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Culture Documents
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Their sacred text, the Hebrew
Bible, teaches several doctrines - such as those about God, the Messiah, human
beings, and the universe - making beliefs very important to Jews. Judaism has no
official creed, however.
ORIGIN:
Judaism is a religious tradition with origins dating back nearly four thousand years, rooted
in the ancient near eastern region of Canaan (which is now Israel and Palestinian
territories). Originating as the beliefs and practices of the people known as "Israel,"
classical, or rabbinic, Judaism did not emerge until the 1st century C.E. Judaism traces its
heritage to the covenant God made with Abraham and his lineage that God would make
them a sacred people and give them a holy land.
PRIMARY FIGURES:
The primary figures of Israelite culture include the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
the prophet Moses, who received God's law at Mt. Sinai. Judaism is a tradition grounded in
the religious, ethical, and social laws as they are articulated in the Torah.
RELIGIOUS TEXTS:
Jews refer to the Bible as the Tanakh, an acronym for the texts of the Torah, Prophets, and
Writings. Other sacred texts include the Talmud and Midrash, the rabbinic, legal, and
narrative interpretations of the Torah.
MAIN MOVEMENTS:
The four main movements within Judaism today are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and
Reconstructionist, respectively ranging from traditional to liberal to religiously progressive
in their application of Torah.
STATUS OF MEN AND WOMEN:
ACCORDING TO TORAH'S SYSTEM:
Men and women are equally obliged by the Torah's system of Divine commandments.
However, on account of their traditional domestic, and especially their "natural" childrearing obligations, women were exempted by rabbinic law from any obligation to perform
positive commandments that are "time-bound," most notably participation in public prayer
services at specifically mandated times. Women were also excluded, and often discouraged,
from the obligation to study Torah, which is commonly viewed in rabbinical theology as the
pinnacle of religious devotion.
As a result of this exclusion of women from the public and most elevated of religious
obligations, classical rabbinical Judaismincluding contemporary Orthodox Judaismis
often depicted as being essentially patriarchal, or even sexist, in nature. Compounding this
perception is the fact that ecclesiastical authority has, since biblical times, been the
exclusive domain of males, from the priests and Levites of ancient Israel who administered
the rituals in the Jerusalem Temple, to the rabbis and cantors who today serve as the
spiritual leaders of traditional, or Orthodox, congregations. Moreover, while the other
denominations of Judaism all practice egalitarianism in public worship today, Orthodox
synagogue services remain strictly gender separated, with women usually relegated to the
sides, rear, or balcony of the sanctuary, while men alone are permitted to lead the services,
preach sermons, and be "called up" to bless, and read from, the Torah and Prophets.
At the same time, women do play a vital role in traditional Jewish domestic and family life,
most notably in assuring adherence to the dietary laws and ensuring that the many domestic
Shabbat and festival rituals (most notably candle lighting), meals, and customs are prepared
and conducted in accordance with Jewish law. Women are also entrusted to ensure
adherence to the laws of taharat ha-mishpacha, or family purity.
Since the 2nd-century codification of the Mishnah, the rabbis have endeavored to soften
some of the biblical laws most prejudicial to women through ingenious scriptural exegesis
and the introduction of new legal institutions. The Jewish laws of marriage and divorce offer
a key case study in such strategies employed by the rabbis to adjust, if not quite equalize, the
status of women over the course of centuries. In ancient Israel, as the Bible makes quite
evident, wives were considered the property of their husbands. A man could, for example,
simply and abruptly divorce his wife, just as easily as he had "acquired" her. This is
dramatized by the simple and brief biblical legislation regarding the procedure for divorcing
one's wife, which to this day presents a formidable obstacle in achieving gender equity in
Jewish family law: "A man takes a wife and possesses her. If she fails to please him because
he finds in her something unseemly, he shall then write her a bill of divorcement, hand it to
her and send her away from his house" (Deuteronomy 24:1).
The history of extensive rabbinic legislation regarding these laws of divorce documents the
introduction of significant protections of women from the abuse to which a literal
application of this biblical system so clearly exposes them. To begin with, the rabbis
required men to provide their wives with a marriage contract, known as a ketubah, in
which they pledge to "sustain, respect, love, feed and protect (their wives)...." The ketubah,
an Aramaic document that is handed to the bride under the chupah, or wedding canopy,
additionally provides the woman with a substantial "pension" should her husband
predecease or divorce her.
"writ of separation" by creating elaborate scribal and juridical procedures governing the
issuance of a legally binding divorce document, known in Hebrew as a get.
While rabbinic law was unable entirely to circumvent the biblical standard by which only
the husband could initiate divorce proceedings, rabbinical courts since the early medieval
period were provided with wide latitude to compel, even by physical coercion when all else
failed, abusive or neglectful husbands to grant their wives a get. In the late 10th century,
the leading rabbinical scholar of Franco-Germany, R. Gershom of Mainz, issued an
ordinance against "throwing the divorce" at a woman against her will, which effectively
required the wife's consent to accept the get in the presence of a rabbinical court. R.
Gershom also issued a universal Jewish ban on polygamy that has remained in force ever
since among all Ashkenazic Jews.
licit sexuality within the context of marriage resulted in Jewish law including, among the
obligations of Jewish husbands, attending to the sexual satisfaction of their wives, an
obligation considered on par with housing, physical protection, clothing, and financial
support.
While the established policy of the Reform movement has long been to ordain and employ
in its congregations openly gay and lesbian persons as both rabbis and cantors, the status of
homosexuals as religious leaders currently remains a matter of heated dispute within the
Conservative movement. While the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary of America
decided, in 2007, to ordain openly gay rabbis and cantors, the movement's synagogue
council, the United Synagogues of America, has not enforced an equal employment policy
with regard to gay clergy. Each congregation remains free to establish its own standards
regarding the hiring of gay rabbis and cantors.
Orthodox Judaism, following the Levitical laws that unambiguously prohibit male
homosexual relations and depict them as an "abomination," adamantly refuses to grant
ordination to homosexuals or to employ openly gay clergy.