Can someone please explain the basics of Judaism?

Question

I've always been rather ignorant of most religions other than Christianity (I'm not that religious myself) but I'm just curious about this, I've tried to read up on it but a lot of it seems really complicated and I'm just wondering, what is it basically that Jews believe in? Regarding God, and such. Just the basic beliefs, what it's all about...

Answer 1

Like Mark S said, let's have a(nother) Jewish answer! Thanks for the question. A really great resource is the one he listed. Here I have done my best to sum up Judaism in a small box--if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email or IM me, I welcome discussion :-)

(P.S. Laura could not be more wrong.)

www.jewfaq.org

There are three major sects of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. I will give the Orthodox view on things here. All of them basically accept what we call Rambam's Thirteen Principles which sum up what Jews basically believe in:

1. G-d exists
2. G-d is one and unique
3. G-d is incorporeal (nonmaterial)
4. G-d is eternal
5. G-d alone is to be worshipped and no other
6. G-d's prophets are truthful
7. Moses was the greatest of the prophets
8. The whole Torah was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Written and Oral)
9. There will be no other Torah and the Torah will not be changed or annulled
10. G-d has foreknowledge of men's actions, thoughts, and words
11. G-d will deliver retribution
12. The Messiah will come
13. The dead will be resurrected at the coming of Moshiach (Messiah)

[Please note that Conservative and Reform generally have a differing opinion on #8.]

Messiah (Moshiach):

Judaism does NOT believe that the messiah will be divine. He will be a mortal, normal person like us who knows Jewish law and follows it all. (I think there is a midrash that says that every Jewish child before being born knows all of the Torah and law inside and out--but in being born, s/he forgets all of it and must learn again. The messiah will be the one who does not forget.) He will fulfill all of the prophecies without dying first, and will only come ONCE. He will not die, because in showing himself he will have accomplished world peace and the resurrection of the dead and established the World to Come on this world, etc.

Judaism believes that only you can be responsible for your sins. Nobody else can take them on or ask forgiveness on your behalf. Yes, we used to do animal sacrifices, but not at every sin because sacrifice alone could not atone for sin. We would do it at festivals and holidays. Still, sacrifice alone cannot atone for sin (and human sacrifice is ABHORRED by G-d). To atone for sins, a person must do teshuva, which includes: 1. recognizing the sin [knowing you did wrong] and feeling remorse for it 2. asking forgiveness of the wrong by the person you wronged (example: if you broke a Jewish law, you apologize to G-d, but if you broke your neighbor's favorite flowerpot, you must apologize to your neighbor for no one else can forgive you) 3. try to right the wrong you did--if you broke the flowerpot, either buy a new one or try to repair the old one sufficiently 4. actively resolve and try not to commit the wrong again--if you broke a law, create a reminder for yourself so that next time the opportunity comes up, you will remember.

We do not believe in proselytizing because we believe that nobody has to be Jewish to warrant a place in heaven. A non-Jew has as much right to the World to Come as a Jew does--a Jew just has more rules to follow to get there. We do accept converts (we are NOT a race!!) although it is a hard road because Judaism is a hard life to live. [notice I say life, not religion. Judaism is a way of life, not just a religion.] It takes years of study to convert and the rabbi wants to make sure the convert is sincere because nobody wants to waste at least a year of the rabbi's life (or the convert's life, for that matter). Once you are Jewish you can never be a non-Jew again UNLESS you take on another believe system directly contrary to Judaism's. For example, you can be an atheist but still be Jewish because your believe system does not contradict with Judaism--you do not believe in G-d, but you don't believe in another false god either. But you cannot be a Jewish Xtian because Xtianity is contrary to Judaism. If you are a Jew and suddenly start to believe in Xtianity, you are an apostate and not Jewish unless you repent and come home to Judaism.

We have two books: the Tanakh and the Talmud. The Tanakh contains Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuv'im (Writings)--> TNK--> TaNaKh. The Tanakh contains the Written Torah while the Talmud contains the Oral Torah plus the commentaries on the laws written by our sages and rabbis over history. (Oral Torah written down=Mishna, a part of the Talmud and commentary=Gemara, the other part of the Talmud)

Judaism is a religion of arguing. You hear the phrase "two Jews, three opinions," and it's completely true. One of our texts is a book of arguments on the laws. So the Judaism you get in one Jew is not necessarily the Judaism you get in another Jew, although most will have all I've said here in common.

I hope I've covered as much as possible while keeping it simple. If you need any more information or detail, feel free to IM me or drop me an email. Hope I've been helpful.

Peace,
L.S.

Answer 2

answer: as others have reported - you will get greater solutions in some hours. additionally, it grew to become into reported to me to %. up "an entire Idiots handbook to information Judaism" by using a Rabbi. It covers a great sort of floor and is an engaging examine. And forget with regard to the advice to make certain the recent testomony. there's no longer something concerning to Judaism there. Nor in the previous testomony, this is many times a mistranslation of the unique Hebrew texts stated as the Tanakh.

Answer 3

All the basic principles and rules of the Jewish faith are in the Torah, to you and me that's the 5 books of Moses or the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament; Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Leviticus & Exodus.
Here are the guidelines for daily life, ritual, etc.
So if you have a Bible it's all there.

Answer 4

Basically what differentiates them from christians is that they don't believe that jesus was the messiah and are therefore still waiting for the messiah. This is the reason the more practicing.orthodox ones have a lot of babies, because they beleive they may have the messiah. That's the main difference I would say. There are also the dietary laws which I would say that also only the very orthodox jews practice, like not eating pork, mixing dairy and meat, etc.

This will give you a gist. But like I say, the real thing you will have to look at is if they are orthodox (like the hasidim (the ones that wear the black hats and have the long sideburns) or the ones that are more liberal.

Answer 5

OK, let someone who's Jewish answer this. First, thanks for asking! Second--it would take a long time and a lot of space to explain the basics. However, I've put a link below that's a really good introduction to Judaism. If you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me. Oh, and the answerer about 5 above me doesn't have the faintest idea what s/he is talking about. "Jewsagainstzionism.com" is hardly a reputable website...

Answer 6

The book used at our shul for teaching "Basic Judaism" is "The Book of Jewish Belief" by Louis Jacobs. It helps to have a teacher when reading it. If you know a Jew, ask questions!

One of the first books I read was "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism" by Rabbi Benjamin Blech.

Two of my favorites are "To Life" by Harold Kushner, and "This is My God" by Herman Wouk.

If you decide you want to learn about Judaism, you have your life's work cut out for you! Mazel Tov!

I'm a Jew-by-choice
.

Answer 7

Judism is the religion that God gave to moses when he brought them out of Egypt (;acts cha 7 gives you a good outline) now they were regarded as Hebrews untlil much later when they became known as Jews . As a Jew Jesus lived under the Law of Moses (I'll email you a copy if you give me your email) Christianity is just reformed Judism by those who have accepted Jesus as the Christ as a christian I believe the same things that Jesus the Christ believed. so i am a deciple of the Christ or christian
please read Acts ch 7..........Jesus taught from the Bible which at that time was the OT which is still part of the Bible, in fact the main part the NT quoted it 320 times.

Answer 8

Judaism was established with Abraham. Almighty God, [Jehovah Exodus 6;3] mad a covenant/ agreement with Abraham to start a mighty nation. This happened and for 1500 years they survived, obeying the 600 laws that God gave them.
During this time, when they disobeyed God, the whole nation was punished. but not permanently. They were carried off into slavery to the Assyrians, at Babylon, for 70 years. Then Cyrus, the King of Persia, conquered Babylon and released the Jews to go back to Israel/Palestine and rebuild their temple.
(Daniel 9:25) And you should know and have the insight [that] from the going forth of [the] word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Mes·si′ah [the] Leader, there will be seven weeks, also sixty-two weeks. She will return and be actually rebuilt, with a public square and moat, but in the straits of the times.

This is a prophecy leading up to Jesus' arrival.

Then jesus, with the full support of his Father in heaven, Jehovah God, changed the system, starting first with the Jews exclusively. He continued with this until he was killed.
It was not until the apostle Peter preached to the Roman, Cornelius [ Acts ch. 10] that the 'good news' was taken also to the Gentiles [ non jews] from that moment on, the Jews were no longer the 'chosen' race.
(Acts 10:34-35) At this Peter opened his mouth and said: “For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, 35 but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

So from this we learn that the particular Jewish faith we now see is no longer part of god's plan and really is defunct.
So there is not much point learning about it.
Just because it is still practiced does not mean it is valid.
Not just my estimation but what the scriptures show us.

Answer 9

Actually the differences between Christianity and Judaism are not as great as between Christianity and other religions. Christ was a Jew and the Christian Bible includes Jewish scripture (The Old Testament). They share a common heritage.

The main difference between Judaism and Christianity is that Judaism emphasizes that God judges us for our actions and so is more law-oriented and focused on obedience to God's will. Christianity doesn't discount actions but instead emphasizes faith in Jesus and his divinity, love and forgiveness.

Otherwise, they share the same God and origin myths and history.

Answer 10

Jews believe that the Messiah has not yet come and that Jesus was just a good man and nothing more.

Literally quoting the person below me that said I was completely wrong:
"Judaism does NOT believe that the messiah WILL be divine. He will be a mortal, normal person like us who knows Jewish law and follows it all..."

This person is talking about something she believes hasn't happened yet (future tense) Christians believe that the Messiah has already come. Amen to that!