Judaism

Judaism was the first monotheist religion and has about 18 million adherents in the world today. This review covers the historical development of biblical Israelite religion in the ancient land of Israel beginning 1000 BCE and how it gradually developed into the very different rabbinical Judaism that exists today. While most Jews today are secular participants in Western democratic liberal cultures, Orthodox, and especially ultra-orthodox Jews are a rapidly growing minority with special needs for culturally sensitive psychiatry acceptable to their religious lifestyle and observance to the commandments. The traditional Jewish beliefs in a future Messiah is also a component of some manic states and the differential diagnosis between ‘religiosity’ and mental illness can be important in psychiatric settings with orthodox Jewish patients.