Judaism is a religion that goes back a long time ago. As far as we know, Judaism was around before Jesus was born. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It tells us how to live our life and what to do according to the Torah. Not every Jew has the same belief but the doesn't mean that their belief in Judaism is wrong, it is just different. This is good because it shows that Judaism is alive!
There are three main ideas to Judaism, these are:
Lets start with God or G_D. Unlike Christianity, Jews belief that the messiah is still to come. On the other hand, Christians believe that Jesus was the messiah that came and went. Something these two religions have in common is that they both believe that there is only one God. These two religion are Monotheistic religions. Abraham, who was the first Jew, realised that there is only one God and that He created the world and everything that is in it. Abraham then told this to his people, who became the Jewish people. This was the beginning of Judaism. The reason why Jews write 'God' like 'G_D' is because they believe that the name is Holy. They do this is show respect and reverence to the name of God because is is holy. The Torah is another big part related to Judaism. in every land and place Jews have been to, they have always kept the idea of God. They did this by carrying a book around with them wherever they went. This book contained the stories and laws of Judaism. This is called the Torah. The Torah consists of many things. The main things contained in the Torah are the laws, and the rules. Some of these things are also Jewish customs. There are 10 very strong rules in the Torah. These are known as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are taken very seriously in Judaism just like in Christianity. In both religions, the Ten Commandments are rules that you should live by, and rules that you shall not break. Lastly we have Israel. Israel is another very important part of Judaism. This is because one of the first stories in the Torah shows how God told Abraham to leave his home and to go to the land of Canaan (Israel was once called Canaan and also was called 'Zion'). The Jews had to fight for many years to keep Israel as a Jewish homeland as many battles took place in Israel. Israel became an independent state on May 14 1948 and the Jews were able to form their own government. |
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