Judaism Historical Background

The history of Jews in host cities often depict a story of success or of failure when it comes to relations between the Jews and the Christians in Europe. Historian Jonathan Elukin, author of Living Together, Living Apart, presents the integration as a success process with rare, and special cases, of failure. On the other side of the spectrum is historian Raymond P. Scheindlin. Scheindlin’s novel, A Short History of the Jewish People, presents many cases of integration between the Christians and Jews that led to massacres and brutal endings for the Jewish community. There are many monumental events that take place during the long span of time that oversees European Jewish history, and both historians study and evaluate the events, however, they do so through different lenses.

What is Judaism? Who are Jews? Judaism is considered one of the oldest and most popular monotheistic religions today. Judaism’s followers are called Jews and they have been through many tough challenges and trials but are still able to proudly identify themselves as Jews. Jewish beliefs, customs, history, holidays, symbols, and the holocaust are just a few of the things that make Jews who they are.

The Torah, the Tanak, the Hebrew Bible, and the Pentateuch. No matter how you say it they all mean the same thing. The Torah is the foundation of Judaism: the most sacred documents. The word Torah can mean numerous things. It often simply refers to the T in Tanak. It is most commonly translated to mean “ the law”. There are five books that make up the Torah. These books are referred to as the Five Books of Moses: Exodus, Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The books of the Torah tell the Israelites a story. A story that begins where we begin, and ends before the introduction of the Savoir. It is often questioned, who the author(s) of the Torah is (are). For this question there are generally two main hypotheses: Mosaic Authorship and the Documentary Hypothesis.

Judaism, which originated in the middle east, is one of the oldest religions in the world. Judaism is the religion from where Catholicism and Islam have their roots. The main difference between Judaism and the previously mentioned religions is that Judaism is based on the old testament entirely excluding the new testaments in its teachings. Jews believe that they are the people chosen by God and that because of the covenant they have the duty, more than any other group of people, to keep the law of God. The law of God in Judaism comes in the form of the Torah. The books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which are said to have been written by Moses, form the Torah.

to be an exhaustive one, but rather indicatory, giving us some of the main subjects that are found all through the Bible.

The Jews use a book of scripture known as TANAKH. It consists of three parts. The Torah is the first 5 books. The Nevi’im is the books of the prophets. Ketuvim are the remaining writings.

The book is organized into three sections with each chapter starting out with a scripture, except chapters five, eleven and twelve. The chapters are sequential in nature assisting the

Name them. A collection of 52 ancient texts about the teachings from many leaders from the 2nd to the 4th century AD. FIND THE 52! The Gnostic Gospels are a collection of 52 Gospels that were written by many people that were spiritual in the early ages. They are about teachings of Jesus and what he believed to be right and everything that he had done for his people throughout his lifetime.

Judaism originated a very long time ago, it is a part of the Bronze Age Polytheistic Ancient Semitic religions. The Jewish calendar goes back more than 5000 years, most scholars date the beginning of the religion of the Israelites to the known founder, Abraham, whose life is generally dated around 2000 to 1800 B.C.E. Abraham came to believe that the universe was the works of a single creator, and taught this to other believers. Therefore, Judaism is the first recorded religion to advocate monotheism, meaning there is only one God. Both Christianity and Islam found some of their roots in Judaism, about 2,000 years after Abraham, Jesus was born into Judaism. Then after Jesus, Muhammad could trace his ancestry back to Abraham. Judaism has three essential parts the written Torah, the recognition of Israel, which are the descendants of Abraham, as uniquely holy people chosen by God, and also it is a requirement that Israel lives in accordance with God's laws as it’s said in the Torah.

Judaism is a religion that almost seems uncommon in today’s era. Currently, the United States is occupied with just two percent of individuals who believe in judaism; Globally, only .2 percent of the population is Jewish, which means this religion isn’t practiced heavily by many. The USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) indicates that World War II was responsible for the death of more than six million innocent jews; this still impacts the jewish community today. Jews

     By the late Middle Ages, there was a distinction between what is known as Written Torah, the Tanakh, and Oral Torah. Oral Torah consists of commentaries and instructions

Judaism is practiced by almost half of the country and is one of the oldest and biggest monistic religions. The laws they follow come from the Torah which comes straight from the Hebrew bible. This paper will consist of Jewish traditions regarding food preferences and avoidances, death/dying, communication, and grieving.

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.

Throughout the decades the traditional belief of the author of the first five books in the Hebrew Bible is believed to be Moses. The Pentateuch is the first division of the Hebrew Bible which consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Contrary to traditional belief, it is thought that the Pentateuch is a conglomeration of early written documents. The Documentary Hypothesis explains the issues of how and why the Pentateuch was written. The Documentary Hypothesis presents four source documents the Yahwist document, the Elohist document, the Deuteronomist document, and the Priestly document as the basis of the first five books in the Hebrew Bible that would later form the Pentateuch as the world knows it today.

Judaism, which is made up of a few separate groups, was very common at the originating of Christianity. The common ground (shared beliefs) for these sects was the belief in One God and that this One God had made a covenant with the people of Israel. The foundation of this covenant was called “The Torah.” The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two main groups the Bible focuses on around the time of Jesus, along with the Zealots, the Hellenists, the Lawyers, and the Essenes, who we only read about in sources outside of the New Testament.