Judaism began about 4000 years ago. And there are little over 13 million Jews living all over the world. The greatest number (5.8 million) of Jews lives in USA. There are about 4.8 million in Israel and 1.2 million in Europe. There are about 550 thousand Jews in Russia. There are smaller Jewish communities in other parts of the world including 100 thousand in Australia and 120 thousand in Africa.
There are two major symbols in Judaism. One is the six-point star, known as the Star of David and the other called menorah, a seven-branch candlestick.
Judaism has the following four aspects: religious, cultural, historical and political!
a. A Jew believes in God, prays to God and observes the Shabbat (Sabbath).
b. A Jew enjoys the Jewish songs and eats kosher food – food fit for eating!
c. A Jew belongs to “a people” with a long history (around 4000 years) and looks at the present life in the light of “events of the past”! Hence the stories of Abraham and Moses are very important to a Jew.
d. A Jew belongs to a part of a people, scattered all around the world but with a single “spiritual home” in Israel!
To understand Judaism one must know the story of Abraham and Moses. (Please read LR pages 236 – 246).
a. Jews says that Abraham is a man “who obeyed God’s calling”. Read his story in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Jewish Bible. He is considered as one of the “founders of the Jewish faith”. Abraham, earlier Abram, was a wealthy man from Ur (in modern Iraq) leaves the security of his “homeland” and goes to the “to promised land” (present day Israel). Abraham’s wife, Sarai, also became Sarah! The name change, the Jews believe, was part of the covenant Abraham had with God! As a sign of this covenant circumcision, “removal of the foreskin from a boy’s penis”, is introduced to the Jews. The covenant has two sides – human side of “obedience to God”, and the divine side of God showering special favours on this people. Abraham becomes the model of human obedience to God and this is illustrated in Abraham’s willingness to “sacrifice” his only son Isaac of his old age. A severe famine takes Abraham’s descendents to Egypt and the subsequent slavery. But this happens during the time of Jacob and his sons. Jacob is the grandson Abraham through Isaac. Jacob also underwent a name change after the re-establishment of the covenant. He was given the name Israel whose 12 sons make up the 12 tribes of Jacob.
b. The story of Moses – can be read in the second book of the Bible called Exodus – begins with the “liberation” of the Hebrew people and a return to Canaan. Ten plagues and God’s presence and guidance become part of this liberation. The covenant is renewed at the Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Now the Hebrew people are expected to live their “obedience to God” by the observance of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:2-17, again the same covenant re-established. Here they also received other social norms and the prescribed religious feasts. The portable Ark was also provided here for the Hebrew people. The Jews believe that Torah, with 613 commandments or mitzvot, a part of the Hebrew Scriptures, contains God’s conversations with Moses that was passed on to the people. Out of the 613 commandments 248 are the “to do” and the rest of the 365 are “not to do”.
Among the three Middle Easter Religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Judaism is the oldest. I think it is possible to look at Christianity and Islam as a “re-working” or “re-forming” of the original one, which is Judaism!
Below I give some basic features we see in Judaism that makes it an “organized religion”. In this I am indebted to Professor Kedar Nath Tiwari of India from whose book entitled I have borrowed the following. Cf. Comparative Religion, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997), p. 108f.
1. Judaism is a classical example of a revealed religion. Here God speaks and reveals to humans “the path” to “redemption”. Concept of “chosen people” becomes part of this religion, which gets “re-interpreted” later!
2. Monotheistic religion in a strict sense! God is a person in the sense of consciousness, speaks, listens and answers human prayers!
3. God’s metaphysical characters such as “omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence” is emphasised along with moral qualities such as justice, mercy, kindness, love, holiness and so on!
4. Greater emphasis is put on God’s moral qualities and therefore Judaism is primarily an ethical religion with greater emphasis on the observance of the Torah, the law – a summary of it is found in the “Ten Commandments” – found in LR, p. 244. Humans are expected to love God – pray to God and so on and serve the fellow humans with a sense of justice, mercy, humility, modesty and so on.
5. World is real. God created the world, and sustains the world through God’s providence. The world is created for humans to establish righteousness and serve the purpose of God.
6. Judaism believes in God raising many prophets of whom Moses is treated as “the greatest and the most favoured messiah of God”. Not that one prophet is more important than the other. But each one had an equally important task to perform.
7. Belief in angels and spirits, both good and evil are found in Judaic tradition. Satan or the devil is the chief evil spirit, spreading evil in God’s world. God still has control over the devil.
8. Belief in life after death is present in Judaism. But it is not very clear. Belief in the resurrection of the body is found in Judaism. Probably (?) the “immortality of the soul” too is found here and there in Judaism!
9. Though Judaism is an ethical religion, with emphasis on moral conduct of humans, still it abounds in ceremonies, religious festivals, ritualistic ways of prayer, worship and so on.
Question to Explore:
What relationship does the nation of Israel have to Jewish identity and faith? To answer this you may want to read on “Judaism” in LR, pp. 235-294.
Below I give some basic features we see in Judaism that makes it an “organized religion”. In this I am indebted to Professor Kedar Nath Tiwari of India from whose book entitled I have borrowed the following. Cf. Comparative Religion, (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997), p. 108f.
1. Judaism is a classical example of a revealed religion. Here God speaks and reveals to humans “the path” to “redemption”. Concept of “chosen people” becomes part of this religion, which gets “re-interpreted” later!
2. Monotheistic religion in a strict sense! God is a person in the sense of consciousness, speaks, listens and answers human prayers!
3. God’s metaphysical characters such as “omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence” is emphasised along with moral qualities such as justice, mercy, kindness, love, holiness and so on!
4. Greater emphasis is put on God’s moral qualities and therefore Judaism is primarily an ethical religion with greater emphasis on the observance of the Torah, the law – a summary of it is found in the “Ten Commandments” – found in LR, p. 244. Humans are expected to love God – pray to God and so on and serve the fellow humans with a sense of justice, mercy, humility, modesty and so on.
5. World is real. God created the world, and sustains the world through God’s providence. The world is created for humans to establish righteousness and serve the purpose of God.
6. Judaism believes in God raising many prophets of whom Moses is treated as “the greatest and the most favoured messiah of God”. Not that one prophet is more important than the other. But each one had an equally important task to perform.
7. Belief in angels and spirits, both good and evil are found in Judaic tradition. Satan or the devil is the chief evil spirit, spreading evil in God’s world. God still has control over the devil.
8. Belief in life after death is present in Judaism. But it is not very clear. Belief in the resurrection of the body is found in Judaism. Probably (?) the “immortality of the soul” too is found here and there in Judaism!
9. Though Judaism is an ethical religion, with emphasis on moral conduct of humans, still it abounds in ceremonies, religious festivals, ritualistic ways of prayer, worship and so on.
Question to Explore:
What relationship does the nation of Israel have to Jewish identity and faith? To answer this you may want to read on “Judaism” in LR, pp. 235-294.
