limited since it contains, in addition to its code of conduct, laws, rites and customs are not specifically religious.

According to its founding documents, especially the Tanakh , the faith of the ancient Israelites and their descendants, the Jews, would be based on a covenant contracted between God and Abraham , which was subsequently renewed between God and Moses .

Jews Judaism based on the Abrahamic religion that bloom later in the Act mosaic (the Torah , the Nevi'im and Ketuvim ), collectively designated by the acronym T a n a k h, the text is the Mikra or Bible Hebrew.

This religion is based on the worship of God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Name Ineffable, it sees as Eternal Essence ( YHWH ), which holds all powers ( Elohim ), transcendent Lord lords ( Adonai ) it Considers One and Only and she describes this way: omnipotent, omniscient, just and merciful. This religion also professes that the gathering of all the powers (Elohim) showed the creator of the world that continues to be involved in his fate by breaking into his History , as when he brought out of Egypt the children of Israel. The Cohens of the Temple of Jerusalem destroyed twice assured His worship. The rabbis then sent to Jewish tradition until today.

Judaism is one of the oldest religious traditions monotheistic still practiced today. Values and history of the Jewish people are the source of the other two Abrahamic religions, the Christianity and Islam. It is not at the base of Samaritanism , which is a traditional Jewish competitor, or of Zoroastrianism , itself derived from Zoroastrianism.

Foundations of Judaism

Judaism reveres the Supreme Authority in accordance with His Law, revealed to Moses (the Torah ) and not in the hands of one or more individuals as autocrats in other cultures. This Act, first oral, was later written down in the Bible (the Tanakh ) and commentary over the centuries, generating a wide variety of interpretations . Judaism is less an orthodoxy established dogma that orthopraxy to tune the daily practices of a life sanctified by the strict observance of Jewish law, conceived as an expression of the supreme will of Who will judge his people to terms of their conduct.

All streams of Judaism, ancient and modern, still profess some common beliefs:

• Remembering that the Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One is revealed to Moses as the Essence Eternal ( YHWH ) made out of Egypt and the people of Israel after four centuries lived in idolatrous land.
• the children of Israel were elected by YHWH for His people, He expects them to walk in His ways ( halakha ). The Torah was given to Moses atop Mount arid, the Horeb in the wilderness of Sinai.
  This desire to walk in the ways of YHWH, the halakha that lends life to the precepts of the Torah in the perpetually changing conditions of life according to places and times, is the origin of the various currents of interpretation of the orthopraxy Judaism, less sensitive to differences of theological orthodoxy. Who rigorously practice the Judaic Law is free to think in original, so the Kabbalah flourished among Jews in a world that persecuted the gnosticism , and the tips of gematria allowed speculation mental boldest.

The first Jewish power , dating from the exile in Babylon , was that the Jewish Pharisee , who was reading the " written Torah "through the prism of the" oral Torah "that the Pharisees said received tradition from the mouth of Moses in the giving of the Torah, which was transmitted orally exegesis in rabbinic Judaism , which dates from the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and then compiled by the "repeaters" Tannaim the Mishnah before being drafted by the "preachers" Amoraim in the form of Talmuds Galilean Babylonian and .

The authority of the Oral Law was challenged at the time of the Temples by the Sadducees , and the ^eighth century of the current era by a stream named scripturalist Karaism. The Oral Torah was also ignored Samaritans and Jewish communities too remote from centers of teaching and the dissemination of this Act, like the Jews of China and India, and the Falasha of Ethiopia.

The Jewish faith

Stressing the orthopraxy Judaism requires a lot of little acts and beliefs (as already referred, the Jew believes that one Creator of the world freed His people from Egypt and gave him a Law). At the time of Flavius Josephus (37 to 100 EC), the correct application of the requirements of the Act (and especially that of the circumcision ) was considered more critical of the Jewish identity that professed religious views.

Later, at the increase in the number of Jews adopting new beliefs, such as dualism , the thinkers of the Talmud raises the question of who, according to his ideas, really belongs to the people of Israel . Then time passed, and under the influence of Greco-Islamic, various statements of faith are drawn, aimed to define the beliefs that distinguish Jews from non-Jews. These axioms are often defined by taking the foot-cons doctrines challenged. A list of articles of faith the most famous, that of Moses Maimonides , contains thirteen articles including one opposes the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the world, another to the idea of "New Torah or change it. Judaism gradually extends the orthopraxy in the orthodoxy.

If the articles of faith of Maimonides are now considered mandatory by the proponents of orthodox Judaism , the currents of Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism are careful not to impose some form to their followers, they reduce the number of articles of faith, and allow multiple interpretations. The most progressive currents, like that of Reconstructionist Judaism , do not hesitate to challenge some of the most fundamental principles among Jews, as the belief in the Revelation of the Torah, or of being a chosen people.

Monotheism

Jews believe that monotheism was the first human belief, misguided by the generation of grandchildren, son of Adam , and found by Abraham and his descendants. The " second commandment of the Decalogue "illegal to have" other gods before Me. " This prohibition includes the syncretism, the cult of "minor deities, spirits or incarnations, the doctrines of duality (shtei reshouyot) or Trinity , regarded as akin to polytheism .

Judaism has made the proclamation of monotheism its twice-daily profession of faith , to declaim in his last breath .

For proponents of biblical criticism , the second command indicates the existence of a henotheism primitive original. Monotheism would subsequently developed in response to the Hellenes.

Torah, "Act of God"

Judaism teaches that God revealed to the children of Israel (as a whole and not one person) on Mount Sinai , and gave them the Torah (the Act). It has a holy character, unique and untouchable.

God's law is, in addition to beliefs, prescriptions ( mitzvot ) ritual, including ritual vestments and sacrifices inside the temple of Jerusalem , or ethical governing every aspect of daily life. It also includes parts and poetic narrative, tracing the fate of Israel since the creation of the world until they come into the land of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt and wandered in the desert 40 years.

However, if the Torah is one and unique, the interpretations that in fact differ significantly between groups and individuals. The Sadducees , the priestly class Second Temple of Jerusalem do not recognize its authority, while others consider the current Neviim (Books of the Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings and Other Hagiographs) as equally inspired by God. The Jewish biblical canon, known Hebrew Bible or Tanakh is set around 450 BCE. From the ^first century , the term "Torah" shall mean the Tanakh.

The Tanakh contains the history of Israel since the crossing of the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua to the construction of the Second Temple after the Babylonian exile.

After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the second exile of the Jews, the prevalent interpretation of the Hebrew Bible was that of the sect of the Pharisees , that the Torah can not be correctly interpreted only through the prism an oral tradition of exegesis initiated jointly giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, called oral Torah. Only Karaism , a movement came on the stage of history ⁱⁿ the eighth century, challenged this interpretation, although the progressive movements of Judaism rabbinical movement born of the Haskalah in the nineteenth ^century have also found the oral Torah mismatch with the modern amenities and conducted more or less completely repealing the decrees.

On the ritual, the Jews publicly read a section of the Torah at every commemoration, and at the office sabbath. This reading is complemented by a Haftarah drawn from the Prophetic Books. The Torah is read during an annual cycle.

The centrality of the Land of Israel

According to the Torah, God promised Abraham a land populated by seven Canaanite nations , and repeats this promise to Moses. In Deuteronomy , Moses returns to the fertility of the land and the benefits it represents, says that God gives Israel a land inhabited, and especially that it is by His will that Israel is acquired, not by the merit of the people. Quite the contrary, the people there unworthy that God out of his land as he drives before them the Canaanites. However, their exile is not final, and after a pilgrimage to humiliation and suffering, God would bring His people on earth.

Special orders relating to the land of Israel, such as that live there. Legislation must be designed in order to live to the rhythm divine, respecting the seventh day of rest and the rest of the land of the seventh year , the year after seven cycles of seven years, that is to say every fifty years is a jubilee year in which the land should return to their owners and slaves to freedom.

Regarded as inalienable property of the people of Israel, the Holy Land has the holy cities, on the premises where it is prohibited to bury the dead, and holy places, important centers of Jewish history and Jewish. Special fervor surrounding Jerusalem , the capital founded by King David, where was the Temple of Solomon on the Temple Mount , where sat the Sanhedrin.

Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel is a constant in its history, and the armed movements in history had only the restoration goal , including the Zionist movement in 1948.

However, Zionism, a political movement, is not unanimously accepted by the Jews, both religious people who see it as an attempt to override the will of God, which alone can put an end to exile, not only by -religious who feel more integrated into their host country, and do not recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel.

The Messiah and the messianic

According to Judaism, the Messiah is a man from the lineage of King David, who will lead the world to come , an era of peace and happiness, and eternal that will benefit all nations of the earth. It is not yet come: having believed in the Messiahship of Jesus separated the Jews from the early Christians and some Jews Hasidic are currently suspected of heresy for saying the Messiah Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Moreover, a number of false messiahs have been excluded throughout Jewish history, in light of the criteria mentioned above.

However, if the messianic belief is widely shared, opinions differ about the Messiah, and many Jews, including Jews, Protestants , who believe they can do without.

As regards the next world, several designs coexist in Judaism, and there is ultimately occupies only a very incidental.

Worship

The original Jewish faith is based largely on the offerings of animals, birds or flour before the altar located in the sanctuary. It is provided by the Kohanim descendants of Aaron and extensively described in the Book of Leviticus ( Vayikra ). It has three daily offerings, including an offering of flour, as well as additional offerings on days designated as holy convocation, including the new moon day of the meeting and parties. Those days are holidays.

However, the prophets strongly criticizing this purely ritual worship if it does not associate itself with the true intentions (Isaiah 1:11-18), and believe that prayer can fulfill its role (Hosea 14:2).

The order of worship, and the impact of the Torah in everyday life, then make the object of furious discussion between priests and Sadducees wise, the first based on a literal interpretation of the Torah, while the latter rely on received traditions of the ancestors (who have received theirs, and so on until Moses) and methods of legalistic exegesis to determine the halakha (religious conduct). The view prevailed sages after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and, with the exception of dissent Karaite relying solely personal exegesis, has imposed its Halacha: it has developed in the Mishna and the Talmud and rabbinic literature later. Various codes have been developed to determine the general principles as well as responsibility for special cases. The reference book on the subject is Shoulhan Aruch , written in the sixteenth century. However, the exegesis continues to this day, the Halakha has to take into account the evolution of society.

Offices prayers

A Jew in prayer, wearing his Talit

There are three offices in a day, corresponding to three moments of the service in the Temple: Sha'harit ("Morning Prayer"), Mincha (literally "offering of flour) and Ma'ariv (evening prayer " ).
The Sabbath and holy days , an additional service, the Musaf ("Added") is inserted after the Sha'ahrit.

Prayer services Orthodox are driven by a hazzan (bard) or shalia'h tzibbour (officiating) in Hebrew , with some passages in Judeo-Aramaic. They have different parts, separated by different versions of the Kaddish. The divine Unity is proclaimed in the morning and evening Shema Israel. The prayer itself, recited standing where his name Amida is composed week nineteen blessings , seven the sabbath. Men and women are separated, and only men's voices be heard.
The holding of an office requires the holding of a quorum of ten men, the minyan (pronounced "Miniane"), because certain prayers require a collective response.
Worship is done head covered. In the morning, praying is covered with a tallit (prayer shawl) and tied his arms and his head and tefillin ( phylacteries contain four sections of the Torah ), except the Sabbath, where only the tallit is rigor.
Each Sabbath morning, a section of the Torah is read in public, so having read the 54 weekly sections of the Torah in a Jewish year. An abridged reading of the section is also done on Monday and Thursday before the sabbath, and on Saturday afternoon. Only men are required to read the Torah.

Non-Orthodox Jews have created various versions depending on the community. Among the most common include the abolition of the separation between men and women, allowing them to participate in the board or the lead, and the invocation of matriarchs ( Sarah , Rebekah , Leah and Rachel , wives of patriarchs), women can also read the Torah, tallit and tefillin and wear. Service reform is substantially shorter than that of the orthodox, and is sometimes conducted in the language of the country of residence, although some retain the Hebrew.

On Yom Kippur , the holiest day and most important of the Jewish calendar according to some, Jews fast and pray for forgiveness for their sins, individual or community - Table of 1878.

Celebrations in Judaism

The Jewish calendar is based on a cycle lunisolar mtonien , according to a methodology established by the sage Hillel II , the determination of the month from observing the new moon has been abolished in the disappearance of the Sanhedrin.

• The Sabbath is a day of abstention weekly, reserved for study and prayer. It was inaugurated by the kiddush shortly before sunset on Friday evening and concluded by Havdalah at the exit of the stars of Saturday night.
  It plays a major role, both in life and in religious practice, and is accompanied by a significant body of rites and laws. Thirty-nine categories of work are forbidden, among which are writing, the lighting of a fire (and therefore electricity), cutting, spinning, driving a car etc..
  His cheerful character prevents any expression of grief on that day (it's not to transgress the Sabbath that Jesus was buried on a Friday afternoon).
• The Shalosh Regalim are three feasts of pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem organized by the Bible. They also correspond to key moments in the agricultural year:
  • Passover , the "Passover", commemorates the Exodus , and coincides with the harvest of barley.
    This is the only party to focus on an office at home, the Seder. The leavened products are removed from the house before the party and banned for human consumption during its duration. The bread is replaced by the matza , unleavened bread.
  • Shavuot , the Pentecost Jewish, celebrates the gift Moses of Ten Commandments to the Israelites gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai and the passage of the crop of barley that of wheat. The period of 7 weeks (50 days and 49 nights) between Passover and Shavuot is called the Omer and is itself subject to special rites.
  • Sukkot , the "Feast of Tabernacles commemorates the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert for forty years and marks the end of the agricultural cycle. Each family must build a hut for the occasion temporary ( sukkah ) in memory of the temporary dwellings used by the Israelites during their wanderings. The men are to remain prescription time of Sukkot, to eat and sleep.
    Sukkot concludes with Shemini Atzeret , fallow land, and Simchat Torah , "the (celebration) Joy of the Torah, where the annual cycle of Torah reading is found to start immediately.
• The Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe" or "Days of Awe") means the period of 10 days between Rosh Hashanah , the Jewish New Year, falls on ¹Tishri , and Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement, which falls on 10 Tishri:
  • Rosh Hashana , Yom Terou'ah called in the Bible, is the beginning of the Jewish calendar year (the ecclesiastical year begins in the month of Nissan).
    It also marks the entry into the period of repentance that ends ten days later on Yom Kippur.
  • Yom Kippur , Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, according to tradition, is celebrated on 10 Tishri. Day off even more absolute than the Sabbath (for that reason it is called Shabbat Shabbaton, Sabbath of Sabbath), it is devoted to atonement, prayer and fasting.

Four other fasts were instituted by the prophets, in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. The feast of Purim was instituted following the events described in the book of Esther. The festival of Hanukkah has been proclaimed for its response to the revolt of the Maccabees. Its rites were determined by the rabbis, and two rites mentioned in the Talmud: Tu Bishvat , the festival of trees and Tu B'Av , the feast of love and lovers.

The dietary laws: the cacherouth

Kosher (or hide, or kosher, etc..) Means fit for consumption. However, this very general term is generally understood in the sense of Jewish dietary laws. A non-kosher food is Taref (fem. Treif), which literally means "torn, eaten from a member ripped the animal (dead or alive), eating like a beast, and not as a man who must be holy as God is holy. The cacherouth can be defined as the sanctification of food.

The laws of kashrut are taught in Leviticus. We learn from this context as they relate to ritual purity and holiness as health. Among the laws of cacherouth include the prohibition of consuming blood, animals that eat other animals, which excludes prey animals such as lions, sharks, eagle or pike (among other ), those who roam the seabed in search of garbage left by others, such as seafood, etc..
Similarly, the restriction is the most famous, milk and meat can be consumed in one sitting, because you do not seethe a kid in its mother's milk (at about the dish of venison accompanied cream that Abraham offers three angels, the Midrash teaches that dairy products were served before the meat, which is permissible, and anyway, the dietary laws had not yet been enacted).

Although many see only rule dietetic hygiene ritual, the avowed purpose of cacherouth is to realize that the only foods allowed are those from sources including aspects "spiritually negative" such as pain, illness or uncleanliness are absent, and the preparation of which did not entail practices such as hunting, torture ...

Family Purity

The laws of Nidda ("distance") refers to the distance required of the woman during her menstrual period, (the husband and wife do not sleep in the same bed) and are called "laws of family purity," reports before marriage is prohibited, and marriage occurring around the time of puberty (in biblical times). Various other laws governing relations between men and women related, such as tsniout (the "modesty", that is to say, modesty in dress), and are seen as vital factors in Jewish life , especially among the Orthodox, but they are rarely followed in others.

The laws of niddah enact themselves as sex can take place as long as the flow menstrual / A>. The woman must then verify its total losses to seven days "clean", after which she went to the mikvah to purify themselves. Following this ritual, the woman is permitted to her husband until about the twelfth day of her cycle and until its next cycle occurs.

Events during the life of a Jewish person

These are events that occur during the life of a person, and that bind the community.

• the Brith Milah , circumcision , that is to say removing the foreskin of boys on the eighth day after birth, with reference to the Covenant of Abraham (Genesis 17, 11). This ritual celebrates the entry of males into the Alliance, and can be done during a ceremony, but also in a hospital under anesthesia , as a specialist, the mohel is present, and recites a blessing in the presence of a Miniane during the cutting of the flesh.
• Zeved habat - Home of girls in the Alliance at a ceremony of appointment. This custom is very popular among the Sephardim.
• Upsherin - Cutting hair for boys, conducted at 3 years, accompanying the gift of Talit Katan and first yarmulke, thus symbolizing the passage of yonek (infant, a little toddler equivalent of Anglo-Saxon) to Yeled (child ).
• Bar and Bat Mitzvah - Transition to majority religious, na'ar (na'ar) to mevougar (mevouguerette) at the age of 13 years for boys, 12 girls, representing the Jewish majority. The Bat Mitzvah was introduced by Mordecai Kaplan , and there's usually no particular rite. In contrast, the (boy) Bar Mitzvah is honored by leading the office and reading the weekly section of the Torah. The preparation can take from several months to two years.
• Marriage - Marriage is a moment of great importance in life. The two ceremonies that comprise the Kiddushin (accolades) and nissoun (wedding), were originally celebrated one year interval during which the young woman (kala), forbidden to her husband as the nissoun did not handed, lived with his parents to prepare for married life. Currently, they are celebrated during the same day, in the presence of a Miniane under a wedding canopy, the chuppah , which symbolizes a happy home. At the end of the ceremony, the groom (chatan) breaks a glass with his foot, a custom ( minhag ) to remember that joy may be complete until the Temple has not been rebuilt.
• Death and bereavement - Mourning plays an exceedingly important in Judaism, and follows a rite very hierarchical.
  • At the very moment of death, first-degree relatives, spouses included, given the status of Onen. The laws of mourning do not apply to them yet, but all activities must aim to bury the fastest and most holy of the deceased, if the situation applies (cf. disappearance at sea).
  • At the funeral, the first-degree relatives, spouses included, tearing their shirts (qri'a). The male first degree relatives and spouses read the Kaddish for mourners.
  • During the seven days following burial, Shiv'ah , the mourners sit on the floor or on low chairs. They wash over (unless health reasons), do not cut their nails, do not wear shoes, and do not prepare to eat (this is the role of the community to make a living): all their thoughts converge towards the deceased, they mourn for three days, and they recall the merits for four. Each night they held a service run, which ends with the Kaddish for mourners.
  • The next month is the burial period shloshim (thirty), which officially recognized the music, the wedding (with party) ... are prohibited.
  • The period of one year, avelut youd bet hodesh (mourning twelve months), is observed for eleven months by those who lost their parent. After this period, the mourning ends with a visit to the cemetery, and reciting the Kaddish for mourners at the grave of the deceased.

Question Halacha: What are the requirements to say that someone is Jewish?

Traditionally is considered Jewish a person born to a Jewish mother or converted according to Jewish law.
The sources are:

• a passage from Deuteronomy (7:3-4) on the dangers of intermarriage: "Do you were going with any of them: your daughter does not give it to her son and daughter do not make the wife of yours! because it detach your (grand) son of Me and worship of foreign gods ... "

The Talmud (Kiddushin 68b) asks why we do not speak of the "opposite case, where the non-Jewish mother divert the child from the father's religion. Answer: because the child of a non-Jew is not Jewish.

• a passage from Ezra (10:3-5), where the scribe required to repudiate the Canaanite women "and children born to them." Why children?

The liberal movements, such as Reconstructionist Judaism, Jews also say people born in non-Jewish mother if the father is Jewish and the child was raised in the practice of Judaism. However, they are not considered Jewish by Orthodox and Conservative movements, any more than are persons converted by a beth din (rabbinical court) unorthodox.

A Jew who ceases to practice, to believe, even at the basic principles remain Jewish. It's the same for a Jew converted to another religion. Therefore, a convert to Judaism who converts remains Jewish halakha.
However, in the latter case, the person loses membership of the Jewish community, and can count in a Miniane (see below). In the past, family and friends were mourning the converted, as if he was dead.

The issue was given a new resonance when, in 1950 , David Ben Gurion , to form a secular Jewish state, asked several opinions in the religious world but also in the international intellectual community, about who may be considered Jewish advantage of the "law of return" (automatic granting of Israeli citizenship to anyone who requests it, provided it is Jewish).
The award, known as Bill Mihou Yehudi ("Who is a Jew?") Does not satisfy the orthodox view, as it can go back to (only) one Jewish grandparent to consider themselves Jewish and pretend to Law of Return. That is why the issue has not been fully resolved and resurfaced in Israeli political debates from time to time.

Symbols of Judaism

Since the thirteenth century or so, the symbol of Judaism is the Star of David , who according to tradition, was the emblem of King David. The oldest symbol of Judaism is the menorah , the seven-branched candelabrum, which was in the Temple of Jerusalem.
The pediment of the synagogues are also figured the Tables of the Law.

Places of worship

Interior Esnoga, the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam , flagship of the community Sephardic after the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. The Tebah (reading platform) is at the forefront, the Eikhal ( Holy Ark , where are stored the scrolls of the Torah) is back.

The term synagogue ( Greek , "sunaggon" place of assembly, translation of the Hebrew Beit Knesset) means places of worship and study Jewish. This role has so characterized the synagogues of the world Ashkenazi we are called in Yiddish shul (pronounced "shoule", cf. german "Schule" school).

Synagogues usually have separate rooms for prayer (the main sanctuary), smaller rooms for study, and often a play for the community meeting (hence the name) or educational tasks.

There are no blueprints, and architecture, both inside as outside, varies greatly. However, we find the following components:

• an arch, the Aron HaKodesh for Ashkenazim, the Sephardim eikhal for where we keep the Torah scrolls , the ark is often closed by a curtain decorated ( parokhet ) inside or at the outside the gates of the Ark;
• a platform elevated reading, the bimah for the Ashkenazim, the Sephardim Tebah for where the Torah is read.
  In Sephardic synagogues, is also there that runs the office. Everyone is therefore equidistant from the officiant. Ashkenazi synagogues more like an oratory, and the officiating ranks behind a desk , "Amud" (Hebrew, pillar) facing the Ark, in front of the faithful. This creates a "hierarchy" ranks the first, closest to the officiant, returning to the richest;
• an Eternal Candle ( Ner Tamid ), lamp, lantern or candle, kept permanently lit in remembrance of the Menorah that burned continually in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Other important buildings are the yeshivas , Institutions Study texts of Judaism, or mikvah , where the ritual baths.

Text and Jewish texts

The "Jewish literature" is generally divided into:

• Biblical literature , that is to say the Jewish canon of Scripture, the T N Kh ( Torah , Neviim , Ketuvim )
• Talmudic literature , that is to say, the Talmudic period, not limited to the Talmud:
• rabbinic literature , post-Talmudic sages until today.

Biblical Literature

The Tanakh is the holiest book for the Jewish people and the Torah is the holiest part of the Tanakh. It was dictated by tradition, Moses by God.
Fixing the biblical canon was completed at the time of the Great Assembly: there are books inspired by God, those who are excluded not only from human wisdom. The Torah has been no discussion as to his divinity, while the books of the Prophets and Other Writings that were the subject of intense debate. The cantillation the Torah was determined by Masoretes.

Talmudic Literature

According to Rabbi Adin Steinsalz , the Torah has been subjected to continual exegesis since it was given to the children of Israel (can be considered as the first milestone Neviim thereof). The bulk of the exegesis, however, was oral before being codified. They are:

• • The Mishnah and its commentaries.
  • The Tosefta and treated minors.
  • The Talmud:
    • The Jerusalem Talmud and its commentaries.
    • The Babylonian Talmud and its commentaries.

The Mishna is the first compilation, followed by the Tosefta, which it already wants comment. Terse and without references, however, it requires its own exegesis to link oral and written laws. This was done in two separate centers of Jewish spiritual life, Babylon and Galilee, to give the Babylonian Talmud and the Talmud of Galilee, improperly called "Jerusalem Talmud", less studied than the first.
Works from this period not included in the Talmud were grouped under the term "Treaty minors," not because of their importance, but their lack of volume.
It is around the Mishna and the Talmud that is essentially based education in Talmudic institutes today.

Exegetical literature develops parallel to the Talmud Midrash, of which there are many variations. The Talmud is sometimes referred to and that some lessons can be found in both.
The Sages of the Midrash are usually those of the Talmud:

• Midrashic literature :
  • Midrash Halachah
  • Midrash Haggadah

The Midrash Halacha is a legalistic exegesis. It is based on hermeneutic principles to deduce (lehidaresh) the legal substance.
The Midrash Haggadah is a set of non-normative narratives whose aim is to explore the non-legislative Torah or facilitating their learning, including the legal part. This is the category that ranks certain works pseudepigraphic post, like Rabbi Eliezer Pirqei.

Rabbinic Literature

If it deals essentially codify the laws scattered in the Talmud without apparent organization, rabbinic literature is diverse, covering poetry , philosophy, theology or esoteric. A significant portion is also devoted to literature polemicist, to fill the needs of Jews caught in a public disputation (which is rarely open mind).

• Halakhic literature :
  • Large codes of conduct to take regarding the application of the precepts contained in the Bible and rituals
    • The Mishna Torah and its commentaries.
    • The Turim Arbaa and comments.
    • The Shoulhan Arukh and its commentaries.
  • Other articles halakhic
  • The Responsa
  • Various monographs (on the audit of the lungs of slaughtered animals, pe)

• Jewish Thought and Ethics
  • The Jewish philosophy classic before the Renaissance, including the big names are, among others, Solomon ibn Gabirol , Saadia Gaon , Maimonides or Gersonides. Philosophy Marrano , although at the dawn of modern thought, often serves as a scathing attack against the Jewish tradition. As for the philosophy of the Enlightenment, it is much closer to the philosophy of Judaism, although she returns to the ^twentieth century in the writings of Martin Buber , Franz Rosenzweig , Emmanuel Levinas , or for items more religious, Abraham Joshua Heschel , Will Herberg , Richard Rubensteinou Joseph Soloveitchik.
    New approaches to Judaism have also emerged, such as Mordecai Kaplan or Emil Fackenheim.
    It has also recently developed a post-Holocaust theology, questioning the "silence of God", before looking at the place of the Jew in the world, history and politics.
  • The Kabbalah , Jewish mystical thought has its source in the study of the creative act and the act of the Chariot, which some passages have been transcribed in some treatises of the Talmud. It is surrounded by secrecy and mystery, advocates an esoteric reading, or even completely original methods to interpret the Bible as the isophpie or swapping of characters.
    It offers a teleological vision of history as being linked to the Jewish people.
    The centerpiece of this literature is the Zohar , attributed to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai , but other works, such as the Bahir Iggeret HaKodesh or should not be forgotten. The work of many masters, as Rabbi Yehuda Loew or the Ramhal are tinted.
  • The Jewish ethics, developed by the movement of Mussar , inspired by works of Ramhal, in particular Messilat Yesharim.

Functions in religious Judaism

Clergy

It exists in the Bible a priestly caste, the Kohanim, composed of Jewish male descendants of Aaron ben Amram the Levite , distinguished themselves among the people of Israel have rallied to Moses during the episode of the Golden Calf. However, Levites and Cohanim are no longer active since the destruction of the Second Temple.

The Cohanim were primarily engaged in sacrifices, Leviim handling of the Temple (porters, singers, etc..). They could be stripped of their rank, by engaging in pagan rituals, in violation of their obligations, etc.. These rules are still in force in Orthodox Judaism, in the hope that the Kohanim would resume their duties during the rebuilding of the Temple.
Although no longer able to service the Temple, the Kohanim are always held certain prerogatives as the redemption of the firstborn , the priestly blessing ... The Levites were a more modest role.

Rabbinate

The time of the Mishna, the Rebbe was a scholar holding an official position in the Judean religious law. After the dissolution of the Sanhedrin, he was no longer possible to order the rabbis, and those whose scholarship allowed to rule on questions of observance of the Law , received a title now justifying that of Rabbi (Hebrew, much or large).
Rabbi means so great among the people of Israel, recognized (nismakhim) among their peers, regardless of their origin (ie Cohen, Levi or Israel). In Muslim countries, al-Rabb is one of 99 names of Allah , the Wise Men were called hakhamim.

Although holders of a spiritual authority more and more in Judaism, combining the functions of arbiter of religious observance, a link in the chain of transmission of knowledge, moral authority, an example of officiants, rabbis were not so far never regarded as intermediaries between God and men, this role being taken by the prophets.

The rabbinate became an official profession in France under Napoleon , the rabbis became ministers, subject to a hierarchy (rabbi, rabbi, etc.). and paid for this specific function.

Women's access to the rabbinate was a controversial subject within the Orthodox Judaism like Reform Judaism, where a few women like Pauline Bebe in France, becoming a rabbi. It remains unique in Europe that women play a major role in organizing the office or become a rabbi. In contrast, in the United States of America and Canada where the liberal forms of Judaism are the majority, women outnumber rabbis.

Officiants

• The leader (or sha shalia'h tsibbour "ts) is often a rabbi. However, this role may fall to any member of the community to be honored, provided it reaches the majority religious. Knowledge of the prayers is highly desired but not mandatory: in offices following the death of a loved one is often a mourner himself (or close to the bereaved male) who heads the office, that he knows or not. The role of the officiant is not to be an "intermediary" between the community and God, but to facilitate the collective prayer, allowing, for example to those who do not pray to answer in public what they are counted as if they had any prayer.
  Reformed allow women to lead prayer, that role is exclusively reserved to men in the Orthodox and Massortim "more traditional".
• The hazzan (cantor) is a vocalist taking the role of officiating Ba'al Kore (Torah reader), or, more rarely, "chorister." Chosen for her beautiful voice, his knowledge of liturgy and cantillation and his knowledge of the meaning of prayer and sincerity of his interpretation, it is sometimes a virtuoso choral or opera. Every community has no hazzan record.
• The Baal Kore (Master of Play) is the person reading the weekly Torah section , a role that every man (or woman in liberal forms of Judaism) has reached its religious majority and able to read the weekly section can fill.

It is common for the same person performing these functions, or that many people who can perform these functions is "turns" in the various offices.

The Gabbai and Shamash

The Gabbai , called different people to read the Torah, refers to the officiant. The Shamash or beadle responsible for the maintenance of the synagogue.

Other specific religious positions

• The Dayan is a rabbinic judge, that is to say a rabbi expert in Jewish law, he leads a beth din (rabbinical court), sharp in financial disputes, matrimonial, or conversions to Judaism, responsible for the delivery of watch (divorce certificate ').
• The mohel is an expert on circumcision, applying the requirement of the brit milah in accordance with the rites.
• The shohet is a ritual slaughterer, loaded to kill the animals so they are kosher. Expert in laws and prayers slaughter, it must have been formed by another shohet be in regular contact with a rabbi, to keep abreast of current standards, and kill the beast with the intention to do so according to the rites prescribed in the Torah.
• The mashgiach (supervisor) in cacherouth must supervise the manufacture of goods and food to establish and Kosher certified. He must also oversee the sho'het. This may be an expert in these laws, or any person under the supervision of a rabbi expert in these laws.
• The sofer is a scribe, writing Torah scrolls , and tefillin (phylacteries) and Mezuzot (parchments applied to door lintels), the ketubot and Gittin (marriage and divorce, respectively) according to traditional calligraphy following a very specific pattern.
• The Rosh Yeshiva or " Gaon "- is a director of Talmudic academy , paid in the Talmud , and having the upper years of the yeshiva.
• The mashgiach in a yeshiva is an expert Mussar (Jewish ethics), and professor of courses in this area, ensuring the spiritual well-being and emotional development of students of the Yeshiva.

Conversion to Judaism

Judaism does not show any hint of proselytizing. It can accommodate the individual adult who asks to convert after extensive review of its motivations, but in no case will arrange it. The rabbis require strong motivation and a sincere adherence to the Torah for those who wish to convert. Thus the conversion can not be sole grounds for the satisfaction of a Jewish spouse and family.

Some conversions group, more or less spontaneous, marked the history but may also reflect the partial assimilation to the surrounding population of Jewish groups cut off from their traditions (legends of the "Ten Tribes" missing):

• conversion Jebusites , under David ,
• that of the tribe Idumean of Herod , under the Hasmonean ,
• that of people Ural-Altaic as the Khazars of Russia.
• after the end of the Roman Empire , that of a part of Ripuarian Franks and Swabians ,
• that of Berbers ( Djerawa the Aures and Nefzaoua of Tripoli )
• that of the Falasha of Ethiopia , ...

References

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