Judaism

Judaism is the religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage derived from the ancient people of Israel and the Hebrew scriptures. While the practice of Judaism is centered around the books of the Hebrew Bible, and among those primarily the five books of the Torah, its developed form, often referred to as a civilization, represents the accumulation of custom and tradition over centuries of thought and writing.

Intriguingly, many of the most central aspects of Judaism are connected to unique ways of measuring time and marking its passage. Judaism follows a nuanced calendar that prioritizes the cycles of the moon over the revolution of the earth around the sun. within this calendar, the Jewish year is given distinct color and texture by numerous holidays and festivals that make up the liturgical schedule for worship. Through this continuous liturgical cycle that celebrates milestones of national and historical significance, Judaism captures both the cyclical and linear elements of time. Each year moves forward into history but also repeats the same journey as those before itfor example, the complete reading of the Torah, the celebration of special days like Pesach, Shavuot, or Sukkoth, and the blast of the sbofar to greet the new year on Rosh Hashanah. Throughout its long history, Judaism has also contributed significantly to the discussion and philosophy of time. The ancient Hebrews solidified their religious and cultural identity in part by their beliefs concerning the beginning of time and the creator God who moved it forward through history. Centuries later, medieval Jewish thinkers grappled with influential philosophies of time originating outside their tradition and tested their compatibility with Jewish theology. In the European Age of Enlightenment, with the relaxation of strictures forbidding Jews from participating in civic culture, Jewish thinkers and philosophers engaged more freely in dialogue and debate with their Christian counterparts. Today, as full participants in secular society, observant Jews still preserve ancient customs revolving around the Jewish calendar and religious year.