World Religions: Judaism

Films on Demand: 6:28
Where is the ark in a synagogue? How many candles are in a menorah? When does Shabbat take place? This programme looks into these questions and more by investigating the sacred objects found in a synagogue and the services that are held within. Learners will come away with an understanding of Jewish rituals and practices and the important role that the synagogue plays.

Alexander Street Video (series)
Jewish Ideas and the American Founders: In a series of eight enlightening and entertaining lectures, Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik explores the Jewish ideas that inspired America’s founding generation and helped make the United States such an exceptional home for the Jews and all religions.

Alexander Street Video: 49:00
This documentary reports on Messianic Jews, an organized group of Jewish people who maintain their Jewish identity and worship style, but believe that Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua, in Hebrew), is the promised Messiah.

Alexander Street Video: 14:00
After all, who is God? is a documentary series that aims to explore children's views on spirituality. Moving away from a didactic narrative about rites and liturgies, the aim of the series is to build understandings through the playful and spontaneous thinking of the children's universe. This episode focuses on Judaism.

Alexander Street Video: 54:00
Judaism visits one of the earliest synagogues on the mountain fort of Masada, the Gothic Old-New Synagogue in Prague and nineteenth-century houses of worship in Budapest, Liverpool and New York, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece Beth Sholom near Philadelphia. The earliest identifiable synagogue buildings date only from around 70 CE when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In the centuries since Jews have built synagogues – shuls in Yiddish – right across the Old World and the New, almost always employing variations of a singular layout but displaying an extraordinary eclecticism in decoration and detail.

Alexander Street Video: 7:00
In Noah Feldman’s latest book, “To Be A Jew Today,” the Harvard Law professor turns his focus to his own faith in order to understand identity, politics and culture. Feldman sits down with Amna Nawaz to discuss Jews’ relationship to Israel, persistent and subtle forms of antisemitism, and all of the different ways to be Jewish.

Alexander Street Video: 1:22:00
Antisemitism in the US and Europe is worsening in ways not seen since the 1930s, mutating across cultures, borders and ideologies. Explore its infectious behavior through interviews with victims, witnesses, antisemites, and others.

ProQuest Video: 55:25
We Remember: Songs of Survivors is a celebration of the lives of Hudson Valley Holocaust survivors...the wisdom they bring to our society...and the acknowledgement of a cathartic healing process where they turn their inner most personal stories into inspirational songs embracing their resilience and pride in surviving and living.

ProQuest Video: 1:31:39
In Ethiopia they were given the derogatory term “Falashas” (exiles). In the United States they were referred to as “Black Jews”. In Israel, they are Ethiopian Jews. They themselves would rather be called “Beta Israel” (House of Israel). Descendants of an ancient Jewish tribe, for over 2500 years they managed to uphold the laws of Judaism, all the while believing they were the last Jews on earth. The ties between Beta Israel and their fellow Jews were renewed only at the turn of the 20th century, thanks to the determination of a few individuals, and the exodus of Ethiopian Jews began.

(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) Judaism is a monotheistic religion, believing in one god. It is not a racial group. Individuals may also associate or identify with Judaism primarily through ethnic or cultural characteristics. Jewish communities may differ in belief, practice, politics, geography, language, and autonomy. Learn more about the practices and beliefs of Judaism.

(Pew Research Center) U.S. Jews are culturally engaged, increasingly diverse, politically polarized and worried about anti-Semitism

(Britannica) The first section of this article treats the history of Judaism in the broadest and most complete sense, from the early ancestral beginnings of the Jewish people to contemporary times. In the second section the beliefs, practices, and culture of Judaism are discussed.

(Judaism 101) Judaism 101 or "Jew FAQ" is an online encyclopedia of Judaism, covering Jewish beliefs, people, places, things, language, scripture, holidays, practices and customs, written from a traditional perspective in conversational language you can understand.

(United Religions Initiative) Jewish people believe in the Torah, which was the whole of the laws given to the Israelities at Sinai. They believe they must follow God's laws which govern daily life.

(Gettysburg College) In his book Basic Judaism, Rabbi Milton Steinberg notes that the word Judaism has two distinct meanings. First, Judaism points to a multifaceted, complete civilization: the total history of the Jewish people that includes both sacred and secular elements... Second, the word Judaism also describes the spiritual aspect of that civilization: Jewish religious practices and beliefs.