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By: Becky Theobald
And
Kayla Davis
It is not clear of how Judaism was practiced but many
believe that Orthodox practices are closest to the
original practices.
Orthodox Jews believe in a strict interpretation of the
Torah both written and oral and believe it still apply
to today.
 Follow Kosher Dietary Laws
 Daily Prayers and Ablutions (washing)
 Sexually Purity
 Extreme study of the Torah
 Gender Segregation in the Synagogue
God is one: during a service the Torah is lifted while
the congregation says “ This is the Law which Moses
set before the children of Israel” , then Deuteronomy
6:4 is read “ Hear O Israel : the Lord our God, the
Lord is One.”
To God alone my one offer prayer and People can
atone for sins. The scripture for Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur (The Days of Awe) says that prayer to
God, repentance and dutiful giving of charity atone
for sin.
 God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique
covenant with God. In Genesis chapter 9: 8 ‘ God says “
I am establishing my covenant with you and your
descendents after you and every living creature.”’
 After the Maccabean revolt Judaism broke off into
three sects or “movements”.
 The Essenes: devoted to strict discipline, mystical and
ascetic group, it is believed that this group influenced
Christianity.
 The Sadducees: They were religiously conservative but
socially liberal. The movement was made up of the
priests and the aristocrats of Jewish society.
 The believed in the written torah and not the oral, they
evolved from the Greek Hellenistic elements of Judaism
and the adopted the Greek culture. The Temple and its
sacrificial services were at the center of their worship.
 The Pharisees: believed in both the written and oral
torah. They felt both were equally binding and left open
to interpretation by the rabbis, people with sufficient
education to make such decisions.
 They also believed in education for all and devoted
themselves to studying the torah.
 After Judea was conquered by Rome a fourth group
appeared: the Zealots.
 The Zealots: were not a religious nationalistic
movement. They favored war against Rome, and
believed that death was preferable to being under
Roman control. The Pharisaic school of thought is the
only one that survived the destruction of the Temple
during their “war” with Rome.
 After the destruction of the Temple, there was no
large-scale, organized difference of opinion within
Judaism.
 It was basically the same as what we now know as
Orthodox Judaism.
 There were some differences in practices and customs
between the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe and
the Sephardic Jews of Spain and the Middle East, but
these differences were not significant.
 Today within the United States there are sects of
Judaism.
 Reform : Racially and culturally oriented, little
consensus of religious or doctorial belief, “liberal”.
 Conservative: put more emphasis on the historic and
religious aspects of Judaism, does not hold to the
importance of a Jewish political state.
 Orthodox : Up hold most of the traditional dietary and
ceremonial laws of Judaism, “Traditionalist”
 With the split between the Essenes, Sadducees,
Pharisees, Zealots it caused different opinions on
outside forces. These opinions caused tension with
Rome that sparked a war with the Zealots. Because of
this war a main temple that was used by all four groups
was destroyed.
 Also with the split the original practices of judasim
were lost and it can only be assumed what these
practices were, how the were done, and when the were
used.
 If Abraham were to look at Judaism today he may
recognize the practices of orthodox sect because this
sect’s practices are “supposed” to be the closets to the
unknown original practices. But if Abraham were to
look at the other sects like the Reform and
Conservative he probably would not recognize because
they are liberal in their views and practices, the
Abraham would have been.
 http://www.religioustolerance.org/judaism.htm
 http://www.jewfaq.org/toc.htm
 http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/jud
aism/beliefs.html