Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. Judaism tells the people what they should and should not do as it is written in the Torah. Not all Jews have the same beliefs or do exactly the same things, this does not mean that their belief in Judaism is wrong, it is just different. Judaism has been around for thousands of years. During that time, Jews have moved to many different places and rules have been changed a bit. However, the main ideas of Judaism have never changes which are God (yahweh),Torah and Israel
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.
The Torah
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. Jews also feel part of a global community with a close bond Jewish people all over the world. A lot of Jewish religious life is based around the home and family activities.
Judaism is a faith of action and Jews believe people should be judged not so much by the intellectual content of their beliefs, but by the way they live their faith - by how much they contribute to the overall holiness of the world.
The most holy Jewish book is the Torah which is the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible, that was revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai over 3,000 years ago. The Torah, together with the Talmud gives the Jewish people rules for everyday life. Observing these rules is a central to the Jewish religion.
The family and community are very important within Jewish life. The most important day of the week is Shabbat (the Sabbath). It is the day which Jews remember the seventh day of creation on which God rested. On Shabbat Jews stop working and make time for God and family life. Shabbat starts on Friday evening and ends at sunset on Saturday. Shabbat begins with the family sharing a meal,