QUICK FACTS:
Founder: The religion of the Hebrews
Founded in: 1300 BC (especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD)
Adherents Worldwide: 14 million
Adherents in US: 4 million
God(s) and Universe: One God, Yahweh.
Human Situation and Life's Purpose: Obey God's commandments, live ethically. Focus is more on this life than the next
Afterlife: Not historically emphasized. Beliefs vary from no afterlife to shadowy existence to the World to Come (similar to heaven).
Practices: Circumcision at birth, bar/bat mitzvah at adulthood. Synagogue services on Saturdays.
Texts: Bible (Tanakh), Talmud
SUMMARY:
Judaism is a monotheistic religion which believes that the world was created by a single, all-knowing divinity, and that all things within that world were designed to have meaning and purpose as part of a divine order. According to the teachings of Judaism, God's will for human behavior was revealed to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Saini. In exchange for all the good that God has done for the Jewish people, Jewish people keep God’s laws and try to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives. The Torah, or commandments, which regulate how humans are to live their lives, was a gift from God so that they might live in according to His will. Judaism is a faith of action and Jews believe people should be judged not so much by the intellectual content of their beliefs, but by the way they live out their faith or by how much they contribute to the overall holiness of the world.
There is not much mentioned about afterlife. The Torah and Talmud alike focus on the purpose of earthly life, which is to fulfill one's duties to God and one's fellow man. Succeeding at this brings reward, failing at it brings punishment. Whether rewards and punishments continue after death, or whether anything at all happens after death, is not as important. Jews, as do many of the world's religions, have hope in a future heroic figure who will rescue the righteous, judge the wicked, and restore peace to the world. This figure is known as the messiah. Christians believe the messiah has come in the form of Jesus of Nazareth; Jews emphatically do not. Jews do not believe that the messiah will be divine. A fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity is the Jewish conviction that God is so essentially different from and beyond humanity that he could never become a human.
Over the centuries, a number of formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared, and though they differ with respect to certain details, they demonstrate a commonality of core ideology. Of these formulations, the one most widely considered authoritative is Maimonides' "13 Articles of Faith" that he believed every Jew ought to adhere to:
I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name:
- is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
- is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
- has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
- is the first and the last.
- and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
- that all the words of the prophets are true.
- that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
- that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
- that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
- knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts.
- rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
- in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
- that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
TEXTS:
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the following exile, sacrifices became impossible and Jewish religious life turned to Torah study and prayer in the synagogue. Study of Torah and other Jewish texts has been central to religious life ever since. The Torah, the Talmud, and other Jewish writings are precious sources of Jewish history and divine commandments (the mitzvot), both of which continue to play a dominant part in Judaism.
The Tanakh corresponds to the Jewish Scriptures, often referred to as the Old Testament by Christians. It is composed of three groups of books:
The Torah (also known as Pentateuch): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
The Nevi'im: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (2), Kings (2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi Isaiah
The Ketuvim, the "Writings" including Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles (2)
The Talmud is a collection of rabbinical writings that interpret, explain and apply the Torah scriptures. The Talmud was written between the 2nd and 5th century CE, however some believe it was revealed to Moses along with the Torah and preserved orally until it was written down. The Talmud is thus known as the "Oral Torah," with the first five books of the Tanakh designated the "Written Torah."