(Dan Cohn-Sherbok) Judaism (Religions of The World

Judaism
Religions of the World

Series Editor: Ninian Smart
Judaism
Dan Cohn-Sherbok
University of Wales
LONDON
First published in Great Britain 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 1999 Calmann & King Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced

or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
ISBN 0-203-51708-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-54639-3 (Adobe eReader Format)

ISBN 0-415-21345-2 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-21164-6 (pbk)
This book was designed and produced by Calmann & King Ltd, London
Editorial work by Melanie White and Damian Thompson

Pronunciation guide by Heather Gross
Design by Design Deluxe and Karen Stafford
Maps by Andrea Fairbrass
Artworks by Sarah-Jayne Stafford
Picture research by Peter Kent
Reviewer Alford T.Welch, Michigan State University
Picture Credits
Cover Nigel Howard, Hutchison Library; page 17 Barnaby’s Picture
Library; 42 Studio Canali; 46 German Archeological Institute;
58 AKG London; 73 J.C.Tordai/Panos Pictures; 88 Juliette
John/Barnaby’s Picture Library; 91 Liba Taylor, Hutchison Library;
106 Facelly/Sipa Press
Contents
Foreword 7
Preface 9
Chronology of Judaism 10
1 Introduction 15
Sabbath in the Suburbs 15

The Jewish Religious Establishment 19
The State of Israel 25
Who is a Jew? 27
The Jewish Community in the World Today 29
2 The History of the Jewish People 34
Judaism in Biblical Times 34

The Second Temple and the Dispersion 40
Art Focus: Jewish Art 42
Rabbinic Judaism 47
The Growth and Challenge of Christianity 50
The Sephardim and Ashkenazim 54
3 Jewish Life in Modern Times 56
The Hasidim and Mitnagdim 56

Enlightenment and Reform 61
Anti-semitism and Zionism 64
Judaism in the Twentieth Century 68
5
6 ö Contents
4 Jewish Beliefs and Practices 75
God and Torah 75

Art Focus: Synagogue Design 78
From Day to Day 80
From Year to Year 85
From Birth to Death 89
5 Judaism in the Twenty-first Century 95
The Future Hope 95

The Survival of the Jewish State 98
Judaism and Feminism 102
Assimilation and the Long-term Future 108
Notes 111
Glossary 113
Pronunciation Guide 119
List of Festivals and Fasts 121
Suggested Further Reading 122
Index 126
Foreword
Religions of the World
The informed citizen or student needs a good overall knowledge

of our small but complicated world. Fifty years ago you might
have neglected religions. Now, however, we are shrewder and can
see that religions and ideologies not only form civilizations but
directly influence international events. These brief books provide
succinct, balanced, and informative guides to the major faiths and
one volume also introduces the changing religious scene as we
enter the new millennium.
Today we want not only to be informed, but to be stimulated
by the life and beliefs of the diverse and often complicated
religions of today’s world. These insightful and accessible
introductions allow you to explore the riches of each tradition—
to understand its history, its beliefs and practices, and also to
grasp its influence upon the modern world. The books have been
written by a team of excellent and, on the whole, younger
scholars who represent a new generation of writers in the field
of religious studies. While aware of the political and historical
influences of religion these authors aim to present the religion’s
spiritual side in a fresh and interesting way So whether you are
interested simply in descriptive knowledge of a faith, or in
exploring its spiritual message, you will find these introductions
invaluable.
The emphasis in these books is on the modern period,
because every religious tradition has transformed itself in the face
of the traumatic experiences of the last two hundred years or
more. Colonialism, industrialization, nationalism, revivals of
7
8 ö Foreword
religion, new religions, world wars, revolutions, social

transformations have not left faith unaffected and have drawn on
religious and anti-religious forces to reshape our world. Modern
technology in the last 25 years—from the Boeing 747 to the world
wide web—has made our globe seem a much smaller place. Even
the moon’s magic has been captured by technology.
We meet in these books people of the modern period as a
sample of the many changes over the last few centuries. At the
same time, each book provides a valuable insight into the
different dimensions of the religion: its teachings, narratives,
organizations, rituals, and experiences. In touching on these
features, each volume gives a rounded view of the tradition
enabling you to understand what it means to belong to a
particular faith. As the Native American proverb has it: “Never
judge a person without walking a mile in his moccasins.”
To assist you further in your exploration, several useful
reference aids are included. Each book contains a chronology,
map, glossary, pronunciation guide, list of festivals, annotated
reading list, and index. A selection of images provide examples
of religious art, symbols, and contemporary practices. Focus
boxes explore in more detail the relation between the faith and
some aspect of the arts—whether painting, sculpture, architecture,
literature, dance, or music.
I hope you will find these introductions enjoyable and
illuminating. Brevity is supposed to be the soul of wit: it can also
turn out to be what we need in the first instance in introducing
cultural and spiritual themes.
Ninian Smart
Santa Barbara, 1998
Preface
Growing up in the leafy suburbs of Denver, Colorado, I was

exposed to two very different worlds: a typical American high
school and, in the afternoon and on weekends, a Jewish religion
school. Later I was a student at Williams College in the mountains
of Massachusetts—a very Gentile environment—and subsequently
studied at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
an intensive Jewish environment. Once I qualified as a Reform
rabbi, I moved to England where I was a student at Cambridge
University, an institution deeply influenced by its Christian
heritage, and have taught Jewish studies in Canterbury and now
in Wales. During all this time, I have struggled to integrate the
Jewish tradition with the demands of modern life.
This is the central dilemma facing Jews today, and it is the
aim of this book to highlight the perplexities of remaining Jewish
in our highly secularized world. Beginning with an account of
Jewish life in the suburbs, the book goes on to explore the nature
of the Jewish religious establishment, the State of Israel, the
question of who is a Jew, and the character of the Jewish
community worldwide. This discussion sets the stage for an
account of the history of the Jewish people from biblical times
to the present. This is followed by an outline of the basic beliefs
and practices within Orthodox and non-Orthodox Judaism.
Turning to the creation of a Jewish homeland, the final chapter
raises fundamental questions about the direction of Israel in the
next century, and examines major challenges to Judaism in the
future. Throughout readers are encouraged to ponder the issues
facing Jews on the threshold of a new millennium. Orthodox
Jewish theology, traditional Jewish practice, the divine status of the
Torah, the ancient definition of Jewishness, the age-old role of
women, the political state of Israel, and the primacy of the Jewish
faith are all being questioned. If the Jewish people are not to
become extinct, these problems must be confronted. What is at
stake is no less than the survival of Judaism as a living religion.
Dan Cohn-Sherbok
April 1988
9
Chronology of Judaism
B.C.E. Event
c. 2000–1750 Era of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).
c. 1750 Jacob’s family settle in Egypt.
18th century First mention of “Apiru,” possible forerunners of

the Hebrews, in texts found in Mari.
17th/16th century Rule of Asiatic Hyksos dynasty in Egypt.
13th/12th century Exodus from Egypt. Settlement in Canaan.

Era of the Judges.
11th century Establishment of the Monarchy under King Saul.
10th century Era of King David and the conquest of Jerusalem.

Era of King Solomon and the building of the First
Temple.
c. 930 Death of King Solomon and the division of the

Kingdom.
Mid 9th century Era of the prophets Elijah and Elisha.
c. 840 Black Obelisk showing King Jehu bowing to

Assyria.
8th century Era of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, and

Isaiah.
Late 8th century Reform of cult by King Hezekiah of Judah.
Late 7th century King Josiah’s reforms. Deuteronomy, one of the

five Books of Moses, is discovered.
721 Northern Kingdom falls to Assyria.

586 The Ten Northern Tribes deported.
Destruction of First Temple in Jerusalem by
Babylonians.
586–538 Exile of Jews to Babylon.
538 Return to Jerusalem and rebuilding of the

Temple.
5th century Religious renewal led by the scribe Ezra.
4th/3rd century Judaea falls within the ambit of the Persian, then
Macedonian, then Egyptian empires.
198 Judaea taken over by the Seleucid dynasty.
164 Maccabean revolt. Precarious independence

established.
63 Judaea becomes part of the Roman Empire.
37–4 B.C.E. * Reign of King Herod. Temple rebuilt.
1st century C.E. * Era of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
70 Second Temple of Jerusalem destroyed during the

Jewish War.
132–35 Rebellion of Simeon bar Kochba ends in failure.
Late 1st century Establishment of rabbinic academy at Javneh.
3rd century Compilation of Mishnah by Judah ha-Nasi.
Late 4th century Compilation of the Jerusalem Talmud.
6th century Compilation of the Babylonian Talmud.
8th century Emergence of Karaites.
B.C.E. indicates Before the Common Era. C.E. indicates the Common Era.
c. 800 Pact of Omar regulates lives of Jews in Islamic
Empire.
9th/10th century Jewish life spreads to Europe, North Africa, and

Iraq.
10th-12th century Golden Age of Spanish Jewry.
1096 Massacre of Rhineland Jews during the First

Crusade.
Late 11th century Compilation of Rashi’s Biblical commentaries.
1144 First instance of the Blood Libel in Norwich,

England.
Mid 12th century Philosopher Maimonides produces codification of

Jewish law.
1291 Expulsion of Jews from England.
13th century on Jews of Poland protected.
Late 13th century Emergence of Zohar and the mystical tradition.
1492 Jews expelled from Spain.
16th century Revival of mystical tradition in Safed, Palestine.
17th/18th century Jews in Eastern Europe suffer many changes.
1648 Chmielnicki massacre in Poland/Lithuania.
1666 Shabbetai Zevi converts to Islam.
Early 18th century Emergence of Hasidism in Eastern Europe.
Mid 18th century Jewish Enlightenment (Moses Mendelssohn).

18th/19th century Jews increasingly granted civil rights in Western
Europe.
19th century Growth of Reform movement in Western Europe

and USA.
1818 First Reform synagogue built in Hamburg,

Germany.
1875 Hebrew Union College opens in Cincinnati.
1880–1920 Pogroms against Jews in Eastern Europe.

Mass emigration to United States.
1896 Dreyfus case in France.
1897 Theodor Herzl convenes First Zionist Congress in

Basle.
1919 League of Nations agrees Britain should

administer Palestine.
1933–1945 Nazi anti-semitism leads to murder of six million

Jews in Europe.
1948 Establishment of the State of Israel.
1967 Jerusalem reunited in Six Day War. Israel gains

control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the
Golan Heights.
1970s on Reform movement ordains women as rabbis.
1990s Thousands of Russian Jews emigrate to Israel.
1993 Peace talks between Israeli government and

Palestine Liberation Organization.
1995 Assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Introduction 1
Sabbath in the Suburbs
Genesis, the first book in the Jews’ Hebrew Bible, states that in the
course of six days God made heaven and earth, and created “Man
in His image.” Then on the seventh day God rested, and this has
been known ever since as the Sabbath. When Moses received the
Ten Commandments, God again commanded the Israelites,
“Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.”
The Sabbath—which in the Jewish
tradition begins on Friday evening and
ends on Saturday evening—is considered
the holiest day of the year (with the
possible exception of Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement), even though it occurs
52 times every 12 months. Christians, too,
accept the notion of the Sabbath, but
celebrate it on Sundays.
There are many different ways of
observing the Sabbath in the Jewish
community. The following is an eyewitness account of a Friday
evening spent with a strictly Orthodox family.
It was a summer Friday evening in the suburb of a large
American city. The houses were not large, but they were well
kept and were shaded by carefully planted trees. Everywhere
automatic sprinklers played so the surrounding grass was green
and lush. This was an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and the
Sabbath was about to begin.
Groups of men and boys were making their way by foot to
15
16 ö Judaism
the synagogue, dressed in their Sabbath best. Despite the heat,

they wore dark jackets and trousers and their heads were covered
either with small skull caps or with capacious black hats. Most
were bearded and their white ritual fringes were visible outside
their trousers. Among the procession was the rabbi, magnificent
in black hat and shiny kaftan, leading his two sons by their
hands.
Meanwhile the houses were abuzz with activity. Even in the
rabbi’s home hairdryers hummed, children shouted and stamped,
and there was a constant sound of running feet. There was a sense
of urgency; a telephone call must be returned immediately
because, according to Jewish law, once the Sabbath begins the
telephone must remain silent. In the dining room dinner had been
laid for twenty people. Two non-Jewish women were making
extensive preparations in the kitchen. Then all the women of the
household suddenly appeared. The rabbi’s wife accompanied by
her mother and sister were all exquisitely dressed and their heads
covered with elegantly styled wigs. Jewish law lays down that
married women must cover their heads and it has become a
tradition in many Orthodox communities that this commandment
is fulfilled by wearing a wig. There were three little girls in
long party frocks and three small boys, two of whom were still
babies.
The other female guests consisted of an elderly Russian
woman with her daughter and granddaughter. They had arrived
in the United States from St. Petersburg earlier that very day. The
rabbi had immediately invited them to spend the Sabbath at his
house. None of them could speak a word of English, but another
Russian woman who had been in the country for a year had come
with them. There was also an English journalist present, who was
writing a book on the Jewish community of the city. Of all the
women, she was not Orthodox, but in respect for her host
and hostess, she had completely covered her hair with a large
scarf.
The women then lit Sabbath candles and said the traditional
Sabbath blessing in Hebrew: “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our
God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us by Thy
Introduction ö 17
Commandments and commanded us to light the Sabbath lights.”

There must have been 30 eandles and the table was ablaze when
the men returned from synagogue. “Good Shabbos, good
Shabbos!” they said to the women. Others called out to each other
the purer Hebrew greeting—Shabbat Shalom—a peaceful Sabbath.
Besides all the husbands, there were various nephews and a
couple of young rabbinical students from the local Yeshiva
(Talmudic academy).
The rabbi took his seat at one end of the table with his
father-in-law at the other. The blessing over a cup of wine was
said by every man present, one after the other. The Sabbath
songs were led by the younger son-in-law and only the men sang.
According to the strictest interpretation of Orthodox Jewish law,
it is against the law for men to listen to women singing so the
women sat quietly and enjoyed the music. Then the food was
At the Sabbath dinner, the head of the family recites the blessing over bread:
“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who brings forth
bread from the earth.”
18 ö Judaism
served. It was a feast. There was gefilte fish (fish patties), chicken
soup with dumplings, roasted chicken, breadcrumbed chicken,
sweet chicken, apple kugel (pudding), potato kugel, onion kugel,
and a huge salad of tomato and cucumber. The food was strictly
kosher. The chicken had been ritually and humanely slaughtered
by a qualified butcher. Strict Jewish food law decrees that milk
and meat should not be served together; so, because it was a
meat meal, no dairy products were served and dessert was a non-
dairy ice cream. The Russian women were amazed that such a
thing existed.
It was a long, long meal. The rabbi’s wife, with her mother
and sister, served the men and scarcely sat down. Meanwhile the
two Gentile women in the kitchen were busy with the washing
up and with taking yet more food out of the oven while the
masculine singing continued. After no more could be eaten, the
traditional grace after the meal was sung. At long last everyone
dispersed. The journalist, who lived on the other side of the city,
was staying the night in the house as Jewish law forbids all
motorized travel on the Sabbath. She and her husband sat and
chatted with the father-in-law, who was a remarkable person. He
had grown up in only a moderately Orthodox home and he had
been educated at Harvard University. But after his marriage he
had been determined to provide an intense Jewish lifestyle for his
family. He was the father of seven sons and two daughters, all
of whom were grown up and married, and he had more than 30
grandchildren. Professionally he had done well in the family
business and, together with his wife, he had built and supported
two small Jewish high schools, one for boys and one for girls,
and he had contributed to numerous other Jewish causes. In fact,
it was thanks to his dedication and initiative that this particular
community could thrive as it did.
At half past ten the lights flickered. As in most Orthodox
households, the lights were on timers and regulated themselves
automatically. One of the Ten Commandments forbids work on
the Sabbath. Then many centuries ago the rabbis had named
kindling a fire as one type of work. Turning electricity on and
off, the modern equivalent, comes under this prohibition. It was
Introduction ö 19
time for bed, but the Sabbath was not over. The whole of the
next day until after sunset would be dedicated to prayer, to
fellowship, to the community, and to God. It was the Seventh
Day of the week, the Sabbath, the day of rest, one of the great
gifts of the Jewish people to the world.1
The Jewish Religious Establishment
This Sabbath scene is replicated in strictly Orthodox households

in every big city in Europe and America and throughout the State
of Israel. Other Jewish families celebrate the Sabbath in a
different way. The less Orthodox may have a family meal which
will involve saying the blessings and singing songs—but everyone,
men, women, and children alike, will join in. In other families
there is little obvious religious observance, but Friday evening
and Saturday are still regarded as a special “home” time.
The strictly Orthodox are a small, but an immediately
recognizable, group. The men wear their distinctive dress of dark
suits, black hats, and ritual fringes. The women and girls follow
rules of modesty Skirts cover the knee; sleeves come over the
elbow; necklines are high and stockings are always worn. Their
lives are governed by the myriad provisions of Torah (Jewish law
in the broadest sense). This means that they tend to live close
together in self-defining comunities, because they need to be
within walking distance of their synagogue. Almost all the men
attend services daily, or even twice daily. There is strict
separation between the men and the women in the synagogue
building. Studying the law is largely the preserve of men while
the women reign supreme in the home.
Except in cases of medical necessity, birth control is not
encouraged. Young men and women marry young in their very
early twenties, and a large family is regarded as a blessing. Even
lovemaking is regulated by the Torah. During her monthly period
and for seven days afterwards a woman is not permitted to have
sexual relations with her husband. Every month, at the end of
this time, the women bathe themselves in the community ritual
20 ö Judaism
bath (mikveh) and only then can marital relations be resumed.

The children attend Jewish schools where boys and girls are
taught separately and follow a different curriculum. In addition
to their normal secular studies, they learn Hebrew and they
study the Jewish sacred books. By the time they have reached
their teens, the boys are reading the Talmud, the massive
compendium of Jewish law compiled in Babylonia in the sixth
century C.E. When they graduate from their Jewish high school,
they do not go on to secular universities. Instead the boys attend
a Yeshiva in which Jewish knowledge is the sole subject of study.
The girls go to a seminary which has a modified curriculum and
which will give them some sort of teaching certificate. During
these years, under the careful supervision of their elders, the
young people will meet, exchange views, become engaged, and
marry. For the first few years of married life, it is quite usual for
the couple to be supported by parents and relations. Only once
Talmudic studies are finished and life-long habits established will
the young man embark on the serious business of earning a
living and providing for his family.
Despite its visibility, strict Orthodoxy is numerically a tiny
movement. Of the six million Jews in the United States only three
million identify with a synagogue, and of these only 300,000 are
strict Orthodox. The majority of American Jews, therefore, do
not regard themselves as Orthodox and most of those who do
belong to what is called the Modern Orthodox (or sometimes
Neo-Orthodox) movement. Adherents believe that it is possible
to be an observant Jew, but, at the same time, to be fully
conversant with modern culture. In their synagogues, the regular
daily prayer services still take place and men and women sit
separately. At the same time congregants wear more conventional
formal dress. The majority of men, however, do wear their skull
caps at all times (when awake and not bathing) and many
Modern Orthodox do keep the Jewish food laws (the laws of
Kashrut ). Some compromise—perhaps keeping a kosher home,
but eating anything when out. The children may attend Jewish
schools, but they will be the kind of establishment in which
secular subjects are every bit as important as Jewish Studies and
Introduction ö 21
the graduates expect to go on to conventional universities.

Unlike the strict Orthodox, who will have arranged marriages,
the Modern Orthodox will choose their own marriage partners
(hopefully within the community) and it is unusual for them to
marry before the mid-twenties. There will not generally be an
exceptionally large number of children and the wife will probably
pursue her own profession.
Despite all these concessions to modernity, the Modern
Orthodox movement continues to teach that the Jewish law, the
Torah, is the inspired Word of God and that it was originally
given to the Prophet Moses, when he stood before the Almighty
on Mount Sinai (see page 77). As Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–
88), the founder of the movement, declared:
If our religion so commanded us, we would abandon so-

called civilization and progress. We would obey without
question because we believe that our religion is the true
religion. It is the word of God, and before it every other
consideration must yield. The Jew has to judge everything by
the unchangeable touchstone of his God given law. Anything
which does not pass this test does not exist for him.2
Although the Orthodox control the religious establishment in the

State of Israel and they are a powerful force in the United States
and Europe, many Jews rejected what they saw as this
fundamentalist understanding of Judaism. Instead, they set up
alternate institutions and modes of worship, which in their
opinion better expressed the essence of Judaism. In the
nineteenth century, with the advent of Biblical criticism and with
the increased opportunities available to Jews in the secular world,
two important new movements arose. The Reform movement,
which began in the early nineteenth century, encouraged
religious diversity, free thinking and personal autonomy.
Members of the Reform movement sought to stress what they
saw as the more important ethical dimension of Judaism, over the
merely ritualistic. In Orthodoxy, they argued, Judaism had
become an inward-looking sect. But now, in an age of greater
22 ö Judaism
liberalism in Europe, it was time for universal Jewish values to

be shared more openly with Christian and even nonreligious
fellow countrymen. If that meant diluting the form of actual
worship, as the Orthodox accused them of doing, then so be it.
Reform Jews thus emphasized the importance of the
Prophetic tradition and correspondingly downplayed the Talmudic
and rabbinic inheritance of the years of Jewish Exile. They saw
themselves as making Judaism more relevant to the modern Jew,
who now had at least one foot in general civil society The ethical
precepts of the Ten Commandments, they said, should take
precedence over the minutiae of outdated laws concerning animal
sacrifice, ritually pure food, and other customs which
distinguished Jews from their non-Jewish fellows.
However, it was not long before the Reform movement itself
began subdividing, into those factions that favored moderate
change, and those that favored radical change—abandoning
Hebrew in favor of the local vernacular in synagogue services,
eliminating prayers which they thought overemphasized the
particularity of the Jewish people, even in some cases moving the
Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, to be closer to their Christian
neighbors.
One of those new factions developed into Conservative
Judaism, an American movement which followed later in the
century, accepted that some changes were inevitable in the modes
of Jewish life and sought a compromise between Reform and
Orthodox. Today in the United States, the majority of those who
belong to a synagogue—about three million—choose to join either
a Conservative or a Reform congregation.
The Reform and the Conservative have important
differences in belief and practice. As their names imply, the
Conservatives are more reluctant to depart from the age-old
tradition than are the Reform. In other countries, like Great
Britain, France, and Hungary, simlar controversies developed
around nuances of worship, and created a plethora of new terms
for different sects. In Great Britain the more traditional
organization calls itself Reform, while the more radical describes
itself as Liberal. All these divisions share an acceptance of the
Introduction ö 23
findings of modern Biblical scholarship. Adherents do not believe

that the Torah was literally dictated by God to Moses. Instead
they see it as a collection of traditions originating at different
times in Ancient Israel. Certainly it was divinely inspired, but,
at the same time, it was the product of developing human
reflection.
This means that non-Orthodox Jews feel themselves entitled
to adapt, or even to reject, certain provisions of Jewish law if they
conflict with modern sensibility. Thus when the rabbis of the
American Reform movement established their principles at a
conference in Pittsburgh in 1885, they declared, “We accept as
binding only the moral laws and maintain only such ceremonies
as elevate and sanctify our lives, but we reject all such as are not
adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization.”3 Since
then the movement has grown and developed. Nonetheless, it is
still true today that Reform Jews prefer to allow their members
to obey or disobey the food laws as a matter of personal choice.
They believe in the absolute equality of men and women and
have rejected the laws of purity and divorce as being
disadvantageous to women (see Chapter 5). Girls and boys
receive exactly the same religious education and, in recent years,
both the Conservative and the Reform movement have ordained
women as rabbis.
In this century two other movements have come into being.
Reconstructionism grew out of Conservative Judaism. Its
founder Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983) taught that Judaism
should be understood as an evolving civilization that included
both religious and secular elements. Belief in God was no longer
necessary and synagogues should reconstruct themselves as
centers for all aspects of Jewish culture. More radical still is
Humanistic Judaism. This originated in Detroit, Michigan,
under the leadership of Rabbi Sherwin Wine (b.1928). He
teaches that Judaism, like all other religions, is a purely human
creation which is always changing; it embraces many beliefs and
lifestyles and Wine extols the humanistic dimensions of the faith.
There is another factor to consider: many Jews have no
religios affiliation whatsoever. About 50 percent do not belong
24 ö Judaism
to a synagogue; they do not send their children to religious

school; many marry outside of the faith and freely enjoy all the
advantages of a secular twentieth-century lifestyle.
Yet despite this apparent indifference to their religious
heritage, many of these people still identify themselves as Jews
and feel themselves to be Jewish. Some do this by getting
involved in Jewish communal causes, like the campaign to help
Soviet Jewry, giving to charities, or supporting educational
institutions. Others affiliate with their Jewishness by learning the
Yiddish of their forefathers, or listening to East European Jewish
klezmer music. Yet others feel that by participating in general
causes of social justice (like the Civil Rights movement, or gender
equality) they are living out the ethical obligations of their Jewish
heritage. One clear focus for this identification lies in their
commitment to the Jewish State of Israel.
In such secular circles, it is commonplace to hear the
justification, “We’re not religious, but we do support Israel.” The
modern Zionist movement—which draws on the ancient Jewish
belief in return to the land of Israel—was launched by the
Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl (1869–1904) at the First
Zionist Conference in 1897. Herzl believed that anti-semitism
was endemic in European, Christian society and that Jews would
never be safe as a minority group in a foreign land. In order to
achieve freedom, they must have a land of their own. In its early
days, Zionism was widely supported by the oppressed of Eastern
Europe, but was largely rejected by the Progressive Jews of the
prosperous New World. However, after the Holocaust of World
War II (1931–45), when approximately one third of world Jewry
was murdered in the Nazi death camps, public opinion changed.
Today the whole Jewish community, Orthodox, Progressive, and
secular, are united in their determination that the political State
of Israel, which was created to provide a homeland for the Jews
after the war, must survive.
Introduction ö 25
The State of Israel
The establishment of the Jewish State in 1948 was seen by many

as the fulfillment of a religious dream. Every year, at the spring
festival of Passover, after the ritual meal has been eaten, the
participants promise “Next Year in Jerusalem!” In this century,
for the first time in nearly 2000 years since the end of Jewish
sovereignty over Palestine in the first century C.E., this hope can
become a reality.
Nazi anti-semitism and the Holocaust effectively destroyed
the old Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. Those who
survived the concentration camps all too often found that there
was no place for them in their old homes. Israel became their
goal and once the new State had come into existence, about two
thirds of those Jews who had been languishing in the Displaced
Persons’ Camps settled there. The Israeli population has
increased enormously. In 1946, there were approximately
600,000 Jews living in the land. By 1989, according to official
calculations, the Jewish population was more than three and a
half million. This increase took place in spite of the three
devastating wars of 1956, 1967, and 1973, constant military
danger, and almost insurmountable economic problems.
By no means all the immigrants were Holocaust survivors.
Israel was in effect created by Jewish immigration, by a
willingness to use weapons in self-defense, and by a resolution of
the United Nations. The surrounding countries, Egypt, Jordan,
Syria, and Lebanon, were implacably opposed to having a Jewish
State in their midst. In consequence there was an enormous rise
in Arab anti-semitism. The lives of Jews in many Islamic
countries—who are known as Sephardim Jews—became
intolerable and emigration to the Promised Land became an
attractive proposition. There has been large-scale immigration
from Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, the Yemen, and the
countries of North Africa. In addition the imagination of the
world has been captured by the arrival of Black Jews from
Ethiopia and by large numbers from the former Soviet Union,
who are also fleeing from a long tradition of anti-semitism.
26 ö Judaism
The State of Israel has also produced a few religious trends

of its own. A former Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Rabbi Abraham
Isaac Kook, attempted to explain the activities of atheist Zionist
Jews in rebuilding the ancient Jewish state as something sacred,
because it was, as he put it, part of the “Redemption of Israel.”
He also believed in Torah im Derekh Eretz—religion in the way of
the land—a fusion of spiritual with practical values. In building
bridges between secular and religious Jews, Kook gave new life
to the religious Zionist trend known as the Mizrakhi movement.
Thus today, most Modern Orthodox Jews in Israel seem to
subscribe to Mizrakhi values.
Although there are Jews from many different countries in
Israel and several internal religious movements, the electoral
system of proportional representation has given the strictly
Orthodox considerable influence there. The system enables them
to retain their control over the rabbinical courts and to prevent
the introduction of civil marriage and divorce. They receive
financial support from the State for their own schools which
concentrate on religious subjects. There are numerous Yeshivot
and seminaries and, through the Ministry for Religious Affairs,
synagogues and religious courts are funded by the government.
There are two Chief Rabbis, who are state functionaries, one
representing the Ashkenazim (Jews of Eastern European origin)
and the other the Sephardim (Oriental Jews). The Ministry is
controlled by the Orthodox and, despite the presence
of progressive seminaries and synagogues, the non-Orthodox
movements have a hard time. They receive no government
money and are fiercely opposed by the religious esta-
blishment.
Many Israelis have little time for the traditional Jewish
religion. The separation between the secular and the strictly
Orthodox schools does little to help mutual understanding. The
aggressive stance taken by some of the young strictly Orthodox
on such matters as maintaining Sabbath observance (they have
been known to throw stones at moving cars) and preventing
archaeological digs (Jewish law forbids the exhumation of
corpses) is understandably condemned by secular Israelis. The
Introduction ö 27
fact that the strictly Orthodox are exempted from military service
on religious grounds means that they miss out on an important
bonding experience. Even Orthodox Jews who do serve in the
army occasionally present problems. Where their commitment to
the Torah (as they see it) collides with their loyalty to the state,
there can be terrible conflicts. The extreme example was the
assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an extremist
Yeshiva student in November 1995, which outraged public
opinion.
However, Israel remains a Jewish State and the focus of the
Jewish world. Despite its many problems, social, military,
economic, and religious, it inspires enormous loyalty. As the
traditional Passover liturgy puts it, “This year we are here: next
year we will be in the Land of Israel. This year we are slaves;
next year we will be free…”4
Who is a Jew?
In one sense Judaism is fundamentally different from Christianity

and Islam. Jewish identity does not depend primarily on
accepting a belief system or on following a particular way of life.
According to Jewish law, a person is Jewish if he or she has a
Jewish mother. All those who can trace a straight matrilineal
descent from someone who was accepted by the community as
a Jewess are, by definition, Jewish themselves. According to the
Mishnah, the anthology of Jewish law compiled in the second
century C.E., “Thy son of an Israelite woman is called thy son,
but thy son by a heathen woman is not called thy son.”5
This definition had three notable advantages. First, it was
clear and easy to understand. Secondly, the identity of a baby’s
mother is seldom a matter of debate since pregnancies and birth
are almost invariably witnessed; paternity, on the other hand, is
a far trickier matter. Thirdly, in the long history of abuse and
persecution, any baby conceived as a result of rape could still be
counted within the Jewish fold. Because Jewishness is a matter
of physical descent, personal religious belief is irrelevant to
28 ö Judaism
status. It is quite possible to be a believing Muslim or Christian

and still be a Jew, according to halakhah; history has produced
many examples of such people. The Torah teaches that even
apostates who have deliberately rejected the faith, remain
Jews.
It is also possible to convert to Judaism. The Talmud describes
the process:
The rabbis say: Now if someone comes and wants to be a

convert they say to him: Why do you want to be a convert?
Don’t you know that the Jews are harried, hounded,
persecuted and harassed and that they suffer many
troubles? If he replies: I know that and I am not worthy,
then they receive him without further argument.6
In fact the process is generally more complicated than that. For

many centuries, the Christian Church deemed it a capital offense
to convert any Christian to Judaism. In addition the rabbis
always taught that non-Jews were acceptable to God provided
that they kept a few basic moral laws. Jews, on the other hand,
have the obligation to follow the whole Torah in all its complexity.
Therefore, they argued, there was no advantage to becoming a
Jew and there was no point in encouraging converts.
The question of who is a Jew is complicated still further by
a recent decision of the American Reform movement. It is a
statistical fact that Jewish men are more likely to “marry out”
than are Jewish women and the National Jewish Population
Survey of 1990 showed that the total out-marriage rate was
running at approximately 57 percent. In consequence the Reform
Rabbinical association declared that the child of one Jewish
parent (whether father or mother) is under the presumption of
Jewish status and that the child of a Jewish father must be
regarded as Jewish provided he or she had some form of regular
Jewish education. This decision, of course, is unacceptable to the
Orthodox and Conservatives who still adhere to the tradition of
matrilineal descent.
The matter has come to a head with the existence of the State
Introduction ö 29
of Israel. Who is to be entitled to become an Israeli citizen? After

much discussion, the Knesset, the Israeli elected assembly,
passed the Law of Return which stated unequivocally that
“Every Jew has the right to come to this country [Israel] as an
immigrant.” It went on to define “Jew” as a person who “was
born of a Jewish mother or who had become converted to
Judaism and is not a member of another religion.” In addition,
close family members of such people are also entitled to become
Israeli citizens.7 By refusing to define the nature of conversion to
Judaism, all those who have come into the fold through the non-
Orthodox movements are counted in. By allowing non-Jewish
family members, Gentile spouses and children and many who
cannot produce evidence of strict matrilineal descent can be
included.
The Jewish Community in the World Today
The vast majority of the Jewish community has lived outside the
Land of Israel for the last 2500 years. Before the start of World
War I I in 1939, it has been calculated that world Jewry
numbered approximately 16.5 million. Of this, seven and a half
million lived in Eastern Europe and Russia, two million in
Western Europe, one million in Asia, half a million in Africa, and
five and a half million in the New World. 8 Thus the largest
Jewish community was that of Eastern Europe—in Poland,
Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, Russia, and the Baltic States,
where they constituted a prominent middle class in business and
the professions. Here there was a flourishing religious life. Most
Jews lived in Shtetls, small towns predominantly inhabited by
Jews. The common language was Yiddish; young men studied
Talmud in famous Yeshivot; traditional rituals were practiced in the
home and life revolved around synagogue and home. A growing
minority were making a new life for themselves in larger cities,
like Warsaw in Poland, Vienna in Austria, and Odessa in
southern Russia. The attractions of secular society led to
increased assimilation. Many climbed the social rungs of their
30 ö Judaism
host society, becoming prominent lawyers, doctors, journalists,

and so on. Yet their success also occasionally bred feelings of anti-
semitism among non-Jewish fellow citizens, who resented their
achievements.
The institutions of the Shtetl were slowly being eroded in the
early twentieth century. Emigration to America offered new
opportunities to these Eastern European Jews and it is estimated
that between 1840 and 1925 more than two and a half million
people of Jewish origin entered the United States as immigrants.
The traditional way of life was finally destroyed in the
catastrophe of the Nazi Holocaust. The figures tell a grim story.
By 1948 world Jewry had been reduced to 11.5 million. Of these,
nearly six million lived in the United States. The Jews of Western
Europe now numbered only approximately one million; there
were less than one million in Eastern Europe, nearly a further
two million in the Soviet Union, and about half a million in the
new State of Israel. Since then the population of Israel has
substantially increased, but otherwise the new pattern was
established. The United States remains the home of the biggest,
richest, and most powerful Jewish community that the world has
ever known. It is almost twice as large as that of the State of
Israel, which comes second in size. Unlike the United States,
where Ashkenazi Jews predominate, Israeli society is
approximately half and half Ashkenazi and Sephardi. Third in line
is that of the states of the former Soviet Union, but Jews there
have been denied knowledge of their religious and cultural
heritage during the years of the Communist regime.
So to see the fullness and diversity of Jewish life in the
Dispersion (usually known by its Greek translation, Diaspora),
it is necessary to look at the United States. The variety of
institutions is bewildering. There are synagogues representing
every shade of religious opinion, including prayer groups for
those who are more comfortable in a feminist or in a homosexual
ambience. Then there is the whole spectrum of Jewish charities.
Jews are generous people and they support good causes liberally.
In every major American city there are Jewish old age homes and
blocks of sheltered housing for the elderly and handicapped.
Introduction ö 31
There is a Jewish Family Agency, a Jewish hospital and a Jewish

burial society. The community supports innumerable educational
establishments, varying from strictly Orthodox Yeshivot to
Progressive Jewish day schools, from synagogue nurseries to
kosher summer camps. For young adults there are Jewish
Community Centers offering a wide range of leisure activities,
Jewish country clubs, libraries, museums, and extensive
programs of adult education. Giving to Jewish charities is
regarded as a Mitzvah, a good deed, and the Jewish institutions
of the United States are very big business.
Not many families have been in the United States for more
than three or four generations and, as in Israel, their forebears
come from all over the world. The fourth largest community is
that of France, which has approximately 600,000 Jews. This is
a particularly interesting population in that it is a meeting of two
distinct cultures. Although the old Ashkenazi community was
decimated by the occupying Nazis during World War II, the
survivors, were joined by a large influx of Sephardi Jews from
North Africa. Today more than half of all French Jews live in
Paris, which has been described as “the largest and most lively
centre of Jewish life in all Europe.”9
Great Britain escaped Nazi domination in the War and its
Jewish institutions survived intact. Today there are over 300,000
Jews in Britain, the majority of whom belong to the Orthodox
United Synagogue under the leadership of the Chief Rabbi.
However, although most identify as Orthodox, they do not
necessarily follow an Orthodox lifestyle. Individual Jews have
risen to powerful positions in the government, in commerce and
industry, in the professions, and in the arts. There is little
obvious evidence of anti-semitism and the population is well
established. Indeed some families are descended from Jews who
settled in the country as early as the seventeenth century.
There are still small communities in every country in
Europe. In Asia outside Israel there are approximately half a
million Jews living as far apart as Turkey in the west and China
in the east. A new synagogue has recently been built in Hong
Kong. The Jews of India are a particularly fascinating group.
32 ö Judaism
They claim to have come to the country in Biblical times and

there are several old communities, who seem to have had no
contact with one another until the eighteenth century In certain
places, there is a caste system which distinguishes between White
and Black Jews and, until recently, there was no inter-marriage
between the subgroups.
In the New World outside the United States, there are more
than 300,000 Jews living in Canada, nearly a quarter of a million
in Argentina, and an equal number in the rest of Latin America.
The community of South Africa numbers over 100,000 and there
are more than 70,000 Jews in Australasia. All these populations
have their own special characteristics. Some communities
are ancient and some were created largely by refugees from
Nazism.
North Africa has several ancient and important communities.
In recent years, however, they have been greatly depleted. After
Algeria became independent of French rule, the majority of Jews
left, either for France or for Israel. Large-scale emigration has
taken place from Tunisia and the important, historical
community of Cairo: Egypt has been reduced to a few hundred
Jews. Even in Morocco, where the King has frequently expressed
his wish that his Jewish subjects live in peace and prosperity, the
community has shrunk from over 200,000 to approximately
20,000.
However, the African group which has captured the
newspaper headlines is that of Ethiopia. No one knows the true
origin of the Jews of Ethiopia, but they themselves claim to be
the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. There
was some doubt as to their authenticity, but in 1973 the Israeli
Chief Rabbinate pronounced them to be Israelites and two years
later they were declared to be eligible for Israeli citizenship under
the Law of Return.
Thus the Jewish community is essentially international.
Many members have strong feelings of patriotism and
identification with their native countries. At the same time, there
is a sense of sharing a common history and experience. Jews are
of all different races; they come from a wide variety of
Introduction ö 33
socioeconomic circumstances; they hold widely different beliefs.

Yet, at the same time they are conscious of being a single people
and the idea of K’lal Israel (the whole of Israel) is very important
to them, even if they disagree on what that means.
The History of the
Jewish People 2
Judaism in Biblical Times
The early history of the Israelites—ancestors of the Jewish

people—is based largely on the stories recounted in the Hebrew
Bible. Jews also know this book as the Tanakh (a Hebrew
acronym for its three component parts); while Christians call it
the Old Testament, and incorporate it
into their scriptures. The first five books
of the Bible are known as the
Pentateuch (Torah), and it is in the first
book, Genesis, that the essentials of the
Jewish faith—God’s creation of the
world—are explained.
Scholars are uncertain, however, of
the historical accuracy of these Biblical
accounts because some of the events,
people, and genealogies included can not
be supported by archaeological findings
or by references to the Israelites in the writings of peoples in
neighboring lands.
Jews believe themselves to be descended from the Patriarch
Abraham who Biblical narratives and genealogies suggest lived
somtime between 1700–1900 B.C.E. Abraham was a native of the
Middle Eastern city of Ur (in present-day Iraq). God promised that
if he left his comfortable life, he would become the father of a great
nation. Even though he and his wife were not young and they had
no children, Abraham accepted the call and became a nomadic
herdsman. In the course of time, he had a son, Ishmael (c.1850
34
The History of the Jewish People ö 35
B.C.E.) by a slave woman, who was to become the father of the

Arab peoples. But Ishmael was not to be the heir of God’s promise.
Finally, against all expectation, Abraham’s elderly wife, Sarah,
produced her own son, Isaac (c.1850 B.C.E.). A Covenant
relationship was established between God and the Patriarch. God
promised that he would protect and preserve Abraham’s family,
they would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, and they would
be His Chosen People. On their part, Abraham’s descendants
must obey God’s commandments. As a symbol of the covenant,
the practice of circumcision was instituted: “Every male among
you shall be circumcised… It will be a sign of the covenant
between you and me… He that is eight days old among you shall
be circumcised.”1 To this day, many secular Jews have their sons
circumcised. It remains a basic article of faith.
The three Patriarchs, Abraham, his son Isaac, and his
grandson Jacob (c.1750 B.C.E.), are all revered in the Jewish
tradition. Jacob was also given the name of Israel (“One who has
striven with God”). Later, Jacob took his entire family and settled
in Egypt. He was the father of twelve sons who, in their turn,
were the fathers of the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish people.
Initially they had been privileged immigrants, but the Book of
Exodus describes how “There arose a new king over Egypt who
did not know Joseph [Jacob’s second youngest son].” 2 The
Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and set them to building cities.
However, a young Jew named Moses, who, according to the
story, had been brought up at the pharaoh’s court, was inspired
by God to lead his people to freedom. God sent a series of ten
plagues upon the land. The last one was the death of all the
firstborn. The Israelites avoided this calamity They were
instructed to kill a lamb and smear its blood on the door posts
of their houses. On seeing the stain, the Angel of Death would
“pass over” the house. So great was the horror that the Egyptians
finally allowed the Jews to leave. They gathered their possessions
together, not even giving themselves time for their bread to rise,
and they fled the country. This event is still celebrated by Jews
today as Passover (Pesach), one of the most important festivals
of the faith. It is a celebration of freedom. For eight days, nothing
36 ö Judaism
made with a raising agent is eaten and the festival begins with
a family dinner at which the story of their ancestors’ escape from
slavery in Egypt is told again.
For 40 years, the fugitives wandered in the desert of the Sinai
peninsula. It was during this time that Moses received the ultimate
revelation. On Mount Sinai, he was given the Torah, the Jewish law.
This is enshrined in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the
Jewish Scriptures, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Orthodox believe that the Torah
was literally dictated by God to Moses. As Maimonides (1135–
1204), the great philosopher and codifier, put it: “I believe with
perfect faith that the whole and complete Law as we know it is one
and the same as that given to Moses… I believe with perfect faith
that the Law will never be changed, nor that any other law will
be given in its place by the Creator.”3 Reform and Conservative
Jews adopt what they see as a more flexible position, but for all
Jews, the Torah is the foundation of their religious life. Every week
in the synagogue, the pious read from the Torah Scroll, and the
cycle of the Pentateuch is completed every year. In a very real
sense, the Jews are a people of the book.
The Book of Joshua describes the Israelite conquest of
Canaan (modern day Israel), which was seen as God’s Promised
Land. Initially the Israelites were led by a series of charismatic
judges who arose at times of military danger, but gradually the
need for a king was felt. The Twelve Tribes first chose a young
man named Saul (eleventh century B.C.E.), but he committed
suicide after a devastating defeat inflicted by a neighboring
nation. He was succeeded by David (tenth century B.C.E.) who,
in the tradition, is regarded as in many ways the ideal king. He
conquered the city of Jerusalem and made it his capital, and God
promised that He would establish his descendants “for ever and
hold your throne for all generations.” 4 Jews still believe that
when God sends a new king, a Messiah (the anointed one), to
bring about divine rule on earth, the chosen one will be
descended from David.
David’s son, King Solomon (d.c. 930 B.C.E.) built the
magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. It was dedicated to the One
The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt—celebrated during the festival of
Passover (Pesach)—is a central event in the history of the Jewish people. Under
the leadership of Moses, the Israelites were delivered from bondage and escaped
from their pursures on dry land when the Red Sea miraculously parted.
38 ö Judaism
God and here sacrifices were offered daily in praise of the

Almighty and in atonement for Israel’s sins. However, after the
death of Solomon, the Ten Northern Tribes split away from the
Two Southern and established their own kingdom. During the
period of the Divided Kingdoms (930–722 B.C.E.) many of the
Biblical Prophets were at work. Elijah (ninth century B.C.E.),
Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Isaiah (all eighth century B.C.E.)
warned the people of impending disaster. They were convinced
that God would punish His people because they ignored His
word, led wicked lives, and were not faithful to the Covenant.
So powerful was Elijah in particular that he did not die, but was
taken up to Heaven in a fiery chariot. It is still believed by the
Orthodox that he is waiting to return to herald the days of the
Messiah.
The prophecies proved to be all too accurate. In 721 B.C.E.,
the Assyrians (from modern day Iraq) destroyed the Northern
Kingdom. The Ten Northern Tribes disappeared from history.
Although legend maintained that they still survived in some
faraway region and could yet be gathered together in the days
of the messiah, the reality is that they intermarried with
neighboring tribes and lost their national and religious identity.
Then in 586 B.C.E. the Babylonians, the successors of the
Assyrians, conquered the Two Southern Tribes (Judah and
Benjamin). They destroyed King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem
and they took the Jews into exile. It was a devastating experience.
Nonetheless, sustained partly by the words of the Biblical
Prophets and by the Law, the Jews survived. The Prophet Ezekiel
comforted the people by reminding them of God’s faithfulness:
“I will rescue them from all places where they have been
scattered on a day of cloud and thick darkness. And I will bring
them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries
and will bring them into their own land.”5
During the long years of exile from the Promised Land, the
Jewish leaders built up a hope for the future. They looked for
a kingly figure, a messiah, who would restore the nation to its
former glory and put an end to all human conflict. More
importantly, this period marked the flowering of the prophetic
tradition. Not only did the Prophets condemn Jews for adopting
pagan practices, they also chided the people of Israel for their
past misdeeds, and insisted that they return to the true spirit of
the law, and not just empty rituals. The Prophets did not want
Jews to ignore the rituals but sought to remind them of ethical
obligations. Scholars see this as a deepening sophistication in
Judaism, even a movement away from particularist features to a
new universalism. At the same time, the Prophets also warned
of the dangers to Jewish identity in a political arena full of
enemies.
The Jewish leaders also seem to have developed the practice
of meeting together on a regular basis. They could no longer
offer sacrifices because the Temple was the only proper place for
that, but they could come together to pray and to study the Torah.
This was the start of the synagogue as an institution. Less than
70 years later, the Babylonians, in their turn, were conquered by
the Persians (from modern-day Iran). Although many chose to
remain where they were in the comforts of Babylon, a group of
the faithful struggled back to the Promised Land. Under the
leadership of Zerubbabel (a descendant of David) and the priest
Haggai, they rebuilt the Temple. It was on a far smaller scale
than the previous building, but sacrifice could be resumed.
However, from that time on, there were two centers of world
Jewry, Judaea (the old Southern Kingdom) centered on Jerusalem
and the Dispersion, with its center in Babylonia.
Things were not easy for the returned exiles, but the
situation was transformed by Nehemiah (fifth century B.C.E.)
who was appointed governor of the land in 445 B.C.E. The
scribe Ezra (fifth century B.C.E.) gathered the people together
and read the Law to them. The listeners were transfixed. They
were immediately determined to keep the festivals prescribed in
the Torah: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (weeks) and Sukkot
(tabernacles). These were agricultural celebrations as well as
commemorations of God’s goodness in liberating the Jews from
slavery, giving Moses the Law, and preserving the Israelites in
the wilderness. In addition, Ezra insisted that the people divorce
their foreign wives so that the land would be purged of idolatrous
40 ö Judaism
influences. Even today, the Jews see their faithfulness to the Torah
and their aversion to intermarriage as the cornerstones of their
ethnic and religious survival as a people.
The Second Temple and the Dispersion
The Babylonians had not taken the entire Jewish population into
Babylon, only the leaders and the affluent and influential. The
“people of the land” had been left behind. They intermarried
with people of other settled populations, but they retained their
belief in the One God. When the exiles returned, these people
had been eager to stress their relationship with the Jews and had
offered to help rebuild the Temple. The Jews did not want their
assistance. Once the Samaritans, as they came to be called, saw
that they were not to be accepted as Israelites, they developed
their own, separate, traditions. A small group survives to this day
They insist that their version of the Torah is the correct one and
that their High Priest is descended from the family of Moses’
brother Aaron, the first Eight Priest. In 333 B.C.E. they were
given permission to build their own Temple on Mount Gerizim.
They claim that this is the only place where it is permissible to
offer sacrifice and that it was chosen by God. This Temple was
destroyed by Jewish forces in around 128 B.C.E., but the
Samaritans continue to offer the Passover sacrifice on their
mountain and to practice their ancient form of Israelite religion.
Judaea itself continued to be occupied by foreign powers. In
333 B.C.E., the King of Persia was defeated by Alexander the
Great (352–323 B.C.E.) of Macedonia (Northern Greece).
Alexander’s aim was to spread Greek culture throughout the
world. He conquered a huge empire which extended from Greece
to the borders of India and included Egypt and Babylonia. When
he died of fever, his lands were divided between many generals.
After 20 years of fighting the number of generals was reduced
to three. Ptolemy I founded the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt,
Seleucus I the Seleucid dynasty in Mesopotamia, and Antigonus
I the Antigonid dynasty in Asia Minor and Macedonia. Initially,
Judaea was under the control of the Ptolemies of Egypt. In

general, the Ptolemies were tolerant of Jewish religious practice
and there was a thriving Jewish community in the city of
Alexandria on the Nile delta. Although these Egyptian Jews
remained faithful to the God of their ancestors, they spoke Greek
and enjoyed a fairly assimilated lifestyle. The Hebrew Scriptures
were first rendered into Greek in Alexandria; the translation was
known as the Septuagint. Alexandria was also the home of the
eminent Jewish philosopher, Philo (c. 25 B.C.E.–40 C.E.) who
tried to integrate Greek philosophy and Jewish religious teaching
into a unified whole.
By 198 B.C.E. a Seleucid king, Antiochus III (reigned 223–
187 B.C.E.), had taken over the control of Judaea. Although he
did share the tolerant attitude of his predecessors, he was
determined to turn Jerusalem into a Greek city. Various measures
were introduced such as Greek games in which the athletes
competed naked. This was totally abhorrent to the Jewish
tradition. The next monarch, Antiochus IV (reigned 175–163
B.C.E.) was even more insensitive. He occupied the city, banned
circumcision, and plundered the Temple treasures. He
rededicated the building to Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, and
he ordered that the sacrifices should include pigs, which the Jews
regard as ritually unclean (or unkosher). Conflict arose between
those Jews who wished to liberalize Jewish practice in the interest
of greater assimilation with the Greek world, and the Jewish
traditionalists led by the priest Mattathias (d.c.167 B.C.E.) and
then by his sons, particularly Judas (known as Maccabee, the
hammer, d.c.160 B.C.E.). Antiochus’ army supported the
Hellenizers but the traditionalists succeeded in recapturing
Jerusalem. Their first priority was to cleanse the Temple and to
rededicate it to God. Supposedly there was only enough holy oil
to sustain the great light for one day, but miraculously it lasted
for eight. These events are commemorated at the winter festival
of lights (Hanukkah). Today the community lights candles for
eight days to celebrate this victory of the Jews over foreign
influences.
42 ö Judaism
ART FOCUS T H E S ECON D OF T H E T E N C OM MAN DM E NTS

reads, “you shall not make for yourself a
Jewish graven image, or any likeness of anything
that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth
Art beneath…”(Exodus 20:4). This has largely
been understood as a prohibition against any
form of idolatry (excessive worship of
images) and the making of any image of God.
While Jews have been less striet than
Muslims in their rejection of all pictorial art,
there has been a general reluctance to
reproduce the human figure or face in a
religious context.
However threre is a strong craft tradition among the Jews.

In many places, particularly in Islamic lands, Jews have been
famous as metal workers and much care has been lavished on the
production of ritual objects. Every Jewish home should have a
mezuzah on the door (a small box containing a prescribed
portion of Scripture). This may be made of silver, wood, glass,or
plastic and an enormous variety of design exists. Similarly, most
families possess a wine cup and a set of candlesticks; both
nesessary for the celebration of the Sabbath and other festivals.
Again, there is no uniform design and they can be made of a
variety of materials. Often they are objects of real beauty.
In the synagogue itself, it is customary to keep the Scrolls of
the Law either in a metal case or in a cloth cover. Both may be
richly decorated. Attached to the wooden Scrolls there may be
elaborate metal finials (ornaments). These are often hung with
bells, reminiseent of the priests’ vestments in the Temple in
Jerusalem. Alternatively they may be hung with crowns,
symbolising the fact that the Torah, the law, is the ruler of Jewish
life. Over the cover is hung a silver breast-plate or shield,
sometimes engraved with the Ten Commandments, but
invariably a splendid example of the silvermaker’s art. Because
the Scroll itself is regarded as sacred, the text is not touched by
the human hand. Instead a pointer is used. This is often made
of silver and is frequently fashioned in the shape of a pointing
human hand.
Most characteristic of all is the seven-branched candlestick.
This was part of the furnishings of the Temple in Jerusalem. As
the relief on the Arch of Titus shows (see page 46), it was carried
in triumph to Rome when the Temple was sacked in 70 C.E. It
has remained a Prominent symbol of Judaism and has appeared
in many forms and been understood in different ways
throughout the history of Judaism.
Ancient Jewish catacomb on the Appian Way, Rome. The practice of burying
the dead in subterranean tunnels, with side recesses for tombs, originated with
the Jews of Palestine.
44 ö Judaism
Mattathias’s descendants succeeded in founding a dynasty of

both rulers and High Priests. The Seleucid kings were compelled
to acknowledge the independence of Judaea and the kingdom
was extended to include Idumea, Galilee, and northern Trans-
Jordan. The inhabitants of all these areas were compelled to
convert to Judaism. But the Jewish empire was not to survive. By
the middle of the first century B.C.E., the Romans had annexed
Judaea and had turned it into a client state. Herod (73–4 B.C.E.),
the son of an Idumean military governor of Judaea under the
Romans, was an official in Galilee. When the Romans were
expelled by the Parthians, Herod fled but returned with a Roman
army in 37 B.C.E. to reconquer Judaea. He was then made King
of Judaea by the Romans and he ruled until his death. Despite
being a Jew by religion, he was detested by his people as a
usurper. Nonetheless, he did a great deal for the country. He built
the new port of Caesarea (named for his Roman master); he
negotiated various privileges for the Jews of the Roman Empire;
and he rebuilt the Temple on a splendid scale. It was magnificent.
It contained an outer court where everyone, Jew and non-Jew,
could mingle, another court for Jewish women, a further court
for male Israelites, and a court of priests where the hierarchy
offered the daily sacrifices. The innermost sanctuary was the
Holy of Holies. This was hidden from sight by a curtain and it
was only entered once a year by the High Priest on the Day of
Atonement (Yom Kippur). There he would beg God’s forgiveness
on his people. Today the Day of Atonement with its preceding
Ten Days of Penitence remains the most solemn season of the
Jewish year.
The Temple was administered by the hereditary priests.
They were said to have been descended from Moses’ brother
Aaron, to whom it was said “the priesthood shall be theirs by a
perpetual statute.”6 They were drawn from a group known as the
Sadducees, who were possibly named for Zadok (tenth century
B.C.E.), the High Priest of King Solomon who had also served
under King David. They are mentioned in the New Testament
and are described by the historian Josephus (c. 38–c. 100 C.E.).
They upheld the complete authority of the Pentateuch and they
rejected the permanent validity of a body of oral interpretations

of the law. As a result, they did not believe in such doctrines as
the Resurrection of the dead since these developed as a result
of discussing the complicated implications of the Biblical text.
They were not a large group, but, as the aristocrats of the Jewish
nation, they exerted a great deal of influence and as the group
most in authority had to deal with the Romans. The Pharisees
were quite different. They were described as scribes and sages
and they were famous for their verbal interpretations of the
sacred books. Regularly in the synagogues they expounded the
deeper meanings of the Scriptures and, as the self-appointed
moral leaders of the people, they devised a complex body of
Oral Law over the years. By the first century B.C.E., every
Judaean village contained a synagogue where the people could
gather together and listen to the Pharisees’ sermons.
There were other sects in Judaea at the time. The Essenes
were a monastic group who led ascetic lives while they waited
for God’s salvation. We know about them from Josephus and
also because they were probably the original owners of the
famous Dead Sea Scrolls. The Zealots were freedom fighters
and political guerrillas. After the death of Herod in 4 B.C.E.,
Judaea was subject to a series of rulers and Roman governors.
It was not a happy time. There was hostility between the rich and
the poor, a series of famines, and an increased sense of messianic
excitement. One sect in particular, the followers of Jesus of
Nazareth, was particularly imbued with this fervor. They claimed
that the Kingdom of Heaven was dawning. After the crucifixion
of Jesus, they hailed their martyred leader as the promised
Messiah, believed in his resurrection, and in time broke away
from other Jews to become a distinct and separate religion,
Christianity. These events are described in the Christian New
Testament, or the Gospels, and today Christianity is the world’s
largest religion.
Matters came to a head in 66 C.E. The Zealots raised a
revolt and took control of the city of Jerusalem. The Roman
armies marched in from the north and laid siege to the city. By
late summer 70 C.E the daily sacrifices were suspended, and on
46 ö Judaism
The Arch of Titus was erected in 81 C.E. by the Roman senate in honor of
Vespasian and Titus. It commemorates the Roman victory over the Jews in the
war of 66–70 C.E.
August 24 the beautiful Temple of Herod went up in flames.

After the devastation, all that remained standing was the extreme
Western Wall. This remains the most sacred place in the Jewish
world and is a goal of pilgrimage. Even secular Jews return to
the land of their forefathers to say their prayers or just to stand
in awe in front of the great Wall. Meanwhile the Zealots
continued to hold out in the south, at the fortress of Masada.
When the rebellion was finally subdued, the Romans held a
triumphal procession through the streets of Rome displaying the
spoils of the Temple. This is recorded on the Arch of Titus which
still stands in the Roman forum (marketplace).
There was a further Jewish rebellion against Rome in 132
C.E., but this had been put down by 135 C.E. Around this time
the Roman emperor Hadrian converted Jerusalem into a pagan
city, and forbade Jews from living there. He also renamed the
province of Judaea as Palestina—Palestine—after the Jews’ old

enemy, the Philistines—a deliberate attempt to obliterate the
connection between the land and the Jewish people. Scholars
regard this as the definitive end of Jewish political sovereignty in
their Promised Land, at least for the next 1800 years or so. The
Jews had to come to terms with a new religious system which
could no longer be centered on the Temple, the priesthood, and
sacrifice. By this stage there were Jewish colonies in all the major
urban centers around the Mediterranean Sea. Increasingly the
Jewish religious establishment was to concentrate on the needs
and developments of these growing Dispersion communities.
Rabbinic Judaism
With the Temple a charred ruin, Judaism could have disappeared

like so many of the cults of the ancient world. Its survival was
largely due to the vision and dedication of the Pharisees. During
the siege of Jerusalem, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai (first century
C.E.) escaped from the city and founded an academy on the
coast at Javneh. There groups of scholars gathered to discuss,
develop, and preserve the legal tradition. Under Johanan’s
successor, Gamaliel II (early second century C.E.), the supreme
legal body of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, was reestablished and the
learned came from far and near to listen to and participate in the
debates. The canon of Scripture was decided, regular daily
prayers were organized, and a system of rabbinical ordination for
Jewish leaders was established.
Activities were only temporarily halted by the rebellion of
132–5 C.E., although the Javneh academy was transferred to
Galilee. By the second century C.E., the oral interpretations of
the law had become highly complex and Judah ha-Nasi (the
patriarch) set himself the task of recording the debates and
decisions on each particular topic. His official position and
authority allowed his book of legal opinions, the Mishnah, to
become the officially accepted one. The text of this great law
book is divided into six orders: Zeraim dealing with the laws of
48 ö Judaism
agriculture, Moed with the laws of Sabbaths, fasts and festivals,

Nashim with the laws of marriage and divorce, Nezikin with the
civil and criminal law, Kodashin with the laws of Temple ritual and
sacrifice, and Tohorot with the laws of ritual purity. It is not merely
a summary of conclusions. The debates are recorded with the
minority view expressed first (“Rabbi Simeon says…”) and each
account ends with the final conclusion (“But the sages
declare…”). It is an astonishing piece of work and by
accomplishing it, Judah ha-Nasi provided a solid foundation
upon which further discussion could be based.
At that time the Jewish leaders were also preoccupied with
the correct interpretation of the Scriptures. The rabbinic
interpretation of Holy Writ is known as Midrash. Since the
Pentateuch, in particular, is regarded as the Word of God, it is
vital that it should be correctly understood. Various experts
devised rules for exegesis so that conflict could be avoided. For
example, the fourth of the Ten Commandments reads:
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shall you
labor and do your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the
Lord your God.”7 By following the rules, the rabbis decided that
there were 39 different types of work to be avoided. These
include harvesting and kindling a fire, which is why Orthodox
Jews today will neither pick a flower nor turn on an electric light
during the Sabbath.
Meanwhile, other scholars founded centers elsewhere. In
Galilee there were well-known academies in Tiberias, Caesarea,
and Sepphoris. The Jewish community of Babylonia was not to
be left behind. There the King recognized the community leader
and gave him the title of Exilarch. This was an hereditary office
and its holders claimed to be related to King Jehoiachin (sixth
century B.C.E.), the last Judaean king of Davidic descent.
At the same time famous schools of learning were established
at Sura in Central Mesopotamia and Pumbedita on the river
Euphrates. The heads of these academies held the title of Gaon.
Together with the Exilarch, the Geonim controlled the powerful
Babylonian community. There scholars were not known as rabbi;
this was a title only bestowed by the laying on of hands at
ordination and it only applied in Judaea. Babylonian authorities

were known as Rav. It should be pointed out that the modern
title of rabbi is used somewhat differently. Today a rabbi is one
learned in Jewish law, who has been ordained to teach and
preach and who generally serves a congregation full time. The
Judaean and Babylonian scholars almost invariably had secular
occupations from which they gained their livelihood. Only in the
Middle Ages did the title “rabbi” come to mean the spiritual
leader of a particular Jewish community.
The work of interpreting the law continued. By the end of
the fourth century C.E., the rabbis of Judaea had assembled the
teachings of further generations of scholars on four of the six
orders of the Mishnah. The additional material was described as
Gemara (completion) and the whole is known as the Palestinian
(or Jerusalem) Talmud. The same work was being accomplished
in Babylonia. The Babylonian Talmud was completed in the sixth
century C.E. It is nearly four times as long as its Palestinian
counterpart and is considered to be more authoritative because
of the lasting influence of the Babylonion schools and Exilarchate
well into the Muslim period. It is quite extraordinary. Not only
does it record the legal judgments and debates, it contains
information on medicine, history, science, and agriculture. There
are proverbs and fairy tales, folk legends, and rules of etiquette.
It has been compared with a great sea with its constant free
association of ideas. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was the
main study of the Babylonian academies and it spread
throughout the Jewish world. To this day it remains the main text
in the Orthodox Yeshivot and many enjoy dipping into its riches.
Even though many of its provisions are no longer relevant—such
as those pertaining to the Temple and Priesthood—they are still
read. Within the Orthodox community today, Talmudic study
remains a lifetime commitment.
However, not all Jews regarded this development of the Oral
Law with favor. In the days of the Temple, the aristocratic
Sadducees believed that only the Written Law was authoritative
and that later oral interpretation could be ignored. It seems that
despite the efforts of the Palestinian and Babylonian sages, this
50 ö Judaism
strand of opinion survived within the community. In c. 760 C.E.

Anan ben David, who had been passed over for the Exilarchate,
set up his own alternative movement. Anan’s principle was
“Search thoroughly in the Torah and do not rely on my opinion.”
He insisted that the whole law was to be found in the Scriptures
and not in rabbinical interpretation. Gradually the movement
spread. Adherents were known as the Karaites and by the tenth
century, communities were established in Egypt, North Africa,
Persia, Babylonia, and Palestine. The rabbis resisted this
incursion, but failed to stamp it out. Many eminent Biblical
scholars of the early Middle Ages were of Karaite origin and they
were as persecuted as their Rabbanite co-religionists in the
Christian crusades, which sought to evict the Muslims from
Palestine. By the sixteenth century, however, their numbers were
in decline and by the mid twentieth century communities
survived only in the Crimea, Egypt, and a few in Eastern
Europe. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 made a
difference. They were regarded as eligible for immigration under
the Law of Return and many took advantage of this. Today there
is a community of approximately 7000 Karaites living in Israel.
They maintain their own customs, have their own ritual
butchers, and support their own religious court. But both by the
laws of Israel, and by their own custom, they are not allowed to
intermarry with the Israeli population.
The Growth and Challenge of Christianity
Today there are Jews living all over the world. We know that by
the first century C.E. there were communities in all the major
cities of the Mediterranean. The Christian missionary Paul (first
century C.E.) wrote of his plans to visit Spain in his Epistle to
the Romans,8 and since he always preached first to the Jews, we
must presume that there were Jewish colonies in the west. In the
early days, Judaism itself seems to have been a missionary
religion. In the New Testament, Jesus described the Pharisees
crossing “land and sea to make a single proselyte [convert].”9 All
this changed in the fourth century once Christianity had become

the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christians felt that
their New Testament added to and “completed” the Old
Testament. As Christian theology developed, it emphasized that
by accepting the Kingship of Jesus, Christians, and no longer the
Jews, were the elected nation of God. In addition the conversion
of Gentiles to the new faith, and the adoption of Hellenistic ideas,
made the rift between them and their Jewish antecedents
irreparable.
The early Christians believed that they were the true
inheritors of the privileges of Israel and that the Jews were hard-
hearted and blind in their rejection of their own Messiah. By the
time the Gospels were written, the Jews were perceived as
demonic. For polemical reasons, the New Testament writers
interpolated conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish leaders into
their narratives. Blame for the death of Jesus was placed squarely
on the Jews—“His blood be on us and on our children”10—and the
seeds were sown for nearly 20 centuries of Christian anti-
semitism.
In Christian Europe, the Jewish communities were self-
contained units. The Christian rulers allowed each area to
establish its own rules and by the tenth century there were
important centers of Jewish learning in Northern France and in
the Rhinelands. Jews had settled in England at the time of the
Norman conquest in 1066 and there were small communities
throughout France, and the Holy Roman Empire (present-day
Netherlands, Germany, and Austria). Important scholars
included the great Biblical commentator Rashi (Solomon ben
Isaac of Troyes, 1040–1105), whose work on the Scriptures and
the Talmud are still standard texts today Yet Jewish existence in
Christian Europe was never secure. The Church continued to
teach that it was the Jewish people alone who were responsible
for the death of the Christian Messiah, Jesus, and there were
periodic outbreaks of violence against the community
The situation was made worse by the crusades. By the
eleventh century, the Muslim Turks were in control of the Holy
Land and the Christian holy places. The princes of Europe were
52 ö Judaism
encouraged by the Church to send armies to fight the Infidel. If

it was meritorious to slaughter Muslims abroad, then it seemed
only logical to harass the Jews at home, because both were
considered infidels. Then, when the Black Death raged through
the continent in the fourteenth century, the Jews were widely
accused of causing the disease by poisoning the wells. Terrible
accusations were made against them.
As early as 1144, the community of Norwich, England, was
charged with using the blood of Christian children in the
manufacture of Passover unleavened bread. The Blood Libel, as
it was called, spread throughout Europe. The entire community
was expelled from England in 1290; a few years later the French
King evicted all the Jews from the French crown lands. In 1298
Christian mobs destroyed approximately 150 Jewish settlements
in Germany. Then, in 1492, after the Christian monarchs
Ferdinand and Isabella had driven out the Muslim rulers from
Spain, they also exiled the ancient and successful Jewish
community from their dominions.
This made the hospitality of Poland seem very attractive.
Here from the thirteenth century, the Jews were protected. They
were used by the great Polish nobles to collect taxes and manage
the huge estates. The religious wars of the Protestant
Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth
century also led to the migration of Jews from central to Eastern
Europe. By the end of the sixteenth century the Jewish
communities of Poland and the Baltic States were the largest and
most powerful in Europe. They benefited from a system of
communal autonomy. Yiddish (a German and Hebrew language
written in Hebrew characters) was the common language and the
rabbis ran their own religious courts and Yeshivot.
Meanwhile the Jews had fared differently in the Muslim
countries. The founder of Islam in southern Arabia, Muhammed
(e. 590–632), had hoped that the Jews would accept his message.
Like them, he taught that God is One, and he adopted certain
Jewish rituals such as a fast day, similar to the Day of Atonement.
Like the Jews, the Muslims may not eat pork, they have fixed
times for prayer, and they reject the worship of images. Much of
Muhammed’s original legislation was similar to the Jewish

halakhah (law) and, like the Jews, the Muslims have an extensive
tradition of Oral Law. Nonetheless, the Jews of Arabia were not
prepared to acknowledge that Muhammed was God’s Prophet,
and in consequence Muhammed became hostile to them. In
particular, the Jewish community of Medina was expelled and
destroyed.
Despite this unfortunate beginning, Muslim rulers have
generally been tolerant toward the Jews and have seen their
value. Since they were monotheists (believers in one God), they
were not regarded as infidels and there was no obligation to fight
a holy war against them. Although there were negative incidents,
generally the Jews were allowed to live in Muslim territory and
enjoy religious freedom. In return they were expected to wear
distinctive clothing which marked them out as Jews, they were
not allowed to make converts, and they were obliged to pay an
additional annual poll tax. This, of course, had the effect
of maintaining their distinctive identity. There were many
successful communities living in Muslim lands throughout the
Middle Ages.
In the Iberian peninsula there were poets such as Judah
Halevi (1075–1141), Moses ibn Ezra (c.1055–c.1135), and
Solomon ibn Gabirol (c.1021–c.1056), and philosophers such as
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda (c. 1050–1120), Abraham ben
David Halevi ibn Daud (c. 1110–80), and Hasdai Crescas (1340–
1412). Most famous of all was Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon,
1135–1204). He not only produced a comprehensive codification
of the corpus of the Jewish law (the Mishneh Torah), but his
philosophical work, The Guide to the Perplexed, set the tone for all
subsequent debate. However, the glory of Spanish Jewry was not
to last. After Spain was conquered by the Christians, there was
a period of uncertainty. Then in 1492 all the Jews were expelled
from Spanish soil. The only reprieve was baptism. The members
of this rich, cultured, and successful community were scattered.
Some went to North Africa, some to Italy, some to Holland, and
others to Turkey.
54 ö Judaism
The Sephardim and Ashkenazim
By this time, it was clear that two different traditions were

existing side by side. Jews who traced their descent from
ancestors who had settled in Christian Europe in the Middle
Ages were known as the Ashkenazim (“German”). They lived in
the German States and, after the persecutions, in Austria, Poland,
the Baltic States, and Russia. Meanwhile, those who were
descended from the Jews of Spain, North Africa, and Babylonia
were known as the Sephardim (“Oriental”). Each group fully
recognized the other’s Jewishness, but they used different
liturgical rites and had many different customs. There were local
differences even within the broader Ashkenazi and Sephardi
communities. The Ashkenazim composed hymns, known as
Piyyutim, and penitential prayers (Selihot). They were known for
their piety, their strict adherence to Jewish law, and their Talmudic
scholarship. The Sephardim, on the other hand, were thought to
be more open to secular culture and were known for their legal
codes and their liturgical creativity. This may have been because
their host culture was more open to participation of the Sephardim
in their culture. The difference is well illustrated by the
seventeenth-century communities of the Dutch city of
Amsterdam. The original community was Ashkenazi, but, after the
great expulsion, many Spanish Jews settled there. Contemporary
engravings of the Spanish and German synagogues show the
Spanish congregation as far more affluent, genteel, and worldly;
indeed the worshipers look as if they are dressed for a gala
theatrical performance. The German synagogue was darker and
smaller; the women were banished to a remote balcony and there
was an atmosphere of intense piety The differences in custom
were openly acknowledged. When the Sephardic legal authority
Joseph Caro (1488–1575) published his great code of Jewish law,
the Shulhan Arukh (“Prepared Table”), Moses Isserles (1525–72)
had to add a supplement to make it acceptable to the
Ashkenazim. Having said that, it is remarkable how consistent
the essential Jewish laws were in the two communities.
The population of the modern State of Israel is a mixture of
Sephardim and Ashkenazim. When the State was founded in 1948,

it was seen primarily as a refuge for the survivors of the Nazi
Holocaust—the Ashkenazim. In fact, many of the Sephardim
communities living in Arab-ruled countries were then so harassed
by their rulers that they took the opportunity to immigrate.
Jewish Life in
Modern Times 3
The Hasidim and Mitnagdim
By the start of the modern period, Jews were established

throughout Europe, North Africa, and certain Asian countries.
Despite the lessening of anti-Jewish feeling in many places, the
large communities of Eastern Europe were to suffer many changes
in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Their security was interrupted
in 1648. In that year Bogdan Chmielnicki
(1593–1657) was elected the leader of the
Cossacks and he led a revolution against
the Polish aristocracy. The Jews, some of
whom were stewards of the great estates,
were very much identified with the
interests of the upper classes and took the
brunt of the onslaught. It was a massacre.
Probably as many as a quarter of the
Jewish population of Poland was
murdered during the course of the upheaval and many others were
sold in the slave markets of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul).
Poland ceased to be a secure refuge.
History shows that instability promotes messianic yearnings,
and this may explain the phenomenon of a second trauma which
followed in the wake of the first. Shabbetai Zevi (1626–76), a
gifted but unbalanced scholar, had attracted many followers. He
had been born in Smyrna on the Ninth Day of A? (A? 9), the
traditional birthdate of the Messiah. After the horrors of the
Chmielnicki revolution, Jews everywhere were hoping for the
56
Jewish Life in Modern Times ö 57
immediate advent of a messianic redeemer. Shabbetai was

expelled from his own community in 1651, but by 1665 he had
been recognized as the Messiah by Nathan Benjamin Levi of
Gaza (1644–80). Nathan of Gaza (in southern Palestine) believed
that he himself was the Prophet Elijah, the forerunner. He sent
messages throughout the Jewish world, promising that soon the
Turkish Sultan would be deposed and that the Twelve Tribes of
Israel would be united once more. The current difficulties he
described as the “birth pangs of the Messiah…” World Jewry was
in an uproar. The date of redemption was set for June 18, 1666.
A Christian contemporary described how he “perceived a strange
transport in the Jews, none of them attending to any business…
All their discourses, all their dreams and disposal of their affairs
tended to no other design, but a reestablishment in the Land of
Promise, to greatness and glory, wisdom and doctrine of the
Messiah.”1 However, when Shabbetai landed near the Ottoman
capital of Constantinople, he was promptly arrested. He was
taken to the court of the Grand Vizier where he was given the
choice between being put to death or converting to Islam.
Shabbetai and his wife chose to become Muslims and he finally
died in exile in Albania.
Amazingly, this was not the end of the matter. Nathan of
Gaza continued to insist that Shabbetai was the Messiah and that
his conversion was a part of the ongoing battle with the forces
of evil. Shabbetean beliefs continued to be held in some quarters
and some Jews followed their master into Islam, forming the
Dönmeh (“Apostate sect”). A Dönmeh community existed in
Istanbul until the mid twentieth century. Nonetheless, for most
Jews, the whole episode was devastating. Shabbetai was not the
Messiah. God had not sent his anointed one to save Israel and
the world. It seemed as if Talmudic scholarship and traditional
rabbinic learning had failed them. The Jews of Eastern Europe
were looking for a new type of Judaism.
They found it in the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer (c. 1700–
60), known as the Baal Shem To? (“Master of the Good Name”)
or Besht. He grew up in the Carpathian mountains (in present-
day Romania) and his mystical preaching attracted a group of
58 ö Judaism
Rabbis in Lodz, Poland, walking to the synagogue on Sabbath in 1915. The

Sabbath is a day of rest and an occasion for prayer, study, and refreshment of
the spirit. Synagogue services include readings from the Torah and the Books of
the Prophets.
followers. He insisted that the study of Torah should be an act of

devotion and that the whole of daily life could be an offering to
God. In particular, he emphasized that worship should be a
source of joy; he used to say that his disciples should serve God
with gladness since a joyful man is overflowing with love for his
fellows and for all God’s creatures. The Besht’s followers were
known as the Hasidim (“pious ones”) and the movement spread
throughout Eastern Europe. Various new leaders emerged and,
in the course of time, leadership became hereditary, handed
down from father to son. By the beginning of the nineteenth

century, probably almost half of Eastern Europe’s Jewry
identified itself with the new movement.
Hasidim loved to explore the Kabbalah, the main Jewish
mystic tradition. Once an esoteric tradition, with origins going
back to the last days of the Tanakh, it had developed mainly in
Sephardi lands. Scholars now believe that it both influenced and
was in turn influenced by Islamic Sufism and Christian pietism.
Kabbalah’s prime books were Sefer Bahir (Book of Bahir) and the
Zohar (Splendor). Hasidim tried to open up this hitherto secret
world to ordinary Jews in the Ashkenazi sphere. But most of all,
they derived from Kabbalah the values and attributes of
devotion, adherence, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Important characteristics of Hasidism included rejoicing and
enthusiasm which became part of the religious experience of
ordinary people. It was not long before distinct Hasidic sects
arose, each one led by a Tzaddik (“Righteous Man”), who is
believed to be the spiritual channel through which God’s grace
flows. By observing the Tzaddik, the Hasid can learn how God can
be worshiped in every detail of life, from tying one’s shoes to
eating one’s food or taking a nap. As the spiritual leader of his
community, the Tzaddik holds mass audience, gives individual
advice and is supported by the donations of the faithful. Tales
circulated describing the miraculous saintliness of the Tzaddikim
and collections of their homilies were published.
The Eastern European Hasidic groups were decimated by the
Nazi Holocaust. Nonetheless the movement survived,
particularly in the United States and in Israel. Adherents are
perhaps the most visible segment of the strictly Orthodox
community and the men in particular are readily identifiable by
their dress (black hats, beards, side curls, black suits, ritual
fringes, and magnificent fur hats on the Sabbath). Among the
best known groups are the Lubavich, Satmar, Belz, Bobover, Gur, and
Vizhnitz (each named after their town of origin).
However, not all Jews were persuaded by Hasidism. Many
scholars disapproved of the Hasidic deviations from the
traditional liturgy. They deplored the setting up of separate
60 ö Judaism
houses of worship away from the local synagogue and, most of

all, they were appalled by the Hasidic neglect of painstaking
textual study. These traditionalists were known as the Mitnagdim
(“Opponents”) and their leader was the learned Gaon of Vilna in
Lithuania, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720–97). The Vilna
Gaon, as he was called, was himself a child prodigy and was
regarded as a master of Talmud at the age of 13. He was
determined to preserve traditional scholarship and he was a
major figure in the revival of Talmudic study. There was bitter
conflict between the Mitnagdim and the Hasidim. Books were
burnt, decrees of excommunication were pronounced, and it was
not unknown for parents to go through the rites of mourning if
one of their sons joined an Hasidic sect.
The difference between the two groups is delightfully
illustrated in a (possibly apocryphal) story about the Vilna Gaon.
He was giving a tutorial and two boys were looking out of the
window at a bird soaring through the sky. When asked what
they were thinking, one boy replied that the bird made him think
of the soul ascending towards Heaven. The reply was too
reminiscent of Hasidic mysticism and the lad was told to leave the
class. The other said that he was wondering what would happen
if the bird dropped dead and fell on a fence boundary. To whom
would the carcass belong? The Vilna Gaon was delighted: “God
be praised for someone who knows what religion is about!” he
said.
Today, hostility between the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim has
largely disappeared. The Hasidim have also become learned
Talmudists and, perhaps more importantly, a far greater threat to
both these groups emerged with the advent of the Western
Enlightenment. The Jews of Western Europe were being freed
from their ancient civil disabilities and were being increasingly
affected by secular culture. They were beginning to question such
fundamental principles as the divine origin of Torah. This was an
abomination to both Mitnaged and Hasid. Against it they were
prepared to stand firm together and the late twentiethcentury
strictly Orthodox community contains both Hasidic and non-
Hasidic members.
Enlightenment and Reform
While the Mitnagdim and the Hasidim were fighting their battles
in Eastern Europe, great social changes were occurring in the
West. In the Holy Roman Empire, under Emperor Joseph II
(1741–90), an edict of toleration was issued. Jews were no longer
to be confined to special places of residence, restricted to their
own schools or made to wear distinctive clothing. Similarly, in
1791, the National Assembly of France granted full citizenship
rights of the Jewish population and it was agreed that there
should be full freedom of religion. Napoleon (1769–1821) went
one step further, once he had taken over the French government.
In 1806, he convened an Assembly of Jewish Notables and, the
following year, he revived the Sanhedrin, the traditional supreme
body of Jewish government. From then on the French Jewish
community was organized much as if it were a department of the
civil service.
Napoleon himself was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in
1815, but, despite residual Christian anti-semitism, his reforms
could not be undone. Several German and French intellectuals
argued for the rights of the Jews and gradually additional
freedoms were procured. In 1869 the North German parliament
proclaimed Jewish emancipation and by 1871 all restrictions on
occupation, franchise, marriage, or residence were removed.
Meanwhile, in England, the Jews had been free to conduct their
own religious life as they saw fit since the seventeenth century
Nonetheless, various religious tests existed which prevented Jews
from taking a full part in the political and cultural life of the
nation. These were all abolished during the course of the
nineteenth century and in 1858 the first Jewish Member of
Parliament took his seat in the House of Commons.
While these momentous social changes were taking place, the
Jews themselves were experiencing an intellectual revolution.
The most influential thinker of the Jewish Enlightenment was
Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86). Encouraged by the Christian
philosopher G.E.Lessing (1729–81), he taught that God’s
existence, His providence, and His gift of immortality could all
62 ö Judaism
be discovered by the use of natural reason. He believed that the

mission of the Jews was to call attention to the Oneness of God
and to be a constant reminder to the rest of humanity of the call
of ethical monotheism.
He also called for freedom of worship and the removal of
state interference in religious affairs. As he put it, “Do not hold
out bribes or incentives to encourage people to adopt particular
theologies. Allow everyone who does not disturb the peace…to
pray to God in his own way.”2 At the same time he encouraged
the modernization of Jewish education; he translated the
Pentateuch into German and wrote an extensive Biblical
commentary. Through his leadership, German Jewry became
acquainted with secular European culture. He himself remained
a strictly observant Jew, yet his advocacy of Jewish emancipation
brought another dilemma in its wake: how far could a Jew absorb
the outside world’s culture before he assimilated altogether? Was
it just an accident, then, that four of Mendelssohn’s own six
children eventually converted to Christianity?
The Jewish Enlightenment completely changed the lives of
Western Jewry. No longer were they restricted in residence
(ghetto) or occupation. They became knowledgeable in the ways
of the secular world and many came to feel that the traditional
ways of worship were no longer suitable. One result, the Reform
movement, started in Germany. The financier Israel Jacobson
(1768–1828) built the first Reform Temple at Seesen. There the
liturgy included prayers in German, as well as choral singing.
Another similar congregation was started in Hamburg in 1818,
which issued its own Prayer Book. This omitted all reference to
the Messiah and to the restoration of the Twelve Tribes to the
Holy Land. Members of the Temple saw themselves as loyal
Germans and they owed no allegiance to any other place.
Meanwhile, influenced by the historical thinking of the time,
some religious leaders were denying the fundamental doctrine
that the Torah was handed down in its entirety by God to Moses
on Mount Sinai. They tried to study the history of Judaism with
no religious preconceptions. Others were arguing that Judaism
was simply a religious tradition of ethical monotheism and that
many traditional practices no longer had any validity. They

recommended modifications of the dietary laws, praying with the
head uncovered, and even transferring the Sabbath from
Saturday to Sunday to be more like their Christian fellow
citizens.
The new movement spread rapidly. The first conference for
Reform rabbis had taken place by 1838. The West London
synagogue for Reform Jews was founded in 1841. A Reform
Rabbinical Seminary was opened in Breslau in 1854, another in
Hungary in 1867, and the Berlin Hochschule opened its doors in
1872.
However, increasingly, the United States was to be the main
centre for Reform activities. The first American Reform Temple
was founded in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1824. Its liturgy
was similar to that of the Hamburg Temple and its founders
described its purpose as to avoid anything that might disgust well
educated Israelites. Later Reform Temples were built in most
major American cities. A new American Reform Prayer Book
was published and the first conference of American rabbis took
place in Philadelphia in 1869. The Hebrew Union College, the
first American Rabbinical Seminary, opened in 1875 in
Cincinnati, Ohio. The principles of American Reform Judaism
were laid down in Pittsburgh in 1885. It was agreed that the
Jewish tradition should take account of the findings in modern
scholarship, that only the moral laws of the Pentateuch were
binding for all time, that Jews should no longer look for the
coming of the Messiah or the restoration of the land of Israel,
and that the dietary laws and the laws of ritual purity were
anachronistic. This provided a credal framework for American
Reform Judaism for the next fifty years. By the end of the
nineteenth century, many Jews of North America were almost
indistinguishable from their fellow citizens in dress, manners,
education, and aspiration. In this century Reform Judaism has
undergone further developments and a variety of credal
platforms and new Prayer Books have been produced.
The Orthodox did not allow this transformation to take
place without a fight. They were horrified by the new
64 ö Judaism
developments and feared that participation in secular culture

could all too easily lead to assimilation. The best known German
Orthodox thinker of the time was Samson Raphael Hirsch
(1808–88). He himself had been educated at the University of
Bonn. Nevertheless he defended Orthodoxy, arguing that the
purpose of life was not to attain happiness, but to serve God.
The Torah, he insisted, was of divine origin and must be the
guiding principle of Jewish life. At the same time he believed that
it was possible to be fully observant, while being conversant with
modern culture. This position came to be known as Modern
Orthodoxy. There could be no compromise on the doctrine of
the God-given nature of the Torah and the Reform movement
must be unequivocally condemned. At the same time, Jews could
also have the benefit of a secular education and could enjoy the
fruits of modern culture.
Although Modern Orthodoxy was highly influential in
Western Europe, the Jews of Poland, Russia, and the Baltic States
were less affected by it. Western Europe had longer traditions of
democratic compromise; by contrast, in the more radical
traditions of Eastern Europe, disaffected Jews chose socialist
secularism as their preferred tool of protest against Orthodoxy.
Change was inevitable, but it was to come not as a result of
political emancipation, but in response to anti-semitism and the
opportunity of an entirely new life across the Atlantic Ocean.
Anti-semitism and Zionism
It was hoped that anti-semitism would disappear with the

transformation of Jewish life in Western Europe. This was not
to be the case. Instead the nature of Jew-hatred altered. In the
previous centuries, the Jews were regarded as social outcasts. The
Christian Gospels taught that the Jews had rejected Jesus as the
Messiah and had sent him to his crucifixion. The vast majority
of Christians could not understand why the Jews persisted in
their ancient faith since it had been superseded by Jesus’ teaching.
The Jews were seen as stubborn, obtuse, and blind to God’s
grace. Yet, if a Jew converted to Christianity, attitudes

immediately changed. The Jew was no longer a Jew; he or she
was a Christian. She/he gained all the rights and privileges of his/
her new status and, provided she/he completely rejected his/her
former beliefs, she/he became a fully accepted member of
Christian society.
The very term “anti-semitism” was not used until the 1870s
and it described a new prejudice. The inventor of the term,
Wilhelm Marr (1818–1904), insisted that the Jews were not alien
because of their religion, but because they were of a different and
foreign race. He believed that modern history should be
understood as an ongoing battle between “native Teutonic stock”
and the Semitic foreigner. By 1881 it was being claimed that the
Jewish physical type was a threat to the pure-bred German
nation. Jews were described as innately mercenary, egoistic,
materialistic, cowardly, and degenerate. These views were spread
in such publications as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This was
circulated in Russia from the late 1880s and was supposedly the
documents of a Jewish organization bent on world domination.
Although known to be a forgery, the Protocols are still circulated
in Russia today and are enjoying new audiences in the Arab
world and among some fanatic American groups.
In the late nineteenth century, anti-semitism became an
important factor in European politics. It was used by beleaguered
governments to focus discontent away from the authorities. In
Russia, attacks on the Jews were described as pogroms. A
pogrom was an onslaught on one sector of society by another
and all too often it included rape and murder as well as the
destruction of property. There was a series of pogroms against
the Jewish community of Russia between 1881 and 1884 after
the assassination of Czar Alexander I I (1818–81). The civil
powers did little to help the Jews—rather they encouraged the
mob and many Jews felt that the only safety lay in emigration
to the New World. A second wave of Russian pogroms occurred
between 1903 and 1906 and there was a third outbreak during
the Russian Revolution and the subsequent civil war. Altogether
it has been estimated that between 1917 and 1921, as many as
66 ö Judaism
150,000 Jewish people were killed by units of both the Red and
the White Armies. It was not surprising that the Jews of Eastern
Europe were anxious to leave. Between 1881 and the outbreak
of World War I in 1914, approximately two million settled in the
United States, a further 350,000 in Western Europe, 200,000 in
the United Kingdom, 40,000 in South Africa, 115,000 in the
Argentine, and 100,000 in Canada.
Western Europe was also not immune to Jew-hatred. The
Dreyfus case brought it to international notice. Alfred Dreyfus
(1859–1935) was a high ranking French Jewish army officer, who
was accused of high treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He consistently protested that he was innocent and it was
eventually discovered that his conviction was based on false
documents. Nevertheless, when he was tried again in 1899 a
second guilty verdict was returned and he was only finally
vindicated in 1906. The episode divided French public opinion;
many found it impossible to believe that a Jew could also be a
loyal Frenchman. A young journalist, Theodor Herzl (1860–
1904), described the scene of the conviction vividly: “The wild
screams of the street mob near the building of the military school
where it was ordered that Dreyfus be deprived of his rank, still
resound in my ears…”3
Herzl became convinced that the only solution to anti-
semitism was the foundation of a Jewish State. Palestine was
chosen as the site for this Jewish state because this is where Jewry
last ruled itself, and because of the biblical connections. The old
dream of returning to the Promised Land had been retained in
the Jewish community and was enshrined in the liturgy. It was
still believed that in the days of the Messiah, the Twelve Tribes
would be gathered together again and the Temple would be
rebuilt in Jerusalem. As early as 1882, after the first Russian
pogroms, a group of Jews had left for Palestine to establish
themselves as shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers. Herzl himself
argued for the creation of a Jewish State by international
agreement. He convened the First Zionist Conference in Basle in
1897 and devoted the rest of his short life to drumming up
diplomatic support. In fact, he himself was willing to consider
other locations besides Palestine. The British were prepared to

offer a tract of Uganda in Africa to the Jews and, after a visit to
the poverty-stricken Jewish villages of Russia, Herzl was so
desperate that he was prepared to accept. However, the proposal
aroused a storm of protest at the Sixth Zionist Conference and,
just before his death, Herzl was forced to affirm his commitment
to Palestine.
The small Jewish population in Palestine mainly consisted of
religious pilgrims in the Holy Cities, and was vastly
outnumbered by Palestine’s predominantly Muslim Arab
population. Furthermore, the land was under Ottoman Turkish
rule. Some Zionists, like the British Jewish author Israel
Zangwill, seeing the indigenous Arabs as mainly itinerant
nomads, called Palestine “A land without people for a people
without a land.” Others, though, were more far-sighted: in 1891
Ahad Ha-Am warned that Jews would not realize their dreams
unless they respected the rights and aspirations of Palestinian
Arabs. So with the benefit of hindsight it seems a clash was
inevitable.
There is an old saying that where there are four Jews there
are six opinions. This was certainly true in the Zionist
movement. The World Zionist Organization, founded by
Herzl, was the umbrella body. Socialist Jews also became
members of the Poale Zion (the Labour Zionist party). Those of
the Orthodox who were willing to participate joined the Mizrakhi
party, which was dedicated to the preservation of strictly
Orthodox ways within the new State. However, the majority of
Western and Eastern (except for the Orthodox) delegates to the
Zionist conferences were entirely secular in outlook and this
caused considerable conflict with the Orthodox Jewish
establishment in Europe. Prominent early Zionists included
Aaron David Gordon (1856–1922) who was determined to
encourage agricultural as well as commercial settlement, the
writers Ahad Ha-Am (1856–1927) and Chaim Nachman Bialik
(1873–1934) who were intent on producing a Hebrew rather than
a Yiddish culture, and the socialists Nahman Syrkin (1868–1924)
and Ber Borochov (1881–1917) who were encouraging the
68 ö Judaism
creation of collective agricultural settlements (Kibbutzim) and the

growth of trade unionism.
In the early days of Zionism, many of the strictly Orthodox
were uneasy. In 1912 they organized the Agudat Israel to unite
rabbis and lay people against the new movement. They
maintained that the Ingathering of the Exiles could not take place
until the Messiah had appeared and that it was forbidden to
anticipate or to force divine deliverance. Even after the
Holocaust, there were those who argued that the Zionist
commitment to the ingathering of the displaced Jews of Europe
was misguided since it is not possible to determine God’s plan
for his Chosen People prior to the coming of the Messiah.
After World War I, the newly formed League of Nations
agreed that Britain should administer Palestine. The Jewish
population continued to grow. In 1917, in the Balfour
Declaration, the British government had promised its support for
a Jewish State in Palestine. By the late 1920s, the various socialist
groups had joined together to form the Israel Labour Movement.
Chaim Weizman (1874–1952) was President of the World Zionist
Organization and he tried to cooperate with the British.
Meanwhile the Arab inhabitants of the land had become
increasingly nervous of Jewish immigration and by 1936 they
were launching offensives against the settlers. The situation was
becoming impossible. In 1937, a British Royal Commission
suggested that Palestine be partitioned between the two groups,
but this was rejected in the White Paper of 1939 and Jewish
immigration was substantially cut back. Nothing further could be
done while the battles of World War II waged. And meanwhile
calamity befell the Jews of Europe.
Judaism in the Twentieth Century
In the 1930s both Europe and the United States were in the
throes of serious economic depression. The situation was
particularly bad in Germany where between 1930 and 1933
more than six million people were unemployed. The government
The State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948 after British withdrawal. In the
face of Arab opposition, the UN had drawn up a plan whereby Palestine was
to be divided into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small internationally
administered zone around Jerusalem (see p. 72).
70 ö Judaism
was unstable and in 1933, after several ineffective coalitions,

Adolf Hitler (1885–1945) was appointed Chancellor. Hitler was
the leader of the National Socialist Party, the Nazis; his ideology
was based on a fusion of anti-Communism and anti-semitism. He
was convinced that all Jews were degenerates and parasites and
he argued in his book, Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), that it was
the treachery of the Jews which caused Germany to lose World
War I. He perceived the Jews as a demonic people, who were
seeking world wide domination. As he himself put it:
The black-haired Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end,

satanically glaring at and spying on the unsuspicious girl
whom he plans to seduce, adulterating her blood and
removing her from the bosom of her own people…the Jews
were responsible for bringing Negros into the Rhineland,
with the ultimate intention of bastardising the white race
which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political
level so that the Jew might dominate…4
Once the Nazis had gained power, a series of anti-Jewish

regulations came into force. Jews were deprived of citizenship,
were forbidden to marry, or have sexual relations with, German
citizens, and were compelled to register their property. Then, on
the night of November 9, 1938, the government organized a
concerted attack on all Jewish businesses and communal
institutions. Synagogues were burnt to the ground, shops were
destroyed and many individual Jews were murdered. The events
of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) made it clear to the
Jews of Germany that they could expect no mercy from the
Nazis. They tried to find means of escaping from the country
with their families, but it was not easy. The United States also
had many unemployed and was accepting very few new
immigrants. The British had curtailed Jewish settlement in
Palestine and the countries of Western Europe were not inclined
to take in any more refugees. Families resorted to desperate
measures, sending their children abroad without them to distant
relations or on Kindertransports (child-transports). All too many,
however, were forced to stay and once World War II had broken
out in September 1939, there was no escape.
The German armies overran Europe and everywhere they
continued their persecution of the Jews. In Poland there was a
large Jewish population and everywhere the Jews were seized and
were forced to participate in a massive work program. These
slave laborers toiled for seven days a week, were dressed in little
more than rags, and were given totally inadequate rations. Then,
once the Nazis had invaded Russia in 1941, special squadrons
known as Einsatzgruppen were coopted to deal with the Jews. In
each conquered town, the Jews were rounded up, marched out
to the countryside and shot. It has been estimated that between
October 1941 and December 1942 1.2 million people were
murdered in this way.
However, this was not sufficiently systematic or efficient for
the Nazi leaders. At the Wannsee Conference on January 20,
1942 the “final solution of the Jewish question” was outlined and
explained. A network of concentration and extermination camps
was set up. From all over Europe, the Jews were rounded up and
deported “for resettlement” in the East. Initially they were
crammed into ghetto areas in the major cities. From there they
were transferred to concentration camps. There, in the camps of
Chelmno, Auschwitz, Sobibor, Majdanek, Treblinka, and Belzec,
the young and fit were selected for work while the elderly, the
infirm, and children were sent to the gas chambers. The workers
lived in miserable conditions, in a state of perpetual fear, cold,
and hunger. Once they themselves became too weak to labor
they too were sent to their deaths. The camp at Auschwitz, in
southern Poland, could hold 140,000 prisoners and it had five
crematoria which could dispose of 10,000 bodies a day. The
whole operation was conducted with ruthless efficiency and even
when Germany was clearly losing the war, nothing was allowed
to hinder the transportation of Jewish civilians to the camps.
Altogether, it is generally thought that six million Jews died in
this Holocaust.
In many places the Jews did their best to resist. There were
several small-scale rebellions in the concentration camps and the
72 ö Judaism
inmates of the Warsaw ghetto held out for several weeks against
the might of the German Reich. Nonetheless, in most places the
Jews were poor and isolated; they were surrounded by hostile
neighbors and they were abandoned by the rest of the
world. They had no chance. By the end of World War I I,
European Jewry had effectively been decimated. The old
synagogues, Yeshivot, and centers of Jewish learning were
destroyed for ever.
The demise of Eastern European Jewry and the creation of
the State of Israel are two interrelated events. World Jewry rallied
to the Zionist cause. Jews had fought in the British, United
States, and Canadian armies but the problem of the refugee
concentration camp survivors seemed to be insoluble. Also, the
situation in Palestine itself was impossible. A sizeable sector of
the Jewish population, under the leadership of Menahem Begin
(1913–92), were prepared to employ terrorist tactics against the
British administrators. On November 6, 1944, Lord Moyne, the
British minister for Middle Eastern affairs, was assassinated. A
rift developed between the leader of the World Zionist
Organization, Chaim Weizman, and Begin over the bombing of
the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, but the campaign of violence
continued and culminated in the hanging of two British army
sergeants. The British could stand it no more. They handed over
the responsibility to the newly formed United Nations.
The Americans backed the Zionists. The President, Harry S.
Truman, was both personally sympathetic and anxious to secure
the Jewish vote in the 1948 Presidential election. The question
was first discussed in May 1947 and on November 29, the United
Nations General Assembly, with both Russian and American
support, agreed that Palestine should be partitioned into a Jewish
and an Arab state and that Jerusalem should be an international
zone (see map, p. 69). Zionists accepted the principle of partition,
but Arabs did not, reasoning that partition would deny them
their “national rights” over the whole land, as they claimed was
guaranteed by the United Nations charter.
Immediately the Arabs began to attack the Jewish
settlements, but, under the leadership of David ben Gurion
The Western Wall is the surviving part of the outer wall of the Temple in
Jerusalem. Regular services have been held there since the Middle Ages, and
today it remains a place of prayer for all Jews.
(1886–1973), the Jews consolidated their position. On May 14,

1948, the independence of the Jewish State of Palestine was
declared, based both on the resolution of the United Nations and
on “national and intrinsic right.” The new nation was to be called
Israel. Still the conflict continued and by 1949 the Israelis held
large tracts of land beyond the frontiers designated by the United
Nations. An armistice was eventually signed between Israel on
the one side and Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon on the other.
The peace was to be permanent.
War broke out again in 1956, in 1967 (when the Israelis
captured Jerusalem and the West Bank of the Jordan, the Gaza
74 ö Judaism
Strip, and the Golan Heights), and in 1973. Even today the
problem of Palestinian refugees, who constituted most of the pre-
war Arab population of Palestine, has still not been solved. In the
1947–8 war, more than half a million Arab refugees fled from
their homes. Some found sanctuary in the surrounding countries,
but too many live in temporary camps which are a constant
source of discontent and guerrilla activity.
Nonetheless, today the State of Israel is perhaps more secure
than at any time in its existence. Since 1978 the Egyptians have
participated in the peace process. Then in 1982, Israeli forces
invaded Lebanon in order to destroy Arab guerrilla bases. This
destabilized the area. Five years later, Palestinians in the occupied
territories began a concentrated program of resistance (intifada)
which involved stone throwing, ambushes, and selective strikes.
The Israelis realized that compromises would have to be made.
Beginning in 1991 further peace talks have taken place between
the government and the Palestinian Liberation Organization
which have raised hopes that an autonomous Arab Palestine
could be created which would coexist peaceably with Israel.
Talks were interrupted and the whole of Israeli society was
rocked by the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin by an
extremist Jewish student in 1995. Peace developments may also
have been threatened by the victory of the hardline Likud party
in the 1996 Israeli elections. Nonetheless, despite enormous
problems, there is no doubt that the international community
recognizes the existence of the Jewish State of Israel and, at the
same time, with pious Jews everywhere “prays for the peace of
Jerusalem.”5
Jewish Beliefs
and Practices 4
God and Torah
Before embarking on a discussion of the Jewish religion, it is

essential to emphasize again that by no means all people who
identify as Jews are religious. There is also
a wide variety of religious practice and belief
within the community. What follows here is
a brief description of traditional Orthodox
Judaism since that is the form of Judaism
which has been followed for hundreds of
years. At the same time it must be
remembered that many Jews in America, the
home of the largest community in the world,
are not Orthodox, and the Reform and
Conservative movements follow their own
customs and liturgies. Yet these, too, are
ultimately rooted in the Hebrew Bible. In addition, many Jews
practice no religion at all.
The essential belief of Judaism is that God is One. The
primary prayer of the Jewish faith is the assertion of this
conviction. It is known as the Shema from the Hebrew word for
“Hear!” When they rise in the morning, when they go to bed at
night, and, hopefully, on their deathbed, most Jews recite, “Shema
Israel, Adonai Eloheynu, Adonai Ehad!” (Hear O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is One). This is the supreme truth. It is the
essential message of the Scriptures and it was this unique insight
that God gave to the Jewish people. As it is written in the Book
of Deuteronomy, “To you it was shown that the Lord is God,
there is no one other besides Him.”1
75
76 ö Judaism
The One God is the source of the universe. The Book of

Genesis, the first book of the Bible, begins with the sentence, “In
the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”2 It goes
on to describe how He labored for six days making night and
day, the world and the sky, the seas and the dry land, vegetation
for food, the sun, the moon and the stars and all the creatures.
Finally He created human beings in His own image. Scholars and
laymen have argued for centuries about what it means, but most
agree that in the Jewish world view, humans, like their Creator,
are endowed with free will. They can choose between good and
evil. Some even describe history as an ongoing partnership
between God and man. And because we reflect God’s image,
human life is considered sacrosanct in Judaism. On the seventh
day He rested and this became known as the Sabbath (see page
15).
The creation is not regarded merely as an historical event.
Creation is seen as an ongoing process. Every seed that
germinates, every change in the weather and every new birth is
evidence of God’s involvement with the universe. At the same
time He transcends His creation. As the Book of Isaiah has it,
“My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways My
ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher
than your thoughts.”3
According to the Genesis account of the creation, once God
had done His work, He saw that it was good. It was a reflection
of His own nature. As the Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”4
This raises the question of how evil came into the world.
Throughout Jewish history, there has been intense speculation
about this and various alternatives have been raised. The
problem has become particularly acute since the horrors of the
Holocaust have been revealed. As the source of everything, God
is regarded in the tradition as being all-powerful and allknowing,
as well as all-good. It is hard to understand why, if God knew
about the Nazi Final Solution and if He was able to stop it, He
did not choose to do so. This does not seem compatible with His
Jewish Beliefs and Practices ö 77
infinite compassion. Again attempts have been made to resolve

this dilemma. For most, however, it is an insoluble problem.
God’s ways are inscrutable. In the Bible, when Job was struck
down with a series of undeserved misfortunes, he demanded an
explanation. God’s response was, “Where were you when I laid
the foundations of the earth?”5 For the pious, this is the only
possible answer. The existence of evil remains the ultimate
theological mystery.
The Jews believe that they are the Chosen People of the One
God. This does not mean that God shows favoritism. The
tradition stresses that chosenness involves responsibility as well
as privilege. The relationship of God with the Jews is
characterized as a covenantal two-sided bargain. The deal is spelt
out in the Book of Exodus: “If you will obey My voice and keep
My covenant, you shall be my own possession among all the
peoples.”6 In order to preserve the relationship, the Jews must
keep God’s law. The clear connection between obedience to the
law and chosenness is emphasized in the liturgy. In the
synagogue, when each reader is called up to the scroll of the Torah
(here the Five Books of Moses), he recites, “Blessed art Thou,
O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast chosen us from
all peoples and hast given us Thy law.”7
Torah is the Hebrew word for “law.” In Judaism it is used to
refer to the Pentateuch, but in its broader sense it can also include
the whole body of Written and Oral Law, or the entire Jewish
way of life. Torah covers every detail—foods that are permitted,
proper clothing, conduct towards fellow Jews, dealings with all
human beings, the role of women, the duties of parents and
children, the festivals which must be celebrated, and the fasts that
must be observed.
Nonetheless, the sages made an important distinction
between the revelation of the Pentateuch and that of the rest of
Scripture. The Pentateuch is thought to have been given directly
by God to Moses and it is thus held in the most reverence. It is
written by hand on a long scroll, rolled and kept in the ark, the
central focal point of the synagogue. When it is removed from
the ark, the congregation stands and it is treated with utmost
78 ö Judaism
ART FOCUS J EWS H AVE T E N D E D T O B U I LD their

synagogues in the style of their hpst
Synagogue nations. Thus the synagogues of Europe,
built in the Middle Ages, were often
Design constructed in the Romanesque or Gothic
style. In Poland in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, village synagogues
were often simple wooden buildings with
tiled roofs. In the nineteenth century, in
affluent Jewish communities, grandiose
edifices in the Moorish, Egyptain, Gothic,
or Classical style became usual. In reeent
years, particularly in the United States, the
trend has been for modern, exciting
buildings—a famous example being the synagogue desinged by
Frank Lloyd Wright for the Beth Shalom congrega tion of Elkins
Park, Pennsylvania.
In Hebrew the synagogue is called the Bet Ha-Knesset, or
assembly house, which speaks more of its historic social function
than its spiritual significance. The Yiddish-speaking communities
of Eastern Europe used to describe the building as a ‘shul’—
literally a school. A synagogue is, therefore, a place of study and
learning as well as a place of prayer. In contrast, the Temple in
Jerusalem was believed to be the House of God. In a very real
sense God was believed to dwell in the Holy of Holies, the
Temple’s innermost sanctum and sacrifices were offered in the
Temple courts three times a day. Since the destruction of the
Temple in 70 C.E., Jews have not practiced sacrifice. Instead
worship is offered to God through regular prayer and occasional
fasting.
The organization of the synagogue building reflects its use.
The focus of the structure is the ark, a large cupboard sometimes
richiy decorated, which contains the Scrolls of the Law. The ark
is the nearest point of the building to Jerusalem, the holy city.
The Scrolls of the Law are written by hand and contain the text
of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.
In the traditional
synagogue, much of the
central space is taken up
by the reading desk, and
the seating is mainly
along the sides facing
inward. The columns
support the women’s
gallery.
They are read at the morning service in such a way that the
whole text is heard every year. In the center of the building is
the bimah, the dais, from which the service is conducted. Any
Jewish man (and among the non-Orthodox any woman as well)
may conduet all, or part of, liturgical service and members of the
congregation are formally called up to read from the Scrolls, In
Orthodox and Modern Orthodox synagogues, provision is made
for the women to sit apart from the men, in order that they can
pray without distraction or disturbing the men from their
prayers.
80 ö Judaism
reverence. The text is divided into 54 portions and every week

one section is read aloud. Its importance in Jewish life cannot be
overestimated. In the words of the liturgy, “It is the tree of
life to those who grasp it and those who hold it are truly
happy…”8
Altogether there are 613 commandments in the Pentateuch
and these have been explained and interpreted in the vast
treasury of Oral Law. Still later this great body of law was
codified. The strictly Orthodox regard the whole Torah, Written,
Oral, and Codes, to be the word of God. It is what separates the
Jews from the other nations. As we have seen, the non-Orthodox
(the Conservative and the Reform) take a more liberal view.
Nonetheless, it is obedience to God’s law which has defined the
identity of the Jews and ensured their survival, while so many
other religious groups of the ancient world have disappeared.
The rabbis indulged in theological speculation, but it was not
regarded as important. What counted was faithfulness to God’s
covenant. The point is movingly illustrated in a well known story
about the Holocaust. One evening, amidst all the squalor of the
camp, a group of scholars gathered together to put God on trial.
How could He tolerate what was happening to His people? The
debate raged all night and, in the end, there could be only one
conclusion. God had somehow failed His chosen. The Jewish
religion was based on a falsehood. As the discussion drew to a
close, dawn was breaking and another day of cruel work lay
ahead. All the participants stood and prayed the traditional
morning service together.
From Day to Day
Services are held three times a day in Orthodox synagogues. This

corresponds with the time the sacrifices were offered in the
Temple in Jerusalem. For the service to take place, there must be
at least ten adult men present. Women traditionally do not count
towards this quorum and, today, it is often difficult to raise the
necessary number. Non-Orthodox Jews, who insist on absolute
equality between the sexes, do count women in. Most Reform

Temples (as they are called), however, do not hold daily
services.
At the core of the liturgy are the two prayers, the Shema
(“Hear O Israel…”) and the Amidah, originally a series of 18
blessings. The Shema declares the essential unity of God and the
necessity of remembering His commandments. They are to be
“bound as frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them
on the doorposts of your house.”9 Jews fulfill this by putting on
phylacteries (tefillin) and by nailing a mezuzah to their
doorposts. In Orthodox Judaism only men wear phylacteries, but
in Reform Judaism women, especially women rabbis, sometimes
also wear them. Phylacteries are special boxes containing certain
Biblical verses written by hand on parchment, which are attached
to straps. One box is placed over the head so it sits squarely
between the eyes and the other is wound around the left arm so
that it lies against the heart. These phylacteries are put on during
the morning service every day, except for the Sabbath and on
festivals. The mezuzah is another small box containing parchment.
On the parchment is written the first two paragraphs of the Shema
prayer. The box is nailed on the righthand doorpost. Almost all
Jews who have any connection with Judaism have a mezuzah by
their front door, while the strictly Orthodox have one on every
door in the house (except the bathroom door). Both the
phylacteries and the mezuzah are visible signs which remind the
pious of their duty toward God and recall their awesome
obligations as members of the chosen people.
The blessings of the Amidah prayer are traditionally recited
while standing. They include a request for the restoration of the
Temple; God is thanked for His many mercies and peace is asked
for the people of Israel. In Reform Judaism the prayer for peace
is asked for Israel and the whole world. Other important prayers
in the daily service include the Kaddish and the Alenu. The
Kaddish is an expression of longing for the establishment of God’s
sovereignty over the earth. It is said at the end of each major
section of the liturgy and by mourners at the end of the service.
Since it is a religious obligation to recite Kaddish for 11 months
82 ö Judaism
after the death of a close relative and since it can only be said
in the religious quorum, this does something to guarantee the
presence of ten worshipers at the daily service. The Alenu prayer
proclaims the Kingship of God over all the world and it
concludes the service.
Although the synagogue is the central communal institution
of the Jewish faith, the home remains the real focus of religious
life. Traditionally women are exempted from the positive
timebound commandments (such as attending the daily services)
because their role as homemaker and mother is so crucial.
Among the Orthodox, every detail of daily life is covered by the
commandments. This even includes food and clothing. One of
the most recognizable signs of a male Jew is the skull cap, the
yarmulke or kippah. The strictly Orthodox have it on at all
times, but the Progressive tend only to wear it for prayer.
Interestingly, the custom is not ancient. It only goes back to
about the twelfth century C.E. and it was probably only
introduced to distinguish Jewish from Christian practice (since
Christian men always pray with their heads uncovered).
Orthodox men also generally have beards. This is because the
Book of Leviticus forbids the cutting of the corner of the facial
hair.10 It is also customary to allow the side locks to grow.
Another element of Orthodox appearance is the wearing of
fringes. According to the Torah, the Israelites were instructed to
“make tassels on the corner of their garments…it shall be to you
a tassel to look upon and to remember all the commandments.”11
This is fulfilled by wearing an undergarment (talit) with fringes
(tzitzit) on the four corners. For Modern Orthodox and Reform
Jews the talit is a prayer-shawl, an overgarment. It is worn by
women as well as men in Reform Judaism. The fringes of the talit
are tied in a particular way to symbolize the numerical value of
the Name of God. Since it is an undergarment, it is not normally
seen although often a fringe is brought out above the trouser
waistband and tucked into a pocket. Similar fringes are put on
the four corners of the shawl which is worn for prayer in the
synagogue. Orthodox women’s dress is characterized by
modesty. Married women are expected to keep their heads
covered at all times and, particularly among the Hasidim, this is

fulfilled by wearing a wig. In addition, men may not wear
women’s clothes nor women men’s; this means that young
Orthodox women are not to be seen wearing garments such as
jeans.
If there is a single factor which has kept the Jewish people
separate from the other nations, it is their food laws. Muslims
inherited the idea of ritually pure food from the Jews, but most
Christians by contrast regarded the strictures as null and void,
as they believed the New Covenant superseded the Old. Not
only are certain categories of food completely forbidden, even
permitted animals and birds must be slaughtered in a particular
way and milk foods must not be eaten with meat foods. This
means, in effect, that all secular restaurant food and everything
prepared in Gentile houses is non-kosher (ritually unfit to eat).
According to the creation story in the Book of Genesis, the first
human beings were vegetarians. Meat eating was only permitted
after the Great Flood.12 However, even then it was hedged round
with so many restrictions that many authorities teach that in the
days of the Messiah, humanity will return to vegetarianism. Only
animals which have both a cloven hoof and chew the cud may
be eaten and only birds which are commonly used for food
qualify Pigs, for example, are forbidden because they do not
chew the cud and all birds of prey are non-kosher. The creature
must be slaughtered by a qualified butcher. It is killed by a quick
downward slice to the throat and hung so that the blood is
immediately drained off. This is because eating the blood is not
allowed. There are no specific rules of slaughter for fish, but not
all sea creatures are permitted—only those with both fins and
scales. Thus observant Jews do not eat any form of shellfish or
eel.
In three places in the Pentateuch is written the
commandment, “You shall not seethe the kid in its mother’s
milk.”13 This has been interpreted to mean that meat and dairy
food may not be eaten together. Since minute particles of food
can permeate crockery and cutlery, the observant housewife has
two completely different sets of plates and saucepans. There must
84 ö Judaism
even be separate washing up bowls, draining boards, and

preparation areas. Today, in strietly observant homes, it is not
uncommon to see two sinks, two refrigerators and even two
dishwashers. It also means that no manufactured foods can enter
the house unless they are guaranteed to be kosher—that the rules
of slaughter have been observed and that there is no
intermingling of milk and meat. Many mass produced products
today carry a certificate which shows that every stage of
the processing has been inspected by a recognized religious
authority.
It is often argued that the kosher food laws were developed
for reasons of health. Pork is said to be forbidden, for example,
because it can be a host for tapeworm. In fact no such
explanation is given in the Torah. The laws of Kashrut, together
with the laws for clothing and for every other aspect of daily life,
are believed to have been laid down by God for’His Chosen
People. That, for the Orthodox, is the end of the matter. Among
the observant, Jewish living in every detail is a reminder of the
special relationship which exists between God and Israel. It calls
for no other justification. However, it must be remembered that
this level of observance is only practiced by a small number
within the community.
The food laws are a particularly interesting illustration of the
wide variety which exists within the community. For the very
Orthodox, food is only kosher if it is approved by one of their own
rabbinical authorities. Most Modern Orthodox, however, would
accept any kosher authority and some may make various
compromises in their own lives. So, for example, they might keep
a kosher home, but eat any vegetarian food out. Or they might
eat anything out. The laws of Kashrut are also increasingly being
practiced by the Conservatives and the Reform. Some keep kosher
homes; some merely avoid pork and shellfish. Vegetarianism,
both for religious and for health reasons, is on the increase.
Many other Jews simply ignore the food laws, reasoning that
they have no moral validity, other than reminding people they
are Jewish. Thus there is a full spectrum of observance.
From Year to Year
Traditionally Jewish life is dominated by the regular rhythm of

the weekly Sabbath and the annual fast days and festivals.
Because the Jewish calendar year is based on a lunar calendar,
while the secular year is solar, these yearly celebrations do not
seem to occur on the same day every year. The 12 Jewish months
contain only 354 days and the shortfall is made up by adding a
thirteenth month every few years. This ensures that the festivals
occur at roughly the same time of year although not on the same
secular date.
An Orthodox Sabbath has already been described in the first
chapter. It occurs on Saturday, the seventh day of the week,
because God himself rested from the work of creation on the
seventh day.14 It starts on Friday evening and ends after the stars
appear on Saturday. For the full 25 hours it is a time of rest, a
day of pleasure and delight. It begins with the mother of the
household lighting the Sabbath candles and it ends the following
evening with Havdalah, a ceremony involving wine, spices, a
blessing, and a special lighted candle. The spices refresh the soul;
the lighting of the candle symbolizes the end of the Sabbath; and
the blessing thanks God for the distinction He has made between
the sacred and the secular. The Sabbath is a time to enjoy friends
and family, to study the Torah, and for husbands and wives to
make love to one another, and to worship God. For many Jews
today the traditional restrictions seem confining and
oldfashioned. Nonetheless, the Sabbath is still kept to a greater
or lesser extent among all the denominations. Sharing Sabbath
meals, attending synagogue, and taking a walk together as a
family provides a regular, tranquil interlude in their busy lives.
According to the Book of Deuteronomy, the Jewish people
are to celebrate three pilgrim festivals every year: “Three times
a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at
a place which He will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread
(Passover), at the feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and at the feast of
booths (Sukkot).” 15 When the Temple was still standing,
thousands of Jews went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices on
86 ö Judaism
these days. All three feasts have agricultural connotations as well

as commemorating events in Jewish history. Passover, the spring
festival, celebrates the start of the barley harvest as well as the
liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. It lasts for seven
days (eight outside the land of Israel) and during this time,
observant Jews eat nothing made with raising agents. This means
that the whole house must be cleaned from top to bottom and
special Passover cutlery and crockery must be brought out. On
the first night, a special Passover meal (seder) is eaten during
which the story of God’s rescue of the Jews is told once more.
Even the most secular attend a Passover meal and often have the
most vivid childhood memories of the occasion. It is an
opportunity for the whole extended family to get together and
the evening ends with the long-cherished hope, “Next year in
Jerusalem!” 16 Unlike most festivals, which center on the
synagogue, the highpoint of Passover (Pesach), the seder meal,
takes place at home. It is suffused with vividly contrasting
symbols. Salt water (for tears) and horseradish (for bitterness)
hark back to the days when Jews were slaves in Egypt. Yet the
mandatory four cups of wine and copious cushions remind them
that they are now free. As for eggs and fresh greens, these
symbolize the hope of spring, rebirth, and fertility It is said that
the Christian Easter is based on the Jewish Passover, and
certainly both festivals tend to fall at around the same time each
year.
Shavuot celebrates the end of the barley harvest and occurs
seven weeks after Passover. It also commemorates the giving of
the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai so, in a real sense, it is the
birthday of the Jewish religion. It is the custom to eat milk foods
on Shavuot because, like milk, the Torah nourishes everyone from
the very young to the very old, and traditionally it is the time
when boys and girls graduate from the synagogue religious
school, having completed their formal religious education.
Among the Reform, the ceremony of confirmation has been
introduced for sixteen-year-olds as an incentive to stay in school
beyond the Bar/Bat Mitzvah age (see next section). Sukkot, the
feast of tabernacles, takes place in the autumn. It is a harvest
festival as well as a reminder of the Jews’ wanderings in the

wilderness before they reached the Promised Land. They are
supposed to live in a tabernacle (a temporary booth or hut) for
the full eight (or nine outside Israel) days of the festival and there
are detailed specifications as to how the structure should be built.
At any rate, main meals should be eaten there, but in colder
climates there is no obligation to sleep in it. Jews are also
instructed how to make a lulav, a bundle of palm, willow and
myrtle branches. Holding this in one hand and a citron (or etrog,
a lemon-like fruit) in the other, they wave the lulav in all
directions in the synagogue to symbolize God’s control of all
space. On the final day, the annual cycle of Torah reading is ended
and a new cycle is begun. This is a cause of enormous rejoicing.
The Torah scrolls are carried in procession around the synagogue
amidst laughter and joy. In Hasidic communities, so great is the
enthusiasm that it is not unusual for the procession to spill out
onto the street.
There are also various minor and joyous festivals,
particularly popular with children, the two best known being
Hanukkah, the feast of lights, and Purim, the feast of Esther. In
recent years Hanukkah has assumed considerable prominence
because it occurs at much the same time as the Christian and
commercial festival of Christmas. It celebrates the victory of
Judas Maccabeus over the Hellenizing Seleucid kings of the
second century B.C.E. It lasts for eight nights; presents are
exchanged and an additional candle is lit every night. Purim
occurs in the late winter and commemorates the escape of the
Jewish people from the murderous designs of the wicked Haman
who, according to the Biblical Book of Esther, wanted to destroy
the Persian Jewish community. It is celebrated in the synagogue
with readings and pageants.
The most important solemn days begin with the New Year
(Rosh Hashanah) in the fall. This is the start of the Ten Days
of Penitence which conclude with the Day of Atonement (yom
Kippur). The Mishnah teaches that all human beings pass before
God on the New Year and are subject to judgment. A very small
proportion are seen to be fully righteous and another group is
88 ö Judaism
One of the three Pilgrim festivals, Sukkot commemorates God’s protection of the
Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness toward the promised land of
Canaan. These schoolchildren hold in one hand the lulav (a bundle made up of
a palm branch, myrtle twigs, and willow twigs) and the etrog (a citrus fruit)
in the other. The plants are waved toward the four compass points, the earth
and sky, while God is praised and acknowledged as the unmoving center of
creation.
immediately rejected as irredeemably wicked. The vast majority
are in the middle. They have ten days to repent of their evil ways
and to purge themselves in the great fast of Yom Kippur. On Rosh
Hashanah, the shofar (ram’s horn) is blown. This makes a strange,
unearthly sound which calls the people to repentence. As the
great twelfth-century philosopher, Maimonides, put it, the shofar

is commanding “Awake you sinners and ponder your deeds;
remember your Creator, forsake evil and return to God.”17 The
Day of Atonement is the most solemn day in the Jewish year.
Every adult Jew, male and female, is expected to fast from sunset
until nightfall the next day and, by this means, atonement for sin
is made. The observant spend the whole day in synagogue
praying for forgiveness. Even the more secular frequently attend
the services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Jews who never go
at any other time remain fascinated by the ritual and symbolism
and the synagogues are full.
Other fasts include the Ninth Day of Av (Tisha B’Av), which
commemorates the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians
in 586 B.C.E. and by the Romans in 70 C.E. This is not
generally observed by the Reform, on the grounds that they
neither expect nor desire the rebuilding of the Temple, although
in recent years it has been revived. Less important are the fast
of Tammuz which commemorates the breaching of the walls of
Jerusalem by the Babylonian and the Roman armies, and the fast
of Tevet on which the start of the Babylonian siege is remembered.
In Israel this is also observed as a day of remembrance for the
six million Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust. Elements of
fasting include abstention from food and drink, from bathing,
from making love, and from wearing leather. In general Judaism
is not a particularly ascetic religion, but through this annual
pattern of fasts, the pious Jew can discipline his physical nature
and vicariously share in the disasters which have befallen the
Jewish people throughout the ages.
From Birth to Death
From ancient times all Jewish boys have been circumcised.

According to the tradition, the practice (known as the Brith Milah)
goes back to the Patriarch Abraham. Today the operation is still
performed eight days after the birth. The child is held firmly and
the actual surgery is performed by a Mohel, a professional
90 ö Judaism
circumciser. This is a job which requires considerable training.

Just before it, the father makes a blessing: “Blessed art Thou, O
Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us
through Thy commandments and hast commanded us to make
our sons enter the covenant of Abraham.” 18 To this, the
assembled company respond, “Even as this child has entered into
the covenant, so may he enter into the Torah, the marriage canopy
and into good deeds.” The child is given his Hebrew name and
the ceremony is generally followed by a party. The practice of
circumcision is deeply rooted in the community. Secular Jews,
too, will often circumcise their sons—though perhaps by a
surgeon rather than at a religious ceremony.
The birth of a daughter is recorded by a short baby blessing
in the normal synagogue service. Compared with the celebration
accompanying a circumcision, it is a small affair. In recent years,
largely as a result of the feminist movement, there have been
attempts to introduce a special service for baby girls to celebrate
their entry into the covenant. Although several alternatives have
been proposed, few have as yet succeeded in capturing the potent
mixture of pain, blood, insecurity, joy, and ancient symbolism of
masculine circumcision.
If the baby boy is the firstborn of his mother, a further
ceremony (Pidyan Ha-Ben) takes place a month later. According to
the tradition, the firstborn son belongs to God and must be
redeemed by his parents. This involves the symbolic payment of
a sum of money or a small article of silver to a priest. Priests
(kohens) have few functions in Judaism, but some members of
the community, including Jews with the surname Cohen, trace
their ancestry to the priestly families that served in ancient Israel.
At the ceremony, the father hands over the money and the priest
(kohen) holds it over the baby and says, “This instead of that,
this in commutation for that and this in remission for that.”19 He
then prays for the child and gives the traditional priestly
benediction. This ceremony is not practiced by Reform Jews—
partly because the Reform Jews are not convinced by claims of
priestly ancestry and secondly because it is seen as
discriminatory to little girls.
At the age of 13, a boy is obliged to fulfill all the commandments, and in
the synagogue he is called up to read from the Torah at the Bar Mitzvah
ceremony.
According to Jewish law, parents have an obligation to

educate their children and boys, in particular, are expected to be
learned in Orthodox circles. At the age of 13, the boy attains
Jewish adulthood. From then on he is expected to keep the
commandments and his presence in the synagogue counts
towards the necessary quorum for worship. When he reaches this
status, he is known as Bar Mitzvah (son of the commandment).
Traditionally it simply involves the boy being called up in the
synagogue to read from the Torah scroll. For an Orthodox child
who is experiencing an intensive Jewish education, this is not
difficult. Boys raised in Orthodox households tend to find it easy
to read the Hebrew text, but special lessons help out those less
familiar with the language, so that they can sing their “portions”
with as much proficiency as their more observant fellows. Often
the ceremony is accompanied by a lavish party. In general the
92 ö Judaism
religious establishment is embarrassed about this, but feels

powerless to stop it. Disappointingly too, once the event is over,
many boys feel no incentive to continue with their Jewish
education.
Once the Reform movement preferred to keep both boys and
girls in religious school until the age of 16, rather than hold Bar
Mitzvah services. However, community pressure ensured that now
both boys and girls have their own ceremony. Girls at the age
of 12 become Bat Mitzvah (daughter of the commandment) and
their event is identical in every respect to their brothers’. Among
the Modern Orthodox, girls also have a ceremony, but they do
not read from the Torah scrolls. The strictly Orthodox continue
to do very little to mark a girl’s coming of age. More than a mere
concession, for Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox
alike, the Bat Mitzvah confirms contemporary views of Jewish
women’s roles in the community.
The next major life-cycle event is marriage. Jews have no
tradition of celibacy and among the strictly Orthodox, young men
and women tend to marry in their late teens or early twenties. It
is quite usual for the parents to support the young couple until the
husband has finished his Jewish education. Among the non-
Orthodox things are not so straightforward. The young people go
to secular universities and embark on lengthy professional training.
Away from home and often detached from the community, they
frequently choose non-Jewish marriage partners. Intermarriage is
said to pose the greatest threat to the continuance of the Dispersion
community in its present form today. In the United States in the
late 1980s, more than half of marriages involving Jews were mixed
marriages. Generally the children of such unions are not brought
up as Jews and are lost to the community.
Some of the non-Jewish spouses do convert to Judaism. More
often a Jewish boy falls in love with a non-Jewish girl. He wants
to marry her, but he also wants to have Jewish children. The
Orthodox accept converts, but insist that the conversion must be
the result of a desire to be Jewish, not from a desire to be
married. The Progressive movements, on the other hand, are
more accommodating. Believing that if Judaism is to survive then
converts are to be welcomed, their synagogues and Temples

provide regular conversion courses. In consequence, the vast
majority of those converted to Judaism in this century have come
through the Progressive organizations. The problem with this is
that the Orthodox do not recognize these people as Jews. As far
as they are concerned, they are still Gentiles and, if they are
women, their children will also be Gentiles. Today there are
many members of Reform and Conservative synagogues who
perceive themselves as Jews, who bring up their children as Jews,
who are regarded as Jews in their own communities, but who are
seen as non-Jews by the Orthodox.
Nonetheless, provided the particular synagogue accepts both
partners as Jews, a Jewish wedding can be celebrated. This takes
place under a marriage canopy (chupah) with both sets of parents
supporting their children. A formal marriage contract (ketubah) is
drawn up and signed by witnesses. Often these contracts are
beautifully illustrated, and are treasured as a keepsake by the
couple. These days increasing numbers of Jews enjoy customizing
their own ketuboth, by incorporating artwork which reveals
aspects of their two personalities. In this way they can create a
uniquely personal item which affirms their faith in each other,
and in Judaism. Then the bride and groom drink from a glass
of wine and the bridegroom puts the wedding ring on the bride’s
finger, saying the words, “Behold thou art betrothed to me with
this ring in accordance with the Law of Moses and Israel”.20 This
is followed by seven benedictions in which blessings are asked for
the young couple and the ceremony concludes with the
bridegroom stepping on a glass and breaking it. The origin of
this custom is obscure, but it is thought to be a reminder that
even during the joy of a wedding, the destruction of Jerusalem
must not be forgotten.
A Jewish wedding is the cause of tremendous rejoicing. To
quote one of the blessings, marriage is regarded as a state of “Joy
and gladness, laughter and exaltation, pleasure and delight, love,
peace and friendship.” Judaism does recognize divorce, but it is
regarded as a tragedy and Jews are known for their strong family
life.
94 ö Judaism
Finally life has to come to an end. The tradition emphasizes

that the utmost regard and consideration should be shown to the
dying. They should be urged to make their final confession to
God and ideally their last words will be those of the Shema
(“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”). 21
According to Jewish law, the body must be buried as soon as
possible after death and the general principle is that the dead
must be honored. The body must never be left alone. Among the
Orthodox, it is ritually washed and buried in a simple linen or
cotton shroud and the coffin contains no metal. The rabbi leads
the funeral procession to the cemetery and prayers are said while
the coffin is lowered into the ground and the grave filled.
Generally a eulogy is made extolling the virtues of the deceased
and finally the Kaddish, a prayer of praise of God and for peace,
is recited.
Once the funeral is over, the family returns home to begin
a seven day period of mourning. This is known as sitting Shiva.
During this week, visitors from the community come to express
their condolences and the family does not leave the house except
perhaps to go to synagogue. During this time the mourners
should recite the Kaddish three times each day to coincide with
the daily services. Then, for the next 30 days, there is a time of
lesser mourning when the Kaddish continues to be said, but the
mourners gradually resume their regular routines. In the case of
parents, Kaddish is said for a full year. Since it can only be said
in a quorum of ten men, attendance at synagogue is mandatory
during this period. Subsequently, every year, the dead person is
remembered on the Hebrew date of his or her death. This death
anniversary is known as the Yahrzeit and the practice is to light
a candle which burns for the full day. Thus, in the Jewish
tradition, the memory of those who have died is kept alive in the
minds and hearts of those who loved them by a regular annual
ritual.
By contrast with the Orthodox, Reform Jews occasionally
choose to be cremated. Nonetheless the practices of saying
Kaddish occasionally and lighting a Yahrzeit candle are widely
observed even among the most secular.
Judaism in the
Twenty-first Century 5
The Future Hope
The strictly Orthodox continue to perceive the future in religious

terms. Through the long centuries of exile from the Promised
Land, the Jewish people hoped and prayed for signs that God
would intervene in world history. Central to these beliefs was the
coming of God’s anointed King, the
Messiah. According to the Psalmist in the
Bible, God promised that King David and
his descendants would rule over Israel for
all time. 1 The last Davidic King was
removed from the throne by the
Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. Increasingly
God’s pledge was seen as a prediction of
the future. God Himself would establish
His sovereignty over the world; truth and
justice would reign and this rule would
last forever. Belief in the future Messiah was the twelfth of
Maimonides’ principles of the faith and the philosopher insisted
that anyone who had doubts about him contradicts the Torah.
In the long course of Jewish history, there have been many
messianic claimants. The best known are Jesus of Nazareth (first
century C.E.), the founder of Christianity, Simeon bar Kokhba
(second century C.E.), who led a rebellion against the Romans
in 132 C.E., David Alroy (twelfth century), who led the Jews of
Baghdad to believe that they would all fly to Jerusalem on the
wings of angels, and Shabbetai Zevi (1626–76), whose career has
already been discussed in Chapter 4. An important messianic
95
96 ö Judaism
candidate has also appeared in recent years. Menahem Mendel

Schneersohn (1902–94), the leader of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, was
perceived by many of his followers to fulfill the messianic
prophecies. However, the vast majority of Jews, Orthodox,
Reform, and secular alike, reject this claim. Even after his death,
many of his devoted disciples were convinced that he would
return again.
Over the centuries there has been much discussion as to what
will happen when the Messiah does arrive. The rabbis of the
Talmud believed that he would usher in a golden age, a time of
total happiness. As God’s chosen agent, he would restore justice,
teach the Torah, and right all wrongs. The Twelve Tribes of the
Israelite people would miraculously be gathered together again
in the Land of Israel and all nations would look to Jerusalem for
spiritual enlightenment. Thus the Zionist movement was a
serious problem for the strictly Orthodox. According to the
traditional scheme of things, the Jews were not meant to return
to the land before the coming of the Messiah. In effect the
Zionists despiritualized the promise of the return and saw the
establishment of the Jewish State as a political rather than a
religious goal. Today, there are still a few, very Orthodox, groups
who do not accept the legitimacy of the State of Israel. Some may
even live in the land, but they take no part in the political process
and they continue to wait for divine deliverance. The majority
of the Orthodox community, however, perceive the new State as
the start, but not the fulfillment, of the messianic age. In view
of the current state of affairs in the Middle East, this position
becomes increasingly difficult to sustain since a major
characteristic of the days of the Messiah is that there will be
universal peace.
At the other end of the religious spectrum, the leaders of the
Reform movement in the nineteenth century also rejected the
messianic hope but for different reasons. They insisted that the
Jews were not a nation but a religious community, and they
considered the idea of the Messiah as too particularist and
nationalistic. Instead, they understood the messianic age as a time
of truth, justice, and peace which would be achieved by
Judaism in the Twenty-first Century ö 97
education, economic reform, and scientific discovery. The

Holocaust finally convinced the Reform establishment of the
Zionist cause. While supporting Israel, in general Reform
congregations remain committed to social action as the divinely
ordained means of transforming the world. In this century,
Reform lawyers have been in the forefront of the Civil Rights
cause; they have thrown their weight behind the liberation of
women and they have been closely involved in the various peace
movements. Thus the old expectation of God establishing His
kingdom has been transformed into a secular commitment to
social, political, and educational reform.
Traditionally the Jewish hope for the future was centered on
this world—that the King-Messiah would establish God’s
Kingdom on earth. And, if it did not occur in one’s own lifetime,
then it would happen in the days of one’s children or one’s
children’s children. A doctrine of personal immortality only
began to develop in the fourth or third century B.C.E., possibly
as a result of Babylonian influence. It was not accepted by
everyone. Even in the first century C.E., while the Pharisees
insisted that the doctrine of life after death was implicit in the
Scriptural texts, the Sadducees continued to reject it. By the
twelfth century, however, a belief in the final resurrection of the
dead was so established that it is listed as one of Maimonides’
principles of the Jewish faith. The idea, as taught by the rabbis
of the Talmud, was that in the Messianic Age, the dead would rise
from their sleep and would be judged before God. Maimonides
himself thought that after the resurrection, those who had been
judged would die again and it was only the souls of human
beings that were immortal.
Today most religious Orthodox Jews would agree with him.
The modern understanding of scientific matter makes a physical
resurrection difficult to accept. Nonetheless, belief in a final
reward and punishment is an integral part of the tradition. In the
past, it was generally agreed that the righteous would enter
Heaven. This is described in the literature as being a place of
beauty and delight. Meanwhile, those who have been rejected by
God will be subjected to a series of appalling tortures. The notion
98 ö Judaism
of divine judgment is an essential component of the liturgy for

the New Year and the Day of Atonement. However, modern Jews
have, in general, rejected the idea of divine punishment. In his
commentary on the traditional Prayer Book, the late chief rabbi
of the British Commonwealth, J.H.Hertz, unequivocally asserted
that “Judaism rejects the doctrine of eternal punishment” and that
“Many and various are the folk beliefs and poetical fancies…but
our most authoritative religious guides however proclaim that no
eye has seen, nor can mortal fathom, what awaiteth us in the
Hereafter; but that even the tarnished soul will not forever be
denied spiritual bliss.” 2 This seems to be a serious omission.
If the wicked are not to be punished and all, in the end, are
to be rewarded, it is hard to recognize the ultimate justice of
God.
Thus the Jewish belief in the future is obscure. The strictly
Orthodox continue to pray that God will send His Messiah to
bring in the final golden age, to gather in the remnants of the
Jewish people, to resurrect the dead and to exercise final
judgment. The vast majority no longer expect this. The Reform
and the Conservative believe that the soul is immortal, but they
are not precise in their teaching. In particular, they have rejected
the idea of eternal torment and many go still further. Many do
not expect God ever to make His presence manifest in the world
and they have lost all belief in personal immortality. The focus
of their Jewishness lies either in their loyalty to the political State
of Israel or in an abstract commitment to the survival of the
Jewish people. These have become the twin pillars of modern
Judaism—Israel and Jewish continuity. Many commentators do
not believe that they will be enough to sustain Jewish identity
through the next millennium.
The Survival of the Jewish State
Modern Israel, the Jewish State, was not created by the Messiah.
It was the result of massive Jewish immigration, sympathetic
world opinion, and a resolution of the United Nations. From its

earliest days it has been in peril. When the United Nations
recommended in 1947 that there should be a Jewish State, the
surrounding Arab nations were determined that it should not be
in their territory in the Middle East. In the War of Independence,
the Jewish settlers were fighting against a vastly larger force, and
even when the Arabs were defeated, they refused to recognize the
new State’s existence. In effect, Israel was under siege. Between
the end of the War of Independence in 1948 and 1993, more
than 18,000 Israelis had been killed in battle or been the victim
of terrorist attack. In addition, world opinion turned against
Israel during that period. In 1975 the United Nations condemned
Zionism as a form of racism and increasingly the Israeli army
was seen as an oppressive, imperialistic force.
The Palestinian problem has not gone away. After the Six
Day War of 1967, the Israelis occupied the West Bank of the
Jordan river and Gaza. These were the homes of millions of
hostile Arabs—refugees from the Israeli War of Independence—
most of whom lived in poor housing and had few educational
opportunities. New Jewish immigrants were encouraged to settle
in these territories. In 1982, the army tried to root out the
Palestinian terrorists once and for all by attacking their bases in
Lebanon. This campaign did nothing to restore Israel’s image in
the eyes of the world, particularly after the inhabitants of a
Muslim refugee camp were massacred by Lebanese Christian
soldiers, who were in alliance with Israel. Meanwhile the Arabs
living in the occupied territories became more and more militant.
The Intifada (popular insurrection) which began in 1987 was
difficult to control. Even the most Israel-loving Dispersion Jew
was disturbed by pictures of Israeli soldiers firing at children
throwing stones.
This is the background of the current peace initiative. In
1993, the then Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin (1922–96),
himself a military hero, symbolically shook hands with Yassir
Arafat (b.1929), the leader of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (P.L.O.). Both sides committed themselves to the
Oslo Accords, which included the idea of Palestinian autonomy
100 ö Judaism
over Gaza and areas of the West Bank. The P.L.O. recognized
Israel and Israel recognized the right of the P.L.O. to represent
the Palestinians. Israel needed economic stability. For too long
the country had been dependent on American support. In the
early 1990s, 10 percent of the population was unemployed. With
the advent of democracy in Russia, thousands of Russian Jews
were exerting their right under the Israeli Law of Return to
emigrate to Israel. Many of these people were highly educated.
It was becoming increasingly necessary to develop an economy
which could make use of their technological expertise. If Israel
was to establish its own identity as an independent, economically
stable country, peace was a necessity.
Even the assassination of Rabin by an extremist student, and
the election of a rightwing government, has not killed the peace
process. The Israeli right are supported by the ultra-Orthodox
who are determined to establish a “Greater Israel” based on the
boundaries promised by God in the Bible. Among the rest of the
population, it is accepted that this is not realistic. The hordes of
new Russian immigrants have all suffered from anti-semitism, but
few have any knowledge of the Jewish religion, after 80 years of
Soviet rule. A large proportion do not qualify as Jewish by the
traditional Orthodox definition. What they want is to live decent
lives and to enjoy economic and political stability. Even excluding
the Russians, the majority of the Israeli population is not
religious. Peace, not a “Greater Israel,” is their priority.
Meanwhile people of Arab origin who have Israeli residence
and Israeli citizenship comprise at least 20 percent of Israel’s
population. Their birthrate is also higher than the Jewish
average. The majority are regarded as second class citizens by
their Jewish neighbors and they are underrepresented in the
universities and the professions. It is questionable how much
longer they will tolerate this. Autonomous Palestinian regions
have already been set up in the territories occupied by Israel since
1967 as a result of the peace process. It is likely that there will
soon be an independent Palestinian State. It may be that the
Israeli Arabs will be willing to move into the new country, but
it is equally probable that they will prefer to disrupt the Jewish
State with their own nationalistic aspirations. Recent events in

the old Yugoslavia illustrate the possible dangers.
Many of the surrounding Arab countries see peace with
Israel as the first step in creating a regional economic common
market. On both sides there is an enormous incentive to establish
a common trading alliance. For this to be successful, both Jewish
and Muslim extremists will have to be sidelined. Once the Israelis
are cooperating with the Jordanians, Syrians, and Lebanese on
economic projects, many commentators believe that social
interaction will follow. At present marriage is a problem in the
Jewish State for anyone who cannot demonstrate an Orthodox
Jewish maternal line. Very many of the Russian, Ethiopian, and
American Reform immigrants have difficulties in this regard.
Marriage continues to be controlled by the Orthodox
establishment who will only authorize marriages of one Jew (by
their definition) to another. Already this is the cause of much
discontent. It will get worse once there are Israeli/Arab economic
ventures since Jewish/Muslim marriages are likely to follow. In
the same way as young Jews in the Dispersion are increasingly
choosing their spouses from among the Gentiles with whom they
have grown up and been educated, the same trend may well
occur in Israel in the future.
Thus many observers believe that Israel will become just one
nation among many in the Middle East. No longer will it be a
Western outpost largely supported by American money, with its
own unique and exclusive religion and culture. It will become part
of the greater fabric of Middle Eastern society By the end of the
twenty-first century, the probability is that there will be a cultural
blending between Jew and Arab. Israel will be largely a secular
State. The strictly Orthodox will continue to inhabit their own self-
imposed ghetto, but, despite their prolific birthrate, they will be
only a small minority in the population. The vast majority will be
secular Middle Easterners, descendants of both Jews and Arabs,
dedicated not to the Torah and Talmud, but to prosperity and
technological progress. It may be that the Orthodox will turn out
to have been right after all—perhaps it is impossible to establish a
Jewish State without the advent of God’s Messiah.
102 ö Judaism
At the same time there have, in recent years, been hopeful

developments in the world of Christian/Jewish relations. In 1965
the Roman Catholic Church issued the decree Nostra Aetate. In its
section on the Jewish religion, it recognizes the spiritual bonds
which link Jews and Christians and affirms God’s continuing
covenant with the Jews. Crucially, it absolves the Jews from the
charge of having been God’s killers: “True the Jewish authorities
and those who followed their lead, pressed for the death of
Christ; still what happened in his passion [his suffering and
death] cannot be charged against all Jews without exception, then
alive, nor against the Jews of today.”3
Similarly the World Council of Churches, perhaps the most
important of the Christian ecumenical bodies, in 1948, formally
declared its abhorrence of the extermination of the Jews in the
Holocaust. In 1948 motions were passed emphasizing the
Jewishness of Jesus and God’s concern for the Jews. In 1967 a
statement was issued affirming that although God’s revelation in
the Hebrew Scriptures was fulfilled in Jesus, God did not
abandon the Jewish nation. Today many countries support active
Councils of Christians and Jews, which encourage encounter and
dialogue between the two faiths. Although anti-semitism has been
a constant feature in the history of Christendom, there are now
signs that people of good will are trying to put aside this fearful
tradition. There is evidence at last that Christians and Jews are
beginning to appreciate the promise in the Psalmist’s words:
“Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity…”4
Judaism and Feminism
A large proportion of world Jewry no longer expects the Messiah

to come and has little confidence in God’s ultimate justice. It is
likely that Israel itself will change from a Jewish State to a secular,
Middle Eastern power. Many Jews are choosing to marry non-
Jews and better relations are being forged between the Jewish and
Christian religious establishment. There is another, even more

serious challenge, to the traditional Jewish faith; it comes from
the changing role of women in the world today.
Strict Orthodox Judaism is essentially a patriarchal religion
in which men and women have clearly defined roles. Admittedly
Jewishness itself is passed down from mother to child, but the
child itself is always described as son or daughter of the father
(as in Isaac Ben Abraham and Michael Bat Sha’ul). As we have
seen, the birth of a son is traditionally a matter of great
celebration with the ritual circumcision and possibly a
Redemption of the Firstborn ceremony. The birth of a daughter
is marked only by a short blessing during the course of a normal
synagogue service. Thus it is made quite clear to everyone which
gender is preferred by the Orthodox. This discrimination
continues throughout childhood. The education of a boy is
regarded as an important parental duty from which no effort
must be spared. The child must grow up learned in Torah and
Talmud to be a credit to his family. The education of a daughter
is a different matter for the Orthdox. Certainly she must be wise
in the ways of running a kosher home, but traditionally she is not
encouraged to be an intellectual. In many circles women are not
even permitted to study the Talmud. Although Orthodox
communities in Israel and the United States do run religious
schools for women, there are no women rabbis in the Orthodox
community. When a boy reaches religious maturity at the age of
13, his Bar Mitzvah is a great event. Before his extended family,
his parents’ friends and the whole congregation, he is called up
to read from the Torah scroll. There is no parallel service for girls
in the tradition. It is recognized that girls mature earlier than
boys, so a Jewish young woman becomes Bat Mitzvah at the age
of 12, but probably the occasion is marked only by a little party
at home.
Women are exempt from all the timebound positive
commandments so they are not expected to take an active part
in the liturgical life of the synagogue. Their presence does not
even count towards the necessary quorum for worship. This
means that if a woman’s parents die and she has no brothers, she
104 ö Judaism
must either ask her husband or pay some other pious Jewish man
to say Kaddish for the deceased. If she does attend synagogue
herself, she has to sit in the women’s area. This is either behind
a heavy screen so she cannot see what is happening or way above
the service in a separate gallery. Neither position encourages
direct participation. In any event, her status is made clear during
the course of the liturgy. Every day in the service the men pray,
“Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who
hast not made me a woman.”5 The equivalent prayer for women
is “Who hast made me according to Thy Will.”6
Marriage and motherhood are the only acceptable destiny for
a strict Orthodox girl. There is no parallel to the Christian
monastic tradition where a particularly pious, talented, or
intellectual young woman can develop her own interests and
cultivate a personal relationship with the Almighty. In the 16
volumes of the Encyclopaedia Judaica7 there are remarkably few
entries for women. Only three books in the Hebrew Bible are
named after women—Ruth, Esther, and Judith. In general, women
are only remembered as the wives or mothers of male heroes or
scholars. Since women are encouraged to marry young and birth
control, at any rate in the early years, is strongly discouraged,
they have little chance of completing a university education or
embarking on serious professional training. According to the
Book of Genesis, woman was created to be a “helpmeet” for
man.8 This has been understood to mean that the wife was to
free her husband from all domestic cares so he was able to
immerse himself in Talmudic scholarship. Over the centuries,
female talent in the Orthodox world has been submerged in a
welter of household cares.
Little has changed in today’s strict Orthodox communities of
Europe, the United States, and Israel. Boys are still educated
separately from their sisters; early marriage for both sexes is very
much encouraged and a large family is still regarded as a
blessing. In general, the strictly Orthodox have dealt with the
challenge from the feminist movement by ignoring it. In the State
of Israel, because the Orthodox have complete control in matters
of personal status, women continue to find themselves with
certain civil disabilities. Most acute is the matter of divorce.

There is no civil divorce and, according to Jewish law, divorce
can only be given by a man to a woman, not the other way
round. If a man refuses to divorce his wife, she has no legal
redress. She may find herself tied to a wife beater, a child
molester, or a mass murderer, but if he will not give her the
necessary document, she cannot be legally free of him. However,
in other respects, women are not bound by Orthodox law. The
constitution of Israel guarantees the complete equality of men
and women. Among the vast majority of the Israeli population,
daughters and sons receive the same education and enjoy the
same professional opportunities.
Thus in the State of Israel, secular Jewish women find
themselves in a strange position. On the one hand, they suffer
a huge civil disadvantage in the matter of divorce, but in normal,
everyday life, they can expect equality of treatment with their
male colleagues. In the Dispersion, it is different. The vast
majority of Jews are not affiliated with the strictly Orthodox. In
Modern Orthodox synagogues women can and do assume
positions of leadership. They are synagogue presidents and
leading fundraisers. Nonetheless, it is impossible for them to be
ordained as rabbis and they are not even counted among the
necessary quorum for worship. This is because the Modern
Orthodox believe that both the Written and Oral Law were
directly given by God and therefore cannot be changed in any
particular.
Things are very different in Conservative and Reform
synagogues. There the women and men sit together and
everyone takes a full part in the service. A Reform, Conservative,
and Reconstructionist Bat Mitzvah is celebrated with the same
excitement as a Bar Mitzvah and girls have exactly the same
religious schooling as their brothers. Since the early 1970s, the
Reform movement has ordained women as rabbis and, more
recently, the Conservatives and Reconstructionists have followed
suit. While the Conservative movement has accepted women’s
ordination and liturgical equality it is a hotly debated issue in
individual synagogues and the actual practice of synagogues with
Traditionally only men could serve as rabbis. However, in the last few decades
women have been ordained as rabbis by the Reform, Conservative, and
Reconstructionist movements.
regard to egalitarianism varies a great deal. Today non-Orthodox

rabbinical colleges have approximately equal numbers of men
and women students and it is generally agreed that the caliber
of the young women coming forward is often higher than that
of the young men. It is likely, then, in the twentyfirst century,
that many of the leading pulpits will be occupied by female
rabbis.
Modern Jewry has been strongly influenced by the feminist
movement; indeed many of the best known feminist leaders are
themselves of Jewish origin. Among the non-Orthodox and
among secular Jews, the traditional passion for Talmudic study has
been transformed into a desire that their children should enjoy
the very best secular education that the Gentile world can offer.
They want this for their daughters just as much as for their sons.
Today there are large numbers of Jewish young women studying
medicine or law, or who are attending business school. Their
aspirations have been aided by positive discrimination in favor
of women in the educational institutions themselves. Among this
highly educated group, late marriage is the norm. In fact, many
choose never to get married at all and there seems to be a serious
shortage of young men of equal or superior accomplishment.
Even if they do marry, they are most unlikely to have more than
two children. The birthrate among non-Orthodox Jewish couples
is low, way below the basic regenerating level.
Despite the efforts of the Modern Orthodox and the non-
Orthodox synagogues, many of these clever, high-earning young
women do not seem to be attracted to what is on offer. Even if
they find a Jewish man to marry and they raise Jewish children,
it is probable that their connection with the religious community
will be tenuous at best. They will move easily in mainstream
Gentile society and it is likely that many of their friends will be
non-Jews. For young people brought up with and educated
among the Gentile elite, intermarriage and complete assimilation
is an ever present likelihood.
108 ö Judaism
Assimilation and the Long-term Future
The American Jewish community remains the largest in the

world and is richer and more powerful than ever before. The
days of private clubs and certain housing areas being closed to
Jews are over. From the early 1960s, Jewish young people have
been moving in unprecedented numbers into the more
prestigious universities and the professions. Their progress has
been astonishing. By 1970, a quarter of the undergraduates at
Harvard University were of Jewish origin as were 40 percent of
those at Columbia. This generation of students grew up to have
considerable influence in the legal and political circles of the
1990s. President Clinton (b.1946) appointed two Jews to the
Supreme Court during his first administration, and in the
Congress elected in 1992, Jews were represented in both houses
in a proportion five times greater than their proportion in the
population as a whole. It is the same story in medicine, in
academia, in the entertainment industry, in journalism, in
banking, and in business generally.
By 1994, American Jews formed less than 2 percent of the
United States population, but they exerted influence in almost
every public sphere. The community was overwhelmingly
suburban, middle class, college educated and affluent.
Significantly, from being traditionally liberal in politics, many
became Republican in the Reagan/Bush era although the vast
majority voted for the Democrat Bill Clinton. In the 1980s,
however, economic self interest proved to be more powerful than
the traditional Jewish emphasis on social justice and concern for
the more disadvantaged members of society. In recent years,
perhaps, things have been less rosy for the young. Programs of
ethnic and sexual positive discrimination have been
disadvantageous to Jewish male students (but not to their sisters).
It may be that the generation growing up in the 1990s will have
greater difficulty reaching the upper echelons of American
society. Nonetheless, at present, the Jewish community appears
to be doing very well.
This is not to say that anti-semitism no longer exists in the
United States. But there is little evidence of it in polite society.

The Holocaust illustrated all too clearly where Jew-hatred could
lead. Through educational programs, Holocaust memorials and
museums and in the artifacts of popular culture, the Nazi period
is still successfully kept in the public eye. Films such as Sophie’s
Choice and Schindler’s List ensure that the suffering of the Jews is
not forgotten. The Anti-Defamation League, an organization
founded to combat manifestations of anti-semitism, has been
particularly effective in combating the expression of anti-Jewish
prejudice. Even the recent outbreak of signs of anti-semitism in
the African-American community has done little to harm the
security of the community.
Inevitably, with the decline of overt Jew-hatred and with the
entrance of Jews to all the institutions of American upper middle
class life, Jews are regarded as desirable marriage partners. The
figures speak for themselves. Between 1900 and 1940, less than
3 percent of married Jews were wedded to Gentile partners. The
figure rose to 6.7 percent for those who married in the 1940s and
50s. By 1970, the figure had leapt to 31.7 percent and from the
mid 1980s, it reached 52 percent.9 In other words, for every
Jewish couple getting married, there are two mixed couples. In
the past Jewish men were far more likely to “marry out” than
Jewish women. The pattern seems to have been that Jewish men
who chose Gentile wives generally picked women whose fathers
were of a lower socioeconomic standing than their own families.
Many such women were willing to convert to Judaism. Today, at
best only one in three spouses convert and less than one in three
children of these mixed marriages are raised as Jews. The
majority of these families are lost to Judaism. In addition, many
Jews choose not to marry or prefer a homosexual partnership.
In view of all this, many commentators believe that American
Jews are, in the words of the historian Norman Cantor, “on a
one-way ticket to disappearance as a distinctive ethnic group.”10
The community is attempting to redress the situation. The
figures indicate that it is Jews with little religious background
who are more inclined to “marry out.” There has been an
explosion in the funding of Jewish day schools and synagogue
110 ö Judaism
programs to bring in the intermarried and unaffiliated.

Meanwhile, the strictly Orthodox, who do seem largely immune
to the effects of secularization, figuratively barricade themselves
into their own observant ghetto. They are the only members of
the community who are producing large numbers of children.
The world of orthodox Yeshivot and girls’ seminaries has never
been so thriving. At the same time, the strictly Orthodox are
cooperating less and less with the rest of the Jewish world, which
they see as irredeemably assimilated. Yet even with this small,
thriving enclave, the average number of children per Jewish
family is way below the 2.3 needed to sustain the current
population.
The situation is the same in the other countries of the
Dispersion. The strictly Orthodox continue to maintain their
particular way of life, but elsewhere in the community, the inter-
marriage rate grows and thousands of Jews are lost yearly. In
Great Britain, for example, more than half of Jewish young
people choose Gentile marriage partners and the rate of fertility
of Jewish couples is at least 20 percent below that of the country
as a whole. So great is the sense of urgency, that Jonathan Sacks
(b. 1948), Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, has written
a book entitled Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren? 11 and has
spearheaded a communitywide campaign for Jewish continuity.
Thus many observers believe that there are no grounds for
optimism. The birthrate of Jews in the Dispersion is too low and
the attractions of assimilation are too great. Admittedly, Israel
will remain in the hands of people who are descended from Jews,
but increasingly some commentators believe that in future
decades they too will intermarry with the surrounding nations
and will perceive themselves as Israelis rather than as Jews. The
only survivors will be the strictly Orthodox, who will continue
to worship the God of their ancestors as their parents did before
them, but will be increasingly isolated from modern civilization.
Notes
Chapter 1 Judaica as quoted in Cohn-

Sherbok, A Short Reader,
1 Adapted from Dan and p.164.
Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok, The 9 Nicholas de Lange, Atlas of
American Jew (London: the Jewish World (Oxford,
HarperCollins, 1994. Grand 1984), p.174.
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995),
pp. 180–1.
2 Samson Raphael Hirsch, The Chapter 2
Nineteen Letters on Judaism,
as quoted in Lavinia and 1 Genesis 17:10–12.
Dan Cohn-Sherbok, A Short 2 Exodus 2:8.
Reader of Judaism (Oxford, 3 Principles of the Jewish
One World, 1996), p. 138. Faith as translated in the
3 G.W.Plaut, ed., The Growth Authorised Daily Prayer Book
of Reform Judaism: (many ed.).
American and European 4 Psalm 89:4.
Sources, as quoted in Cohn- 5 Ezekiel 34:12–13.
Sherbok, A Short Reader, 6 Exodus 29:9.
p.135. 7 Exodus 20:8–10.
4 The Passover Hagaddah 8 Romans 15:24.
(many ed.). 9 Matthew 23:15.
5 Kiddushin III. 10 Matthew 27:25.
6 Yebamot XLVII.
7 Israeli Statutes: the Law of
Return as quoted in Cohn- Chapter 3
Sherbok, A Short Reader,
p.170. 1 Sir Paul Ricaut as quoted in
8 Statistics based on those cited Cohn-Sherbok, A Short Reader,
in the Encyclopaedia p.111.
111
112 ö Notes
2 Moses Mendelssohn, 15 Deuteronomy 16:16.

Jerusalem, as quoted in 16 Passover Hagaddah.
Cohn-Serbok, A Short Reader, 17 Moses Maimonides, Mishneh
p. 130. Torah (many ed.).
3 Theodor Herzl, The Jewish 18 Authorised Daily Prayer Book.
State, as quoted in Cohn- 19 Ibid.
Sherbok, A Short Reader, 20 Ibid.
p.141. 21 Ibid.
4 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, as
quoted in Cohn-Sherbok, A
Short Reader, p. 154. Chapter 5
5 Psalm 122:6.
1 Psalm 89:4. Also Samuel 2:7.
Chapter 4 2 Authorised Daily Prayer Book.
3 The Vatican, Nostra Aetate
1 Deutreronomy 4:35. (1965).
2 Genesis 1:1. 4 Psalm 133.
3 Isaiah 55:8–9. 5 Authorised Daily Prayer Book.
4 Psalm 145:9. 6 Ibid.
5 Job 38:4. 7 (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971).
6 Exodus 19:5. 8 Genesis 2:18.
7 Authorised Daily Prayer Book. 9 Figures taken from Jack
8 Ibid. Wertheimer, A People Divided
9 Ibid. (New York: Basic Books
10 Leviticus 19:27. 1993), p. 59.
11 Numbers 15:37–8. 10 Norman Cantor, The Sacred
12 Genesis 6–9. Chain (New York, London:
13 Exodus 23:19, 34:26; HarperCollins, 1994), p. 426.
Deuteronomy 14:21. 11 (Essex: Vallentine Mitchell,
14 Genesis 2:1–3. 1994).
Glossary
Agudat Israel Orthodox organization set up to oppose Zionism.

Amidah Prayer consisting originally of 18 benedictions recited
at the daily synagogue services.
Anti-semitism Hatred of the Jews.
Ark Original container for the tablets of the law; cupboard
in synagogue in which the Torah scrolls are kept.
Ashkenazim Jews who settled in Northern France, Germany, and
Eastern Europe, and their descendants in Israel and
the USA.
Assimilation The loss of Jewish identity in mainstream Gentile
culture.
Av 9 Fast commemorating the loss of the Jerusalem
Temple.
Bar Mitzvah The coming-of-age ceremony for a boy at 13 years.
Bat Mitzvah The coming-of-age ceremony for a girl at 12 years.
Blood Libel Accusation that Jews murder Christian children and
use their blood in the making of Passover unleavened
bread.
Canon The established books of Scripture.
Chief Rabbi Established central religious authority of a particular
community.
Chosen People Jews believe that they were chosen by God to keep
His Torah.
Conservatives Amodified reforming movement within American
Judaism.
Covenant Special agreement between God and the Jewish
people.
Crusade Medieval Christian movement to evict the Muslims
from Palestine.
Day of Most holy day of the Jewish year which
Atonement involves a daylong fast and prayers for forgiveness.
113
114 ö Glossary
Dead Sea Collection of ancient scrolls probably produced by the

Scrolls Essenes.
Dispersion The Jewish communities living outside the Land of
Israel.
Enlightenment The secular scientific and educational revolution of
the late eighteenth, early nineteenth centuries.
Essenes Monastic communities of Jews who flourished in the
first century C.E.
Exegesis Interpretation of sacred texts.
Exilarch Head of Babylonian Jewish community from first to
thirteenth centuries C.E.
Fast Day of abstention from food.
Fringes Ritual tassels attached to the corners of garments.
(tzitzit)
Gaon Title of the heads of the Babylonian Talmudic
academies.
Gentile Non-Jew.
Ghetto Place set aside for Jewish residence.
Gospel Christian story of the life and work of Jesus Christ.
Hagaddah The order of service of the Passover meal.
Halakhah Jewish law.
Hanukkah Winter festival celebrating the victory of the
Maccabees over the Hellenizers.
Hasidim Adherents of an eighteenth-century Eastern European
mystical movement.
Hellenizers Those who tried to introduce Greek ideas in the
fourth century B.C.E.
High Priest The Israelite Chief Priest who served in the Temple
in Jerusalem.
Holocaust The destruction of European Jewry between 1933 and
1945.
Holy of The deepest sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple.
Holies
Humanistic A radical movement within modern American Jewry.
Judaism
Intermarriage Marriage between a Jew and a Gentile.
Israelites The Jewish people particularly in Biblical times.
Glossary ö 115
Kaddish Prayer extolling God’s greatness said by mourners.

Karaites Adherents of an heretical sect founded in the eighth
century C.E.
Kashrut The laws governing food.
Kibbutz An Israeli agricultural collective.
Kippah Skull cap.
Knesset The Israeli elected assembly.
Kosher Fit to eat. Conforming to the laws of Kashrut.
Law of Return The law which gives every Jew the right to settle in
Israel.
Lulav Bundle of myrtle, palm, and willow branches that are
used during the services on Sukkot.
Matrilineal Descended from the mother.
Messiah God’s chosen King, who will establish His Kingdom
on earth.
Mezuzah Parchment scroll attached to the doorposts of a Jewish
house.
Midrash Rabbinic commentary on the Bible.
Mikveh Community ritual bath.
Mishnah Oral Law. Also the title of Judah ha-Nasi’s
secondcentury compilation of the Oral Law.
Mitzvah Commandment.
Mizrakhi A party founded for Orthodox Zionists.
Modern Adherents of a modernist movement within
Orthodox Orthodoxy.
Mohel Ritual circumciser.
Monotheists Those who believe in One God.
Nasi Title of the leader of the Palestinian Jewish
community from second to fourth centuries C.E.
New The concluding part of Christian Scripture describing
Tesatment the life of Jesus Christ and early Church history.
New Year 1st day of the month of Tishri, the start of the Ten
Days of Penitence.
Oral Law The oral interpretation of the Written Law, recorded
in the Mishnah and Talmud.
Orthodox Those who believe the Written and Oral Law were
given by God and must be obeyed in every particular.
116 ö Glossary
Passover Spring festival celebrating the liberation of the Jews

from slavery in Egypt.
Patriarchs The forefathers of the Jewish people, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob (Israel).
Pentateuch The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Pesah Passover.
Pharisees A religious sect of the Second Temple era who were
scrupulous in obeying both Written and Oral Law.
Phylacteries Boxes containing parchment scrolls which pious Jews
(tefilin) bind each day on their arms and foreheads.
Pilgrim Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, so called because they
Festivals were traditionally celebrated in Jerusalem.
Piyyutim Poems which are used as prayers.
Poale Zion A socialist movement within Zionism.
Pogrom An attack, often against the Jews, in nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century Russia and Poland.
Progressive Non-Orthodox.
Promised Israel. The land promised by God to Abraham and his
Land descendants in the Bible.
Prophet One who speaks the word of God. The classical Pro-
phets are those whose words are preserved in the Bible.
Proselyte Convert.
Purim Festival celebrating the deliverance of the Jews of
Persia as recorded in the Book of Esther.
Rabbanite One who, in contrast to the Karaites, accepted the
validity of the Oral Law.
Rabbi A recognized Jewish teacher and spiritual leader.
Rav Title given to Jewish teachers in Babylonia.
Reconstruc- Adherents of a radical twentieth-century Jewish
tionists movement who regard Judaism as an evolving
civilization.
Reform A Progressive denomination which has attempted to
make Judaism compatible with modern historical
knowledge.
Resurrection The belief that the dead will rise from their graves to
be judged by God.
Glossary ö 117
Rosh The Jewish New Year.

Hashanah
Sabbath Saturday, the day of rest.
Sadducees Aristocratic priestly sect in the days of the second
Temple.
Samaritans Descendants of the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom
who intermarried with the surrounding peoples.
Sanhedrin Supreme religious assembly of the Jews at the time of
the Second Temple and later.
Scroll Rolled length of parchment on which the Holy Books
are written.
Seder Passover meal.
Selihot Penitential prayers composed by the Ashkenazim.
Sephardim Jews of Spanish or Oriental origin.
Septuagint Third-century B.C.E. Greek translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures.
Shabbat Follower of the seventeenth-century false Messiah,
Shabbetai Zevi.
Shabbos The Sabbath.
Shavuot Festival celebrating the giving of the Torah.
Shema The primary declaration of the Jewish faith.
Shiva Seven day period of mourning after the death of a
close family member.
Shofar Ram’s horn trumpet blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur.
Shtetl Eastern European village inhabited mainly by Jews.
Sukkot Festival commemorating the Jews’ wanderings in the
wilderness.
Synagogue House of worship.
Tabernacles Sukkot.
Talit Undergarment with fringes (tzitzit) worn by Orthodox.
Talmud Compendium of Oral Law compiled in Palestine in
the late fifth and in Babylon in the late sixth century.
Temple Central shrine of ancient times; modern Reform
Synagogue.
Ten Command- Ten laws given to Moses as recorded in Exodus 20:2–
ments 14.
118 ö Glossary
Ten Days of Period from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.

Penitence
Torah God’s revelation to the Jews; Jewish law; the
Pentateuch.
Torah Scroll Scroll on which the Pentateuch is written.
Tsaddik Hereditary Hasidic leader.
Wall Remaining part of the Jerusalem Temple.
Weeks Shavuot.
World Zionist Central Zionist group.
Organization
Written Law The laws of the Pentateuch.
Yahrzeit Anniversary of the death of a close relation.
Yarmulke Skull cap worn by Jewish men.
Yeshiva Talmudic academy.
(pl.Yeshivot)
Yiddish Language of Eastern European Jewry.
Yom Kippur Most important fast of the Jewish year.
Zealots Jewish rebels against the Roman Empire.
Zionists Those who are dedicated to restoring the Promised
Land to the Jewish people.
Pronunciation
Guide
This guide gives an accepted pronunciation as simply as possible.

Syllables are separated by a space and those that are stressed are
printed in italics. Letters are pronounced in the usual manner for
English unless they are clarified in the following list.
a flat yoo you

aa father u but
ai there üa about (unaccented vowel)
ee see ch church
e let g game
-
i high j jet
i pity kh guttural aspiration (ch sound in
o- no Hebrew and German)
o not sh shine
oo food ts carts
Agudat Israel: ah goo dat iz Hasidim: ha sid eem

raa üa l Havdalah: hahv dah lah
Amidah: ah mee dah Kaddish: kah dish
Ashkenazim: ahsh ke nah Kashrut: kahsh root
zeem kibbutz: ki boots
Av: ahv Kippah:kip ah
Bar Mitzvah: bahr mits vah Knesset: kne set
Bat Mitzvah: baht mits vah kosher: kosher
Gaon: gai o-n Lulav: loo lahv
-
Gentile:jen ti l Maskilim: mah skee leem
Hagaddah: hah gah dah mezuzah: me zoo zah
Halakhah: hah lah khah Midrash: mi drahsh
Hanukkah: hah naü kah Mishnah: mish nah
119
120 ö Pronunciation Guide
mitzvah: mits vah Sephardim: se fahr deem

Mizrachi: miz rah khee Shabbatean: shah baht ee an
Mohel: mohel Shabbos: shaa bos
Nasi: nah see Shavuot: shah voo ot
Pentateuch: pen ta tyook shema: shaü mah
Pesah: pe sah Shiva: shee vah
Pharisees: far i seez shofar: sho fahr
phylacteries: fa lak tar eez Shtetl: shtet üa l
Piyyutim: pee yoo teem synagogue: sin ah gog
-
Poale Zion: po al e tsi o- n Talmud: tahl mood
Purim: poo reem Torah: torah
- -
rabbi: ra bi Yahrzeit: yahr tsi t
Rav: rahv Yarmulke: yahr maül kaü
Rosh Hashanah: ro-sh hah Yeshiva: yaü shee vah
shah nah Yom Kippur: yo-m ki poor
Sadducees: sad yoo seez Zealot: zel aüt
Selihot: saü lee ho-t
List of Festivals
and Fasts
SEASON DATE FESTIVAL

Spring Nisan 15–22 Passover—celebration of the
liberation from slavery in Egypt.
Iyyar 5 Israel Independence Day.
Shivan 6–7 Shavuot commemoration of the giving of
the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Summer Tammuz 17 Fast of Tammuz—remembering the breach
ing of the Jerusalem walls by Babylonians
in 586 B.C.E. and Romans in 70 C.E.
Av 9 Tishah B’Av—mourning the destruction of
the Jerusalem Temple in 586 B.C.E. and
70 C.E.
Autumn Tishri 1–2 Rosh Hashanah—the New Year in which Jews
are called to repentance.
Tishri 10 Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement. The
day is dedicated to prayer and fasting to
atone for sin.
Tishri 15–21 Sukkot—the feast of tabernacles in which
Jews live in booths to remember their
sojourn in the wilderness.
Tishri 20–21 Simhat Torah—the Rejoicing in the Law. The
annual cycle of Torah readings concludes
and begins anew.
Winter Kislev 25–Tevet 3 Hanukkah—Festival of Lights, celebrating
the defeat of the Hellenizing king by Judas
Maccabeus.
Tevet 10 Fast of Tevet—remembering the start of the
Babylonian siege and the victims of the
Nazi Holocaust.
Adar 14 Purim—commemorating the foiling of plans
to destroy Persian Jewry as described in
the Book of Esther.
These festivals and fasts are all described in Chapter 4.
121
Suggested
Further Reading
General
Encyclopaedia Judaica. 16 Volumes (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971)

Invaluable articles on every aspect of Judaism.
NICHOLAS DE LANGE, Judaism (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1987)
A popular, clear, and readable introduction to Judaism.
LOUIS JACOBS, The Jewish Religion: a Companion (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1995)
An excellent comprehensive introduction to the Jewish religion.
GEOFFREY WIGODER, The New Standard Jewish Encyclopaedia (rev. ed.
New York, Oxford: Facts on File, 1992)
A concise encyclopedia of Jewish religion and civilization.
Chapter 1
BARRY CHAMISH, The Fall of Israel (London: Canongate, 1992)

An account of big business and Israeli corruption in the 1980s.
DAN AND LAVINIA COHN-SHERBOK, The American Jew (London:
HarperCollins, 1994. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995)
A snapshot of a modern American Jewish community.
YAEL DAYAN, My Father, His Daughter (New York: Farrar, Straus, 1985)
A fascinating portrait of Israeli hero Moshe Dayan by his
daughter.
DAVID ENGLANDER, ed., The Jewish Enigma: an Enduring People
(London: Peter Halban, 1992)
An overview of the community by a group of American and
English scholars.
SANDER GILMAN, The Jew’s Body (London: Routledge, 1992)
A psychiatric interpretation of the role of anti-semitism in
modern culture.
122
Suggested Further Reading ö 123
HYAM MACCOBY, A Pariah People (London: Constable, 1996)

An interesting anthropological explanation of anti-semitism.
AMOS Oz, Israeli Literature. A Case of Reality Reflecting Fiction (Colorado
Springs: Colorado College, 1985)
Insights on Israeli culture by Israel’s best known novelist.
NORMAN STILLMAN, The Jews in Arab Lands in Modern Times
(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991)
A fascinating history of Jews in Islamic lands since 1800.
Chapter 2
RICHARD ELLIOTT FRIEDMAN, Who Wrote the Bible? (London:

Cape, 1988)
A splendid summary of the findings of modern Biblical
scholarship.
HANS KÜNG, Judaism (London: SCM Press, 1995)
An important book on early Jewish history written by the
world’s leading Roman Catholic liberal scholar.
JACOB NEUSNER, The Bavli: An Introduction (Atlanta: Scolars, 1992)
An indispensable guide to rabbinic Judaism written by a
leading Talmudic scholar.
NORMAN STILLMAN, The Jews of Arab Lands (Philadelphia: Jewish
Publication Society 1979)
An excellent account of the history of Sephardic Jewry.
KENNETH STOW, Alienated Minority: the Jews of Medieval Latin Europe
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992)
An interesting account of the medieval Ashkenazic community.
Chapter 3
MARTIN GILBERT, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy (London: Fontana

Press, 1987)
An overwhelming account of the twentieth-century Jewish tragedy.
Gilbert is the official biographer of Winston Churchill.
BENJAMIN HARSHAV, The Meaning of Yiddish (Berkeley:University of
California Press, 1992)
An important history of Yiddish culture and language.
124 ö Suggested Further Reading
IRVING HOWE, The World of our Fathers: the Journey of Eastern European
Jews to America (New York: Schocken Books, 1990)
Bestselling account of the world of Eastern European Jewry.
MICHAEL MEYER, Response to Modernity: History of the Reform Movement
in Judaism (New York:Oxford University Press, 1988)
A thorough history of the Reform movement.
ERNST PAWEL, The Labyrinth of Exile: a Life ofTheodor Herzl (London:
Collins Harvill, 1988)
An insightful biography of the founder of modern Zionism and
his times.
Chapter 4
ISIDORE FISHMAN, Introduction to Judaism (London: Vallentine

Mitchell, rev. ed. 1970)
A comprehensive introductory textbook of traditional Jewish
belief and practice.
BLU GREENBERG, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1983)
A readable account of Modern Orthodox Jewish practice by a
well-known Jewish feminist.
LOUIS JACOBS, Principles of the Jewish Faith (Northvale, New Jersey,
London: Jason Aronson Inc. rev., ed. 1988)
An accessible exposition of Maimonides’ Principles of the
Jewish Faith by an eminent British scholar.
RICHARD SIEGEL, MICHAEL STRASSFELD, SHARON
STRASSFELD, The Jewish Catalog (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication
Society, 1973)
A bestselling do-it-yourself guide to Jewish practice.
LEO TREPP, The Complete Book of Jewish Observance (New York:
Behrman House, 1980)
A useful, comprehensive guide to Jewish living.
Suggested Further Reading ö 125
Chapter 5
NORMAN CANTOR, The Sacred Chain (London: HarperCollins, 1994)
A splendidly iconoclastic view of Jewish history and the Jewish
future.
JONATHAN SACKS, Faith in the Future (London: Darton, Longman and
Todd, 1995)
Reflections from the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth
on today’s moral issues in the light of Orthodox Judaism.
SUSAN WEIDMAN SCHNEIDER, Jewish and Female (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1984)
A penetrating discussion of Judaism in the light of modern
feminism.
STEPHEN SHAROT, Messianism, Mysticism and Magic: A Sociological
Analysis of Jewish Religion (Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina
Press, 1982)
A discussion of mystical and messianic beliefs by an Israeli
sociologist.
BERNARD WASSERSTEIN, Vanishing Diaspora (London: Hamish
Hamilton, 1996)
An examination of the recent history of the Jews of Europe
focusing on the possible extinction of a Jewish presence by
the mid twenty-first century.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to picture Black Death 52 Eastern Europe 29–30, 52, 56–60,
captions. Blood Libel 52 64, 66, 71–2
Bobover 59 education 91–2, 103, 104, 107
Aaron 40, 44 booths, feast of see Sukkot Israel 26
Abraham 34–5 Borochov, Ber 67–8 Modern Orthodox Jews 20
Abraham ben David Halevi ibn Daud Britain 22, 31, 51, 52, 61, 63, 66, 70, 110 Orthodox Jews 20, 26–7
53 Brith Milah 89–90 Reform Judaism 23
Africa 32, 53, 54 burial 43, 94 women 20, 23, 92, 103, 104
agriculture, laws of 48 Egypt 32, 35–6, 40–1
Agudat Israel 68 Caesarea 44, 48 Einsatsgruppen 71
Alenu 81–2 calendar, Jewish 85 Elijah 38, 57
Alexander the Great 40 Canaan 36 emancipation 61–2
Algeria 32 Canada 32, 66 Enlightenment 60, 61–4
Amidah 81 candles, candlesticks 43, 43, 46, 85 Essenes 45
Amos 38 canon of Scripture 47 Esther, feast of see Purim
Anan ben David 50 Caro, Joseph 54 Ethiopia 32, 101
anti-semitism 24, 30, 51, 64–6, 70, 109 charitable giving 30–1 evil, problem of 76–7
Arafat, Yassir 99 Chelmno 71 exegesis 48
Arch of Titus 43, 46, 46 Chmielnicki, Bogdan 56 Exilarch 48
Argentina 32, 66 Chosen People 35, 77 Exile 22, 38–10
ark 77, 78 Christianity 45, 50–3, 59, 83, 102 Exodus 35–6, 37, 77
art, Jewish 42–3, 43 chupah 93 Ezekiel 38
Ashkenazim 26, 30, 31, 54–5 circumcision 35, 41, 89–90 Ezra 39
Asia 29, 31–2 civil law 48
assimilation 30 Codes, Law 80 family life 77, 82–4
Assyrians 38 concentration camps 71–2 fasts 48, 52, 77, 78, 85, 88–9, 119
Auschwitz 71 confirmation 86 feminism 102–7
Australasia 32 Conservative Judaism 22–3, 28, 36, fence boundaries 60
Austria 54 75, 80, 84, 93, 105, 107 Ferdinand and Isabella 52
Austria-Hungary 29 conversion 28, 50–1, 92–3, 109 festivals 39, 48, 77, 85–9, 119
Covenant 35, 38, 77 final solution 71–2
Baal Shem Tov see Besht creation 76 food laws 17–18, 20, 23, 77, 83–4
Babylonia 38–9, 40, 48–9, 54 97 criminal law 48 France 31, 32, 51, 52, 61, 66
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda 53 crusades 50, 51–2 free will 76
Balfour Declaration 68 fringes, ritual 16, 19, 59, 82
Balkans 29 David 36, 39, 44, 95 funeral ceremony 94
Baltic States 29, 52, 54, 64 Day of Atonement see Yom Kippur
Bar Mitzvah 86, 91–2, 91, 103, 105 Dead Sea Scrolls 45 Galilee 44, 47, 48
Bat Mitzvah 86, 92, 103, 105 death 94, 104 Gamaliel II 47
beards 82 Deuteronomy 36, 75, 85 Gaon 48–9, 60
Begin, Menahem 72 Diaspora see Dispersion Gaza Strip 73–4, 99–100
Belz 59 Dispersion 30–1, 39, 49, 92, 105, 110 Gemara 49
Belzec 71 Divided Kingdoms 38 Genesis 15, 34, 36, 76, 104
Benjamin 38 divorce 23, 26, 48, 105 Gentiles 18, 83, 93
Besht (Baal Shem To?) 57–8 Dönmeh sect 59 Gerizim, Mount 40
Beth Ha-Knesset see synagogues dress 53, 77, 82–3 Germany 51, 52, 54, 61–2, 65, 68, 70–1
Bialik, Chaim Nachman 67 Hasidic Jews 59 ghettos 62, 71, 72
Bible (Tanakh) 15, 34, 41, 78, 104 Modern Orthodox Jews 20 God 75–7
bimah 79 Orthodox Jews 15–16, 19, 82–3 Golan Heights 74
birth control 19, 104 Drevfus, Alfred 66 Gordon, Aaron David 67
126
Index ö 127
Gospels 51 Jacob 35 Israel 26, 101

Greeks 40–1 Jacobson, Israel 62 Modern Orthodox Jews 21
Gur 59 Jehoiachin 48 Orthodox Jews 19–20, 92, 104
Jerusalem 39, 41, 46–7, 66, 96 Masada 46
Ha-Am, Ahad 67 Israeli capture 73 matrilineal descent 27, 28, 29
Haggai 39 Jewish Revolt (66 C.E.) 45–6 Mattathias 41, 44
halakhah 28 second Temple 40–1, 43 Medina, Jewish community 53
Haman 87 Temple 78, 85–6, 89 Mendelssohn, Moses 61–2
Hanukkah 41, 87 Temple of Herod 44, 46, 47 Messiah 36, 38, 45, 51, 56–7, 63,
Hasdai Crescas 53 Temple of Solomon 36, 38, 39 66, 95–8
Hasidim 58–60, 61, 83, 87, 96 Western Wall 46, 73 mezuzah 43, 81
Havdalah 85 Jesus of Nazareth 45, 95 Micah 38
Hebrew 22 , 52, 67 Jew, qualification as 27–9 Midrash 48
Hellenizers 41 Jewish Revolt (66 C.E.) 45–6 mikveh 19
Herod 44, 45 Jewish Revolt (132 C.E.) 46 Mishnah 27, 47–9, 53, 87
Hertz, J.H. 98 Job 77 missionary religions 50–1
Herzl, Theodor 24, 66–7 Johanan ben Zakkai 47 Mitnagdim 60, 61
High Priest 40 Joseph 35 Mitzvah 31
Hirsch, Samson Raphael 21, 64 Josephus 44, 45 Misrakhi 26, 67
Hitler, Adolf 70 Joshua, Book of 36 Modern Orthodox Judaism 20–1,
Holocaust 24, 25, 30, 59, 70–2, 80, Judaea 39, 41, 44, 47 64, 79, 82, 84, 92, 105
89, 97 Judah 38 Moed 48
Holy of Holies 44, 78 Judah Halevi 53 Mohel 89–90
Holy Roman Empire 51, 61 Judas Maccabee 41, 87 monotheism 53, 75–7
Hong Kong 32 judges 36 Moses 15, 21, 35–6, 77, 86
Hosea 38 Moses ben Maimon see Maimonides
Humanistic Judaism 23 Moses ibn Ezra 53
Kabbalah 59
Kaddish 81–2, 94 Muhammed 52–3
idolatry 42 mysticism 59
Kaplan, Mordecai 23
Idumea 44
Kashrut 20, 83–4
India 32 Nashim 48
ketubah 93
Intifada 74, 99 Nasi, Judah ha– 47–8
kibbutzim 68
Isaac 35 Nathan of Gaza 57
kippah see skull cap
Isaiah 38 Nazis 70–2
K’lal Israel 33
Isaiah, Book of 76 Nehemiah 39
klezmer music 24
Ishmael 34–5 Neo-Orthodox see Modern Orthodox
Knesset 29
Islam 83 Judaism
Kodashin 48
Dönmeh sect 59 Netherlands 53, 54
Kook, Abraham Isaac 26
Sufism 59 New Testament 44, 45, 51
kosher food laws 18, 20, 41, 83–4
Islamic countries 52–3 New Year see Rosh Hashanah
Kristallnacht 70
Israel 30, 36, 50, 63, 72–4, 96, 98– Nezikin 48
102 Northern Kingdom 38
Latin America 32
Arab population 100–1
law see Torah
Arab-Israeli conflict 73–4, 99–102 Old Testament see Bible, Hebrew
Lebanon 73, 74, 99 Oral Law 45, 47–50, 77, 80, 105
Ashkenuazim 26, 30, 55
Lessing, G.E. 61 ordination 47, 49
citizenship, entitlement to 29, 32
Law of Return 29, 32, 100 women 23, 81, 103, 105, 106, 107
establishment 25
Leviticus 36, 82 Orthodox Judaism 15–20, 26–7, 28,
“Greater Israel” 100
Law of Return 29, 32, 100 Liberal Judaism 22 31, 36, 49, 63–4, 67–8, 75–94,
Orthodox Jews 26–7, 67–8, 96, lights, festival of see Hanukkah 95, 103–5, 110
100, 101 Likud party 74
political system 26 liturgy 75, 77, 81 Palestine 47
population 25 Lubavich 59, 96 Zionism and Israel 25, 66–8, 72,
secular Jews 24, 26, 105 lulav 87, 88 99–101
Sephardim 25, 26, 30, 55 Palestinian Arabs 67, 72–4, 99–101
Six Day War 99 Maimonides 36, 53, 89, 95, 97 Passover 24, 27, 35–6, 37, 39, 85–6
War of Independence 99 Majdanek 71 Patriarchs 34–5
Israel ben Eliezer 57–8 Marr, Wilhelm 65 Paul 50
Israelites 27, 34, 37, 40 marriage 48, 92–3, 107 Pentateuch 35, 36, 48, 77, 78, 80, 83
Isserles, Moses 54 intermarriage 40, 92, 101, 107, Persians 39, 40
Italy 53 109–10 Pesach see Passover
128 ö Index
Pharisees 45, 47, 97 seder 86 63, 77, 80, 86–7

Philistines 47 Sefer Bahir 59 Scrolls 36, 43, 77, 78–9, 87
Philo 41 Seleucids 41, 44, 87 Torah im Derekh Eretz 26
phylacteries 81 Selihot 54 Trans-Jordan 44
Pidyan Ha-Ben 90 Sephardim 25, 26, 30, 31, 54–5, 59 Treblinka 71
pietism 59 Sepphoris 48 Truman, Harry S. 72
pilgrimage 46, 85, 88 Septuagint 41 Tunisia 32
Piyyutim 54 services 80–2 Turkey 53
Poale Zion 67 sexual relations 19–20, 85, 89 Twelve Tribes 35, 36, 38, 66, 96
pogroms 65–6 Shabbetai Zevi 56–7, 95 Two Southern Tribes 38
pointer 43 Shabbetean beliefs 56–7 Tzaddik 59
Poland 29, 52, 54, 56, 58, 64, 71, 78 Shavuot 39, 85, 86 tzitzit see fringes, ritual
prayer 80–2 Shema 75, 81, 94
prayer-shawl 82 Shiva 94 United States 29, 30–1, 63, 66, 70,
priesthood 44–5 shofar 88–9 72, 75, 78, 92, 108–10
Progressive Judaism 24, 82 Shtetls 29–30 Ur 34
Promised Land 25, 36, 38–9, 66, 95, Shulhan Arukh 54
100 side curls 59, 82 Vilna Gaon 60
Prophetic tradition 22 Simeon bar Kokhba 95 Vizhnitz 59
Prophets 38–9 Sinai, Mount 36, 86
proselytes 51 singing 17, 19 Wannsee Conference 71
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The 65 skull cap 20, 82 wedding ceremony 93
Psalms 76, 95 slaughter, rules of 83–4 weeks see Shavuot
Ptolemaic dynasty 40–1 Sobibor 71 Weizman, Chaim 68, 72
Pumbedita 48 Solomon 36, 38, 44 West Bank 73, 99–100
Purim 87 Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes see Western Wall 46, 73
purity, laws of 23, 48 Rashi wigs 16, 83
Solomon ibn Gabirol 53 wine cups 43
Rabbinic Judaism 47–50 South Africa 32, 66 Wine, Sherwin 23
rabbis 49, 58 Southern Kingdom 38, 39 women 19, 21, 77, 82–4, 90, 102–7
women 23, 81, 103, 105, 106, 107 Spain 52, 53, 54 Ashkenazim 54
Rabin, Yitzhak 27, 74, 99–100 Sufism 59 Bat Mitzvah 86, 92, 103, 105
Rashi 51 Sukkot 39, 85, 86–7, 88 divorce 23, 26, 48, 105
Rav 49 Sura 48 dress 16, 19, 82–3
Reconstructionism 23, 105 synagogues 15–16, 19, 39, 43, 45, 78– education 20, 23, 103, 104
Red Sea, parting of 37 9, 79, 80 feminism 102–7
Reform Judaism 21–3, 28, 36, 62–4, services 80–2 ordination 23, 81, 103, 105–7
75, 80, 81, 82, 84, 86, 89, 90, Syrkin, Nahman 67–8 Reform Judaism 23, 81, 82, 92
93, 96–7, 101, 105 synagogues 78–9, 104
resurrection 44, 97 tabernacles see Sukkot worship 78–9, 80–1
Romans 43, 44–7 talit 82 World War II 24, 25, 30, 66, 68, 70–
Rosh Hashanah 87–9, 98 Talmud and Talmudic studies 20, 2
Russia 29, 30, 54, 64, 65–7, 71, 22, 47–50, 60, 107 World Zionist Organization 67–8, 72
100, 101 Babylonian Talmud 49 Palestinian Written Law 49–50, 77, 80, 105
(Jerusalem) Talmud 49
Sabbath 15–19, 17, 43, 48, 76, 85 Tammuz 89 Yahrzeit 94
Reform Jews 22 Tanakh see Bible, Hebrew yarmulke see skull cap
Sacks, Jonathan 110 tefillin 81 Yeshiva 17, 26, 49
sacrifice 39, 40–1, 78, 85–6 Ten Commandments 15, 18, 22, 35, Yiddish 24, 29, 52, 67
Sadducees 44–5, 49–50, 97 42, 48 Yom Kippur 15, 44, 87–9, 98
Samaritans 40 Ten Days of Penitence 44, 87
Sanhedrin 47, 61 Ten Northern Tribes 38 Zadok 44
Sarah 34–5 ten plagues 35 Zalman, Elijah ben Solomon see Vilna
Satmar 59 Tevet 89 Gaon
Saul 36 Tiberias 48 Zangwill, Israel 67
Schneersohn, Menahem Mendel 96 Tisha B’Av 89 Zealots 45–6
Scrolls 36, 43, 77, 78–9, 87 Tohorot 48 Zerubbabel 39
secular Jews 23–4, 26, 35, 75, 90 Torah 19, 21, 23, 34, 36, 39–40, 50, Zionism 24, 66–8, 72, 96–7, 99
Zohar 59

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Judaism

Religions of the World

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 1999 Calmann & King Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced

ISBN 0-203-51708-3 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-54639-3 (Adobe eReader Format)

Editorial work by Melanie White and Damian Thompson

Reviewer Alford T.Welch, Michigan State University

Sabbath in the Suburbs 15

2 The History of the Jewish People 34

Judaism in Biblical Times 34

3 Jewish Life in Modern Times 56

The Hasidim and Mitnagdim 56

4 Jewish Beliefs and Practices 75

God and Torah 75

5 Judaism in the Twenty-first Century 95

The Future Hope 95

Religions of the World

The informed citizen or student needs a good overall knowledge

religion, new religions, world wars, revolutions, social

Growing up in the leafy suburbs of Denver, Colorado, I was

c. 2000–1750 Era of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).

c. 1750 Jacob’s family settle in Egypt.

18th century First mention of “Apiru,” possible forerunners of

17th/16th century Rule of Asiatic Hyksos dynasty in Egypt.

13th/12th century Exodus from Egypt. Settlement in Canaan.

11th century Establishment of the Monarchy under King Saul.

10th century Era of King David and the conquest of Jerusalem.

c. 930 Death of King Solomon and the division of the

Mid 9th century Era of the prophets Elijah and Elisha.

c. 840 Black Obelisk showing King Jehu bowing to

8th century Era of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Micah, and

Late 8th century Reform of cult by King Hezekiah of Judah.

Late 7th century King Josiah’s reforms. Deuteronomy, one of the

721 Northern Kingdom falls to Assyria.

586–538 Exile of Jews to Babylon.

538 Return to Jerusalem and rebuilding of the

5th century Religious renewal led by the scribe Ezra.

198 Judaea taken over by the Seleucid dynasty.

164 Maccabean revolt. Precarious independence

63 Judaea becomes part of the Roman Empire.

37–4 B.C.E. * Reign of King Herod. Temple rebuilt.

1st century C.E. * Era of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.

70 Second Temple of Jerusalem destroyed during the

132–35 Rebellion of Simeon bar Kochba ends in failure.

Late 1st century Establishment of rabbinic academy at Javneh.

3rd century Compilation of Mishnah by Judah ha-Nasi.

Late 4th century Compilation of the Jerusalem Talmud.

6th century Compilation of the Babylonian Talmud.

8th century Emergence of Karaites.

9th/10th century Jewish life spreads to Europe, North Africa, and

10th-12th century Golden Age of Spanish Jewry.

1096 Massacre of Rhineland Jews during the First

Late 11th century Compilation of Rashi’s Biblical commentaries.

1144 First instance of the Blood Libel in Norwich,

Mid 12th century Philosopher Maimonides produces codification of

1291 Expulsion of Jews from England.

13th century on Jews of Poland protected.