Judaism For Dummies

Ted Falcon, David Blatner

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781119643081
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

Your plain-English guide to Judaism

Whether you're interested in the religion or the spirituality, the culture or the ethnic traditions, Judaism For Dummies explores the full spectrum of Judaism, dipping into the mystical, meditative, and spiritual depth of the faith and the practice.

In this warm and welcoming book, you'll find coverage of: Orthodox Jews and breakaway denominations; Judaism as a daily practice; the food and fabric of Judaism; Jewish wedding ceremonies; celebrations and holy days; 4, 000 years of pain, sadness, triumph, and joy; great Jewish thinkers and historical celebrities; and much more.

• Updates to the "recent history" section with discussions of what has happened in the first decade of the twenty-first century including: the expansion of orthodox political power in Israel; expansion of interfaith work; unfortunate recent anti-Semitic events; and other news
• Expanded coverage of Jewish mysticism and meditation, which has become increasingly popular in recent years
• New coverage on Jewish views of morality, including birth control, homosexuality, and environmental concerns
• Revised recipes for traditional Jewish cooking, updated key vocabulary, and Yiddish phrases everyone should know

Jews have long spread out to the corners of the world, so there are significant Jewish communities on many continents. Judaism For Dummies offers a glimpse into the rituals, ideas, and terms that are woven into the history and everyday lives of Jewish people as near as our own neighborhoods and as far-reaching as across the world.

P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, youre probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Judaism For Dummies (9781118407516). The book you see here shouldnt be considered a new or updated product. But if youre in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. Were always writing about new topics!

Part 1

What Jews Generally Believe

IN THIS PART …

You’ll find out why you can never be sure someone is Jewish (or not) just by how they look. Plus, you’ll get the skinny on all the details about being Jewish, like is it a race or a tribe? Is it a religion or a practice? Do you have to believe in God? And what’s all this about meditation and the kabbalah? That stuff isn’t Jewish, is it?

Chapter 1

That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish: Who’s a Jew and Why

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews

Exploring the wide spectrum from Orthodox to Reform (and beyond)

Playing the “Who’s a Jew” game

We used to think we could tell if someone was Jewish just by looking at them. We each grew up in very different times and very different places in America, but we both developed the same notion of what being Jewish meant: Small stature (but often slightly overweight), large nose, dark wavy or curly hair, dark eyes … you can’t really explain it in print — it’s more like a feeling. “Hey, is that guy Jewish?” “Oh yeah, no doubt about it.” You just know!

Then we went to Israel. It took about five seconds for each of us to realize that what we thought was “Jewish” was just one small segment of a much bigger picture — like finding out that kissing isn’t all there is to love. We saw blond Jews, Middle-Eastern Jews, Asian Jews, Black Jews, Latino Jews, Jews who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jews who looked like Britney Spears. Boy, we had a lot to learn!

The Jewish Tribe

Judaism isn’t a race or even a particular culture or ethnic group. A little over 15 million Jews are spread around the world, including about 6 million in the United States and about 5 million in Israel — so Judaism obviously isn’t “a nation.” And, if you’re anything like us, you know more Jews who don’t believe in God or practice Jewish observances than those who do, so being Jewish doesn’t even necessarily have to do with religion.

So what does it mean to be Jewish? Here are the basics:

• Being Jewish (being “a Jew”) means you’re a Member of the Tribe (an M-O-T). The tribe started with a couple named Abraham and Sarah more than 4,000 years ago, it grew over time, and it’s still here today. You can become an authentic part of the Jewish tribe in two ways: by being born to a Jewish mother or joining through a series of rituals (called converting). Some folks think there are other ways of becoming a Jew, too; we cover that issue later in this chapter.
• Judaism is a set of beliefs, practices, and ethics based on the Torah (see Chapter 3). You can practice Judaism and not be Jewish, and you can be a Jew and not practice Judaism.

What’s in a name?

The word “Jewish” doesn’t appear in the Bible at all. For example, the folks who came out of slavery in Egypt in the Book of Exodus (see Chapter 11) were called “Hebrews” or “Children of Israel,” and they each belonged to one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Ten of the 12 tribes were dispersed by the Assyrians in the eighth century BCE (see Chapter 11), but the tribe of Judah and the smaller tribe of Benjamin remained as the Southern Kingdom known as Judea until early in the sixth century BCE.

When Judea fell to the Babylonians, and the people were taken into exile, they became known as the Judah-ites (Yehudim), since they were the people of Judah (Yehudah). In Hebrew, the name Yehudim persists today and simply means “Jews.” The religion they practiced was later called “Judah-ism” — which became “Judaism.” We prefer to pronounce this word “Judah-ism” rather than “Jude-ism” or “Judy-ism” — which makes it sound like you’re talking about Judy Garland.

Jews far and wide

The Jewish people have always tended to fan out across the known world. Evidence indicates that even centuries before Jesus, Jewish communities inhabited the North African and East African coasts, Europe, and Asia. Jews were among the first people to come to the Americas from Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some evidence suggests that there was at least one Jew aboard the ship with Columbus. (Some people suspect that Columbus himself was a Jew, perhaps because Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492.)

Everywhere the Jews went, their population grew through intermarriage and conversion, and — most importantly — they kept their basic religion while adopting the culture and norms of the local area. That’s why up to 20 percent of Jews descended from European ancestors have blue eyes, and why some Jews are Black, Hispanic, or Asian. It’s also why a Jew from New York looks and acts different than a Jew from Bombay, but each one could probably fumble along with most of the other’s Shabbat service (see Chapter 18).

Similarly, Jewish food, music, and humor from Iraq and Yemen is much more Arabic in nature than the Spanish flavor of Jews from Brazil and Argentina, which is different than the borscht soup and klezmer music of Jews from Europe. They even all speak Hebrew with different dialects! Jews just don’t fit any consistent set of stereotypes or expectations.

And yet, all Jews are inextricably linked together simply by being Jewish. Perhaps it’s a common practice and belief in Judaism; perhaps it’s a common sense of history, or a shared sense of being an outsider from the broader culture. Or perhaps it’s a deep, innate feeling of connection to the tribe.

Who decides if you’re Jewish?

Two years after the new government of Israel came to power in 1948, it passed the Law of Return, which states that anyone born of a Jewish mother or anyone who has converted to Judaism can move to Israel and claim citizenship. This immediately re-ignited a controversy that began much earlier and continues to this day: Who gets to say whether or not someone is really Jewish?

Whether someone practiced Judaism wasn’t an issue for citizenship, because Israel was founded for the most part by secular Jews. But what about people born Jewish who had been raised as Christians or Muslims, or who practiced another religion? Some say you have to not only identify yourself as Jewish, but also not practice any other religion. Others say that religion has nothing to do with it and point out that the Nazis killed thousands of people who were Jewish by birth but practiced some other religion. Each year Israeli courts consider cases arguing over whether someone is or is not Jewish.

And what about people who convert? Technically, someone who converts to Judaism is no different from someone who was born Jewish. However, not everyone sees it that way. In the next section, we discuss the various denominations of Judaism, including the Orthodox Jews who refuse to acknowledge the conversion of anyone converted by a Reform or Conservative rabbi.

Many people say, “I’m half Jewish” (if one parent is Jewish) or “I’m a quarter-Jewish” (if one grandparent is Jewish). Traditional Jews argue that either you’re Jewish or you’re not. To them, if your mother’s mother was Jewish, then your mother is Jewish, and if your mother is Jewish, then you’re Jewish. Among Reform and Reconstructionist Jews, if only your father is Jewish and you were raised Jewish, then you’re considered Jewish, too.

BLACK AND JEWISH

In most synagogues in the world, it’s rare to see someone of African descent. Sure, there’s the occasional convert, like Sammy Davis Jr., but on the whole, Jews tend to be either white- (European) or olive-skinned (Middle-Eastern). However, there are over 100,000 Black Jews around the world, including many Jews from Ethiopia who were airlifted to Israel between the late 1970s and early 1990s. The Ethiopian Jews, who were largely cut off from the rest of world Jewry for millennia, practiced a form of Judaism that hadn’t changed since pre-Talmudic times. Note that while these people are sometimes called “Falashas,” that name has become somewhat derogatory, and “Ethiopian Jews” or “Beta Israel” (“House of Israel”) is preferable. In addition, some African-Americans call themselves Black Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites. Many Black Jews are very observant of ancient rituals and traditions, read and write Hebrew, and have identified themselves as Jews their whole lives.

After all, it’s a small world

Jews have long spread out to the corners of the world, so significant Jewish communities (over 100,000 people) live in France, Australia, Argentina, and South Africa. In America, most people think all the Jews live in big cities like New York (where there are over 1.5 million Jews). But many also live in the “Wild West” states like Wyoming, the deep south states like Louisiana, and everywhere in-between.

In fact, not only do far more Jewish people live outside of Israel than within today, it has been this way for over 2,500 years. And no matter where they live, most Jews today identify with one of two groups: Ashkenazi and Sephardi.

Ashkenazi

The descendants of Jews who, until around 1900, lived anywhere from northwest Europe (like France and Germany) to eastern Europe (including Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania) are usually called Ashkenazi (pronounced “ahsh-ke-nah-zee;” Ashkenazim is plural). The majority of Jews in the world are Ashkenazi.

Sephardi

The descendants of Jews who lived in Spain up until the 15th century are called Sephardi (seh-far-dee; Sephardim is plural). After the expulsion (see Chapter 14), these Jews traveled to North Africa, Italy, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and back to the Middle East. Of course, many Jews started out in those areas (never having traveled as far as Spain to begin with), but they’re generally called Sephardi anyway. You also hear Jews from the Middle East called Mizrachi (“from the East;” remember that Hebrew has no “ch” sound, so this is the guttural “kh” sound).

Over the past 500 years, the Sephardim primarily interacted with Muslims, especially African and Arab Muslims. Today much of their culture (music, language, liturgical melodies, food, festival customs, and so on) is based on those cultures. The Ashkenazim, on the other hand, mostly interacted with European Christian cultures, resulting in a very different ethnic feeling.

Although Israel was founded primarily by Ashkenazi Jews, more than half of Israelis have always been Sephardim. However, the very different cultures have caused a number of difficulties. Many Ashkenazi Jews mistrust Sephardi Jews and think they’ve “ruined” Israel, and vice versa. Fortunately, as time goes by, things seem to be getting better.

Major Branches of the Tree

When we say that Jud...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: What Jews Generally Believe
• Part 2: From Womb to Tomb: The Life Cycle
• Part 3: An Overview of Jewish History
• Part 4: Celebrations and Holy Days
• Part 5: The Part of Tens
• Part 6: Appendixes
• Index
• About the Authors
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement