Judaism like Hinduism is rooted in history not ,not mythology and originated from the blessings left by his father sometime ago in the Jacob's era.
The Jewish people originated from Semitic race and their forefather Abraham migrated to the land known as Canaan of which the God promised him and his offsprings.(Genesis 12:7) From this promised of best land ,the Jews lineage from Isaac,Jacob whose name after wrestled with an angel changed to be Israel (Genesis 32:27-29)
Israel had 12 sons among the popular are Joseph ,the most loved one by his father,Judah the most blessed one and Levy and simeon the most hardmen.
According to Genesis (49:8-10) Judah was given an everlasting kingdom which Christians also believed rooted from his grand-grandson David ,Solomon upto to Messiah whom they believe shall be the ever ruler. Judah's kingdom first appeared in 2 kings (16:6) Moses himself was from the Levites race.
Judaism is the religion of all the Jews ,thus Abraham's seeds, became a nation of priests,prophets and kings who waded in the wilderness ,under the leadership of Moses and Aaron they worship their one God in a portable tent or tabernacle. By the time they arrived in their promised land, 'Canaan' the kingship exchanged from the most popular Joshua,Samsom,Saul and David of Judah tribe installed in around 1 077 BC both the kingship and the priesthood were firmly established at the national centre in Jerusalem. After David's death his son Solomon succeeded him and his son kingdom became even much stronger which succeeded to built the house of God.
Judaism is influenced by the strong rulership of the Greek ,Romans and Germany which all disturbed their true worship and their scared writings destroyed. Moses Mendelssohn(1727-86) says the Jews free themselves from their traditonal restraints to turn into western cultures ,rejected the ideas of personal Messiah and devise new ways to establish their own state in a compaign called 'Zionism'. The holocaust of six million Jews by Hitler pushed the new United Nations to establish a state of Israel in 1948.
Judaists believed in one God and that a man has an immortal soul that survives the death of his body. And the Messiah is yet to come as proclaimed by Christians and other religions.Encyclopedia Judaica,says that Judaists' expectations of the Messiah was very high in the first century AD, who is ''a charismatically endowed decendant of David who the Jews of the Roman period believed would be raised up by God to break the yoke of the heathen and to reign over a restored kingdom of Israel''.They don't believe in the Jesus Christ who was put on the torturing cross or stake.
The scared writings of Judaism are: The book of Torah(law) which are the five books written by Moses in the Mount Sinai.
Nevi'im are the books of the prophets,Kethivim ,poetics and songs and the Talmud is the commentries of the five books of Torah which divided into two sections Mishinah(scriptural law) and Gemara(collection of commentries).
Important festvals are Shabbat(Sabbath),Yom Kippur(Day of Atonement),Sukkot(Celebration of the harvest in october), Hanukkah(Independence from Syro-Grecian and the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem in Decmber), Purim(festival of Lots in February/March in commemoration of the deliverance of Jews in Persia ) and Pesach(Festival of Passover ,deliverance of Israel from captivity in Egypt)
Some customs are circumcision, males converted to Judaism must be circumcised,Bar Mitzvah is the attainment of religious and legal maturity for boys at 13 years plus one day. Yarmulke skullcap for males,as a sign of allegigiance to Jewish tradition and Mezuzah a small parchment on which are inscribed words then fixed to every door for each room used for occupancy.
The Judaism is one of the few religion not concerned with getting more converts ,but they need those who are dedicated to their tradition and customs.
The difference created by the harsh history they came across resulted in the three major groups of Judaists which are:
Orthodox Judaism the group which accepts the 'Hebrew (Tanakh) is inspired scripture ,Moses received on Mount Sinai as oral law. And Messiah is still to appear to bring Israel to a golden age.
Reform Judaism(Liberal and Progressive) is the movement beginning of the 19th century and is bease on the ideas of Moses Melndelssohn who denied the Torah as divinely revealed truth. They believed the Messianic era is of unversal brotherhood. The Jewish laws ,diet ,purity and dress is reviewed as obsolete.
Conservative Judaism rejected too many traditional Jewish practices. They don't believe in oral law received by Moses from God,but stick to the fact that the Rabbis sought to adapt Judaism to new era and invented the oral Torah. They use Hebrew and English intheir liturgy and uphold to dietary laws. Men and women should sit together during worship which is unacceptable in Orthodox.
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