The Jewish Faith and Personal Development among XXIst Century Religious Scholars

Abstract

The Jewish faith and lifestyle requires the individual to address issues that involve many facets of life, including education, religious matters, self scholarship, personal development, and many other issues. The main problem in the 21^stcentury is that modern Jewish society does not subscribe to a homogenous worldview concerning Judaism. There are several different typical sectors within Jewish society. Haredi (Ultra-orthodox) Jews, secular Jews (Bar Elli 2010, 3-5), Modern Orthodox, and traditional (meaning: less observant). The article does not discuss the two extremes: Haredi Jews and secular Jews. The main concern of this article involves Modern Orthodox and traditional Jews and their personal development within the Jewish faith. In many cases, Modern Orthodox and traditional Jews in the 21^stcentury are inclined to increasing strictness and extreme attitudes in all issues related to Judaism, as a result of ignorance and personal lack of development in Jewish religious matters. This stands in complete contrast to the situation in the distant past, i.e., the Mishna and Talmud periods (first to six century AD), when the Jewish establishment encouraged scholarly personal developmentin all spiritual religious aspects.