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tarotgirl

What is Judaism?

What is Judaism? What does it mean to be a Jew? Most people, both Jewish and gentile, would instinctively say that Judaism is a religion. And yet, there are militant atheists who insist that they are Jews! Is Judaism a race? If you were to say so, most Jews would think you were an antisemite! So what is Judaism?
What do Jew's believe?
This is a far more difficult question than you might expect. Judaism has no dogma, no formal set of beliefs that one must hold to be a Jew. In Judaism, actions are far more important than beliefs, although there is certainly a place for belief within Judaism.
The closest that anyone has ever come to creating a widely-accepted list of Jewish beliefs is Rambam's thirteen principles of faith. Rambam's thirteen principles of faith, which he thought were the minimum requirements of Jewish belief, are:
G-d exists
G-d is one and unique
G-d is incorporeal
G-d is eternal
Prayer is to be directed to G-d alone and to no other
The words of the prophets are true
Mose' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets
The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses
There will be no other Torah
G-d knows the thoughts and deeds of men
G-d will reward the good and punish the wicked
The Messiah will come
The dead will be resurrected
Adapted from :
http://www.jewfaq.org/judaism.htm

History of Judaism.
BBC has done a wonderful job with this web site here, you can trust the information you find there completely, it is an extensive look at the Jewish people, culture and faith...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/rel...udaism/history/history_print.html

I wanted to get a start on the religious threads because we have been going through some very old documents, ones written before Abraham made the covenent with God, before Judaism was concived... TG

Rev/Scout · Site Admin

Good work TG!

Might I add:

http://judaism.about.com/library/...judaism_intro.htm?PM=ss12_judaism

Rev/Scout