ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism
Hosted by ICTeachers Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism
Disclaimer:
The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and
understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree
with.
Jewish Diversity (2)
Progressive Jews tend towards a more interpretive view of the rules and customs. Progressive Judaism sees a need to adapt the beliefs and practices of Judaism to modern circumstances, particularly in regard to beliefs and practices which have arisen from Rabbinic interpretation. Progressive Jews are not less serious about their faith but have a different understanding of it.
One obvious difference between progressive and orthodox communities is in the role
of women. Progressive communities usually take a more "equal opportunities" view
of the roles of men and women in both community and religious life (hence in a progressive
community men and women might sit together in the synagogue, women might take an
active part in services and the rabbi might be female -
Another difference would be the extent to which the vernacular is used in services.
An orthodox service would be conducted almost entirely in Hebrew, with the exception
of the D'var Torah (literally words about the Torah -
Other Groups
There are also a number of other movements within Judaism. 2 of particular note are Masorti Judaism (Often called Conservative Judaism) which sits somewhere between Modern Orthodoxy and Progressivism, and Karaite Judaism which can be thought of as a quite separate “wing” of the faith, taking a very different line on what does and what does not constitute Jewish Law; Karaite Jews do not include the rabbinical commentaries or the interpretations of the Talmud as part of Jewish Law.
It is, perhaps worth noting that in the USA, Jewish groupings are named differently and there is no exact match between UK and US groupings eg. The American Conservative movement is most like the British Masorti movement, whilst American Reform is more akin to British Liberal.
Variations in Belief
Within any Jewish community (except, perhaps, the Charedi) you could expect to find wide variations in the degree to which individuals are observant. Observant Jews are often referred to as being frum (the u is pronounced as in full).
There are many who see being Jewish more in cultural or ethnic than in religious terms and, indeed, there are many Jews who would claim also to be atheists!
Isaac Asimov, the writer, was once cornered by a friendly but persistent Orthodox rabbi. Asimov said that he was an atheist, but the rabbi kept pressing him. "Yes, yes," the rabbi insisted, "but what kind of atheist?" Asimov finally caught on, and said, "A Jewish atheist." The rabbi, apparently, was joyful.
Independent Communities
Across most of Judaism, each synagogue community is a self-
How Many?
According to the last census for which figures are available (2021) there are 271,327
people in England and Wales who identify as Jewish, although due to the voluntary
nature of the question on faith and under-
According to the Board of Deputies of British Jews (the national representative body), a quarter (26%) of Jews describe themselves as being ‘Traditional’ (which would include Modern Orthodox); a similar proportion (24%) as ‘Secular/Cultural’; and a minority (16%) as ‘Orthodox’ or ‘Charedi’. 18% describe themselves as ‘Reform / Progressive’.
