8. Judaism: the Tanakh, monotheism, the cult of Yahweh, messianism, the Talmud, Kabbalah, Hasidism

Lecture Plan

1. Sources for the study of Judaism. The Tanakh. The formation of monotheism. The cult of Yahweh. Messianism. The Talmud.

2. Judaic ritual practice, prohibitions and precepts.

3. The idea of the Chosenness of the people by God.

4. Kabbalah. Hasidism.

5. The main currents in Judaism: Orthodox, Reform and Modernist. Karaism.

6. The socio-political orientations of Judaic organizations in contemporary conditions.

7. Judaism in Russia.

1. Sources for the study of Judaism. The Tanakh. The formation of monotheism. The cult of Yahweh. Messianism. The Talmud

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. The word "Judaism" derives from the Greek ioudaismos, put into use by Greek-speaking Jews around 100 BCE to distinguish their religion from that of the Greeks. It goes back to the name of Jacob's fourth son, Judah (Yehuda), whose descendants, together with the descendants of Benjamin,

formed the southern kingdom – the kingdom of Judah – with its capital in Jerusalem. After the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel and the dispersal of the tribes that inhabited it, the people of Judah (subsequently known as "Yehudim," "Jews," or "Hebrews") became the principal bearers of Jewish culture and remained so even after the destruction of their own state.

Judaism as a religion is the most important element of Jewish civilization. Thanks to its awareness of its own religious election and the special mission of its people, the Jewish people was able to survive in conditions in which it repeatedly lost its national-political identity.

Judaism implies faith in the one God and the real influence of this faith upon life. But Judaism is not merely an ethical system; it includes religious, historical, ritual, and national elements. Moral conduct is not self-sufficient; it must be combined with the belief that virtue "glorifies the one God."

The history of the Jewish people serves as the principal grounding for Judaism's key beliefs and practice. Even when it borrowed ancient festivals or rites from the developed cultures of Canaan and Babylonia, Judaism altered their essential meaning, supplementing and then supplanting the natural interpretation with a historical one. For example, Passover (Pesach), originally a festival of the spring harvest, became a festival of liberation from Egyptian slavery. The ancient custom of circumcision, originally practiced among other peoples as a rite marking a boy's entry into puberty, was transformed into an act performed at a boy's birth, symbolizing the child's entry into the covenant that God made with Abraham.

The conclusion reached in the nineteenth century by some (mostly Christian) historians of religion – that Jewish history gave rise to two distinct religions, namely the religion of Israel before Ezra (ca. 444 BCE) and Judaism thereafter – was recognized by many as mistaken. The evolution of Judaism is continuous, and like other religions, Judaism has changed and developed, freeing itself of many old elements and adopting new principles and norms in accordance with changing conditions. Despite the growing role of legal elements in Judaism after the Babylonian captivity, the religion remained essentially the same as it had been before the captivity, and any significant doctrine of post-exilic Judaism traces back to earlier teachings. Judaism after the exile, without departing from the universalism of the earlier prophets, raised that universalism to a new height in the works of Deutero-Isaiah, the books of Ruth and Jonah, the Psalms, the so-called wisdom literature, and the Halakha and Aggadah compiled by the Pharisees.

In its primitive form the Jewish religion existed during the period of the patriarchs (ca. 2000–1600 BCE), an era characterized by the deification

of natural forces, belief in the power of demons and spirits, taboos, the distinction between clean and unclean animals, and the veneration of the dead. The seeds of certain important ethical ideas, which Moses and the prophets later developed, already existed in this earliest period.

According to the Bible, Abraham was the first to recognize the spiritual nature of the one God. For Abraham, God is the supreme God, to whom a believer may turn directly; God has no need of temples or priests; He is omnipotent and omniscient. Abraham left his family, which had not renounced Assyro-Babylonian beliefs, and until his death in Canaan wandered from place to place, preaching faith in the one God.

Under Moses (probably in the fifteenth century BCE), who was raised amid the highly developed culture of Egypt, Judaism took on more complex and refined forms. Moses gave the religion the form of exclusive worship of Yahweh (as the Israelites called God). It was by His intervention that Moses explained the terrible catastrophe that befell Egypt and led to the liberation from bondage of the Israelites and the heterogeneous mass of the oppressed – those destined to become the Jewish people. The veneration of the one God was accompanied by the establishment of ritual and social laws that guided the sons of Israel during their wanderings in the wilderness. Cult and ritual held no special significance for Moses; they were merely an additional means of helping the people preserve their devotion to God. The main emphasis was placed on observance of the spiritual and moral law formulated in the Ten Commandments, which firmly forbade the worship of idols representing gods. The religion of Moses permitted the erection of a special tent, the Tabernacle of the Covenant, which served as a visible sign of the divine presence, as well as the Ark of the Covenant – a wooden chest overlaid with gold, in which was placed the "covenant" of Yahweh, a mysterious object from which, perhaps, dangerous radioactive radiation emanated (1 Samuel 5–6).

Having conquered Canaan, the sons of Israel, under the influence of local religious customs, developed a cult that included sacrifices, festivals, and local sanctuaries with an organized priesthood. In Canaan the Israelites also encountered an extremely elaborate cult of the deities of fertility, chief among them Asherah.

Later, in connection with the struggle against idolatry, prophets appeared in Israel – a group of people unique in the history of the ancient world, thanks to whom the religion of the Jewish people reached its highest flowering. These were people of varied social origin who dared to proclaim publicly what was revealed to them, even when their prophecies announced great disasters, the destruction of an entire people, or the destruction of the Temple. They preached pure monotheism and universalism, and their teaching was permeated with the pathos of social justice. The prophets fought not so much against sacrifices themselves as against the tendency to attribute independent value to them or to regard them as fulfillment of Israel's covenant with God. The prophets' polemics, which can also be traced in the Psalms, played an important role in eliminating many independent cult centers,

with their pagan deities and cults. It was precisely the prophetic critique of the cult of sacrifice and the subordination of righteousness to the ritual side that, to a considerable extent, led to the so-called Deuteronomic reform, which was carried out by King Josiah around 621 BCE.

With the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE, among the exiled Jews living in Babylonia Judaism acquired new

could not be traced in exile, and during this time only those rites were performed that were not connected with Temple worship. The observance of the Sabbath and circumcision were the most important signs of the covenant with God. In assemblies, traditions were retold, Scripture was interpreted, psalms and other works of religious poetry were read, and confessions and prayers were offered, both communally and individually. Prayer worship became an innovation in Jewish life. There was no longer a need for buildings, cult objects, or a priestly class; only the will of a group or an individual was required. In these assemblies people were not divided by their social status, and in this sense democratism later became a characteristic feature of the synagogue. When the exiles returned to Jerusalem, the prayer worship that had developed in the synagogues became part of the Temple service, and after the second destruction of the Temple (70 CE) it once again supplanted sacrifice. The synagogue replaced the Temple. For Jews living in the diaspora, it served as a house of prayer, a religious school, and a meeting place. During the Babylonian captivity and after

into a community based on faith, of which anyone from any

the seventy sacrifices offered on the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), symbolizing the participation of the seventy nations of the world in the worship of one God.

A little more than a hundred years after the destruction of the Temple, the exiles began to return to Palestine. Under the leadership of Nehemiah they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and raised the Temple anew. By his order, the Jews dissolved their marriages with foreign wives in order to preserve the Jewish community, which was threatened by the infiltration of pagan cults and customs brought by the foreign women.

If the Temple once again became a place of sacrifice, the synagogue offered everyone the opportunity to study the Torah (the Law). The Law of Moses limited the sphere of activity of the priestly caste; the task of interpreting the Torah was taken up by learned scribes ("soferim"). The prestige of the scribes grew, especially in the period when the hereditary priesthood began to adapt itself to Hellenistic manners and customs. The scribes successfully led the struggle to preserve national and religious purity. In the struggle for freedom, the sons of Mattathias the Hasmonean, led by Judah Maccabee, brought the Jews victory over the Greek forces of Antiochus Epiphanes (a victory to which the festival of Hanukkah is dedicated).

Ezra and the scribes who came after Nehemiah (5th–2nd centuries BCE) are credited with the final formation of the tripartite canon of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh). This work was carried out in a period when numerous apocryphal writings appeared. Now the study of the Written Law (Torah she-bikhtav) was supplemented by the interpretation of the Oral Law (Torah she-be'al-peh), composed of commandments which, according to tradition, Moses received on Sinai together with the Written Torah. It is evident that many provisions of the Written Torah changed over time. The Written and Oral Law covered ritual practice, economic activity, legislation, hygiene, inheritance law, property law, agriculture, dress, dietary prohibitions – almost every sphere of human life. The Written and Oral Torah defined not merely a creed, but a way of life.

In the second century BCE two groups took shape within Judaism – the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees belonged to the priesthood and the aristocracy; they were the support of the priestly dynasty of the Zadokites and were, perhaps, named after its founder, Zadok. The Pharisees, who represented the middle strata of society and acted in accordance with the tradition of the scribes, sought to limit the influence of the Sadducees and disputed their decisions. They proclaimed as their ideal the priesthood of the whole people and were convinced that a person's entire life should be permeated with piety. The Sadducees adhered to the letter of the Law, the Pharisees to its spirit. Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees, alongside the Written

Torah, also recognized the Oral Torah developed by the scribes and rabbis (teachers of the Law), considering its precepts binding. Thanks to the recognition of the authority of both the Written and the Oral Law, the life of the Jewish people did not lose its traditional features even after the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the Temple. The growing authority of the Law made the teachers of the Torah the undisputed leaders of the people. There were also disagreements between the Pharisees and the Sadducees on a number of specific issues. Thus, the Pharisees accepted the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and resurrection from the dead, while the Sadducees rejected it.

The tradition of the Pharisees was continued by the tannaim ("teachers"), the amoraim ("interpreters"), and the savoraim ("expounders"), scholars whose collective labor culminated in the creation of the Talmud, a vast collection of documents that includes the Oral Law, legal rulings, discussions and decisions on various matters, moral precepts and principles, as well as historical narratives, legends, and traditions. The Talmud took its final form in Babylonia around 500 CE. The final redaction of the Babylonian Talmud is attributed to Ravina, head of the academy at Sura, and to Rabbi Yose, who headed the academy at Pumbedita. The Jerusalem, or Palestinian, Talmud, which was compiled in the schools of Palestine over many generations, was completed around 350 CE in Jerusalem.

The Talmud consists of two parts. The first part is the Mishnah, the work of the tannaim, edited by Judah ha-Nasi ("Judah the Prince"); the second is the Gemara ("completion"), the result of the labor of the amoraim. The legal material of the Talmud is called Halakha, while the homiletic, allegorical, and poetic material is called Aggadah ("legend," "narrative"). Doctrine is assigned a subordinate role, since the fundamental principles of the Jewish faith, being generally known and accepted, required no enumeration or special formulation. The main attention is devoted to the norms regulating the conduct of Jews in every sphere of life. Halakha is the principal division of the Talmud, whereas Aggadah occupies a far more prominent place in rabbinic works of another genre. This genre, the midrash, supplied the principal material for Jewish theology.

The age of the savoraim lasted until 600. Around this time a galaxy of leading scholars, the geonim (from Hebrew "geonim" – "excellencies," "the illustrious"), appeared. The geonim headed the academies at Sura and Pumbedita, the two leading schools of Babylonia, which became centers for the study of law after the Romans closed the schools in Palestine (300). At that time the head of the Babylonian community was the "resh galuta" ("head of the exiles," "exilarch"), who was, as a rule, confirmed in office by the Persian authorities. But real influence over the life of Jews, both in Babylonia and in other countries, was exercised by the geonim-instructors. The gaonic period lasted about 450 years (600–1050). Some outstanding geonim commented on and taught the Law in the schools they headed and, as supreme judges, implemented it in the life of the communities. They also conducted research beyond the Talmud – in history, grammar, and liturgy. Rabbi Sherira Gaon of Pumbedita in 987 wrote a famous epistle to the Jews of Kairouan on the evolution of the Talmud, which remains one of the important sources on this subject. Rabbi Amram Gaon of Sura in 870 and Rabbi Saadia Gaon (892–942), an outstanding grammarian and philosopher, developed the liturgy. Many geonim, in response to inquiries from the Jews of the diaspora, wrote extensive responsa (as the epistles of authoritative rabbis in answer to a question of a halakhic nature were called; the decision set forth in a responsum served as a precedent and had the force of law). The best known are the responsa of Rabbi Hai Gaon of Pumbedita, dated approximately 1000. The geonim also edited codes of talmudic law.

A sect that arose in the gaonic era, known by the name of the Karaites, rejected the Talmud. Its followers were the followers of Anan ben David (died ca. 800), who had unsuccessfully laid claim to the post of exilarch held by his uncle. Embittered against the geonim who had not supported his claim to this office, Anan went to Palestine, where he gathered around himself a group of followers convinced that the precepts of the talmudists distorted the Law. Anan called for strict observance of the letter of the Law as formulated in the Bible. In response to Anan, the rabbis at first placed emphasis on the authority of the Talmud, believing that, given the spread of Islam, it was necessary to adhere to the interpretation of the Written and Oral Torah sanctified by age-old tradition. In order to respond adequately to the challenge of the Karaites, the talmudists undertook intensive study of the Bible, Hebrew grammar and philology, as well as Jewish theology and ethics. In the end the growth of the Karaite movement ceased, and for succeeding generations the Talmud remained the most authoritative work.

Generally speaking, the Talmud represents not so much an ordered code as a simple collection of laws. Moreover, the Talmud was supplemented by extensive rabbinic commentaries interpreting it in accordance with changes in social and cultural conditions. There were no rigid rules of interpretation, nor any supreme authority or final court of appeal. In most cases the commentators tried to find grounds for their views in the Bible and the Talmud, or in the works of earlier rabbis. The leading commentator of the Talmud was Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak of Troyes, 1040–1105). It was said that without his commentary the Talmud might now be a sealed book.

Although the commentaries made the study of the Talmud easier, there was felt a need for an accessible guide convenient for practical application. Codes of Jewish law intended to fill this gap began to be compiled very early. Among the first were the Great Halakhot (Halakhot Gedolot) and the Halakhot of Alfasi, which opened the way for further codification. Among the most important of the later codes were Maimonides's code, the Repetition of the Law (Mishneh Torah), the Four Rows (Arba'ah Turim), the work of Jacob ben Asher (died 1340), and the Set Table (Shulchan Aruch) of Joseph Caro (1488–1575). Maimonides's code presents the system of Judaism in its entirety, and Maimonides, unlike other codifiers, did not follow the order adopted in the Talmud but grouped the material in his own way and introduced new sections. He cited no authorities, for which he was criticized; his style is laconic. Caro's Shulchan Aruch, compiled on the basis of the Arba'ah Turim and supplied with the glosses of Moses Isserles (1520–1572), is accepted by modern Orthodox Jewry as the normative code.

2. Judaic ritual practice, prohibitions and precepts

Judaism as a way of life requires ritual. For Jews, every rite recalls the place God occupies in one's life. Religious practice is regarded as a discipline conducive to the improvement of each person's character, as a form of instruction. It gives the Jew the opportunity to relive the experience of his people, and thereby strengthens his devotion; it is a means of the people's survival and the preservation of the faith.

Prayer. A Jew is obligated to pray daily, three times a day. It is presumed that his prayers are moral and not hostile to the interests of others. Prayer must be offered in deep concentration, in a state of inward absorption. It is preferable to pray in the synagogue, since communal prayer is more effective.

Dietary prohibitions are considered part of a special code of holiness applicable only to the Jewish people. They are not regarded as desirable or obligatory for humanity as a whole.

Festivals. Among the main festivals and holy days are Shabbat (the Sabbath), the weekly day of rest in memory of the creation of the world and the exodus from Egypt; Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), the anniversary of the creation of the world and a day of spiritual and moral renewal; Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), a day of repentance and return to God through spiritual renewal and good deeds; Sukkot (Tabernacles), nine days (eight in Israel and among Reform Jews) devoted to the gathering of the autumn harvest and recalling the wanderings in the wilderness, the last day of the festival being Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Torah); Pesach (Passover), marking the arrival of spring and liberation from Egyptian bondage; Shavuot (Pentecost), in part an agricultural festival, but above all a commemoration of the day on which Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai; Hanukkah (the Festival of Dedication, or of Lights), celebrated in honor of the Maccabees' victory over the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes, as a result of which the Jews won the freedom to practice their religion; Purim (the Festival of Lots, or of Esther), commemorating the defeat of Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jews; and Tisha B'Av (the Ninth of Av), a day of mourning in memory of the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

Rites of birth and coming of age. When a male infant is born, his foreskin is circumcised so that the covenant with God may be marked by a sign on the body. Boys receive their names at circumcision. Girls are named in the synagogue. The rite of redemption of firstborn sons is performed

on the thirtieth day after birth. In connection with the beginning of children's education, initiatory rites are performed. On reaching the age of 13, boys (and, in Conservative and some Reform communities, girls as well) take part in the bar mitzvah ceremony (bat mitzvah for girls), which allows them to enter the community of Israel as full members responsible for their actions. In the nineteenth century, in Conservative and Reform communities, a confirmation ceremony for young men and women was introduced, usually performed on the festival of Shavuot.

The marriage ceremony. First there is a solemn betrothal (engagement). Then, on the Sabbath preceding the wedding, the groom is called up in the synagogue to the reading of the Torah (this is generally not practiced in Reform communities). During the wedding ceremony the bride and groom stand under the chuppah – a canopy (among Reform Jews this is not always the case). Standing under the chuppah, the bride and groom drink wine from a single cup. The groom places a ring on the bride's index finger and pronounces the ancient formula declaring that the man takes the woman as his wife. Seven blessings are pronounced in praise of God (one, among Reform Jews). In memory of the destruction of the Temple, the groom breaks the cup from which he and the bride drank the wine (this is not done in Reform communities). The concluding blessing is customary among Reform Jews. In Orthodox communities the marriage contract (ketubah) is also read out at the ceremony.

The funeral ritual. Before death, the dying person makes confession. Relatives of the deceased tear their clothing (this custom is widespread among the Orthodox). A candle is lit in memory of the deceased. The body of the deceased is clothed in a white shroud (among the Orthodox). During the burial the "Kaddish" is recited, a prayer glorifying God and expressing willingness to accept His will. Deep mourning lasts a week, during which the mourners do not leave the house (among Reform Jews this period is shorter). Mourners recite the "Kaddish" in the synagogue for eleven months. A year later a tombstone is set up on the grave. The anniversary of death ("Yahrzeit") is marked by lighting a memorial candle and reciting the "Kaddish." On the festivals of Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach, and Shavuot a memorial service is held, at which the memorial prayer "Yizkor" is recited.

3. The idea of the Chosenness of the people by God

The doctrine, ethics, customs, and social aspects of Judaism are set forth in the Torah, which in the broad sense includes the Oral and Written Law,

as well as the entire body of the teachings of the Jewish people. In the narrow sense the term "Torah" denotes the Five Books of Moses. According to traditional Jewish views, the Torah, both written and oral, was given by God directly to the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai, or through Moses. For traditional, or Orthodox, Jewry the authority of Revelation is unquestionable. Adherents of liberal, or Reform, Judaism do not believe that

the Torah was received as a result of Revelation. They acknowledge that truth is contained in the Torah, and that the Torah is divinely inspired and reliable to the extent that it accords with reason and experience. Since Revelation is given gradually and is not confined to any particular bounds, truth can be found not only in Jewish sources but also in nature, science, and the teachings of all peoples.

Jewish doctrine contains no dogmas whose acceptance would guarantee a Jew's salvation. Judaism attaches far greater importance to conduct than to creed, and allows a certain freedom in matters of doctrine. There are, however, certain fundamental principles shared by all Jews.

Jews believe in the reality of God, in His oneness, and express this belief in the daily recitation of the "Shema" prayer: "Hear, O Israel. The Lord is our God, the Lord is One." God is spirit, an absolute being, naming Himself "I Am That I Am." God is the Creator of all things at all times; He is a continuously thinking Mind and a constantly acting Force; He is universal; He rules the entire world, which, like Himself, is one. God established not only natural law but also the laws of morality. God, who gives eternal life, is all-good, most holy, and just. He is the Lord of history. He is both transcendent and immanent. God is a helper and friend

to people, the father of all humanity.

He is the liberator of peoples and nations; He is a savior who helps people to free themselves from ignorance, sins, and vices – pride, egoism, hatred

and lust. But salvation is not achieved by God's actions alone; man's participation is required as well. God does not recognize an evil principle or the power of evil in creation. God Himself is the creator of both light and darkness. Evil is an inscrutable mystery, and man accepts it as a challenge that must be answered by fighting evil wherever it is found in the world. In the fight against evil, the Jew is sustained by his faith in God.

Judaism affirms that man was created "in the image and likeness of God." He is not merely a living instrument of God. No one may stand between God

and man, and there is no need for any intermediary or intercessor. Therefore Jews reject the idea of redemption through another, believing that each person is directly responsible before God. Although man is bound by the causal

laws of creation, as well as by social and political conditions, he nevertheless possesses free will to make moral choices.

Man ought not to serve God for reward, yet God will render recompense for righteousness in this life or in the life to come. Judaism affirms the immortality of the human soul, but there is disagreement among the adherents of different currents regarding the resurrection of the dead. Orthodox Judaism holds that it will occur with the coming of the Messiah, while Reform Jews reject this idea altogether. There are several interpretations of the heavenly paradise, where the righteous enjoy bliss, and of hell (Gehenna), where sinners are punished. The Bible is silent on this matter, but later literature contains the widest range of conceptions of paradise and hell.

Jews believe in the election of Israel (the Jewish people, but not the Jewish state): out of all the nations of the world God chose the Jewish people so that, having received Revelation, it might play a central role in the drama of humanity's salvation. According to contemporary views, Israel should be considered

not "chosen" but "choosing," implying that, having entered into a covenant with God, it had to make the final choice itself,

whether to accept the word of God and become a "light unto the nations." The separateness of the Jews and Israel's devotion to the Law are regarded as conditions necessary for the preservation of the purity and strength of the people, which are required for the fulfillment of its mission.

Jews believe in their mission – to establish the truth of the divine Law, teaching it to humanity by preaching and by their own example. It is in this way that divine truth will ultimately triumph on earth, and humanity will emerge from the condition in which it now finds itself. A new world order awaits the human race – the Kingdom of God, in which the divine Law will ultimately be established; in it all people will find peace, justice, and the fulfillment of their highest aspirations. The Kingdom of God will be established precisely on earth, not in another world, and this will come to pass in the messianic age. Opinions differ regarding the character of the messianic era. The Orthodox believe that a Messiah ("anointed one") of the house of David will appear and help to establish the Kingdom of God. Adherents of Reform Judaism disagree and hold that the prophets spoke of a messianic era whose coming people can hasten by acting justly and mercifully, loving their neighbor, and living a modest and pious life.

Judaism holds that all people, regardless of religion or nationality, are equally children of God. They are equally dear to God and have equal rights to justice and mercy from their fellow human beings. Judaism also holds that having Jewish blood (on the father's side) is of no significance in determining membership in the Jewish people (according to rabbinic law, anyone born of a Jewish mother, or who has converted to Judaism, is considered a Jew). Anyone who accepts the Jewish faith becomes a "child of Abraham" and a "son of Israel."

For a Jew, Judaism is the true faith, but this does not mean that other religions are necessarily false. It is held that a non-Jew has no need to become a Jew in order to attain salvation, for "the righteous of all nations will have a share in the world to come." For this, a non-Jew is required only to observe the commandments given to the sons of Noah, namely: 1) to renounce idolatry; 2) to abstain from incest and adultery; 3) not to shed blood; 4) not to take the name of God in vain; 5) not to commit injustice or lawlessness; 6) not to steal; 7) not to cut a limb from a living animal.

Judaism's attitude toward Jesus of Nazareth, whose death, as interpreted by St. Paul, became the foundation of Christianity, is expressed in the writings of Moses Maimonides. Paying tribute to the Nazarene, Maimonides considered him one "who prepared the way for the King Messiah." Yet Judaism's refusal to accept Christianity is dictated not only by the conviction that Jesus was not

the Messiah, but by the impossibility of accepting certain positions introduced into the teaching of Jesus by St. Paul. These are listed by M. Steinberg in his book "The Basic Ideas of Judaism": the assertion that the flesh is sinful and must be mortified; the idea of original sin and the curse arising from it, which lies upon every person before birth; the notion of Jesus not as a man but as God incarnate; the belief that people can be saved through redemption, and that this is the only path to salvation, and that the death of Jesus was the sacrifice by God of His only son, and that only through faith in him can one be saved; the rejection of observance of the precepts of the Law; the belief that Jesus, risen from the dead, awaits in heaven the hour of his Second Coming to earth, when he will judge humanity and establish the Kingdom of God; the teaching that whoever sincerely believes all these things will certainly be saved, while whoever rejects them is doomed, however virtuous he may be.

4. Kabbalah. Hasidism

Kabbalah (ancient Hebrew "tradition"; from "kabbel" – "to receive") is an esoteric, mystical current within Judaism. The name indicates that the Kabbalah, as a secret teaching, was received in the form of a special Revelation by the chosen few. This knowledge was then passed on to those capable of receiving it, understanding its mystical laws, and using them properly.

Kabbalah is divided into two parts: theosophical and practical. The first, in character, approaches dogmatic religion and consists of a series of theosophical postulates based on the notion of the world as an emanation of the Godhead. God ("Ein Sof," "the Infinite") is unknowable, but manifests His existence in the world through the ten comprehensible "sefirot" – ten stages of emanation, or sources of radiance: Keter ("Crown"), Chokhmah ("Wisdom"), Binah ("Understanding"), Gedulah ("Greatness") or Chesed ("Mercy"), Gevurah ("Strength") or Din ("Judgment"), Tiferet ("Beauty") or Rachamim ("Compassion"), Netzach ("Endurance"), Hod ("Splendor"), Tzaddik ("Righteous One") or Yesod Olam ("Foundation of the World"), Malkhut ("Kingdom"). Theosophical Kabbalah borrowed elements of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek philosophy, the philosophy of Philo of Alexandria, and the teachings of early Christian Gnostics. Notions of reincarnation and the transmigration of souls, and of reward and punishment after death, entered the Kabbalah.

Practical Kabbalah deals with the theurgic side of mystical and esoteric teachings. It is based on the belief that certain actions can be used to work wonders and hasten the coming of the Messiah. To this end, kabbalists employ the names of God, certain words, use talismans and amulets, theosophical numerological calculations, and resort to ascetic exercises. Angels summoned at a kabbalist's will can carry out his wishes, while spirits and demons are driven away by prayers and amulets.

The kabbalists believed that the secret teaching was transmitted by God through angels to Adam and thence to Noah, Moses, David, and Solomon, and finally to the renowned mystic-sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who wrote it down in the second century. This legend attests to the deep antiquity of the Kabbalah. The critical school sees in the Kabbalah the result of the ancient Hebrew people's awareness of God's closeness and its acknowledgment of His supreme authority. Hints of the secret teaching are found in the Bible (Sirach 3:22; 4 Ezra 14:5–6). The Talmud mentions the mystical investigations of certain sages and esoteric discussions of "Ma'aseh Bereshit" ("the account of Creation"), based on the Book of Genesis, and of "Ma'aseh Merkavah" ("the account of the divine chariot"), based on the visions of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1–10). Nevertheless, nothing is known to us about esoteric literature prior to the period of the geonim in Babylonia (6th–11th centuries). To this era belong such mystical books as the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), the Shiur Komah (Measure of the Body), and the Hekhalot literature (Heavenly Palaces). The first of these is attributed to Abraham, the others to Rabbi Ishmael, who died a martyr's death during the persecutions of Hadrian. In the thirteenth century there appeared a work that became a kind of Bible for the kabbalists – the Zohar (Splendor), written in Spain by Moses de León and attributed by him to Shimon bar Yochai.

From Babylonia the Kabbalah spread to Italy, then to Provence and Spain. In Spain it offered consolation to Jews suffering from the persecutions of the Inquisition. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) the center of Kabbalah moved to Palestine, to Safed, where a group of great kabbalists lived, among them Solomon Alkabetz, Isaac Luria, and Chaim Vital. The Kabbalah of Luria (mainly practical) spread to Poland and played an important role in the formation of Hasidism. Many Christian scholars studied the Kabbalah, and some of their ideas found reflection in the doctrine of the Trinity. One of the outstanding Christian kabbalists was Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). In the library of his contemporary, Pope Sixtus IV, there were many kabbalistic works (in Latin translation).

Hasidism (ancient Hebrew "hasid" – "a pious, devout person") is a Jewish religious movement originating in the eighteenth century, characterized by a tendency toward mysticism and religious exaltation. Before the emergence of Hasidism, Jewish thought was marked by rationalism and adherence to the letter of religious law, although features of Hasidic teaching can be traced back to very ancient times, since elements of mysticism can be found in Judaism as early as the late biblical period.

Hasidism as a movement was founded by Israel Baal Shem Tov (1700–1760), who settled in Medzhybizh (Poland; now Ukraine). The BESHT (an acronym for Baal Shem Tov) preached to poor Jews who had neither the means nor the opportunity to study under the great rabbis of the age a teaching of serving the Almighty in joy. Disillusioned by the deception and apostasy of the false messiah Sabbatai Zevi, and dissatisfied with the dry legalism of the rabbinic school, the poor responded warmly to this preaching, which called for prayer and religious ecstasy. By the time Hasidism reached its flowering, more than half of the Jewish population of Europe had become Hasidim.

Hasidism did not alter the foundations of Judaism's teaching and practice, but gave it a more emotional character. The basic ideas of Hasidism consist

in the following: God is omnipresent, and serving Him in small things is equivalent to serving Him

in great things; it is better to serve Him in joy; there is something good in every person; there is no sinner whose sin cannot be redeemed. Special importance is attached to emotional prayer, whose goal is the attainment of genuine spiritual communion with God. Although Hasidism was influenced by the Kabbalah, the Hasidim shunned asceticism and sought to unite in religious groups. Some Hasidic leaders, among them Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1747–1812), introduced rationalist and philosophical elements into Hasidic thought.

After the death of the BESHT, various movements took shape within Hasidism, each headed by a tzaddik (as the holy wonder-workers were called). Rivalry between the tzaddikim and their followers led to a distortion of the teaching on divine love and other ideas taught by the founder of Hasidism, and excessive importance came to be attached to the tzaddik's miraculous powers. From that time on the position of tzaddik became hereditary, and corresponding dynasties even arose.

Hasidism encountered determined opposition from representatives of the rabbinate, who held that it was better to serve God through knowledge of His law, and somewhat later from the adherents of the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment movement). The disappearance of the ghetto, integration into modern life, the First World War, and internal ferment within the communities led to a weakening of Hasidism's position. Nevertheless, the spiritual renewal and religious enthusiasm of Hasidism revitalized Jewish religious life and played a notable role in Jewish thought.

5. The main currents in Judaism: Orthodox, Reform and Modernist. Karaism

There are several currents within Judaism. The principal ones are Orthodox and Reform Judaism. The Rabbinate of Israel and the Rabbinical Court of Moscow (located at the Moscow Choral Synagogue) are administered by the Orthodox. It should be borne in mind that the names of the currents of Judaism came to be used

in these senses about 200 years ago, when the currents of Judaism first emerged. Traditional, "rabbinic" Judaism is now called "Orthodox," but from the point of view of traditional Jews there can be no other Judaism. Therefore even the Hasidim (for example, Chabad Lubavitch), though considered Orthodox, are in some respects rejected by traditionalists. The Orthodox hold that any departure from the faith of the ancestors is unacceptable, since it is precisely the immutability of the Almighty's Covenant that is central to Judaism, and this ensures the viability of the Jews (the Jewish people).

From the Orthodox point of view, the Hasidim place excessive emphasis on the importance of their rabbis, as, for example, in the last years of the twentieth century, on Rabbi Schneerson.

Non-Orthodox currents ("Reform") are distinguished by their striving to adapt Judaism to the realities of the present day. Here too there is a division into Reform, Liberal, and Progressive Jews. Many of the laws of Halakha may not be observed, but to a greater or lesser degree depending on the current. Joint prayer of women and men, prayer in the vernacular of the diaspora rather than in Hebrew, the use of a cantor with music or an organ in the synagogue, a lenient attitude toward the time of prayer, and the admission of non-Jews to prayer – these are the main distinguishing features of the Reform movement. For Reform Jews it is not so important whether one's mother is Jewish; it is enough to have a Jewish father. One can seek a marriage partner among non-Jews, and a large proportion of the Jews of Europe, Russia, and America have already availed themselves of this. What matters most is that a person feels himself to be a Jew and wants to be one. Conversion (giyur) follows a simplified procedure and may even be performed without circumcision. Reform Jews have their own schools and governing bodies.

Thus, the Reform movement holds that one must look truth in the eye. In contrast, the Orthodox believe that although many Jews do not fulfill all the commandments in full, this does not mean that the ancient laws established by the sages can be abolished or altered. The Reform movement is especially influential in America. Recently, however, a striving toward traditionalism has been growing there as well.

In Israel, among believers the Orthodox are the most numerous (about 20% of the population). There are also ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are not numerous, who strive to fulfill the Halakha in full. Among them are some who oppose the existence of the State of Israel. The ultra-Orthodox are those Orthodox Jews who strive, not merely in word but in deed, for one-hundred-percent fulfillment of all the requirements of the faith. Despite being a minority among Jews, the majority of Israelis agree to be governed by Orthodox law, for example in matters of marriage (in Israel there is only religious marriage under Orthodox law)

and conversion. In Israel, however, there are also parties that struggle, as they put it, "against the religious minority." For example, the "Zionist Majority" movement declared its first victory in many years in the struggle between the secular majority and the religious minority. And what of the other Israelis? Apart from Arab Israelis, there are many who do not reject the faith, who treat "the observant" with respect, but who do not fulfill most of the commandments. This is not always because it would be impossible for them to do so, but simply because they see no need for it. What should they be called? Non-religious Jews, most likely. When the "Jewish" cafés and shops close with the beginning of the Sabbath, non-religious Jews flock to Arab shops and cafés. Thus, the majority of Israelis are non-religious Jews.

Progressive Judaism is one of the currents of the Reform movement. From the book "Labor of the Soul" (a prayer book) written specifically for adherents of this current, one learns that there exists a World Union for Progressive Judaism headed by a governing Council in Jerusalem. More than 1.6 million Jews (as of 1998) consider themselves to belong to the progressive current in Judaism and maintain contact with it through the Council. Since 1993 an Institute of Modern Judaica has been established, training leadership cadres for the movement. "...How can one remain faithful to the fundamental principles of Jewish tradition while fully participating in the life of modern society? How can one avoid complete assimilation... How can one reform the old while at the same time recognizing holiness in the new, linking it to the ancient tradition?" – these are the questions Progressive Judaism seeks to answer.

For example, the prayer book "Labor of the Soul," 1998, Jerusalem (reprinted in Russia), "differs somewhat from the prayer books used in Orthodox communities." "So that we may pray sincerely" (continuing in my own words from the preface to the prayer book), so that prayer does not become a rote ritual. Some motifs were changed "or omitted entirely, ... which do not find any particular response among us – for example, petitions for the restoration of the Temple and the resumption of sacrifices there. Certain blessings that speak of the resurrection of the dead and the reign of a Messiah-King of the house of David have been somewhat modified, and instead of wishing destruction upon 'apostates and heretics' we pray for the eradication of evil in the world."

Thus, the Orthodox current of Judaism enjoys the greatest influence in Israel, but the Reform movement is fighting for its rights. And there are a great many "traditionalists," that is, non-believers who nevertheless observe, to varying degrees, Jewish festivals (holding a festive seder at Passover and not eating leavened food), traditions (not eating pork, for example), and rites (brit milah, circumcision, for example).

The Modernist current in Judaism occupies a middle position between Orthodoxy and Reform. It may be said that the representatives of this current present a "softened" version of Orthodoxy, but do not go so far as the radical rejections of Judaic rites found among the Reform movement.

The Karaites are a Jewish sect founded in the eighth century in Persia by Anan ben David. His followers were at first called Ananites; the name "Karaites" derives from the Hebrew word "kara" ("to read"), associated with Holy Scripture ("Mikra"), and came into use in the ninth century.

The chief distinguishing feature of the sect is its adherents' strict, literal observance of biblical precepts and their complete rejection of the Talmudic and rabbinic tradition. Karaite practice is far stricter than rabbinic practice, for example, with respect to the biblical regulations concerning the Sabbath and the laws of ritual purity of the Levites. Prominent scholars and writers emerged from among the Karaites, for example Abraham Firkovich (1786–1874).

The Karaites spread from Babylonia and Palestine to Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople; their communities arose in the Crimea,

Lithuania, Spain, and Poland. Beginning in the tenth century their numbers began to decline; in 1932 there were about 12,000 Karaites. In Russia they were not subject to the restrictions that the tsarist government imposed on Jews in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

6. The socio-political orientations of Judaic organizations in contemporary conditions

In the middle of the eighteenth century, Western and Central Europe were swept by social and ideological revolutions. The class hierarchy of the medieval world was destroyed; the concept of "human rights" spread and developed; the idea of the equality of all people was preached and prevailed, and thus the ideological foundation of the paradigms of authority and privilege was undermined. The result was that marginalized and oppressed social classes and groups, such as the Jews, gained unprecedented access to education and culture. In essence, for the first time Jews entered into contact with the local peoples on a common footing; for the first time they gained access to new professions. Common political ideals were forming, and Jews were increasingly drawn into the sphere of civil law and into the educational systems of the peoples among whom they lived. All this pushed Jews further and further away from exclusive devotion to Jewish tradition and imposed upon it the need to adapt to the new reality. The transformation of the social life of the Jews was accompanied by powerful ideological support. The new "open" cultural climate of Europe – itself already a revolutionary rejection of medieval paradigms – affirmed the ideals of reason and intellectual daring. There was no longer a traditional, predetermined, and given-in-advance socio-religious reality that people absorbed with their mother's milk. Now the degree and nature of one's life within Judaism and one's self-identification as a Jew became a matter of choice among the many other religious and cultural preferences existing throughout society. This meant that all the precepts of religious life and self-identification as a Jew were now conditioned by this choice, not by fate. Of course, many Jews experienced firsthand the painful conflict of trying to balance new values with traditional ones. A famous example of the search for an intellectual-religious synthesis based on this new reality was that of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786). In his celebrated work "Jerusalem," Mendelssohn formulated an ideology of Judaism for the Age of Reason, a Judaism that adapts itself to natural reason in all its socio-moral teachings while preserving its distinctiveness only in the divinely revealed ceremonial Law. This philosopher's admission to the Berlin intellectual society became an example for liberally minded Jews and non-Jews alike. It suggested that with appropriate adaptation of traditional education and way of life, a Jew could be accepted into the surrounding society – which was not a truth all Jews wanted to hear. Nevertheless, further attempts at integrating Judaism into the surrounding culture followed, leading to an unprecedented scope of religious reform.

These changes were monumental in character and had enormous consequences for the status of the Torah and tradition. Previously, when new values or aspirations arose from within the community or from without, it was they that became the subject of evaluation against the standard of tradition. Now the situation was paradoxically reversed; now tradition itself became the subject of evaluation against the standard of non-traditional values. The result was a reassessment of the ancient texts and rituals of Judaism. The Torah was now regarded as a document subject to change and historically conditioned, in accordance with the new historical ideas of the time, and the same judgment was passed on its moral and legalistic content. Judaism as a system of thought and religious practice came to be regarded in historically relative terms rather than as an absolute and timeless entity. Accordingly, some Jews rejected Judaism outright as a pre-Enlightenment stage of religious culture, while others were compelled to rethink and reform the old faith, for if Judaism is not a timeless entity but a historical product of the activity of Jews, then the fate of the religion is something human, which can and must correspond to its time. And much was done in this direction. However, between those who studied Jewish sources "scientifically" (the movement of so-called "scientific study of Judaism") and those who wished to present Judaism as a developing religious-cultural civilization, a deep estrangement arose and developed. If the pressures of modernity forced traditionalists to insist ever more strongly that "the Torah of Moses was given by God," the spirit of that same modernity gave many others the courage to emphasize the human, changeable commentaries of Akiva and the rabbis. The new ideal was to accept historical correspondence for Judaism and Jewish culture, and, through moderate or radical reforms, to unite traditional Jewish values and way of life with the modern world.

Perhaps an extremely unexpected cultural reform, and an equally revolutionary one, was the attempt at the end of the nineteenth century to begin restoring the Jewish people to its ancient homeland. This reformist-national movement is called Zionism. Confronted with the growing rise of antisemitism in the countries of Europe and in Russia, many Jews reached the alarming conclusion that they had no firm guarantees in the societies around them and that they themselves had to think about their own physical and cultural survival. The notorious accusations that the Jews were a "state within a state" and that they were people of "dual allegiance" revived old fears among them and convinced them that, despite apparent social improvements, the Jews still remained a "people in exile." The movement to reform Jewish national life by founding a new national settlement in Palestine was led by Theodor Herzl. The primary task of this movement was to secure physical safety and political freedom for Jews should they be unable to live under the rule of the countries where they resided. After 1945, Jews who had been saved from the bloody horrors of Nazism, and in 1948

Middle Eastern Jews who had escaped Arab persecution following the proclamation of the State of Israel, proved to the whole world the vital importance of the policy of Zionism. Israel's role, from 1970 onward, in providing a safe haven for oppressed Jews from Russia, Iran, and Ethiopia once again confirmed this importance.

Thus, after almost two thousand years of exile, Jews began to rebuild their ancient people in their homeland, revived the ancient language of their ancestors, and set about rebuilding political and cultural institutions. Indeed, after almost two millennia of existence as helpless outsiders, outside history and without a national state, many Jews attempted to return to history, to the task of building a society on a new Jewish foundation. This spiritual-cultural aspect of Zionism was the second main task, understood by the first leaders of Zionism as a central point of its ideology. Rejecting many of the conceptions and paradigms of traditional Judaism, the new cultural Zionists tried to found a vital, non-traditional Jewish culture on the basis of its ancient heritage. This vigorous attitude toward tradition, together with the striving to rely on one's own strength, at an early stage repelled from Zionism many traditional Jews, who could not abandon the ancient conception of Zion as a religious symbol of the meaning of Jewish history, and of the "return to Zion" as a messianic event that only God could initiate. Gradually, in Central Europe and America, other, more moderate attitudes and forms of religious Zionism arose and developed within traditional circles. Today religious Zionism is one of the effective components in shaping Jewish life in Israel, encompassing a significant number of new immigrants and combining secular and non-Jewish laws and values with the teachings of tradition. Efforts to form a viable synthesis between traditional Halakha and custom, on the one hand, and Western humanism with its values, on the other, are a distinctive feature of the legal-cultural activity of the State of Israel, though this does not occur without sharp political struggle.

The development and revitalization of Jewish culture in Israel had an impact, difficult to overestimate, on the character of Jewish life throughout the world, but especially on the life of American Jews in the twentieth century. The cultural rise of the Jewish people gave birth to a new national pride, stimulated the study of the Hebrew language and literature, and once again made Israel a land of universal pilgrimage. As the first Zionists had hoped, Israel became the center and catalyst of Jewish culture. Moreover, as a result of Zionism, the bonds among Jews around the world grew stronger, so that the ancient idea that "all Jews are responsible for one another" was filled with new content in the second half of the twentieth century. Significant financial and emotional assistance was given to the young state, above all by the Jews of North America, and recent immigrants from Russia and other countries received support from donations by Jews the world over. This aid is accepted with an awareness of an ancient moral obligation and with a sense of a new pride, needing no justification, in one's Jewish destiny. Therefore Jews who grew up after 1948 can hardly imagine a time when the Jewish people was cruelly persecuted and utterly helpless. But the continuing effort to preserve the memory of the 6 million victims tormented during the Second World War does not allow the pain over the Jewish historical past to subside, and compels every possible effort to be made so that Jews are never again powerless and helpless before persecution. These collective efforts give rise, among contemporary Jews, to a powerful sense that they are a single people, though scattered across the entire planet and differing in their attitude toward religion. Indeed, this powerful effort to preserve the Jewish people is ultimately the new element in Jewish life that unites traditional and non-traditional Jews in the fulfillment of a common task.

Another real consensus of contemporary Judaism, despite all the diversity of reinterpretations to which it has been subjected, including secular revisions of its ancient symbols and concepts, remains the ancient calendar cycle. Traditionalists, post- and non-traditionalists, fundamentalists, liberals, and atheists – all contemporary Jews who are in any way conscious of their religious-national heritage honor the Jewish New Year and other ancient national festivals in one form or another. Thus, today, as before, the calendar cycle carries within it the forms and feeling of Jewish life. The same applies to the traditional paradigms of this cycle, to which we shall now turn. Indeed, in one form or another, they still determine the shape of contemporary Judaism.

7. Judaism in Russia

The first adherents of Judaism appeared on the territory of what is now the Russian Federation at the turn of the era. They lived on the shores of the Kerch Peninsula, where the powerful Bosporan Kingdom existed. At the end of the eighteenth century, as a result of the partitions of Poland, Russia acquired lands inhabited by the majority of the Jews of that time.

At present, two of the four main currents of Judaism are widely represented in Russia – Reform and Orthodox.

Of the approximately 200 communities currently registered in the Russian Federation, about 60% identify themselves as Orthodox Jews, and 40% as Reform Jews.

The other two currents – Conservative Judaism, which unites believing Jews who have accepted neither Reform nor Neo-Orthodoxy, and Reconstructionism, which arose within it and according to which Judaism is a developing religious civilization whose norms of conduct are determined not by doctrine but by the Jewish people itself – do not have any significant number of adherents in Russia.

Within the Orthodox current in Russia, Hasidism has also acquired great importance.

In addition, small communities of the so-called Subbotniks – ethnic Russians who converted to Judaism – exist on the territory of Russia.

A Jewish community is usually headed by two leaders – a spiritual one (the rabbi) and a secular one (the chairman of the community). Occasionally, though rarely, both positions are combined. This duality arises because the Jewish community, unlike the communities of adherents of other world religions, is not only a religious but also a national-cultural center, since the concepts of "Jew" and "adherent of Judaism" are practically identical in many countries. In addition to the rabbi, every community should have a cantor (a singer), a shochet (or ritual slaughterer – a person engaged in the kosher slaughter of livestock and fowl), and a mohel (a person who performs the rite of circumcision).

For a very long time the Jews had no religious center of their own (with rare exceptions). Everything rested on the moral authority of the rabbis. This tradition was broken in the West in the nineteenth century, when, now in one country, now in another, an orderly system headed by a Chief Rabbi appeared. Russian adherents of Judaism, owing to the opposition of the authorities, had to wait until 1987 for this, when Adolf Shayevich was elected Chief Rabbi of the USSR.

At present, organizational structures necessary for the normal existence and development of Jewish religious communities are being established in Russia. The center of the country's Jewish religious life is undoubtedly Moscow, where, according to approximate figures, about 200,000 persons of Jewish origin reside. There is located the rabbinical court, which has the right to decide questions relating to the observance of Jewish religious law, synagogues, various religious educational institutions, Jewish schools, and a Jewish university. The Russian Jewish Congress operates in Moscow, as does the "VAAD of Russia" organization, which strives to unite all Jewish organizations, the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Communities of Russia (KEROOR); a Jewish press is published, and so on. In St. Petersburg, where about 100,000 people of Jewish origin reside, there are also a Choral Synagogue, the St. Petersburg Jewish University, schools, and cultural-educational and charitable organizations; the Jewish newspaper "My People" and other publications are issued there. Synagogues operate in dozens of Russian cities, and the cultural-religious life of small ethnographic Jewish groups – the Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews, Central Asian Jews, and Karaites – has become more active. Judaism is officially recognized as one of the four traditional religions of Russia.

Owing to widespread mixed marriages over the course of several generations and the predominantly non-religious consciousness in society, it is rather difficult to determine the adherents of Judaism on the territory of the former USSR. Some sources believe their number to be fairly large. It can be estimated, very approximately, that the segment of the population potentially inclined toward the Jewish religious tradition numbers about three million people on the territory of the CIS. These are mainly well-educated urban residents engaged primarily in intellectual work. Sociological survey data show that most of these people lack a clear confessional identification.