Judaism

A jew is worshipping along the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

What is Judaism?

Judaism is a religion. The Jewish believe, like the Christians and the Muslims, in one god. The Jewish call God Jahveh. Being Jewish also means following a certain culture, ideas, customs and finding them important.

The Judaism religion is not very different than other religions, but the differences are important. For example: their most important day of the week is Saturday, on which they go to the synagogue. This is their place of worship. They have many fests that spread over the year like Hanukkah and Sukkot.

Jewish men and boys that strongly follow the religion wear a kippa (a round cap that covers the backside of the head). Higher holy people also wear hats with partially a lot of fur. Women and girls do not wear pants but usually wear skirts.  

How did it come to Judaism?

The story of Judaism is written in the old Testament. This is the first part of the Bible, but this is, like the Bible, no ordinary history book; it is a book of lessons and stories, that teach us how to act. The Bible starts with the Genesis of Adam and Eve in Paradise, a beautiful land. Later, in the Testament, Noah is mentioned in the story of the flood, then Abraham is introduced. It is said that Abraham immigrated from Iraq to Iran, modern-day Israel. God had ordered him to immigrate to these places.

Abraham’s first son was called Ismael, but his mom wasn’t the wife of Abraham; the mother was his maid, Hagar. Islam, a popular Muslim religion, was started by Ismael. Abraham's second son was Issac. Issac’s mom was Sarah, Abrahams’s real wife. The Jewish religion originates from Issac’s teachings. God had told Abraham to cut off the foreskin of the male genitalia from his two sons and himself. This process is called circumcision. Jewish and other cultures still do circumcision.  

Issac’s son was Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons these sons form the 12 strains of Israel. One of the many sons was Juda. That’s where the name Judaism originates from. The Jewish needed to flee to Egypt but, in turn, they were enslaved. With a lot of persuasion, Moses brought them back to Israel.

This is what the old Testament tells us. Nobody really knows if this is exactly how everything happened but that doesn’t matter to the Jewish. It’s about what you believe and that you chose if you want to believe in God. For them, it’s about how you please God with what you’re doing.

In 600 BC, the land where the Jewish lived was conquered. Unlike everything else, this is a confirmed fact. During the invasion, their temple was destroyed, and the people were sent to Babylon. Around 80 years later they returned home and rebuilt their temple

Back in the time where Jesus lived, the Romans ruled over Israel. After about 70 Years after CE. the Romans destroyed the Temple and chased them out of Israel. Since then the Jewish people didn’t have their own state or City; they lived scattered around the world. Even today they still wait for the Messiah.

Where do most Jewish live today?

The Jewish as always have lived possibly always in groups. They don’t have a temple anymore, but they have a church the synagogue: the word comes from the Greek language and means “coming- together"

Today many Jewish live in Europe, Arabia and America. Some call themselves Zionists: Zion is another word for Israel. Around 1900, they wanted to establish a new state, where they had lived for almost 2000 years. They feared, that they would not be able to live in freedom elsewhere.  

The Jewish were miserable before and during the second world war because the Nazis had murdered 6 million Jewish in Europe. That is called the Holocaust. The Nazis along with their leader Adolf Hitler believed that the Jewish religion was degenerate. A hate like the Nazis had, would be called Anti-Semitic

Today Jewish people live around the world. They live in the lands and countries that belong to them and speak their language. Besides the land of Israel has existed since 1948. That is the only country that a big group of the Jewish population lives in.