Could someone explain Judaism to me?

Answer 1

My best concise answer would be to take Christianity subtract the new testament.

Answer 2

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It is the first recorded monotheistic faith and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The values and history of the Jewish people are a major part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Islam, as well as Samaritanism and the Bahá'í Faith. As of 2006, adherents of Judaism numbered around 14 million followers,[1], making it the world's eleventh-largest organized religion.

Judaism has seldom, if ever, been monolithic in practice (although it has always been monotheistic in theology), and differs from many religions in that its central authority is not vested in any person or group but rather in its writings and traditions. Despite this, Judaism in all its variations has remained tightly bound to a number of religious principles, the most important of which is the belief that there is a single, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, transcendent God, who created the universe and continues to be involved in its governance. According to traditional Jewish belief, the God who created the world established a covenant with the Jewish people, and revealed his laws and commandments to them in the form of the Torah. The practice of Judaism is devoted to the study and observance of these laws and commandments, as written in the Torah.

Answer 3

http://www.jewfaq.org/ is a good start.

there are librarys of books on each of god only knows(ok, bad joke...) how many facets, and aspects of Judaism and their interactions with eachother, attitudes, ect.

shortest summary of jewish beliefs:
1) There is One, all-everything, absolutely all powerful, all knowing, all everything God, without division whatsoever(none of this 3=1 stuff)
2) Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.

also:
Jesus was just a guy.
no eternal hell.
doesn't claim a monopoly on god, Judaism is *A* way, not the *ONLY* way.

the jewish messiah is just a guy, not god, not god's son(any more than everyone is) not a sacrifice.

that should get you started.

edit: extremely well said taurus.

Answer 4

Christianity branched off from judiasm in about 3 a.d. so christianity has alot of the same moral basises. before the a.d. people in the holy land were seperated into beleivers and non-beleivers. the non-beleivers thought that jesus was a prophet like many others and were not stable in their beleifs of another messiah was yet to come. they were the still jews. beleivers on the other hand knew that jesus was the messiah and not just a prophet. they formed a new religion off of the judiasm bases and wrote the new testemate while jesus was still on earth.