Judaism Or Judaisms Essay Research Paper Is

Judaism Or Judaisms Essay, Research Paper

Is Judaism composed of many ’small religions’ or one underlying religion.Judaism or Judaisms.It has been argued that Judaism can be seen not only as a singlereligion, but as a group of similar religions. It has also beenpointed-out that through all the trials and tribulations that Judaismhas suffered through, that there have been common themes that haveproven omni-pervasive. Any institution with roots as ancient and variedas the religion of the Jews is bound to have a few variations,especially when most of its history takes place in the political andtheological hot spot of the Middle East. In this discussion, many facets of Judaism will be examined, primarilyin the three temporal subdivisions labeled the Tribal / Pre-MonarchyPeriod, the Divided Monarchy, and the Hasmonean / Maccabean and RomanEra. Among all the time periods where the religion has been split,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 topicwill be covered in detail first, and then the multiple Judaism argumentswill be presented. In this way, it is possible to keep a common focusin mind when reading about all the other situations in which thereligion has found itself. A brief conclusion follows the discussion. A Place to Call HomeNo other religion has ever been so attached to its birthplace asJudaism. Perhaps this is because Jews have been exiled and restrictedfrom this place for most of their history. Jerusalem is not only hometo Judaism, but to the Muslim and Christian religions as well.Historically this has made it quite a busy place for the various groups. Jerusalem is where the temple of the Jews once stood; the only place onthe whole Earth where one could leave the confines of day to day lifeand get closer to God. In 586 BCE when the temple was destroyed, no Jewwould have denied Jerusalem as being the geographic center of thereligion. From that point on, the Jewish people have migrated aroundthe world, but not one of them forgets the fact that Jerusalem is whereit all began. It is truly a sacred place, and helps to define whatJudaism means to many people; a common thread to run through all thevarious splinters of the religion and help hold them together. Even today, as the Jewish people have their precious Jerusalem back(through the help of other nations and their politics) there is greatconflict and emotion surrounding it. Other nations and people in thearea feel that they should be in control of the renowned city, and theJews deny fervently any attempt to wrestle it from their occupation. Itis true that there is no temple in Jeruslaem today, nor are all the Jewsin the world rushing to get back there. But it is apparent that thecity represents more to the religion of Judaism than a mere place tolive and work. The city of Jerusalem is a spiritual epicenter, andthroughout Judaism s long and varied history, this single fact has neverchanged. Tribal / Pre-MonarchyJudaism s roots lie far back in the beginnings of recorded history. Thereligion did not spring into existence exactly as it is known today,rather it was pushed and prodded by various environmental factors alongthe way. One of the first major influences on the religion was theCanaanite nation. Various theories exist as to how and when the peoplethat would later be called Jews entered into this civilization. Butregardless 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, cando no more than to try and integrate into that framework. And this isexactly what the Jews did. Early Judaism worshipped multiple gods. One of these gods was known asBa al, and was generally thought-of as a statue god with certainlimitations on his power. The other primary deity was called YHWH (orYahweh) and enjoyed a much more mysterious and illusive reputation. Hewas very numinous, and one was to have great respect, but great fear forhim at the same time. Ba al was not ever really feared, as his cycles(metaphorically seen as the seasons) were fairly well known, and not atall fear-inducing. The fact that the early Jews and Canaanites had these two radicallydifferent representations of a deity active in their culture, basicallyassured that there would be splits in the faith. One group inevitablywould focus on one of the gods, and another would focus on another. Inthis way, the single religion could support multiple types of worship,leading to multiple philosophies and patterns of behavior, which couldthen focus more and more on their respective niche, widening the gapinto a clear cut distinction between religious groups. This early time period was generally quite temporary andnon-centralized, stemming from the fact that technology was at a verylow level, and people s lifespan was fairly short. These conditions ledto a rapid rate of turnover in religious thought, and left many factionsof people to their own devices. Widespread geographic distributioncoupled with poor communication certainly did not help in holding themany faiths together. The Tribal Period in Jewish history is one of themore splintered eras in the religion, but since these people were allliving in the area near Jerusalem, the common thread can be seen clearlythrough the other les