Orthodox Judaism
Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew people and of that portion of the same to-day known as Jews. A religion which has been active in the world for so many centuries has naturally undergone modification as to details from age to age, both by growth from within and by adoption from without; but in essentials, Judaism has been characteristically staunch to its principles from its earliest days.
In addition to the three groups identified by Josephus (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes), Judaism was further divided into numerous religious sects and political parties. With the destruction of the Temple and the commonwealth in 70 C.E., all that came to an end. Only the Judaism of the Pharisees -- Rabbinic Judaism -- survived.
The traditionalist approach that believes in the Divine origin of the Torah is seen as the changeless of revelation of God's eternal will and therefore fully authoritative. Following Halachah (i.e., Rabbinic Law) is obligatory, and thus, of all the branches of Judaism, Orthodox Judaism places the greatest and strictest demands on its adherents in its concern for preserving religious belief and observing strict religious codes of behavior.
The characteristic attitude of the orthodox is the wish to preserve unaltered those religious institutions and customs which have been codified into Jewish law, particularly into the code of Rabbinic laws known as the "Shulchan Aruch" ("The Table Set"). This legal code deals with every aspect of life in great detail. It is in the nature of an encyclopedic manual of several volumes. Its purpose is to bring to the ordinary Jew, in an available form, the vast rabbinic legal tradition, which regulates every phase of human life. Prayers, meals, business transactions, marriage, birth, death, recreation, work, all possible human relationships are regulated in accordance with the development of Jewish tradition, which has its origin in the Bible, and continues through the Talmud to the post-Talmudic rabbis.
Devotion to the law became stronger after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem from 70 BCE. The law now was the one bond which united the scattered people of Israel. The study of the law was undertaken first with a practical end in view. It was the endeavor of the Scribes to clarify all possible details, and to answer all the questions which emergency might bring before the observant Jew. This habit of going into the minutiae of the law, whose infmiteness was a matter in which the pious scholars prided themselves, led to the habit of developing the law, for the .law's sake. The most unlikely, and even impossible, consequences were discussed in the schools, because it was meritorious to devote one's life to the expounding of God's will, laid down in his Thorah. Over these hair-splitting decisions, the rabbis did not forget the spiritualizing ideas, which were the real object of their Alexandrian co-religionists.
There were two principal methods of studying the word of God. The first, looking upon the law and its practice, is called Halachah, literally, the Walk, meaning the practice. The second method is called Hagadah, preaching, and is devoted to the finding of edifying thoughts in the Bible. For a long time these studies were confined to the schoolroom, the teacher expounding the law to his pupils as he had learned it from his teachers, or as he saw fit to present it. The mass of these laws grew. Originally, some made brief notes of their lessons, called Meggillath Setarim "secret scroll,* or named after the teacher in whose school the notes were taken, as Mishnah of Rabbi Akiba, of Rabbi Meir, of Rabbi Nathan. The name Mishnah became then the technical term for a collection of rabbinical laws. The word means, the Second Law, or, more properly, although not literally, a compendium of the Law. According to reliable tradition, the first one to compile these scattered laws into one code, and to arrange them according to the subject-matter, was Judah Hanasi, head of the school of Tiberias, 200. His compendium of what may be called, partly rabbinical law, and partly Mosaic Law, in rabbinical conception, was called Mishnah, and forms the textbook of the Jewish law, comprising the ritual, as well as the civil laws, and the penal code.
Other codes were compiled, either following the example of the Mishnah, and arranging the text according to subject matter, or taking the Pentateuch as text, and commenting upon its laws, showing the rabbinical interpretation. A work belonging to the first class is the Tosefta (literally, addition), and to the latter class belongs the Mekilta (literally, methods, namely of scriptural interpretation^ a rabbinical commentary on Exodus, Sifra (The Book), a rabbinical commentary on Leviticus, Sifre (The Books), a commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy. Legal discussions continued even after the Mishnah had been recognized as the authorized code of laws. The disciples and successors of Judah Hanasi continued to discuss the text of the Mishnah in the same way in which the text of the Bible had been treated by their predecessors. These glosses soon greatly exceeded the text in volume, and they were called Gemara (completion). Together with the Mishnah, the Gemara formed one book, called the Talmud.
A most elaborate accumulation of ritual observance grew up in the the Diaspora in north Africa, Spain, France, Germany and Poland, codified from time to time by such Talmudical experts as Isaac of Fez, usually called "Alfazi" (died at Lucena, 1103) ; Moses Maimonides, lived in Spain and Egypt, 1135-1204; Jacob ben Asher, died in Spain, before 1340, author of the (Arba Turim' ('Four Rows') ; Joseph Karo, lived in Spain and Turkey (1588-1575). author of the Shulchan Aruch ("Arranged Table"). Obedience to these voluminous codes of ceremonial law constitutes today the chief difference between Jews of the "Orthodox" and "Reform* wings of modern Judaism, the former accepting, the latter rejecting, their binding force.
A summary of the religious views of the Jews was first compiled in the 11th century by the second great Moses (Maimonides), and it continues to be with the Orthodox the Jewish confession of faith to the present day. The divergences between the two wings of modern Judaism, the "Orthodox" and the "Reform," rarely reach upon fundamental principles, but were mainly concerned with the observance or non-observance of precepts and practises that had added themselves in the course of time and in various countries of sojourn, to the ritual features of the religion. The only serious approach to a fundamental difference was concerned rather with the political side of the religion, namely, the belief in a personal Messiah to come, a factor originating in the age when impending loss of national independence and the stress of national politics, stirred the hope in superior minds for restoration of a Davidic kingship, with God's law of mercy and justice, coupled with complete reverence, more potently in sway than ever before. Reform Judaism deems that restored Jewish nationality in Palestine is by no means an essential feature of the Messianic age of universal peace and righteousness, and therefore looks coldly upon such nationalistic endeavors as Zionism
As the references to "Orthodox Zionists," "Orthodox non-Zionists," and "Orthodox anti-Zionists" indicate, Judaism is not a monolithic cultural entity in contemporary Israel. Furthermore, an understanding of religious categories in American Judaism is not sufficient for understanding Israeli Judaism. Israelis religiously categorize themselves first as dati, that is, "religiously" observant Jews or lo dati, "not religiously" observant Jews. One who is religious strictly follows halakah, that is, adheres to the totality of rabbinic law. One who is not religious is not a strict follower of rabbinic law; however, the category can be further subdivided into agnostic or atheistic secularists, on the one hand, and individuals who are committed to Judaism in principle, on the other. The latter groups calls itself "traditionalist."
Many Oriental Jews, especially in the second generation since immigration, are traditionalists, expressing this commitment in observance of folk customs such as ethnic festivals and pilgrimages. This group is important because, although members may not vote directly for religious political parties, they respond positively to religious symbols used politically by a number of parties; for example, the idea of the Jewish people's right to a greater, biblical land of Israel as divinely ordained.
The modern or neo-Orthodox are those who, while scrupulously adhering to halakah, have not cut themselves off from society at large. They are oriented to the same ideological goals as many of the secularists, and they share the basic commitment to Israel as a Zionist state. Furthermore, they participate fully in all the major institutions of the state, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This group is also referred to as "Orthodox Zionists." They have been represented historically by a number of political parties or coalitions, and have been the driving force behind many of the extraparliamentary social, political, and Jewish terrorist movements that have characterized Israeli society since the June 1967 War. Most Orthodox Zionists have been "ultra-hawkish" and irredentist in orientation; Gush Emunim, the Bloc of the Faithful, is the most prominent of these groups. A minority of other Zionist groups, for example, Oz Veshalom, an Orthodox Zionist movement that is the religious counterpart to Peace Now, have been more moderate.
American Orthodox Judaism had its adherents mainly among those who came to American shores from the densely populated Jewish districts of Eastern Europe where Talmudism still had a strong hold upon the people. Tenaciously it clung to the letter of the Law, and the Old Testament was crowded out by the Talmud. It spent its strength, as has been well said, in laborious triflings and acuteness, for which the Talmud was responsible. The six hundred and thirteen precepts, contained in the Talmud, control and govern the life of the Orthodox Jew and decide even questions of the highest moment for him. Orthodox Judaism, as well as Reform Judaism, undoubtedly teaches salvation by good works, for the adherents of both are taught that fasting, prayer and alms take the place of sacrifices.
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