Judiasm Essay Research Paper Is Judaism composed

Judiasm Essay, Research Paper

Is Judaism composed of many ’small religions’ or one underlyingreligion. Judaism or Judaisms. It has been argued that Judaism can be seen notonly as a single religion, but as a group of similar religions. It has alsobeen pointed-out that through all the trials and tribulations that Judaismhas suffered through, that there have been common themes that have proven omni-pervasive. Any institution with roots as ancient and varied as the religion of the Jews is bound to have a few variations, especially whenmost of its history takes place in the political and theological hot spot ofthe Middle East. In this discussion, many facets of Judaism will beexamined, primarily in the three temporal subdivisions labeled the Tribal / Pre-Monarchy Period, the Divided Monarchy, and the Hasmonean /Maccabean and Roman Era. Among all the time periods where the religion has beensplit, these three seem to be the most representative of the forcesresponsible. As for a common thread seen throughout all Judiasms, the area of focushere is the place associated with the religion : Jerusalem. This topic will be covered in detail first, and then the multiple Judaism arguments willbe presented. In this way, it is possible to keep a common focus in mindwhen reading about all the other situations in which the religion has found itself. A brief conclusion follows the discussion. A Place to Call HomeNo other religion has ever been so attached to its birthplace as Judaism. Perhaps this is because Jews have been exiled and restricted from thisplace for most of their history. Jerusalem is not only home to Judaism, butto the Muslim and Christian religions as well. Historically this has made itquite a busy place for the various groups. Jerusalem is where the temple of theJews once stood; the only place on the whole Earth where one could leave the confines of day to day life and get closer to God. In 586 BCE when thetemple was destroyed, no Jew would have denied Jerusalem as being thegeographic center of the religion. From that point on, the Jewish people havemigrated around the world, but not one of them forgets the fact that Jerusalemis where it all began. It is truly a sacred place, and helps to definewhat Judaism means to many people; a common thread to run through all thevarious splinters of the religion and help hold them together. Even today, asthe Jewish people have their precious Jerusalem back (through the help ofother nations and their politics) there is great conflict and emotionsurrounding it. Other nations and people in the area feel that they should be incontrol of the renowned city, and the Jews deny fervently any attempt towrestle it from their occupation. It is true that there is no temple in Jeruslaemtoday, nor are all the Jews in the world rushing to get back there. But it is apparent that the city represents more to the religion of Judaism thana mere place to live and work. The city of Jerusalem is a spiritual epicenter,and throughout Judaism s long and varied history, this single fact hasnever changed. Tribal / Pre-Monarchy Judaism s roots lie far back in thebeginnings of recorded history. The religion did not spring into existence exactlyas it is known today, rather it was pushed and prodded by variousenvironmental factors along the way. One of the first major influences on thereligion was the Canaanite nation. Various theories exist as to how and when thepeople that would later be called Jews entered into this civilization. But regardless of how they ultimately got there, these pioneers of the newfaith were subjected to many of the ideas and prejudices of the time. Any new society that finds itself in an existing social situation, can do nomore than to try and integrate into that framework. And this is exactly whatthe Jews did. Early Judaism worshipped multiple gods. One of these gods wasknown as Ba al, and was generally thought-of as a statue god with certain limitations on his power. The other primary deity was called YHWH (orYahweh) and enjoyed a much more mysterious and illusive reputation. He was very numinous, and one was to have great respect, but great fear for him atthe same time. Ba al was not ever really feared, as his cycles(metaphorically seen as the seasons) were fairly well known, and not at allfear-inducing. The fact that the early Jews and Canaanites had these two radicallydifferent representations of a deity active in their culture, basically assuredthat there would be splits in the faith. One group inevitably would focus onone of the gods, and another would focus on another. In this way, thesingle religion could support multiple types of worship, leading to multiple philosophies and patterns of behavior, which could then focus more andmore on their respective niche, widening the gap into a clear cutdistinction between religious groups. This early time period was generally quite temporary and non-centralized, stemming from the fact that technologywas at a very low level, and people s lifespan was fairly short. Theseconditions led to a rapid rate of turnover in religious thought, and left manyfactions of people to their own devices. Widespread geographic distributioncoupled with poor communication certainly did not help in holding the manyfaiths together. The Tribal Period in Jewish history is one of the moresplintered eras in the religion, but since these people were all living in thearea near Jerusalem, the common thread can be seen clearly through the othe