Judaism

Judaism is the religious, cultural, and legal tradition of the Jewish people, encompassing belief in one God (monotheism), a body of law and ethics (halakha) derived primarily from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and its rabbinic interpretive tradition (the Talmud), and a shared peoplehood with historical roots in the ancient Israelites. Whether Judaism is best understood primarily as a religion, an ethnicity, a nationality, a culture, or some combination of these is itself a matter of ongoing discussion; see judaism-nature-of-identity-viewpoint-debate. Judaism is generally considered the oldest of the Abrahamic religions and the historical predecessor to Christianity, and, along with Christianity, a major influence on the later development of Islam.

Contemporary Judaism is organized into several major denominations that differ in their approach to religious law, scriptural interpretation, and modernity, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements, along with smaller groups such as Karaite and Humanistic Judaism. These denominations disagree on questions including the divine versus human origin of religious law, the authority of rabbinic tradition, and the permissibility of adapting practice to modern circumstances; see judaism-religious-authority-debate. Worldwide, the Jewish population is estimated at approximately 15-16 million people, with the largest communities in Israel and the United States. Practice ranges from strict observance of dietary laws (kashrut), Sabbath restrictions, and the 613 commandments (mitzvot) as enumerated in classical sources, to secular or cultural identification with Jewish heritage without religious observance.

A significant point of internal and external discussion concerns the age and origin of the world and humanity as described in Genesis, with positions ranging from literal six-day creation to various forms of theological accommodation with evolutionary biology and geological timescales; see Young Earth Creationism and judaism-creation-and-cosmology-viewpoint-debate.

• Orthodox Judaism holds that the Torah, both written and oral, was divinely revealed to Moses at Sinai and that halakha is binding and largely unchanging in its fundamental obligations. See judaism-orthodox-viewpoint.
• Conservative Judaism affirms the authority of halakha while holding that Jewish law has historically developed and can continue to develop in response to changing circumstances. See judaism-conservative-viewpoint.
• Reform Judaism emphasizes individual autonomy in religious practice and views ethical principles, rather than ritual law, as the central and binding core of Judaism. See judaism-reform-viewpoint.
• Reconstructionist Judaism understands Judaism primarily as an evolving religious civilization rather than a fixed body of revealed law. See judaism-reconstructionist-viewpoint.
• Karaite Judaism rejects the authority of the Oral Torah and rabbinic tradition embodied in the Talmud, holding that religious authority derives from the written Tanakh alone. See judaism-karaite-viewpoint.
• Humanistic and secular Jewish identity holds that Jewish identity, culture, and ethics can be meaningfully maintained without belief in a personal God or adherence to religious law. See judaism-humanistic-viewpoint.
• Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism hold that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah while retaining Jewish ritual and cultural practice; this view is rejected as a form of Judaism by mainstream Jewish denominations. See judaism-messianic-viewpoint.

• The question of “who is a Jew” - whether Jewish status is defined by matrilineal descent, patrilineal descent, conversion under specific denominational standards, or self-identification - has been a recurring point of dispute among denominations and within Israeli law and politics. See judaism-who-is-a-jew-controversy.
• The relationship between Judaism, Jewish identity, and the State of Israel, including the place of Zionism within Jewish thought, is a documented and ongoing source of dispute among Jews, between Jewish communities, and in broader public discourse. See judaism-zionism-controversy.

• History: judaism-history
• Debate: judaism-religious-authority-debate
• Viewpoint Debate: judaism-nature-of-identity-viewpoint-debate, judaism-creation-and-cosmology-viewpoint-debate
• Controversy: judaism-who-is-a-jew-controversy, judaism-zionism-controversy
• Related Main Topics: Christianity, Talmud, Young Earth Creationism, monotheism, Zionism

1. Michael Satlow, *How the Bible Became Holy* (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014).
2. Jacob Neusner, *The Way of Torah: An Introduction to Judaism*, 7th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003).
3. Pew Research Center, *Jewish Americans in 2020* (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2021).
4. Daniel Gordis, *Judaism: A Conceptual Guide* (New York: Wicked Son, 2024).