ju·da·ism/ˈjo͞odēˌizəm/



Noun:






The monotheistic religion of the Jews, based on the laws revealed to Moses and recorded in the Torah (supplemented by the rabbinical...
The Jews collectively.









 

The most common answer you will get if you as a thousand people, “what is Judaism?” is, “a religion”.

 Is Judaism a religion?  The answer is no.  But the answer is also yes.  How is that for a Jewish answer?  Judaism can not be solely defined as a religion because there is no belief system or adherence to practice or ritual that would define someone as Jewish.

There are Jews who are complete atheists, they are considered none-the-less, just as Jewish as the chief Rabbi of Israel.

Would a Catholic who did not believe in Jesus be as Catholic as the Pope?  I do not think so.

Not only is Judaism not based on a religious belief system, once you are Jewish there is nothing you can ever do to “unJew” you!  There is no such thing as “no longer Jewish.”  Once you are Jewish you are always Jewish.

Here is something really interesting, the Judaism that is practiced today by the majority of Jews who practice Judaism, is a relatively new innovation.  By new of course I mean slight less than 2000 years old.

When did the Jewish religion of today start?  A lot of people would say with Abraham.  They would be wrong.

When we read the stories of the prophets of Israel, they were not observing Judaism as it is observed today.  Now don’t get me wrong.  We have the same Torah, we believe in the same God, we celebrate the same holidays, but the daily practice and ritual has changed radically.

This all changed during the first century of the common era.  Up until that time the ritualistic (religious) dimension of Judaism had been based around the Temple in Jerusalem.  There was a complex system of animal sacrifices managed by the priestly caste of Kohanim, in a central location.  All Jews who were able were commanded to appear in Jerusalem three times a year.

This all stops in the year 70 when the Romans take Jerusalem, destroy the temple, and begin an exile of the Jewish People from our land that lasts 2000 years.

If you have a set of “religious” practices that are attatched to a specific place, what do you do when you are exiled from that place?

Enter one of the greatest sages in Jewish History, Rabbi Yochonon ben Zakai.

Yochonon ben Zakai was in the city of Jerusalem during the Roman siege of 70 CE.  He saw the writing on the wall and he realized that life for the Jews was about to change radically.  So he came up with a plan.  The first thing he had to do was to get out of the besieged city.

Yochonon ben Zakai, faked his own death, and smuggled himself out of the city.  Immediately outside of the city he was caught by a Roman patrol and taken to the Roman commander of the siege General Vespasian to be sentenced to death.

Upon meeting the Roman general Yochonon ben Zakai greeted him as Emperor Vespasian.  The general regarded him as strange and said, “you realize I am a general and not the Emperor of Rome.”

To which ben Zakai replied, “but your majesty, you will be very soon.”

At that moment according to legend, a messenger arrived from Rome with a senatorial declaration pronouncing Vespasian Emperor of Rome.

Dually impressed Vespasian spared Yochonon ben Zakai’s life and offered him “any thing he wanted”.

Yochonon ben Zakai responded, “give me the sages of Jerusalem and the city of Yavneh to set up a yeshiva.

Yochonon ben Zakai was given what he had asked for, and it was at this yeshiva that he started to put together the pieces of what a Judaism in exile would look like.

Faced with the question of how do we as the Jewish people survive for what was sure to be a very long and difficult exile, Yochonon be Zakai came up with the idea to turn the way of life of the Jewish people into a religion that could be portable.