A young Orthodox Jew may consider him or herself "orthodox," but no longer feels the need to read and write exclusively in Hebrew (Singer 2008). The demands of modern U.S. society have put a strain on many Orthodox Jews, but others see these demands and cultural or social responsibilities as opportunities to continue to redefine what it means to be a young Orthodox Jew in American society. A major motivator behind the rethinking of the Jewish religion, as happened in the mid 19th century, was the fact that as the Jewish religion grew and more and more Jews found themselves in incongruous cultural living situations, there was a need to reinvent what it means to be Jewish (Erlich, 2009). The very same thing is going on today, in America and Israel especially, among those youth who consider themselves to be "orthodox." Certainly the very idea that an Orthodox Jew needs to reinvent themselves is an oxymoron, but this group of people has realized that they need to rejuvenate the orthodox ways and the cultural and social events taking place inside their circles confirm...
Erlich (2009) points out that in the mid 19th century, just as Ahad Ha'am, the founder of spiritual or cultural Zionism realized that, "Jewish renewal could only be secured by recasting Judaism as a secular culture" (Erlich, 2009, p. 404) there exists a need for Orthodox Jews to recast their own beliefs in an image that more non-Jews can understand and will be attracted to. This is not to say that Orthodox Judaism has to go away entirely so it can be reinvented, but it needs to be refreshed if the orthodoxy that so many believe in is to survive into the next century.
Judaism and Christianity both have fairly common as well as totally contrasting religious concepts. In spite of the apparent differences and divisions it has to be understood that both these religions are like different streams of water merging in the ocean of god. Christianity and Judaism are both religions of abrahamic origin. There are many similarities and differences between the two religions. Since Christianity originated from Judaism, it lends to the
In striving to be inclusive, Malkin may run the danger of excluding significant minorities of the Jewish community, those who cannot celebrate the text of the Bible as a literary feat, but see it as holy writ and are offended by literary interpretations and reverence for the Torah. There is a final problem that will likely become even more contentious in the future, that of the question of the policies
World Religions Compare and contrast 2 different religions World's Religions: Judaism and Buddhism For over centuries, the term religion has been used interchangeably in close relations with faith, set of duties, system or set of beliefs. In 2012, a global poll reported that approximately 62% of the world's population relies on religious beliefs while 38% are not religious (does not belong to any religion), including 10% who are atheists. Religion is a collection
Their respective roles were regarded as complementary, and both were necessary for the maintenance of society" (Joy, n.d.). There is a sense of evolution in the position of the Jewish woman in the sense that in time they came to be given certain rights to be part of the society and not only as part of the family environment. However, even so "as the roles of women came to be
But the rabbi could also serve as the connection between a Jewish ghetto and the surrounding Christian community. This dual raised status of rabbis made their role the most enviable in the community. But the shifts in French society that occurred in the decades just preceding and following the French Revolution created cracks in the isolation of European Jews. The French Revolution is generally seen as an overthrow of the
Description The service I attended was a Shabbat (Sabbath) on the morning of Saturday, June 2 at the Beth Shalom temple. I arrived at 9:50 for the 10AM start. The congregants were dressed with varying degrees of formality, and most arrived in family groups. In a modern building, the area of worship was a small chapel with capacity for about two hundred people. On this day, the room was about half
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