Judaism - Torah Only - Don't Believe It

[notreligus]

Christians need to know that Judaism is not based merely on the Torah.  Some would have you believe that so you would not be in opposition to Jews.    It is based on extra-Biblical teachings, traditions and authority.   I suggest that Christians become familiar with these aspects of Judaism:

Yavneh - The location of an academy of higher learning, and it became the center of Jewish religious life.   Yohanan ben Zakkai founded this academy.

Rabbinic Judaism - Developed as a replacement to Temple worship and sacrifice.   The thought behind this was that religious life did not depend on a sacrificial system but on ethical and penitent action in the here-and-now.   (They would not recognize the sacrificial system as pointing to the future Redeemer.) 

The sages at Yavneh summarized their teachings in the earlier schools of Hillel and Shammai.   They canonized Scripture and transferred the prayers and observances once tied to the Temple to synagogue and the Sanhedrin.

The oral teachings of the sages and Scribes were put into the law code textbook called the Mishnah.  The Bible AND the Mishnah were used in early developing Rabbinic Judaism.    Eventually Rabbinic oral teachings were compiled as the Talmud.   I have put quotes from the Talmud here at this board before which contain the highest order of hateful comments about Jesus and Christians, in general.   

Jewish liturgy developed.   The Karaites (still organized today) are a group which opposed these external, extra-Biblical teachings which they believed opposed the Torah.   A group called the Maimonides developed a philosophical work called the Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed) which was a liturgy.   It was written in Arabic and was an attempt to harmonize the teachings of Judaism with the philosophy of Aristotle.   

The great codes of Jewish law were complied during the Middle Ages.  The Kabbala, which is concerned with the hidden nature of God (G-d), emphasized the medieval Jewish philosophical thinking about the impersonal aspects of the Deity.   They developed the doctrine of Ein Sof, or "God as God is in God's self."  And, they believe that the world was governed by sfirot, the ten divine emanations.   Next Hasidism developed or the worship of God through joy and fervor.   If you are familiar with modern day Hasidics you know that they are viewed as a fanatical group.   My former boss, a Jewish man from New York, said that he actually hated the Hasidics and considered them the most ruthless business people in the world.   

Modern times brought about the Haskalah, or the insistence that Jewish beliefs were uniquely rational and they needed to be rejuvenated and reformulated.   The modern forms of Judaism deleoped from this, Reformed, Positive-Historical School, and Neo-Orthodoxy.   For the Orthodox Jews the Shulhan Arukh - or 16th century code of law compiled by Joseph Caro - together with commentaries and later decisions, constituted a fixed and binding standard for proper Jewish practice. The great divide between Orthodoxy and Reform was on the question of Jewish law.   Reform Judaism rejects the idea of a permanently binding religious law.   The Positive-Historical School developed a middle-of-the-road belief.   

Zionism is another aspect of Judaism which should be addressed.   Many Jews are anti-Zionists and wish that the Zionists would stop a focus on a small piece of Middle Eastern real estate and wish that the Jews would be united in affecting the world instead of being so narrowly focused.

There are many good sources of books and information on Judaism.   I have many books about Judaism, but I selected an article from The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, as a concise source of basic information.   

[erez]

Not a bad summary. I notice the lack of mention of Conservative Judaism, the reaction to the Reform movement. 

[notreligus]

Not a bad summary. I notice the lack of mention of Conservative Judaism, the reaction to the Reform movement.

I never said it was all encompassing.   I said it was a summary.   

I once posted a current a chart with the most current branches of Judaism and the percentage of worldwide Jews that each group represents.   I will try to locate that again.   I did not set out to ignore the Conservatives.   You're free to discuss this branch of Judaism yourself.