Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, tracing its roots back to around 2500 BCE. The fact that the Jewish culture and religion still exists nowadays is astonishing when their history of constant persecution is considered. Even under constant persecution, Judaism has survived as both an ethnicity and as a religion, because of its ability to adapt with the changing times. The foundation of the Jewish faith can be found in the “written law” of the Torah, or more generally, the Tanakh. Equally as important, if not more important, is the “oral law” which came about in the first to seventh century CE. The rabbinic literature which makes up the oral law has very little precedent in early Jewish writings, but is one of the main adaptations …show more content…
Some of these changes were quite controversial, but they were usually for the benefit of the Jewish people. For example, the fifth commandment states that everyone must keep the Sabbath, which is understood to mean that it is a day of rest and no work will be done. One of the actions that was considered “work” was carrying any object from the public to the private domain or vice versa. Rabbinical writings, however, argued that this could be circumvented by placing a wall or a barrier around the city, such that the entire city becomes “private domain.” Whether or not this still follows the Tanakh is debated by the faith, but it is for the benefit of the Jewish people. Similarly, Jewish people are permitted to hire a non-Jewish person to do prohibited work on the Sabbath, though they are not allowed to explicitly ask for work to be done. This way, they are able to do what they need to, but are not strictly breaking the commandment as given to Moses by God. Lastly, more traditional sects of Judaism do not believe in using electricity, particularly on the Sabbath. They believe that electricity is an extension/modern iteration of fire, which to some is considered work. The Talmud allows for a special type of elevator, however, that automatically stop on every floor. This way, a Jewish person is not making the illicit