Jewish Sects
The
existence of sects in Judaism is not well known - even amongst Jews, the word
is rarely used - but there are many bodies in Judaism that can fairly be described
as sects. The main divisions are actually known as 'movements' and a very simplistic
description of these is:
Orthodox - those who believe that the Torah and the Oral Law are the immutable word of G-d and attempt to follow them as closely as possible.
Reform (including Liberal, Masorti and Conservative) - those who believe that neither Torah nor Oral Law are of divine origin but may well be divinely inspired. To a greater or lesser extent, they adapt the laws to suit the time and place in which they live, especially with regard to some of the less 'humanistic' commandments.