Judaism
The symbol of Judaism is the Star of David. Judaism originated in the Middle East over 3500 years ago. It was founded by Moses, although Jews trace their history back to Abraham. Jews believe that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship. They believe that God continues to work in the world, affecting everything that people do. The Jewish relationship with God is a covenant relationship. In exchange for the many good deeds that God has done and continues to do for the Jewish People...The Jews keep God's laws. The Jews seek to bring holiness into every aspect of their lives. Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to set an example of holiness and ethical behaviour to the world.
Jewish life is very much the life of a community and there are many activities that Jews must do as a community, for example, the Jewish prayer book uses “we” and “our” in prayers where some other faiths would use “I” and “mine”.
Jewish people should not harm animals. In fact they should feed the animals before they feed themselves. Food has to be ‘Kosher’ and there are lots of Jewish butchers who observe this ritual.
Judaism has many holy days, here are the most important ones: Jewish baby boys are circumcised when they are eight days old. At the age of thirteen boys celebrate Bar Mitzvah meaning the ‘coming of age’, the girls’ celebration is called Bat Mitzvah. One of the most important holy days is Passover. During Passover Jews remember the story of the Israelites liberation from slavery in Egypt. They do this by performing special rituals and having a specific meal, too. The story of Hanukkah is that of the "miracle of the oil". There was only enough oil for one day, but the candles stayed lit for eight days. During the eight days of Hanukkah Jews light one extra candle on a special nine-branched menorah, called