Judaïsme is een van die monoteïstiese godsdienste, opmerklik vanweë die algemene oorsprong daarvan met die wêreld se twee mees produktiewe godsdienste, Christenskap en Islam. Dit het meer as 3 500 jaar gelede in die Midde-Ooste begin en is een van die oudste godsdienste in die wêreld wat nog bestaan.
Verstaan
| “ | Hoor, Israel, die Here is ons God, die Here is die een. | ” |
- Deuteronomium, 6: 4 | ||
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Die basiese
Judaïsme is 'n monoteïstiese godsdiens wat die gebooie van een God aanbid.
Anders as baie ander godsdienste, is Judaïsme onlosmaaklik verbonde aan 'n bepaalde volk, die Joodse volk, wie se geboorteland die gebied van Israel/Palestina. Volgens die Bybel het God die Jode bevry van slawerny in Egipte, waarna God die Torah aan hulle by Berg Sinai. Die Torah, wat 'lering' beteken, is die versameling wette en oortuigings wat van Jode verwag word. Volgens die tradisionele interpretasie bestaan dit uit 'n "Written Torah" (die Bybel, veral sy eerste vyf boeke), sowel as 'n "Oral Torah" (die liggaam van tradisies waaruit die Joodse wet in die praktyk ontleen word). Die Hebreeuse Bybel (wat Christene die "Ou Testament" noem, ook bekend as sy Hebreeuse akroniem Tanakh) is heilig vir Jode, en dit bestaan uit drie afdelings: die eerste vyf boeke (genaamd "Chumash" of bloot "Torah", en volgens tradisie is dit deur God aan Moses voorgeskryf); die boeke van die "Profete" (Nevi'im), en die heilige "Skrifte" (Ketuvim). Tradisioneel bevat die Torah 613 mitsvot (gebooie).
Joodse godsdiensleiers word 'rabbis' genoem, en daar word van hulle verwag om kundiges in die wette van die Torah te wees, gebaseer op die mondelinge tradisie sowel as die teks van die Bybel. Daar is egter 'n paar klein groepies wat nie rabbi's as leiers aanvaar nie. Karaïete is 'n sekte wat in die Middeleeue ontwikkel het, wat rabbynse interpretasies verwerp en hul eie direkte interpretasie van die Bybel volg. Die Ethiopiese Joodse gemeenskap was ook duisende jare van ander Jode geskei en het nie rabbi's gehad voordat hulle in 1984 na Israel begin het nie.
Die tradisionele Joodse wet definieer as Jood elkeen wat uit 'n Joodse moeder gebore is of wat hom tot die Judaïsme bekeer het, volgens die wette van die godsdiens oor bekering. Jode is van verskillende kleure, nasionaliteite en etnisiteite. Selfs diegene wat nie meer in die Joodse godsdiens glo nie, erken mekaar as deel van 'n enkele volk.
Godsdienstige Jode glo dat Jode die Joodse godsdiens moet volg, maar nie-Jode hoef slegs etiese monoteïste te wees (soms "Noachides" genoem) om deur God beloon te word. Baie owerhede oor Torah-wetgewing gaan verder en interpreteer die teoretiese verbod op afgodediens vir nie-Jode as onbelangrik vir hulle.
Heilige terreine
In antieke tye was die Joodse aanbidding gefokus op die Tempel in Jerusalem, waar diere- en graanoffers saam met gebede en sang gebring is. Maar sedert die Tweede Tempel in 70 G.J. vernietig is, het Joodse aanbidding en rituele rondom die sinagoge en die huis. Die sinagoge is hoofsaaklik 'n plek vir gebed, en ook vir godsdiensstudie. Sinagoges word deur sommige moderne Jode 'tempels' genoem wat nie verwag dat die aanbidding van die Jerusalemse tempel ooit weer herstel sal word nie.
Die sinagoge het nie 'n vaste argitektuur nie, hoewel dit gewoonlik na Jerusalem kyk; Jode staar gewoonlik Jerusalem in die gesig wanneer hulle bid. Aan die voorkant is 'n "ark" (ahron) waarin Torah-rolle gehou word. Daar is ook 'n platform (bimah) waar die Torah boekrol geplaas word terwyl dit gelees word. In Ortodokse en sommige konserwatiewe gemeentes sit mans en vroue apart.
Rabbis speel nie 'n formele rol in die sinagoge nie. Enige manlike Jood van 13 jaar en ouer (en in die meer liberale denominasies ook vroulike vroue ouer as 12) kan gebede lei, maar soms sing 'n opgeleide kantor die gebede in 'n baie dekoratiewe melodiese styl. Gebede kan in harmonie, in harmonie of met reaksie met die gemeente voorgelees word. Daar word gesê dat daar spesifieke gebede is wat slegs gelei kan word deur 'n direkte vaderlike afstammeling van die kohanim (Tempelpriesters).
Oorblyfsels van die tempel in Jerusalem, soos die Wesmuur en die Tempelberg, is heilig vir Jode. Die Westelike Muur funksioneer in wese as 'n buitelug-sinagoge met 'n spesiale kenmerk: 'n tradisie om gebede op papier te skryf en dit in die muur te skeur. Daar word gesê dat die Tempelberg die plek is waar Abraham deur God beveel is om sy seun, Isak, te offer, en waar die tempel van Jerusalem later tydens die regering van koning Salomo gebou sou word. Die Joodse aanbidding op die Tempelberg is kontroversieel onder Jode sowel as Moslems en was 'n vuurpunt van konflik, en dit is dus verbode.
Grafte, veral van tzaddikim (regverdige leiers), is heilig vir Jode en kan ook bedevaartsoorde wees. In die besonder bedevolg lede van die Chasidic-beweging na grafte van vorige leiers, soos dié van Rabbi Nachman van Breslov in Uman en Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in Queens. Volgens die Joodse tradisie word klein klippies op 'n grafsteen geplaas as teken van hartseer, eerbied en die permanente herinnering. Doen nie verwyder dit.
Geskiedenis
Antieke wortels
Baie van die vroeë Joodse geskiedenis vind plaas in die hedendaagse tyd Israel en Palestina, maar volgens die verhaal in die Bybel, kom die oorsprong van die Joodse volk uit die ooste, in die hedendaagse tyd Irak. Volgens die Boek Genesis was die eerste Jood Abraham, gebore in Ur, Irak omstreeks 1800 v.C., en gehoorsaam aan 'n goddelike opdrag om na die land Kanaän (nou Israel / Palestina) te verhuis. Abraham se seun Isak en kleinseun Jakob het veral in Israel gewoon Beer Sheva en Hebron. Maar die familie se reise het hulle ook na Haran gebring (in Suidoos-Anatolië suid van Urfa). Teen die einde van Jakob se lewe het 'n hongersnood hom en sy gesin genoop om na hulle te verhuis Egipte. Jakob het 'n tweede naam gehad - Israel - dus word Jakob se afstammelinge, wat die Joodse volk is, ook bekend as die "volk Israel" (of in die Bybel se taal, die "kinders van Israel").
Volgens die boek Exodus (sien ook Uittog van Moses), het die gesin in Egipte gegroei tot 'n groot volk, maar 'n Egiptiese koning (Farao) het besluit om hulle tot slawe te maak. Volgens Exodus het God die Egiptenare 'n reeks wonderbaarlike plae toegedien om die Egiptenare te oortuig om hulle te laat gaan. Die Israeliete het Egipte as vrymense verlaat onder leiding van die profeet Moses. Terwyl hy in die Sinai woestyn, het God sy naam aan Moses geopenbaar as YHWH (daar is geen ooreenkoms met betrekking tot die regte vokale nie, maar "Yehova" is gebaseer op 'n misverstand, deurdat YHWH en "Adonai", een van die vervangers wat dikwels gebruik word, vermeng word, en verbied die Israeliete om enige ander god te aanbid. Moses het ook die Torah (die goddelike verbond en wet vir die Joodse volk) van God, en dit aan die volk oorgedra het. Die woestynreis het uiteindelik 40 jaar geneem, waarna Moses se opvolger Josua die volk na die "Beloofde Land" van Kanaän gelei het (so genoem omdat God dit aan Abraham se nageslag belowe het). Joshua het die land verower en baie van die Kanaänitiese inwoners doodgemaak of verplaas. Van toe af het die 'volk Israel' in 'n gebied gewoon soos die moderne Staat Israel (insluitend die Wesbank, tot 'n mate die Gazastrook en dele van Libanon, Jordaan, en Sirië).
Argeologiese bewyse van die bogenoemde individue, sowel as die Egiptiese slawerny en dwaalwoestyn, is nie gevind nie. Daarom glo sommige moderne wetenskaplikes dat die bogenoemde verhale nie histories gebaseer is nie, in welke geval die Joodse volk se oorsprong as 'n afvlak van die Kanaänitiese bevolking is. As sodanig sou die Israelitiese godsdiens in die politeïstiese Kanaänitiese godsdiens ontstaan het voordat dit later monoteïsties geword het.
Eerste tempel periode
Volgens die Bybel het die volk Israel honderde jare as 'n losse stamkonfederasie geleef, waarna hulle onder koning Saul 'n monargie in ongeveer 1000 v.C. Die tweede koning wat in die Bybel beskryf word, is koning Dawid, en die derde is koning Salomo, wat albei tot vandag toe bekend is vir hul leierskap en literêre / geestelike werke. Dit was Dawid wat gestig het Jerusalem as die nasionale hoofstad en heilige terrein, 'n status wat dit tot vandag toe behou. Salomo bou toe die eerste tempel in Jerusalem, wat die fokus van aanbidding vir die hele volk was.
Na Salomo se dood het die koninkryk in twee verdeel. (Sommige geleerdes meen egter dat dit altyd verdeeld was, en dat die Bybelse verhale van 'n verenigde nasionale koninkryk onder Dawid en Salomo nie korrek is nie.) Die noordelike koninkryk is Israel genoem, aangesien dit tien van die 12 stamme van die volk Israel bevat het. Die suidelike koninkryk het Juda genoem, omdat dit deur die magtige stam van Juda oorheers is. Die suidelike koninkryk het sy hoofstad in Jerusalem gehad. Die eerste hoofstad van die noordelike koninkryk was Sigem (die hedendaagse Nablus), maar dit is verskeie kere verskuif voordat dit in Samaria (in die noorde) gevestig is Wesbank, nou gebel Sebastia).
In die 8ste eeu v.C. het die Assiriese Ryk (met sy hoofstad in Nineve, die hedendaagse tyd) Mosul) op die toneel aangekom, die koninkryk van Israel verower en die inwoners verban. Die bevolking van hierdie koninkryk was uiteenlopend en het uiteindelik sy Joodse identiteit verloor. Maar tot vandag toe is daar verspreide groepe regoor die wêreld wat aanspraak maak op afkoms van die "tien verlore stamme van Israel" en lidmaatskap van die Joodse volk.
Na die vernietiging van die koninkryk van Israel het net die koninkryk van Juda oorgebly om die Joodse lewe en godsdiens voort te sit. Trouens, die terme "Judaïsme" en "Jood" (of eerder hul Hebreeuse ekwivalente) dateer uit hierdie tydperk, en hulle het na die hele volk Israel verwys.
Later die Babiloniese Ryk (met sy hoofstad in Babilondeur die hedendaagse Hillah) aan die bewind gekom en die Assiriërs verower. Babilonië het die suidelike koninkryk van Juda in 597 VHJ ingeneem. Na 'n Joodse opstand, het die Babiloniërs in 586 VC teruggekeer en die koninkryk van Juda herower, en die stede sowel as die tempel in Jerusalem vernietig en die inwoners na Babilonië (en elders) verban. Hierdie ballinge het die samehorigheid in ballingskap gehandhaaf. Hulle hunkering om terug te keer, word uitgedruk in die beroemde reël uit die Bybelse boek van Klaagliedere "As ek jou vergeet, o Jerusalem, laat my regterhand verdor."
Tweede tempel periode
Nadat Babilonië verower is deur die Persies Keiser Cyrus in 539 v.C., het hy die Jode wat dit wou doen, aangespoor om na die land Israel terug te keer en hul tempel in Jerusalem te herbou. Die herstigte gemeenskap was aanvanklik baie klein, maar het geleidelik gegroei tot 'n belangrike provinsie in die Persiese Ryk, bekend as Juda of Judea, wat rondom Jerusalem en die suidelike Wesoewer gesentreer was.
Die Bybelse boek van Ester vind hoofsaaklik in die Persiese hoofstad Shushan, in Khuzestan, Iran.
Die geskiedenis wat in die Bybel beskryf word, eindig op hierdie punt. Die Bybel bevat baie boeke wat op verskillende tye deur verskillende mense geskryf is en wat gedurende die Persiese tydperk in een versameling gevorm is.
Nadat Alexander die Grote van Macedonië die Perse verower het, moes die Joodse gemeenskap met die Hellenistiese invloed te kampe hê. Baie Jode is diep beïnvloed deur Grieks kultuur, terwyl ander weerstand gebied het. Vir 'n tyd het 'n groep anti-Hellenistiese Jode, die Makkabeërs, Judea regeer. Die vakansie van Chanukah vier hul oorwinning oor die Siries-Griekse koning Antiochus Epiphanes in 165 VC, in 'n opstand wat begin in Modiin.
Judea het later onder geval Romeins invloed en is uiteindelik 'n Romeinse provinsie gemaak. In 66 CE het die Jode in opstand gekom teen die Romeinse heerskappy. Die opstand is in 70 HJ afgeskaf met die inname van Jerusalem en die vernietiging van die Tweede Tempel, terwyl die laaste paar rebelle in die Masada vesting tot 73 HJ. Omstreeks 132 HJ het 'n tweede rebellie uitgebreek onder leiding van die selfverklaarde messias, Simon Bar Kochba. Ook hierdie opstand is neergesit (in 136 HJ) en die Joodse Joodse gemeenskap was nog eeue lank versprei; die Romeine het na die Filistyne, wat vroeër IUDAEA Sirië genoem is, na Palistina herdoop, 'n ou volk wat die Joodse Bybelse aartsvyande was om die Joodse verbintenis met die land uit te wis. Jerusalem is herbou as 'n Hellenistiese / Romeinse stad met die naam Aelia Capitolina met 'n tempel vir Zeus / Jupiter in die middelpunt en die Jode het toegang tot hulle verbied. Die woord vir verspreiding in Hebreeus is Galut, en in Latyn en Engels word dit die genoem Diaspora. 'N Klein minderheid Jode (later die "Ou Yishuv" genoem) het in hul voorvaderlike vaderland bly woon, dikwels onder aanval van verskillende oorwinnaars (die kruistogte was 'n baie slegte tyd vir die Ou Yishuv, maar ook Europese Jode). Daar was 'n paar individuele bewegings (meestal godsdienstig gemotiveer) van Jode na die Heilige Land, meestal na Jerusalem, en sommige sinagoges het geld ingesamel om die Ou Yishuv te ondersteun.
Diaspora
Die diaspora het gepaard gegaan met beduidende veranderinge in die Joodse denke en praktyk. Aangesien die tempel vernietig is en diere- en groente-offers nie daar kon gebring word nie, het die sinagoge die belangrikste terrein van Joodse aanbidding geword. Daar was ook veranderinge in leierskap: in die laat Tweede Tempel periode was Jode verdeel onder sektes met verskillende teologieë, maar na die vernietiging het 'n groep die rabbi's is erken as die Joodse godsdienstige leierskap. 'Rabbynse Judaïsme', soos die benadering van die rabbi's bekend staan, fokus op die 'mondelinge wet' ('n versameling tradisies langs die geskrewe teks van die Bybel). Die debatte van antieke rabbi's word bewaar in werke soos die Talmoed (meestal saamgestel in antieke Irakse stede soos Pumbeditha [nou Fallujah]), wat die basis vorm vir die moderne Joodse reg. Intussen is die rol van kohanim (Tempelpriesters) het die grootste deel van die betekenis daarvan na die vernietiging verloor. 'N Versugting na Eretz Israel was steeds 'n belangrike deel van die Joodse aanbidding en teologie, met die uitdrukking "volgende jaar in Jerusalem" wat gereeld tydens die pasga-seders uitgespreek word. Sommige Jode het ook gereël dat hulle in die Heilige Land of ten minste met die aarde uit die streek begrawe sou word, maar oor die algemeen was die oortuiging dat 'n ommekeer van Galut as dit sou kom, sou dit deur die Messias ingelei word, nie deur 'wêreldse' middele nie.
Die grootste probleem in die Diaspora was gemeenskaplike oorlewing. Soms is Jode fisies bedreig en soms onder druk geplaas om hulle tot ander godsdienste te bekeer. Terwyl die heidense Romeine hulle nie regtig daaraan gesteur het hoe die Jode aanbid het nie, solank hulle nie in opstand gekom het nie, toe die Romeinse Ryk Christelik geword het, het dit baie erger geword vir die Jode. Christene het geglo dat hul Nuwe Testament hulle die ware vervanging van die Jode maak, wat die Jode opsetlike sondaars deur God sou verwerp. Net so het Moslems Jode gesien dat hulle glo in 'n verwronge, verkeerde weergawe van die oorspronklike monoteïstiese openbaring. Die behandeling van Jode het onder sowel die Christendom as die Islam wel en wee gehad. Maar oor die algemeen was die ergste vervolging onder Christene, byvoorbeeld die Eerste Kruistog (1096–1099, waarin baie Jode in die Rynland vermoor is), die verdrywings van alle Jode uit Spanje en Portugal (1492 en 1496), die Spaanse en Portugese. Inkwisisies en die slagting op Oekraïense Jode in die Khmelnytsky-opstand (1648). Baie Spaanse en Portugese Jode het net uiterlik tot bekering gekom en een van die hooftake van die inkwisisie was om daardie 'crypto-Jode' bloot te lê. Of hulle of hul nageslag as 'regte' Jode tel, bly 'n teologiese debat, maar beide die Spaanse en Portugese state het sedertdien om verskoning gevra vir die onreg wat hulle Jode aangedoen het en het hul nasate amptelik teruggenooi. Daar was 'n paar groot vervolginge onder Moslem-bewind, soos dié van die Almohads in die 12de-eeuse Spanje, maar oor die algemeen was dit baie skaarser.
Soms het Jode egter min of meer goeie lewens onder Christelike beskerming gehad. Een van die tye was gedurende die ryk van Karel die Grote (740s-814), wat Jode genooi het om hulle in die land te vestig Rynland. Hierdie gebied word in Hebreeus Ashkenaz genoem, en daarom staan die afstammelinge van hierdie gemeenskap, wat deur latere verdrywings en migrasies uiteindelik deur die grootste deel van Europa huise gemaak het, bekend as Ashkenazim.
'N Ander gemeenskap van diaspora-Jode het hulle gevestig Iberia, en soos Spanje word Sefarad in Hebreeus genoem, die afstammelinge van hierdie Jode staan bekend as Sephardim. Sefardiese Jode was uiters suksesvol en het grootliks bygedra tot die gevorderde beskawing van die Islamitiese goue era (8de-13de eeu). Waarskynlik die bekendste Joodse denker gedurende daardie periode was Maimonides (ongeveer 1135-1204), wat benewens 'n groot rabbi en leier van die Joodse gemeenskap in Egipte, was ook 'n beroemde filosoof en mediese gesag, wat as persoonlike geneesheer van die Egiptiese heerser gedien het. Na verdrywings in 1492 en 1496 uit Spanje en Portugal, het Sefardiese Jode hul toevlug geneem in ander dele van Europa en die Middellandse See-streek. Tans word baie Joodse gemeenskappe in die Midde-Ooste ietwat verkeerdelik "Sefardies" genoem vanweë die prominente rol wat Sefardiese ballinge daarin gespeel het.
Baie Jode, nou genoem Mizrachim, het nooit die Midde-Ooste verlaat nie. Jode in Moslemlande het oor die algemeen die status gehad van ahl al-dhimmah (enkelvoud: dhimmi), wat laer was as Moslems, maar steeds beskerm is. In die 20ste eeu, as gevolg van die Arabies-Israeliese konflik, is die meeste van hierdie gemeenskappe van hul historiese tuislande uitgewis, alhoewel die uitlopers van hierdie gemeenskappe nou voortgaan in Israel, Frankryk en elders.
Behalwe die drie hoofgemeenskappe, was daar ook ander kleiner sakke van die Joodse nedersetting. 'N Gemeenskap van Jode het hulle gevestig Ethiopië, word die Beta Israel. Sommige het hulle in die Kaukasus, word die Bergjode in wat vandag is Azerbeidjan, en die Georgiese Jode in wat vandag is Georgië. Verder af het twee verskillende gemeenskappe hul wortels gevestig Indië, met die gemeenskap op die platteland Konkan word die Bene Israel, en die gemeenskap in Kerala word die Cochin Jode, ook bekend as die Malabar Jode. In Sjina, het 'n klein gemeenskap in die stad aangekom Kaifeng teen die 10de eeu (toe dit die hoofstad van die Song-dinastie was), en staan vandag bekend as die Kaifeng Jode. Anders as die gemeenskappe in Moslem- en Christelike lande, het die Joodse gemeenskappe in Indië en China goed oor die weg gekom met hul nie-Joodse bure en hulle het nooit 'n geskiedenis van antisemitisme beleef nie, hoewel die Chinese gemeenskap vandag ietwat geraak word deur die wantroue van die regerende Kommunistiese Party godsdienste en af en toe onderdrukkings van godsdienstige vieringe.
Later Joodse bewegings
Kabbalah is 'n mistieke studievorm wat in die 13de eeu onder Spaanse Jode gewild geword het. Na die Spaanse verdrywing van Jode het die sentrum van die kabbalastudie verhuis na Veilig.
Chasidism (of Hasidisme) is 'n Joodse beweging wat in die eerste helfte van die 18de eeu gestig is deur Baal Shem Tov, a Oekraïens rabbi. Hy is geïnspireer om 'n nuwe styl van Joodse praktyk te skep, en beklemtoon 'n vreugdevolle verbintenis met God in die vorme (byvoorbeeld) van gemeenskaplike sang en dans. Die aanhangers van die Baäl-Sem-Tov het as die Chasidim bekend gestaan, en hulle het uiteindelik in verskillende sektes verdeel, vernoem na die dorp of stad waar hul eerste rebbe (rabbi en geestelike leier) vandaan gekom het. So byvoorbeeld het die Satmarers ontstaan Satu Mare, Roemenië, die Lubavitchers van Lyubavichi, Rusland, en die Breslovers van Bratslav, Oekraïne. Deesdae is die grootste konsentrasies Chasidim in Jerusalem en New York Stad (veral Borough Park, Williamsburg en die noordelike deel van Crown Heights in Brooklyn). Ander konsentrasies word in verskillende stede in Israel, die VSA, Kanada, Europa en Australië aangetref. Een Chasidiese beweging - Chabad - beperk homself nie tot enklawes nie, maar stuur individuele gesinne om 'n Joodse teenwoordigheid in gemeenskappe regoor die wêreld te vestig. Dit is 'n goeie adres vir mense wat op soek is na 'n Joodse ervaring terwyl hulle oral reis, en veral in gebiede met baie klein Joodse bevolking, kan soms die enigste plek wees waar kosher-kos beskikbaar is. Chasidiese mans kan te alle tye herken word aan hul aantrek in pakke en swart hoede. Daar word dikwels na hulle verwys as ultra-Ortodokse Jodealhoewel die Chasidim self hierdie etiket verwerp en aanstoot neem as hulle so genoem word.
Die Haskalah of 'Joodse Verligting' was die Joodse reaksie op die Verligting in Christelike lande, wat begin in die laat 18de eeu. Dit het strewe na rasionele denke en integrasie in die nie-Joodse samelewing. 'Maskilim' (aanhangers van die Haskalah) het 'n wye spektrum van doelwitte gehad - van konserwatiewe rabbi's wat 'n rasionalistiese benadering wou hê om te studeer tot radikale wat massiewe sosiale en teologiese verandering wou hê. Een van die voorlopers van die Haskalah was die Hervormingsbeweging, wat die Joodse ritueel en teologie hervorm het om meer in lyn te wees met die sensitiwiteit van die sekulêre kultuur. Die Sionistiese beweging (sien hieronder) was nog 'n uitloper.
Hervorm die Judaïsme beklemtoon sosiale bekommernisse oor rituele praktyke (om die rituele as opsioneel te verklaar en baie daarvan heeltemal te laat vaar). Die Konserwatiewe beweging is 'n uitloper van die Hervormingsbeweging deur Jode wat gedink het dat Hervorming te ver gegaan het; Konserwatiewe Judaïsme bewaar byna alle rituele sowel as die stelsel van halacha (Joodse wet), terwyl 'n paar veranderinge ingestel word, soos gelyke rolle vir mans en vroue. Ortodoks Jode glo dat die Joodse praktyk nóg die teologie enige opdatering nodig gehad het, en dat hulle steeds dieselfde doen as wat hulle voorvaders honderde jare gelede gedoen het. U dink miskien dat u Ortodokse Joodse mans kan herken aan hulle dra hul kopdop (kippah in Hebreeus, yarmulke in Jiddisj) die hele tyd en nie net tydens gebede nie, maar sommige nie-Ortodokse Jode doen dit ook. Sommige kleiner denominasies het ontwikkel, soos rekonstruksie, en baie Jode beskryf hulself as nie tot enige kerkgenootskap nie.
Die Judaïsme het nog altyd 'n tradisie gehad van rasionele debatte oor selfs ingewikkelde en klein punte van die godsdienstige reg. Die stereotipe "Twee Jode, drie opinies" is dus gedeeltelik afkomstig van Talmoediese besprekings wat tot vandag toe voortduur. In teenstelling met baie ander godsdienste, is daar geen enkele gesaghebbende stem om vir iemand te sê wat die teologiese reëls van die hedendaagse tyd wel of nie behoorlik toegepas word nie, maar individuele rabbi's word dikwels baie gerespekteer vir hul insig en hul menings het 'n groter gewig onder die getrou. Nietemin beskou die meeste Jode dit as aanvaarbaar dat enige geleerde persoon met godsdienstige debatte met 'n rabbi debatteer, ongeag hoe gerespekteerd hy ook al is. Hierdie tradisie van debat en intellektuele benadering tot 'heilige' onderwerpe het selfs sekulêre of ateïste mense van Joodse afkoms soos Sigmund Freud beïnvloed in sy ontwikkeling van psigoanalise of Karl Marx in sy 'dialektiese' benadering tot ekonomie en geskiedenis. Die tradisionele sentraliteit van Torah-studie en besprekings oor die Joodse wetgewing het meegebring dat Jode al duisende jare klem gelê het op geletterdheid en opvoeding, en daarom het Jode ook dikwels uitgeblink op ander lewensterreine wat onderwys en dissipline vereis.
Die moderne era
Vanaf die Franse rewolusie het Europese regerings begin om Jode te "emansipeer", wat hulle dieselfde burgerregte gee as ander burgers. Maar die Jodehaat het voortgeduur en soms gegrond op "rasse" (eerder as godsdienstige) kriteria, wat die 19de-eeuse voorstanders begin noem het. antisemitisme om meer "wetenskaplik" te klink, en ander kere op baie ouer redes te baseer, soos jaloesie oor die vermeende rykdom van Jode. (Jode kan gevind word in alle lae van die samelewing; die vermeende assosiasie van Jode en die finansiële sektor is meestal te wyte aan die historiese Christelike verbod op geldlenings, wat beteken het dat slegs Jode geld aan Christene kon leen, asook die feit dat Jode is van ander werke verbied.)
In die 19de en vroeë 20ste eeu was daar talle 'pogroms' (gewelddadige onluste teen Jode) in Oos-Europa, veral in Tsaristiese Rusland (sien ook Minderheidskulture in Rusland). Okhrana, die geheime polisie van die tsaar, het selfs die bekendste en vuilste antisemitiese vervalsing geskryf, die "Protokolle van die geleerde ouderlinge van Sion" om antisemitisme te stook en rewolusionêre Russe se aandag af te trek van die Russiese regering. Om van hierdie brutaliteit te ontsnap en om geleenthede te soek, was daar 'n moderne uittog van Ashkenazim vanaf Oos-Europa na die Verenigde State, Kanada, Suid-Afrika, Australië, Latyns-Amerikaanse lande insluitend Argentinië, en Wes-Europa.
Terwyl die Jode nog altyd na Israel wou terugkeer, het daar maar bitter min daar in die kruistogte gewoon. In die laat 19de eeu het die aantal Jode wat na die Ottomaanse Palestina verhuis het, toegeneem as gevolg van pogroms en ook die groeiende Sionistiese beweging, wat gevra het om 'n Joodse staat in Israel te stig. Sionisme het baie aanhangers gekry ná die Dreyfus-aangeleentheid (waarin 'n offisier van die Franse leër skuldig bevind is aan spioenasie-aanklagte, wat ongebreidelde antisemitisme in die Franse samelewing aan die lig gebring het), wat baie Jode tot die gevolgtrekking laat kom het dat selfs 'beskaafde' vooruitstrewende lande nie die Jode teen die -Semitisme, en 'n spesifiek Joodse land was nodig. Sionisme het begin as 'n minderheidsbeweging (so laat in die dertigerjare was die gewildste Joodse party die antisionistiese Jiddistiese Sosialistiese Bund), maar teen die dertigerjare woon daar honderdduisende Jode in die verpligte Palestina, en internasionale regerings was ernstig dit oorweeg om die gebied in 'n Joodse en 'n Arabiese staat te verdeel.
Met die koms van die Europese kolonialisme in die 18de eeu, Baghdadi Jode migreer na die stede van Calcutta en Bombaai in die destydse Britse kolonie Indië, waar hulle baie suksesvolle ondernemings gevestig en gestig het. Met die uitbreiding van die Britse ryk, het baie van hierdie Jode van Indië af na die ander Asiatiese besittings van Brittanje getrek en die eerste Joodse gemeenskappe in die land gevestig Rangoon, Penang, Hongkong, Sjanghai en Singapoer. Die meeste van hierdie Jode het later na Westerse lande geëmigreer, wat daartoe gelei het dat baie van hierdie gemeenskappe dood of uitgesterf het, maar die Mumbai-gemeenskap is steeds beduidend, en die Hong Kong- en Singapoer-gemeenskappe is aangevul deur uitgeweke Jode uit Westerse lande.
In 1933 het die Nazi-party in Duitsland aan die bewind gekom, met die doel om alle Jode oral uit te roei. Gedurende die Tweede Wêreldoorlog vermoor hulle ongeveer 6 miljoen Jode voordat hulle verslaan is, wat bekend staan as die Nazi-slagting, ook genoem die Shoah. (Sien Holocaust-herinnering 'n gids vir sommige van die Nazi-uitwissings-, transito- en slawe-arbeidskampe en gedenktekens op hul terreine.) Die groot Joodse gemeenskappe van Europa is in wese deur die Holocaust uitgeskakel, behalwe Russiese en Britse Jode wat buite die Duitse beheer woon, oorlewendes sou na hul bevryding na Israel of die Verenigde State migreer.
Die moderne staat van Israel onafhanklikheid verklaar in 1948. Dit is onmiddellik binnegeval deur Arabiese leërs wat dit probeer vernietig. Maar dit het hierdie aanval oorleef, en gedurende die volgende paar dekades het dit geleidelik gegroei in bevolking en sterkte, terwyl dit ander aanvalle in die proses afgeweer het en groot gebiede in 1967 in die Sesdaagse Oorlog verkry het, waarvan sommige teruggekeer het vir vredesverdrae. Vanaf 2017 woon ongeveer 45% van die Jode in die wêreld in Israel.
Terwyl die staat Israel floreer, het die Arabies-Israeliese konflik die vyandigheid teenoor Jode wat in Moslemlande woon, verhoog. Tussen 1948 en 1970 het die oorgrote meerderheid van hierdie Jode gevlug of uit Moslemlande gedwing, met die meeste van hulle na Israel, Frankryk of die Verenigde State. Teen die 1960's het min Jode in Moslemlande gebly waar hul voorouers eeue lank gewoon het. Byvoorbeeld, Bagdad het binne 'n paar jaar van byna 'n kwart Joods na feitlik heeltemal nie-Joods gegaan. Oorblyfsels van Joodse gemeenskappe bly voortbestaan in Iran, Turkye, Marokko en Tunisië, maar hulle is feitlik uitgewis in die res van die Midde-Oosterse en Noord-Afrikaanse Moslemlande.
Tans is die grootste Joodse gemeenskappe in Israel, die Verenigde State, Frankryk, Kanada, die Verenigde Koninkryk, Argentinië, Rusland, Duitsland, Brasilië, Australië, en volgens sommige maatreëls, Oekraïne. Die Franse Joodse gemeenskap is grootliks vergroot met die migrasie van Sefardiese en Mizrachi-vlugtelinge uit Frankryk se voormalige Noord-Afrikaanse kolonies Tunisië, Algerië en Marokko, terwyl 'n nuwe Duitse Joodse gemeenskap grotendeels bestaan uit Jode uit die voormalige Sowjetunie. Die grotendeels sekulêre (eks-) Sowjet-Jode het in die 1970's in groot getalle begin emigreer, met die tempo wat toegeneem het na die val van kommunisme in die 1990's. Die Sowjet-regering het godsdiens onderdruk, dus is hierdie Jode geneig om baie sekulêr te wees, maar trots op hul Joodse nasionaliteit.
Daar is ook 'n mate van emigrasie vanaf Israel na lande in Noord-Amerika en Europa, waar Israeli's 'n herkenbare etniese groep is. Terwyl Israel nog altyd 'n netto positiewe migrasiekoers gehad het, word die aantal Israelse expats na die buiteland nogtans as 'n potensiële probleem gedebatteer, veral gegewe die demografiese en ekonomiese profiel van baie emigrante.
Vakansies
Die mees algemene Joodse geleentheid is Shabbat, die Sabbat, wat elke week plaasvind vanaf 18 minute voor sononder Vrydag tot wanneer drie sterre in die Saterdagaandhemel sigbaar is. Gedurende hierdie tydperk is enige vorm van werk (baie breed gedefinieërd) streng verbode. Oplettende Jode besoek die sinagoge op die Sabbat, veral op die Sabbatoggend, maar ook op Vrydagaand wanneer die Sabbat begin. Ortodokse Jode se uitstappies na die sinagoge moet te voet gedoen word, want die gebruik van masjinerie of die gebruik van perde word beskou as werk volgens Ortodokse interpretasies van die Joodse wet, en is dus gedurende die sabbat verbode. Net soos die sabbat, is daar ook verbod op werk in die groot Joodse vakansiedae, hoewel sommige sagter is as op die sabbat.
Die Joodse kalender is maanvormig, sodat die datums van alle jaarlikse vakansies redelik wyd verskuif in verhouding tot die standaard (Gregoriaanse) kalender. Die nommer van die kalenderjaar word bereken vanaf die tyd dat die Joodse kosmologie sê dat die aarde geskep is. Byvoorbeeld, 1 April 2015 is 12 Nisan 5775 in die Joodse kalender, wat beteken dat die wêreld in die Joodse kosmologie slegs 5775 jaar bestaan het. Die eerste dag van die Joodse jaar word genoem Rosh ha-Shanah.
Die mees gevierde vakansiedae is:
- Rosh ha-Shanah en die vasdag van Yom Kippur nege dae later word die genoem Hoë Heilige Dae, wanneer selfs baie andersins nie-oplettende Jode na sinagoges terugkeer om saam met die gemeenskap te bid.
- Pasga, die lentefees toe die verhaal van die uittog uit Egipte oorvertel en gevier word en die belangrikste gesinsvakansie van die Joodse jaar. Die Seder, op die eerste nag (of twee nagte) van Pasga, is 'n feestelike gesinsmaaltyd ter viering van die uittog, en word selfs deur baie sekulêre Jode waargeneem.
- Purim, ter herdenking van die Joodse oorwinning oor hul vyande in antieke Persië.
- Chanukah, waarop kerse aangesteek word. Chanukah word vroeër as 'n minderjarige vakansie beskou, maar dit word belangriker onder Jode in lande met Christenmeerderheid as 'n alternatief vir Kersfees.
Sommige ander groot vakansiedae sluit in:
- Sukkot, 'n herfsfees vir die herfs wanneer Jode maaltye in tydelike hutte met groen soos palmblare op die dak eet, en herinner aan die tydelike wonings waarin hulle voorvaders glo tydens die uittog gewoon het.
- Simchat Torah, letterlik "Geluk met die Torah", wanneer die jaarlikse siklus van Torah-voorlesings eindig. Torah scrolls are carried through the synagogue and frequently out onto the street, where joyous congregants dance with them.
- Shavuot, a late spring harvest festival that also celebrates God's gift of the Torah at Berg Sinai and is traditionally marked by all-night Torah study.
Stede
- Sien ook: Heilige land
Israel/Palestina
- 1 Jerusalem. Judaism's holiest city, former location of the Temple and current location of the Western Wall. Partitioned between 1948 and 1967, the Eastern parts were conquered in the Six-Day War and are now seen by Israel as integral part of its territory.
- 2 Hebron. A city with a long Jewish tradition, only briefly interrupted between the 1929 massacre of Jews and the 1967 reconquest by Israeli forces. Controversially, a small Jewish community now lives here again.
- 3 Tiberias. A center of Jewish scholarship in the Byzantine and early Muslim eras. In the 18th century it became known as one of the "four holy cities" in Israel.
- 4 Safed. The center of Kabbalah study in the 16th century and since then. Now a very picturesque mountaintop town.
- 5 Tel Aviv. Only founded in 1909 by early Zionists, it is now the center of the world's largest primarily Jewish metropolitan area. The population and culture are mostly secular.
Diaspora
Australië
- 6 Melbourne — The heart of Australian Judaism and the largest Jewish community in the southern hemisphere. Jews are mainly concentrated in the suburbs of Caufield and St Kilda, with significant numbers also in Doncaster, Kew and Balacava. There are also Chasidic communities concentrated in the suburbs of Ripponlea and Elsternwick. Melbourne's oldest synagogue is the colonial-era East Melbourne Synagogue.
- 7 Sydney — Australia's second largest Jewish community, mainly concentrated in the eastern suburbs of Vaucluse, Randwick, Bondi, Double Bay and Darlinghurst, and a smaller concentration in the upper north shore suburbs between Chatswood and St Ives. Smaller pockets of Jews also exist in numerous other suburbs. Die Great Synagogue is one of the most impressive religious buildings in Australia.
- 8 Perth — Australia's third largest Jewish community, much more recently established than the Sydney and Melbourne communities, and mostly comprised of South African Jews who migrated to Australia in the 1990s and their descendants. Largely concentrated in the northern suburbs of Yokine, Bayswater, Noranda, Menora, Coolbinia, Morley and My Lawley. The heart of the community is the Perth Hebrew Congregation in the aptly-named suburb of Menora.
Azerbeidjan
- 9 Qırmızı Qəsəbə — also known as the "Jerusalem of the Caucasus", this is perhaps the only all-Jewish community outside of Israel. It is home to about 3,000 "Mountain Jews", descendants of the Persian Jews who settled in the Caucasus area in the 5th century CE. Theirs is a unique culture, combining ancient Jewish traditions with local Caucasian influences.
Kanada
- 10 Montreal — Though it was historically the heart of Canadian Judaism, many of Montreal's largely Anglophone Jews have moved on to majority-Anglophone provinces since the rise of the Quebec sovereignty movement. However, the Mile-End neighborhood is still home to a fairly vibrant Jewish community, and remains the best place to sample two Jewish-derived staples of local cuisine: Montreal-style bagels (at Fairmount Bagel en Saint-Viateur Bagel) and smoked meat sandwiches (at Schwartz's in the nearby Plateau). The town-enclave of Westmount also continues to be home to Canada's largest Jewish community.
- 11 Toronto — with the large exodus of Anglophone Jews from Montreal in 1976-77, the Toronto area — particularly Thornhill, a small suburb just north of the city line — is home to Canada's largest Jewish population.
Sjina
- 12 Kaifeng — historically home to a small, well-integrated Jewish community that nevertheless retained many Jewish customs, the community has dispersed since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, though their descendants continue to be scattered throughout the city. Sadly, the synagogue fell into disrepair and was destroyed in the 1860s, the site now being occupied by a hospital. Unlike other Jewish communities, the Kaifeng Jews recognised patrilineal rather than matrilineal descent, meaning that they are not recognised as Jewish by the Israeli government unless they undergo an orthodox conversion. While some of these people have rediscovered their heritage and begun to revive some Jewish religious practices, they are forced to keep a low profile due to the communist government's occasional crackdowns on religion.
- 13 Sjanghai — the city had a significant number of Jews from the 19th century on and got many more as life became difficult for Jews in Germany in the 1930s. Gedurende die Stille Oseaanoorlog, the occupying Japanese established the Shanghai ghetto in Hongkou District; Jews often lived in appalling conditions alongside their Chinese neighbours. Today, the former synagogue has been converted to a museum commemorating the Jewish refugees of that era.
Tsjeggiese Republiek
- 14 Plzeň. Once home to a thriving Jewish community prior to the Holocaust, it is home to the Great Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in Europe. Although the community has shrunk substantially, part of the synagogue is still in use as an active place of worship.
- 15 Praag. Its rich Jewish history and cemetery were not destroyed by the Nazis, because they wanted to preserve them as a museum. The Jewish museum, chevra kadisha, cemetery, and synagogues are the most ancient in Europe.
Ethiopië
- 16 Gondar. Historically the heart of the Ethiopian Jewish community before most of them left for Israel, the city is still home to most of the last remaining Jews in Ethiopia.
Frankryk
- 17 Carpentras — This small town in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur nonetheless holds an important role in the history of Jews in France. The town's synagogue dates from the 14th century, and is the oldest in France. However, the Jewish community was established in Carpentras at least a century earlier, by 1276 at the latest. They were attracted here during a time of widespread persecution, as the town was then ruled not by France or any other kingdom, but was part of a papal county under direct control of the popes at Avignon, in which ironically freedom of religion flourished. The late medieval Jews of Carpentras enjoyed both economic and cultural freedoms on a par with their Christian neighbours. However, by the late 16th century, times had changed and the community was ghettoised, as part of an increasingly intolerant Church's repression of non-Catholic faiths, in particular Protestantism. In this period, Jews were excluded from many spheres of life including a long list of professions and participation in café culture. Somehow, the original community survived this phase of repression and those of the late 19th century and Second World War, and is still extant today. Aside from the synagogue and community cemetery, their most notable contribution to the visitor's experience is the annual Jewish music festival, which takes place in August as part of a wider summer season of festivities.
- 18 Parys — Paris has a long and checkered history of Jewish settlement. Jews have participated in every facet of civic life since freedom of religion was declared during the French Revolution, but they were also targeted for mass murder during the Nazi occupation, with the enthusiastic assistance of the Vichy collaborationist government and a mixture of collaboration and resistance from their non-Jewish fellow citizens. The resistance was more successful in saving Jewish lives in France than in many other Nazi-occupied countries, and the previously mostly Ashkenazic Jewish community was augmented by a large-scale immigration of Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews from France's former colonies in North Africa in the 1950s and 60s. The center of Jewish life in Paris is in the Marais, where you can find kosher delicatessens, various Jewish shops, and an excellent Jewish Museum. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Jewish community of Paris has suffered murderous attacks and a constant level of everyday harassment. This has come from far-right anti-Semites, and mostly nowadays from extremists within the local Muslim community, Europe's largest. Prior to being partly radicalized, that community used to have peaceable relations with their Jewish fellow citizens. As a result, French Jews have been immigrating to Israel at the rate of a few thousand a year, but the French Jewish community is still the largest in Europe, and the world's third largest after Israel and the United States.
Duitsland
- 19 Berlyn - in the Mitte neighborhood, the beautiful Neue Synagoge survived Nazism due to the insistence of a policeman on protecting the building on Kristallnacht. Elsewhere in Mitte, there is a moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. In die East Central neighborhood is the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
- 20 Dresden - the original synagogue (built to plans by Gottfired Semper, the architect of the eponymous opera) was destroyed by the Nazis and the "replacement" built in the early 2000s looks emphatically "not like a synagogue" and was decried as something of an eyesore. However, this was deliberate at least in part, as the new synagogue is intended not only to show the resurgence of Jewish life, but also that there was a break in Jewish tradition and what caused it. Unusual for a synagogue in Germany, there is no metal scanner or other visible safety measures and frequent guided tours are in keeping with this "open" approach.
- 21 Erfurt has the only synagogue built during the communist (GDR) era, and has tried applying its Jewish heritage for a UNESCO world heritage site
- 22 Wurms - The best-preserved of the old German-Jewish communities of the Rhineland. The Jewish quarter is largely intact. See the Rashi synagogue reconstruction and the cemetery.
- 23 München has one of Germany's most notable and architecturally interesting synagogues built after the war. It was inaugurated on the anniversary of the 1938 pogrom in 2006.
Griekeland
- 24 Thessaloniki — known as "the mother of Israel" due to its once large Jewish population (for centuries when it was under the Ottoman rule, Thessaloniki was the only city in the world which had a Jewish-majority population), the city lost most of its historic Jewish quarters during the Great Fire of 1917 and the Holocaust that followed later. However, a Jewish museum and two synagogues still exist.
Hongkong
- 25 Hongkong is home to a small community of Baghdadi Jews, and the colonial era Ohel Leah Synagogue is one of the few active Baghdadi rite synagogues that date back to the pre-World War II era. One of the most prominent Jewish families in Hong Kong is the Kadoorie family, who founded and continue to run the iconic Peninsula Hotel.
Hongarye
- 26 Budapest/Central Pest — Central Pest contains the Jewish Quarter of Budapest. The Jewish community, though it was reduced in number by the Nazis and their collaborators and by emigration, is still substantial, with kosher eateries and shops and various synagogues, including the Great Synagogue on Dohány Street, which in the 1990s was renovated with contributions by the late American actor, Tony Curtis, the son of two Hungarian Jewish immigrants to the United States. On the second floor of the same building, with a separate entrance, is a Jewish Museum that displays many beautiful antique Jewish ritual objects.
Indië
- 27 Kochi. Historically home to the Cochin Jews, a community that dates back to Biblical times. They would later be joined by Sephardic Jewish refugees following the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula. While both communities retained distinct ethnic identities well into the 20th century, they are now moribund.
- 28 Kolkata. Settled by many Baghdadi Jews during the colonial era, Kolkata is home to five synagogues that date from that era. This community is now moribund, and down to less than 100 individuals.
- 29 Moembaai. The surrounding Konkan countryside was historically home to a rural Jewish community of unknown origins known as the Bene Israel. With the advent of British colonial rule, many Bene Israel would move to Bombay, where they would be joined by Baghdadi and Cochin Jews, though all three Jewish communities would retain their distinct ethnic traditions. Like the Jewish community in India as a whole, the Mumbai community has fallen drastically in numbers since independence, though they still number in the thousands and are today by far India's largest Jewish community.
Iran
- 30 Teheran — although its population has dwindled substantially since the Islamic revolution, Iran is still home to the largest Jewish community of any Muslim-majority country, as well as the second largest Jewish community in the Middle East after Israel.
Italië
- 31 Florence — as in other Italian cities, its Jewish population was much reduced by the Nazis after they occupied the country in 1943, but its attractive synagogue is still active and along with the Jewish Museum in the same building, it is a secondary attraction in this city of incredible attractions
- 32 Rome — the Jewish Quarter of Rome, which housed the city's ghetto starting in the mid 16th century, is often visited nowadays; Roman cuisine was also influenced by its Jewish community as, for example, carciofi alla giudìa (Jewish-style artichokes) is a local specialty
- 33 Venesië — this city gave the world the word Ghetto, used to describe a neighborhood to which Jews were restricted; the Venice Ghetto still exists and is still the center of Jewish life in the city, though the Jewish community is now quite small and its members have the same rights as all other Italian citizens
Maleisië
- 34 Penang — Once home to a small but thriving Jewish community of Baghdadi origin, much of the community fled abroad in the wake of rising anti-Semitism since the 1970s. Sadly, this community is now extinct, with the last Malaysian Jew having died in 2011, though descendants of the community now live in countries such as Australia and the United States. The sole reminders of this community are the Jewish cemetery, as well as the former synagogue, which has since been repurposed.
Marokko
Morocco has long history of providing refuge to Jews fleeing persecution — from the Almohad Caliphate (12th century), the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions (15th century), and from Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.
- 35 Casablanca — home to the largest Jewish population in an Arab country. Also home to the only Jewish museum in the Arab world.
- 36 Fez. The Bab Mellah (Jewish quarter) is almost 600 years old. The Ibn Danan Synagogue was built in the 17th century, and elsewhere in the city you can find a house lived in by Maimonides in the 12th century (now home to a non-kosher restaurant called "Chez Maimonide").
Pole
- 37 Krakau. Has an old Jewish quarter. It's surreal to see so many tiny shuls within spitting distance of each other. There are "Jewish" themed restaurants, and a Jewish festival in the summer.
- 38 Łódź. The 5th biggest city of the Russian Empire in late 19th century, for a number of years Łódź was an important centre of Jewish universe. Before World War II, Jews were about a third of the local population. There is a number of sites of Jewish heritage, incl. the old cemetery, the memorial Park of Survivors (Park Ocalałych), Holocaust memorial at Radegast railway station, 19th-century villas of Jewish industrial tycoons as well as some old buildings at the territory of the former Litzmannstadt ghetto.
Portugal
- 39 Belmonte. The only Jewish community in the Iberian peninsula that survived the inquisitions. They were able to do so by observing a strict rule of endogamy and going to great lengths to conceal their faith from their neighbours, with many even going to church and publicly carrying out Christian rites. As a result of their history, these Jews tend to be very secretive, though some are slowly beginning to reconnect with the worldwide Jewish community.
Rusland
- 40 Birobidzhan. Founded in the 1930s as the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, which Joseph Stalin set up to be an alternative to Zionism. While the Jewish population of the city has always been fairly low (the Soviet Jews traditionally inhabited the European parts of the country west of the Urals), it is interesting to find Yiddish signs with Hebrew lettering, menorah monuments, and synagogues in the far east of Russia, near the Chinese border.
- 41 Moskou. Still home to the largest Jewish community in Russia, and the beautiful Moscow Choral Synagogue.
- 42 Saint Petersburg. Home to Russia's second largest Jewish community, as well as the famed Grand Choral Synagogue.
Singapoer
- Although small, various members of 43 Singapoer's Jewish community have played a prominent role in the history of the city state, with the most notable Singaporean Jew perhaps being David Marshall, Singapore's first chief minister and later ambassador to France. Singapore is also home to two beautiful colonial-era Baghdadi rite synagogues: the Maghain Aboth Synagogue en die Chesed-El Synagogue.
Spanje
- 44 Toledo - The Jewish quarter here contains two beautiful and very old synagogues: the 1 Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca, the oldest surviving synagogue building in Europe (built in 1180, now a museum), and the 2 Synagogue of El Transito (built in about 1356).
- 45 Girona. Has a long Jewish history that came to an end when the Spanish Inquisition forced the Jews to convert or leave. The Jewish quarter today forms one of Girona's most important tourist attractions.
Suriname
- 46 Jodensavanne. Dutch for the "Jewish Savanna," this was a thriving agricultural community in the midst of the Surinamese Rainforest founded by the Sephardic Jews in 1650. It was abandoned after a big fire caused by a slave revolt in the 19th century. Its ruins, including that of a synagogue, are open for visits.
Tunisië
- 47 Djerba — an island off the coast of North Africa that is still home to a Jewish community that dates back to Biblical times, as well as the still-active El Ghriba Synagogue.
- 48 Tunis — capital of Tunisia and still home to a small but active Jewish community, with two active synagogues remaining.
Turkye
- 49 Edirne — once among the cities with the largest populations of Ottoman Jews, Edirne's Grand Synagogue, the third largest in Europe, was restored to a brand new look in 2015 after decades of dereliction.
- 50 Istanbulse Karaköy district, arguably deriving its name from Karay — the Turkish name for the Karaites, a sect with its own purely Biblical, non-rabbinic interpretation of Judaism — has a couple of active synagogues as well as a Jewish museum. Balat en Hasköy on the opposite banks of the Golden Horn facing each other were the city's traditional Jewish residential quarters (the latter also being the main Karaite district), while on the Asian Side of the city, Kuzguncuk is associated with centuries old Jewish settlement.
- 51 Izmir — the ancient port city of Smyrna had a significant Jewish presence (and it still has to a much smaller degree). While parts of the city, especially the Jewish quarter of Karataş, have much Jewish heritage (including an active synagogue and the famed historic elevator building), their most celebrated contribution to the local culture is boyoz, a fatty and delicious pastry that was brought by the Sephardic expellees from Iberia as bollos and is often sold as a snack on the streets, in which the locals like to take pride as a delicacy unique to their city.
Verenigde Koninkryk
- 52 Londen - Home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe. While most of the Jews in the area have since moved on to other neighbourhoods, Beigel Bake aan Brick Lane remains an excellent place to sample London-style beigels with salt beef.
Verenigde State
- 53 Greater Boston, and particularly Brookline, has a longstanding Jewish presence. Jews in the area run the gamut of levels of observance, but it's interesting that Boston has its own hereditary dynasty of Chasidic rebbes. The current Bostoner Rebbe has his congregation in Brookline.
- A short distance northwest of New York City, for much of the 20th century the 54 Catskills were a summer destination for Jewish New Yorkers who were largely segregated from other resort areas. The campgrounds, vacation hotels, and mountain lodges of the so-called "Borscht Belt" or "Jewish Alps" nurtured the fledgling careers of soon-to-be-famous comedians and entertainers such as Jack Benny, Jackie Mason, and Henny Youngman. Though that golden era came to an end in the 1960s and '70s (see the movie Dirty Dancing for a fictionalized glimpse at its last days), the region still contains a great deal of summer homes belonging to New York-area Jews, and a few lingering remnants of the old Borscht Belt still soldier on.
- 55 Charleston, Suid Carolina contains the Suid's oldest Jewish community, originally Sephardic and begun in 1695. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue was founded in 1749 and moved to a larger building with a capacity of 500 people in 1794. That building burned down in a fire in 1838 but was rebuilt in Greek revival style two years later. This congregation is also important in that it founded American Reform Judaism in 1824. Also associated with the congregation is Coming Street Cemetery, the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in the South, founded in 1754.
- 56 Los Angeles is home to a substantial politically and civically active Jewish population, particularly in the Westwood neighborhood of West L.A.Hollywood has traditionally been a redoubt of brilliant creative and business-minded Jews in all facets of the film industry.
- 57 New York - The world's main center of Jewish culture outside Israel, New York has the largest Jewish community of any city in the world. New York Jews have been very prominent and successful in numerous walks of life, including the arts, the sciences, academia, medicine, law, politics and business, and many of New York's educational, healthcare and cultural institutions have benefited hugely from the philanthropy of prominent local Jews. The Jewish community has also left a large impact on the city's culinary landscape, with bagels and pastrami being among the mainstays of New York cuisine. Yiddish is still spoken to a greater or lesser extent by some New York Jews and the use of Yiddish-derived expressions in English has been popularized by Jewish and non-Jewish entertainers from the New York area and filtered into the common speech of many New Yorkers of all backgrounds. Jews in New York vary from atheist to Chasidic, with Chasidim most prevalent in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Crown Heights en South Williamsburg, many Modern Orthodox Jews in Midwood and also on Manhattan's Upper West Side and Conservative, Reform and secular Jews in many neighborhoods including Brooklyn's Park Slope.
- Die Lower East Side, parts of which are now in Chinatown, was the first destination of nearly 2 million Jewish immigrants to the US in the late 19th and early 20th century. At the time, this was the most densely populated neighborhood in the world, with a thriving Jewish culture. Notable sites that remain today include the Bialystoker Shul, Tenement Museum, Eldridge Street Synagogue, and Kehila Kadosha Janina (the only Greek Rite synagogue outside of Greece, with museum).
- 58 Philadelphia and its suburbs have a very significant, longstanding Jewish community. The city has had Jewish residents since at least 1703. Its earliest Jewish congregation, Mikveh Israel, was founded in the 1740s and continues to operate a Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in a new building that was opened in 2010; its former home at 2331 Broad Street, built in 1909, has a beautifully intact interior and now functions as an Official Unlimited clothing store. Philadelphia is also well-known among American Jews for hosting the headquarters of the Jewish Publication Society since 1888. The JPS translation of the Tanakh is widely used in the United States and beyond.
- 59 Suid-Florida is another epicenter of American Judaism. Beginning in the mid-20th century, the region became a popular retirement destination for Jews from New York and other Northeastern cities. Later on, the retirees were joined by Jewish immigrants from Latin America (especially Mexiko, Venezuela, en Argentinië), and now Miami-Dade County has the largest proportion of foreign-born Jews of any metro area in the United States.
- 60 Skokie, Illinois - The only Jewish-majority suburb of Chicago, and home to Jews of many different national origins, with the Ashkenazic, Sephardic and Mizrachi communities all having a presence here. Die Kehilat Chovevei Tzion is one of the few "dual synagogues" that caters to both Ashkenazic and Sephardic worshippers, with two separate halls for the respective communities to carry out their respective rites.
Respek
Most synagogues welcome visitors of all faiths as long as they behave respectfully, though in areas where anti-Jewish violence is a more immediate threat, a member of the congregation might have to vouch for you and you might even be barred entry.
When entering any Jewish place of worship, all males (except small children) are normally expected to wear a hat, such as a skullcap (called a kippah in Hebrew and a yarmulke in Yiddish). If you have not brought a hat with you, there is normally a supply available for borrowing, for example outside the sanctuary in a synagogue. Both men and women can show respect by dressing conservatively when visiting synagogues or Jewish cemeteries, for example by wearing garments that cover the legs down to at least the knees, and the shoulders and upper arms. Orthodox Jewish women wear loose-fitting clothing that does not display their figure, and many cover their hair with a kerchief or wig.
Traditionally, only men are required to go to synagogue; since women's main religious role is to keep the home kosher, their attendance at services in the synagogue is optional. Some Orthodox synagogues at least in former times used to have only men's sections. In modern times, Orthodox synagogues generally admit women for prayers, though they have dividers (mechitzot) to keep men and women separate during services. The dividers can range from simply slightly higher banisters between aisles with equal view of the bimah from men's and women's sections in some Modern Orthodox synagogues to women being relegated to a balcony behind a curtain and not able to see the bimah at all. Egalitarian synagogues, such as Reconstructionist, Reform or egalitarian Conservative synagogues, have no dividers, and men and women can pray sitting next to each other.
There are some terms that can be controversial among Jews. Use "Western Wall" to refer to the Jerusalem holy site, not the somewhat archaic-sounding "Wailing Wall", which in some Jews' minds gives rise to Christian caricatures of miserable wailing Jews, rather than dignified, praying Jews. When speaking about the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, the terms "Holocaust" and "Shoah" are both acceptable. (The word "holocaust" originally referred to a burnt offering for God, so the term could imply that the mass killing of Jews was a gift to God. Nevertheless, "Holocaust" is still the most common English name for the tragedy, and should not cause offense.) The phrase "Jew down", meaning to winskoop, is offensive, due to its implication of Jews as cheap and perhaps dishonest. In general, it is fine to use "Jew" as a noun, but as an adjective, use "Jewish" (not phrases like "Jew lawyer"), and never use "Jew" in any form as a verb.
Jews' opinions on all aspects of politics, including Israeli politics, run the gamut, but reducing a Jewish person to their opinion on Israel - or worse, taking offense at whatever their opinion may be - is likely to be as counter-productive as reducing an African-American to their opinion on race relations and civil rights.
Praat
Hebrew en Aramaic are the ancient holy languages of Judaism, and are used for worship in synagogues throughout the world. The two languages are closely related and used the same alphabet, so anyone who can read Hebrew will have little trouble with Aramaic.
Modern Hebrew, revived as part of the Zionist movement starting in the late 19th century, is the official and most spoken language in Israel. Other languages often spoken by Jews are the languages of the country they reside in or used to live in before moving to Israel (particularly English, Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic and German) as well as Yiddish, the historical language of the Ashkenazi Jews, which developed from Middle High German with borrowed words from Hebrew, Slavic languages and French, but is written in Hebrew letters rather than the Latin alphabet. (Many languages used by Jews have been written in Hebrew letters at some point, including English.) Before the Nazi Holocaust, Yiddish was the first language of over 10 million people of a wide range of degrees of Jewish religious practice; now, it is spoken by a smaller (but once again growing, thanks to their propensity for large families) population of a million and a half Chasidim. As Chasidic Jews consider Hebrew to be a holy language that is reserved for praying to God, Yiddish is the primary language used in daily life even among Chasidic Jews who live in Israel.
Ladino, similarly, was Judeo-Spanish, and used to be widely spoken among Sephardic Jews living in Turkey and other Muslim countries that had given them refuge, and also in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. While Yiddish is still very much alive in both Israel and parts of the US and quite a number of Yiddish loanwords have entered languages such as (American) English and German, Ladino is moribund and only spoken by a few elderly people and hardly any children or adolescents. There are some musicians (both Jewish and non-Jewish) that make music in Ladino, often using old songs, and Jewish languages are studied academically to varying degrees.
Unlike the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, there is no historical unifying language among the Mizrahi Jews, who primarily spoke languages such as Persies of Arabies, whichever was dominant in the area they lived in, in addition to using Hebrew for liturgy.
Sien
Synagogues
Many synagogues, especially those built in the 19th century in Europe when Jews obtained civil rights for the first time, are architecturally spectacular and most of them are willing and able to give tours. Sadly many synagogues (especially in Germany) were destroyed by the Nazis, and if they were rebuilt at all, some of them show a somber reflection about the destruction of Jewish life in the past. Others, however were rebuilt very much in the original style and are truly a sight to behold.
- 3 Western Wall. The central prayer site in Judaism, adjacent to the holiest site, the Temple Mount. In die Old City of Jerusalem.
- 4 Hurva Synagogue. The first synagogue was built in the early 1700s. It has been destroyed twice, and was built for a third time in 2010. It is in Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
- Northern Israel is home to a number of beautiful synagogue ruins from the Byzantine period (3rd-6th centuries), among them 5 Tzipori (Laer Galilea), 6 Beit Alfa (Beit Shean Valley), and 7 Baram (Upper Galilee).
- 8 El Ghriba synagogue (Djerba Synagogue) (in Djerba, Tunisië). Built in the 19th century on the spot of an ancient synagogue. The building, which has a beautiful interior, is a historic place of pilgrimage for Tunisia's Jewish community, and one of the last remaining active synagogues in the Arab world..
- 9 Grand Synagogue of Paris. Often known as the Victoire Synagogue, it is in central Paris. Among others, Alfred Dreyfus had his wedding here. Unfortunately, it is usually impossible to enter.
- 10 Touro Synagogue, Newport (Rhode Island). The oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States, built in 1762. The original members were Sephardic refugees from the Inquisition. In 1790, the synagogue was the proud recipient of a letter from President George Washington, testifying to the new republic's full acceptance and embrace of its Jewish citizens. Be sure to look for the trapdoor, concealing a underground room which may have been intended as a hiding place from pogroms (which never occurred in the US - but the builders didn't know that!)
- 11 Córdoba Synagogue. Built in 1315, this synagogue is full of beautiful, well-preserved carvings.
- 12 Bevis Marks Synagogue, 7 Bevis Marks, City of London. Arguably the Diaspora synagogue in longest continuous use
- 13 Amsterdam Esnoga. Built in 1675.
- 14 Ostia Synagogue. It is in Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome. This is arguably the oldest synagogue known outside Israel, dating from the 1st century. Its ruins are somewhat away from the main Ostia Antica ruins, in the southern corner of the site, just before the road.
- Shuls for modern architecture geeks: Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, MI (Albert Khan), and Temple Beth El in Bloomfield, MI (Minoru Yamasaki).
- 15 Paradesi Synagogue, Kochi, Indië. The oldest synagogue in India, built in 1568.
- 16 Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, Willemstad, Curaçao. Opened 1674, the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas.
- 17 Kahal Shalom Synagogue, Dossiadou and Simiou Streets, Rhodes. The oldest surviving synagogue in Griekeland, built in 1577. It is in the picturesque Juderia (Jewish quarter) of Rhodes.
- 18 Sardis Sinagoge. An archaeological site with the ruins of a Roman-era (approximately 4th century) synagogue, one of the oldest in diaspora. The native Lydian name for this ancient city was Sfard, which some think is the actual location of Biblical Sepharad (identified by the later Jews with Iberia).
Museums
Museums of Judaism and/or Jewish history exist in many places, and are often full of beautifully decorated Jewish religious books and ritual objects, as well as historical information.
- 19 Israel Museum. The Israeli national museum, in West Jerusalem, houses treasures that include the Dead Sea Scrolls (including the oldest Biblical scrolls, from the 2nd century BCE, as well as other texts that did not make it into the canon and had been lost), and the Aleppo Codex (traditionally considered the most accurate Biblical text, written in the 10th century).
- 20 The Museum of the Jewish People (Beit Hatfutsot). This museum in North Tel Aviv covers Jewish culture with a focus on the diaspora. It is best known for its models of European synagogues.
- 21 Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263-265, Amsterdam.
- 22 Yad Vashem. Israel's national Holocaust museum, in West Jerusalem.
- 23 US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington DC..
- 24 POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, 6 Mordechaja Anielewicza St, Warskou.
- 25 Jewish Museum, Berlin. If not the best, easily the most architecturally stunning in Germany, designed by Daniel Libeskind (himself of Jewish descent), the museum goes into detail on Jewish history in Germany from the earliest beginnings in the Roman era to the Shoah and ultimately the unlikely rebirth of Jewish life after WWII.
- 26 Museum of Tolerance, 9786 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles. Focuses on the Holocaust, but its overall subject is racism and intolerance in general.
- 27 Istanbul Archaeology Museums. Holds two important artifacts from ancient Jerusalem: the inscription from King Hezekiah's Shiloach aqueduct, and the sign from the Second Temple "soreg" in Greek.
- 28 National Museum of Damascus. Holds the Dura Europos synagogue murals. Warning - war zone!
- 29 Temple Institute. An exhibit of the vessels and clothing used in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, and which the museum organizers hope to use once again in a rebuilt Temple. In die Old City of Jerusalem.
- 30 Jewish Museum and Centre of Tolerance, Obraztsova St., 11, build. 1A, Moskou, ☏ 7 495 645-05-50, ✉[email protected]. Sun-Thu 12-22, Fri 10-15. Located in a famous Constructivist building of Bakhmetievsky Garage, designed by Konstantin Melnikov, the famous Russian architect of 1920's, the museum focuses on the history of Jews in the Russian Empire and USSR. An important Moscow's cultural venue. 400 RUB.
- 31 Jewish Museum, Själagårdsgatan 19 (Stockholm). Displays the history of the Jews in Sweden.
Graves
- 32 Auschwitz-Birkenau en 33 Majdanek are probably the two most worthwhile Nazi concentration camps to visit. Auschwitz had the highest death toll and attracts the most visitors, while Majdanek is the best preserved.
- 34 Tomb of Esther and Mordechai, Hamadan, Iran.
- 35 Tomb of Daniel, Susa, Iran.
- Tombs of 36 Ezra, 37 Ezekiel en 38 Nahum in Irak (Warning: war zone)
- 39 Tomb of the Baal Shem Tov (Medzhybizh, Wes-Oekraïne). The Baal Shem Tov is significant for founding Chasidism. The village surrounding the tomb looks like the old-time Ukraine.
- 40 Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (In Uman, Oekraïne). Each fall, for the Rosh Hashana holiday, tens of thousands of Jews make a pilgrimage to this site.
- 41 Hunts Bay Jewish Cemetery (In Kingston, Jamaika). A 17th-century cemetery that includes the graves of Jewish pirates, some with Hebrew text next to the skull and crossbones.
- 42 Tomb of Rachel. The Biblical matriach is traditionally considered to be buried here. While generally considered part of Bethlehem, the tomb is more easily accessed from Jerusalem, specifically by taking bus 163.
- 43 Cave of the Patriarchs. The traditional burial place of the Biblical patriarchs (ancestors of the Jewish people) — Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah — in the West Bank city of Hebron. Generally considered the second holiest site in Judaism.
- 44 Grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. This 2nd-century rabbi is considered the leading figure in the history of Jewish mysticism. The "Zohar" is traditionally written by him. Bar Yochai traditionally died on the day of Lag BaOmer (about one month after Passover) and was buried in Meron (Upper Galilee). Each year nowadays on Lag BaOmer, hundreds of thousands of Jews gather there to celebrate his legacy with bonfires and music.
- 45 Beit Shearim. A burial complex containing the graves of Rabbi Judah the Prince, compiler of the Mishna in the 2nd century, and his family (including other notable rabbis) in the Laer Galilea. Rabbi Judah's name was found engraved in above the burial niches. The burial niches are now empty.
- 46 Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery. A large cemetery in East Jerusalem. Due to its proximity to the Old City, it is traditionally the location where the future Resurrection of the Dead will begin. The first burials here took place around 3,000 years ago. In recent centuries the cemetery has grown, and many of the most famous rabbis and secular leaders of the last 200 years are buried here.
Other sites
- 47 Shiloh. The site of the ancient Israelite sanctuary from about 1300-1000 BCE, before it moved to Jerusalem. Now there are an archaeological site and a visitors' center here.
- Cairo Geniza-projek aan die Universiteit van Cambridge, UK - daar is gewoonlik 'n openbare tentoonstelling van tekste, insluitend 'n handgeskrewe brief deur Maimonides en ander unieke items. As u 'n skolier is, kan u vra om items wat nie in die uitstalling is nie, te besigtig.
- 48 Berg Nebo (Buite Madaba, Jordaan). Sien Israel vanuit 'n unieke hoek, dieselfde hoek as wat Moses dit gesien het voordat hy gesterf het, volgens die Bybel.
- Pesach en Sukkoth in die Suidelike Halfrond - Die meeste Jode woon in die Noordelike Halfrond, en dit is dus uitdagend om hierdie vakansiedae in die teenoorgestelde seisoene te beleef
- 49 770. Die sentrum van die Chabad-beweging in Brooklyn.
- Yeshivas - hierdie akademies vir die studie van die Talmoed is gewoonlik luide, borrelende, chaotiese kamers vol mense wat oor die Talmoediese tekste argumenteer en daaroor debatteer. As u na 'n plaaslike persoon buite 'n yeshiva gaan en verduidelik dat u dit wil sien, sal hulle u graag wys (maar pas op dat Joodse instellings op sommige plekke waaksaam moet wees oor moontlike terreuraanvalle, dus as u het nie 'n Joodse verbintenis nie, want hulle sal u dalk agterdogtig aanwys. 'N Goeie plek om dit te sien, is Beis Medrash by Yeshiva Gehova in Lakewood, New Jersey.
- 50 Casa Bianca Mikvah (In Syracuse (Italië)). Die oudste oorlewende mikvah (ritueelbad) in Europa, wat dateer uit die 6de eeu of moontlik vroeër. Dit is ongeveer 20 meter onder die grond.
Doen
- Woon 'n diens by - As u belangstel om die praktyk van Judaïsme te ervaar, is nie net Jode nie, maar ook nie-Jode, by baie sinagoges welkom. Baie sinagoges het elke dag dienste, maar veral op Vrydagaande en Saterdagoggende vir Shabbat, die Sabbat, waarvan die onderhouding een van die Tien Gebooie is. As u na briljante kantille wil luister (sing), moet u rondvra om uit te vind watter plaaslike sinagoges die meeste musikale kantors het. As daar geen sinagoge is nie, het Chabad, ook bekend as die Lubavitcher Chasidim, baie verafgeleë buiteposte regoor die wêreld, en as u Joods is of saam met 'n Jood reis, nooi hulle u graag uit na 'n diens by hul huis of 'n vergaderlokaal. .
- Besoek 'n tisch - verskillende chassidiese groepe hou gemeenskaplike vieringe, met baie sang en met die voorsitter van die rebel. Dikwels kan buitestanders besoek. 'N Goeie plek om 'n tisch te vind is Jerusalem.
- Gaan na 'n geleentheid in 'n Joodse sentrum - Daar is Joodse sentrums op baie plekke waar daar klasse, lesings, optredes, filmvertonings en kunsuitstallings is. Die meeste van hulle het aanlyn kalenders.
- Liefdadigheid — Tzedakah is die Hebreeuse woord vir 'liefdadigheid', en dit is 'n sentrale mitswa (gebod) van die Joodse godsdiens. Jode is geneig om mildelik liefdadigheid te gee, en daar is baie Joodse liefdadigheidsorganisasies, waarvan sommige spesifiek daarop fokus om ander Jode in nood te help, maar baie dien die armes van alle geloofsbelydenisse. As u liefdadig wil wees, soek 'n Joodse of nie-sektariese organisasie of een wat bestuur word deur lede van watter godsdiens u ook al hou, wat fokus op 'n saak waarin u glo, of neem net die tyd om iemand persoonlik te help wat kan gebruik hulp.
Koop
As u belangstel om Joodse rituele voorwerpe en ander Joodse goed te koop, soek Judica-winkels. Gewilde artikels om te koop, sluit in Shabbat-kandelaars; menorahs (kandelare met 9 takke vir Chanukah); juwele met tradisionele motiewe, waaronder die Hebreeuse letters chet en jod vir chai, die Hebreeuse woord vir 'lewe', en 'n silwer hand wat die hand van God voorstel; Tora's, gebedsboeke en kommentaarboeke; mezuzot (miniatuur perkamentrolletjies met die woorde van die Shma Yisrael gebed, begin met die woorde "Hoor, Israel! Die Here is ons God; die Here is een!" in dekoratiewe tasse om as deurposte te gebruik); en Joodse kookboeke.
Eet
Slegs onder tradisionele Joodse dieetwette kosher voedsel mag deur Jode geëet word; sien Kashrut. Aangesien die Joodse wet verbied om 'n vuur op die Sabbat te begin, het 'n spesiale Sabbat-kookkuns ontwikkel wat hierdie kwessie behandel en dikwels "stadig gekookte" vleis en groente produseer. Reëls is strenger tydens die Pasga, en produkte wat kosher vir Pasga is, word gewoonlik spesifiek as sodanig gesertifiseer.
Alhoewel baie eetplekke wat Joodse kookkuns bedien nie meer kosher is nie, het die Joodse diaspora 'n belangrike bydrae gelewer tot die kulinêre kulture van baie van hul tuisstede. Die stede van New York, Londen en Montreal veral in die Ashkenazi-tradisie is hulle baie bekend vir hul Joodse delikatesse en bagelwinkels. Die kernagtige Britse gereg vis en skyfies word glo ook sy oorsprong herlei na Sefardiese Joodse vlugtelinge wat vlug van die Spaanse en Portugese Inkwisisie wat hulle in Engeland gevestig het.
Die kosjermaaltyd was een van die eerste spesiale maaltye wat op kommersiële vlugte aangebied is, en kosjerkos is gewoonlik beskikbaar by die meeste groot lugdienste, maar dit moet gewoonlik minstens 48-72 uur vooraf aangevra word. Israelse vlagdraer El Al bedien slegs kosher etes op sy vlugte.
Drink
Wyn word sakramenteel op die Sabbat (Shabbat) en ander Joodse vakansiedae gebruik. Sommige daarvan is sterk versterk met suiker, maar deesdae word baie uitstekende kosherwyn in Israel, die Verenigde State, Frankryk, Italië, Spanje, Australië, Nieu-Seeland en verskeie ander lande geproduseer. Wyn vir Pasga moet wees Kosher l'Pesach, dus as u na 'n seder ('n feestelike paasmaaltyd) genooi word, moet u na die spesiale benaming kyk as u wyn vir u gasheer koop.
Die meeste Jode beskou alkoholiese drankies, behalwe wyn, as op sigself kosjer, met slegs enkele voor die hand liggende uitsonderings (bv. Mezcal con gusano, want soorte is drie). Dronkenskap word egter op die minste sterk afgekeur, behalwe op twee vakansiedae: Pasga, as elke volwassene volgens sommige interpretasies van die wet 4 volle koppies wyn moet drink (hoewel druiwesap algemeen beskou word as OK om te vervang, aangesien die verskil tussen 'wyn' en 'druiwesap' dateer uit die moderne era van pasteurisering) en Purim, wanneer daar 'n tradisie is dat u soveel wyn moet drink dat u nie vir Mordegai (die held van die vakansie) uit Haman kan vertel nie. (die skurk).
Slaap
Enige Ortodokse (of 'Shomer Shabbat' - dit wil sê die bewaking van die Sabbat) Jood kan nie die Joodse wet oortree om op Vrydagaande en Saterdae te reis nie, wat ook van toepassing is op die meeste Joodse vakansiedae. Daarom moet hy / sy reël dat hy êrens naby genoeg slaap om op daardie dae na 'n sinagoge te loop, of in die geval van gemeenskaplike vakansiedae wat in huise plaasvind (byvoorbeeld Kabbalat-sabbat om die Seder op Vrydag op die Sabbat te verwelkom. tydens die Pasga, of die lees van die Megillas Esther [Bybelse boek Ester] op Purim), na die plek waar die seremonie en feesmaal plaasvind. Dit is dus tradisioneel dat Ortodokse Jode hul huise oopstel vir ander oplettende Jode wat van ver af besoek. As u 'n Sabbatsonderhoudende Jood is en niemand ken in 'n plek waarheen u reis tydens 'n Sabbat of vakansie nie, kan u gewoonlik die plaaslike kantoor in Chabad kontak vir advies, solank u hulle skakel voordat die vakansie begin, of u kan ook probeer om 'n plaaslike sinagoge te bel.
Sommige hotelle en woonstelgeboue maak voorsiening vir Ortodokse Jode deur reëlings vir die Sabbat te tref, outomatiese deure uit te skakel en / of spesiale "Shabbat-hysers" te voorsien wat outomaties werk sodat gaste nie op die knoppies hoef te druk nie.
Bly veilig
Ongelukkig is die bedreiging van moontlike antisemitiese geweld 'n voortdurende bron van kommer, alhoewel die mate van gevaar met tyd en plek verskil. As gevolg hiervan is dit baie algemeen dat daar 'n polisie-teenwoordigheid of / of gewapende wagte by sinagoges, yeshivot, Joodse gemeenskapsentrums en ander plekke waar Jode saamkom, is. Die kans dat u wel op 'n plek sal wees wanneer iemand dit aanval, is egter baie laag. As u in die tou moet staan om u sak te laat deursoek of deur 'n metaalverklikker moet gaan, moet u ekstra tyd toelaat net soos wanneer u na die lughawe gaan. Om sigbaar Joods te wees of daaruit te lyk (byvoorbeeld om 'n kippa te dra) kan ongewenste aandag, verbale mishandeling of selfs geweld trek, selfs in sommige buurte van groot eerste wêreldstede. Die voorsiening van 'n veilige plek vir alle soorte Joodse lewens was deel van die rede vir die stigting van Israel, maar ongelukkig beïnvloed die geopolitieke situasie sowel as gewelddadige individue ook die veiligheid en veiligheid van Joodse instellings hier.
Sien ook
- Israel - die plek van oorsprong van Judaïsme en vandag die enigste Joodse staat ter wêreld, waar baie Jode tuis is