Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, having originated in the Middle East more than 3,000 years ago with patriarch Abraham.
As the first Abrahamic religion, Judaism has played a major role in shaping the history of the world, having greatly influenced the development of Christianity and Islam, despite having always had a relatively small amount of adherents by comparison.
The religion itself is built off of the "written Torah" of the Bible, known in Judaism as the Tanach, and the "oral Torah" of the Mishna, Talmud and other great works of leading rabbis throughout history.
Judaism itself has no single leading figure, and is divided into multiple streams, such as the ultra-Orthodox (haredi), Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Further differences also exist along the lines of historic Diasporic communities, such as Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewry.
Today, the largest concentration of adherents of Judaism can be found in Israel, with the US having the second-largest.
Nani Vazana explained that Ladino, not just in her personal story, is the matriarchal language.
Judaism is an answer to man’s ultimate questions. But nothing is more irrelevant than an answer to a question nobody asks.
History may confront us with sorrow or struggle, but we still choose whether to respond with pride and confidence or with frustration and self-doubt.
Rather than abandon prayer in the face of tragedy, Judaism asks us to deepen it. We do not pray to overturn nature but to find strength within the divine natural order.
If the Pope Joan narrative is mystically powerful, and telling the tale of that narrative is also potent, then recounting the story of the tale of the narrative might alleviate the pain.
The only halachic ruling that was ever given is that “your life comes first” – and nothing beyond that.
Despite the plethora of high-level Torah-lectures on the holiday, I am inclined these days to study on Shavuot with my husband or friends.
“Emunah is the largest religious Zionist social service organization in Israel”
A Ukrainian Jewish leader fights to preserve Holocaust memory in Berdychiv as war, emigration, and dwindling resources threaten his city’s Jewish legacy.
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