Confucianism vs Judaism

Confucianism versus Judaism comparison chart
	Confucianism	Judaism

Use of statues and pictures	Permitted.	Ancient times: Not allowed as it is considered Idolatry. Today, great artwork is encouraged. Statues of people are fine, but not as religious icons.
Founder	Kong Qiu (Confucius)	Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses
Clergy	Bureaucrats.	Ancient times: Hereditary privileged priest class--Kohen and Levi. Present day: Religious functionaries like Rabbis, Cantors, Scribes, Mohels.
Literal Meaning	Disciple of Confucius.	Grateful person (named for Judah, who was named "gratitude" by his mother, Leah)
Scriptures	Analects of Confucius and Mencius; I Ching; Doctrine of Mean, etc.	Tanakh (Jewish Bible), which includes the Torah
Belief of God	Depending on the religion held, usually Buddhist. Confucianism is not strictly a religion but rather advises a schema of social order.	One God (monotheism), often called HaShem—Hebrew for 'The Name', or Adonai— 'The Lord'. God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death.
Place of origin	China	The Levant
View of the Buddha	Buddha is followed by many Confucians.	N/A.
Practices	Visit to temples to pay homage to Ti'en (while it can refer to God or Heaven, it traditionally refers to social power), Confucius, and ancestors; To practice ('Jing zuo, ') or 'Quiet Sitting', a neo-Confucian seeking of self-cultivation.	Prayers 3 times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. Shacarit prayer in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon, Arvit at night; Musaf is an extra Shabbat service.
Life after death	Ancestors and heritage is important, but not worshiped.	World to come, Reincarnation (some groups); unifying with God, there are different opinions and beliefs
Followers	Confucianists	Jews, Jewish people
Original Language(s)	Mandarin or Cantonese	Hebrew, Aramaic. Over the centuries, Jewish languages have also included Yiddish (among the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe); and Ladino (among the Sephardic Jews of Spain and North Africa).
Place of worship	Temples.	Synagogues and temples, home, Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem
Human Nature	Humans should respect those who are superior to them.	You must choose good from bad. You are responsible for your actions, not thoughts.
Geographical distribution and predominance	Asia.	Existing in Israel for 1500 years, but the Romans in 70 AD kicked all Jews out. Jews are dispersed all over the world, at one time present in almost every country. Now the majority live in Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, France, England.
View of other Dharmic religions	Confucianists usually follow Buddhism, which is a Dharmic religion.	N/A.
Holy Days	Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.	Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu B'Shvat, Passover, Lag B'Omer, Shavuot. Shabbat (Sabbath). Sabbath most important—one day a week no work, just peace, joy and prayer.
Belief	Confucianism is sometimes mistakenly seen as a religion but it is really a philosophy of China, and of Asia as a whole. It stresses human conduct over belief in God.	Jewish central belief is that there is only one God, and God has a special relationship, a contract, with them that they can fulfill by performing mitzvot.
Goal of religion	To have a structured society.	To celebrate LIFE! To fulfill the Covenant with God. Do good deeds. Help repair the world. Love God with all your heart. Strong social justice ethic.
Holy days/Official Holidays	Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.	Sabbath, Havdalla, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu BiShvat, Purim, Passover, Lag BaOmer, Shavout. Holocaust remembrance.
Authority of Dalai Lama	N/A.	N/A.
Offshoot religions	Cao Dai.	Abrahamic religions -- Christianity and Islam.
Branches	Han Confucianism; Neo Confucianism; Contemporary Confucianism; Japanese Confucianism; Korean Confucianism; Vietnamese Confucianism; Boston Confucianism.	Religious: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Renewel, Reconstruction. Traditions: Sephard, (Spain, Arab countries, Turkey). Ashkenazi: (Europe, Russia). MIzrachi: (Iraq, Persia, India).
Promised Holy one.	Coming of the Superior Man or Perfect Gentleman.	Belief in the Coming of a Messiah.
Goal of Philosophy	Social Harmony.	To live a proper and Holy Life. To appreciate Life in every way. To do Good Deeds. To live Ethically. To make choice based on Free Will. Universal Education for every Jew; to study, learn. read and write.
Concept of Deity	Most believe in One God, but this is not necessary since Confucianism is not a religion but a belief system about social ordering.	Belief in one God and teachings of the tradition, prophets and rabbis.
Names of God	Ti'en, really referring to power; Shang Ti is the "Supreme Deity" that really refers to the position of the Emperor in a social order.	HaShem, Adonai,
Original Languages	Mandarin or Cantonese	Hebrew common till 500 BCE, Aramaic and Greek koine till 300 CE. Hebrew always for religious services. Local languages and different extinct and living Jewish languages like Carfati, Yiddish, Ladino, Judesmo etc
View of other Oriental religions	Usually follows other Oriental religions, especially Taoism.	N/A.
Views on other religion	Sees no contraction in following more than one religion.	Judaism is the chosen faith, however, others are good too, provided that they follow Noahide Laws.
Use of statues, images	Permitted.	Forbidden
Virtue(s) in which religion is based upon	Respect	Justice; strict adherence to God's law. Reading the Holy Books, and following the Commandments.
Views on the afterlife	To be worshipped by one's descendants and their families.	Jews beleive in a human Soul, and Orthodox believe in A World To Come and a form of Reincarnation. Differing beliefs accepted. Very little discussion on afterlife. Focus is on time on Earth now.
Status of women	Socially inferior to men.	Equal to men in eyes of God and in the Law (Halakha). Woman traditionally have been granted more equal rights than most other world cultures. Today, traditions among the Orthodox and the Reform movements differ greatly.
Principle	Key principles are Ren (benevolence), Yi (righteousness), Li (propriety/ritual), Zhi (Wisdom), Xin (trustworthiness), Xiao (filial piety), Zhong (loyalty), Min (diligence) and Hui (kindness). Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, and Xin are the "Five Constants".	By accepting the covenant, they choose to follow God's commandments. A unique ethnicity. Early monotheists.
Time of origin	Approx. 550 B.C.E.(Before Common Era)	c 1300 BC
Views on Other Religions	Confucianists see no contradiction in following more than one religion.	All people should obey 7 (Noahide) Commandments, a set of very basic moral laws. Non-Jews should follow their religion, and let Jewish people follow Judaism.
Can atheists partake in this religion's practices?	Yes.	Yes.
Concept of God	One God.	One God
View of Oriental religions	Confucianists usually follow other Oriental religions too.	Jews accept others can have different religions. Jews must obey the law of the land, if ethical.

Use of statues and pictures

Permitted.

Ancient times: Not allowed as it is considered Idolatry. Today, great artwork is encouraged. Statues of people are fine, but not as religious icons.

Founder

Kong Qiu (Confucius)

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses

Clergy

Bureaucrats.

Ancient times: Hereditary privileged priest class--Kohen and Levi. Present day: Religious functionaries like Rabbis, Cantors, Scribes, Mohels.

Literal Meaning

Disciple of Confucius.

Grateful person (named for Judah, who was named "gratitude" by his mother, Leah)

Scriptures

Analects of Confucius and Mencius; I Ching; Doctrine of Mean, etc.

Tanakh (Jewish Bible), which includes the Torah

Belief of God

Depending on the religion held, usually Buddhist. Confucianism is not strictly a religion but rather advises a schema of social order.

One God (monotheism), often called HaShem—Hebrew for 'The Name', or Adonai— 'The Lord'. God is the one True Creator. God has always existed, none existed before him and will exist forever. He transcends life and death.

Place of origin

China

The Levant

View of the Buddha

Buddha is followed by many Confucians.

N/A.

Practices

Visit to temples to pay homage to Ti'en (while it can refer to God or Heaven, it traditionally refers to social power), Confucius, and ancestors; To practice ('Jing zuo, ') or 'Quiet Sitting', a neo-Confucian seeking of self-cultivation.

Prayers 3 times daily, with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. Shacarit prayer in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon, Arvit at night; Musaf is an extra Shabbat service.

Life after death

Ancestors and heritage is important, but not worshiped.

World to come, Reincarnation (some groups); unifying with God, there are different opinions and beliefs

Followers

Confucianists

Jews, Jewish people

Original Language(s)

Mandarin or Cantonese

Hebrew, Aramaic. Over the centuries, Jewish languages have also included Yiddish (among the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe); and Ladino (among the Sephardic Jews of Spain and North Africa).

Place of worship

Temples.

Synagogues and temples, home, Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem

Human Nature

Humans should respect those who are superior to them.

You must choose good from bad. You are responsible for your actions, not thoughts.

Geographical distribution and predominance

Asia.

Existing in Israel for 1500 years, but the Romans in 70 AD kicked all Jews out. Jews are dispersed all over the world, at one time present in almost every country. Now the majority live in Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, France, England.

View of other Dharmic religions

Confucianists usually follow Buddhism, which is a Dharmic religion.

N/A.

Holy Days

Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu B'Shvat, Passover, Lag B'Omer, Shavuot. Shabbat (Sabbath). Sabbath most important—one day a week no work, just peace, joy and prayer.

Belief

Confucianism is sometimes mistakenly seen as a religion but it is really a philosophy of China, and of Asia as a whole. It stresses human conduct over belief in God.

Jewish central belief is that there is only one God, and God has a special relationship, a contract, with them that they can fulfill by performing mitzvot.

Goal of religion

To have a structured society.

To celebrate LIFE! To fulfill the Covenant with God. Do good deeds. Help repair the world. Love God with all your heart. Strong social justice ethic.

Holy days/Official Holidays

Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day.

Sabbath, Havdalla, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu BiShvat, Purim, Passover, Lag BaOmer, Shavout. Holocaust remembrance.

Authority of Dalai Lama

N/A.

Offshoot religions

Cao Dai.

Abrahamic religions -- Christianity and Islam.

Branches

Han Confucianism; Neo Confucianism; Contemporary Confucianism; Japanese Confucianism; Korean Confucianism; Vietnamese Confucianism; Boston Confucianism.

Religious: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Renewel, Reconstruction. Traditions: Sephard, (Spain, Arab countries, Turkey). Ashkenazi: (Europe, Russia). MIzrachi: (Iraq, Persia, India).

Promised Holy one.

Coming of the Superior Man or Perfect Gentleman.

Belief in the Coming of a Messiah.

Goal of Philosophy

Social Harmony.

To live a proper and Holy Life. To appreciate Life in every way. To do Good Deeds. To live Ethically. To make choice based on Free Will. Universal Education for every Jew; to study, learn. read and write.

Concept of Deity

Most believe in One God, but this is not necessary since Confucianism is not a religion but a belief system about social ordering.

Belief in one God and teachings of the tradition, prophets and rabbis.

Names of God

Ti'en, really referring to power; Shang Ti is the "Supreme Deity" that really refers to the position of the Emperor in a social order.

HaShem, Adonai,

Original Languages

Mandarin or Cantonese

Hebrew common till 500 BCE, Aramaic and Greek koine till 300 CE. Hebrew always for religious services. Local languages and different extinct and living Jewish languages like Carfati, Yiddish, Ladino, Judesmo etc

View of other Oriental religions

Usually follows other Oriental religions, especially Taoism.

N/A.

Views on other religion

Sees no contraction in following more than one religion.

Judaism is the chosen faith, however, others are good too, provided that they follow Noahide Laws.

Use of statues, images

Permitted.

Forbidden

Virtue(s) in which religion is based upon

Respect

Justice; strict adherence to God's law. Reading the Holy Books, and following the Commandments.

Views on the afterlife

To be worshipped by one's descendants and their families.

Jews beleive in a human Soul, and Orthodox believe in A World To Come and a form of Reincarnation. Differing beliefs accepted. Very little discussion on afterlife. Focus is on time on Earth now.

Status of women

Socially inferior to men.

Equal to men in eyes of God and in the Law (Halakha). Woman traditionally have been granted more equal rights than most other world cultures. Today, traditions among the Orthodox and the Reform movements differ greatly.

Principle

Key principles are Ren (benevolence), Yi (righteousness), Li (propriety/ritual), Zhi (Wisdom), Xin (trustworthiness), Xiao (filial piety), Zhong (loyalty), Min (diligence) and Hui (kindness). Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, and Xin are the "Five Constants".

By accepting the covenant, they choose to follow God's commandments. A unique ethnicity. Early monotheists.

Time of origin

Approx. 550 B.C.E.(Before Common Era)

c 1300 BC

Views on Other Religions

Confucianists see no contradiction in following more than one religion.

All people should obey 7 (Noahide) Commandments, a set of very basic moral laws. Non-Jews should follow their religion, and let Jewish people follow Judaism.

Can atheists partake in this religion's practices?

Yes.

Concept of God

One God.

One God

View of Oriental religions

Confucianists usually follow other Oriental religions too.

Jews accept others can have different religions. Jews must obey the law of the land, if ethical.

Confucianism vs. Judaism

Comparison chart

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