Religion in Credo: Judaism

Hebrew lawgiver, probably b. Egypt. The prototype of the prophets, he led his people in the 13th cent. B.C. out of bondage in Egypt. Moses was the leader of the Israelites in their departure from Egypt and plays a central role in receiving the covenant from God.

Heb. Yerushalayim, Arab. Al Quds; the capital of Israel. Jerusalem is an administrative, religious, educational, cultural, and market center. Occupied as far back as the 4th millennium B.C. After Solomon built the Temple on Mt. Moriah in the 10th cent. B.C., Jerusalem became the spiritual and political capital of the Hebrews.

The local Jewish institution for instruction in the Torah and worship, but not infringing on the ritual or sacrificial roles of the Jerusalem priesthood. In antiquity, it was the local religious focal point of individual Jewish communities. In Judaism, a place of worship, study, and gathering; in the USA a synagogue is also called a temple by the non-Orthodox.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Centre of Jewish national worship in Jerusalem, in both ancient and modern times, sited on Mount Moriah (or Temple Mount), one of the hills of Mount Zion. The Wailing Wall is the surviving part of the western wall of the enclosure of Herod's Temple. Since the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, Jews have gone there to pray and to mourn their dispersion and the loss of their homeland.

From The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
Title of a qualified Jewish religious authority and teacher.

From The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
An institution dedicated to advanced rabbinic study.

As the founder of Judaism, he is said to have instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, who are descended from Isaac, son of Abraham's old age. In the Bible, progenitor of the Hebrews and the founder of Judaism. In the Qur'an, ancestor of the Arabs through his son Ishmael. Abraham is further regarded as an ancestor of Muhammad.

King of the Hebrews 1004-965 BC. He became king of Judah on the death of King Saul at Mount Gilboa in 1004 BC, then king of Israel in 997 BC. He united the tribes against the Philistines, conquering their cities (such as Ekron), and extending his kingdom over Moab and other surrounding lands.

In the Hebrew Bible, the name of God, revealed to Moses; in Hebrew texts it is represented by the letters YHVH (without the vowels ‘a o a’) because it was regarded as too sacred to be pronounced; other religions say the letters as Yahweh.

Christian name for the Hebrew Bible, which serves as the first division of the Christian Bible (see New Testament).

In Judaism, the first five books of the Tenakh, or Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament).

In Judaism, codified collection of Oral Law—legal interpretations of portions of the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and other legal material. Together with the Gemara, or Amoraic commentary on the Mishna, it comprises the Talmud.

Hebrew was the language of the Jewish people in biblical times, and most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

In Judaism, vast compilation of the Oral Law with rabbinical elucidations, elaborations, and commentaries, in contradistinction to the Scriptures or Written Laws. The Talmud is the accepted authority for Orthodox Jews everywhere.

Conforming to religious law with regard to the preparation and consumption of food; in Judaism, conforming to the food laws (kashrut) of the Torah (as laid down in Deuteronomy and Leviticus) and the Mishnah.

In Judaism, an eight-day festival of dedication and lights. Hanukkah commemorates the successful rebellion of the Jews against the Syrians in the Maccabean War of 162 B.C.E., but the military associations of this festival are played down.

In Judaism, one of the most important and elaborate of religious festivals. Its celebration begins on the evening of the 14th of Nisan. Annual Jewish festival held 15-22 Nisan (in March or April), commemorating the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.

Ceremonial meal that begins the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover), which celebrates the Exodus.

Jewish high holy day, or ‘day of awe’, held on the tenth day of Tishri (September-October), the first month of the Jewish year. It is a day of fasting, penitence, and cleansing from sin, ending the ten days of penitence that follow Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The Jewish festival of New Year, celebrated on the first and sometimes second of the month Tishri, which falls in September or October, at which, during the New Year’s service, a ram’s horn is blown as a call to repentance and spiritual renewal.

In Judaism, initiation of a boy, which takes place at the age of 13, into the adult Jewish community.

Festival of Tabernacles or Booths; Sukkot is a 7-day holiday period that begins on the 15th day of the month of Tishri, only 5 days after the conclusion of the 10 Days of Awe that begin with Rosh Hashanah and culminate with Yom Kippur. Sukkot is one of the three pilgrim festivals when, in ancient times, the Jews made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Liberal Jewish movement. Reform communities vary, but tend to question the authority of the Talmud (Jewish laws).

Orthodox Judaism is distinguished by its attachment to the written Torah (the Jewish Bible or Tanakh) and the Oral Torah, a tradition explaining what the written Scriptures mean. All elements of the religious Jewish community that demand strict observance of Jewish law and praxis.

A Jewish mystical tradition based on an esoteric interpretation of the Old Testament and other texts, or a system which incorporates kabbalistic principles; any secret, occult or mystical doctrine.

One of the two major geographic divisions of the Jewish people, consisting of those Jews whose forebears in the Middle Ages resided in the Iberian Peninsula, as distinguished from those who lived in Germanic lands, who came to be known as the Ashkenazim.

Form The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
Jews tracing their descent from ancestors who settled throughout northwestern Europe in the early Middle Ages.