Schisms among the Jews
Encyclopedia
Schism
s among the Jews are cultural as well as religious. They have happened as a product of historical accident, geography, and theology
.
, Levantine civilization at the time of Solomon's Temple
was prone to idol worship, astrology
, worship of reigning kings, and paganism
. The divinities or idols worshipped included Ba'al and possibly Asherah
. This was in direct contrast to the teachings in the Torah
, and was condemned by the ancient Biblical prophet
s who attacked those Israelites and Judeans who became idol worshipers.
The biblical narrative describes the split by the Kingdom of Israel from the Kingdom of Judah
. It points to Solomon's unfaithfulness to the divine covenant as the reason for the schism. When Rehoboam, Solomon's son, became king, the people requested tax reform. Rehoboam refused. This caused the break. At first, Rehoboam considered a military solution but the prophet Shemaiah told him not fight because God had caused the schism. Jeraboam, the leader of the tax revolt, became the leader of the Northern Kingdom. He built a northern temple with calf-like idol images that were condemned by the Judeans of Judah
.
After the destruction and exile of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Assyria
, non-Yahwistic practices continued. The narratives of Jeremiah and others interpreted this as the cause of the failure, destruction, and exile of the southern Kingdom of Judah
by Babylonia
. Nebuchadnezzar had additional reasons for taking over Judah and turning its inhabitants into exiles, including challenging its great rival Egypt
.
This was a time when the Jews lived under Persian, Greek
, and Roman
power and influence. The main internal struggles during this era were between the Pharisees
and the Sadducees
, as well as the Essenes
and Zealots. The Pharisees
wanted to maintain the authority and traditions of classical Torah teachings and began the early teachings of the Mishna, maintaining the authority of the Sanhedrin
, the supreme Jewish court. According to Josephus, the Sadducees
differed from the Pharisees
on a number of doctrinal grounds, notably rejecting ideas of life after death. They appear to have dominated the aristocracy and the temple, but their influence over the wider Jewish population was limited. The Essenes
preached a reclusive way of life. The Zealots advocated armed rebellion against any foreign power such as Rome
. All were at violent logger-heads with each other, leading to the confusion and disunity that ended with the destruction of the Second Temple
and the sacking of Jerusalem by Rome
.
s is still extant. The Samaritan faith and that of other Jews diverged over two millennia ago. They consider themselves to be Bene Yisrael ("Children of Israel"), a term used universally by Jewish denominations for the Jewish people as a whole, but do not call themselves Yehudim, the usual Hebrew word for Jews, considering it to denote only mainstream Jews.
) were the original Jewish followers of Jesus
, a Galilean healer, preacher, and prophet. After his crucifixion for sedition by the Romans, his followers broke over whether they should continue to observe Jewish law
, such as at the Council of Jerusalem
. Those who argued that the law was abrogated (either partially or fully, either by Jesus or Paul or by the Roman destruction of the Temple) broke to form Christianity.
The eventual redefinition of Moses' Law
by Jesus' disciples
and their belief in his deity, along with the development of the New Testament
, ensured that Christianity and Judaism would become different and often conflicting religions. The New Testament
depicts the Saducees and Pharisees
as Jesus' opponents (see Woes of the Pharisees
), whereas the Jewish perspective has the Pharisees
as the justified predecessors of the rabbis who upheld the Torah
including the Oral law
, which Christians refer to as the Mosaic Law
or Pentateuch or "Old Covenant
" in contrast to the "New Covenant
".
characterized by reliance on the Tanakh
as the sole source of binding Jewish Law. Karaites rejected the rabbinic tenet that an Oral Torah
(oral law) was transmitted to Moses at Mount Sinai along with the written scriptures
. Accordingly, they rejected the central works of Rabbinic Judaism
which claimed to expound and interpret this written law, including the Mishnah
and the Talmud
, as authoritative on questions of Jewish law
. Karaites had a wide following between the 9th and 12th centuries (they claim that at one time they numbered perhaps 10 percent of Jewry), but over the centuries their numbers have dwindled drastically. Today they are a small group, living mostly in Israel
; estimates of the number of Israeli Karaites range from as low as 10,000 to as high as 40,000.
There is a divergence of views about the historical origins of Karaite Judaism
. Most scholars and some Karaites maintain that it was founded at least in part by Anan ben David
, whereas other Karaites believe that they are not the historical disciples of Anan ben David at all, and point out that many of their later sages (such as Ya'acov Al-Kirkisani) argued that most of Anan's teachings were "derived from Rabbanite Lore".
The state of Israel, along with its Chief Rabbinate, ruled that Karaites are Jews, and while critical differences between Orthodox Judaism
and Karaite Judaism exist, American Orthodox rabbis ruled that Karaism is much closer to Orthodoxy than the Conservative and Reform movements, which may ease issues of formal conversion.
declared himself to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah
whilst living in the Ottoman Empire
. Vast numbers of Jews, known as Sabbateans, believed him; but when under pain of a death sentence in front of the Turkish sultan
Mehmed IV
he became an apostate
from Judaism by becoming a Muslim
, his movement crumbled. Nevertheless, for centuries, small groups of Jews believed in him, and the rabbi
s were always on guard against any manifestations of this schism, always suspicious of hidden "Shebselach" (Yiddish for "little Sabbatians", a play on the word for "young dumb sheep"). Indeed, when the movement of Hasidism
began attracting many followers, the rabbis were once again suspicious that this was Sabbatianism in different garb. It would take many centuries to sort out these complex divisions and schisms and see where they were headed.
After his mysterious death somewhere in the area of Turkish Albania
, groups of Jews continued to be clandestine followers of Shabtai Tzvi even though they had outwardly converted to Islam
, these Jews being known as the Donmeh
. Jewish converts to Islam were, at times, therefore regarded with great suspicion by their fellow Muslims.
A few decades after Shabtai's death, a man by the name of Jacob Frank
claiming mystical powers preached that he was Shabtai Tzvi's successor. He attracted a following, preached against the Talmud
, advocated a form of licentious worship, and was condemned by the rabbis at the time. When confronted by the Polish
authorities, he converted to Catholicism
in 1759 in the presence of King Augustus III of Poland, together with groups of his Jewish followers, known as "Frankists". To the alarm of his opponents, he was received by reigning European monarchs who were anxious to see their Jewish subjects abandon Judaism and apostacise
. The Frankists eventually joined the Polish nobility and gentry.
The arrival of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ("Master [of the] Good Name"), on the scene of Jewish history in Eastern Europe
would herald the commencement of a sea change in what is known today as Haredi Judaism
. Even though he did not write books, he succeeded in gaining powerful disciples to his teachings that were based on the earlier expositions of Rabbi Isaac Luria
(1534–1572) known as the Ari who had based much of his Kabbalistic
teachings on the Zohar
. The Baal Shem Tov came at a time when the Jewish masses of Eastern Europe were reeling in bewilderment and disappointment engendered by the two notorious Jewish false messiah
s Sabbatai Zevi
(1626–1676) and Jacob Frank
(1726–1791) in particular.
The Baal Shem Tov witnessed Frank's public apostasy
(shmad in Hebrew) to Christianity
, which compounded Zevi's earlier apostasy to Islam. The Baal Shem Tov was thus determined to encourage his influential disciples (talmidim) to launch a spiritual revolution in Jewish life in order to reinvigorate the Jewish masses' connections with Torah Judaism
and to vigorously motivate them to bind themselves to the joyous observance of the commandments
, worship
, Torah study
, and sincere belief in God
, so that the lures of Christianity and Islam, and the appeal of the rising secular
Enlightenment
, to the Jewish masses would be weakened and halted. To a large degree Israel succeeded in Eastern Europe.
Already during his lifetime, and gaining momentum following his death, the Baal Shem Tovs disciples spread out to teach his mystical creeds all over Eastern Europe. Thus was born Hasidic Judaism
(Hasidism). Some of the main movements were in: Russia
which saw the rise of the Chabad-Lubavitch
movement; Poland
which had the Gerrer Hasidim
; Galicia had Bobov; Hungary
had Satmar Hasidim
; and Ukraine
had the Breslovers
, and many others that grew rapidly gaining literally millions of adherents, until it became the dominant brand of Judaism in Eastern Europe in the century following the Baal Shem Tovs death. The Jewish masses flocked to this new inspired brand of mystical Judaism, and retained their connections to their Jewish heritage and way of life.
Only when this new religious movement reached Lithuania
did it meet its stiffest resistance among the Lithuanian Jews
(also known as Litvaks). It was Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman (~1720-1797), known as the Vilna Gaon
("Genius [of] Vilna"), and those who followed his classic stringent Talmud
ic and Halakhic
scholasticism, who put up the fiercest resistance to the Hasidim ("Righteous [ones]"). They were called Mitnagdim, meaning "[those who are] oppose/d [to the Hasidim]".
The Vilna Gaon, who was himself steeped in both Talmud
ic and Kabbalistic
wisdom, analyzed the theological underpinnings of this new "Hasidism
" and in his view, concluded that it was deeply flawed since it had elements of what may be roughly termed as panentheism
and perhaps even outright pantheism
, dangerous aspirations for bringing the Jewish Messiah
that could easily be twisted in unpredictable directions for Jewry as had previously happened with the Zevi and Frank religious "revival" fiascos, and an array of complex rejections of their religious ideology. The Vilna Gaons'views were later formulated by his chief disciple Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
(1741–1821) in his work Nefesh HaChaim. The new Hasidic leaders countered with their own religious counter-arguments, some of which can be found in the Tanya
of Chabad-Lubavitch. Much of the debate remains obscure.
However, regardless of the unpopularity of the move, the Vilna Gaon and the scholars of the Beth din
("[Jewish] religious court") of Vilna went so far as to place at least one severe cherem
upon the Hasidim, officially "excommunicating" them from Judaism, which they in turn copied and did likewise to the mitnagdim. The Vilna Gaon's strongest opposition was to the founder of Chabad-Lubavitch, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
(1745–1812). Physical fights broke out in Vilna with each side trying to gain the favor of the Russian authorities and declaring the other side to be beyond the pale of Judaism.
The bitterness and animosity between the two camps ran deep, and basically whoever joined one wing, did not attend or pray in the same synagogue
s as the other wing, nor have the same Torah teachers, and they would generally not marry into each other's families, which is still more or less the rule today where there is a high degree of internal communal structure.
Little of the split between Hasidim and Mitnagdim remains within the modern Haredi world. When confronted by mutual threats, such as from the secular Jews of the haskalah
, or by the onslaught of Communism
and the Holocaust
, or faced by secular Zionists
, Hasidim and Mitnagdim do work together. When the outside world does not threaten them, their battle of ideas resumes as an intellectual debate. Each group has its own unique method of yeshiva
study and communal life, no matter where they establish themselves. They tend to live in different neighborhoods that are still within commuting distance, although even these differences are quickly disappearing.
In modern-day Israel
Hasidim support the Agudat Israel
party in the Knesset
(Israel's parliament) and the non-Hasidic Mitnagdim support the Degel HaTorah
party. Degel HaTorah is led by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv in Jerusalem. Agudat Israel and Degel Torah have formed a political alliance. There is also another large community that follows the rabbinical teachings of the Edah Charedis. These include the Satmar Hasidim
and the perushim communities which do not support any groups that participate in the Israeli government or in Israel including elections.
of 1789, and the growth of Liberalism
, added to the political and personal freedoms granted by Napoleon to the Jews of Europe, many Jews chose to abandon the foreboding and isolating ghetto
s and enter into general society. This influenced the internal conflicts about religion, culture, and politics of the Jews to this day.
Some Jews in Western Europe, and many Jews in America
, joined the religiously liberal new Reform Judaism
movement, which drew inspiration from the writings of modernist thinkers like Moses Mendelson. They coined the name "Orthodox" to describe those who opposed the "Reform". They were criticized by the Orthodox Judaism
rabbis such as Samson Raphael Hirsch
in Germany, and condemned, particularly by those known today as followers of Haredi Judaism, based mainly in Eastern Europe. (Later on, in 1880s America, Conservative Judaism
split from the Reform movement.)
Thus a cultural schism
was also created between the more westernised English
, German
and French
-speaking Western Europe
an Jews and their more religiously observant Yiddish
speaking Eastern European brethren whom they denigratingly labeled Ost Yidden ("Eastern Jews"). These schisms and the debates surrounding them, continue with much ferocity in all Jewish communities today as the Reform and Orthodox movements continue to confront each other over a wide range of religious, social, political and ethnic issues. (Today, the largest Jewish communities are in Israel and in the United States
, and the geographical separation has resulted in cultural differences, such as a tendency to identify as hiloni
and haredi in Israel, as opposed to, say, Reform and Orthodox in the United States.)
and Messianic Judaism
may represent emerging schisms, along with other syncretic movements such as Jewitchery
.
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
s among the Jews are cultural as well as religious. They have happened as a product of historical accident, geography, and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
First Temple era
Based on the historical narrative in the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, Levantine civilization at the time of Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE....
was prone to idol worship, astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, worship of reigning kings, and paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
. The divinities or idols worshipped included Ba'al and possibly Asherah
Asherah
Asherah , in Semitic mythology, is a Semitic mother goddess, who appears in a number of ancient sources including Akkadian writings by the name of Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu or Ashertu or Aserdu or Asertu...
. This was in direct contrast to the teachings in the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, and was condemned by the ancient Biblical prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s who attacked those Israelites and Judeans who became idol worshipers.
The biblical narrative describes the split by the Kingdom of Israel from the Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
. It points to Solomon's unfaithfulness to the divine covenant as the reason for the schism. When Rehoboam, Solomon's son, became king, the people requested tax reform. Rehoboam refused. This caused the break. At first, Rehoboam considered a military solution but the prophet Shemaiah told him not fight because God had caused the schism. Jeraboam, the leader of the tax revolt, became the leader of the Northern Kingdom. He built a northern temple with calf-like idol images that were condemned by the Judeans of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
.
After the destruction and exile of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, non-Yahwistic practices continued. The narratives of Jeremiah and others interpreted this as the cause of the failure, destruction, and exile of the southern Kingdom of Judah
Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
by Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
. Nebuchadnezzar had additional reasons for taking over Judah and turning its inhabitants into exiles, including challenging its great rival Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Second Temple era
Timeline of Ancient Greece
This is a timeline of Ancient Greece from 800 BC to 146 BC.For earlier times, see Greek Dark Ages, Aegean civilizations and Mycenaean Greece. For later times see Roman Greece, Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Greece....
, and Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
power and influence. The main internal struggles during this era were between the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and the Sadducees
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
, as well as the Essenes
Essenes
The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...
and Zealots. The Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
wanted to maintain the authority and traditions of classical Torah teachings and began the early teachings of the Mishna, maintaining the authority of the Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
, the supreme Jewish court. According to Josephus, the Sadducees
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
differed from the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
on a number of doctrinal grounds, notably rejecting ideas of life after death. They appear to have dominated the aristocracy and the temple, but their influence over the wider Jewish population was limited. The Essenes
Essenes
The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...
preached a reclusive way of life. The Zealots advocated armed rebellion against any foreign power such as Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. All were at violent logger-heads with each other, leading to the confusion and disunity that ended with the destruction of the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
and the sacking of Jerusalem by Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Samaritans
One small sect of SamaritanSamaritan
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism...
s is still extant. The Samaritan faith and that of other Jews diverged over two millennia ago. They consider themselves to be Bene Yisrael ("Children of Israel"), a term used universally by Jewish denominations for the Jewish people as a whole, but do not call themselves Yehudim, the usual Hebrew word for Jews, considering it to denote only mainstream Jews.
Christianity
The first Christians (whom historians refer to as Jewish ChristiansJewish Christians
Jewish Christians is a term which appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries....
) were the original Jewish followers of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, a Galilean healer, preacher, and prophet. After his crucifixion for sedition by the Romans, his followers broke over whether they should continue to observe Jewish law
Abrogation of Old Covenant laws
While many Christian theology systems reflect the view that at least some Mosaic laws have been set aside under the New Covenant, there are some theology systems that view the entire Mosaic or Old Covenant as abrogated in that all of the Mosaic laws are set aside for the Law of Christ...
, such as at the Council of Jerusalem
Council of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
. Those who argued that the law was abrogated (either partially or fully, either by Jesus or Paul or by the Roman destruction of the Temple) broke to form Christianity.
The eventual redefinition of Moses' Law
Biblical law in Christianity
Christian views of the Old Covenant have been central to Christian theology and practice since the circumcision controversy in Early Christianity. There are differing views about the applicability of the Old Covenant among Christian denominations...
by Jesus' disciples
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
and their belief in his deity, along with the development of the New Testament
Development of the New Testament canon
The Canon of the New Testament is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and constituting the New Testament of the Christian Bible. For most, it is an agreed-upon list of twenty-seven books that includes the Canonical Gospels, Acts, letters of the Apostles, and Revelation...
, ensured that Christianity and Judaism would become different and often conflicting religions. The New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
depicts the Saducees and Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
as Jesus' opponents (see Woes of the Pharisees
Woes of the Pharisees
The Woes of the Pharisees is a list of criticisms by Jesus against Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers that is present in the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of Matthew...
), whereas the Jewish perspective has the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
as the justified predecessors of the rabbis who upheld the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
including the Oral law
Oral law
An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted....
, which Christians refer to as the Mosaic Law
Biblical law in Christianity
Christian views of the Old Covenant have been central to Christian theology and practice since the circumcision controversy in Early Christianity. There are differing views about the applicability of the Old Covenant among Christian denominations...
or Pentateuch or "Old Covenant
Old Covenant
The Old Covenant was the name of the agreement which effected the union of Iceland and Norway. It is also known as Gissurarsáttmáli, named after Gissur Þorvaldsson, the Icelandic chieftain who worked to promote it. The name "Old Covenant", however, is probably due to historical confusion...
" in contrast to the "New Covenant
New Covenant
The New Covenant is a concept originally derived from the Hebrew Bible. The term "New Covenant" is used in the Bible to refer to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment...
".
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denominationJewish denominations
Jewish religious movements , sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed among Jews from ancient times and especially in the modern era among Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries...
characterized by reliance on the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
as the sole source of binding Jewish Law. Karaites rejected the rabbinic tenet that an Oral Torah
Oral Torah
The Oral Torah comprises the legal and interpretative traditions that, according to tradition, were transmitted orally from Mount Sinai, and were not written in the Torah...
(oral law) was transmitted to Moses at Mount Sinai along with the written scriptures
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
. Accordingly, they rejected the central works of Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud...
which claimed to expound and interpret this written law, including the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
and the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, as authoritative on questions of Jewish law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. Karaites had a wide following between the 9th and 12th centuries (they claim that at one time they numbered perhaps 10 percent of Jewry), but over the centuries their numbers have dwindled drastically. Today they are a small group, living mostly in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
; estimates of the number of Israeli Karaites range from as low as 10,000 to as high as 40,000.
There is a divergence of views about the historical origins of Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...
. Most scholars and some Karaites maintain that it was founded at least in part by Anan ben David
Anan ben David
Anan Ben David is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, do not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law to be divinely inspired...
, whereas other Karaites believe that they are not the historical disciples of Anan ben David at all, and point out that many of their later sages (such as Ya'acov Al-Kirkisani) argued that most of Anan's teachings were "derived from Rabbanite Lore".
The state of Israel, along with its Chief Rabbinate, ruled that Karaites are Jews, and while critical differences between Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
and Karaite Judaism exist, American Orthodox rabbis ruled that Karaism is much closer to Orthodoxy than the Conservative and Reform movements, which may ease issues of formal conversion.
Sabbatians and Frankists
In 1648 Shabtai TzviSabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, , was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement...
declared himself to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
whilst living in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Vast numbers of Jews, known as Sabbateans, believed him; but when under pain of a death sentence in front of the Turkish sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Mehmed IV
Mehmed IV
Mehmed IV Modern Turkish Mehmet was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687...
he became an apostate
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
from Judaism by becoming a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, his movement crumbled. Nevertheless, for centuries, small groups of Jews believed in him, and the rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s were always on guard against any manifestations of this schism, always suspicious of hidden "Shebselach" (Yiddish for "little Sabbatians", a play on the word for "young dumb sheep"). Indeed, when the movement of Hasidism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
began attracting many followers, the rabbis were once again suspicious that this was Sabbatianism in different garb. It would take many centuries to sort out these complex divisions and schisms and see where they were headed.
After his mysterious death somewhere in the area of Turkish Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, groups of Jews continued to be clandestine followers of Shabtai Tzvi even though they had outwardly converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, these Jews being known as the Donmeh
Donmeh
Note: Most Sabbateans during and after Sabbatai Zevi were Jews and practiced only Judaism, whereas the Dönmeh officially practice/d Islam and are not regarded as Jews....
. Jewish converts to Islam were, at times, therefore regarded with great suspicion by their fellow Muslims.
A few decades after Shabtai's death, a man by the name of Jacob Frank
Jacob Frank
Jacob Frank was an 18th century Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi and also of the biblical patriarch Jacob...
claiming mystical powers preached that he was Shabtai Tzvi's successor. He attracted a following, preached against the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, advocated a form of licentious worship, and was condemned by the rabbis at the time. When confronted by the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
authorities, he converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
in 1759 in the presence of King Augustus III of Poland, together with groups of his Jewish followers, known as "Frankists". To the alarm of his opponents, he was received by reigning European monarchs who were anxious to see their Jewish subjects abandon Judaism and apostacise
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
. The Frankists eventually joined the Polish nobility and gentry.
Hasidim and Mitnagdim
- Note: While the name "Hasidim" has gained popular and positive approval, the name "Mitnagdim" has fallen out of popular usage and may even be regarded as offensive by some.
The arrival of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov ("Master [of the] Good Name"), on the scene of Jewish history in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
would herald the commencement of a sea change in what is known today as Haredi Judaism
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
. Even though he did not write books, he succeeded in gaining powerful disciples to his teachings that were based on the earlier expositions of Rabbi Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
(1534–1572) known as the Ari who had based much of his Kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
teachings on the Zohar
Zohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
. The Baal Shem Tov came at a time when the Jewish masses of Eastern Europe were reeling in bewilderment and disappointment engendered by the two notorious Jewish false messiah
False messiah
-Judaism:Armilus is an anti-Messiah figure in late-period Jewish eschatology, comparable to the Christian Antichrist and Muslim Dajjal, who will conquer Jerusalem and persecute the Jews until his final defeat at the hands of God or the true Messiah...
s Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, , was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement...
(1626–1676) and Jacob Frank
Jacob Frank
Jacob Frank was an 18th century Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi and also of the biblical patriarch Jacob...
(1726–1791) in particular.
The Baal Shem Tov witnessed Frank's public apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
(shmad in Hebrew) to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, which compounded Zevi's earlier apostasy to Islam. The Baal Shem Tov was thus determined to encourage his influential disciples (talmidim) to launch a spiritual revolution in Jewish life in order to reinvigorate the Jewish masses' connections with Torah Judaism
Torah Judaism
Torah Judaism is an English term applied to a number of Orthodox Jewish groups to describe their Judaism as being based on an adherence to the laws of the Torah's mitzvot as expounded in Orthodox Halakha...
and to vigorously motivate them to bind themselves to the joyous observance of the commandments
613 mitzvot
The 613 commandments is a numbering of the statements and principles of law, ethics, and spiritual practice contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses...
, worship
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
, Torah study
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
, and sincere belief in God
Names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
, so that the lures of Christianity and Islam, and the appeal of the rising secular
Secularity
Secularity is the state of being separate from religion.For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them...
Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, to the Jewish masses would be weakened and halted. To a large degree Israel succeeded in Eastern Europe.
Already during his lifetime, and gaining momentum following his death, the Baal Shem Tovs disciples spread out to teach his mystical creeds all over Eastern Europe. Thus was born Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
(Hasidism). Some of the main movements were in: Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
which saw the rise of the Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...
movement; Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
which had the Gerrer Hasidim
Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....
; Galicia had Bobov; Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
had Satmar Hasidim
Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)
Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...
; and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
had the Breslovers
Breslov (Hasidic dynasty)
Breslov is a branch of Hasidic Judaism founded by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism...
, and many others that grew rapidly gaining literally millions of adherents, until it became the dominant brand of Judaism in Eastern Europe in the century following the Baal Shem Tovs death. The Jewish masses flocked to this new inspired brand of mystical Judaism, and retained their connections to their Jewish heritage and way of life.
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
did it meet its stiffest resistance among the Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
(also known as Litvaks). It was Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman (~1720-1797), known as the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra or Elijah Ben Solomon, , was a Talmudist, halachist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries...
("Genius [of] Vilna"), and those who followed his classic stringent Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic and Halakhic
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
scholasticism, who put up the fiercest resistance to the Hasidim ("Righteous [ones]"). They were called Mitnagdim, meaning "[those who are] oppose/d [to the Hasidim]".
The Vilna Gaon, who was himself steeped in both Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic and Kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
wisdom, analyzed the theological underpinnings of this new "Hasidism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
" and in his view, concluded that it was deeply flawed since it had elements of what may be roughly termed as panentheism
Panentheism
Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
and perhaps even outright pantheism
Pantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
, dangerous aspirations for bringing the Jewish Messiah
Jewish Messiah
Messiah, ; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to describe priests and kings, who were traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil as described in Exodus 30:22-25...
that could easily be twisted in unpredictable directions for Jewry as had previously happened with the Zevi and Frank religious "revival" fiascos, and an array of complex rejections of their religious ideology. The Vilna Gaons'views were later formulated by his chief disciple Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist. Popularly known as "Reb Chaim Volozhiner" or simply as "Reb Chaim", he was born in Volozhin when it was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
(1741–1821) in his work Nefesh HaChaim. The new Hasidic leaders countered with their own religious counter-arguments, some of which can be found in the Tanya
Tanya
The Tanya is an early work of Hasidic philosophy, by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Hasidism, first published in 1797. Its formal title is Likkutei Amarim , but is more commonly known by its opening word, Tanya, which means "it was taught in a beraita"...
of Chabad-Lubavitch. Much of the debate remains obscure.
However, regardless of the unpopularity of the move, the Vilna Gaon and the scholars of the Beth din
Beth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...
("[Jewish] religious court") of Vilna went so far as to place at least one severe cherem
Cherem
Cherem , is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church...
upon the Hasidim, officially "excommunicating" them from Judaism, which they in turn copied and did likewise to the mitnagdim. The Vilna Gaon's strongest opposition was to the founder of Chabad-Lubavitch, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi , also known as the Baal HaTanya, , was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia...
(1745–1812). Physical fights broke out in Vilna with each side trying to gain the favor of the Russian authorities and declaring the other side to be beyond the pale of Judaism.
The bitterness and animosity between the two camps ran deep, and basically whoever joined one wing, did not attend or pray in the same synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s as the other wing, nor have the same Torah teachers, and they would generally not marry into each other's families, which is still more or less the rule today where there is a high degree of internal communal structure.
Little of the split between Hasidim and Mitnagdim remains within the modern Haredi world. When confronted by mutual threats, such as from the secular Jews of the haskalah
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
, or by the onslaught of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, or faced by secular Zionists
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, Hasidim and Mitnagdim do work together. When the outside world does not threaten them, their battle of ideas resumes as an intellectual debate. Each group has its own unique method of yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
study and communal life, no matter where they establish themselves. They tend to live in different neighborhoods that are still within commuting distance, although even these differences are quickly disappearing.
In modern-day Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
Hasidim support the Agudat Israel
Agudat Israel
Agudat Yisrael began as the original political party representing the ultra-Orthodox population of Israel. It was the umbrella party for almost all ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and before that in the British Mandate of Palestine...
party in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
(Israel's parliament) and the non-Hasidic Mitnagdim support the Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah is an Ashkenazi Haredi political party in Israel. For much of its existence it has been allied to Agudat Yisrael under the name United Torah Judaism.-Ideology:...
party. Degel HaTorah is led by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv in Jerusalem. Agudat Israel and Degel Torah have formed a political alliance. There is also another large community that follows the rabbinical teachings of the Edah Charedis. These include the Satmar Hasidim
Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)
Satmar is a Hasidic movement comprising mostly Hungarian and Romanian Hasidic Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. It was founded and led by the late Hungarian-born Grand Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum , who was the rabbi of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary...
and the perushim communities which do not support any groups that participate in the Israeli government or in Israel including elections.
Orthodox versus Reform (and Conservative), East versus West
From the time of the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
of 1789, and the growth of Liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, added to the political and personal freedoms granted by Napoleon to the Jews of Europe, many Jews chose to abandon the foreboding and isolating ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s and enter into general society. This influenced the internal conflicts about religion, culture, and politics of the Jews to this day.
Some Jews in Western Europe, and many Jews in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, joined the religiously liberal new Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
movement, which drew inspiration from the writings of modernist thinkers like Moses Mendelson. They coined the name "Orthodox" to describe those who opposed the "Reform". They were criticized by the Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbis such as Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
in Germany, and condemned, particularly by those known today as followers of Haredi Judaism, based mainly in Eastern Europe. (Later on, in 1880s America, Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
split from the Reform movement.)
Thus a cultural schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
was also created between the more westernised English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
-speaking Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an Jews and their more religiously observant Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
speaking Eastern European brethren whom they denigratingly labeled Ost Yidden ("Eastern Jews"). These schisms and the debates surrounding them, continue with much ferocity in all Jewish communities today as the Reform and Orthodox movements continue to confront each other over a wide range of religious, social, political and ethnic issues. (Today, the largest Jewish communities are in Israel and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the geographical separation has resulted in cultural differences, such as a tendency to identify as hiloni
Hiloni
Hiloni , plural hilonim derived from the Hebrew word hulin, meaning secular or mundane, is the term used in Israel for non-religious Jews.As natives of Israel, hilonim speak Hebrew...
and haredi in Israel, as opposed to, say, Reform and Orthodox in the United States.)
Kabbalah Centre, Messianic Judaism, etc.
The Kabbalah CentreKabbalah Centre
The Kabbalah Centre is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that provides courses online and through its local centres and study groups. The Kabbalah Centre teaches principles of Kabbalah...
and Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religious movement that arose in the 1960s and 70s. It blends evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual....
may represent emerging schisms, along with other syncretic movements such as Jewitchery
Semitic Neopaganism
Semitic Neopaganism is the revival, mostly US based, of religious traditions deriving from Ancient Semitic religion...
.
See also
- Split of early Christianity and Judaism
- Jews in apostasyJews in apostasyIn Judaism, apostasy refers to the rejection of Judaism and possible defection to another religion by a Jew. The term apostasy is derived from , meaning "rebellious" Equivalent expressions for apostate in Hebrew that are used by rabbinical scholars include mumar , poshea Yisrael , and kofer...
- Jewish hereticsJewish hereticsJewish heretics who are Jewish individuals whose works have, in part or in whole, been condemned as heretical by significant persons or groups in the larger Jewish community based on the classical teachings of Judaism and derived from Halakha -Minim:Hilchot Teshuva Chapter 3 Halacha 7 Five peoples...
- Jewish ScienceJewish ScienceJewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues....
- Secular Jewish cultureSecular Jewish cultureSecular Jewish culture embraces several related phenomena; above all, it is the international culture of secular communities of Jewish people, but it can also include the cultural contributions of individuals who identify as secular Jews...
- Culture of IsraelCulture of IsraelThe culture of Israel developed long before the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 and combines the heritage of secular and religious lives. Much of the diversity in Israel's culture comes from the diversity of its population...
- Religion in IsraelReligion in IsraelReligion in Israel is a central feature of the country and plays a major role in shaping Israeli culture and lifestyle, and religion has played a central role in Israel's history. Israel is also the only country in the world where a majority of citizens are Jewish...