Judaism

Judaism is one of the ancient religions that is widely practiced all over the world. Judaism usually includes three faiths of Abraham that are inclusive of Islam and Christianity. In the year 2007, there were around 13.1 million Jewish people that were staying in Israel and USA, and this was according to policy institute of the Jewish people. Accounting around 0.5% of the population that is in the UK the people said that they belonged to the Jewish religion and this is in accordance to the 2001 census of which this population accounts for 267,000 people (Abrahams, 2008).

             Judaism came into existence around 3500 years ago, and it originated from the Middle East. The Jewish people usually trace the history of Judaism back to Abraham although it was founded by Moses. The Jewish people usually believe in one God with whom they have entered into the covenant with. The Jewish people usually try to live a very holy life and also observe Gods laws and this is usually in exchange for all the good things that God has done for them. The most valued and religious document of the Jewish people is the book they regard to as Torah although they have a very large collection of other texts. In Jewish people, Halakhah is the interpretation of the traditional oral law of the Torah. The Jewish People also have some spiritual leaders that they usually refer to them as the Rabbis. Their places of worship are also regarded as the synagogues’.      There are very many Jews that were killed in Holocaust in an attempt to put an end to Judaism, and this number is approximately 6 million Jews. Some of the people usually identify themselves just as the Jewish people even if they usually don’t observe the rules of the Jews nor believing in their laws.

 There are various beliefs of the associated with Judaism religion. To start with, the Jewish people believe in the existence of only one supreme God in whom they can have a personal relationship with, and he is the one who created the whole universe. They also believe that God is still working in the world and he usually influences everything that the humans do. The relationship that the Jewish people share with God is a covenant relationship. This covenant relationship they have with God is usually a form of exchange for the many good things that God usually do for them (Ariel, 2006). In their belief of God they usually aim at living an absolute holy life and continue observing all the Gods laws. The second belief of the Jewish people is that Judaism is a faith of the community. They usually believe that God chooses them to be a good example to the world through leading a holy life. The Jewish people usually stay and perform all their activities as a community for instance in their prayer book they usually use OUR and us.

            Also, they believe that they are a family of faith. They follow strictly the laws that God gave Abraham, such as one related to circumcising a baby boy at the age of eight days old. Many of the customs that they usually observe revolve around a home. For instance, the meal of the Sabbath and this is when the families come together so as to be able to welcome a special day.

            The Jewish people also observe various holy days in their religion. These holy days are usually coupled together with religious festivals.  These holy days and religious days are usually celebrated on fixed dates according to their calendar that is regarded as lunar calendar and these dates usually move together with the western calendars. The Sabbath is one of the holy days that the Jewish usually celebrate and its move around with the solar year so that it does not get to coincide with some of the festivals. Another Jew holy day is Rosh Hashanah. This is the new year of the Jews, and they usually believe that God makes a very important decision on what is going to take place in that forthcoming year. They usually celebrate this day by blowing a horn trumpet and also blowing a shofar in all the synagogues, and this signifies the kingship of God. As they welcome the New Year, they usually believe that God can put to balance all the bad deeds and the good deeds of a person over the previous year and can decide a person’s fate based on that (Abrahams, 2008). The Day of Atonement is another holy day of the Jews. On this specific day, it is very crucial for every Jew to attend the synagogue. They usually believe that on this particular day God usually seal the book of life because he makes the final decision on the people who will prosper and die in the next year.

            There are several ethics that usually guide the religion of Judaism. One of these ethics is abortion. Judaism religion is not against abortion, but it doesn't allow it whenever one feels to do it. Abortion in this religion is only allowed when it is very necessary. Strict Judaism usually allows abortion when the life of the mother kids threatened and allow the pregnancy to continue would put the mother and child into risk (Abrahams, 2008). Capital punishment is also part of the ethics of Judaism. Judaism is usually not for capital punishment, and this is well outlined in the book of Torah. The courts of Jewish rarely made a death penalty as a ruling. In Israel where Jews are highly populated, they abolished death penalty from being imposed for any crime that would be tried in their courts. The abolition was about the Judaism religious teachings, which strongly oppose the idea of human killing each other as life is sacred. 

            This paper indicates that Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world and the Jewish society practice is it in large numbers. The religion bases its teachings on the Holy Bible and the people who follow it, have faith in one God. The customs and principles of this religion in a great way borrow from the teachings of the Bible. The Judaism religion to a great extent relates to Christianity as both of them base their teachings on the Biblical teachings (Ariel, 2006). This paper reveals that the Judaism religion ethics mainly focuses on issues to do with respect for life, where it strongly oppose the idea of people engaging in abortion or assisted suicide. Besides, it is evident that Judaism main principle as a religion relates to the belief in the existence of one God, whom the people should worship at all times.