Encyclopaedia of Judaism

Get access Subject: Jewish Studies
General Editors: Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck and William Scott Green

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The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers more than 200 entries comprising more than 1,000,000 words and is a unique reference tool.  The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of the current state of scholarship on fundamental issues of Judaism, both past and present. While heavy emphasis is placed on the classical literature of Judaism and its history, the Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online also includes principal entries on circumcision, genetic engineering, homosexuality, intermarriage in American Judaism, and other acutely contemporary issues. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it reflects the highest standards in scholarship. Covering a tradition of nearly four thousand years, some of the most distinguished scholars in the field describe the way of life, history, art, theology, philosophy, and the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people.

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Sin in Judaism

(9,239 words)

Author(s): Avery-Peck, Alan J.
In Judaism a sin is any act that violates the stipulations of the covenant with God. This means that, within Judaism, sin encompasses not only religious or ritual offenses, which people today commonly think of as sins, but also includes all other crimes as well, whether they are against individuals or are violations of any of the community laws described in the Torah as a whole. Judaic thinking about sin grows out of the Hebrew Scriptures' comprehension that human beings are by nature morally flawed. 1 People, this is to say, have an innate disposition to transgress God's comman…