There are a number of basic Jewish principles of faith that one is expected to uphold in order to be said to be in consonance with the Jewish faith. However, unlike most Christian denominations, the Jewish community has never developed any one binding catechism. A number of formulations of Jewish beliefs have appeared, though there is some dispute over how many basic principles there are. Rabbi Joseph Albo, for instance, in Sefer Ha-Ikkarim counts three principles of faith, while Maimonides lists thirteen. While some lat ...

Including:

• Jewish principles of faith - Jewish principles of faith
• Jewish principles of faith - Monotheism
• Jewish principles of faith - God as Creator of the universe
• Jewish principles of faith - God is One
• Jewish principles of faith - God is all-powerful
• Jewish principles of faith - God is personal and cares about humanity
• Jewish principles of faith - Names of God
• Jewish principles of faith - The Nature of God
• Jewish principles of faith - To God alone may one offer prayer
• Jewish principles of faith - Scripture
• Jewish principles of faith - The words of the prophets are true
• Jewish principles of faith - The status of Moses
• Jewish principles of faith - The origin of the Torah
• Jewish principles of faith - Holy Books
• Jewish principles of faith - Reward and punishment
• Jewish principles of faith - Israel chosen for a purpose
• Jewish principles of faith - The messianic age
• Jewish principles of faith - The soul is pure at birth
• Jewish principles of faith - History and development
• Jewish principles of faith - No formal text canonized
• Jewish principles of faith - Gaining converts
• Jewish principles of faith - Is faith necessary?
• Jewish principles of faith - Belief in the Oral Law
• Jewish principles of faith - Belief in the Medieval era
• Jewish principles of faith - Maimonides' 13 principles of faith
• Jewish principles of faith - Principles of faith after Maimonides
• Jewish principles of faith - The Enlightenment
• Jewish principles of faith - Holocaust theology
• Jewish principles of faith - Dogma in Judaism

Read more here: » Jewish principles of faith: Encyclopedia - Jewish principles of faith

The Masoretic Text (MT) is the Hebrew text of the Tanakh approved for general use in Judaism. It is also widely used in translations of the Old Testament of the Bible. It was primarily compiled, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the seventh and tenth centuries CE, though the consonants differ little from the text generally accepted in the early second century. It has numerous differences when compared to other early sources such as t ...

Including:

• Masoretic Text - Etymology
• Masoretic Text - Language and form
• Masoretic Text - Origin
• Masoretic Text - Numerical Masorah
• Masoretic Text - Fixing of the text
• Masoretic Text - Tikkune Soferim
• Masoretic Text - Mikra and ittur
• Masoretic Text - Suspended letters and dotted words
• Masoretic Text - Inverted letters
• Masoretic Text - History of the Masorah
• Masoretic Text - Differences between Babylonia and Palestine
• Masoretic Text - Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali
• Masoretic Text - The Middle Ages
• Masoretic Text - Critical study
• Masoretic Text - Some important editions
• Masoretic Text - External link

Read more here: » Masoretic Text: Encyclopedia - Masoretic Text

Tanakh [תנ״ך] (also Tanach or Tenach) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. The acronym is based on the initial Hebrew letters of each of the text's three parts: Torah [תורה] meaning one or all of: "The Law"; "Teaching"; "Instruction". Also called the Chumash [חומש] meaning: "The five"; "The five books of Moses". It is the "Pentateuch". Nevi'im [נביאים] meaning: "Prophets" Ketuvim [כתובים ...

Including:

• Tanakh - Terminology
• Tanakh - The canon
• Tanakh - Books of the Tanakh
• Tanakh - Chapters and verse numbers book divisions
• Tanakh - Oral Torah
• Tanakh - Available texts

Read more here: » Tanakh: Encyclopedia - Tanakh

Adonis | Anat | Asherah | Astarte | Ba'al | Berith | Dagon | El | Elyon | Elohim | Hadad | Mot | Salem | Shaddai | Yaw Adonai | El | Elohim | Elyon | Shaddai | Shekinah | YHWH Adad | Amurru | An/Anu | Anshar | Asshur | Abzu/Apsu | Enki/Ea | Enlil | Ereshkigal | Inanna/Ishtar | Kingu | Kishar | Lahmu & Lahamu | Marduk | Mummu | Nabu | Nammu | Nanna/Sin | Nergal | Ninhursag/Damkina | Ninlil | Tiamat | Utu/Shamash In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title. It represents the Jewish conception ...

Including:

• Names of God in Judaism - Names of God
• Names of God in Judaism - The Tetragrammaton
• Names of God in Judaism - Other names of God
• Names of God in Judaism - Miracles of the divine names
• Names of God in Judaism - Kabbalistic use
• Names of God in Judaism - Laws of writing divine names
• Names of God in Judaism - The tradition of seven divine names
• Names of God in Judaism - Bibliography

Read more here: » Names of God in Judaism: Encyclopedia - Names of God in Judaism

The documentary hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by many historians and academics in the field of linguistics and source criticism that the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) are in fact a combination of documents from different sources rather than authored by one individual. Although the hypothesis is widely accepted (the Vatican itself estimates that 90% of academics in the field of biblical scholarship support it), it has a number of substantial critics, such as conservative, evangelical Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen, but also among critical scholars, ...

Including:

• Documentary hypothesis - The hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - Background to the hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - The modern hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - Secondary hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - History of the hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs
• Documentary hypothesis - Rabbinical biblical criticism
• Documentary hypothesis - The Enlightenment
• Documentary hypothesis - 19th-Century Theories
• Documentary hypothesis - Julius Wellhausen
• Documentary hypothesis - Richard Elliot Friedman
• Documentary hypothesis - The modern era
• Documentary hypothesis - Opponents of the hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - Debates between non-fundamentalist academics supporting the Documentary Hypothesis
• Documentary hypothesis - Highlighted source text at Wikisource

Read more here: » Documentary hypothesis: Encyclopedia - Documentary hypothesis

Adonis | Anat | Asherah | Astarte | Ba'al | Berith | Dagon | El | Elyon | Elohim | Hadad | Moloch | Mot | Salem | Shaddai | Yaw Adonai | El | Elohim | Elyon | Shaddai | Shekinah | YHWH Adad | Amurru | An/Anu | Anshar | Asshur | Abzu/Apsu | Enki/Ea | Enlil | Ereshkigal | Inanna/Ishtar | Kingu | Kishar | Lahmu & Lahamu | Marduk | Mummu | Nabu | Nammu | Nanna/Sin | Nerga ...

Including:

• Tetragrammaton - Meaning
• Tetragrammaton - Using consonants as semi-vowels
• Tetragrammaton - Using the vowels of YHWH
• Tetragrammaton - Vowel marks
• Tetragrammaton - The Scholarly Reconstructed pronunciation יַהְוֶה i.e. Yahweh
• Tetragrammaton - Scholarly sources in which יַהְוֶה is found
• Tetragrammaton - Jewish use of the word
• Tetragrammaton - Possible effect on the Hebrew Language
• Tetragrammaton - Alternative names
• Tetragrammaton - Possible origins
• Tetragrammaton - Popular culture
• Tetragrammaton - Footnotes

Read more here: » Tetragrammaton: Encyclopedia - Tetragrammaton

1United States Census 2000 PHC-T-37. Ability to Speak English by Language Spoken at Home: 2000. Table 1a. Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 6 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. The core of the Tanakh (sometimes referred to as the Hebrew Bible), the Torah (which Christianity and Judaism traditionally hold to have been first recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago), ...

Including:

• Hebrew language - History
• Hebrew language - Early history
• Hebrew language - Later history
• Hebrew language - Revival
• Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew
• Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR
• Hebrew language - Dialects
• Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew
• Hebrew language - Sounds
• Hebrew language - Vowels
• Hebrew language - Consonants
• Hebrew language - Historical sound changes
• Hebrew language - Grammar
• Hebrew language - Writing system
• Hebrew language - Romanization
• Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia - Hebrew language

The dagesh (דגש) or daghesh is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It is part of the Masoretes system of niqqud (vowel points), and was added to Hebrew orthography at the same time. An identical point with a different phonetic function (marking different consonants) is called a Mapiq. The dagesh is a dot which is drawn inside a Hebrew letter to modify its sound. It can either be kal (light) or hazak (strong). Dagesh - Dagesh Kal. Dagesh Kal (sometimes referred to a ...

Including:

• Dagesh - Dagesh Kal
• Dagesh - Dagesh Hazak
• Dagesh - Unicode encodings
• Dagesh - Sources

Read more here: » Dagesh: Encyclopedia - Dagesh

Masorah or Mesora, (Hebrew מסורה) refers either to the transmission of a (religious) tradition, or to the tradition itself. In a broad sense the term can refer to the entire chain of Jewish tradition: see Oral law in Judaism. In a narrow sense the term refers to the tradition of the Masoretes used in determining the precise text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible): see Masoretic Text. Other possible meanings: "Masorti Judaism" is the name used for Conservative Judaism in the Stat

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In Hebrew orthography, Niqqud or Nikkud (Standard Hebrew נִקּוּד, Biblical Hebrew נְקֻדּוֹת, Tiberian Hebrew Nəquddôṯ "vowels") is the system of diacritical vowel points (or vowel marks) in the Hebrew alphabet. Several orthographic systems for representing Hebrew vowels were developed in the early middle a ...

Including:

• Niqqud - The signs of the niqqud

Read more here: » Niqqud: Encyclopedia - Niqqud

Aaron ben Moses ben Asher (10th century) developed the Tiberian system for writing down vowel sounds in Hebrew. For over a thousand years he has been regarded by Jews of all streams around the world as having produced the most accurate version of the masoretic text. Since his day, both handwritten manuscripts of the Tanakh and printed versions strove to emulate his achievement and continue to do so. He was descended from a long line of Masoretes, starting with someone called Asher, but nothing is known about them other than the ...

Including:

• Aaron ben Moses ben Asher - Was Ben Asher a Karaite?
• Aaron ben Moses ben Asher - External link

Read more here: » Aaron ben Moses ben Asher: Encyclopedia - Aaron ben Moses ben Asher

The Bible (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, "(the) books", is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity ("The Bible" actually refers to at least two different Bibles). It is thus applied to sacred scriptures. Many Christian English speakers refer to the Christian Bible as "the good book" (Gospel means " ...

Including:

• Bible - The Hebrew Bible
• Bible - Torah
• Bible - Nevi'im
• Bible - Ketuvim
• Bible - Translations and editions
• Bible - The Christian Bible
• Bible - The Old Testament
• Bible - The New Testament
• Bible - The canonization of Scripture
• Bible - Bible versions and translations
• Bible - The Introduction of chapters and verses

Read more here: » Bible: Encyclopedia - Bible

The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 AD to 100 AD, or from 0 to 99 in a more scientific notation (using a year zero), as in astronomical year numbering. 1st century - Events. 1–Beginning of Christianity, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth Spread of the Roman Empire Masoretes adds vowel pointings to the text of the Tanakh 70: destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans under Vespasian Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed by eruption of Moun ...

Including:

• 1st century - Events
• 1st century - Significant persons
• 1st century - Inventions discoveries introductions
• 1st century - Decades and years

Read more here: » 1st century: Encyclopedia - 1st century

Dagesh Kal (sometimes referred to as "dagesh lene") may be placed inside the letters bet ב, kaf כ & ך, pe פ & ף gimel ג, dalet ד, tav ת. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the effect of the dagesh on the above letters is to turn a fricative sound into its equivalent plosive: The letter bet sounds like v without and b with dagesh. The letter kaf sounds like kh ([x]) without and k with dagesh. The letter pe sounds like f wit ...

See also:

Dagesh, Dagesh - Dagesh Kal, Dagesh - Dagesh Hazak, Dagesh - Unicode encodings, Dagesh - Sources

Read more here: » Dagesh: Encyclopedia II - Dagesh - Dagesh Kal

While the term "Hebrew" as a nationality is customarily used to refer to the ancient Israelites, the classical Hebrew language was extremely similar to the Canaanite languages spoken by their neighbors, such as Phoenician; indeed, Moabite and Hebrew are often considered to be two dialects of the same language. Hebrew strongly resembles Aramaic and to a lesser extent South-Central Arabic, sharing many linguistic features with them. ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - History

Documentary hypothesis - Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs. The traditional Jewish view is that God revealed his will to Moses at Mount Sinai in a verbal fashion. This dictation is said to have been exactly transcribed by Moses. Based on the Talmud (tractate Git. 60a), some believe that the Torah may have been given piece-by-piece over the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert. The Pentateuch itself does not imply as much. The expression "God said to Moses" shows only the Divine ...

See also:

Documentary hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - The hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - Background to the hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - The modern hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - Secondary hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - History of the hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs, Documentary hypothesis - Rabbinical biblical criticism, Documentary hypothesis - The Enlightenment, Documentary hypothesis - 19th-Century Theories, Documentary hypothesis - Julius Wellhausen, Documentary hypothesis - Richard Elliot Friedman, Documentary hypothesis - The modern era, Documentary hypothesis - Opponents of the hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - Debates between non-fundamentalist academics supporting the Documentary Hypothesis, Documentary hypothesis - Highlighted source text at Wikisource

Read more here: » Documentary hypothesis: Encyclopedia II - Documentary hypothesis - History of the hypothesis

The Hebrew text originally consisted only of consonants, together with some inconsistently applied letters used as vowels (matres lectionis). During the early middle ages, the Masoretes codified the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh by adding two special kinds of symbols to the text: niqud (vowel points) and cantillation signs. The latter indicate syntax, stress (accentuation), and the melody for reading. The books of the Torah have generally-used names which are based on the first prominent word in each book. The En ...

See also:

Tanakh, Tanakh - Terminology, Tanakh - The canon, Tanakh - Books of the Tanakh, Tanakh - Chapters and verse numbers book divisions, Tanakh - Oral Torah, Tanakh - Available texts

Read more here: » Tanakh: Encyclopedia II - Tanakh - Books of the Tanakh

While the term "Hebrew" as a nationality is customarily used to refer to the ancient Israelites, the classical Hebrew language was extremely similar to the Canaanite languages spoken by their neighbors, such as Phoenician; indeed, Moabite and Hebrew are often considered to be two dialects of the same language. Hebrew strongly resembles Aramaic and to a lesser extent South-Central Arabic, sharing many linguistic features with them. ...

See also:

Hebrew language, Hebrew language - History, Hebrew language - Early history, Hebrew language - Later history, Hebrew language - Revival, Hebrew language - Modern Hebrew, Hebrew language - Hebrew language in the USSR, Hebrew language - Dialects, Hebrew language - Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew, Hebrew language - Sounds, Hebrew language - Vowels, Hebrew language - Consonants, Hebrew language - Historical sound changes, Hebrew language - Grammar, Hebrew language - Writing system, Hebrew language - Romanization, Hebrew language - Notes, Hebrew language - Bibliography

Read more here: » Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Hebrew language - History

Most scholars conclude that Aaron ben Asher was indeed a Karaite Jew, though there is evidence against this view (see suggestions for further reading). One of the strongest pieces of evidence is that it would be astonishing if Maimonides had followed the authority of a Karaite, even in the matter of open and closed sections. Be that as it may, it is a fact that all Jews, including those who followed the rabbinic tradition, revered his expertise and accepted his masoretic system. If Aaron ben Asher was indeed a Karaite ...

See also:

Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, Aaron ben Moses ben Asher - Was Ben Asher a Karaite?, Aaron ben Moses ben Asher - External link

Read more here: » Aaron ben Moses ben Asher: Encyclopedia II - Aaron ben Moses ben Asher - Was Ben Asher a Karaite?

The first major non-Jewish grammarian was John Reuchlin (16th century), but it was not until the early 19th century that Hebrew linguistics was studied on a secular, scientific level. The pioneer of this movement was Wilhelm Gesenius, who published thirteen editions of his Hebräische Grammatik. After Gesenius' death in 1842, the 14th through 21st editions were published by E. Rödiger, and the 22nd through 28th editions were published by Emil Kautzsch. Many of these editions were translated into English; the 28th edition was done in ...

See also:

Study of the Hebrew language, Study of the Hebrew language - Jewish scholars of Hebrew, Study of the Hebrew language - Non-Jewish scholars of Hebrew, Study of the Hebrew language - Israeli Hebrew scholars, Study of the Hebrew language - The Israeli Academy of the Hebrew Language

Read more here: » Study of the Hebrew language: Encyclopedia II - Study of the Hebrew language - Non-Jewish scholars of Hebrew