Judaism Quiz

Summary Title: Judaism - An Ethnic Religion

• Judaism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion of the Jewish people.

• It emerged in the Middle East during the Bronze Age and evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah.

• The Torah, part of the larger text known as the Tanakh, is the core of the Jewish spiritual and religious tradition and encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, and theological positions.

• Within Judaism, there are a variety of religious movements, including Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism.

• Jews are an ethnoreligious group, including those born Jewish and converts to Judaism, with a world population estimated at 14.7 million in 2019.

• The term Judaism derives from the Ancient Greek Ioudaismos, meaning "seeking or forming part of a cultural entity."

• The Hebrew Bible is an account of the Israelites' relationship with God from their earliest history until the building of the Second Temple.

• After the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple and was rebuilt around the community and the authority of rabbis.

• Judaism begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of mankind.

• Halakha, Jewish law, is a system through which any Jew acts to bring God into the world.

• There are no fixed universally binding articles of faith in Judaism, although scholars have proposed numerous formulations of Judaism's core tenets.

• Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith, developed in the 12th century, are the most popular formulation of Judaism's core tenets.Overview of Judaism: Core Tenets, Religious Texts, Philosophy, Hermeneutics, and Jewish Identity

• Maimonides' 13 principles of faith are considered by many Jews as the core tenets of Judaism, but there is diversity in beliefs among different Jewish denominations.

• The Torah is the basis of halakha and tradition, and there are 613 commandments in it, but many laws are not applicable today.

• The oral law, transmitted by the Pharisee school of thought, was later recorded in written form and expanded upon by the rabbis.

• The Mishnah consists of 63 tractates codifying halakha, which are the basis of the Talmud, and its commentaries.

• Jewish philosophy has a long history that includes major figures such as Philo of Alexandria, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Judah Halevi, and Maimonides, among others.

• Hermeneutics, the principles of interpretation, is central to the study of Torah, and Rabbinic Judaism believes that the oral tradition is coextensive with the Talmud itself.

• Jewish identity is complex and varies among different denominations. According to Rabbinic Judaism, a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or who converted to Judaism in accordance with halakha. Humanistic Judaism rejects the religious aspects of Judaism, while retaining certain cultural traditions.

• The question of who is a Jew remains a controversial issue in Israel, where citizenship questions are often tied to definitions of Jewish identity based on halakha.Overview of Jewish Religion, Demographics, and Observances

• Jewish identity is inherited through the maternal line according to some interpretations of Jewish law.

• The Jewish population worldwide is difficult to assess due to the problematic definition of "who is a Jew," but in 2002, there were 13.3-14.6 million Jews around the world, making up 0.25% of the global population.

• Rabbinic Judaism, which emphasizes the importance of the Oral Torah in interpreting the Written Torah, became the mainstream form of Judaism in the 6th century CE.

• In addition to Orthodox Judaism, Conservative and Reform Judaism are the main denominations in North America and Anglophone countries, while Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews typically do not adhere to denominations.

• Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular," "traditional," "religious," or Haredi, with the latter encompassing "Lithuanian," Hasidic, and Sephardic groups.

• Karaite Judaism, which accepts only the Hebrew Bible and its "simple" meaning, and Samaritanism, which follows the literal text of the Torah, are other Jewish sects.

• Haymanot refers to the Judaism practiced by Ethiopian Jews, which differs from Rabbinic, Karaite, and Samaritan Judaisms.

• Noahidism is a Jewish religious movement based on the Seven Laws of Noah, and B'nei Noach refers specifically to non-Jews who observe these laws.

• Jewish ethics emphasize values such as justice, peace, and compassion, and specific practices include charity and refraining from negative speech.

• Jews traditionally recite prayers three times daily and follow specific prayer practices when performing various acts throughout the day.

• Jews wear specific religious clothing, such as kippot, tzitzit, and tefillin, during prayer and other religious activities.

• Jewish holidays, such as Shabbat and the High Holidays, celebrate moments in Jewish history and the relationship between God and the world. Shabbat is observed weekly and is governed by religious law.Overview of Jewish Holidays, Laws, and Practices

• The Sabbath is a day of rest and is observed by refraining from certain activities such as lighting a fire, writing, using money, and carrying in public.

• The three pilgrimage festivals, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, are called "regalim" and involve making pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices in the Temple.

• The High Holy Days (Yamim Noraim) revolve around judgment and forgiveness.

• Purim is a joyous holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Persian Jews from the plot of the evil Haman, and includes public recitation of the Book of Esther, mutual gifts of food and drink, charity to the poor, and celebratory meals.

• Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday that starts on the 25th day of Kislev and commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

• Jewish dietary laws are known as kashrut, and food that is prepared in accordance with them is termed kosher. Many of the laws apply to animal-based foods, and meat and poultry must come from a healthy animal slaughtered in a process known as shechitah.

• The Torah describes circumstances in which a person who is ritually pure may become ritually impure. Kohanim, members of the hereditary caste that served as priests in the time of the Temple, are mostly restricted from entering grave sites and touching dead bodies.

• Life-cycle events occur throughout a Jew's life that serves to strengthen Jewish identity and bind them to the entire community.

• The role of the priesthood in Judaism has significantly diminished since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Many Orthodox Jewish communities believe that they will be needed again for a future Third Temple and need to remain in readiness for future duty.

• Jewish prayer services involve two specified roles: shaliach tzibur, the prayer leader, and baal kriyah, the Torah reader.

• Around the 1st century CE, there were several small Jewish sects: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, and Christians. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, these sects vanished, except for the Pharisees who survived in the form of Rabbinic Judaism. The Sadducees rejected the divine inspiration of the Prophets and the Writings, relying only on the Torah as divinely inspired. Some Jews in the 8th and 9th centuries rejected the authority and divine inspiration of the oral law as recorded in the Mishnah and developed their own oral traditions, which eventually formed the Karaite sect.