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Comparing Judaism And Hinduism : Judaism Vs. Hinduism

Decent Essays

Judaism and Hinduism
Michelle Zhang
Georgia Military College Judaism and Hinduism Judaism and Hinduism are two widely known and oldest religions in the world. Both of these religions have sacred texts and laws that are still used and followed today. Judaism and Hinduism both have social class systems that separate the higher religious followers from the average person (Hutchinson, 2017a) (Levinson, 2017). Judaism is a religion that is monotheistic, belief in one god (Hutchinson, 2017a). Those who practice the religion of Hinduism can be considered a “monotheist, polytheist, or atheist” (Levinson, 2017). Judaism and Hinduism share similar traits including celebrations and their followers being persecuted but have different sacred locations that their followers visit, texts, and founders. Judaism was founded by a wealthy leader named Abraham (Hutchinson, 2017b). Yahweh (God) appeared to Abraham and told him that he would bless his people if they “obeyed and worshipped Him” (Hutchinson, 2017b). At this time, the Hebrew people were polytheistic, meaning they believed in many different gods. Over time, the Hebrews began to realize God would make a way for them every time they faced hardships. This made them monotheistic, and they began to follow only the supreme God (Hutchinson, 2017a). Hinduism was not founded by one specific person or people. Hindus have the option to worship one god, many gods, or even none at all (Levinson, 2017). To Hindus, it is more important to perform rituals and stay true to the old traditions that have been passed down from their ancestors (Levinson, 2017). There are gods that Hindus worship, but only worshipping and not keeping alive the old traditions means nothing.

Judaism and Hinduism have sacred texts and places for their religion. Judaism has the Torah, which were teachings given to Moses who was a messenger of God (Hutchinson, 2017a). The Torah includes the history of how the religion came to be and laws that the Jews should obey. The Jews’ sacred place is Jerusalem. After the Holocaust in World War II, “the United Nations created a country just for Jews” (“Judaism,” 2012). They felt this was needed after the mistreatment of the Jews. Hinduism has sacred texts in two

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