Reply #56: Let's not confuse the culture with the religon.

[reprobate]

I've always seen judaism as two separate entities: the culture, which is in the main eastern european; and the religon.

The family structure is in the main matriarchal, but the religon is patriarchal. Until modern times it was exclusively male dominated. In fact, the first Bat Mitzvah was not performed until March 18. 1922 in New York City.

I believe the earliest worship of Yahweh was in Ur where he was a member of the court of Ba'al. A small group took him with them as their tribal god when they moved away, but they forgot to bring his consort ( I believe her name was Astarte, but she did have many other names throughout the ancient middle east. I always figured that this was why Yahwah always seemed so pissed off. I would be too, if I was dragged away from home and wife. This is the group that eventually wound up in the states of Isreal and Judea. And this is the angry god that was co-opted by the other western religons.