Orthodox Judaism Compare And Contrast Essay

Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Orthodoxy Judaism all differ for many reasons. Orthodox Judaism was the first out of the three to form I believe, and it is more strict than the others. When I think of the word Orthodox I think of playing exactly by the book with no exceptions, whether it’s Judaism, Christianity, or a secular topic, which is basically what Orthodox Judaism is. With Orthodox Judaism, they believe that the Torah was sent directly from God and therefore cannot be changed. They also leave understanding or interpreting it to only the Rabbis, and those who are direct descendants of the Pharisees. So to my understanding, the Orthodox Jews are similar to my Christian denomination of Pentecostal/Apostolic, because they too rely
on literal interpretation on many things in scripture, such as women wearing skirts as opposed to pants because pants are viewed as a man’s garment, and hats/head coverings to be worn by women. Reform Judaism is more modern and allows those a part of the movement to formulate their own understanding of the Torah. They also don’t believe that the Torah was written by God, but was written by many authors collectively. Conservative Judaism is kind of in between the two, but is more so similar to Reform Judaism, except they focus more on preserving Jewish traditions and rituals but in a more lenient way than that of the Orthodoxy. What led to the branching of these various types was maining the oppression the Jews were facing in Greece. A war broke out between the two parties, and after twenty five years of war, the Jews split into smaller groups known as the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the only group out of the three to survive the destruction of the Temple, which is basically where Orthodox Judaism came from. Reform and Conservative didn’t form until many years later, as they are modern movements.