Judaism is the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths but to call Abraham its founder would be incorrect. The Bible story begins with God and the whole story is about God's relationship with His creation. Abraham is called out of the rest of humanity to be a blessing to all nations but there is little in the story of Abraham that would indicate that he observed what we today would call Judaism. The laws that constitute Jewish observance were given to Moses some 2000 years later. That said, many Jews teach that the patriarchs observed the Torah, even the feasts, before Moses (see http://www.betemunah.org/b4sinai.html 12/1/24).

That Judaism is monotheistic there is not doubt. The idea that it teaches that it has a unique route to God there could be some question. That Judaism arose out of some form of paganism or polytheism as in often asserted these days seems most unlikely.

The Hebrew Bible begins Berishit barah Elohim, which is translated "In the Beginning G-d created. The Hebrew elohim is a plural noun but the grammar surrounding it indicate that G-d is a singular G-d. This sort of usage, known a plural intensive, is common in languages. We use the royal or editorial we in English. Indeed elohim is translated gods, angels or rulers in places where the grammar and contexts indicates that is what is meant.

Most religions teach that everyone should adopt that religion. The religion of the Torah is very different--it spends most of its time describing how God gave the Jewish Nation a special job to do, and outlining the rules that the Jewish People should follow. But at the same time, the Torah also tells us that every human being was created in G-d's image. The Torah says that God spoke to Noah, the father of every one alive today, and gave him his own set of rules to follow after exiting the ark. (Menken: 2005 p. 3)

What Rabbi Menken is saying is that G-d is the center of everything. That He exists whether we believe it or not and that He created us and made us distinct from the other parts of His creation. Also, as respects the laws given to the Jews, these were given to the Jews and not to the rest of mankind. In the garden of Eden there was one law: Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There were 6 commands given to mankind when they left the Garden of Eden, and 7 commands given to Noah when he left the ark and these could be considered binding on all mankind but the 613 commands of the Torah were given uniquely to the Jews.

Most religions teach that religious faith is something that either you've got or you don't. "Faith" is belief in something that can be neither proven nor disproven, so is immune to the sort of critical analysis that we apply to other decisions that we make in our lives. In this view, "theological truths" are not things that we determine to be true by using the standard tools of rational decision-making, but rather are arrived at by liberating oneself from the limits of rationality.

The Torah and Judaism in general, do not support this distinction. On the contrary, Jewish literature consistently suggests that belief in Torah is based upon facts and rational arguments. The Torah appears to argue that one can arrive at these beliefs using the same decision-making process that we use in every other area of our lives.

Maimonides begins his legal code by saying, "The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there exists a First Being." He does not say that this is a belief, or a faith, but rather a fact that one should know to be true.

This being the case, the Torah subjects itself to an extremely high level of critical analysis. If faith cannot be proven or disproven, there is nothing to argue. But traditionally, Judaism never shared the view that the Torah is merely the poetry of faith. If these are alleged facts, then one can attempt to prove them wrong. (Menken: 2005 p. 6)

This notion of reasoning has produced a culture that values debate and exploration. Many famous scientist from Einstein to Freud were Jewish. As well as inventors and industrialists such as Isaac Singer the inventor of the sewing machine and Levi Strauss the largest manufacturer of jeans.

On the theological or perhaps the religious front this propensity for discussion and exploration has given rise to the saying: "Where there are two Jews there are three opinions." It has produced volumes of commentary on the Torah and commentary on the commentary. The Talmud is such commentary and there is commentary on the Talmud. This has led to different sects of Judaism that are common. These are Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed. These are branches of what is broadly called Rabbinical Judaism. A quick summary of their attitude to the law is the Orthodox are Crazy, the Conservative Lazy and the Reformed Hazy. Like many things Jewish, this is a humorous statement says more than one might initially suspect. I expand this statement below.

There is really no organized Orthodox Jewish movement with a single head or governing body. The designation of Orthodox is more common in North America than elsewhere in the world. The notion has to do with how observant a person is. In the statement above the Orthodox are crazy observant. Holding to a rigorous interpretation of the written Torah as interpreted through the Oral Torah. Orthodox Judaism views itself as the continuation of the beliefs and practices of normative Judaism, as accepted by the Jewish nation at Mt. Sinai and codified in successive generations in an ongoing process that continues to this day. (see transmission of Torah.)

Orthodox Judaism believes that both the Written and Oral Torah are of divine origin, and represent the word of G-d. This is similar to the view of the Conservative movement, but the Orthodox movement holds that such information (except for scribal errors) is the exact word of God and does not represent any human creativity or influence. For the Orthodox, the term “Torah” refers to the “Written Law” as interpreted by the “Oral Law,” interpreted in turn by the Rishonim (Medieval commentators), and eventually codified in the Shulhan Arukh, the most widely code of Jewish law. As practical questions arise, Orthodox authorities apply the Halachic process (the system of legal reasoning and interpretation described in the Oral Torah) using the Torah (both Oral and Written) to determine how best to live in accordance with G-d's will. In this way, Orthodoxy evolves to meet the demands of the times. An excellent summary of the core beliefs of Orthodox Judaism may be found in the Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith.

One of the hallmarks of Orthodox Jews is an openness (and encouragement) to question what it is that G-d requires of us, and then to answer those questions within the system that G-d gave us. (Where there are two Jews there are three opinions.) In addition, among the major movements only Orthodoxy has preserved the “mystical” foundations of Jewish theology, most obviously in the Chasidic (Jews from Eastern Europe) movements though no less so in many yeshiva (a traditional Jewish educational institution) movements. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Orthodox.html 1/20/10)

Conservative Judaism is something of a middle ground between the Orthodox and Reformed forms of Judaism. While the conservative know the law they are lazy (in the most respectful sense of the term) in their observance of it. There is a central organization and provision for ruling on finer points of Jewish law and tradition (halacha).

Conservative Judaism attempts to combine a positive attitude toward modern culture, acceptance of critical secular scholarship regarding Judaism's sacred texts and commitment to Jewish observance. Conservative Judaism believes that scholarly study of Jewish texts indicates that Judaism has constantly been evolving to meet the needs of the Jewish people in varying circumstances, and that a central halachic authority can continue the halachic evolution today. (The notion is that the Talmudic tradition reflects earlier parts of this evolution as well.)

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) is the halachic authority of the movement and will often set out more than one acceptable position. In such a case, the rabbi of the congregation is free to choose from the range of acceptable positions (or none of them), and his congregation is expected to abide by his choice. The CJLS speaks for the Conservative movement and offers parameters to guide local rabbis who turn to it for assistance. Local rabbis will make use of traditional sources and, when available, teshuvot written for the CJLS. Although rabbis mostly adhere to the CJLS, they have the ability to make their own halchic decisions when appropriate.

Conservative Judaism holds that the laws of the Torah and Talmud are of divine origin, and thus mandates the following of halacha (Jewish law). At the same time, the Conservative movement recognizes the human element in the Torah and Talmud, and accepts the notion from modern scholarship that purports to show that Jewish writings also show the influence of other cultures, and in general can be treated as historical documents. Conservative Judaism affirms the legitimacy of scientific biblical criticism.

The movement believes that God is real and that God's will is made known to humanity through revelation. The revelation at Sinai was the clearest and most public of such divine revelations, but revelation also took place with other people — called prophets — and, according to some, in a more subtle form can happen even today.

Many people misinterpret Conservative Judaism as being like Reform Judaism except with more Hebrew in its services; they believe that if one simply goes to a Conservative synagogue, then one is a Conservative Jew. This, of course, is not true, and the movement's leadership is strongly concerned with whether or not the next generation of Conservative Jews will have the commitment to lead an authentic Jewish lifestyle.

( http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/conservatives.html  2/2/10)

Reform Judaism was born at the time of the French Revolution, a time when European Jews were recognized for the first time as citizens of the countries in which they lived. Ghettos were being abolished, special badges were no more, people could settle where they pleased, dress as they liked and follow the occupations that they wanted.

Many Jews settled outside of Jewish districts, and began to live like their neighbors and speak the language of the land. They went to public schools and universities, began to neglect Jewish studies and to disregard the Shulchan Aruch (The written manual of halacha (Jewish law)).  In doing so they became hazy.

In 1815, after Napoleon's defeat, Jews lost the rights of citizenship in several countries. Many Jews became Christian to retain those rights. Thoughtful Jews were concerned about this. They realized that many of these changes took place not because of a dislike of Judaism, but to obtain better treatment. Many rabbis believed the way to address this was to force Jews to keep away from Christians and give up public schools and universities. This didn't work.

Leopold Zunz proposed something else. He suggested that Jews study their history and learn of the great achievements of the past. While Zunz was implementing his ideas, a movement began to make religious services better understood, by incorporating music and the local language. Local Rabbis, however, persuaded the government to close the test synagogue.

Shortly after the closing, Rabbi Abraham Geiger suggested that observance might also be changed to appeal to modern people. Geiger, a skilled scholar in both Tanach and German studies, investigated Jewish history. He discovered that Jewish life had continually changed. Every now and then, old practices were changed and new ones introduced, resulting in a Jewish life that was quite different from that lived 4,000 or even 2,000 years before. He noticed these changes often made it easier for Jews to live in accordance with Judaism. Geiger concluded that this process of change needed to continue to make Judaism attractive to all Jews.

Between 1810 and 1820, congregations in Seesen, Hamburg and Berlin instituted fundamental changes in traditional Jewish practices and beliefs, such as mixed seating, single­day observance of festivals and the use of a cantor/choir. Many leaders of the Reform movement took a very "rejectionist" view of Jewish practice and discarded traditions and rituals. For example:

• Circumcision was not practiced, and was decried as barbaric.
• The Hebrew language was removed from the liturgy and replaced with German.
• The hope for a restoration of the Jews in Israel was officially renounced, and it was officially stated that Germany was to be the new Zion.
• The ceremony in which a child celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah was replaced with a "confirmation" ceremony.
• The laws of Kashrut [kosher ?] and family purity were officially declared "repugnant" to modern thinking people, and were not observed.
• Shabbat was observed on Sunday.
• Traditional restrictions on Shabbat behavior were not followed.

American Reform Judaism began as these German "reformers" immigrated to America in the mid­1800s.

Early Reform Judaism was also anti­Zionist, believing the Diaspora was necessary for Jews to be "light unto the nations." Nevertheless, a number of Reform rabbis were pioneers in establishing Zionism in America.

Following the Balfour Declaration, the Reform movement began to support Jewish settlements in Palestine, as well as institutions such as Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University.

( http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Origins_of_Reform_Judaism.html 2/3/10)

There are also a small groups of non-Rabbinical Jews known as Karaite.

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