History of Judaism

About eighty per cent of the total population in the world has faith in one religion. And out of these close to seventy per cent believe in one of the four biggest religions in the world. The Big four religions are – Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Both Christianity and Islam religions have their roots in Judaism.

Judaism is the most ancient and surviving monotheistic religion that is known in the west. The history of Judaism is remarkable. The practitioners of Judaism are known as Jews. The Hebrew Bible is the holy book of the Jews. The book has mainly descriptions of the history of the world, plus the story of how the Israelites journeyed from creation, to the great flood, till they reached the Promised Land of Canaan.

Abraham is the patriarch or the father of all Jews. The off spring of Abraham was kept in captivity by Egypt for many years, and finally God chose a man called Moses to lead them out to their escape into the Promised land, although Moses himself did not step in the land. This epic journey was marked by several incidents, chief of which is Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. These commandments form the basis of Judaism. This is where the history of Judaism starts.

The traditions of the Jewish sacred writings or the Masorah have twenty four books into which they have been classified. The same texts are however separated into thirty nine books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

Judaism also has the Talmud, which is a tradition of word of mouth commentary that is prevalent from ancient times. It is a large compilation of laws which have been passed down by the word of mouth. The Talmud is the authority that is most traditional for Orthodox Jews.

In ancient times, Judaism was the only known religion that had only one God to worship. At that time many civilizations such as the Ancient Greeks, for instance, worshipped many Gods. Jews called their God “Yahweh”, and believe that He had a covenant made with his people to preserve them so long as they remained His devotees.

In Judaism, Sin is defined as a disregard for God’s will. It will be punished by God in the suitable for. If one follows the Law of God, he will be accepted into His Kingdom. There are 3 branches of Judaism – Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and Orthodox Judaism, of which some are more popular in some countries. The history of Judaism has evolved as well.