Judaism

From a religion that focused on sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem, Judaism emerged as a religion that required the implementation of religious laws by all Jews in their daily life. New patterns of Jewish identity in the nineteenth century involved a decline in religious observance and modifications in the synagogue services that represented accommodations to non-Jewish society. The patterns of religious observance today in the two largest Jewish communities, those of the United States and Israel, are broadly similar, but they differ in their religious affiliations and identities. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose numbers have increased considerably in recent decades, present a strong contrast with the secularized pattern of the majority.