Judaism can be understood as both a religion and an ethnicity. It involves belief in one God, a shared history and homeland, sacred texts like the Torah and Talmud, and common rituals, foods, and culture. There are various Jewish ethnic groups including Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Ethiopian Jews. While Judaism has religious aspects like laws and practices, it also encompasses shared languages, culture, art, and history. Today, Jewish civilization is centered in Israel, Europe, and North America, especially in large cities, where Jews from different Jewish movements and backgrounds continue to evolve their religious and cultural traditions.

1. What is Judaism? Is it a religion, a culture, a nation, a people, a system of ethics, an ethnic group, a pre-requisite for making it as a successful comedian?

2. It’s a religion It’s an ethnicity One God Universal Creator Specific God of Israel System of ethical and ritual laws & practices Sacred homeland Sacred texts Torah and Hebrew Bible Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah Holidays Sacred narrative (Moses, etc.) Common language(s) Shared history Shared rituals Shared foods Shared humor Shared roots in a particular land Sense of shared destiny Shared physical appearance attributes

3. Ashkenazi Jews (European descent) Sephardi Jews (trace roots back to Spain) Mizrahi Jews (Jews descending from the Middle East, North Africa, and Persian Gulf) Ethiopian Jews Sabras Jews-by-choice Jews adopted as children

4. “Judaism is an evolving religious civilization.” history languages Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan1881 - 1983 religion cuisine culture homeland humor art & literature

5. Centers of Jewish civilization today EUROPE 1,500,000

6. Jewish-Americans: population centers

7. Politics

8. Comedy

9. Hollywood

10. Different Ways of Analyzing or Surveying Contemporary American Jewish Cultures

11. By Movement/Philosophy Conservative Orthodox Modern Orthodox Haredi Chabad Other Hasidic Sects Reconstructionist Renewal “Just Jewish” Secular/Cultural Reform Humanistic

12. How the movements differ Beliefs about Torah & Sacred Texts Beliefs about God Authority of Jewish law (halakhah) Who has authority to determine halakhicdecisions or other decisions of ethics and ritual practice Nature and purpose of the Jewish people Ways of relating to modernity & the contemporary world

13. By Geographic Region

14. By Attitudes towards Israel

15. By Sub-ethnicity

16. By LGBT issues

17. By In-marriage/Intermarriage

18. By JBB or JBC