Judaism

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Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Jewish people have suffered persecution through the holocaust, they were left with nothing. No leader or land to call their own as everything was taken from them.

The history of the Jewish faith begins with the Hebrew bible or the Tanankh which has been referred to as the old testament by Christians (Fisher, 2005). The history begins with Moses who led the people according to gods commandments. This includes new teachings and a book called the Talmund. The Jewish people believe that if they obey God’s commands in turn God will deliver on promises he had made to them. The Torah is a set of rules that was given to the Jewish people by Moses. It contains rules for living a moral life, they were put into a book called the Torah.

The Sacred Texts of Judaism are the Torah which are the rules for moral living given to the Jewish people by Moses. The Talmund which is the texts studied by Rabbis, and the Tanankh which contains the writings that Christians consider the Old Testament. The Ten commandments are the foundation of the Jewish faith. The Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people by Moses as a guide to living a good life. They include, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, and love they neighbor as thy self. The Ten Commandments were written on stone tablets, they also included “a set of social norms, prescribed religious feasts, and detailed instructions for the construction of a portable tabernacle with a holy ark, the Ark of the Covenant, in which to keep the stone tablets on which God inscribed the commandments” (Fisher, 2005).

The first Jewish temple was built in Jerusalem by King Solomon who was the son of King David. David was a Sheppa...

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... have suffered many struggles and have worked hard to stay true to their roots. There are Orthodox Jews who are traditional and stand by the Hebrew Bible. There are Hasidic groups who practice withdrawal from the rest of the Jewish community. There are Lubavich Hasidim who are loyal to bringing their message to as many Jewish people as they can by using the technology of today (Fisher, 2005). The largest Jewish movement is conservative Judaism. They are dedicated to traditional Judaism, however they are reaffirming it in modern terms so it will not be seen as a “dead religion” (Fisher, 2008). Women have now begun to take a dynamic roll in their rights to participate and would like to sit with the men instead of behind a curtain in a synagogue. They are also wanting to be ordained rabbis. Judaism is being rediscovered and is getting more recognition than ever before.

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