Judaism

Judaism is the religion and culture of the Jews. The tenets and history of Judaism constitute the historical foundation of many other religions including Christianity and Islam.

Judaism does not characterize itself as a religion (although one can speak of the Jewish religion and religious Jews). The subject of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament) is the history of the Children of Israel (also called Hebrews), especially in terms of their relationship with God. Thus, Judaism has also been characterized as a culture or as a civilization. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan defines Judaism as an evolving religious civilization. One crucial sign of this is that one need not believe, or even do, anything to be Jewish; The historic definition of 'Jewishness' requires only that one be born of a Jewish mother, or that one converts to Judaism in accord with Jewish law. (Today, American Reform and Reconstructionist Jews also include those born of Jewish fathers and gentile mothers if the children are raised as Jews.)

The Jewish view(s) of God

Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in one God. The prayer par excellance in terms of defining God is the Shema Yisrael, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One", also translated as "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is unique/alone."

God is conceived of as the creator of the universe and the source of morality. God has the power to intervene in the world in some fashion. The term God thus corresponds to an actual ontological reality, and is not merely a projection of the human psyche. Maimonides describes God in this fashion: "There is a Being, perfect in every possible way, who is the ultimate cause of all existence. All existence depends on God and is derived from God."

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament) and classical rabbinic writings reject affirm theism and reject deism. However, in the writings of medieval Jewish philosophers, influenced by neo-Aristotelian philosophy, one finds what can be termed deistic tendencies. These views still exist in Judaism today.

After the extreme horrors of the Holocaust raised again the issue of theodicy, many non-Orthodox Jews (such as Rabbi Harold Kushner) began to affirm non-anthropomorphic views of God, in which it was said that by God's very nature, God does not (one could say, "can not") physically intervene in the world. Such semi-deistic views of God draw upon sources as diverse as the Jewish medieval theologians Gersonides and Abraham Ibn Daud as well as the Kabbalah, the tradition of Jewish mysticism and process theology. More radical views of God were created by Rabbi Mordechai Kapkan in the Reconstructionist movement, which denied theism and even deism, and instead taught naturalism; however this conception of God was rejected by most Jews.

Principles of Faith

Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith, but unlike Catholicism, has never developed a binding catechism. A number of formulations of Jewish beliefs have appeared, most of which have much in common with each other, yet they differ in certain details. A comparison of several such formulations demonstrates a remarkably wide array of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Some of the general Jewish beliefs include:

God is held to be a unity. The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for Jews to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism. Interestingly, Jews hold that while such conceptions of God are incorrect, it is acceptable for gentiles to hold such beliefs.

God is personal, and cares about humanity. Rabbi Harold Kushner writes that "God shows His love for us by reaching down to bridge the immense gap between Him and us. God shows His love for us by inviting us to enter into a Covenant (Brit) with Him, and by sharing with us His Torah". On the other hand, Maimonides and most other medieval Jewish philosophers rejected the idea of a personal God in this sense.

The different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in the world. See the entry on The name of God in Judaism.

God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. A corollary belief is that God is utterly unlike man, and can in no way be considered anthropomorphic. All statements in the Tanach and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God at all.

To God alone may one offer prayer. Any belief that an intermediary between man and God could be used, whether necessary or even optional, has traditionally been considered heretical. Maimonides writes that "God is the only one we may serve and praise....We many not act in this way toward anything beneath God, whether it be an angel, a star, or one of the elements.....There are no intermediaries between us and God. All our prayers should be directed towards God; nothing else should even be considered." However, since the 1800s some Hasidic Orthodox Jews have begun to teach that their leaders, called rebbes, are indeed an intermediary between man and God.

The Tanach (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament), and much of beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of divine Revelation. How Revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist within the Jewish community.

The words of the prophets in the Tanach are true. This does not mean that Jews are required to read it literally; the tradition has always held that prophets used metaphors and analogies just like people today use them. As such, there is a wide degree of interpretation of many prophetic verses.

The prophecy of Moses was true, and that he was the chief of all prophets, both those before him and those after him. Maimonides writes that "Moses was superior to all prophets, whether they preceded him or arose afterwards. Moses attained the highest possible human level. He perceived God to a degree surpassing every human that ever existed....God spoke to all other prophets through an intermediary. Moses alone did not need this; this is what the Torah means when God says "Mouth to mouth, I will speak to him."

This principle is accepted by Orthodox and Conservative Jews. However, this does not imply that the text of the Torah should be understood literally. The rabbinic tradition maintains that God conveyed not only the words of the Torah, but the meaning of the Torah. God gave rules as to how the laws were to be understood and implemented, and these were passed down as an oral tradition. This oral law ultimately was written down almost 2,000 years later in the Mishna and the two Talmuds. The founders of Reform Judaism replaced this principle with the theory of Progressive Revelation.

For Reform Jews, the prophecy of Moses was not the highest degree of prophecy; rather it was the first in a long chain of progressive revelations in which mankind gradually began to understand the will of God better and better. As such, the laws of Moses are no longer binding, and it is today's generation that must assess what God wants of them. (For examples see the works of Rabbis Gunther Plaut or Eugene Borowitz). This principle is also rejected by most Reconstructionist Jews, but for a different reason; most posit that God is not a being with a will; thus no will can be revealed.

The current text of the Torah is the same one that was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Maimonides explains "We do not know exactly how the Torah was transmitted to Moses. But when it was transmitted, Moses merely wrote it down like a secretary taking dictation....[Thus] every verse in the Torah is equally holy, as they all originate from God, and are all part of God's Torah, which is perfect, holy and true."

Today, no modern Jewish denomination totally accepts this principle. Orthodox Jews recognize that over the millennia, many scribal errors have crept into the Torah's text. The Masoretes (7th to 10th centuries CE) compared all extant variations and attempted to create a definitive text. Also, there are a number of places in the Torah where gaps are seen - part of the story in these places has been edited out. In general, though, Orthodox Jews view the Written and Oral Torah as virtually the same that Moses taught, for all practical purposes.

Due to advances in biblical scholarship, and archeological and linguistic research, all non-Orthodox Jews reject this principle outright. Instead, they accept that the core of the Oral and Written Torah may come from the Moses, but that the document that we have today has been edited together from several documents. Conservative Jews tend to believe that much of the Oral law is divinely inspired, while Reform and Reconstructionist Jews tend to view all of the Oral law as an entirely human creation. For more details see Richard Elliot Friedman's "Who Wrote the Bible?" and the entry on the documentary hypothesis.

The mainstream view, clearly expressed in the Bible and rabbinic literature, is that God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them. In stark contrast, Maimonides and other medieval neo-Aristotelian theologians claimed that only fools and children would believe that God rewarded or punished people; in fact, no such rewards or punishments exist. Maimonides believed that the only possible reward was that if a person perfected his intellect to the highest degree, then the part of his intellect that connected to God - the active intellect - would be immortalized. However, the common understanding of this principle is accepted by many Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews; it is generally rejected by Reconstructionists (whose views on this issue are more similar to Maimonides than those of the Orthodox.)

God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with God; the description of this covenant is the Torah itself. Contrary to popular belief, Jewish people never simply say that "God chose the Jews." This claim exists nowhere in the Tanach (the Jewish Bible) or the Siddur (the Jewish prayerbook). Such a claim would imply that God loves only the Jewish people, that only Jews can be close to God, and that only Jews can have a heaavenly reward (if one exists at all.) The actual claim made is that the Jews were chosen for a specific mission; to be a light unto the nations, and to have a covenant with God as described in the Torah.

Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, former Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue of Great Britain, describes the mainstream Jewish view on this issue: "Yes, I do believe that the Chosen people concept as affirmed by Judaism in its holy writ, its prayers, and its milennial tradition. In fact, I believe that every people - and indeed, in a more limited way, every individual - is "chosen" or destined for some distinct purpose in advancing the designs of Providence. Only, some fulfill their mission and others do not. Maybe the Greeks were chosen for their unique contributions to art and philosophy, the Romans for their pioneering services in law and government, the British for bringing parlimentary rule into the world, and the Americans for piloting democracy in a pluralistic society. The Jews were chosen by God to be 'peculiar unto Me' as the pioneers of religion and morality; that was and is their national purpose."

There will be a moshiach (messiah), or perhaps a messianic era. Note that the Jewish belief regarding the messiah has little to do with the Christian definition of this term. Jewish views of the messiah, the messianic era, and the afterlife are discusssed in the entry on Jewish eschatology.

Humans are born morally pure; Jews have no concept of Original sin. Judaism affirms that people are born with a yetzer ha'tov, a tendency to do good, and with a yetzer ha'ra, a tendency to do bad; human beings have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take. The Rabbis even recognize a positive value to the yetzer ha'ra: without the yetzer ha'ra there would be no cities or other fruits of human labor. The implication is that yetzer ha'tov and yetzer ha'ra are best understood not as moral categories of good and evil but as selfless versus selfish orientations.

Jews recognize two kinds of "sin," offenses against other people, and offenses against God. Offenses against God may be understood as violation of a contract (the covenant between God and the Children of Israel). In a post-Temple world, Jews believe that right action (as opposed to right belief) is the way for a person to atone for one's sins.

Midrash Avot de Rabbi Natan states "One time, when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was walking in Jerusalem with Rabbi Yehosua, they arrived at where the Temple in Jerusalem now stood in ruins. "Woe to us" cried Rabbi Yehosua, "for this house where atonement was made for Israel's sins now lies in ruins!" Answered Rabban Yochanan, "We have another, equally important source of atonement, the practice of gemilut hasadim (loving kindness), as it is stated 'I desire loving kindness and not sacrifice". Also, the Babylonian Talmud teaches that "Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Eleazar both explain that as long as the Temple stood, the altar atoned for Israel, but now, one's table atones [when the poor are invited as guests]." (Tractate Berachot, 55a.) Similarly, the liturgy of the Days of Awe (the High Holy Days; i.e. Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur) states that prayer, repentence and tzedakah (charity) atone for sin.

Similarities and differences with Christianity

There is a separate article for Comparing_and_contrasting_Judaism_and_Christianity.

The Torah and Jewish law

The basis of all Jewish law is the Torah, also known as: the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Chumash. According to traditional counting methods, there are 613 mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah, all of which the Jewish people as a whole are bound to follow. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to Kohanim and Leviyim (members of the priestly tribe), some only to agriculture within the land of Israel, and many were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed. Less than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.

While there have been Jewish groups which were based on the written text of the Torah alone (the Sadducees, the Karaites), most Jews believe in the oral law. These oral traditions originated in the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were latter recorded in written form and expanded upon by the Rabbis.

Rabbinic Judaism has always held that the books of the Tanach (called the written law) have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to the text of the Torah, where many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned without explanation or instructions; this they argue means that the reader is assumed to be familiar with the details from other, oral, sources. This parallel set of material was originally trasmitted orally, and came to be known as the "the oral law". However, by the time Judah Ha-Nasi (200 CE) much of this material was edited together into the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this law underwent discussion and debate in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon), and the commentaries on the Mishnah from both of these communities eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the Talmud.

Halakha, the Rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is not based on a literal reading of the Torah or Tanakh, but on the combined oral and written tradition, which includes the Tanakh and Talmud.

Holidays

Jewish life is bound up with religious tradition, and is celebrated in an annual cycle of Jewish holidays.

Life cycle events

Life-cycle events occur throughout a Jew's life that bind him/her to the entire community.

Brit milah and Brit Bat - Welcoming babies into the covenant.

Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah - Affirming that a child has reached the age of majority, and is now responsible for themselves as an adult for living a Jewish life and following halakha.

Marriage

Mourning - Judaism has a multi-staged mourning practice. The first stage is called the Shiv'ah (observed for one week), the second is the shloshim (observed for one month) and for those who have lost one of their parents, there is a third stage, avelut, which is observed for one year.

History of rabbinic Judaism

200 BCE - 100 CE Throughout this era the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is gradually canonized. Jewish religious works that were written after the time of Ezra were not canonized, although many became popular among many groups of Jews, and later, Christians. Those works that made it into the Greek translation of the Bible (Septuagint)became known as the Apocrypha.

70 - 200 CE Period of the Tannaim (rabbis who developed the Oral law). The decisions of the Tannaim are contained in the Mishnah, Tosefta, the Baraitot, and Midrash Halakha. http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/03-index.html

132 - 135 CE Bar Kokhba (Bar Kosiba) leads a doomed Jewish revolt against Rome. Jerusalem is renamed, and Rome forbids Jews to live there.

200 CE The Mishnah, a written record of the Oral law, is redacted by Judah HaNasi.

220 - 500 CE Period of the Amora'im, the rabbis of the Talmud.

450 CE Redaction of Talmud Yerushalmi (Talmud of the land of Israel)

550 CE The main redaction of Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) is completed under Rabbis Ravina and Ashi. To a lesser degree, the text continues to be modifed for the next 200 years.

550 - 700 CE Period the Savora'im. During this time Savora, Jewish sages in Persia, added to Talmud Bavli as Jews continued to live in a relatively stable environment. Jews at this time in Israel were living under the oppressive rule of the Byzantines.

711 CE Muslim armies invade and occupy most of Spain (At this time Jews made up about 8% of Spain's population). Under Christian rule, Jews had been subject to frequent and intense persecution, but this was alleviated under Muslim rule. The beginning of the Golden Age for Jews in Spain.

700 - 1250 CE Period of the Gaonim (the Gaonic era). Jews in southern Europe and Asia Minor lived under the often intolerant rule of Christian Kings and clerics. Most Jews lived in the Muslim Arab realm (Israel, North Africa, Babylonia). Despite periods of persecution, Jewish communal and cultural life flowered in this period. The universally recognized centers of Jewish life were in Sura and Pumbeditha (Babylonia); The heads of these law schools were the Gaonim, who were consulted on matters of law by Jews throughout the world.

760 CE The Karaites reject the authority of the Oral law, and split off from rabbinic Judaism.

912 CE Abd-er-Rahman III (891-961) becomes Caliph of Spain, ushering in the height of the Golden Age. Muslims granted Jews and Christians exemptions from military service, the right to their own courts of law, and a guarantee of safety of their property. Jewish poets, scholars, scientists, statesmen and philosophers fluorished in and were an integral part of the extensive Arab civilization. This Golden Age lasted until the middle of the 12th century.

940 CE In Babylonia, Saadya Gaon compiles his siddur (Jewish prayer book.) All others from then on follow his basic design.

1013 - 1073 CE Rabbi Yitchaki Alfassi (from Morocco, later Spain) writes the Rif, an important work of Halakha (Jewish law).

1040-1105 CE Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (Rashi) writes definitive commentaries on the entire Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Talmud.

1095-1291 Christian crusades begin, sparking warfare with Islam in Palestine. Crusaders temporarily capture Jerusalem in 1099. Tens of thousands of Jews are murdered as the crusaders attempt to spread Christianity throughout Europe.

1100-1275 CE Time of the Tosafot, Talmudic commentators who carried on Rashi's work. They include some of his descendants.

1135-1204 CE Moses ben Maimon, aka Maimonides, or Rambam, is the leading rabbi of Sephardic Jewry. Among his many accomplishments, he writes the most influential code of law (The Mishneh Torah) as well as the most influential philosophical work (Guide for the Perplexed) in Jewish history. All of Judaism from here on bears his imprint, thus the saying "From Moses to Moses, there was none like Moses". He also influences rationalist Christian and Muslim theologians.

1250-1305 CE The life of Moses de Leon, of Spain. He authors the Zohar (Book of Splendor) which contains mystical interpretations of the Torah. This begins the period of Kabbalah - the spiritual and mystical teachings that deal with the hidden meanings of the Torah.

1290 CE All Jews are expelled from England.

750 - 1900 CE Islam conquers Asia Minor, the Arabian Peninsula, Israel, North Africa, and Spain. Under Muslim rule, Jews often found greater toleration than under Christianity. However, despite many decades of prosperity and toleration, the Jews living in the Arab and Muslim world faced anti-Jewish discrimination and persecution.

1250-1550 CE Period the Rishonim. Most Jews at this time lived in the Mediterranean basin or in Western Europe under feudal systems. With the decline of both the Muslim and Jewish centers of power in Iraq, there was no single place in the world which was a recognized center for deciding matters of Jewish law and practice. Consequently, the rabbis recognized the need for writing commentaries on the Torah and Talmud and for writing law codes that would allow Jews anywhere in the world to be able to continue living in the Jewish tradition.

1290 CE Jews are expelled from England.

1306 CE Jews are expelled from France.

1300 Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides). A 14th century French Jewish philosopher best known for his Sefer Milhamot Adonai ("The Book of the Wars of the Lord") as well as for his many philosophical commentaries.

1270 - 1343 CE Rabbi Jacob ben Asher of Spain writes the Arba'ah Turim (Four Rows of Jewish Law).

1481-1492 The Spanish Inquisition

1492 CE Jews are expelled from Spain.

1500 CE Protestant Christian Reformation. Jews are expelled from Portugal and from many German cities. The expelled Jews relocate to the Netherlands, Turkey, the Arab countries and the land of Israel; some eventually go to South and Central America.

1488 - 1575 CE Rabbi Yosef Karo spends 20 years compiling the Beit Yosef, an enormous Halakhic work. He then writes a more concise guide, the Shulkhan Arukh, that becomes the standard law guide for the next 400 years.

1534 - 1572 Issac Luria develops modern Kabbalism.

1525 - 1572 Rabbi Moshe Isserles (The Rama) of Cracow writes an extensive gloss to the Shulkhan Arukh called the mappah, extending its application to Ashkenazi Jewry.

1626 - 1676 False Messiah Shabbati Zvi.

1648 The Ukranian Cossack Bogdon Chmielnitzki leads a massacre of Polish Jewry that leaves more than 100,000 Jews dead. http://www.virtual.co.il/communities/wjcbook/poland/

1655 Jews readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell.

1670 Jews expelled from Vienna.

1700-1760 Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, founds Hasidic Judaism, a way to approach God through meditation and fervent joy. He and his disciples attract many followers, and establish numerous Hasidic sects. The European Jewish opponents of Hassidim (known as Mitnagdim) argue that one should follow a more scholarly approach to Judaism. Some of the more well known Hassdic sects include Breslover, Lubavitch (Chabad), Satmar, Gerer, and Bobover Hasidim.

1720 - 1797 Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon.

1729 - 1786 Moses Mendelssohn, and the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement. He strove to bring an end to the isolation of the Jews so that they would be able to embrace the culture of the Western world, and in turn be embraced by gentiles as equals. The Haskalah opened the door for the development of all the modern Jewish denominations and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, but it also paved the way for many who, wishing to be fully accepeted into Christian society, converted to Christianity or chose to assimilate to emulate it.

Sects and Denominations

Rabbinic Judaism is closely related to Samaritanism, though it is normally counted as a separate religion. Around the first century A.D. there were several main Jewish sects: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. Of these, only the Pharisees survived, and all Jewish groups today are descended from them. Christianity at one point was a Jewish messianic sect, but soon developed into a separate religion.

Some Jews in the 8th century rejected the oral traditions of the Pharisees recorded in the Mishnah (and developed by latter Rabbis in the two Talmuds), intending to rely only upon the Tanach. (However, they later developed oral traditions of their own which differ from the Rabbinical ones.) These Jews formed the Karaite sect, which still exist to this day, though they are much smaller than the rest of Judaism.

Jews eventually developed into distinct ethnic groups: the Ashkenazi Jews (of Eastern Europe and Russia); the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal and North Africa) and the Yemenite Jews, from the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. This split is cultural, and is not based on any doctrinal dispute.

Hasidic Judaism originated in Eastern Europe. It is a morally strict, mystical tradition based on Kabbalah and allegiance to a spiritual leader, or Rebbe. It was founded in the mid-1700s by a miracle worker named Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov.

Judaism after the Enlightenment and emancipation

The development of the modern Jewish denominations

In the late 18th century Europe, and then the rest of the world, was swept by a group of intellectual, social and political movements that taken together were referred to as The_Enlightenment. These movements promoted scientific thinking, freethought, and allowed people to question previously unshaken religious dogmas. Like Christianity, Judaism developed several responses to this unprecedented phenomenon. Intially, the European Jewish community began to develop into two separate worldviews; one of which saw the enlightenment as positive, and one of which saw it as negative. The enlightenment meant equality and freedom for many Jews in many countries, so it was felt that it should be warmly welcomes. Scientific study of religious texts would allow Jews to study the history of Judaism, and one could discover how it had developed over time.

Some Jews felt that these endeavours would bring much to Judaism. Others, however, noted that this same era allowed Jews, for the first time, the ability to easily assimilate into Christian society; this was a powerful attraction for many Jews, since only by becoming a Christian (at least nominally) would one be certain to have equal rights and civil liberties. Further, historical study of the development of the religion might call into question some previously held dogmas about Judaism; if a few beliefs were found to be incorrect, where would one draw the line? In response to these issues, Jews favouring the enlightenment developed into a community known as Reform Judaism, and Jews opposed to the enlightenment developed into a set of loosely linked communities known as Orthodox Judaism. This loose differentiation did not hold for long. The various groups in Orthodox Judaism had differing attitudes on how to respond, and they developed into a number of different groups. The entry on Ultra-Orthodox_Judaism discussed in more detail how and why the enlightenment led to the development of the modern Jewish denominations.

A third of thought then developed which held that halakha (Jewish law and tradition) was not static, but rather had always developed in response to changing conditions. This approach, Positive-Historical Judaism, held that Jews should accept halakha as normative (i.e. binding) yet must also be open to developing the law in the same fashion that it had developed in the past. This school of thought gave birth to the communities now known as Masorti Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Traditional Judaism.

In recent years, smaller splinter movements have developed: [Reconstructionist Judaism]] and Humanistic Judaism. In terms of their spectrum of beliefs and practices, Reconstructionist Judaism now overlaps with Reform Judaism, and Humanistic Judaism is now identical to secular humanism.

Jewish Diversity: A Chart illustrating the differing approaches to Judaism

The issue of Zionism was once heavily divisive in the Jewish community. Secular non-Zionists believed that Jews should integrate into the countries in which they lived, rather than moving to Israel; religious non-Zionists believed that the return to Israel could only happen with the coming of the Messiah, and that attempting to re-establish Israel earlier was disobeying God's plan. After the painful events of the twentieth century, such as World War II and the Holocaust, secular anti-Zionism has largely disappeared; however many Hasidim are still opposed to Zionism on religious grounds.

List of Modern Jewish denominations

Orthodox Judaism -- Hasidic Judaism -- Ultra-Orthodox Judaism --Modern Orthodox Judaism

Conservative Judaism (also known as Masorti Judaism outside of the USA)

Reform Judaism (also known as Progressive Judaism outside of the USA)

Reconstructionist Judaism (For all practical purposes, this new movement only exists in the USA.)

The state of Judaism in the U.S. today

Many secularized Jews have long since stopped participating in religious duties. Many of then recall having religious grand-parents, but grew up in homes where Jewish education and observance was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties. On the one hand they tend to cling to their traditions for identity reasons, on the other hand the influence of western mentality, daily life and peer-pressure tears them away from Judaism. Recent studies of American Jews indicate that many people who identify as being of Jewish heritage no longer identify as members of the religion known as Judaism. The various Jewish religious denominations in the USA and Canada perceive this as a crisis situation, and have grave concern over rising rates of intermarriage and assimilation in the Jewish community. Since American Jews are marrying at a later time in their life than they used to, and are having fewer children than they used, the birth rate for American Jews has dropped from over 2.0 down to 1.7 (the replacement rate, by definition, is 2.0). [Source: "This is My Beloved, This is My Friend: A Rabbinic Letter on Intimate relations", p.27, Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, The Rabbinical Assembly, 1996.]

In the last 50 years all of the major Jewish denominations have experienced a resurgence in popularity, with increasing numbers of younger Jews participating in Jewish education, joining synagogues, and becoming (to varying degrees) more observant. However, this gain has not yet offset the demographic loss due to intermarriage and assimilation.

Reccomended reading

"Conservative Judaism: The New Century" pb, Neil Gillman, Behrman House.
"American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective" by Jeffrey S. Gurock pb, HC, 1996, Ktav.
"A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America" by Jack Wertheimer. Brandeis Univ. Press, 1997.
"Encyclopaedia Judaica", Keter Publishing, updated CD-ROM edition, 1997
The article on "The American Jewish Identity Survey" by Egon Mayer, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar; a sub-set of The American Religious Identity Survey, City University of New York Gradute Center. An article on this survey is printed in "The New York Jewish Week", November 2, 2001.

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