ABSTRACT
In the present day, the word “Judaism” covers several quite distinct concepts. Above all, it designates a religion, the system of beliefs, rituals, and moral prescriptions founded on the Bible, the Talmud, and Rabbinic literature, and often combined with the mysticism or theosophy of the Kabbalah. The principal forms of this religion have scarcely varied for two thousand years, and attest to a spirit that is fully conscious of itself and is reflected in a religious and moral literature, while still being open to new developments. “Judaism” thus comes to signify a culture that is either the result or the foundation of the religion, but at all events has its own sense of evolution. Throughout the world, and even in the state of Israel, there are people who identify with Judaism but who do not believe in God and who are not practicing Jews. For millions of Israelites who have been assimilated into the civilization around them, Judaism cannot even be called a culture: it is a vague sensibility made up of various ideas, memories, customs, and emotions, together with a feeling of solidarity towards those Jews who were persecuted for being Jews.
