Jewish heresy refers to those beliefs which contradict the traditional doctrines of Rabbinic Judaism, including theological beliefs and opinions about the practice of halakha (Jewish religious law). Jewish tradition contains a range of statements about heretics, including laws for how to deal with them in a communal context, and statements about the divine punishment they are expected to receive. Rabbinic definition of heresy Talmudic era The Greek term for heresy, αἵρεσις, originally denoted "division," "sect," "religious" or "philosophical party," is applied by Josephus to the three Jewish sects—Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes. In the sense of a schism to be deprecated, the word occurs in , , and particularly in ; hence αἱρετικὸς ("heretic") in the sense of "factious" (). The specific rabbinical term for heresies, or religious divisions due to an unlawful spirit, is minim (lit. "kinds [of belief]"; the singular min, for "heretic" or "Gnostic," is coined idiomatically, like goy and am ha'aretz; see Gnosticism). The law "You shall not cut yourselves" (לא תתגדדו) is interpreted by the rabbis: "You shall not form divisions [לא תעשו אגודות אגודות], but shall form one bond" (after , A. V. "troop"). Besides the term min (מין) for "heretic," the Talmud uses the words ḥitzonim (outsiders), apikoros, and kofer ba-Torah, or kofer ba-ikkar (he who denies the fundamentals of faith); also poresh mi-darke tzibbur (he who deviates from the customs of the community). It is said that all these groups are consigned to Gehinnom for all eternity and have no possibility of a portion in the world to come. The Mishnah says the following have no share in the world to come: "He who denies that the Torah is divinely revealed [lit. "comes from Heaven"], and the apiḳoros." Rabbi Akiva says, "also he who reads heretical books" ("sefarim ḥitzonim"). This is explained in the Talmud to mean sifrei tzedukim (Sadducean writings); but this is an alteration by the censor of sifre ha-Minim (books of the Gnostics or heretics). The Biblical verse, "That you seek not after your own heart" is explained as "You shall not turn to heretic views ["minut"] which lead your heart away from God". The Birkat haMinim is a malediction on heretics. The belief that the curse was directed at Christians was sometimes cause for persecution of Jews. Modern scholarship has generally evaluated that the Birkat haMinim probably did originally include Jewish Christians before Christianity became markedly a gentile (and