section_path: Jewish religious movements/Rabbinic Judaism
section_name: Rabbinic Judaism
paragraph_text: Rabbinic Judaism
  
  Rabbinic Judaism (or in some older sources, Rabbinism; Hebrew: "Yahadut Rabanit" – יהדות רבנית) has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud. It is characterised by the belief that the Written Torah (Written Law) cannot be correctly interpreted without reference to the Oral Torah and the voluminous literature specifying what behavior is sanctioned by the Law.
  
  The Jewish Enlightenment of the late 18th century resulted in the division of Western Jewry (primarily, the Ashkenazi, but also western part of Sephardim and Italian rite Jews, a.k.a. Italkim, and Greek Romaniote Jews —both last groups are considered distinct from Ashkenazim and Sephardim) into religious movements or denominations, especially in North America and Anglophone countries. The main denominations today outside Israel (where the situation is rather different) are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. The notion "traditional Judaism" includes the Orthodox with Conservative or solely the Orthodox Jews: