Judaism

What is Judaism?

Judaism refers to the religion, philosophy, and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism derives its principles  from the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Tanakh) and explored in later texts such as the Talmud.

Jews consider Judaism as the expression of  the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel.Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions. According to the religion God revealed His laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah.

The texts, traditions and values of Judaism have many things in common with later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i Faith.

In 2007, the world Jewish population including those born jewish and those converted to Judaism was estimated at 13 million, of whom about 40% reside in Israel and 40% in the United States.


Judaism and its movements

There are three major movements within Judaism:

• Orthodox Judaism, 
• Conservative Judaism 
• and Reform Judaism.

The major difference between them is their approach to Jewish law. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism maintain that Jewish law should be followed, with Conservative Judaism promoting a more "modern" interpretation of its requirements than Orthodox Judaism. Reform Judaism is generally more liberal than these other two movements, and its typical position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of general guidelines rather than as a list of restrictions whose literal observance is required of all Jews.

See more on Judaism in Wikipedia