Religions of the world

Judaism: beliefs, practices,
Jewish-Christian relations, news...

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Judaism is an Abrahamic religion -- a faith which recognizes Abraham as a Patriarch. Others include Christianity Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. Although Jews comprise only about 0.2% of the human race and 2% of the U.S. population, Jewish influence on the U.S. and the rest of the world has been vast -- far more than their numbers would indicate.

Topics covered in this section:

Overview of Judaism:

Religious texts:

The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament): Languages, authors, sources, hidden codes...
- Stories in the Hebrew Scriptures Creation, the fall/rise of humanity, the flood, genocides
- Multiple interpretations of passages in the Torah: By Rabbi A.S. Maller.

Religious groups blending Jewish culture with non-Jewish theology:

Jewish Humanism - A faith group with Humanist beliefs
Messianic Judaism - A faith group with an Evangelical Christian theology
Black Hebrew Israelites - A group ieving that African Americans and other inhabitants of North and South America are the twelve lost tribes of Israel

Seasonal days of celebration

Sabbath observances

Jewish beliefs about:

	Abortion
	The environment and global warming
	Homosexuality
	Same-sex marriage

Christian-Jewish relations:

Historical anti-semitism:

	Are there anti-semitic passages in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)?
	Who was responsible for Jeshua's (Jesus') execution?
	History of persecution of Jews
	Blood li, ritual murder, host desecration, "The Protocols," and other anti-Judaic hoaxes
	Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ;" Jewish responses

Recent interactions:

Current Attempts to Convert Jews to Christianity

The Southern Baptist prayer guides

Christian apology to Jews and Muslims for the Crusades

Dabru Emet: a Jewish statement on Jewish-Christian relations

Christian Zionism: Christian support for the State of Israel

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More topics:

Shoah (Nazi Holocaust) topics:

	Admission of governments' complicity in the Nazi Holocaust
	Anti-semitism and the Catholic church
	Financial compensation for Nazi slave laborers
	2006 conference in Iran of Nazi Holocaust deniers

Other topics:

	Bible codes: messages allegedly hidden in the Torah
	Religious intolerance in Israel
	Names given to the "Holy Land"
	Religious hate propaganda: one story; many versions; all false
	Continually updated list of current Jewish news items
	Links to Jewish resources in other web sites: The Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) hss an annual "... exhibition of cinema that celebrates the diversity of Jewish history, culture and experience through the moving image." The Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel and the Scarboro Missions Interfaith Department have published a Hebrew-language poster featuring texts of the Golden Rule in 13 religions. Download at: https://www.scarboromissions.ca/

Essays donated by Rabbi Allen S. Maller on various topics:

	Links among the main monotheistic faiths: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
	"Choosing to be chosen: Multiple relationships between God and the nations"
	"A new year for Jews"
	"A Rabbi Warns Against Islamophobia"
	"Muslim and Jewish Views of Jesus as 'Son of God' "
	"How Muslims and Jews view Jesus" Part 1 Part 2
	*"Islamophobia and Banu Israel (The Children of Israel) in the Qur'an:" Part 1 Part 2*
	"How Thanksgiving Days (Sukkot) Became Hanukah"
	"A Thanksgiving Day Fable""
	"Christmas and Chanukkah, Hanuka, Chanukah..?"
	"Don't Read the Bible Alone: Study the Bible with a Commentary and with Other Students"
	"Evidence of reincarnation from non-Jews who become Jewish"
	"Holy matrimony and sacred sexuality in Judaism"
	"How religious Americans view those of other faiths "
	"Jewish traditions on diets, cooking, and eating"
	"Muslims & Jews unite to preserve religious traditions: circumcision and slaughter of animals"
	"Why Hanukah is for Muslim Jews"
	"Mormons, Jews & Reincarnation. People with a 'Jewish Soul' being drawn back to Judaism"
	"Jewish Messianic Prophecy Today"
	"The religious value of celebrating a New Year"
	"The significance of Jewish wedding rituals"
	"European Attacks on Circumcision"
	"Political Attacks from the seoond century BCE to the present time against the Jewish and Islamic practice of male circumcision"
	"B'nai Israel in the Qur'an"
	"Fasting for Ramadan and Yom Kippur"
	"God's commandment against religious extremism"
	"What the first Asian- American Rabbi exemplifies. About the reincarnation of the Jewish soul of an ancestor"
	"The prophetic vision of religious pluralism From Micah to Muhammad"
	"A Jewish fable about repentance & atonement for people of all religions"
	"The discovery of an Earth-like planet near us. The search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETIL)."
	"The Coming of the Messianic Age."

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We recommend:

An article by Sandy Goodman, retired producer of NBC Nightly News in the Huffington Post "BLOG:"It is titled "Bad for the Jews, Bad for America. His article begins:

""The American Jewish community is coming apart at the seams. Its vital center is collapsing, and the entire group is increasingly polarized by runaway growth at both extremes: religious fundamentalism on one end, secular non-belief on the other. The result is not only bad for the Jews, but bad for the rest of America."

See the article at the Huffington News.
Phyllis Goldstein, "A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism" Facing History and Ourselves (2011). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store. Available in paperback for $13.26 plus shipping, or in Kindle format for $8.32

Amazon.com's bookstore lists the following additional books on Judaism:

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