Rabbinic Judaism and property laws), requiring—according to rabbinic thought—a subsequent definition through the Oral Law. Thus Rabbinic Judaism claims that almost all directives, both positive and negative, in the Torah are non-specific in nature and require the existence of either an Oral Law, or some other method to explain them. Much rabbinic Jewish literature concerns specifying what behavior is sanctioned by the law; this body of interpretations is called "halakha" ("the way"). Until the Haskalah (Hebrew: "Jewish enlightenment") of the late 18th century, and the resulting division of Ashkenazi Jews into religious movements or denominations, especially in North America and anglophone countries,
Association of Religion Data Archives Department; membership and distributional data and historical lineages ("Family Trees") of major world religions and U.S. denominations thereof; and various learning tools. A bi-weekly journalistic article dealing with matters of religion and (usually American) public life, written by David Briggs, also appears on the ARDA website. This article is cross-posted to the Huffington Post, for which Briggs also writes. In 2015, the ARDA began providing interactive historical timelines of religion in the United States. Currently, there are three interactive timelines listed: Prominent Religious Events and People, Baptist Events and People, and Catholic Events and People. The ARDA is both affiliated