Write at an essay on one of the two choices below:
- In modem times, we are accustomed to hearing about Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Re-constructionist Jews. But in other historical settings through the last two thousand years, there have been several other denominationalizations of the Jewish people into movements or sects. Discuss two other instances of denominationalism of the Jewish people in late-ancient medieval history. When did they occur, what issues divided the Jews?
OR - In the Diaspora, Jewish communities generally emerged with specific cultural differences among them, based upon geography, relative isolation and other factors. Name and describe four separate Jewish communities that existed in the tenth century and explain how they emerged as separate communities.