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In the West, in the Middle East, in most of Africa and Asia, the legacy of Hebrew religion permeates nearly everything you see. The Hebrew religion, so important and far-reaching in its influence on human culture, did not spring up overnight. Along with the Hebrew history, the development of Hebrew religion was a long and rocky road.
May 21, 2024 · The term synagogue is of Greek origin (synagein, “to bring together”) and means “a place of assembly.” The Yiddish word shul (from German Schule , “school”) is also used to refer to the synagogue, and in modern times the word temple is common among some Reform and Conservative congregations.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
- Legal, judicial, and congregational roles
- Chief rabbinates
The land of Israel, as is evident from the biblical narratives, played a significant role in the life and thought of the Israelites. It was the promised home, for the sake of which Abraham left his birthplace; the haven toward which those escaping from Egyptian servitude moved; and the hope of the exiles in Babylon. In the long centuries following the destruction of the Judean state by the Romans, it was a central part of messianic and eschatological expectations.
During the early period of settlement, there apparently were many sacred localities, with one or another functioning for a time as a central shrine for all the tribes. Even the establishment of Jerusalem as the political capital by David and the building of a royal chapel there by Solomon did not bring an end to local cult centres. It was not until the reign of Josiah of Judah (640–609 bce) that a reform centralized the cult in Jerusalem and attempted to end worship at local shrines. Although Josiah’s reform was not entirely successful, during the Babylonian Exile and the subsequent return, Jerusalem and its Temple defeated its rivals and became—in law, in fact, and in sentiment—the centre of Jewish cultic life. This did not inhibit, however, the rise and development of other forms of worship and even—on a few occasions—other cult centres. Nonetheless, no matter how unpopular the priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple became with some segments of the population—the Qumrān community seems to have denied its legality, and the Pharisees complained bitterly about its arrogance and exactions, attempting, when feasible, to impose and enforce Pharisaic regulations upon it—reverence for the Temple seems to have remained a widespread sentiment. With the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 ce, such reverence was transformed both by messianic expectations and by eschatological hopes into fervent devotion, which, over the following centuries, became idealized and even supernaturalized. The most ardently articulated statement of the crucial role of the land of Israel and the Jerusalem Temple is found in the Sefer ha-Kuzari of Judah ha-Levi, in which the two are seen as absolutely indispensable for the proper relationship between God and his people.
The rabbinate, with its peculiar nature and functions, is the result of a series of developments that began after the disastrous second revolt against Rome (132–135 ce). The term rabbi (“my teacher”) was originally an honorific title for the graduates of the academy directed by the nasi, or patriarch, who was the head of the Jewish community in Palestine as well as a Roman imperial official. The curriculum of the school was Torah, written and oral, according to the Pharisaic tradition and formulation. The nasi appointed rabbis to the law court (the bet din) and as legal officers of local communities; acting with the local elders, they supervised and controlled the life of the community and its members in all aspects. A similar situation obtained in Babylon under the Parthian and Sāsānian empires, where the resh galuta, or exilarch (“head of the exile”), appointed rabbinical officials to legal and administrative posts. In time the patriarchate and exilarchate disappeared, but the rabbinate, nourished by independent rabbinical academies, survived. An authorized scholar, when called to become the judicial officer of a community, would at the same time become the head of the local academy and, after adequate preparation and examination, would grant authorization to his pupils, who were then eligible to be called to rabbinical posts. There was thus a diffusion of authority, the communities calling, rather than a superior official appointing, their rabbis. The rabbis were not ecclesiastical personages but communal officials, responsible for the governance of the entire range of life of what was understood to be the qehilla qedosha, the “holy community.”
In modern times, particularly in the Western world, the change in Jewish communal existence required a transformation of this ancient structure. The rabbinate became, for the most part, an ecclesiastical rather than a communal agency, reflecting the requirements of civic life in modern nation states. The education of rabbis is now carried on in seminaries whose structure and curriculum have been influenced by European and American academic institutions. The majority of their graduates serve as congregational rabbis, in roles similar to those of ministers and priests in Christian denominations but with some other functions deriving from the particular situation and nature of the Jewish community.
The existence of the offices of chief rabbi in the State of Israel derives from the situation in the Ottoman Empire, where the various religious communities functioned as quasi-political entities in a multiethnic conglomerate. Israel has two chief rabbis, one for the Ashkenazic (European) and one for the Sephardic (Eastern) community; they no longe...
Dec 6, 2023 · Judaism is a monotheistic religion that emerged with the Israelites in the Eastern Mediterranean (Southern Levant) within the context of the Mesopotamian river valley civilizations. The Israelites were but one nomadic tribe from the area, so named because they considered themselves to be the descendants of Jacob, who changed his name to Israel.
Judaism is the religion of the Jews, an ethnic, cultural, and religious group that has its origins in the ancient Near East, has lived in communities as members of collective polities and as individuals throughout the world, and now numbers about thirteen million people, chiefly concentrated in the State of Israel, North America, and Europe.
So where and when did it originate? It’s hard to imagine “Judaism” (at least as we know it today) without synagogues! Answer: Indeed, there is no mention of the Synagogue in the “Written Torah ” (i.e., the Five Books of Moses ). The institution of the synagogue is of later, Rabbinic origin. 1.
Their destination was the land of Canaan: “Leave your own country, your kinsmen, and your father’s house, and go to a country that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). After arriving there, however, they continued their nomadic existence. Isaac made Beersheba his home, and seldom left it.
