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Background

After asking a similar question on Christianity.SE, I was curious about the equivalent phenomenon in Judaism.

Question

Is there a chart, or graph, or other resource that accurately describes the similarities and differences between the major Jewish denominations?

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    Not sure why the close votes...seems very on topic to me
    – robev
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 15:26
  • What would you consider an authoritative source?
    – robev
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 15:29
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    Possible duplicate of Differences between Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism
    – ShadowRanger
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 15:58
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    @robev To be transparent, I am wholly unfamiliar with Judaism from a personal practicing perspective (i.e. I am not a Jew). I leave authoritative to what the main contributors of this site take to be as "yes this is what most Jewish Communities would consider as correct". As far as I'm concerned it's not my place to deem something part of the Jewish faith authoritative or not.
    – isakbob
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 16:21

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The Economist had a good report on Judaism and the Jews - alive and well. They used the following illustration to describe some key denominations of Judaism.

enter image description here

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    I’m going to assume The Economist (writer) had very uninformed people feeding info. about Ultr-Orthodox (haredi), but great find nonetheless.
    – Oliver
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 3:56
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    I object to the characterization of the list presented as "the main denominations of Judaism." To the extent that Judaism contains "denominations," a list of even the main ones thereof would have to include at least a few more, to be anywhere near complete.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 18:21
  • @IsaacMoses Main denominations is how they sub-titled their chart, but I agree there is a lot more gray. I edited my intro sentence. Thanks
    – mbloch
    Commented Aug 11, 2019 at 17:38
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This is a tough question to answer since there are many grey areas ,but I found this chart on this website(http://orthodoxjudaismlou.blogspot.com/2012/02/orthodox-vs-other-branches.html?m=1) and it seems to explain the differnces in a very very basic way.

enter image description here

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    +1 The demographic information is outdated (non-affiliated Jews, Orthodox and Reform have grown exponentially at the expense of Conservative) and it's a chart so as @sam says things are simplified quite a bit, but this is as close as you can get to a proper depiction of the 3 major streams of Judaisim in chart form.
    – יהושע ק
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 3:16
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    I know you didn't make this chart so my criticisms aren't against you; just informing the OP, who seems unfamiliar with different types of Judaism. Forgive me if I'm wrong but I wouldn't put "Bernard Revel" as a formative personality in Orthodoxy. I never even heard of him until I looked up wikipedia. Further, if Orthodoxy originates from the times of the Talmud, the people in that list are out of place. I'd say Orthodoxy started when competing denominations formed. Or if the chart means Rabbinic Judaism, that predates the Talmud by centuries.
    – robev
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 3:22
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    This is apparently a Christian description of differences between Jewish branches (it starts "If you want to bring the gospel to your Jewish friends"). Some of these answers might not be incorrect, but they're definitely explained using Christian jargon (what Jew would explain sin with reference to "original sin," or use the words "necessary for salvation" instead of commandments/good deeds?)
    – b a
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 11:01
  • @robev: Pre-Talmudic Judaism is usually considered Pharisaic Judaism, not Rabbinic. The origins of Rabbinic Judaism are the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple, but between the revolts and exiles, it wasn't really distinct from Pharasaic Judaism until the codification of the Mishnah around 200 CE; Wikipedia (admittedly not authoritative) puts the transition from Pharisaic Judaism into Rabbinic Judaism as coinciding with Judah haNasi's editing and publication of the Mishnah, with the Talmud completed around 500 CE with the Gemara, matching this chart.
    – ShadowRanger
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 15:04
  • @robev: I do agree that mixing origins of Rabbinic Judaism as a whole with formative personalities involved in the formation of Orthodox Judaism in contrast to the competing denominations as a little odd. The personalities may have been important to the development of the modern form of Orthodox Judaism, but they're not formative to the Rabbinic Judaism that began around 200 CE.
    – ShadowRanger
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 15:06

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