judaism

Judaism is the original of the three Abrahamic faiths, which also includes Christianity and Islam. Judaism originated in the Middle East over 3500 years ago. Judaism was founded by Moses, although Jews trace their history back to Abraham. “Jew” is used to refer to someone who practices Judaism and takes part in Jewish culture. Jews worships in Synagogues. Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world.

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Beliefs:

Jews believe that there is a single God who created the universe. The Jews believed that God introduced Himself to Moses as YHWH (also known as the Tetragrammatons), which is often translated as Yahweh or Jehovah. They believe that God continues to work in the world, affecting everything that people do. Jewish people believe in the Torah, which contains 613 commandments and Jews refer to the ten best known of these as the ten 10 statements that God gave to Moses at Mt Sinai. It is the central and most important document of Judaism and has been used by Jews through the ages. They believe they must follow Yahweh's laws which supervise their daily life and they also believe that the Torah shows how God wants Jews to live.  

 

Customs:

There are no official creeds in Judaism, only a set of central beliefs produced by Jewish philosophers. There is no agreement to the meaning of the terms, some Jews interpret it literally and some symbolically.

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Here are some elaborated practices:

Kashrut - the Hebrew word "kasher" literally means "fit," and the kosher laws concern themselves with which foods are considered fit to eat.

Sabbath - God commanded the Jewish People to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy as the fourth of the Ten Commandments - the Shabbat begins at sundown each Friday and lasts until dark on Saturday. There is a special Sabbath meal which includes special foods, songs and readings and prayers.

Messiah - traditional Jews did not accept Jesus as the messiah and so they remain waiting for the Messiah.

Passover - Jews celebrate the Feast of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.

 

People:

The history of the Jewish people begins in the Middle East when God promised Abram (soon regarded as Abraham), a nomad leader, that he would be the father of a great people if he did as God told him. Abraham was considered the father of the Jewish faith because he promoted the central idea of the Jewish faith: that there is one God.

David, the first king in Jerusalem whose reign was known as a golden era. He is known both as a great fighter and as the "sweet singer of Israel". He is the source of some poems and songs which can be read in the book of Psalms.

Moses was the one who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and led them to the Holy Land that God had promised them. Moses is the channel between God and the Hebrews, through whom the Hebrews received a basic charter for living as God's people. He was the one who God appointed to write and present the Ten Commandments to the Jews. The first five books of the Torah are traditionally ascribed to him.

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Subdivision:

The Jewish people have different understanding of the interpretation of the Torah, which led them to grow in subdivision. We can classify different subdivision based on their observation and beliefs.

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Orthodox Jews - believes that all of the practices in the Torah which is to be obeyed must be obeyed without question. They exercise traditional practices and beliefs. They are strict in the implementations of laws and are hesitant in revising any laws.

Conservative Jews - believe that the ancient laws and practices have to be interpreted for modern life and with more concern with community practices than with ritual practices. They are sometimes described as traditional Judaism without fundamentalism. They recognize the change that must be done and that it is part of religion, but they discern carefully.

Reform Jews – aims to modernize Judaism by combining themselves with European culture. They allow everyone to sit together, men and women, and both Hebrew and the local language are spoken in services.

 

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Texts:

The Tenakh is the ancient collection of writings that are sacred to the Jews. They were written over almost a thousand years from 1000 to 100 BCE. The Tenakh is composed of: the Torah, plus the Nev'im (prophets) and the Ki'tuvim (writings, which include histories, prophecies, poems, hymns and sayings). The Torah is written on scrolls and kept in a special cabinets called the aron hakodish, the holy ark, in synagogues. The Torah contains five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Neviʾim comprise eight books subdivided into the Former Prophets. And, The Ketuvim consist of religious poetry and wisdom literature.

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The Talmud is also a collection of Jewish writings. The Talmud is the complete written version of the Jewish oral law and the subsequent commentaries on it. Written about 2000 years ago, it is a recording of the rabbis discussion of the way to follow the Torah at that time. It is compose of Mishnah and Gemara. The Mishnah is the original written version of the oral law and the Gemara is the record of the rabbinic discussions.