Hellenistic Jews were the first to use the Greek word ‘Judaism’ to describe their unusual method of serving God. This is because neither of the sacred Jewish Torah or the Talmud refers to ‘Judaism’.[1] (Traditional Judaism did not call itself as Judaism[2]) Judaism is the beliefs and practices of the Jewish community. Within Judaism there are many groups, for example Orthodox, Reform and Liberal Judaism. In this essay I will be looking at the different groups within Orthodox Judaism, specifically Kabbalah, Hasidism and Neo-Orthodox.
What are the similarities between all Jewish religious groups? There are four similarities that connect all of the sections of Judaism. They are the belief in god[3], the belief in Messiah, accepting the Oral and written Torah[4] and resurrection. In the first century CE there were two different religious groups; The Pharisees and The Sadducees “who were possibly named for Zadok (tenth century B.C.E.)”[5]. The Pharisees believe in these four similarities of Judaism during this time. However, The Sadducees believed in only two, disregarding oral torah[6] and bodily resurrection[7]. Instead, they believe in the resurrection of one’s soul. The Sadducees died out while the Pharisees later became the rabbinical tradition which is known as traditional Judaism. “Until the period of the Enlightenment, Jews were united by a common tradition. The origins of traditional Judaism stretch back across 4.000 years to the beginning of the Jewish nation”.[8]
The word “Orthodox” is a relatively new word which was created in 19th century was used to refer to Jews that adhered to the strict laws of Judaism.[9] They wanted to separate themselves from other more radical Jews. Reform Jews did this to better fit in to their own European community. Reform Judaism began in the 19th century due to enlightenment. Reform Judaism came out of two distinct movements, the Enlightenment and Emancipation. Both attempted to integrate Jewish people into society and...