jewish judaism religious anthropology

The links you find here are authored by members of the faith represented or objective third parties.. These are provided as a resource for use in conjunction with the study of the Anthropology of Religions as well as cultural anthropology. Inclusion of a link in no way reflects the endorsement or judgment of Archaeolink.com as to a philosophical or spiritual truth. While I have tried to avoid those resources which represent an attack by one faith on another, by the very nature of the subject, some may slip through as otherwise excellent websites may contain a degree of comparison in order to explain their own positions more clearly.

In the annotations, I will let the site speak for itself as much as possible.

This page could not begin to list the thousands of resources available. It is designed as a place to 'start.'

American Jewish Historical Society __ "The mission of the American Jewish Historical Society is to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish past and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history." - illustrated - From American Jewish Historical Society - http://www.ajhs.org/

Conversion to Judaism Home Page __ Here you will find resources for advising people who are considering conversion or who have converted to Judaism. A large site with many articles. - From Convert.org - http://www.convert.org/

European Council for Jewish Communities __ This organization coordinates Jewish communities in 35 European countries. You will find many articles and links. - illustrated - From ECJC - http://www.ecjc.org/

The Expulsion of the Jews from France, 1182 CE __ "The Jews had already been settled in France for over a thousand years when Philip Augustus came to power in 1179. This brilliant but unscrupulous ruler, then about fifteen years of age, needed money and help to strengthen his hold on the throne and to fight the powerful feudal barons. He gained these objectives, in part, by confiscating Jewish wealth; thus he secured not only money but also the goodwill of the Church and of the Christian debtors. That he himself actually believed that Jews committed ritual murders is difficult to determine. It is sufficient to say that, in taking drastic action against his Jewish subjects, he had recourse to such accusations." - From Jewish History Sourcebook - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1182-jewsfrance1.html

Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism __ This is the website of the ADL (Anti-defamation League). You will find numerous articles and links to related subjects. - illustrated - From ADL - http://www.adl.org/adl.asp

Jewish America's Home Page __ "Preserving a near-lost legacy and heritage. Sharing and Caring on behalf of Torah Judaism" - Many articles and links - By Harlan Black, JewishAmerica - http://jewishamerica.com/ja/index.cfm

Jewish Articles of Faith __ "In the same sense as Christianity or Islam, Judaism can not be credited with the possession of Articles of Faith. Many attempts have indeed been made at systematizing and reducing to a fixed phraseology and sequence the contents Of the Jewish religion. But these have always lacked the one essential element: authoritative sanction on the part of a supreme ecclesiastical body. And for this reason they have not been recognized as final or regarded as of universally binding force." You will find several articles. - From Jewish Encyclopedia - http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/aof.htm

JewishEncyclopedia.com __ "This online version contains the unedited contents of the original encyclopedia. Since the original work was completed almost 100 years ago, it does not cover a significant portion of modern Jewish History (e.g., the creation of Israel, the Holocaust, etc.). However, it does contain an incredible amount of information that is remarkably relevant today." - From JewishEncyclopedia.com - http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/index.jsp

Jewish Holidays __ "Learn about the Jewish holidays and explore the customs and traditions of Reform Jews throughout North America." - illustrated - From Union of American Hebrew Congregations - http://uahc.org/holidays/

The Jewish Virtual Library __ Extensive resources about Judaism. - illustrated - from jewishvirtuallibrary.org - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/index.html

Jewishnet - Global Jewish Information Network __ Just what the name implies. A network of links covering many aspects of Jewish life. - http://www.jewishnet.net/

Jewish Women's Archive __ "...to uncover, chronicle and transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women and their contributions to our families and communities, to our people and our world." - illustrated - From Jewish Women's Archive - http://www.jwa.org/index.html

Jews for Judaism __ Here you will find many resources for Jews who are approached by missionaries who represent various proselytizing groups, movements, and traditions -- including alternative and new religions or "cults." - illustrated - From Jews for Judaism - http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/mainpages/index.html

Jews and the Later Roman Law 315-531 CE __ "The Middle Ages, for the Jew at least, begin with the advent to power of Constantine the Great (306-337). He was the first Roman emperor to issue laws which radically limited the rights of Jews as citizens of the Roman Empire, a privilege conferred upon them by Caracalla in 212. As Christianity grew in power in the Roman Empire it influenced the emperors to limit further the civil and political rights of the Jews. Most of the imperial laws that deal with the Jews since the days of Constantine are found in the Latin Codex Theodosianius (438) and in the Latin and Greek code of Justinian (534). Both of these monumental works are therefore very important, for they enable us to trace the history of the progressive deterioration of Jewish rights." - From Jewish History Sourcebook - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jews-romanlaw.html

Judaism 101 __ "Judaism 101 is an online encyclopedia of Judaism, covering Jewish beliefs, people, places, things, language, scripture, holidays, practices and customs." What more can I say? - From jewfaq.org - http://www.jewfaq.org/

Judaism and Jewish Resources __ I don't often link to just another directory of links. However this one is so rich in resources I could not pass it up. - From Andrew Tannenbaum - http://shamash.org/trb/judaism.html

Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash __ You will find the notes and online resources of a University course taught by Elizer Segal at the University of Calgary. - From University of Calgary - http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/RelS367/

The Medieval Jewish Kingdom of the Khazars, 740-1259 __ "About the year 740, many of the Khazars, a powerful Turkish tribe occupying the steppes of southern Russia, became converts to Judaism. More than two centuries later, the report of the existence of this Jewish kingdom aroused the curiosity of Hasdai ibn Shaprut (about 915-970). Ibn Shaprut was not only the personal physician of the Spanish Califs Abd-al-Rahman III (912-961) and his son Hakam II (961-976) but was also inspector-general of customs and an adviser in foreign affairs. To satisfy his curiosity he wrote to the ruler of the Khazars about 960 and some time later received an answer from Joseph, the reigning king. The letters of Hasdai and Joseph, both originally written in Hebrew, are given below in extract." - From Medieval Sourcebook - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/khazars1.html

Reform Judiasm __ An excellent overview. "Reform Judaism took root in North America more than 130 years ago under the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, one of several European rabbis who brought the changes in Judaism occurring in Europe to these shores. Reform Judaism is now the largest Jewish movement in North America, with more than 900 congregations and 1.5 million people." - illustrated - From rj.org - http://www.rj.org/

Shamash Home Page __ "...the fullest repository of online Jewish-related information in the world." One great resource is the Jewish FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, with quick answers to many of your most basic questions. There is more information here than you could possibly read, so just follow your interests and be curious. - illustrated - From Hebrew college Online - http://www.shamash.org/

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust __ "An overview of the people and events of the Holocaust through photographs, documents, art, music, movies, and literature" - An extensive resource (over 7,500 files) including videos of survivor testimony, virtual reality tours of Holocaust. - illustrated - From University of South Florida - http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/

Yiddishkeit __ This is a list containing hundreds of Yiddish expressions, some well known and some rather obscure. The list is alphabetized by Yiddish translation with the English translation listed next to the entry. - By Michael D. Find - http://www.pass.to/glossary/Default.htm