|
Relationships Between Jewish Religious Movements
The relationships between the various denominations of American Judaism can be conciliatory, welcoming, or even antagonistic. Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism holds that both Conservative and Reform Judaism have made major and unjustifiable breaks with historic Judaism - both by their skepticism of the verbal revelation of the Written and the Oral Torah, and by their rejection of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) as binding (although to varying degrees). It views religious pluralism as a construct of the liberal movements, and does not see their ideology as rooted in historic Jewish norms. While not recognizing Reform and Conservative as valid expressions of Judaism, it recognizes most who are affiliated with these movements as full-fledged Jews, aside from those whose Judaism is of patrilineal descent or who were converted under Conservative or Reform auspices. When dealing with the individual, Moshe Feinstein is famously quoted as characterizing all current-day non-Orthodox Jews as ''Ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Israelites, their ancestors. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah, as it is commonly understood by Jews, is part of the larger text known as the ''Tanakh''. The ''Tanakh'' is also known to secular scholars of religion as the Hebrew Bible, and to Christians as the " Old Testament". The Torah's supplemental oral tradition is represented by later te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Berger (professor)
David Berger (born 1943) is an American academic, dean of Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, as well as chair of Yeshiva College's Jewish Studies department. He is the author of various books and essays on medieval Jewish apologetics and polemics, as well as having edited the modern critical edition of the medieval polemic text Nizzahon Vetus. Outside academic circles he is best known for ''The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference'', a criticism of Chabad messianism. Education Berger was raised in Brooklyn, NY, where he attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush for both elementary and high school. He received a Bachelor's degree from Yeshiva College in 1964; he majored in Classics and was class valedictorian. He then went on to Columbia University where he completed a Master of Arts degree in 1965 and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1970. He received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and is a mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Law
An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted. Many cultures have an oral law, while most contemporary legal systems have a formal written organisation. The oral tradition (from the Latin ''tradere'' = to transmit) is the typical instrument of transmission of the oral codes or, in a more general sense, is the complex of what a culture transmits of itself among the generations, "from father to son". This kind of transmission can be due to lack of other means, such as in illiterate or criminal societies, or can be expressly required by the same law. There has been a continuous debate over oral versus written transmission, with the focus on the perceived higher reliability of written evidence, primarily based on the "linear world of academia" where only written down records are accepted. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism () or Karaism (, sometimes spelt Karaitism (; ''Yahadut Qara'it''); also spelt Qaraite Judaism, Qaraism or Qaraitism) is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme authority in ''halakha'' (Jewish religious law) and theology. Karaites believe that all of the divine commandments which were handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without any additional Oral Law or explanation. Unlike mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, to be authoritative interpretations of the Torah, Karaite Jews do not believe that the written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or the Talmud are binding. When they read the Torah, Karaites strive to adhere to the plain or most obvious meaning ('' peshat'') of the text; this is not necessarily the literal meaning of the text, instead, it is the meaning of the text that would hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humanistic Judaism
Humanistic Judaism ( ''Yahadut Humanistit'') is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative to contemporary branches of Judaism. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people rather than a religion, and encourages Jews who are humanistic and secular to celebrate their identity by participating in relevant holidays and rites of passage (such as weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs) with inspirational ceremonies that go beyond traditional literature while still drawing upon it. Origins In its current form, Humanistic Judaism was founded in either 1963 or 1965 (sources differ) by American rabbi Sherwin Wine. As a rabbi trained in Reform Judaism with a small, secular, non-theistic congregation, he developed a Jewish liturgy that reflected his and his congregation's philosophical viewpoints by combining Jewish culture, history, and identity with humanistic outlooks while excluding all prayers and references to a god of any kind. This ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ismar Schorsch
Ismar Schorsch (born November 3, 1935 in Hanover, Germany) is the Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish history.Hüngheim">alemannia-judaica to family Schorsch and the synagoge in Hüngheim/Germanybr>The Sacred Clusterby former JTS chancellor Ismar Schorsch 1935 births Living people American Conservative rabbis American people of German-Jewish descent American religion academics Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Columbia University alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America people Ursinus College alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis {{US-academic-administrator-1930s-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mordecai Waxman
Mordecai Waxman, KCSG (February 25, 1917, in Albany – August 10, 2002, in Great Neck, New York), was a prominent rabbi in the Conservative Jewish movement for nearly 60 years. He served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Great Neck, New York for 55 years from 1947 through his death in 2002. He is most notable for his interactions with Pope John Paul II in the 1980s as chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. Waxman was the author of ''Tradition and Change: The Development of Conservative Judaism'', published in 1958. He also served as editor of the journal, ''Conservative Judaism'' for five years, from 1969 to 1974. Waxman received his bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City. He was an Army chaplain during World War II, serving in Fort Dix, New Jersey and served from 1941 to 1942 as rabbi of Temple Beth Israel (Niagara Falls, New York), and also in C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halachic
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandments (''mitzvot''), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the ''Shulchan Aruch''. ''Halakha'' is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation of it might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word is derived from the root which means "to behave" (also "to go" or "to walk"). ''Halakha'' not only guides religious practices and beliefs, it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, in the Jewish diaspora, ''halakha'' served many Jewish communities as an enforceable avenue of law – both civil and religious, since no differentiation of them exists in classical Judaism. Since the Jewish Enlightenment (''Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikveh
Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purified through immersion in any natural collection of water. However, some impurities, such as a zav, require "living water", such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing, as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary to purify. The ''mikveh'' is designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that remains in contact with a natural source of water. In Orthodox Judaism, these regulations are steadfastly adhered to; consequently, the mikveh is central to an Orthodox Jewish community. Conservative Judaism also formally holds to the regulations. The existence of a mikveh is considered so important that a Jewish community is required to construct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beth Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a Rabbinic Judaism, rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it is invested with legal powers in a number of religious matters (''din Torah'', "matter of litigation", plural ''dinei Torah'') both in Israel and in Jewish communities in the Jewish diaspora, Diaspora, where its judgments hold varying degrees of authority (depending upon the jurisdiction and subject matter) in matters specifically related to Jewish religious life. History Rabbinic literature, Rabbinical commentators point out that the first suggestion in the Torah that the ruler divest his legal powers and delegate his power of judgment to lower courts was made by Jethro (Bible), Jethro to Moses (Book of Exodus, Exodus ). This situation was formalised later when God gave the explicit command to "establish judges and off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Conference Of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. Its current president is Lewis Kamrass. Rabbi Hara Person is the Chief Executive. Overview The CCAR primarily consists of rabbis educated at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. The CCAR also offers membership to those who have graduated in Europe from the Leo Baeck College in London (United Kingdom) and the Abraham Geiger College at the University of Potsdam (Germany), and others who joined the Reform movement after being ordained. Most of the last group graduated from either the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary or the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The CCAR issues responsa, resolutions, and platforms, but in keeping with the princi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_mikveh.jpg "Click for more on -> Mikveh")
