Jew

In the last half of the 20th century, two theologically liberal (primarily American) Jewish groups Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism have allowed people who do not meet these criteria to define themselves as Jews. They no longer require converts to follow traditional Jewish procedures of conversion, and they accept a person as a Jew even if their mother is non-Jewish, so long as the father is a Jew.

This has resulted in a serious schism among the Jewish people; today many Reform Jewish and secular Jewish-Americans consider themselves Jews, although they are not considered Jewish by Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, and even by many Reform Jews outside of the United States.

The State of Israel allows any Jew to acquire citizenship; this is known as the Law of Return. For the purposes of the Law of Return, anyone with a Jewish grandparent or who converted to Judaism is considered Jewish, and Israeli law also allows the immediate non-Jewish family of immigrants to immigrate under the law. This definition is not the same as that in traditional Jewish law; it is a deliberately wider, so as to include those non-Jewish relatives of Jews who were perceived to be Jewish, and thus faced anti-Semitism. More on this topic can be found in the article on Population groups in Israel.

Ancient terminology: In one place in the Talmud, the word Israelite refers to somebody who is Jewish but does not necessarily practice Judaism as a religion. "An Israelite even though he has sinned is still an Israelite." In this usage, the distinction is not made between Jew and Israelite and they are both called Jew. However, in modern day English, this terminology is not used. Modern day English speakers instead refer to "religious Jews" or "secular Jews".

• The Ethiopian Jews, also known as the Falasha or Beta Israel.

• the Bene Israel, i.e. Jews who lived in Bombay, India.

• The Romaniotes, i.e. Greek speaking Jews living in the Balkans from the Hellenistic era until today (almost 6,000 people worldwide)

Following the Spanish Inquisition the Sephardic Jews were dispersed, some migrating to Europe, where they were assimilated into the Ashkenazi, others migrating to the Middle East where they were assimilated into the Oriental Jews. Most Oriental Jews practice Sephardic rite and are therefore sometimes referred to as Sephardic. Ashkenazi Jews practice Ashkenazi rite.

Out of these communities, the largest by far are the Ashkenazim, comprising ~80% of the Jewish total, with Oriental Jews comprising most of the remainder.

Sub-groups of Jews include the Gruzim (Georgiann Jews from the Caucasus), Juhurim (Mountain Jews from Daghestan and Azerbaijan in the eastern Caucasus), Maghrebim (North African Jews), Abayudaya and (Ugandan Jews)

European's largest Jewish community can be found in Antwerp, Belgium, where some thousands of orthodox Jews live.

Today Germany, especially its capital Berlin, has the fastest growing Jewish community worldwide. Some ten thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin wall. The experiences during the Nazi era, a cosmopolitan and anti-nationalistic post-war education and especially the political 68ies movement created just the right tolerant atmosphere in Germany, which still is missing in some post-communist states.

See also: Judaism, Jewish history timeline, Gentiles, History of Jews in the United States, History of the Jews in the Soviet Union, List of famous Jews, Australasian Union of Jewish Students

Who is a Jew?

Jewish law considers someone born of a Jewish mother, or converted in accord with Jewish Law, Jewish. (Recently, American Reform and Reconstructionist Jews have included those born of Jewish fathers and gentile mothers if the children are raised as Jews.)

A Jew who ceases practicing Judaism and becomes a non-practicing Jew is still regarded as a Jew. A Jew who does not accept Jewish principles of faith and becomes an agnostic or an atheist is also still considered to be a Jew in good-standing in the Jewish community, albeit one who is in error. However, when a Jew converts to another religion, such as Buddhism or Christianity, that person loses standing as a member of the Jewish community and becomes known as an apostate. Often, his family and friends will mourn over him, for since he has left the religion, it is if he has died. However, while the person is outside the Jewish community and has views that are considered non-Jewish, that person is still Jewish by ethnicity and is regarded as such by Jewish law.

Christianity and Judaism

There are a number of articles on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. These articles include:

• Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity
• The Judeo-Christian tradition
• Christianity and anti-Semitism.

Other topics, each with its own entry

• The entry on Rabbis discusses the role of the rabbi, and provides links to entries on many imporant rabbis.
• The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament} sets up a distinction between regular Israelites and a priestly caste called the Kohanim. A discussion of the Jewish priesthood may be found in its own entry, Kohen.
• Rabbinic literature - discusses the many works of classical Judaism
• Kosher aka Kashrut - The Jewish dietary laws; this entry deals with the rationale for the existence of these laws, describes which foods are and aren't Kosher.
• Shabbat - This entry is about the Jewish view of the Sabbath, the role that it plays in Judaism, and the rules governing its observance.
• There is an entry on the Role of women in Judaism.
• There is an entry on the Rabbi, the spiritual leader in Jewish communities
• The Temple in Jerusalem is no longer extant, but it still plays an imporant part in the Jewish faith.
• There is a description of the Jewish services, which describes the daily prayer services, and offers a guide for visitors to the synagogue (also: Temple).
• The Role of the cantor in Judaism discusses the role of the cantor (hazzan) as an emissary of the congregation.
• The tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl.
• Jewish eschatology - Jewish views of the messiah and the afterlife.
• A summary of Jewish views of homosexuality can be found here.
• The entries on Jewish ethics and the Mussar Movement concern the ethical teachings of Judaism.
• Holocaust theology
• Halakha (Jewish law and custom) and the responsa literature.
• The article on Jewish views of religious pluralism describes how Judaism views other religions; it also describes how members of each of the Jewish religious denomination view the other denominations.

History of Judaism Timeline

There is a separate entry which has Jewish history timeline.

• Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition and Practice Wayne Dosick.
• Conservative Judaism: The New Century, Neil Gillman, Behrman House.
• American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective Jeffrey S. Gurock, 1996, Ktav.
• Philosophies of Judaism Julius Guttmann, trans. by David Silverman, JPS. 1964
• Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts Ed. Barry W. Holtz, Summit Books
• A History of the Jews Paul Johnson, HarperCollins, 1988
• A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, Jack Wertheimer. Brandeis Univ. Press, 1997.
• Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing, CD-ROM edition, 1997
• The article on "The American Jewish Identity Survey" by Egon Mayer, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar; a sub-set of The American Religious Identity Survey, City University of New York Gradute Center. An article on this survey is printed in The New York Jewish Week, November 2, 2001.

External links

General