Judaism is a monotheistic (the belief in one God) religion that started around 2000 BCE. One of the oldest religions in the world, it still remains a major religion with an estimated 14 million followers after millenia of suffering, persecution, and other hardships. Judaism started as a small religion, and is now one of the largest in the world, influencing life and culture for many peoples and nations.
HISTORY: Abraham and Isaac
As previously mentioned, Judaism is one of the oldest religions and is still thriving, therefore it has a rich, long history. This history is filled with strife, conflict, struggle, and hardship, especially in relatively recent years with the Holocaust. Judaism began over 4000 years ago in Babylon with a boy named Abram. Abram (later known as Abraham), along with Isaac and Jacob, are known to Judaism as the Patriarchs. Abram always questioned the belief in material idols, and eventually came to believe that everything in the universe was made by a single being known as the Creator. One day, the Creator Abram worshipped came to Abram and promised that he would provide Abram with a great blessed nation if Abram left his home and family. Abram followed God's command, and settled down. His one concern was that he was old and had no children, and his wife, Sarai, could no longer have children. God promised Abram a child with Sarai, and then changed Abram's name to Abraham (Father of Many), and Sarai to Sarah (Princess). Sarah then had Isaac, the second Patriarch of Judaism. To be sure that Abraham was worthy of leading God's nation, God gave Abraham ten trials of faith. The first of these was to leave his family and friends to go to current day Israel. The last of these was to sacrifice his only son, Isaac as a show of faith. Isaac was willing to do this for his father, so Abraham tied Isaac to an altar, and was about to sacrifice him, when an angel appeared telling Abraham to stop, for the fact that he was willing to carry out extreme orders was enough. Isaac eventually grew up and married, then had two fraternal twins: Jacob and Esau.
HISTORY: Jacob
Jacob is the third Patriarch of Judaism, and was the younger, more spiritually minded son of Isaac. When Isaac grew old, his wife Rebecca tricked him into giving his blessing to Jacob, who then fled, fearing that Esau would be mad. Jacob eventually married Rachel Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpha; with which he had twelve sons and a daughter. Jacob made his way back to Esau to seek reconciliation. The night before he did, he sent everyone he traveled with ahead, so that he could be alone. He then met and wrestled a man for the entire night. Jacob then wanted a blessing from the man, who revealed himself as an angel. The angel change Jacob's name to Israel, meaning God's Champion. Jacob later went to Esau and reconciled with him.
HISTORY: Moses
Although not one of the Jewish Patriarchs, Moses is an important prophet from the history of Judaism because he gave them the torah. The torah is hard to define, because it can mean different things. Generally speaking, the torah is the whole of all the Jewish texts and laws that the Jewish people abide by. It is also the Jewish bible, and what Christians would call the Old Testament. Jacob's son Joseph's descendants eventually became Hebrew slaves to the Egyptians. Moses was the one who led the Hebrew slaves, or Israelites, out of slavery and into freedom. Supposedly through the power of God, Moses created pillars of fire and even parted the Red Sea to stop the Egyptians and lead the Israelites to safety. As Moses led his people through the desert, God called him up to Mount Sinai. There, God appeared to Moses as a burning bush and gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and the oral torah. When Moses came back down to the Israelites, he found that they were throwing wild parties and worshipping material idols. He gave them God's Ten Commandments and the oral torah, and successfuly led the Israelites into freedom.
THE TORAH
The Torah is a text containing all of the laws that the Jewish people follow. As stated above, the oral version of this text was given to Moses by God atop Mount Sinai. The torah contains five "books" of Moses which are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Non-Jews refer to this book as the Old Testament. To the jewish people, however, this term is not used becasuse the Jews don't include the New Testament (Jesus' teachings and life (see Christianity)). Instead, they refer to the Old Testament as the Written Torah or Tanakh. In Jewish synagogues, or places of worship, the Torah used for religious services is inthe form of a scroll. This scroll is always supposed to be hand-written, using a special Hebrew caligraphy. The parchment on the scroll is not to be touched by a human hand, instead a Yad is used. Yad is the Hebrew word for hand, so the Yad is, naturally, a pointer in the shape of a human hand with an extended index finger.
BELIEFS
Unlike many other major religions, Judaism does not have any formal mandatory beliefs that dictate exactly what Jewish people believe. Judaism focuses more on action and a Jew's relations with God, the land of Israel, and the rest of mankind. However, there are thirteen vague laws that summarize what the minimum requirements of Jewish belief are. These thirteen rules were put together on paper by a man named Rambam. This is the closest that anyone has ever come to writing down the beliefs of the Jewish people. They are:
God exists
God is one and unique
God is incorporeal (not of a material existence)
God is eternal
Prayer is to be directed to God and God alone
The words of the prophets are true
Moses' prophecies were true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets
The Written Torah and Oral Torah were given to Moses
There will be no other Torah
God knows the thoughts and deeds of men
God will reward the good and punish the wicked
The Messiah will come
The dead will be resurrected
As you can see, these laws are very general. Judaism greatly focuses more on the relationships that God formed with mankind and the Jewish people, and the relationships between Jews and the land of israel and Jews and humanity. As previously mentioned, Judaism focuses more on actions than beliefs, and those actions are described in the 613 commandments given by God. They will not be listed here, but to see the complete list, go here.
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
In the past, ever since Judaism began, the Jewish people have been persecuted and have gone through much hardship. This is especially true within the recent past. In World War II, the Nazis executed something called the Holocaust. This was the attempt at genocide (attempt at the extermination of a people or race) of the European Jews. It didn't succeed, but came very close to it. Over 6 million European Jews died, which was over two thirds of the European Jewish population. Even now, the Jewish people and the State of Israel face a major conflict which is still in the process of being resolved today. This conflict is between the State of Israel (and the Jews) and the Palestinians (Arab Muslims). The two groups are arguing over the city of Jerusalem in Israel (shown in the picture). Both the Palestinians and Israelis claim this city as their Holy Land, and therefore argue that they should have control over it. Currently, the Israelis have control over the city and allow Palestinians to freely roam the city. However, the Palestinians want complete control of their Holy Land, and argue that the Jews have no connection to Jerusalem. The Israeli government continues to keep control of the city, but this has led to violent attacks of terrorism by the Arab Muslim Palestinians. The Jewish people definitely face other challenges, but this is the major issue as of today (2012 C.E.).