Judaism is an ancient monotheistic religion which began in or near the modern nation of Israel thousands of years ago. The Torah is its primary scripture (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh), which is supplemened  by the oral tradition of later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud

Early History of Judaism

      According to their scripture, around 2000 BC, their God established a covenant with Abraham, promisng that he would be the patriarch of many nations. The term Abrahamic Religions is derived from his name and refers to the three major religions which trace their roots back to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Also, smaller non-Jewish groups such as Falashas, Karaits, Mandaeanism, Rastafarians, Samaritans, etc. can trace their spiritual roots back to Abraham.

      The book of Genesis describes the events surrounding the lives of the  three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Joseph, who is recognized as a fourth patriarch by Christians is not considered one by Jews). Moses was the next major leader of the ancient Israelites. He led his people out of captivity in Egypt, and received the Mosaic Law from God. After decades of wandering through wilderness, Joshua led the tribes into the promised land, driving out the Canaanites through a series of military battles.

        The original tribal organization was converted into a kingdom by Samuel and its first king was Saul. The second king, David, established Jerusalem as the religious and political center. The third king, Solomon built the first temple there.

Division into the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah occurred shortly after the death of Solomon in 922 BC.  Israel fell to Assyria in 722 BC; Judah fell to the Babylonians in 587 BC. At which time the Temple was destroyed. Some Jews returned from captivity under the Babylonians and started to restore the temple in 536 BC. (Orthodox Jews date the Babylonian exile from 422 to 352 BC). Alexander the Great invaded the area in 332 BC. From circa 300 to 63 BC, Greek became the language of commerce, and Greek culture had a major influence on Judaism. In 63 BC, the Roman Empire took control of Judea and Israel.

Jewish developments during the 1st century AD:

      About 24 religious sects had formed in Judaism by the 1st century AD of which the largest were the Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots. Many anticipated the arrival of the Messiah,  an expected religious-political-military leader who was  to drive out the Roman occupiers and restore Jewish independence.

Mini-revolts b y the Jews agains the Romans led to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD. Their religion was no longer centered in Jerusalem Judaism became decentralized and stopped seeking converts. The local synagogue became the new center of Jewish life. Animal sacrifice was abandoned. Authority shifted from the centralized priesthood to local scholars and teachers, giving rise to Rabbinic Judaism.

Jewish Scripture

The Tanakh (referred to as the Old Testament by Christians) is the primary Jewish Scripture. It is composed of three groups of books:

      1) The Torah (aka Pentateuch): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

      2) The Nevi'im: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (2), Kings (2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and MalachiIsaiah.

     3) The Ketuvim, the "Writings", which includes Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles (2).

      The Talmud contains stories, laws, medical knowledge, debates about moral choices, etc. It is composed of material which comes mainly from two sources:

     1) The Mishnah's, six "orders" containing hundreds of chapters, including series of laws from the Hebrew Scriptures. It was compiled about 200 AD

      2) The Gemara (one Babylonian and one Palestinian) is encyclopedic in scope. It includes comments from hundreds of Rabbis from 200 - 500 AD, explaining the Mishnah with additional historical, religious, legal, sociological, etc. material. It often records many different opinions on a topic without giving a definitive answer.

 

Further developments in Judaism

 

        By the Third Century AD the only Jewish sect remaining was the Pharisees, from which all of today's Jewish sects have derived.

       Beginning about 600 AD heavy persecution of the Jews by Christians throughout Europe and Russia began. Many rumors were spread, accusing Jews of ritual murder, the desecration of the Catholic host and continuing responsibility for the execution of Jesus.  Many of these nsubstantiated rumors continue to be circulated today. In the 1930s and 1940s, Adolph Hitler and the German Nazi party drew on centuries of Eastern European anti-Semitism, and upon their own beliefs in racial purity. They organized the Holocaust, the attempted extermination of all Jews in Europe. About six million were killed in the world's greatest example of religious and racial hatred.

     The Zionist movement was a response within all Jewish traditions to centuries of Christian persecution. Their initial goal was create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The state of Israel was formed on May 18, 1948.

     There are currently tens of millions of Jews throughout the world. They are mainly concentrated in North America and Israel.