World Religions: Judaism Judaism< Judah, one of the early ancestors of the Jews. Judaism is the proper noun referring to the religion. A follower of that religion is called a Jew.  Judaism is monotheistic. They believe in one God only, who created all things.  Jews trace their ancestry back to a man named Abraham (1800 B.C.).  The first five of their sacred books called Torah (Law) record their early history.  They Jews spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt.  A hero named Moses led them to freedom (around 1400 B.C.) and gave them the Ten Commandments which is the basis of their laws  The commandments include prohibitions against murder, stealing, lying, adultery, having any God but God (Hebrew name for God is Yahweh from which we get the German form Jehovah), disrespecting parents, using God’s name in vain, coveting (undue desire to have something that is not yours, and not properly respecting the Sabbath which is the seventh day of creation and a day of rest and worship. Saturday is the Sabbath.

Holy Days (From which we get the word holiday) in Judaism: 1.Rosh Hashanah= New Year, usually in September 2.Yom Kippur= Day of atonement or forgiveness for sins. A system of animal sacrifice was used to symbolize forgiveness for sins, and on this day the High Priest (Top Priest) would offer sacrifices for all of the people. 3.Hanukkah- Feast of lights= Occurs in December but is not related ton Christmas. It celebrates a time when the Jews overthrew Greek rule in 167 B.C. and cleansed the temple which had been desecrated when the Greeks sacrificed a pig on its altar. A pig is seen as unclean. 4.Passover= Usually coincide with the Christian Easter; celebrates when Moses led the people from slavery in Egypt

The Jewish scriptures are what Christians call the Old Testament. They were written in Hebrew, and later in Greek. The Jewish place of worship is called a synagogue, and the leader of the synagogue is called a Rabi. Jews have dietary laws. Anything from a pig and certain other animals that were seen as unclean is forbidden. Alcohol is allowed but only in moderation. Ancient worship centered around the Jewish Temple which was on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. That Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 and with it the sacrifices ended. Jews still consider that site sacred, but currently there is an Islamic Mosque (place of worship) there. Jews believe that there is a coming Messiah or Anointed One who will lead the people back to greatness as their ancient King David had done. For most Jews, Jesus, who was a Jew, was not the Messiah. Jews believe that the land called Israel, which they call the promised land was given to them by God through his son Isaac.

However, Muslims believe that the land was given to them by God, through Abraham and his firstborn son Ishmael. Ishmael was the firstborn through Abraham’s servant Hagar. Isaac was the first child of his wife Sarah. Property rights passing on to the first son is called the Law of Primogenitor or first descendant. In A.D. 135, the Romans forced all but the poorest Jews tom leave Israel. They went to Africa, Russia, India, Persia, and Europe where they lived for the next 1900 years. They were often persecuted, even by Christians. The Islamic Empire took over Israel and the surrounding areas in Europeans took over the area at the end of WWI with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Hitler continued the persecution of Jews with what he called “The Final Solution” and in the process killed close to 7 million Jews along with other people in the Holocaust

At the end of WWII, Jews avowed never again would they allow themselves to be victims. They had a right to defend themselves against persecutors. Many went to reclaim their ancient homeland with British approval and in 1948 declared Israel to again be a nation. However, over the past 1900 years other people had lived there. They are called Palestinians after the ancient name of the land, Palestine. Many of them are Orthodox Christians, but most of them are Muslims. The United Nation came up with a plan to divide the land and establish two nations, one Jewish, and one Palestinian. The Palestinians rejected this plan as they saw no reason to give up any of what they believed was their land. This led to a series of wars in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, as well as continuing conflict today.

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