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.
Our sages sought to highlight this idea by naming the holiday in our prayers as Zman Cheiruteinu, the Season of Our Freedom.
In light of this agonizing and ongoing reality, a quote from the midrash can be a challenge to embrace, as it forces us to think and look outward at our enemies in a different light.
What we are seeing is not fairness: It is reverse discrimination, a new kind of ultra-extremism that vilifies white Britons as default oppressors, automatically privileged, and inherently racist.
Faith isn’t about finding all the answers – it’s about having shoulders wide enough, and spirits deep enough, to carry the weight of the questions.
After the forced expulsions from Spain and Portugal, Sephardi-Portuguese established communities in the Caribbean, which controled trade routes and established strategic outposts.
The union called the graffiti a crude form of antisemitism and said it would continue to represent Jewish students against anti-Jewish hatred.
The pilgrimage festival of Shavuot at the conclusion of the Omer period was in thanksgiving for God’s blessing and protection of the land and its produce.
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