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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.

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

Main article: Hebrew language

For important guidelines see:

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

See also:

Categories

Many pages exist under Category:Jews and Judaism:

Portal:Judaism

See:

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.

{{JudaismWikiProject-Member}}
Star of David 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
OyThis user speaks Yeshivish.

Directory of participants

In alphabetical order:

  1. Akerensky99
  2. Aldous Hooplah
  3. Avi
  4. Bachrach44
  5. Barkochbar
  6. Bresolver
  7. Briangotts
  8. bte288
  9. ChanochGruenman
  10. Crzrussian
  11. Danny
  12. Dauster
  13. DLand
  14. Dovi
  15. Eliyak
  16. ems
  17. Etz Haim
  18. Ezra Wax
  19. E=MC^2
  20. FairNBalanced
  21. 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!
  22. Frikle
  23. GorillazFanAdam
  24. Gregorykay
  25. Gryffindor
  26. HG
  27. Humus sapiens
  28. Hyim
  29. Israelbeach
  30. IZAK
  31. Izehar
  32. Jayjg
  33. Jewbacca
  34. jnothman
  35. Jon513
  36. Joaquin Murietta
  37. Josiah
  38. Karimarie
  39. Leifern
  40. Maayanh
  41. Masterhomer
  42. Matwat22
  43. MKaiserman
  44. Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg
  45. Meshulam
  46. Cott12
  47. Neutrality
  48. Nomist
  49. Olve
  50. PiMaster3
  51. PinchasC
  52. Rachack
  53. Reuvenk
  54. Rje
  55. RK
  56. Rmallek
  57. RMoloney
  58. Savant1984
  59. Sebastiankessel
  60. Sheynhertz
  61. ShiraHadasha
  62. Shlomke
  63. SF2K1
  64. Sputnikcccp
  65. Stainedglasscurtain
  66. StoopidEggs2
  67. Talmid78
  68. Thetruthbelow
  69. Tomer
  70. WAS
  71. Yaakov de Wolff (or just simple, JFW)
  72. yellowmellow45
  73. Yirmiyahou
  74. Yonkeltron
  75. Yung Wei 綪永徽
  76. 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

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.

Sanhedrin vs. Sanhedrin (tractate)

How to do this? See:

Sefer Hamitzvot

Requests for comments

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

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.

Requests related to forthcoming Jewish holidays

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:

Jewish prayers

More needed at:

Jewish customs

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

Main article: Torah study

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

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

Main page: 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.

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