the basics

i've realized the longer i have been openly jewish that judaism is in a strange place socially. we are at an interesting time in which a riddiculously overwhelming amount of information about virtually any topic is at our fingertips, and thus, previously more isolated or quiet communities are thrust into the spotlight.

judaism is a closed practice, belonging to an indigenous group of only 15.8 million people, or about 0.2% of the population. it is not our goal to convert goyim (non-jews) or otherwise involve them in judaism beyond inviting friends or family to special occasions. despite this, misinformation about us and our culture runs rampant, even regarding our esoteric texts, which we do not wish to share publically whatsoever.

judaism struggles at the intersection of prejudice, exoticization, appropriation, and ignorance. though i could never manage to combat these deeply-ingrained issues on my own, i hope to give you, reader, a better understanding of our culture.

what is judaism?

judaism is difficult to define succinctly, but i will do my best here. it is the ethnoreligion and culture of the jewish people, and is over 3,500 years old. as described in the torah, one of our sacred texts, G-d made a covenant with the prophet avraham. our people needed G-d, and so we accepted Their torah, upholding our end of the covenant by following the law. HaShem needed a people upon whom to place Their highest expectations for humanity, a group They could count on to set an example for the rest of the world. avraham accepted this covenant, and through the blessing he received, we became the chosen people.

who is a jew?

wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? /ref /j

okay no but seriously, this is a hot-button issue in jewish communities at the moment. historically, rabbinic judaism has asserted that jewishness is matrilineal (i.e. passed through the mother). in contrast, non-rabbinic groups like karaites have largely gone by patrilineal descent. it has only been in the last 50 years or so that the rabbinic world started to shift on this matter. in 1983, the central conference of american rabbis (CCAR) passed a resolution that affirmed the jewish identities of those without jewish mothers, so long as they were raised jewish and had a jewish father. it was less jarring to the community when the reconstructionist movement had done something similar in 1968, given the small size of the movement. since then, the question of "who is a jew?" has been wrestled with by rabbis in an attempt to reach some form of consensus.

this wrestling has involved an additional factor: conversion validity. there is no unanimous agreement on what makes a conversion valid, which becomes a huge problem when converts wish to join a new community or get married. as one example, the reform and reconstructionist movements do not require circumcision for conversion. that unfortunately means that even if, say, a reform convert met all other requirements but denied circumcision, that convert would undoubtedly struggle to join and be accepted in a conservative community. this leads to awkward situations at best when such a reform convert wishes to marry a conservative jew.

to tie this mess together, there is no transdenominational concensus on jewish identity, but there is some consistency within denominations. generally speaking, karaites default to patrilineal descent, conservative and orthodox judaism stand firm in matrilineal tradition, and reconstructionist and reform judaism accept either one. it is our collective hope to establish unity on this matter speedily in our days.

jewish groups

a few denominations of judaism were mentioned above, but that barely scratches the surface of the various subcommunities within jewish culture. it is impossible to reflect both the theology and the lived experiences within every jewish sect, but a brief overview seems possible. addintionally, we will go over a few jewish diasporas, and how their unique practices intertwine with the collective jewish identity.