Compare And Contrast Judaism And Hinduism

Hinduism and Judaism are two of the oldest religions in the known world dating back as far as 3500 BCE. Though both religions have millions of followers and recognize a supreme being they are practiced very differently. Hindus have a belief in multiple gods which are subordinate to a single supreme being called Brahman or the universe. Judaism is a monotheistic religion with the belief in one God and is the foundation of other religions such as Christianity and Islam. Judaism belief is that the universe was created by one God and that Judeans or Jews are the chosen people.
Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion. In America, unless there has been interaction with a Hindu, think that Hinduism has something to do with bearded swamis, Mahatma Gandhi, and sacred cows according to William Whalen. In fact, Hinduism has the world’s largest following with around 685 million followers or identifiers of Hindu. Christianity and Islam are the only two religions that have more.
Unlike other religions which have a persona or founder Hinduism does not. Aryan tribes migrated to the subcontinent of India and brought with them sacred writings called Vedas which described a polytheistic faith that believed in karma and worshipped gods of nature(Whelen). William Sweetman says that Hinduism is not a religion in the way the term is popularly understood. Hinduism does not have a concept of God as a central figure, there is no prophet or messiah, and there is no authoritative book such as the Bible, Torah or the Koran. In contrast, Judaism venerates Abraham and Moses as founders of the religion, there are authoritative books and scriptures such as the 10 commandments and the Torah, and there is a central supreme being or creator that is