Jews

Jews are those who observe the Jewish faith, Judaism. They are often referred to as the Jewish people. Two distinct groups of Jews exist, the European or "Ashkenazi" Jews and those with an origin in Spain, the "Sephardic" Jews.

Branches of Judaism

Three categories, or "branches," of the Jewish faith exist. The Orthodox adhere literally to most of the secular as well as religious laws as presented in the Old Testament. The Conservative branch of Judaism adheres to many but not all. The Reform branch adheres to a minimum number. The religious services of the three branches are easily distinguished. Most of the service in an Orthodox synogogue is spoken in Hebrew, and the men and women sit on opposite sides of the synagogue. All wear skull pieces, the men wearing yarmulka and the women wearing secular-style hats. The service in the Conservative synagogue is evenly divided between English and Hebrew and the men and women sit together. The men all wear yarmulkas, and many of the women wear hats. In the Reform synagogue, the vast majority of the service is spoken in English, but the men do wear yarmulkas.

In all three branches, the most important prayer, the "sh'ma," is spoken in Hebrew: "Sh'ma Yisrael, adonoi elohenu, adonoi ehod," "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE."

Major distinctions from Christianity

Judaism is largely distinguished from Christianity in its strict adherence to monotheism, as related in the "sh'ma." Christianity, particularly Catholicism, has a multiplicity of deities, from the Trinity to the plethora of saints with supposed miracle-creating abilities.

Because Christianity evolved from Judaism, the religions have many concepts in common. Historically, a pope opted to "de-Judify" Catholicism. Among the modifications were the black-colored skull cap of the Jews being replaced by a scarlet-colored one for the Cardinals and the Sabbath being changed from observance on Saturday to observance on Sunday.

The Mourners' Kaddish prayer

Although the afterlife has little emphasis in Judaism, the prayer to honor a deceased relative is repeated daily by Jews for an entire year following the passing. Remarkably, this prayer, the Mourners' Kaddish, speaks not of mortality, but rather to extol God. The final sentence is particularly noteworthy, "May He who brings peace to the firmament also grant peace to all of us and upon Israel, and let us say, Amen."

Naming of children

Jews do not name their children after living people. There are no, therefore, Jr. or III suffixes to Jewish names. Rather, they name newborn children to honor the memory of deceased relatives. Before the current generation, the tradition was to take the complete Jewish name of a deceased relative and anglicize it, so that, for example, Eliezer Moshe becomes Leslie Morris or Michael Larry or Leslie Mark. In this way, generations upon generations can be memorialized. More recently, a newborn can be named after more than one individual, the English name then being a hybrid to the memory of two deceased relatives.

Jewish holidays

As the joke goes, all Jewish holidays are the same, they tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat.

Hanukkah, Passover, Purim, and the holiday to note the Holocaust all fit the bill. On the other hand, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark the new year on the Jewish calendar, and Succoth marks the fall harvest.