Contents: page

Meaning.....,............................................................................................................. 2

Origin.........................................................................................................................2

Judaism is a family faith..........................................................................................2

Who is Jew ?............................................................................................................2

Jew's population.....................................................................................................2-3

Jews faith in God.....................................................................................................3-4

About the kippah/Yarmulke.....................................................................................5

Jewish legal literature...........................................................................................5-6

Mishnah....................................................................................................................6

Halakah....................................................................................................................6-7

Jewish demographics.............................................................................................7

References..............................................................................................................8-9

Pg (1)
Meaning:

Judaism (Hebrew: ‫יַהֲדּות‬, Yahadut; originally from Hebrew ‫י ְהּודָ ה‬, Yehudah, "Judah", via Greek Ἰουδαϊσμός
Ioudaismos;[6][7][8] the term itself is of Anglo-Latin origin c. 1400(1)

Origin:

Judaism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural,
and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people, also sometimes called Israelites.(2)(3) Judaism is
considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the
Children of Israel.(4) It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of
organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and
supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With
between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide,(5) Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the
world.

Who is Jew :

Jew's believe that a Jew is someone who is the child of a Jewish mother, although some groups also
accept children of Jewish father's as Jewish. A Jew traditionally can not lose the technical status of being
a Jew by adopting another faith, but they do lose the religious element of their Jewish identity. Someone
who is not born a Jew can convert to Judaism, but it is not easy to do so.

Judaism is a family faith:

Judaism is very much a family faith and the ceremonies start early, when a Jewish boy baby is
circumcised at eight days old , following the instructions that God gave to Abraham around
4,000 years ago.

Many Jewish religious customs revolve around the home. One example is the Sabbath meal,
when families join together to welcome in the special day.

Jew's population :

With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the
world. Judaism has its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age.
(6)Modern Judaism evolved from ancient Israelite religion around 500 BCE,(7) and is
 Pg(2)

considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions.(8) The Hebrews and Israelites were already

referred to as "Jews" in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term

Jews replacing the title "Children of Israel".(9) Judaism's texts, traditions and values strongly influenced
later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity and Islam. Hebraism, like Hellenism, played a seminal
role in the formation of Western civilization through its impact as a core background element of Early
Christianity.

Jews are an ethnoreligious group(10) including those born Jewish, in addition to converts to Judaism. In
2019, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.7 million, or roughly 0.25% of the total
world population. About 46.9% of all Jews reside in Israel and another 38.8% reside in the United States
and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe, and other minority groups spread throughout
Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.(11)

Jewish faith in God:

Jew's believe that is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whome every Jew can
have an individual and personal relationship.

They believe that God continue to work in the world, affecting everything that people do . The Jewish
relationship with God is a convenant relationship. In exchange for the many good deeds that God has
done and continues to do for the Jewish people.

. The Jews keep God's laws.

. The Jews seek to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives.

Unlike other ancient Near Eastern gods, the Hebrew God is portrayed as unitary and solitary;
consequently, the Hebrew God's principal relationships are not with other gods, but with the world, and
more specifically, with the people he created.(12) Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism: the
belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of mankind.[38] According to the Tanakh
(Hebrew Bible), God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation. Many generations later,
he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God; that is, the Jewish nation is to
reciprocate God's concern for the world.(13) He also commanded the Jewish people to love one
another; that is, Jews are to imitate God's love for people. These commandments are but two of a large
corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism.
 Pg(3)

Ethical monotheism is central in all sacred or normative texts of Judaism. However, monotheism has not
always been followed in practice. The Jewish Bible records and repeatedly condemns the widespread
worship of other gods in ancient Israel .In the Greco-Roman era, many different interpretations of
monotheism existed in Judaism, including the interpretations that gave rise to Christianity.(14)

In the strict sense, in Judaism, unlike Christianity and Islam, there are no fixed universally binding articles
of faith, due to their incorporation into the liturgy.(15) Scholars throughout Jewish history have
proposed numerous formulations of Judaism's core tenets, all of which have met with criticism. The
most popular formulation is Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith, developed in the 12th century.
According to Maimonides, any Jew who rejects even one of these principles would be considered an
apostate and a heretic. Jewish scholars have held points of view diverging in various ways from
Maimonides' principles.(16) Thus, within Reform Judaism only the first five principles are endorsed.

In Maimonides' time, his list of tenets was criticized by Hasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo. Albo and the
Raavad argued that Maimonides' principles contained too many items that, while true, were not
fundamentals of the faith(17)

Along these lines, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and observances rather than
religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe Jewish law and maintaining that the
requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs.
Maimonides' principles were largely ignored over the next few centuries. Later, two poetic restatements
of these principles ("Ani Ma'amin" and "Yigdal") became integrated into many Jewish liturgies, leading
to their eventual near-universal acceptance.

In modern times, Judaism lacks a centralized authority that would dictate an exact religious dogma.
Because of this, many different variations on the basic beliefs are considered within the scope of
Judaism.(16) Even so, all Jewish religious movements are, to a greater or lesser extent, based on the
principles of the Hebrew Bible and various commentaries such as the Talmud and Midrash. Judaism also
universally recognizes the Biblical Covenant between God and the Patriarch Abraham as well as the
additional aspects of the Covenant revealed to Moses, who is considered Judaism's greatest prophet.
(16) In the Mishnah, a core text of Rabbinic Judaism,
 Pg(4)

acceptance of the Divine origins of this covenant is considered an essential aspect of Judaism

and those who reject the Covenant forfeit their share in the World to Come. (18)

Converting to Judaism:
Concerting to Judaism is not easy. It involves many lifestyle changes and about a year of studying.
Becoming a Jew is not a just a religious change. The convert not only accepts the Jewish faith, but
becomes a member of the Jewish people and embraces Jewish culture and history. Conversion to
Judaism is a process governed by Jewish religious law. Conversions are overseen by a religious court,
which must be convinced that the convert;

. Is sincere

. Is converting for the right reasons.

. Is converting of their own free will

. Has a through knowledge of Jewish faith and practices

. Will live an observant Jewish life.

About a kippah / Yarmulke

Clothing worn by Jews usually varies according to which denomination of Judaism they adhere to.
Orthodox Jewish men always cover their heads by wearing a skullcap known in Hebrew as a kippah or in
Yiddish as a yarmulke. Liberal or Reform Jews see the covering of the head as optional. Most Jews will
cover their heads when praying, attending the synagogue or at a religious event or festival. Wearing a
skullcap is seen as a sign of devoutness. Women also cover their heads by wearing a scarf or a hat. The
most common reason is a sign of of respect and fear of God
 Pg(5)

Jewish legal literature

While there have been Jewish groups whose beliefs were based on the written text of the Torah alone
(e.g., the Sadducees, and the Karaites), most Jews believe in the oral law. These oral traditions were
transmitted by the Pharisee school of thought of ancient Judaism and were later recorded in written
form and expanded upon by the rabbis.

According to Rabbinical Jewish tradition, God gave both the Written Law (the Torah) and the Oral law to
Moses on Mount Sinai. The Oral law is the oral tradition as relayed by God to Moses and from him,
transmitted and taught to the sages (rabbinic leaders) of each subsequent generation.

Mishnah:
For centuries, the Torah appeared only as a written text transmitted in parallel with the oral tradition.
Fearing that the oral teachings might be forgotten, Rabbi Judah haNasi undertook the mission of
consolidating the various opinions into one body of law which became known as the Mishnah.(20)

The Mishnah consists of 63 tractates codifying Jewish law, which are the basis of the Talmud. According
to Abraham ben David, the Mishnah was compiled by Rabbi Judah haNasi after the destruction of
Jerusalem, in anno mundi 3949, which corresponds to 189 CE.(21)

In the text of the Torah, many words are left undefined and many procedures are mentioned without
explanation or instructions. Such phenomena are sometimes offered to validate the viewpoint that the
Written Law has always been transmitted with a parallel oral tradition, illustrating the assumption that
the reader is already familiar with the details from other, i.e., oral, sources.
 Pg(6)

Halakah :
Halakha, the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of the Torah, and the oral
tradition—the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its commentaries. The Halakha has
developed slowly, through a precedent-based system. The literature of questions to rabbis, and their
considered answers, is referred to as responsa (in Hebrew, Sheelot U-Teshuvot.) Over time, as practices
develop, codes of Jewish law are written that are based on the responsa; the most important code, the
Shulchan Aruch, largely determines Orthodox religious practice today.

Jewish demographics
The total number of Jews worldwide is difficult to assess because the definition of "who is a Jew" is
problematic; not all Jews identify themselves as Jewish, and some who identify as Jewish are not
considered so by other Jews. According to the Jewish Year Book (1901), the global Jewish population in
1900 was around 11 million. The latest available data is from the World Jewish Population Survey of
2002 and the Jewish Year Calendar (2005). In 2002, according to the Jewish Population Survey, there
were 13.3 million Jews around the world. The Jewish Year Calendar cites 14.6 million. It is 0.25% of
world population.[3] Jewish population growth is currently near zero percent, with 0.3% growth from
2000 to 2001.
 Pg(7)

References:

1. . Schiffman 2003, p. 3.

2. "Knowledge Resources: Judaism". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Archived
from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.

3. . 14.3 million (core Jewish population) to 17.4 million (including non-Jews who have a Jewish parent),
according to:

4. . DellaPergola, Sergio (2015). World Jewish Population, 2015 (Report). Berman Jewish DataBank.
Retrieved 4 May 2016.

5. . 14–14.5 million according to: "Worldwide Jewry numbers 14 million". Ynet. Retrieved 21 October
2013.

6. S2CID 152221663 – via JSTOR.

7. Cohen, Steven M.; Bubis, Gerald B. (1990). "The Impact of Denomination: Differences in the Israel-
Related Opinions of American Rabbis and Jewish Communal Workers". Jewish Political Studies Review. 2
(1/2): 137–163. ISSN 0792-335X. JSTOR 25834177.

8. Lachoff, Irwin (2019). "Reform in Mid Nineteenth-Century Jewish New Orleans: Achieving "the Spirit
of Progress and Enlightenment" Through Acculturation, Residential Patterns, and Personality".

9. <"Bet Din". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 22 August 2010.

10. Religion: Three Religions, One God PBS

11. Sarna, Nahum M. (1966). Understanding Genesis. Schocken Books. pp. 9–10, 14. ISBN
9780805202533.

12. Jacob (2003). "Defining Judaism". In Neusner, Jacob; Avery-Peck, Alan (eds.). The Blackwell
companion to Judaism. Blackwell. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-57718-059-3. Retrieved 22 August 2010.

13. Settings of silver: an introduction to Judaism p. 59 by Stephen M. Wylen, Paulist Press, 2000

14. Cambridge University Historical Series, An Essay on Western Civilization in Its Economic Aspects,
p.40: Hebraism, like Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of
 Pg(8)

.15. Sergio DellaPergola, “World Jewish Population, 2019,” in Arnold Dashefsky and Ira M. Sheskin (eds.),
The American Jewish Year Book, 2019, Volume 119. Dordrecht: Springer, (2020). "Countries with the
Largest Jewish Population (2019)". jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Jewish Virtual L

ill establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after
you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole
land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your
descendants after you; and I will be their God;" Gen. 22:17–18 Genesis 22: 17–18: I will surely bless you
and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your
descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on
earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

16. Lev. 19:18 Leviticus 19:18: "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but
love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord"

17.. Kadushin, Max, 1972 The Rabbinic Mind. New York: Bloch Publishing Company. p. 194

57. Kadushin, Max, 1972 The Rabbinic Mind. New York: Bloch Publishing Company. p. 203

18. Langton, Daniel R. (2011). Normative Judaism? Jews, Judaism and Jewish Identity. Gorgias press.
ISBN 978-1-60724-161-4.

19. "Maimonides' 13 Foundations of Judaism". Mesora. However if he rejects one of these

20. Rabbi Mordechai Blumenfeld. "Maimonides, 13 Principles of Faith". Aish HaTorah. According to the
Rambam, their acceptance defines the minimum requirement necessary for one to relate to the
Almighty and His Torah as a member of the People of Israel Daniel Septimus. "The Thirteen Principles of
Faith". MyJewishLearning.com.

21. Ronald L. Eisenberg (2004). The JPS guide to Jewish traditions. Jewish Publication Society. p. 509.
ISBN 978-0-8276-0760-6. The concept of "dogma" is…not a basic idea in Judaism.
Pg(9)