Wikipedia:WikiProject Judaism: Difference between revisions

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Welcome to WikiProject Judaism. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. Place comments and discussions on the Talk page.

Scope

This WikiProject aims to standardize Wikipedia articles on Judaism, Halakha ("Jewish law" and tradition) and other subjects and phenomena that are directly related to Judaism as a religion.

For Jewish history, including social issues and anti-semitism, see WikiProject Jewish history (shortcut WP:JEWISH-HIST)
For Jewish culture, art or literature, see WikiProject Jewish culture.
For Zionism and Israel, see Portal:Israel and Wikipedia:Notice board for Israel-related topics (shortcut: WP:WNBI).

NPOV policy

Wikipedia's NPOV policy often means multiple points of view. This means providing not only the points of view of different groups today, but different groups in the past.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. One important task for articles is to explain things. In the case of human beliefs and practices, explanation encompasses not only what motivates individuals who hold these beliefs and practices, but an account of how such beliefs and practices came to be and took shape.

Wikipedia articles on history and religion draw from a religion's sacred texts, in this case including the Torah, Tanakh, Mishnah, Tosefta, the two Talmuds, midrashic literature and the responsa literature. But Wikipedia articles on history and religion also draw from modern archaeological, historical and scientific sources.

Adherents of a religion may object to a critical historical treatment of their own faith. They would prefer that the articles describe their faith according to their tradition and understanding, which often differs substantially from the view commonly held by critical historians. Non adherents of a religion may feel the exact opposite, and prefer that the views of critical historians be given primacy; many articles on Wikipedia currently reflect the latter point of view. NPOV policy demands both points of view be presented without prejudice.

Thus sentences currently saying something like "adherents of this faith believe X, but this has been disproved by historians" should instead say something like "adherents of this faith believe X; most critical historians believe Y". As well, back and forth debate in every sentence of a paragraph is tiresome; it is stylistically preferred to present the two points of view in separate sections, or at least separate paragraphs, each one advancing the opposing thesis.

A note on using the term "fundamentalism": Please see the article on fundamentalism for the technical definition of this term; its technical definition differs considerably from the common understanding, and is often seen as pejorative. The mere use of the term is often enough to attract strife and create edit-wars. Thus, its use should be avoided whenever possible, as its meaning often can just as clearly be stated in some other way.

Articles should present rational and mystical perspectives and distinguish between them.

Disputes should be taken to the talk page as soon as possible; questions that span several different articles can be discussed on this WikiProject's talk page.

Issues relating to Category:Biblical criticism. Often pages on the Torah will discuss the Documentary hypothesis (DH). Our articles need to correctly show the classical Jewish views on the authorship of the Torah, which reject this view. At the same time, many modern denominations of Judaism do accept some form of the DH as correct, and even as useful, and this point of view needs to be stated as well, in accord with NPOV.

Presenting several points of view

Some of our articles may pick only one classical rabbinic POV, and present it as the only classical rabbinic POV. This happened in the articles on the 613 mitzvot and Korban. When discussing the views of the classical rabbis strive to also present the full array of views within classical rabbinic literature.

As you will be aware, some views just don't make it to mainstream Jewish thought. You will be hard pressed to find an Orthodox Jew who doubts that there are 613 mitzvoth in the Torah. The debate is interesting, but please do not make it out as if the matter is completely undecided. There is no such thing as a psak (binding law) in non-halakhic matters; still, when a view is widely favoured it can be presented in Wikipedia as the generally accepted view, with dissenters as a historical curiosity. JFW

Jewish and Christian perspectives

Many articles on Jewish topics exist side-by-side with articles on Christian views on the same topics. Here are some issues to consider, in responding to and standardizing articles relating to Torah, Tanakh and "Scripture" etc:

Many articles on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) are drawn from the Christian dominated Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 and from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (there is even a templates for them). There is a need for good Jewish sources as alternatives to "Eastons" and the 1911 Britannica alone.
Usage of words such as "Old Testament" and "New Testament" in articles. Need to standardize introductions and usages of Torah and Tanakh / Hebrew Bible etc and to explain why and how Judaism views and uses these terms (differently).
Within articles there is a need to create standardized method for presenting a Jewish view separately from the Christian views. At the moment many paragraphs and sentences in Tanakh articles often jump from "New Testament" views to "Old Testament" views. Articles need to be clear about each religion's view and not become a hodge-podge shoddy attempt at ersatz ecumenism that represents nothing in reality.
Usages of words relating to the Tetragrammaton and the names of and for God. Much work has already been done via "redirects" when words like "Jeho-va" or "Yah=we" etc are used, but this subject needs further attention and standardization.
Responding to those who would classify Judaism and its texts as Mythology, as some do with Christianity.
Many articles refer to Jesus Christ; the word "Christ" is a formal title, used by those people who believe that Jesus is the son of God and the messiah. This usage violates wikipedia policy, and it never hurts to remind editors to refer to him as "Jesus of Nazareth" or simply "Jesus."
Standardize a method of citation for books, chapters, and verses. Also, some Christians include different Jewish books in their canon such as the Book of Baruch and the way they classify and use Category:Old Testament Apocrypha in general runs counter to Jewish scholarship. Need to respond in a standardized manner.

Article introduction

The following is a sample article introduction:

Sukkot (Succos) is one of the most important Jewish holidays in Judaism. During this holiday, Jews traditionally enjoy their meals in a Sukkah, and shake a Lulav and Etrog during morning prayers.

The word being defined should be the first word in the article and should be bold. If it is a Hebrew word, it should also be italicized. The first sentence should be a summary of the word and should contain a link to Judaism. Article titles may be in either Israeli transliteration or Ashkenazi transliteration. Whichever transliteration was used to start the article remains the title of the article, and the other transliteration should be redirected to the article.

Including Jewish and Hebrew words or terms

The following is an example sentence which includes Jewish Terms:

During the holiday of tabernacles (Succos, Succot, in hebrew: סוכות) Jews are commanded (have a mitzvah, in Hebrew: מצווה) to shake a palm branch (lulav, in Hebrew: לולב) and lemon like citrus fruit (Esrog, Etrog, in Hebrew: אתרוג) ("eθroɣ").

Whenever a Jewish term is first used in an article, it should be rendered in English followed by parenthesis containing two transliterations of the Hebrew word: One in an Israeli Sefardi transliteration and one in the Artscroll transliteration. The order of the transliterations is left to the writer. Subsequently either transliteration may be used in the article. The first two transliterations should be links. All transliterations should be italicized.

Hebrew usage

For important guidelines see:

Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew)

and the discussions at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew).

Portal:Judaism

See:

Portal:Judaism

Participants

Templates for participants

Project members: you can add one of the following to your user page to identify yourself as a member of the project.

This user is a member of the Judaism WikiProject, a WikiProject which aims to expand coverage of Judaism on Wikipedia.

Babel-like {{user wpj}}

Template:User wpj

Yeshivish babel

Oy

This user speaks Yeshivish.

Directory of participants

In alphabetical order:

Akerensky99
Aldous Hooplah
Avi
Bachrach44
Barkochbar
Bresolver
Briangotts
bte288
ChanochGruenman
Crzrussian
Danny
Dauster
DLand
Dovi
Eliyak
ems
Etz Haim
Ezra Wax
E=MC^2
Fintor » I will be away from Wiki a few months (work related). If you need to contact me, it's probably best to email... Until then, keep up the good work, and lehitraot bekarov!
Frikle
GorillazFanAdam
Gregorykay
Gryffindor
HG
Humus sapiens
Hyim
Israelbeach
IZAK
Izehar
Jayjg
Jewbacca
jnothman
Jon513
Joaquin Murietta
Josiah
Karimarie
Leifern
Maayanh
Masterhomer
Matwat22
MKaiserman
Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg
Meshulam
Cott12
Neutrality
Nomist
Olve
PiMaster3
PinchasC
Rachack
Reuvenk
Rje
RK
Rmallek
RMoloney
Savant1984
Sebastiankessel
Sheynhertz
ShiraHadasha
Shlomke
SF2K1
Sputnikcccp
Stainedglasscurtain
StoopidEggs2
Talmid78
Thetruthbelow
Tomer
WAS
Yaakov de Wolff (or just simple, JFW)
yellowmellow45
Yirmiyahou
Yonkeltron
Yung Wei ^綪永徽
Yodamace1

Stubs in need of expansion

Judaism-stub

See Category:Judaism stubs for articles related to Judaism, that require substantial additional material.

Hebrew Bible/Tanakh-stub

See Category:Tanakh stubs for articles related to Tanakh; Torah; Nevi'im; Ketuvim that require substantial expansion.

Potential featured articles

Hanukkah is a fairly comprehensive article; I think it should get a few more edits and certainly a few more footnotes before review and the featured article candidate process. jnothman ^talk 23:38, 22 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Pages up for review

Please remove any on this list that already meet WikiProject Judaism's standards.

Tzadik - needs sourced viewpoints from the various beliefs that Jews have regarding this.

B'nai Mitzvah - needs input and clarification/s.
Jewish mythology - needs to be rewritten to be inline with our other mythology articles.
Nethanel ben Isaiah - an important medieval Yemenite rabbi.
Nechama Leibowitz - translated from the Hebrew.
Tefillin - needs wikifying, clarification and standardization.
Wissenschaft des Judentums

Sanhedrin vs. Sanhedrin (tractate)

How to do this? See:

Sefer Hamitzvot

Sefer Hamitzvot
- Interwiki link to he:ספר המצוות לרמב"ם

Requests for comments

Talk:Jewish eschatology#Article seems to be unfocused
What are the implications of the new Wikipedia:WikiProject Jewish culture?
Template talk:Jewish texts, what are your thoughts?
Should there be an "Jewish eras table" created reflecting the Jewish outlook of history, such as the sequence, vaguely, Adam, Enosh, Mabul, Migdal Bavel, Avos, Mitrayim, (end pre-Torah-giving) (start post-Torah-giving) midbar, navi, galus bavel, anshei keneses hagedolah, zugos, tanaim, amoraim, savorai, gaonim, rishonim, achronim, current?
My feeling is that Cecropia's recent edits have made a hash of Who is a Jew?. Not really a topic I feel like working on right now, and I'm sure just reverting him would be seen as a hostile act. Could I get some others to take a look? -- Jmabel | Talk 06:44, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Uriel da Costa: much recently added, I took a pass at it, raised an additional issue on the talk page, probably still needs looking at. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:53, 6 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Romaniotes, I don't know if this the right place to ask, but I hope someone with more knowledge concerning the Romaniote way of religious practice (or even Jewish religious practice in general) could help. Also please see Talk:Romaniotes#Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue. If this is not the right place to ask, please provide me with some directions. -- Michalis Famelis 00:22, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Category:Midian as a proxy for a list of categories. Should the categories be considered Category:Torah people or Category:Torah places? Please respond here: Category talk:Midian. Thank you. -- Avi 19:47, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Hebrew Bible verses

See the verses in Category:Hebrew Bible verses with the two samples so far: Genesis 1:1, and Genesis 1:2. Is this the way the Torah verses should be "presented"?

Category:Judaism pages needing attention

Category:Judaism pages needing attention (not in use)

Rival Biblical views

Wikipedia:WikiProject Biblical Criticism has been formed to "to improve the coverage of material related to Biblical Criticism. I.e. to improve the provision of information deriving from academic rather than just religious sources" (see for example: Wikipedia:WikiProject Biblical Criticism/Torah list).

Input into articles from this "school of thought" has already been offensive to some members of Project:Judaism. Therefore, members of Project:Judaism are requested to be alert to efforts that would radically change the classical teachings of Judaism on related subjects.

Requested articles

Place topic here or below citing a brief reason, and then explain request at the talk page.

~~Yeshiva day school or some variation on that title - important phenomenon in Jewish history and culture~~ (redirected to Jewish day school)

Requests related to forthcoming Jewish holidays

Haggadah needs expansion.

Jewish holy days articles needed

The Jewish holiday article needs help with fuller and richer materials. The following potential articles (collected from other pages) need articles of their own:

Seudat mitzvah (a Mitzvah meal)
Siyum

Jewish prayers

More needed at:

Jewish customs

~~Blech~~ (stub started)

Other

Great Assembly needs a lot of accuracy checking. Calling for attention, nothing has been done about article, and its been weeks!
Ropshitz needs expansion, de-copyvio, and wikification to be saved from deletion.

Projects

Wiki Torah study projects

Please note that in many instances, these projects proceed much faster in Hebrew than in English!

Mikraot Gedolot (rabbinic bible) at Wikisource in English (sample) and Hebrew (sample).
Mishnah at English Wikibooks - Hebrew text with translation and commentary; there is also a Hebrew version.
Shulchan Aruch at Wikisource - Hebrew text with English translation

Mikraot Gedolot Project

See new projects:

Related Wikiprojects

Templates

Use this	To get this	For this purpose JewishLifeCycle	Bottom of a page JewishHolidays	Bottom of a page Jew	Infobox for the upper side of a page related to Jews as an ethnicity or to certain articles on Judaism; use like any other infobox. Torah portion	For a user page or Torah related article. Infobox Halacha	Infobox for articles / sections on halakhic topics Judaism-stub	Bottom of the page, Judaism-related stubs of a "religious" nature Category:Judaism stubs HeBible-stub	Bottom of the page, Hebrew Bible or Torah or Tanakh stubs Category:Tanakh stubs Jewish-hist-stub	Bottom of the page, Jewish history-related stubs, also including those of a secular nature. Category:Jewish history stubs Please use this stub when coming across articles that are not fully part of Category:Israel or Category:Judaism. Israel-stub	Bottom of the page, Israel-related stubs

Wikipedia:Forum for Encyclopedic Standards

New voluntary association on Wikipedia (joining groups like the Wikipedia:The Business and Economics Forum and the Wikipedia:Harmonious editing club) to promote discussion of a sort of system of expert review on Wiki.

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 :As you will be aware, some views just don't make it to mainstream Jewish thought. You will be hard pressed to find an Orthodox Jew who doubts that there are 613 mitzvoth in the Torah. The debate is interesting, but please do not make it out as if the matter is completely undecided. There is no such thing as a ''psak'' (binding law) in non-halakhic matters; still, when a view is widely favoured it can be presented in Wikipedia as the generally accepted view, with dissenters as a historical curiosity. [[User:Jfdwolff|JFW]]
-==Jewish vs. Christian perspectives==
+==Jewish and Christian perspectives==
 Many articles on Jewish topics exist side-by-side with articles on Christian views on the same topics. Here are some issues to consider, in responding to and standardizing articles relating to Torah, Tanakh and "Scripture" etc:
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 *Usages of words relating to the [[Tetragrammaton]] and the names of and for God. Much work has already been done via "redirects" when words like "Jeho-va" or "Yah=we" etc are used, but this subject needs further attention and standardization.
 *Responding to those who would classify Judaism and its texts as [[Mythology]], as some do with Christianity.
-*Many articles refer to Jesus ''Christ''; the word "Christ" is a formal title, used by those people who believe that Jesus is the son of God and the messiah. Jews do not share this belief, and many find its usage offensive, as it implies the reader also worships Jesus as god and messiah. Therefore it is preferable and in accord with NPOV policy to refer to "[[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]]" or simply "Jesus."
+*Many articles refer to Jesus ''Christ''; the word "Christ" is a formal title, used by those people who believe that Jesus is the son of God and the messiah. This usage violates [[WP:NPOV|wikipedia policy]], and it never hurts to remind editors to refer to him as "[[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]]" or simply "Jesus."
 *'''Standardize a method of citation for books, chapters, and verses.''' Also, some Christians include different Jewish books in their canon such as the [[Book of Baruch]] and the way they classify and use [[:Category:Old Testament Apocrypha]] in general runs counter to Jewish scholarship. Need to respond in a standardized manner.
-*Being on the lookout when certain "Biblical" articles are written with clear subtle and not-so-subtle [[anti-Semitic]] intent, such as [[Verses criticizing Jews in the Old Testament]]. Need to respond, dispute, correct, and establish a true NPOV.
 ==Article introduction==