Jews and Judaism

In this article, I will try to explain more about Judaism and Jews.

Judaism is a name of religious tradition; the name was given to the Israelites during the 6^th century B.C. The name Israel referred to a man named Jacob and or Israel, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, The Patriarch of the Jews who lived around 2000 B.C.

Now, the same name refers to the state that was established 1948  for the Jews who came from all over the earth to the Promised Land, Its citizens are known as Israelis. Their God is known as YAHWA, or Adonai.

The holy book of the Jews is known as the old testament which consists of;

1-     The torah or the Pentateuch, which includes the five books; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

2-     The Prophets which is another interpretations of the events in the torah, it includes the following books; Joshua, Judges, I-II Samuel, I-II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi.

3-     The writings or the Hebrew scripture, which includes the following; Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song f Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, I-II Chronicles.

The Jews believe that the torah was written by Moses himself around 1300 B.C., but some scholars like Wellhausen believes that it was collected from four different sources five hundred years after Moses

We can summarize the main elements of Judaism as the following;

• Abraham was the patriarch of the Hebrews; Moses led the exodus form Egypt and received the laws.
• Jews believe in Monotheism or the belief in only one god, YAHWA
• Their main ethics are in the Ten Commandments which include the worship of one god, and pursue of justice and mercy.
• Their symbols are the Star of David and The Torah.
• Their rituals include; the circumcisions of the infant males which is the sign of the covenant with YAHWA, Bar Mitzvah or the coming of the adult age, observing the weekly Sabbath, observing the annual religious holidays like the Passover, and Yom Kippur. The pious Jews would pray three times a day; in the morning, in the midday, and in the early evening.
• Their leaders are; Moses and all the prophets of the Old Testament, priests conducting animals sacrifice which lasted until the first century A.D., and their teachers of the scripture or the Rabbis.
• Their scripture is the Torah or the first five books of Moses, and the rest of the Old Testament, which has lesser status.

 In the history of the Israelites, there are some important dates that we should mention here;

Historical outline of the Jews and Judaism

Carmody and Brink, 145

I hope I have covered the main ideas in Judaism and their main historical events throughout history.

Work cited

1-     Carmody, Denise. Ways to the center. California. 2002

2-     Van Voorst, Robert. Anthology of world scriptures. California. 2003