Religious & Cultural Traditions By: Alania Alexander

A. Hebrews The Hebrews practiced a monotheistic religion. They recorded all of their religious events in a Torah, this is equivalent to the Holy Bible. It outlines the way that people should live.From the information in the Torah, the religion Judaism was formed.

Judaism Judaism is a monotheistic religion that is practiced by those who are Jewish(Hebrew).

Torah

Forced Migrations The Hebrews migrated a lot. Their relatively large diasporic communities were constantly being conquered by empires such as the Roman, Assyrian and Babylonian.

In hopes of saving their identity, the Hebrews held religious ceremonies and continued following traditions as they migrated. Eventually this became a problem. The caused conflict between them surrounding religions.

As a result, the Hebrews moved their diaspora communities all around the Middle East and Mediterranean Sea.

B. Indians: Vedic Era The Vedic period was when Hinduism was formed.

Hinduism Hinduism was created through writings from Upanishads. These writings were based on the relationship between the humans and the universe. Ideas such as reincarnation and karma were included.

These ideas along with stories that were told by priests were recorded in the Vedas.

Dharma To promote the ideas about reincarnation, a caste system (Dharma) was created.Dharma is the path of righteousness and living one's life according to the codes of conduct.

Reincarnation The process of the soul lives on after death and returns to life in a new body

Karma The force generated by a person's actions that determines how the person will be reborn in the next life