There is no central authority in Judaism in existence today - although the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish religious court, would fulfill this role if it were re-established.
Instead, Judaism's principles of faith remain debated by the rabbis based on their understanding of the sacred writings, laws, and traditions, which collectively shape its theological and ethical framework.
He stresses the importance in believing that there is one single, omniscient, transcendent, non-compound God, who created the universe, and continues to monitor all creation to allow for eventual reward or punishment.
Other groups of Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews do not believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative, and according to that view, Judaism is not in contradiction to the scientific model that states that the age of the universe is around 13.77 billion years old.
[13] Edward Kessler writes that Hebrew Bible "portrays an encounter with a God who cares passionately and who addresses humanity in the quiet moments of its existence".
[14] Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, who developed Reconstructionist Judaism and taught at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary of America, also rejected the idea of a personal God.
The word is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the three traditional subdivisions of the Tanakh: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch), the Nevi'im ("Prophets") and the Ketuvim ("Writings").
[20] In addition to the Tanakh, there are two further textual traditions in Judaism: Mishnah (tractates expounding on Jewish law) and the Talmud (commentary of Misneh and Torah).
Some apocrypha and pseudepigraphic sources express pessimism about human nature ("A grain of evil seed was sown in Adam's heart from the beginning"), and the Talmud (b. Avodah Zarah 22b) has an unusual passage which Edward Kessler describes as "the serpent seduced Eve in paradise and impregnated her with spiritual-physical 'dirt' which was inherited through the generations", but the revelation at Sinai and the reception of the Torah cleansed Israel.
Maybe the Greeks were chosen for their unique contributions to art and philosophy, the Romans for their pioneering services in law and government, the British for bringing parliamentary rule into the world, and the Americans for piloting democracy in a pluralistic society.
[38] Liberal, or Reform Judaism does not believe in the arrival of a personal Messiah who will ingather the exiles in the Land of Israel and cause the physical resurrection of the dead.
Though to a certain extent incorporated in the liturgy and utilized for purposes of instruction, these formulations of the cardinal tenets of Judaism carried no greater weight than that imparted to them by the fame and scholarship of their respective authors.
None of them had an authoritative character analogous to that given by Christianity to its three great formulas (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene or Constantinopolitan, and the Athanasian), or to the Kalimat As-Shahadat of the Muslims.
Compliance with certain rites – immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath), brit milah (circumcision), and the acceptance of the mitzvot (commandments of the Torah) as binding – is the test of the would-be convert's faith.
The convert is instructed in the main points of Jewish law, while the profession of faith demanded is limited to the acknowledgment of the unity of God and the rejection of idolatry.
Judah ha-Levi (Kuzari 1:115, c. 1140 CE) states: For the preparation of the convert, therefore, no other method of instruction was employed than for the training of one born a Jew.
Underlying the practice of the Law was assuredly the recognition of certain fundamental principles, he asserted, culminating in the belief in God and revelation, and likewise in the doctrine of divine justice.
[42] "Rabbi Akiva (died 135 CE) would also regard as heretical the readers of Sefarim Hetsonim[43] – certain extraneous writings that were not canonized – as well such persons that would heal through whispered formulas of magic.
On the other hand, Akiva himself declares that the command to love one's neighbor is the fundamental principle of the Torah; while Ben Asa assigns this distinction to the Biblical verse "This is the book of the generations of man".
The definition of Hillel the Elder (died 10 CE) in his interview with a would-be convert (Talmud, Shabbat 31a) embodies in the golden rule the one fundamental article of faith.
[45] As Jewish law enjoins that one should prefer death to an act of idolatry, incest, unchastity, or murder, the inference is plain that the corresponding positive principles were held to be fundamental articles of Judaism.
13 Principles of Faith, summarized: Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides or "The Rambam" (1135–1204 CE), lived at a time when both Christianity and Islam were developing active theologies.
Others, such as Rabbi Joseph Albo and the Raavad, criticized Maimonides' list as containing items that, while true, in their opinion did not place those who rejected them out of ignorance in the category of heretics.
[49][50] A contemporary of Maimonides, the 12th-century Karaite scholar and liturgist Judah ben Elijah Hadassi in his Eshkol ha-Kofer formulated non-Rabbinic articles of faith: (1) God is the Creator of all created beings; (2) He is premundane and has no peer or associate; (3) the whole universe is created; (4) God called Moses and the other Prophets of the Biblical canon; (5) the Law of Moses alone is true; (6) to know the language of the Bible is a religious duty; (7) the Temple at Jerusalem is the palace of the world's Ruler; (8) belief in Resurrection contemporaneous with the advent of the Messiah; (9) final judgment; (10) retribution.Some successors of Maimonides, from the 13th to the 15th centuries — Nahmanides, Abba Mari ben Moses, Simon ben Zemah Duran, Joseph Albo, Isaac Arama, and Joseph Jaabez — narrowed his 13 articles to three core beliefs: belief in God; in creation (or revelation); and in providence (or retribution).
The 13 principles of Maimonides have been cited by adherents as the most influential: They are often printed in prayer books, and in some congregations, a hymn (Yigdal) incorporating them is sung on Friday nights or even every morning in some communities.
For much of the movement's history, Conservative Judaism deliberately avoided publishing systematic explications of theology and belief; this was a conscious attempt to hold together a wide coalition.
Reform Judaism affirms "the fundamental principle of Liberalism: that the individual will approach this body of mitzvot and minhagim in the spirit of freedom and choice.
In addition to those, there were the 42 Affirmations of Liberal Judaism in Britain from 1992, and the older Richtlinien zu einem Programm für das liberale Judentum (1912) in Germany, as well as others, all stressing personal autonomy and ongoing revelation.
Rabbi Kaplan wrote that "to believe in God means to take for granted that it is man's destiny to rise above the brute and to eliminate all forms of violence and exploitation from human society".
"[57] Rather, in keeping with Reconstructionist naturalist principles, "Kaplan believed strongly that ultimately, the world will be perfected, but only as a result of the combined efforts of humanity over generations."