What is Judaism?
(jō'dӘĭz´´Әm, jō'dē–), the religious beliefs and practices and the way of life of the Jews. The term itself was first used by Hellenized Jews to describe their religious practice, but it is of predominantly modern usage; it is not used in the Bible or in Rabbinic literature and only rarely in the literature of the medieval period. The word Torah is employed when referring to the divinely revealed teachings of Jewish law and belief. Judaism is used more broadly, including also the totality of human interpretation and practice. Thus, one may speak of “secular Judaism,” referring to an adherence to values expressed by Judaism but removed from any religious context. The most important holy days in Judaism are the weekly Sabbath, the major holidays of Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth (see Tabernacles, Feast of), Simhat Torah, Passover, and Shavuot, and the minor holidays of Hanukkah, Purim, and Tisha B'Av.
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Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Primary Sources
- Cairo Genizah: Cambridge Digital LibraryThe Taylor-Schechter Cairo Genizah Collection at Cambridge University Library is the world's largest and most important single collection of medieval Jewish manuscripts.
- Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts at the Library of CongressThe Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress houses over 225 manuscripts; most of them in Hebrew but with a fair sampling of manuscripts also written in cognate languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, and Yiddish. It is a highly diverse collection, dating from the 11th to early 20th centuries and drawn from Jewish communities throughout the world. It is also a very eclectic collection, particularly rich in kabalistic material from Italy and Safed yet also offering material in everything from music and poetry to folk medicine and synagogue rites.
- Hebrew Manuscripts-Cambridge Digital LibraryFor over five hundred years Cambridge University has been building up one of the world’s most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts. The University Library holds significant numbers of Bibles and biblical and talmudic commentaries, along with important halakhic, liturgical, poetic, philosophical, kabbalistic and scientific manuscripts. Chief among the treasures are the famous Nash Papyrus, one of the earliest known manuscripts containing the words of the Hebrew Bible and an artefact that continues to excite debate more than a hundred years after its discovery, and the Cambridge Mishnah, one of only three complete manuscript codices of this central text of Jewish law.
- Hebrew Manuscripts-Columbia UniversityHebrew and Judaica manuscripts from Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
- Hebrew Manuscripts-Vatican LibraryDigiVatLib is a digital library service. It provides free access to the Vatican Library’s digitized collections: manuscripts, incunabula, archival materials and inventories as well as graphic materials, coins and medals, printed materials (special projects).
- Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation ProjectThe Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project has been digitising items from the British Library's significant collection of Hebrew hand-written books, charters and scrolls, in order to make them available online.
- Ktiv: International Collection Of Digitized Hebrew ManuscriptsThe vision of the International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts is to allow readers across the globe to access the complete corpus of existing Hebrew manuscripts. Using state-of-the-art technology, the International Collection will preserve the digital images of the manuscripts for the future, and will enable readers and scholars to use the most innovative research and discovery tools.
- Manuscripts-Eits Haim LibraryEts Haim is the oldest still functioning Jewish library in the world. It was founded in 1616 and has been housed in the historical complex of the Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam since 1675. In close cooperation with the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana at the Special Collections of the Amsterdam University Library, who were successful in securing the cooperation of the National Library of Israel, two large projects were started, involving the cataloguing of the collection of about 25.000 printed books and the digitization of the 560 manuscripts.
- SefariaSefaria is home to 3,000 years of Jewish texts. We are a non-profit organization offering free access to texts, translations, and commentaries so that everyone can participate in the ongoing process of studying, interpreting, and creating Torah.
Online Resources
- Center for Jewish HistoryCenter for Jewish History and partner collections span five thousand years, with tens of millions of archival documents (in dozens of languages and alphabet systems), more than 500,000 volumes, as well as thousands of artworks, textiles, ritual objects, recordings, films, and photographs.
- The Global Home for Jewish GenealogyExplore millions of records from around the world, identify relatives, discover the towns of your ancestors, experience how they lived, connect with our global JewishGen community, and more!
- Internet Medieval Sourcebook Selected Sources: Medieval Jewish LifeThe Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
- Jewish Digital Collections and Jewish Study GuidesThis website provides links to a wide array of resources covering Jewish history and life available from various institutions.
- Medieval Jewish History - Resource DirectoryA compilation of resources covering a variety of aspects of medieval Jewish life and history.
Perspectives
The Origins of Judaism
The Origins of Judaism provides a clear, straightforward account of the development of ancient Judaism in both the Judean homeland and the Diaspora. Beginning with the Bible and ending with the rise of Islam, the text depicts the emergence of a religion that would be recognized today as Judaism out of customs and conceptions that were quite different from any that now exist. Special attention is given to the early rabbis' contribution to this historical process. Together with the main narrative, the book provides substantial quotations from primary texts (biblical, rabbinic and other) along with extended side treatments of important themes, a glossary, short biographies of leading early rabbis, a chronology of important dates and suggestions for further reading.
Essential Judaism: Updated Edition
You'll find everything you need to know about being Jewish in this indispensable, revised and updated guide to the religious traditions, everyday practices, philosophical beliefs, and historical foundations of Judaism. What happens at a synagogue service? What are the rules for keeping kosher? How do I light the Hanukah candles? What is in the Hebrew Bible? What do the Jewish holidays signify? What should I be teaching my children about being Jewish? With the first edition of Essential Judaism, George Robinson offered the world the accessible compendium that he sought when he rediscovered his Jewish identity as an adult. In his "ambitious and all-inclusive" (New York Times Book Review) guide, Robinson illuminates the Jewish life cycle at every stage and lays out many fascinating aspects of the religion--the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, the evolution of Hasidism, and much more--while keeping a firm focus on the different paths to living a good Jewish life in today's world.
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
Includes hundreds of special articles covering subjects in analytical depth, as well as short biographies of the major figures in the story of Judaism.
Teach Yourself - Judaism
Discover Judaism and its role in our world Teach Yourself Judaism is a comprehensive guide to the Jewish faith. Delving into the roots and development of Judaism and considering the practicalities of pursuing a Jewish way of life, this book will ensure you soon have a thorough understanding of the beliefs and practices of this major world religion. From the principles behind significant traditions and rituals to the impact of the Holocaust and the state of Israel on Jewish self-understanding, this book is a fascinating read.
Judaism When Christianity Began
In this book, Jacob Neusner gives an introductory, systematic, and holistic account of the theology and practice of Rabbinic Judaism, which emerged, along with Christianity, from antiquity and formed the classical statement of Judaism to the present day. He offers a description of beliefs and practices, theology as expressed in mythic narratives, and norms of ritual and symbolic behavior. Neusner also discusses: revelation and scripture, the doctrine of God, the definition of the holy, the chain of tradition embodied in the story of the written and oral Torah, the intervention of God in history through miracles, sacred space, atonement and repentance, death and afterlife, and art and symbol in Judaism.
Reference
- Jewish Cultures MappedThis website provides interactive maps exploring Jewish history and culture.
- Judaism-Britannica AcademicA landing page to the resources Britannica Academic provides on Judaism. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
- Judaism-Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Judaism. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, etc.
- The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern EuropeThe only resource of its kind, this encyclopedia provides the most complete picture of the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe from the beginnings of their settlement in the region to the present. This website makes accurate, reliable, scholarly information about East European Jewish life accessible to everyone.
Judaism: The Chosen People
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What is it that makes a Jew a Jew? In New York, Elie Wiesel, author and survivor of the concentration camps, tries to define it. In London, Nobert Brainin and the Amadeus Quartet carry the argument further, both in words and music. Inevitably the search takes us to Jerusalem, where Dr. Pinchas Peli, tenth generation rabbi and fourth generation Jerusalemite, explains the meaning of prayer and acts as our guide through the religious schools, the synagogues and a museum for the survivors of the Holocaust. We also see Western (Wailing) Wall, a place of prayer and pilgrimage sacred to the Jewish people.