Judaism

635 Words2 Pages

One of the major religions today is Judaism. Followers of this practice have been around for thousands of years, and they’ve dispersed throughout the world. Judaism started in the Middle East during the bronze age, around 2000 BC. Abraham is considered the founder of this religion, it is said he made a covenant with God which included the basic foundations for the religion. These two promises were that God would have a special relationship with Abraham and his descendents and that Canaan would belong to the Israelites. This is why they view themselves as God’s chosen people.
The Jewish beliefs are very similar to those of the Christian’s and the Muslim’s. They believe history and faith are interconnected and everything is part of God’s plan. The sacred text is the Torah and all of the rules and stories and this is where all the rules and stories were written down. Another religious writing is the Ten Commandments. This is believed to be the set of ten rules given to them by God through Moses. Moses, along with Abraham are two of the most important people to the Jewish population. Abraham is the founder of the faith, who made the covenant with God. Moses renewed the covenant with God and received the commandments. He was the one who led the Israelites out of persecution in Egypt, across the Red Sea. Later, many of the Jews moved away from the homeland in a movement called Diaspora. Many settled together in communities that allowed the traditions to survive. Now, Judaism is a major world religion (Ellis Esler, 58-60).
The beliefs of Judaism can vary from person to person. In this faith, actions are more important than beliefs. Although there is no formal set of beliefs, there are Rambam’s principles, which are thought to be the b...

... middle of paper ...

... center of the whole religion.

Works Cited

"Judaism 101." Judaism 101. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Carmine, Douglas. World History. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009. Print.
"1. OVERVIEW (top)." World Jewish Population. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
Beaumont, Peter. "Netanyahu Pushes to Define Israel as Nation State of Jewish People Only." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 04 May 2014. Web. 04 May 2014.
Tracy, Thomas. "Ex-NYPD Cop Charged with Hate Crime over Anti-Jewish Graffiti in Brooklyn." NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 4 May 2014. Web. 04 May 2014.
Ahmed, Saeed, Ashley Fantz, Matthew Stucker, Nick Valencia, Janet DiGiacomo, Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz, and Don Lemon. "Jewish Center Shooter 'knocked Family to Its Knees,' Relative Says." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 04 May 2014.

More about Judaism

Open Document