>>10173151>The beginnings of Judaism take place with the Pharisees, as is reported in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature.” - Vol. VIII, p. 474 (1942).
>“Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an ‘Israelite’ or a ‘Hebrew.’” -(The Jewish Almanac, Compiled and Edited by Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins. New York: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3.)
