Talk:Criticism of Judaism/SourceList#Rejection of concept of a personal God

{{See also|Personal God|Philosophy of Spinoza}}

Critics, such as Baruch Spinoza, criticize Judaism because its theology and religious texts describe a personal God which has conversations with important figures from ancient Judaism (Moses, Abraham, etc) and forms relationships and covenants with the Jewish people.{{cite book

|title= Spinoza: a life

|first=Steven

|last=Nadler

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|year= 2001

|ISBN=0521002931

|pages=135–136, 145–146, 274–281

}}{{cite book

|title= The God delusion

|first=Richard

|last=Dawkins

|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0618680004

|page=37

}} Spinoza instead believed God exists only philosophically and that God is abstract and impersonal.

{{Main|Jews as a chosen people}}

Many people, such as Baruch Spinoza,Eliezer Schwied (2007) "Does the Idea of Jewish Election Have Any Meaning after the Holocaust?". In Wrestling with God: Jewish theological responses during and after the Holocaust, Steven T. Katz, Shlomo Biderman (Eds.); Oxford University Press, p 233. Moses Mendelssohn,{{cite book

|title=The Jews as a Chosen People: Tradition and Transformation

|first=S. Leyla

|last=Gürkan

|publisher= Taylor & Francis

|year= 2008

|ISBN= 0415466075

|pages=49–55

}} and Mordecai Kaplan,

• {{cite book

|title=Judaism

|first=Arthur

|last=Hertzberg

|publisher= Simon and Schuster

|year= 1998

|ISBN= 0684852659

|page=56

}}

• {{cite book

|title=A concise history of the Jewish people

|first= Naomi E.

|last= Pasachoff

|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield

|year= 2005

|ISBN= 0742543668

|page=276

}} have criticized Judaism because its religious texts describe Jews as the Chosen People.{{cite book

|title=Judaism

|first=Arthur

|last=Hertzberg

|publisher= Simon and Schuster

|year= 1998

|ISBN= 0684852659

|page=56

}} Many secular and Christian critics, in particular, have made this criticism because of implied favoritism or superiority.{{cite book

|title=Demonizing the other: antisemitism, racism & xenophobia

|first=Robert S.

|last=Wistrich

|publisher= Taylor & Francis, 1999

|ISBN= 9057024977

|page=6

}} However, most modern branches of the Jewish faith interpret "chosen people" to mean that Jews have special role to "preserve God's revelations"{{cite book

|title= The quest for equality in freedom

|first=Francis M.

|last=Wilhoit

|publisher= Transaction Publishers

|year=1979

|ISBN= 0878552405

|page=13

}} and to "affirm our common humanity",{{cite book

|title= Confessions of a secular Jew: a memoir

|first=Eugene

|last=Goodheart

|publisher= Transaction Publishers

|year= 2004

|ISBN= 0765805995

|pages=xv-xvi, 83

}} such as reflected in the policy statement of Reform Judaism that the role of chosen people means that Jews have a special responsibility to "cooperate with all men in the establishment of the kingdom of God, of universal brotherhood, Justice, truth and peace on earth."

{{cite web

|url=http://ccarnet.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=40&pge_id=1606

|title=The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism, Columbus, Ohio, 1937}}

{{seealso|Religious Zionism #Criticism|Land of Israel|1948 Palestinian exodus|Masei#Instructions for taking the land}}

Critics claim that religious Zionism's precepts have led to land ownership conflicts and expulsion of peoples in the Middle East.

• {{cite book

|title=The gun and the olive branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East By

|first=David

|last=Hirst

|publisher= Nation Books

|authorlink=David Hirst (journalist)

|year= 2003

|ISBN= 1560254831

|page= 418-419

}}

• {{cite book

|title=World orders, old and new

|first=Noam

|last=Chomsky

|publisher= Columbia University Press

|year= 1996

|ISBN= 0231101570,

|page=264:

}}

• {{cite web

|url= http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=15043

|title=FrontPage magazine interview with Christopher Hitchens

|date=December 11, 2003

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: the politics of expansion

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|publisher= Pluto Press

|year= 2000

|ISBN= 0745316158

|page=93

}}

• {{cite web

|url=http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/hitchens-dawkins-and-harris

|title=Essay by James M. Martin from "Atheist Nexus"

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Palestine and Israel: a challenge to justice

|first=John B.

|last=Quigley

|publisher= Duke University Press

|year= 1990

|ISBN= 0822310236

|page=176-177

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Fateful triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (2nd Ed, revised)

|first=Noam

|last=Chomsky

|publisher= South End Press

|year= 1999

|ISBN= 0896086011

|page=153-154

}}

• Saleh Abdel Jawad (2007) "Zionist Massacres: the Creation of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the 1948 War" in Israel and the Palestinian refugees, Eyal Benvenistî, Chaim Gans, Sari Hanafi (Eds.), Springer, p. 78.
• {{cite book

|title=Land or peace: whither Israel?

|first=Yael

|last=Yishai

|publisher= Hoover Press

|year= 1987

|ISBN= 0817985212

|page= 112-125

}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Palestinians: in search of a just peace

|first=Cheryl

|last=Rubenberg

|publisher= Lynne Rienner Publishers

|year= 2003

|ISBN= 1588262251

|page= 162

}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Holy Land in transit: colonialism and the quest for Canaan

|first= Steven George

|last=Salaita

|publisher= Syracuse University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 081563109X

|page= 54

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Islam and the West post 9/11

|first= Ron

|last=Geaves

|publisher= Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

|year= 2004

|ISBN= 0754650057

|page= 31

}} Specifically, some critics cite the Tanakh's (Jewish Bible's) notion of a "Promised Land" (ha-Aretz ha-Muvtachat) - which promises to the Jews the "Land of Israel" (Eretz Israel) - as a factor in the settlement of the Middle East,{{cite book

|title=The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|publisher= Zed Books

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 1842777610

|page=194

}} as described by one analyst: "Zionism aspires to restore the Biblical promised boundaries. It is a new manifestation of the ancient aspiration for the Land of Israel promised in the Bible."{{cite book

|title=Arab attitudes to Israel

|first=Yehoshafat

|last=Harkabi

|publisher= John Wiley and Sons

|year= 1974

|ISBN= 0470352035

|page=75

}} Critics also claim that verses from the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) are used to provide religious justifcation and motivation for confiscation and expulsion, citing specificially {{bibleverse||Numbers|33:50-55|HE}}:

• {{cite book

|title=The Palestine Yearbook of International Law, 1998-1999, Volume 10

|first=Anis F.

|last=Kassim

|publisher= Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

|year= 2000

|ISBN= 9041113045

|page= 9

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: the politics of expansion

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|publisher= Pluto Press

|year= 2000

|ISBN= 0745316158

|page=251-252

}} citing the book by Raphael Israeli, Palestinians Between Israel and Jordan', Prager, 1991, pages 158-159, 171, 182.

However, many religious leaders consider Zionism to be political, not religious concept; and some believe that returning to the promised land in moderns times should be discouraged.

:See also Historicity of Hebrew bible, Documentary Hypothesis

Some critics claim that many events and figures that are central to the formation of Judaism and its laws are historically implausible, including the events surrounding the Exodus, the tradition that the Torah was written by Moses, and the events surrounding the battle of Jericho.

• {{cite book

|title=The tenacity of unreasonable beliefs: fundamentalism and the fear of truth

|first=Solomon

|last=Schimmel

|publisher=Oxford University Press US

|year=2008

|ISBN= 0195188268

|page=39,56,61,240

}}

• {{cite book

|title=20th Century Jewish Religious Thought

|first=Paul

|last=Mendes-Flohr

|publisher= Jewish Publication Society

|year= 2009

|ISBN= 0827608926,

|page=681

}}

• John Van Seters (2004) "Historicity of Moses", in The Biblical World (vol 2), John Barton (Ed.); Taylor & Francis. pp 194-207.
• Thomas M. Bolin (2004) "Warfare and the Hebrew Bible", in The Biblical World (vol 2), John Barton (Ed.); Taylor & Francis. p. 45.
• David Novak (1993) "The Election of Israel: Outline of a Philosphical analysis", in A People apart: chosenness and ritual in Jewish philosophical thought Daniel H. Frank (Ed.) SUNY Press, 1993; p. 22 However, some branches of Judaism do not interpret these narratives literally, and many Jews consider those narratives to be metaphorical or allegorical.

{{Main|Criticism of Conservative Judaism}}

Conservative Judaism is criticized by some leaders of Orthodox Judaism for not properly following Halakha (Jewish religious law).Avi Shafran, [http://web.archive.org/web/20060106063953/http://www.momentmag.com/archive/feb01/feat2.html "The Conservative Lie"], Moment, February 2001. It is also criticized by some leaders of Reform Judaism for being at odds with the principles of its young adult members on issues such as intermarriage, patrilineal descent, and the ordination of lesbians and gay men—all issues that Conservative Judaism opposes and Reform Judaism supports.Joe Berkofsky, [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21714/edition_id/441/format/html/displaystory.html "Death of Conservative Judaism? Reform leader’s swipe sparks angry rebuttals"], j., March 5, 2004. (The Conservative movement has since moved in the direction of allowing for gay rabbis and the "celebration of same-sex commitment ceremonies."Laurie Goodstein,

[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/us/07jews.html?ex=1323147600&en=d9af0c2c2de39221&ei=5088&partner Conservative Jews Allow Gay Rabbis and Unions], The New York Times, 2006.)

{{seealso|Reform movement in Judaism|Jewish schisms|Jewish Enlightenment|Reform Judaism (North America)}}

The reform movement grew out of disatisfaction with several aspects of traditional Judaism or Rabbinic Judaism, and these dissatisfactions were documented in polemics and other writings during the 19th and early 20th century.

• "The polemics between Orthodox, as the traditionalists came to be called, and the Reformers were fierce. The Orthodox treated Reform as rank heresy, as no more than a religion of convenience which, if followed, would lead Jews altogether out of Judaism. The Reformers retorted that, on the contrary, the danger to Jewish survivial was occasioned by the Orthodox who, through their obsurantism, failed to see that the new challenges facing Judaism had to be faced consciously in the present as Judaism had faced, albeit unconsciously, similar challenges in the past." - Jacobs, Louis (1995), The Jewish religion: a companion, Oxford University Press, p. 4.

• "A number of noteworthy features distinguish this [Reform movement] from preceding cultures [traditional Judaism], features which are directed with polemical trenchancy against these predecessors.... A ferment of revolt against the established order of Jewish tradition ..." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought Cambridge University Press, p. 167.

• "[The reform movement] divided the Rabbinic world into adversary camps which fought each other with extraordinary zeal by means of endless mutual bans and anathemas, acrimonious polemics, and bitter abuse...." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought Cambridge University Press, p. 172.

• "The 'Judaism' that so antagonized the [Reform movement] was not of the Biblical variety ... but Talmudism, Rabbinism, Kabbalah, and Hassidism... In the beginning, a wide chasm separated the Orthodox and Liberals." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 177.

• "There is at present a rent in Judaism which affects its very life, and which no covering, however glittering, can repair. The evil which threatens to corrode gradually all the healthy bone and marrow must be completely eradicated, and this can be done only if, in the name and in the interest of the religion, we remove from the sphere of our religious life all that is corrupt and untenable, and solemnly absolve ourselves from all obligations toward it in the future; thus we may achieve the liberation of Judaism for ourselves and for our children, so as to prevent the estrangement from Judaism. " - Philipson, David (1907) The Reform Movement in Judaism, (quoting David Einhorn), Macmillian (reprinted by University of California, 2007), p. 481.

The criticisms of traditional Judaism included: criticisms asserting that the Torah's laws are not strictly binding;

• "Abraham Geiger ... stressed the belief in progress: the Bible and Talmud represent an early, primitive stage in a revelation that is still continuing. Many traditional ceremonies (such as circumcision) are distressing to modern sensibility or incompatible with modern life... Geiger become increasingly convinced of the need to 'dethrone the Talmud'... " - De Lange, Nicholas (2000),An introduction to Judaism, Cambridge University Press, p. 73

• "According to [Mordecai] Kaplan, the Jewish heritage, including the belief in God, must be reinterpreted so that it will be consistent with the intellectual outlook of the twentieth century. The Torah, which is Jewish civilization in practice, must be given a new functional interpretation." - Scult, Mel (1993) Judaism faces the twentieth century: a biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan, Wayne State University Press, p. 341.

• "Liberation from the yoke of exile was connate with the notion of liberation from the yoke of Torah and Jewish communal unity. Hence the call for ... separation between church and state, and authority for minimal organized religion." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 173.

• "Many perfered the 'religion of the heart', private worship, or the 'natural truths', ethics based on reason over the observance of practical precepts and community laws." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 174.

• "Israel drew within herself, shunned the world, and lived apart. In her seclusion her religion became her all. The interpretation of the Law and the constuction put upon the commandments tended toward the upholding of the letter rather than the spirit. ... Reform was born to protect the spirit of the Law, to place the spirit above the letter, to make the latter subservieint to the former.... The abolition of those forms and ceremonies that were not conducive to proper living, or that had, by reason of altered environment, become meaningless, was of the highest importance to the spiritual welfare of Israel." - Stern, Myer (1895), The rise and progress of reform Judaism: , Harvard University, p. 5.

criticisms asserting that many ceremonies and rituals are not necessary;

• "Reform Judaism rejected the concept of Divine revelation, and ... the law is considered instructional and inspirational but not binding, ... and by eliminating many ritual practices..." - Dosick, Wayne D. (1995), Living Judaism: the complete guide to Jewish belief, tradition, and practice, HarperCollins, p. 62.

• "Reform Judaism first took hold in Germany in the early nineteenth century. This tradition asserts that many of the ritualistic practices and dogmas of the past are outmoded..... Reform Jews assumed a prerogative to choose which Biblical laws were worthy of their allegiance and which were not.... Orthodox Jews adhere to a literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible and continue to observe all the traditional Jewish laws... Conservative Jews ... were ... less likely than the Orthodox to accept the infallibilty of sacred texts asserting that 'the divine origin of Jewish law ... [was subject] to human development and application'". - Berger, Ronald J. (2002), Fathoming the Holocaust: a social problems approach, Aldine Transaction, p. 179-180.

• "We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation." - Pittsburgh Platform, section 4.

• "...in the view of rabbinical Judaism every command of the written law in the Pentateuch (Torah sh'bikthab), and of the oral law (Torah sh'b'al peh), as codified in the Shulchan Aruk, is equally binding. The ceremonial law has equal potency with the religious and moral commands. Reform Judaism, on the other hand, claims that a distinction must be made between the universal precepts of religion and morality and the enactments arising from the circumstances and conditions of special times and places. Customs and ceremonies must change with the varying needs of different generations. Successive ages have their individual requirements for the satisfaction of the religious nature. No ceremonial law can be eternally binding. " - Philipson, David (1907) The Reform Movement in Judaism, Macmillian (reprinted by University of California, 2007), p. 5-6.

criticisms asserting that Rabbincal leadership is too authoritarian;

• "A ferment of revolt against the established order of Jewish tradition had existed ever since the expulsion from Spain.... The move toward worldliness, toward abolition of the Rabbinic stranglehold, became even stronger after Sabbatai Zvi failed to vanquish Satan with his esoteric wisdom." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 168

• ".. the immense authoritarian power of the orthodox Rabbis and Hasidic Zadikkim in the traditionalist communities ... As a result, there was open conflict between the rebellious youth .. and the religious establishment.... This was the context in which a virulent 'anti-clericalism' developed among progressive Jewish intellectuals, leaving countless evidence in the shape of polemical articles, autobiographical works, and imaginative literature." - Lowy, Michael (1992), Redemption and utopia: Jewish libertarian thought in Central Europe : a study in elective affinity, Stanford University Press, p. 45.

• "[Reform Judaism was] originally founded as a response by Jewish laity to the perceived authoritarian rigidity of traditional or Orthodox Judaism and its rabbis." - Palmer-Fernández, Gabriel (2004), The encyclopedia of religion and war, Routledge, p. 253.

• "The 'Judaism' that so antagonized the Emancipation [reform] culture was ... Talmudism and Rabbinism.... Both [ Isaak Markus Jost and Heinrich Graetz ] condemned the Rabbinic rule and reviled Kabbalah and Hassidism." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 177.

• " Rabbis were no longer entitled to their traditional rold as judges and definitive interpreters of Halachah [in reform communites], but functioned merely as preachers, teachers, and dayanim in ritual matters..." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 172.

• "Mosaism and rabbinic Judaism were appropriate for earlier ages, [Kohler] argued. But the age of man's maturity called for freedom from the letter, from blind authority, 'from all restriction which curb the minds and encroach upon the hearts'. The contemporary Jew had 'outgrown the guiding strings ... of infancy'; he was ready to walk on his own. What he required was not law, but a 'living Judaism', both enlightened and pious, appealling to reason and emotion." - Meyer, Michael A. (1995) Response to modernity: a history of the Reform Movement in Judaism, Wayne State University Press, p. 267.

• "There is a fatal split among Jews, first, because religious tenets and institutions have been kept forcibly on a level of a vanished era, and not permeated with the divine breath of refreshing life, while life itself hurried forward stormily; and secondly, because the religious leaders, lacking all knowledge of the world and of men, dreamed of other times and conditions, and held themselves aloof from the life of the new generation - hence resulted a superficial rationalism, inimical to all positive and historical faith, side by side with a rigid, unreasoning formalism". - Philipson, David (1907) The Reform Movement in Judaism, Macmillian (reprinted by University of California, 2007), (quoting Abraham Kohn, rabbi of Hohemems in Tirol); p. 93-95.

criticisms asserting that there was too much superstition;

• "The Emancipation culture [i.e. reform movement] reverberates with caustic polemics against Rabbis and Kabbalists immersed in a world of visions, miracles, and idle superstition." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 174.

• "The belief in Messianic redemption through miracles is shunted beyond the bounds of expectation, and is even derided [by the Reform movement]...." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 169.

criticisms asserting that traditional Judaism leads to isolation from other communities;

• "Emancipation implied the breakdown of the Jews' millennial social and cultural isolation ... It was said for the first time in European history the Jews could participate in non-Jewish culture without the stigma of apostacy". {{cite book

|title=The Jew in the modern world: a documentary history

|first=Paul R. |last=Mendes-Flohr

|publisher= Oxford University Press US,

|year=1995

|ISBN= 019507453X,

|page=155

}}

• "Sociologically, the way of life of halakhic Judaism vouchsafed Jewry to an unambiguously distinct ... identity - an identity that was the source of a profound discomfort to those Jews who sought cultural, social, and political integration in the Gentile community in which they lived." - The Jew in the modern world: a documentary history Paul R. Mendes-Flohr (Ed.), p. 156

• " Judaism, many felt, was trapped in a dark impasse, while 'Europe' was a spacious and luminous world." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 174

• "A ferment of revolt against the established order of Jewish tradition had existed ever since the expulsion from Spain. Former Marranos, in particular, were eager to achieve integration in their host countries; .... [D]riven by the despair of oppression, these movements wished to tear down the barriers separating Israel from other nations." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 168

and criticisms asserting that traditional Judaism over-emphasized the exile.

• " We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israels great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state." - Pittsburgh Platform

• "A ferment of revolt against the established order of Jewish tradition had existed ever since the expulsion from Spain. Former Marranos, in particular, were eager to achieve integration in their host countries; the desire to negate the exile prompted a corollary desire to wipe out the entire exilic tradition...." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 168.

• "[Reformers wanted to] end the exile and the mentality associated with exile" - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 168

• "Liberation from the yoke of exile was connate with the notion of liberation from the yoke of Torah and Jewish communal unity. Hence the call for ... separation between church and state, and authority for minimal organized religion." - Shmueli, Efraim (1990) Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought - Cambridge University Press, p. 173

Some of these criticisms were anticipated in a much earlier time, by philosopher Uriel da Costa (1585 – 1640) who criticized the Rabbinic authorities and the Talmud for lack of authenticity and spirituality.{{cite book

|title=Spinoza: a life

|first=Steven

|last=Nadler

|publisher= Cambridge University Press

|year= 2001

|ISBN= 0521002931

|pages=66-72

}}

Judaism has been criticized because its religious texts allegedly endorse

or glorify violence, including violence against innocent peoples. The battle of Jericho ({{bibleverse||Joshua|6:1-27|HE}}),Carl. S. Ehrlich (1999) "Joshua, Judaism, and Genocide", in

Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,

Judit Targarona Borrás, Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (Eds). 1999, Brill. p 117-124. the story

of Amalekites ({{bibleverse|1|Sam|15:1-6|HE}}),A. G. Hunter "Denominating Amalek: Racist stereotyping in the Bible and the Justification of Discrimination", in Sanctified aggression: legacies of biblical and post biblical vocabularies of violence, Jonneke Bekkenkamp, Yvonne Sherwood (Eds.). 2003, Continuum Internatio Publishing Group, pp 92-108 the story of the Midianites ({{bibleverse||Numbers|31:1-18|HE}}),{{cite book

|title=The God delusion

|first=Richard |

last=Dawkins

|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0618680004

|page= 245

}} and the Purim festival{{cite book

|title=Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence

|first=Elliott S.

|last=Horowitz

|publisher= Princeton University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0691124914

|pages= 2–3, 107–146, 187–212, 213–247

}} are cited as sources of violent attitudes that are allegedly endorsed by Judaism and its religious texts.

• {{cite book

|title=The Holy Land in transit: colonialism and the quest for Canaan

|first=Steven George

|last=Salaita

|publisher= Syracuse University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 081563109X

|page=54

}}

• {{cite book

|title=For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel

|first=Ian

|last=Lustick

|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations

|year= 1988

|ISBN= 0876090366

|pages=131–132

}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Bible: a biography

|first=Karen

|last=Armstrong

|publisher= Atlantic Monthly Press

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 0871139693

|pages= 211–216

}} However, modern religious authorities repudiate the sort of warfare described in

the Torah, or claim that the events were exaggerated or metaphorical.

{{seealso|Jewish religious terrorism|Religious fanaticism#Judaism}}

Judaism has been assoicated with violence and terrorism in modern times, including orgianizations and individuals such as Gush Emunim Underground (formed by members of Gush Emunim),[http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/polisci/faculty/data/lustick/for_the_land/lustick13.html Lustick] For The Land and The Lord: The Evolution of Gush Emunim, by Ian S. Lustick Brit HaKanaim, the Jewish Defense League founded in 1969 by Rabbi Meir Kahane,

• [http://www.adl.org/extremism/jdl_chron.asp Anti-Defamation League on JDL]<
• {{cite book

|title=The Achille Lauro Hijacking: Lessons in the Politics and Prejudice of Terrorism

|first=Michael K.

|last=Bohn

|pages=67

|year=2004

|publisher=Brassey's Inc.

|isbn=1574887793}}

• [http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress04/doran061604.htm Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony]

Kach and Kahane Chai,

• [http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/45313.pdf U.S. Dept. of State, Country Reports on Terrorism 2004. April 2005]
• [http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Jan_Feb_2007/0701019.html U.S. Appeals Court Affirms Designation of Kahane Chai, Kach as Terrorist Groups] Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
• [http://www.cfr.org/publication/9178/kach_kahane_chai_israel_extremists.html?breadcrumb=%2Fabout%2Fnewsletters%2Feditorial_detail%3Fid%3D1332 Kach, Kahane Chai (Israel, extremists)] Council for Foreign Relations, 20 March 2008

Yaakov Teitel,

• http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125254.html U.S.-born Jewish terrorist suspected of series of attacks over past 12 years. By Amos Harel and Chaim Levinson. Accessed: 3 November 2009. *http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799061280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Jewish terrorist arrested for alleged series of hate crimes. By YAAKOV KATZ. Accessed: 3 November 2009.

and Baruch Goldstein, perpetrator of the Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre.

• {{cite book

|title=Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence

|first=Elliott S.

|last=Horowitz

|publisher= Princeton University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0691124914

|page= 6-11

}}

• {{cite web

|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980282,00.html

|title="The Making of a Murderous Fanatic", Time magazine, March 7, 1994

}}

• {{cite book

|title=An understanding of Judaism

|first=John D.

|last= Rayner

|publisher=Berghahn Books

|year= 1997

|ISBN= 1571819711

|page=57}}

However, such instances of religious violence are considered by authorities to be extremist aberrations, and not representative of the tenets of Judaism.

Some critics claim that Judaism's religious leaders have interpreted religious laws to support killing of innocent civilians during wartime in some circumstances, and that this interpretation was asserted several times: in 1974 following the Yom Kippur war,

• Rabbi Shim'on Weiser, "Purity of weapons - an exchange of letters" in Niv" Hammidrashiyyah Yearbook of Midrashiyyat No'am, 1974, pp.29-31.

quoted in {{cite book

|title=The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|publisher= Zed Books

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 1842777610

|page=158

}}. This book quotes Amnon Rubinstein, From Herzl to Gush Emunim and Back (1980), p. 124.

in 2004, during conflicts in West Bank and Gaza,"ADL Strongly Condemns Declaration of Rabbis" - ADL press release, dated Sept 9, 2004; http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/4561_62.htm and in the 2006 Lebanon War.Rebecca Spence " Rabbis: Israel Too Worried Over Civilian Deaths", in The Jewish Daily Forward, issue of August 25, 2006. http://www.forward.com/articles/1438/

Critics cite a booklet published by an IDF military chaplain which stated "... insofar as the killing of civilians is performed against the background of war, one should not, according to religious law, trust a Gentile 'The best of the Gentiles you should kill'...".

• Abraham Avidan (Zamel), After the War: Chapters of Meditation, Rule, and Research, as quoted by Steven Schwarzschild, "The Question of Jewish Ethics Today" (Dec, 24, 1976) in journal Sh'ma (vol. 7, no. 124) - http://www.clal.org/e14.html. Schwarzschild article reprinted in The pursuit of the ideal: Jewish writings of Steven Schwarzschild, chapter 7, pp 117-136, SUNY Press, 1990 ({{ISBN|0791402193}}). Latter book quotes the booklet on page 125. Schwarzschild writes that Avidan was the "military rabbi" of the Central Command Headquarters.

• Schwarzschild article includes a bracketed comment as follows: "... insofar as the killing of civilians is performed against the background of war, one should not, according to religious law, trust a Gentile [and justifies this claim, citing the utterance from the Codes:] 'The best of the Gentiles you should kill"...'". Schwartzschild indicates that the phrase "[t]he best of the Gentiles you should kill" is from the Mekhilta 14:7 ("tov shebagoyim harog"), citing Nathan Suesskind, "Tov Sheba-Goyim" C.C.A.R. Journal, Spring 1976, pp. 28f. and n. 2.

• Schwarzschild article states that the booklet was discussed contemporaneously in the Mapam newspaper. Other sources cite contemporaneous discussions by Haolam Hazeh, 5 January 1974; by David Shaham, 'A chapter of meditation', Hotam, 28 March 1974; and by Amnon Rubinstein, 'Who falsifies the Halakhah?' Maariv, 13 October 1975.

• {{cite book

|title=The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|publisher= Zed Books

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 1842777610

|page=158

}}. This book also cites the chaplain's booklet.

• See also a discussion of "Religious Zionist military rabbinate" in George Wilkes (2003) "Judaism and Justice in War", in Just war in comparative perspective, Paul F. Robinson (Ed.), Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., p. 22. The booklet was withdrawn by the military after criticism, but the military never repudiated the guidance.
• {{cite book |

|title=The pursuit of the ideal: Jewish writings of Steven Schwarzschild

|first=Stephen

|last=Schwarzschild

|publisher= SUNY Press

|year= 1990

|ISBN= 0791402193

|pages=125-126

}}

However, the other religious leaders have condemned this interpretation, and the Israeli military subscribes to the Purity of arms doctrine, which seeks to minimize injuries to non-combatants; furthermore, the advice was only applicable to combat operations in wartime.

Activist Noam Chomsky claims that leaders of Judaism in Israel play an inappropriate role in sanctioning military operations.{{cite book

|title=Fateful triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians (2nd Ed, revised)

|first=Noam

|last=Chomsky

|publisher= South End Press

|year= 1999

|ISBN= 0896086011

|page=153-154

}} Chomsky writes: "[Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Council] gave their endorsement to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, declaring that it conformed to the Halachi (religious) law and that participation in the war 'in all its aspects' is a religious duty. The military Rabbinate meanwhile distributed a document to soldiers containing a map of Lebanon with the names of cities replaced by alleged Hebrew names taken from the Bible.... A military Rabbi in Lebanon explained the biblical sources that justify 'our being here and our opening the war; we do our Jewish religious duty by being here.'"

{{seealso|Activities_prohibited_on_Shabbat #Controversy}}

Judaism has been criticized because its religious laws contain several provisions that discriminate against non-Jews, such as the rule that there is no need to return lost property belonging to non-Jews, and the asymmetry in compensation rules following ox-goring incidents.

• {{cite book

|first=Steven D.

|last=Fraade

|title=The Other in Jewish thought and history: constructions of Jewish culture and identity",

|pages=145–165

|publisher= NYU Press

|year=1994

|isbn= 0814779905

}}

• David Novak (1979) "Noahide Law: A Foundation for Jewish Philosophy (Elimination of the double standard)" in Tradition in the public square: a David Novak reader, (2008) Randi Rashkover (Ed.). p. 132-136, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
• {{cite book

|title= Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought

|first=Ephraim

|last=Shmueli

|publisher= Cambridge University Press

|year=1990

|isbn= 0521373816

|page=261

}} Some of Judaism's precepts have been criticized because they could be interpreted to mean that Jews should not violate the Sabbath in order to save non-Jews that are dying.Efraim Shmueli, "Seven Jewish Cultures". Cambridge University Press, 1980. p. 123, 261 Some critics point to the fact that the Talmud includes the maxim "[non-Jews] are neither to be lifted out of a well nor hauled down into it."Babylonian Talmud, in Tractate Avodah Zarah 26b, as quoted by Arthur Segal, in "A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud", 2009, p. 228. See also Avodah Zarah 26a. Critics also cite the writings of Maimonides (1137-1204), an important Rabbinical commentator, who wrote "as for gentiles [non-Jews], the basic Talmudic principle is that their lives must not be saved, although it is also forbidden to murder them outright."Maimonides, in his "Mishneh Torah", as quoted by Arthur Segal, in "A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud", 2009, p. 228

However, religious authorities point out that those religious dicta must be interpreted within the context that they were created, and that non-Jews in that context were idolaters.{{ cite book

|title=Paul and the Jewish law: halakha in the Letters of the Apostle to the Gentiles

|first=Peter J.

|last=Tomson

|publisher=Uitgeverij Van Gorcum

|year=1990

|isbn= 9023224906

|pages=151–163}} In addition, arguments against such discrimination were posited by leading rabbis starting in the middle ages, and the rules are no longer enforced.{{ cite book

|title=Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World

|first=Sidney

|last=Schwarz

|publisher= Jewish Lights Publishing

|year= 2008

|isbn=1580233538

|page=74}} All rabbinic authorities agree that the Sabbath should be violated to save any human life, including non-Jews.[http://www.israel21c.org/briefs/8-saved-during-qshabbat-from-hellq 8 saved during "Shabbat from hell"] (January 17, 2010) in [http://www.israel21c.org/ Israel 21c Innovation News Service] Retrieved 2010–01–18[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3835327,00.html ZAKA rescuemission to Haiti 'proudly desecrating Shabbat'] Religious rescue team holds Shabbat prayer with members of international missions in Port au-Prince. Retrieved 2010–01–22

{{See also|Jewish Feminism}}

{{See also|Agunah}}

Judaism, particularly the

Orthodox formulation, has been criticized because its religious laws can sometimes result in women being trapped in abusive relationships, and for tolerating the status of agunah.{{cite book

|title=Israel's changing society: population, ethnicity, and development

|page=170

|first=Calvin

|last=Goldschneider

|year=2002

|publisher=Westview Press

}} Many criticisms focus on the fact that women may be trapped in a marriage, because divorce cannot be granted without the husband's consent, and some husbands refuse to grant the consent.{{cite book

|title=The coming of Lilith

|pages=147–148

|first=Judith

|last=Plaskow

|authorlink=Judith Plaskow

|year=2005

|publisher=Beacon Press

}}

:The author writes "The existence of agunah is a crime against women, a disgrace to the Jewish community, and a violation of human rights that demands immediate remedy. It is also a symptom of the systemic exclusion of women from power and authority in traditional Judaism. .. women's powerlessness is further magnified by a larger religious system that is also entirely under male control.... In cases where a woman's husband refuses her a 'get', she can find herself in a nightmare realm, bargaining away her means of survival and occasionally even custody of her children. .. the persistent exploitation of the inequalities of Jewish divorce law is also a more deliberate attempt to curtail women's power in a time of social change... elements within the Orthodox community are using the fundamental inequity of Jewish law to ensure women's powerlessness and to reinforce the status quo." However, the Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism formulations permit women to obtain divorces without the consent of husbands.

{{See also|Patriarchy|Rabbi#Women|l2=Women rabbis}}

Judaism has been criticized because some of its religious laws and religious texts are alleged to treat women with a status inferior to men, including exclusion from some rituals and ceremonies,Haviva Ner-David (2009) "Feminism and Halakhah: The Jew Who (Still) Isn't There". In Elyse Goldstein (Ed.), New Jewish feminism: probing the past, forging the future,p 313. Jewish Lights Publishing. being rabbis or holding certain other positions of authority,

• {{cite book

|title= Women rabbis: exploration & celebration

|first=Gary Phillip (Ed.)

|last=Zola

|publisher= Hebrew Union College Press

|year= 1996

|pages=2–4

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination 1889-1985

|first=Pamela S.

|last=Nadell

|publisher= Beacon Press

|year=1999

|pages=30–31

|{{ISBN|0807036498}}

}} which sometimes leads women to feel helpless, powerless, and like outsiders.

• {{cite book

|title= Feminism encounters traditional Judaism: resistance and accommodation

|authorlink= Tova Hartman

|first=Tova

|last=Hartman

|publisher=UPNE

|year=2007 }}

• Haviva Ner-David (2009). "Feminism and Halakhah: The Jew Who (Still) Isn't There". In Elyse Goldstein (Ed.), New Jewish feminism: probing the past, forging the future, pp 312-333. Jewish Lights Publishing.
• Katharina von Kellenbach (2001). "Overcoming the teaching of contempt". In Athalya Brenner (Ed.), A feminist companion to reading the Bible: approaches, methods and strategies, pp 190-202. Taylor & Francis. Some critics blame Judaism and its religious texts for being the source of widespread patriarchal attitudes in the modern world.{{cite book

|title=Selected Essays of Gore Vidal

|first=Gore

|last=Vidal

|publisher= Random House, Inc.

|year=2009

|ISBN= 0307388689

|page=410

}} Author Naomi Gaetz addresses the fact that some feminists blame the Judaism for being the source of many sexist beliefs, and quotes Tikva Frymer-Kensky "Israel was neither the creator of patriarchy, nor the worst perpetrator in the ancient world.…Nevertheless, we make a profound statement when we acknowledge that the Bible is patriarchal. We are brought to the realization that the Bible contains a fundamental moral flaw: it does not treat all humans as equals."{{ cite book

|title= Unlocking the garden: a feminist Jewish look at the Bible, midrash and God

|first=Naomi

|last=Graetz

|publisher= Gorgias Press

|year=2005

|page=15

|ISBN= 1593330588}}

:Quoting from {{cite book

|title=Studies in Bible and feminist criticism

|first=Tikva

|last=Frymer-Kensky

|authorlink=Tikva Frymer-Kensky

|publisher= Jewish Publication Society

|year= 2006

|page=161

}} Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism generally provide women with privileges comparable to men.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

{{See also|Niddah}}

Judaism has been criticized because the religious rules governing menstruation (generally known as niddah) are claimed to cause some women to view their bodies as damaged, and to cause some women to feel oppressed.

• Beth S. Wagner (2001). "Mitzvah and Medicine: Gender, Assimilation, and the Scientific Defense of Family Purity". In Susan Nadell (Ed.), Women and American Judaism: historical perspectives, pp.201-222. UPNE. This chapter documents research by Jewish scientists in the early 20th century who tried to prove that menstruating women harmed people and objects they came in contact with.
• {{ cite book

|page=147

|title=The hole in the sheet: a modern woman looks at Orthodox and Hasidic Judaism

|first=Evelyn

|last=Kaye

|publisher= L. Stuart

|year=1987

}}

:This book quotes Rabbi Laura Geller: "Menstrual taboos are responsible for real damage to Jewish women's views of themselves and their bodies. I have met many women who learned nothing about the Torah except that they could not touch the Torah because they menstruate. . . . Their sense of themselves as 'inferior' Jews has already permeated their relationship to tradition and their own bodies." Tova Hartman wrote "The rules that govern religious women's bodies are often criticized as oppressive methods of domination".{{cite book

|title= Feminism encounters traditional Judaism: resistance and accommodation

|authorlink= Tova Hartman

|page=84

|first=Tova

|last=Hartman

|publisher= UPNE

|year=2007 }} However, one commentator noted that "Rabbinic commentary did not unilaterally focus on the menstruating woman as pariah. For every statement stressing defilement, danger, and impurity, exists a counter-statement emphasizing respect toward women, the holiness of sexual intimacy, and the incidental benefits of sexual regulation and restraint."Beth S. Wagner (2001). "Mitzvah and Medicine: Gender, Assimilation, and the

Scientific Defense of Family Purity". In Susan Nadell (Ed.), Women and American Judaism: historical perspectives, p. 204. UPNE.

{{seealso|Judaism and slavery|Curse of Ham#Early Jewish interpretations|The Bible and slavery}}

Some critics assert that the Curse of Ham described in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) ({{bibleverse||Genesis|9:20-27|HE}}) and in the Talmud"Three copulated on the ark and they were all punished ... Ham was smitten in his skin". Sanhedrin 108B, as quoted by Robin Blackburn in "The making of New World slavery: from the Baroque to the modern, 1492-1800 ", Verso 1998, p. 68,88-89 was a primary cause for the belief held by many Europeans that black Africans were inferior race, and was used as justification by anti-black racists.

• {{cite book

|title=Noah's curse: the biblical justification of American slavery

|first=Stephen R.

|last=Haynes

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|year= 2002

|page=23-27

}}

• {{cite book

|title=The Curse of Ham in the Early Modern Era: The Bible and the Justifications for Slavery

|first=David M.

|last=Whitford

|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.,

|year=2009

|page=19-26}}

• Washington, Joseph R. (1985) "Anti-Blackness in English religion", E. Mellen Press, p. 1, 10-11, quoted in The curse of Ham, David M. Goldenberg, 2003.
• Jordon, Winthrop D. (1968) "White over black: American attitudes toward the Negro, 1550-1812", University of North Carolina Press, p. 18, 10-11, quoted in The curse of Ham, David M. Goldenberg, 2003. Scholar David M. Goldenberg analyzed the arguments of the critics, and concluded that they were basing their conclusions on faulty interpretations of Rabbinical sources. Goldenberg concludes that the Judaic texts do not explicitly contain anti-black precepts, but instead later race-based interpretations were applied to the texts by later, non-Jewish analysts.
• {{cite book

|title=The curse of Ham: race and slavery in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

|first=David M. |last=Goldenberg

|publisher=Princeton University Press

|year=2003

}}

• Goldenberg, David. "The curse of Ham: a case of Rabbinic racism?", in Struggles in the promised land: toward a history of Black-Jewish relations in the United States, (Jack Salzman, Ed), Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 21-52.
• Goldenberg (in his book and essay) identifies several sources that - in his opinion - improperly assert that Judaism may be partially responsible for racism, including:

::- Thomas Gosset: "Race: The History of an Idea in America" 1963, p 5

::- Raphael Patai & Robert Graves: "Hebrew Myths: The Book of Gensis" p 121.

::- J. A. Rogers "Sex and Race" (1940-1944) 3:316-317

::- J. A. Rogers "Nature Knows no Color-Line" (1952) p 9-10.

::- Edith Sanders "The Hamitic Hypothesis" in "Journal of African History" vol 10, num 4 (1969) p. 521-532

::- Joseph Harris "Africans and their History" (1972) p 14-15

::- Leslie Fiedler "Negro and Jew: Encounter in America" in "The collected essays of Lesley Feidler" 1971

::- Raoul Allier "Une Enigme troublante: la race et la maledictiou e Cham" 1930; p 16-19, 32

::- Winthrop Jordan "White over Black" p 18 (1968)

::- Washington post (Sept 14, 1991; p B6)

::- Charles Copher "Blacks and Jews in HIstorical Interaction" in "The Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center 3" (1975) p 16.

::- Tony Martin "The Jewish Onslaught" (1993) p 33.

::- Nation of Islam publication: "The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews" 1991; p. 203

::- St. Claire Drake "Black Folk Here and There" vol 2 (1990) p 17-30, 22-23

::- Joseph R. Washington "Anti-Blackness in English Religion" 1984, p. 1, 10-11

Some critics assert that slavery is endorsed by the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), and that that endorsement provided justification and support for the slave trade.

{{cite book

|title=Race: the history of an idea in the West

|first=Ivan |last=Hannaford

|publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center Press

|year=1996

}}

{{cite book

|title=Noah's curse: the biblical justification of American slavery

|first=Stephen R.

|last=Haynes

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|year= 2002

|page=65-104

}} However, slavery was a common practice during the era when the Tanakh was written, and the rules governing slave ownership by Jews were relatively mild, and provided for release of the slaves after a few years.

Nur Masalha asserts that some modern religious Zionists have used religious writings of Maimonides to support race-based ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

{{cite book

|title=The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism

|first=Nur

|last=Masalha

|page=9,183- 214

|publisher=Zed Books

|year=2007}}

{{Main|Homosexuality and Judaism}}

Judaism has been criticized because its religious texts condemn homosexual activity, and because some formulations, such as Orthodox Judaism, prohibit homosexual activity.

• {{cite book

|title=Wrestling with God and men: homosexuality in the Jewish tradition

|first=Steven

|last=Greenberg

|publisher= Univ of Wisconsin Press

|year=2005

|isbn= 0299190943

|pages= 3–40

}}

• {{ cite book

|title=Judaism in America

|first=Marc Lee

|last=Raphael

|publisher= Columbia University Press

|year= 2005

|{{ISBN|0231120613}}

|pages=121–123

}}

• Denise L. Eger (2001), "Embracing Lesbians and Gay Men", in Contemporary debates in American reform Judaism: conflicting visions, Dana Evan Kaplan (Ed.), Routledge, p. 180-192 However, Reform Judaism accepts gay and lesbian members and rabbis. Orthodox Judaism does not exclude homosexuals, but requires that they not engage in homosexual sexual activities.

:See also Christian-Jewish disputations

:See also: Persecution of Christians in Judea

Judaism has been criticized because it is alleged that leaders of Judaism, particularly during the first few centuries CE, persecuted Christians.

Persecution of Christians:

• {{cite book

|title=The Theme of Jewish Persecution of Christians in the Gospel According to St Matthew

|first=Douglas R. A.

|last=Hare

|publisher= Cambridge University Press

|year= 2005

|ISBN= 052102045X

}}

• Judith M. Lieu (1998), "Accusations of Jewish persecution in early Christian sources", in Tolerance and intolerance in early Judaism and Christianity, Graham Stanton, Guy G. Stroumsa (Eds), Cambridge University Press, pp. 279-295.

Some critics also include the death of Jesus as an example of persecution of early Christians, claiming that leaders of Judaism played a key role in bringing about the death. See Jewish deicide. See also:

• E. P. Sanders (1999), "Reflections on Anti-Judaism in the New Testament and in Christianity", in Anti-Judaism and the Gospels William Reuben Farmer (Ed.), Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 272-276.
• {{cite book

|title=Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History

|first=David

|last=Klinghoffer

|publisher= Random House, Inc.

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0385510225,

|page=2-3

}}

• For a very early example, see the claim that "Jews killed Jesus", initially stated by Paul in the New Testament ({{bibleverse|1|Thes.|2:14-15|49}}).
• {{cite book

|title=The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide

|first=Gerd

|last=Theissen

|publisher= Fortress Press

|year= 1998

|ISBN= 0800631226

|page=440

}}

• In opposition to this view, many historians conclude that the Romans were responsible for the death of Jesus.
• In opposition to this view, the Roman Catholic church issued a proclamation absolving modern Jews of collective guilt for the death.

{{See also|Quotations about Jesus in the Talmud|Toledot Yeshu}}

Judaism has been criticized because the Talmud, the Tosefta, and the Toldoth Yeshu are claimed to refer to Jesus in an insulting manner, such as: stating that Jesus is condemned to hell and boiled in excrement;Boiled in excrement:

• Jewish history and Jewish memory: essays in honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi by Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, UPNE, 1998, page 33.
• The Jew in the medieval book: English antisemitisms, 1350-1500 by Anthony Paul Bale, Cambridge University Press, 2006, page 33.
• Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History by David Klinghoffer, Random House, Inc., 2006, page 154 (identifies source of criticism as King Louis IX).
• Jesus in the Talmud by Peter Schäfer, Princeton University Press, 2007, p 13, 85, 88-89, 90-92, 113, 174.
• From rebel to rabbi: reclaiming Jesus and the making of modern Jewish culture by Matthew B. Hoffman, Stanford University Press, 2007, page 4 (specifying Talmud verses: Sanhedrin 107b and Gittin 56b-57a)
• Tolerance and intolerance in early Judaism and Christianity by Graham Stanton, Guy G. Stroumsa, Cambridge University Press, 1998, page 247 (also includes a discussion of the censorship that removed references to Jesus - see footnote #34 on page 256; includes the assertion that "Balaam" is one of the names used instead of Jesus/Yeshua).
• Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians, by Israel Jacob Yuval, University of California Press, 2008, page 132.
• Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence by Robert E. Van Voorst, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000, page 110 (also discusses use of name Balaam in lieu of Jesus/Yeshua).
• Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages by Robert Chazan,Behrman House, Inc, 1979, page 227-230 (transcript of 1240 Paris disputation).
• A history of the Jews by Paul Johnson, HarperCollins, 1988, page 217 (identifies critic as Nicholas Donin).
• Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen of Tordesillas and his book Ezer ha-emunah, by Yehuda Shamir, BRILL, 1975, page 31-32 (identifies Pope Gregory IX as a critic).

stating that he was executed for sorcery; stating that his mother Mary was a whore or adulterer; and identifying Jesus by the the Hebrew name Yeshu{{cite book

|title=Faithful renderings: Jewish-Christian difference and the politics of translation

|first=Naomi

|last=Seidman

|publisher= University of Chicago Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0226745066,

|page= 139}} which, it is alleged, is not a short form of the name Yeshua, but rather an acrostic signifying "may his name and memory be blotted out".

• David Berger, 1998, "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic Against Christianity", in Jewish history and Jewish memory Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Ed.), UPNE, pp. 32-33
• {{cite book

|title=The Jew in the medieval book: English antisemitisms, 1350-1500

|first=Anthony Paul

|last=Bale

|publisher= Cambridge University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0521863546

|page=33

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Jesus in the Talmud

|first=Peter

|last=Schäfer

|publisher= Princeton University Press

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 0691129266

|pages=85–92, 98–100

}}

• {{cite book

|title=From rebel to rabbi: reclaiming Jesus and the making of modern Jewish culture

|first=Matthew B.

|last=Hoffman

|publisher= Stanford University Press

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 0804753717

|pages=4–5

}} However, many scholars of Judaism maintain that the person identified as Yeshu in the Talmud is not Jesus.David Berger, 1998, "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic Against Christianity", in Jewish history and Jewish memory Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Ed.), UPNE, p. 33 In addition, the general trend in Judaism over the past two thousand years has been to treat Jesus with increasing sympathy.{{cite book

|title=From rebel to rabbi: reclaiming Jesus and the making of modern Jewish culture

|first=Matthew B.

|last=Hoffman

|publisher= Stanford University Press

|year= 2007

|ISBN= 0804753717

}}

{{seealso|Shechitah #Animal welfare controversies|Kashrut #Kashrut and animal welfare}}

Judaism's practice of shechitah (ritual slaughter of animals) has been criticized by animal rights groups, such as PETA, for being cruel and inhumane.

• {{ cite book

|pages=86

|title= A communion of subjects: animals in religion, science, and ethics

|first= Paul

|last= Waldau

|publisher= Columbia University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN=0231136420

}}

• {{ cite book

|pages=243

|title= Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

|first= Shmuel

|last= Waldman

|publisher=Feldheim Publishers

|year= 2005

|ISBN= 1583308067

}}

• {{ cite book

|pages=94-97

|title= Multiculturalism and the Jews

|first= Sander L.

|last=Gilman

|publisher= CRC Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0415979188,

}}

• {{ cite book

|pages=133-134

|title= Judaism and vegetarianism

|first= Richard H.

|last= Schwartz

|publisher= Lantern Books

|year=2001

|ISBN= 1930051247

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Judaism and animal rights: classical and contemporary responses

|first= Roberta

|last= Kalechofsky

|publisher= Micah Publications

|year= 1992

|ISBN= 0916288358

}}

• Norman Solomon, "Judaism" in The animal ethics reader (Eds. Susan Jean Armstrong, Richard George Botzler); Routledge, 2003, pages 222-223. However, proponets of the practice claim that shechitah is painless because the animal quickly loses consciousness.

{{ cite book

|pages= 63-65

|title=Dear Chief Rabbi: from the correspondence of Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits on matters of Jewish law, ethics, and contemporary issues, 1980-1990 ("Shechitah and Cruelty to Animals" chapter)

|first=Sir Immanuel

|last=Jakobovits

|publisher =KTAV Publishing House, Inc.

|year= 1995

|ISBN= 0881254711

}}

{{Main|Brit milah}}

Judaism has been criticized for encouraging or requiring brit milah, a circumcision ritual performed on young boys, because the ritual is alleged to be painful, cruel, tantamount to genital mutilation, and without the boy's consent.

• {{cite book

|pages=207–224

|title=Why aren't Jewish women circumcised?: gender and covenant in Judaism

|first=Shaye J. D.

|last=Cohen

|authorlink=Shaye Cohen

|publisher= University of California Press

|year=2005

|isbn= 0520212509

}}

• {{cite book

|pages=115–148

|title=Marked in your flesh: circumcision from ancient Judea to modern America

|first= Leonard B.

|last=Glick

|publisher= Oxford University Press

|year=2005

|isbn= 019517674X

}}

• {{cite book

|pages=157–160

|title=The covenant of circumcision: new perspectives on an ancient Jewish rite

|first=Elizabeth Wyner

|last=Mark

|publisher= UPNE

|year= 2003

|isbn= 1584653078 }}

:See also Tabory and Erez, "Circumscribed Circumcision", pages 161-167, in this book.

• {{cite book

|pages=177–212

|title= From Abraham to America: a history of Jewish circumcision

|first= Eric Kline

|last=Silverman

|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield

|year= 2006

|isbn= 0742516695

}} An anti-brit milah movement is active in some branches of Judaism.{{cite web

| url = http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN22970720071003?pageNumber=1

| title = Jewish "intactivists" in U.S. stop circumcising

| accessdate = 2007-11-03

| last = Chernikoff

| first = Helen

| date = October 3, 2007

| publisher = Reuters

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/brisshalom.htm

| title = Providers of Brit Shalom

| accessdate = 2007-10-03

| last = Goldman, PhD

| first = Ron

| year = 2006

| publisher = Jews Against Circumcision

}} However, many view brit milah as an important religious ritual, involving only minor pain.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-3}}

• Anti-Judaism
• Anti-Zionism
• Criticism of Christianity
• Criticism of Islam
• Criticism of Moses
• Christian-Jewish disputations
• Halakha#Views today
• Jewish schisms
• Nontheism
• On the Jewish Question by Karl Marx
• Pittsburg platform
• [[Reform movement in Judaism#Orthodoxy and the Reform movement in Judaism|Orthodoxy and the Reform

movement in Judaism]]

{{col-3}}

• Abner of Burgos
• Noam Chomsky
• Uriel da Costa
• Richard Dawkins
• Nicholas Donin
• Tikva Frymer-Kensky
• Abraham Geiger
• Sam Harris
• Hegel
• Christopher Hitchens

{{col-3}}

• Mordecai M. Kaplan
• Karl Marx
• Moses Mendelssohn
• PETA
• Paul of Tarsus (Saint Paul)
• Judith Plaskow
• Justinas Pranaitis
• Douglas Rushkoff
• Israel Shahak
• Baruch Spinoza

{{col-end}}

• Acosta [da Costa], Uriel Examination of Pharisaic traditions, reprinted in Volume 44 of Brill's studies in intellectual history (Edited and translated by Herman Prins Salomon, I. S. D. Sassoon). BRILL, 1993 {{ISBN|9004099239}}. Online [http://books.google.com/books?id=8qjfRfLe6W4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false here].
• {{cite book

|title= Feminism encounters traditional Judaism: resistance and accommodation

|authorlink= Tova Hartman

|first=Tova

|last=Hartman

|publisher=UPNE

|year=2007 }}

• {{cite book

|title=The gun and the olive branch: the roots of violence in the Middle East By

|first=David

|last=Hirst

|publisher= Nation Books

|authorlink=David Hirst (journalist)

|year= 2003

|ISBN= 1560254831

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Reckless rites: Purim and the legacy of Jewish violence

|first=Elliott S.

|last=Horowitz

|publisher= Princeton University Press

|year= 2006

|ISBN= 0691124914

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Judaism and animal rights: classical and contemporary responses

|first= Roberta

|last= Kalechofsky

|authorlink=Roberta Kalechofsky

|publisher= Micah Publications

|year= 1992

|ISBN= 0916288358

}}

• {{cite book

|title=For the land and the Lord: Jewish fundamentalism in Israel

|first=Ian

|last=Lustick

|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations

|authorlink=Ian Lustick

|year= 1988

|ISBN= 0876090366

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism

|first=Douglas

|last=Rushkoff

|authorlink=Douglas Rushkoff

|publisher= Three Rivers Press

|year= 2004

}}

• Schwartzchild, Steven, "The Question of Jewish Ethics Today" (Dec, 24, 1976) in journal Sh'ma (vol. 7, no. 124) online [http://www.clal.org/e14.html here]. Reprinted in The pursuit of the ideal: Jewish writings of Steven Schwarzschild, chapter 7, pp 117-136, SUNY Press, 1990 ({{ISBN|0791402193}}).
• {{cite book

|title=Judaism faces the twentieth century: a biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan

|first=Mel

|last=Scult

|publisher= Wayne State University Press

|year= 1993

|ISBN= 0814322808

}}

• {{cite book

|title=Jewish history, Jewish religion: the weight of three thousand years

|first=Israël

|last=Shahak

|publisher= Pluto Press

|year= 1994

|authorlink=Israel Shahak

|ISBN= 0745308198}}

• {{cite book

|title=Seven Jewish cultures: a reinterpretation of Jewish history and thought

|first=Ephraim

|last=Shmueli

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|year= 1990

|ISBN= 0521373816

}}

• {{cite book

|title= Short treatise on God, man, and human welfare

|first=Baruch

|last=Spinoza

|publisher= The Open Court Pub. Co.

|year= 1909

|authorlink=Baruch Spinoza

}} Online [http://books.google.com/books?id=qoMsAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false here].

{{Reflist}}

{{Criticism of religion}}