Israel

On Saturday in Israel, robbery, murder, and public drunkenness are illegal, just

as they are during the other six days of the week. There are no laws unique to

Saturday against individual activities.

Many schools and businesses are closed for the weekend in Israel, just as they

are throughout much of the rest of the civilized world. In Israel, the two-day

"weekend" is Friday and Saturday, corresponding to the Muslim and Jewish

Sabbath days, and the five-day work week comprises Sunday through Thursday.

In much of the country, public transportation is significantly reduced on Saturday,

but there are many exceptions. Bus lines from Tel Aviv to Eilat in the south and

Kyriat Shmona in the north work their regular schedules, private taxis work

normally, shared taxi lines work in most of the big cities except Jerusalem, and

all local transportation is as usual in and among the Israeli Arab cities and towns.

The bottom line ... and the most important take-away from this subject ... is

that there are no laws in Israel that discriminate against one religion in favor

of another one, and no law imposes anything on anyone for a religious reason.

The law in Israel works in exactly the opposite direction: It's illegal to prohibit

anyone from freely practicing his own religion or freely ignoring all of them, just

as long as his practice doesn't step on anyone else's. Israel has no official state

religion, and no religious 'test' to qualify for citizenship, run for office, vote, own

a home or business, go to college, hold a job, or things like that. Of all people in

all places in the world, Israeli Jews recognize religious discrimination when they

smell it.

Answer

There are 4 main denominations in North America. Each one has a considerable amount of variation within it, but they are not as different from each other as the denominations within other religions:

Orthodox - believe in the binding nature of Jewish law and are generally not open to change. Orthodox Jews typically do not recognize the validity of any other denominations, though in some communities, Orthodox Jews get along very will with non-Orthodox Jews, such as the community of Clark County, in Southern Nevada.

Conservative - a range of beliefs from believing in updated versions of some of the laws to much more liberal views. The gap between the Conservative Movement and the Reform movement is growing smaller every year.

Reform - emphasizes personal ethical responsibility over traditional laws, however the Reform movement has been consistently growing more traditional since it's inception, more than 100 years ago.

Recontructionist - does not fit into a neat little definition. It is often philosophically more liberal than Reform, but in practice, it is more traditional than Reform.

In other countries, the denominations are divided differently, but as a General rule, you will find a traditional demination and a liberal denomination in most countries.

Answer

There are not really denominations in the sense of differences of belief, but rather varying degrees of adherence to the laws. Think of a spectrum where on one end you have someone who identifies as Jewish, but may not even believe in G-d, nor observe any cultural and religious practices; to the other end wherein someone may go far beyond the written law in order to maximize integrity by attempting to avoid even the notion of any impropriety, as well as segregating into a tight knit community to keep intact all of the rich culture of Judaism they have.

Answer

Orthodox groups encourage strict adherence to all the laws, seeing that as the best way to ensure a good life in the world to come, or to show their love for G-d and their fellow man in this one.

Conservative groups have questioned the validity of following some of the laws passed down through the ages, feeling that some may no longer be relevant to modern times. Conservatism has trended back towards Orthodoxy in terms of the dietary laws, but adherence to them, or indeed any of the laws, is primarily a matter of individual/family choice among the non-Orthodox. Determining who is a Jew, as well as who may be regarded as a Jew following conversion is a major topic. Some converts to Judaism will attempt to meet the requirements of the Orthodox, even though they may ultimately identify later on with Conservatives.

Reform groups are much more flexible in terms of their following of the laws, but again it becomes a matter of individual/family choice. The requirements to convert to Judaism in Reform groups is not as difficult to achieve as in Orthodoxy or Conservative groups, but still presents significant challenges. Even though it may seem as though one could pick and choose a very minimal adherence to the laws, there are minimum standards the groups encourage their membership to follow.

The lines between individuals/families based on practice can be blurred, but where you attend services can be a label in and of itself.

Answer

Unlike in Christianity, Judaism's denominations are not that different. In Judaism there are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Orthodox Jews strictly follow the Torah and the laws of Judaism. Included in Orthodox Judaism is the religious group of the Hasidim. Conservative Judaism is moderate. They keep to many traditions, but embrace some newer ideas as well. Reform Judaism is a very relaxed version of Judaism. Reform often views the Torah as an important moral guide, not a list of absolute laws. These denominations are under Rabbinic Judaism which is basically the only form of Judaism one will encounter. In some Middle Eastern countries there are a small separate group of Jews under the Karaite movement. The Karaite Jews do not believe in the Oral Laws that Rabbinic Judaism for the most part accepts. Under the denominations of Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox there are some minor denominations.

It was called Judea during Jesus' time. People there followed Judaism until Jesus came as salvation and many became Christian, though not all. The Roman Empire was occupying Judea at the time. The Romans followed pagan mythology back then. The first Christians were Jews who became Christian, like the Apostles. I think that the first gentile(non Jewish origin) person who converted to Christianity was a Roman named Cornelius. Salvation was offered first to the Jews, and then opened up to the Gentiles.

Jewish answer:

1) The religious structure:

Each of the leading Torah-sages had his own yeshiva (Torah-academy): Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel, Chanina ben Dosa, Bava ben Buta, Shimon ben Hillel, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Akiva, and hundreds of others. Each of them served as the Rabbi of his community.

2) The division of power:

a. The Sanhedrin (court of Sages) was the final authority on Torah-matters. One of its functions was to ensure that the Torah-traditions were handed down intact from generation to generation.

b. In addition, there were local functionaries, similar to our mayors, aldermen etc.
c. The Kohen Gadol conducted the observances in the Holy Temple, together with the assistance of the rest of the Kohanim and Levites (Numbers ch.8 and 18; Leviticus ch.21). Though the Kohen Gadol had no formal power outside the Temple, he did have great influence due to the prestige of his position. In times of need, he occasionally dealt directly with foreign monarchs (see Talmud, Yoma 47a and 69b).

3) (In response to the Christian answer above): According to our tradition, the vast majority of the Jews at the time didn't hear of Jesus. The Torah-sages were active at that time and their Torah-academies were flourishing. Their tens of thousands of disciples and hundeds of thousands of sympathizers were active in the Jewish world in that generation; they were the leaders and the forefront of Judaism. As Josephus (Antiquities book 18) writes, "the cities give great attestations to them." The great majority of Jews loved their sages and their Torah.
The unlearned class of the Amei-haaretz (ignoramuses) was a small fringe of society, but even they would and did lay down their lives in order not to violate anything of the Torah. As one ancient historian famously wrote:
Hecateus declares again, "what regard we (Jews) have for our laws; and we resolve to endure anything rather than transgress them." And he adds: "They [Jews] may be stripped on this account, and have torments inflicted upon them, and be brought to the most terrible kinds of death, but they meet these tortures after an extraordinary manner, beyond all other people, and will not renounce the religion of their forefathers."
No one (even any who did hear of Jesus) - would have given heed to what was and is considered unacceptable for us. The few who came in contact with him soon lost interest, and the early Christians felt the need to turn to non-Jewish centers of population in order to gain adherents, while the Jews remained Jews.

The view that "many (Jews) became Christian" is, according to Jewish tradition, inaccurate.

Jerusalem is the de jure capital of Israel according to Israeli Law and general functioning.

According to international groups, only West Jerusalem is the official capital, but given the politics concerning the recognition of a unified Jerusalem. Palestine has also declared East Jerusalem to be the de jure capital of Palestine, but as Palestne does not control any part of Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gaza City serve as de facto capitals of Palestine.

In ancient times, it was a monarchy with local leaders, called judges. Today it is a parliamentary republic with representational democracy.

Answer:

Hebrew society was based upon the covenant with God, as set forth in the Torah. The Torah establishes a separation of the various forms of power, so that all of them are not concentrated in one individual.

In the earliest era, the Hebrews consisted of family-groups (clans; tribes) led by patriarchs. Later, during the three centuries of the Judges, the Israelite nation had sages (led by Sanhedrin-courts) who were consulted in questions of Jewish law and conduct; while individual judges occasionally unified the people in war against some common enemy.

During the four centuries of the monarchy, the Israelites were led by three distinct people or groups: the king, the Sanhedrin and the Kohen Gadol. (See also Deuteronomy ch.17-18.)

The king conducted the nation and made decisions in most national matters but was not necessarily one of the leading sages. It is noteworthy that although the prophets had no temporal power, they were sent by God not only to exhort the people in general, but also to rebuke the king when needed.

The Sanhedrin (court of Sages) was the final authority on Torah-matters. One of its functions was to ensure that the Torah-traditions were handed down intact from generation to generation.

The Kohen Gadol conducted the observances in the Holy Temple, together with the assistance of the rest of the Kohanim and Levites (Numbers ch.8 and 18; Leviticus ch.21). Though the Kohen Gadol had no formal power outside the Temple, he did have great influence due to the prestige of his position. In times of need, he occasionally dealt directly with foreign monarchs (see Talmud, Yoma 47a and 69b).

When the monarchy ceased at the time of the First Destruction, the prophets pointed out that the reason was that there were some individuals, men with positions of power, who misused that power. As was the case concerning the avoidance of idolatry, not everyone heeded the prophets.

Specifically, the monarchy and its hangers-on, and the public functionaries, included a minority that took advantage of those who had no such power.