While we have perhaps successfully demonstrated that Judaism can neither be equated to Judenthum, nor meaningfully separated from it, the question still remains, what is Judaism?
Time Almanac opens its overview of Judaism in the following manner:
“Judaism is the oldest of the monotheistic faiths. It affirms the existence of one God, Yahweh, who entered into covenant with the descendants of Abraham, God’s chosen people. According to Scripture, the Hebrew patriarch Abraham founded the faith that would become known as Judaism.”
This is how the BBC World Religions Project opens its Judaism at a Glance section:
“Judaism is the original of the three Abrahamic faiths, which also includes Christianity and Islam. Judaism was founded by Moses, although Jews trace their history back to Abraham.”
(The reader has surely noticed that I am underlining, in each of the reputable sources above, their strikingly different attributions as to who exactly was the "founder" of Judaism.)
Here is already something of a controversy, which, even if it may seem casuistic to some, is a portent of the disputes to come. Technically, it must have been Moses who brought Judaism to the Jews from Mount Sinai, whereas Abraham only had God’s Promise to him and to his heirs, eventually realized in Moses. If Judaism is the faith in Hashem (the respectful “Name,” which is how observant Jews call God, in recognition of His unknowability and of the forbidden mystique of His real name), then Abraham Avinu must have precedence over Moshe Rabeinu in the claim on Judaism. The same holds true if the essence of Judaism is understood as God’s Promise to His chosen people. But if the essence of Judaism is in the Torah, and in the Mosaic Law, then Moses must necessarily take the credit.
Now, here is a vicious circle (if I may be pardoned for introducing such an unpleasant word as vicious into this reverential discussion). There is no record of the Divine Promise without the Torah, and there could be no Torah without Moses, who had allegedly either written it down to God’s dictation or received it already written by God’s finger.
To clarify my last assertion, it appears that God’s Promise to the Patriarchs had somehow been mislaid, in the interval between the death of Joseph at the end of Bereshit/Genesis, and God’s call to Moses in the third chapter of Shemot/Exodus.
“God heard their cry (of the Jews in Egypt), and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Shemot/Exodus 2:24). Then, as God reveals to Moses his mission, Moses is doubtful that the Jews would believe him. “And Moses said to God, ‘Behold I come to the children of Israel, and I say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Shemot/Exodus 3:13).
Then, in Chapter 6, God reiterates the temporary disconnect: “God spoke to Moses, and He said to him, ‘I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them. And also, I established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan… And also, I heard the moans of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians are holding in bondage, and I remembered (!) My covenant.’” (Shemot/Exodus 6:2-5).
So far, we have been dealing with God’s private revelations to the Patriarchs, and then later to Moses. But Judaism, to become the religion of all Jewish people, required God’s collective revelation, the latter taking place at Mount Sinai, as recorded in Shemot/Exodus, Chapter 19.
...Which leaves the question of the founder of Judaism, as the Jewish faith and the Jewish religion, still very much open for at least as long as the terms personal faith and collective religion continue to be confused, as if they were indeed interchangeable.
(This entry is to be immediately followed by the one titled Judaism As A World Religion, which is a natural continuation of the subject raised here.)
Time Almanac opens its overview of Judaism in the following manner:
“Judaism is the oldest of the monotheistic faiths. It affirms the existence of one God, Yahweh, who entered into covenant with the descendants of Abraham, God’s chosen people. According to Scripture, the Hebrew patriarch Abraham founded the faith that would become known as Judaism.”
This is how the BBC World Religions Project opens its Judaism at a Glance section:
“Judaism is the original of the three Abrahamic faiths, which also includes Christianity and Islam. Judaism was founded by Moses, although Jews trace their history back to Abraham.”
(The reader has surely noticed that I am underlining, in each of the reputable sources above, their strikingly different attributions as to who exactly was the "founder" of Judaism.)
Here is already something of a controversy, which, even if it may seem casuistic to some, is a portent of the disputes to come. Technically, it must have been Moses who brought Judaism to the Jews from Mount Sinai, whereas Abraham only had God’s Promise to him and to his heirs, eventually realized in Moses. If Judaism is the faith in Hashem (the respectful “Name,” which is how observant Jews call God, in recognition of His unknowability and of the forbidden mystique of His real name), then Abraham Avinu must have precedence over Moshe Rabeinu in the claim on Judaism. The same holds true if the essence of Judaism is understood as God’s Promise to His chosen people. But if the essence of Judaism is in the Torah, and in the Mosaic Law, then Moses must necessarily take the credit.
Now, here is a vicious circle (if I may be pardoned for introducing such an unpleasant word as vicious into this reverential discussion). There is no record of the Divine Promise without the Torah, and there could be no Torah without Moses, who had allegedly either written it down to God’s dictation or received it already written by God’s finger.
To clarify my last assertion, it appears that God’s Promise to the Patriarchs had somehow been mislaid, in the interval between the death of Joseph at the end of Bereshit/Genesis, and God’s call to Moses in the third chapter of Shemot/Exodus.
“God heard their cry (of the Jews in Egypt), and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Shemot/Exodus 2:24). Then, as God reveals to Moses his mission, Moses is doubtful that the Jews would believe him. “And Moses said to God, ‘Behold I come to the children of Israel, and I say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Shemot/Exodus 3:13).
Then, in Chapter 6, God reiterates the temporary disconnect: “God spoke to Moses, and He said to him, ‘I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them. And also, I established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan… And also, I heard the moans of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians are holding in bondage, and I remembered (!) My covenant.’” (Shemot/Exodus 6:2-5).
So far, we have been dealing with God’s private revelations to the Patriarchs, and then later to Moses. But Judaism, to become the religion of all Jewish people, required God’s collective revelation, the latter taking place at Mount Sinai, as recorded in Shemot/Exodus, Chapter 19.
...Which leaves the question of the founder of Judaism, as the Jewish faith and the Jewish religion, still very much open for at least as long as the terms personal faith and collective religion continue to be confused, as if they were indeed interchangeable.
(This entry is to be immediately followed by the one titled Judaism As A World Religion, which is a natural continuation of the subject raised here.)
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