The Religion of Judaism

Judaism is the reli­gion of more than 14 mil­lion peo­ple around the world. As the old­est liv­ing reli­gion in the West­ern world, it pro­vid­ed the foun­da­tion for Chris­tian­i­ty and Islam, the oth­er two major monothe­is­tic reli­gions. Togeth­er, these three faiths account for half of the world’s pop­u­la­tion.

Origins and Beliefs

Judaism intro­duced monotheism—the belief in one God—to the world. This con­cept is encap­su­lat­ed in the She­ma, a prayer recit­ed dai­ly by Jews: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteron­o­my 6:4). Jews believe that God’s prov­i­dence extends to all peo­ple, but that a spe­cial covenant exists between God and the Israelites. This covenant, how­ev­er, is not per­ceived as pro­vid­ing spe­cial priv­i­leges but rather a duty to exem­pli­fy God’s mes­sage to human­i­ty.

The idea of a com­ing Mes­si­ah has been a source of opti­mism for Jews. How­ev­er, the core beliefs of Judaism are not laid out in an offi­cial creed, empha­siz­ing con­duct over doc­tri­nal cor­rect­ness. Judaism affords con­sid­er­able lat­i­tude in mat­ters of belief, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing the mes­sian­ic future and immor­tal­i­ty. This faith is deeply root­ed in earth­ly life, seek­ing a just and peace­ful world order.

Sacred Texts and Observances

The foun­da­tion of Jew­ish belief is the Hebrew Bible, par­tic­u­lar­ly its first five books known as the Torah. The Torah is revered as the pri­ma­ry rev­e­la­tion of God’s law to human­i­ty, rel­e­vant for all times. These laws were clar­i­fied and expand­ed upon in the oral Torah, even­tu­al­ly writ­ten down in the Mish­nah and Tal­mud.

Many Jew­ish prac­tices include adher­ence to dietary laws (kosher), rules about mar­i­tal rela­tion­ships, dai­ly prayer and study, and the recital of bless­ings. The Sab­bath and fes­ti­vals are observed both at home and in the syn­a­gogue, the cen­tre for prayer and instruc­tion in Judaism. Obser­vant Jews wear phy­lac­ter­ies (tefill­in) dur­ing morn­ing prayers and affix a mezuzah, a box con­tain­ing Torah pas­sages, to their door­posts.

Jewish Calendar and Holidays

The Jew­ish cal­en­dar is based on lunar months, adjust­ed to align with the solar year through the addi­tion of a 13th month six times in a 19-year cycle. Days are reck­oned from sun­set to sun­set, with the Sab­bath observed from Fri­day evening to Sat­ur­day evening.

Key hol­i­days in the Torah include Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kip­pur (Day of Atone­ment), Passover, Shavuoth (Feast of Weeks), and the Feast of Taber­na­cles. Oth­er hol­i­days include Chanukah and Purim. On the eighth day after birth, male chil­dren are cir­cum­cised in a cer­e­mo­ny known as a brit milah. At 13, a boy becomes respon­si­ble for per­form­ing com­mand­ments, marked by a Bar Mitz­vah cer­e­mo­ny, while girls have a sim­i­lar cer­e­mo­ny called a Bat Mitz­vah.

Diversity in Judaism

Judaism is more than a reli­gion; it’s a civ­i­liza­tion with diverse cul­tures, lan­guages, and his­to­ries. Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties around the world each have unique cus­toms and tra­di­tions, from Ashke­nazi Jews of East­ern Europe and Ger­many, to Sephardic Jews of Spain and Por­tu­gal, and Mizrahi Jews of the Mid­dle East and North Africa.

There is also diver­si­ty with­in reli­gious prac­tices. Judaism spans from Ortho­doxy, which is influ­en­tial in Israel’s reli­gious and polit­i­cal insti­tu­tions, to Con­ser­v­a­tive and Reform Judaism. Even with­in these cat­e­gories, prac­tices can vary great­ly.

The Bottom Line

Judais­m’s rich tapes­try of beliefs, cus­toms, and tra­di­tions has evolved over mil­len­nia. Despite numer­ous chal­lenges, Judaism has thrived due to its diver­si­ty and adapt­abil­i­ty. Amidst this diver­si­ty, Jews world­wide share a com­mon faith, tra­di­tions, and a sense of con­nec­tion to the Jew­ish peo­ple. Their col­lec­tive expe­ri­ence con­tin­ues to shape Judaism and its role in the world today.