Judaism

==History==
{{Main|Jewish history}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Jewish history}}
{{Redirect|Ancient Judaism|the book|Ancient Judaism (book){{!}}''Ancient Judaism'' (book)}}

===Origins===
{{Believerpov|date=June 2022|reason=Aside from a lack of citation, this section narrates religious mythology as fact.}}
{{Main|Origins of Judaism}}
{{Further|Yahwism|Ancient Canaanite religion|Ancient Semitic religion}}
[[File:Moses_and_burning_bush.jpeg|thumb|A painting of [[Moses]] decorates the [[Dura-Europos synagogue]] dating from 244 CE]]
At its core, the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) is an account of the [[Israelite]]s' relationship with [[God]] from their earliest history until the building of the [[Second Temple]] ({{Circa|535 BCE}}). [[Abraham]] is hailed as the first [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] and the father of the Jewish people. As a reward for his act of faith in one God, he was promised that [[Isaac]], his second son, would inherit the [[Land of Israel]] (then called [[Canaan]]). Later, the descendants of Isaac's son [[Jacob]] were enslaved in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], and God commanded [[Moses]] to lead [[the Exodus]] from Egypt. At [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]], they received the [[Torah]]—the five books of Moses. These books, together with [[Nevi'im]] and [[Ketuvim]] are known as ''Torah Shebikhtav'' as opposed to the Oral Torah, which refers to the Mishnah and the [[Talmud]]. Eventually, God led them to the [[land of Israel]] where the [[tabernacle]] was planted in the city of [[Shiloh (Biblical)|Shiloh]] for over 300 years to rally the nation against attacking enemies. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the [[Philistines]] to capture the tabernacle. The people of Israel then told [[Samuel (Bible)|Samuel]] the [[prophet]] that they needed to be governed by a permanent king, and Samuel appointed [[Saul the King|Saul]] to be their King. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint [[David]] in his stead.

[[File:Western wall jerusalem night.jpg|thumb|The [[Western Wall]] in [[Jerusalem]] is a remnant of the wall encircling the [[Second Temple]]. The [[Temple Mount]] is the holiest site in Judaism.]]

Rabbinic tradition holds that the details and interpretation of the law, which are called the ''Oral Torah'' or ''oral law'', were originally an unwritten tradition based upon what God told Moses on Mount Sinai. However, as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, these oral laws were recorded by [[Rabbi]] [[Judah HaNasi]] (Judah the Prince) in the [[Mishnah]], redacted ''circa'' 200 CE. The Talmud was a compilation of both the Mishnah and the [[Gemara]], rabbinic commentaries redacted over the next three centuries. The Gemara originated in two major centers of Jewish scholarship, [[Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina|Palestine]] and [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia|Babylonia]].<ref name="jewishencyclopedia.com">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14213-talmud|title=Talmud|encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia|author=Wilhelm Bacher|access-date=16 September 2015|archive-date=3 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503060143/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14213-talmud|url-status=live}}</ref> Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the [[Jerusalem Talmud]]. It was compiled sometime during the 4th century in Palestine.<ref name="jewishencyclopedia.com"/>

According to [[Biblical criticism|critical scholars]], the Torah consists of inconsistent texts edited together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts.<ref name="yehezkal" />{{page needed|date=July 2017}}<ref name="biblical" /><ref name="speiser" /> Several of these scholars, such as Professor Martin Rose and [[John Bright (biblical scholar)|John Bright]], suggest that during the First Temple period the people of Israel believed that each nation had its own god, but that their god was superior to other gods.<ref name="history" />{{page needed|date=July 2017}}<ref name="history12" />{{page needed|date=July 2017}} Some suggest that strict monotheism developed during the Babylonian Exile, perhaps in reaction to [[Zoroastrian]] dualism.<ref name="ephraim" /> In this view, it was only by the [[Hellenic period]] that most Jews came to believe that their god was the only god and that the notion of a clearly bounded Jewish nation identical with the Jewish religion formed.<ref name="beginnings" /> [[John Day (Old Testament scholar)|John Day]] argues that the origins of biblical [[Yahweh]], [[El (deity)|El]], [[Asherah]], and [[Ba'al]], may be rooted in earlier [[Canaanite religion]], which was centered on a pantheon of gods much like the [[Greek pantheon]].<ref name="goddesses" />

===Antiquity===
{{Main|Ancient Israel and Judah|Babylonian captivity|Second Temple Judaism|Hasmonean Kingdom|Iudaea Province|First Jewish-Roman War|Bar Kokhba revolt}}
[[File:Kingdoms_of_Israel_and_Judah_map_830.svg|right|thumb|200x200px|[[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Kingdoms of Israel and Judah]] map [[900 BC]].]]
According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], a [[United Monarchy]] was established under [[Saul the King|Saul]] and continued under [[King David]] and [[Solomon]] with its capital in [[Jerusalem]]. After Solomon's reign, the nation split into two kingdoms, the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] (in the north) and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]];<ref name="Broshi 2001 174">{{cite book |last=Broshi |first=Maguen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-84127-201-6 |page=174 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210203455/https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |url-status=live }}</ref> many people were taken captive from the capital [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]] to [[Media (region)|Media]] and the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] valley. The [[Kingdom of Judah]] continued as an independent state until it was conquered by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 586&nbsp;BCE. The Babylonians [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|destroyed Jerusalem]] and the [[First Temple]], which was at the center of ancient Jewish worship. [[Babylonian captivity|The Judeans were exiled to Babylon]], in what is regarded as the first [[Jewish diaspora]]. Later, many of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent [[Fall of Babylon|conquest of Babylon]] by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Achaemenid Empire]] seventy years later, an event known as the [[Return to Zion]]. A [[Second Temple]] was constructed and old religious practices were resumed.

During the early years of the Second Temple, the highest religious authority was a council known as the Great Assembly, led by [[Ezra|Ezra the Scribe]]. Among other accomplishments of the Great Assembly, the last books of the Bible were written at this time and [[Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|the canon sealed]]. [[Hellenistic Judaism]] spread to [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] from the 3rd century BCE, and its creation sparked widespread controversy in Jewish communities, starting "conflicts within Jewish communities about accommodating the cultures of occupying powers."{{sfn|Neusner|Avery-Peck|2003|pp=58–77}}{{sfn|Karesh|Hurvitz|2005|p=507}}

During the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]] (66–73 CE), the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|sacked Jerusalem]] and destroyed the Second Temple. Later, Roman emperor [[Hadrian]] built a pagan idol on the Temple Mount and prohibited circumcision; these acts of ethnocide provoked the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar Kokhba Revolt]] (132–136 CE), after which the Romans banned the study of the [[Torah]] and the celebration of Jewish holidays, and forcibly removed virtually all Jews from Judea. In 200 CE, however, Jews were granted Roman citizenship and Judaism was recognized as a ''[[religio licita]]'' ("legitimate religion") until the rise of [[Gnosticism]] and [[Early Christianity]] in the fourth century.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, prayer took the place of sacrifice, and worship was rebuilt around the community (represented by a minimum of ten adult men) and the establishment of the authority of [[Rabbinic Judaism|rabbis]] who acted as teachers and leaders of individual communities.{{sfn|Neusner|Avery-Peck|2003|pp=78–92}}{{sfn|Schiffman|2003|p=}}

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| image1 = Israel Broadcasting service at Shaarei Tsedek 026.jpg
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| caption1 = Sephardi style torah
| image2 = Ingwiller Synagoge 733.jpg
| caption2 = Ashkenazi style torah
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