Judaism
Religion-wiki — for all religions and none
The Tanakh is held sacred by Jews; it constitutes what Christians call the Old Testament, except its books are not in the same order. The Tanakh is divided into three sections:
- Torah, or "The Law" - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.
- Neviim, or "The Prophets" - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and The Twelve Prophets.
- Ketuvim, or "The Writings" - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles.
Contents |
[edit] Beliefs
Judaism is notable for a few teachings.
[edit] The Abrahamic Covenant
One of the most important parts of Judaism is Jews' place in the universe as God's chosen people. The covenant was originally made with Abraham, who was the father of the Jewish people. The covenant included the Jews' obligation to obey all of God's commands, especially to obey the law of circumcision, as well as God's oath to give the Jews a promised land, which eventually became Israel.
7 "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." 9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." -Genesis 17:7-14, New International Version
The covenant was later renewed with Moses at Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were also given.
[edit] The Messiah
Another important aspect of Judaism is the ideal of the Messiah. The term itself means "Anointed One" in Hebrew, meaning one who has been chosen by God to rule in his stead. Although there are many hypothetical prophesies of the Messiah, the most commonly recognized ones are in the book of Isaiah:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling [a] together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. -Isaiah 11:1-9, New International Version
It's promised that the Messiah will bring peace and prosperity to the world, punishment to the wicked and reward to the faithful of Israel. Christianity was formed when many Jews (and Gentiles) proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ (the Greek translation of "Messiah"). Judaism as it stands today rejects Jesus as being the Messiah, although some accept him to be a prophet.
[edit] Jewish ethnicity
Being Jewish can also be considered an ethnicity. The main genetic branch consisting of European Jews is known as Askenazi, distinguishing itself from many Middle Easterners, especially Arabs, and Franco-Spanish jews, who are generally known as Sephardi, derived from the Hebrew word for Spain. Many consider themselves Jewish despite the fact that they no longer practice Judaism, which especially confuses the issue of Jewish-ness as either an ethnicity or a religion.
[edit] Related
- Religious texts: Torah, Midrash, Talmud, Mishnah
- Denominations: Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, Liberal, Hassidic, Humanistic, Egalitarian, Karaite, Messianic, Samaritan (incomplete list)
- Major Holidays: Pesakh (Passover), Shavuot, Rosh Hashana/Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Tisha b'Av, Shabbat, Hannukah, Tenth of Tevet, Lag ba'Omer, Rosh Chodesh (incomplete list)
[edit] External references
Other wiki sources on Judaism:
- The Jewish Encyclopedia, an uploaded version of the 1906 encyclopedia.
- Wikipedia's article on Judaism
- Judaism Wikia
