Term Papers on Judaism Or Judaisms?

Term Paper Title	Judaism Or Judaisms?
# of Words	1866
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.46

Judaism Or Judaisms?

It has been argued that Judaism can be seen not only as a single
religion, but as a group of similar religions.  It has also been
pointed-out that through all the trials and tribulations that Judaism
has suffered through, that there have been common themes that have
proven omni-pervasive.  Any institution with roots as ancient and varied
as the religion of the Jews is bound to have a few variations,
especially when most of its history takes place in the political and
theological hot spot of the Middle East.

In this discussion, many facets of Judaism will be examined, primarily
in the three temporal  subdivisions labeled the Tribal / Pre-Monarchy
Period, the Divided Monarchy, and the Hasmonean / Maccabean and Roman
Era.  Among all the time periods where the religion has been split,
these three seem to be the most representative of the forces
responsible.

As for a common thread seen throughout all Judiasms, the area of focus
here is the place associated with the religion : Jerusalem.  This topic
will be covered in detail first, and then the multiple Judaism arguments
will be presented.  In this way, it is possible to keep a common focus
in mind when reading about all the other situations in which the
religion has found itself.  A brief conclusion follows the discussion.

A Place to Call Home
No other religion has ever been so attached to its birthplace as
Judaism.  Perhaps this is because Jews have been exiled and restricted
from this place for most of their history.  Jerusalem is not only home
to Judaism, but to the Muslim and Christian religions as well.
Historically this has made it quite a busy place for the various groups.

Jerusalem is where the temple of the Jews once stood; the only place on
the whole Earth where one could leave the confines of day to day life
and get closer to God.  In 586 BCE when the temple was destroyed, no Jew
would have denied Jerusalem as being the geographic center of the
religion.  From that point on, the Jewish people have migrated around
the world, but not one of them forgets the fact that Jerusalem is where
it all began.  It is truly a sacred place, and helps to define what
Judaism means to many people; a common thread to run through all the
various splinters of the religion and help hold them together.

Even today, as the Jewish people have their precious Jerusalem back
(through the help of other nations and their politics) there is great
conflict and emotion surrounding it.  Other nations and people in the
area feel that they should be in control of the renowned city, and the
Jews deny fervently any attempt to wrestle it from their occupation.  It
is true that there is no temple in Jeruslaem today, nor are all the Jews
in the world rushing to get back there.  But it is apparent that the
city represents more to the religion of Judaism than a mere place to
live and work.  The city of Jerusalem is a spiritual epicenter, and
throughout Judaism’s long and varied history, this single fact has never
changed.

Tribal / Pre-Monarchy
Judaism’s roots lie far back in the beginnings of recorded history.  The
religion did not spring into existence exactly as it is known today,
rather it was pushed and prodded by various environmental factors along
the way.  One of the first major influences on the religion was the
Canaanite nation.  Various theories exist as to how and when the  people
that would later be called Jews entered into this civilization.  But
regardless of how they ultimately got there, these pioneers of the new
faith were subjected to many of the ideas and prejudices of the time.
Any new society that finds itself in an existing social situation, can
do no more than to try and integrate into that framework.  And this is
exactly what the Jews did.

Early Judaism worshipped multiple gods.  One of these gods was known as
Ba’al, and was generally thought-of as a ‘statue god’ with certain
limitations on his power.  The other primary deity was called YHWH (or
Yahweh) and enjoyed a much more mysterio...

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