Answering Frequently Asked Questions
about Judaism
for more than 10 years!
Welcome to Judaism 101! Judaism 101 is an online encyclopedia of Judaism,
covering Jewish beliefs, people, places, things, language, scripture, holidays,
practices and customs. My goal is to make freely available a wide variety
of basic, general information about Judaism, written from a traditional
perspective in plain English. This web site has grown continually for more
than 10 years and continues to be updated periodically.
Everything in this web site is free to use or distribute in any way, with
three conditions: 1) if you use text, graphics or sound from this site, please
credit this site; 2) do not redistribute this information for profit; 3)
do not "mirror" this site or copy pages from this site for use on other web
sites. For further details, please see my
copyright page.
The information in this site is written predominantly from the
Orthodox viewpoint, because I believe that
is the starting point for any inquiry into Judaism. As recently as 200 years
ago, this was the only Judaism, and it still is the only Judaism in many
parts of the world. Be aware, however, that many Jews do not follow all of
the traditions described here, or in the precise form described here. The
Conservative movement believes that these
laws and traditions can change to suit the times, and
Reform/Liberal/Progressive movements believe
that individuals can make choices about what traditions to follow. However,
what I present here is the starting point, the traditions that are being
changed or chosen. On some pages, I have identified variations in practice
or belief in other movements.
This site is created, written and maintained by Tracey Rich. I do not claim
to be a rabbi or an expert on Judaism; I'm just
a traditional, observant Jew who has put in a lot of research. I must be
doing something right, because one of the rabbis at an "Ask a Rabbi" website
routinely copies material from this website!
I work as a law librarian. I am also the co-author of several legal reference
texts, including
Pennsylvania
Damages: Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements. I am a member of
Congregation Or Shalom, a Conservative
synagogue in Chester County, PA.
 "Judaism 101
is a must-see."
Yahoo Internet Life - May 1998 |
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From Jewish.com
March 15, 2001 |
From Suite101.com |
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For Yom Kippur and
Days of Awe
Two years in a row! 1996 and 1997! |
There are over sixty web pages on this site, comprising over 200 pages of
text, a virtual book of information on Judaism. That's a lot of information!
Where should you start? That depends on what you're looking for:
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Just browsing?
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If you're not sure what you're looking for, and you just want to see what's
available on this site, look through the Table
of Contents.
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Looking for something specific?
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If you are looking for something specific, I have a
Search Engine for this site. Enter
a term and it will search the glossary and index, giving you quick definitions
and explanations, and pointing you to appropriate pages in this site.
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Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?
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Judaism 101 was originally created as an introduction to Judaism for people
with little or no knowledge. But like the
Passover seder, this site now includes
information for the wise son, who wants to know the ritual details; the simple
son, who asks simple questions; and the son who does not know what to ask
(the wicked son can go someplace else <grin>). All pages are now labeled
appropriately:
Basic: Things that every Jewish
person should know, that require no prior knowledge
Intermediate: Beyond the basics
Advanced: More sophisticated
concepts
Gentile: The minimal things that
Jews expect gentiles to know. There is only one page in this category so
far (about the holidays) but there may be one or two more in the future
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Want to see what's new?
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If you've been here before and just want to see what's new on the site, try
the What's Nu? page, a chronological list
of additions and significant changes to pages in this site.
© Copyright 5756-5766 (1995-2006), Tracey
R Rich
Unless otherwise stated on a page, the contents of this site,
including but not limited to the text, graphics, sounds and scripts contained
herein, were created by and are the sole property of Tracey R Rich. The contents
of this site may be reproduced for personal, educational or non-commercial
use, but may not be reproduced on other websites.
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