Essay on Judaism: 1812 BC - Abraham & God's Covenant with the Chosen People

Introduction

Judaism is the oldest of the four monotheistic religions and also one of the smallest religions, with only 12 million believers in the world. According to the Torah, the founder of Judaism is Abraham, the man who god first revealed himself to. According to the believers, God made a special covenant with Abraham and that together with all his descendants, they would be the chosen people, and they would create a great nation.

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The history of the religion began around 1812 BC when God and Abraham made the covenant during the Bronze Age (Greenstein, 2006). In terms of geography, Judaism religion originated in the modern-day Middle East. Abraham's son, Isaac and his grandson Jacob also played vital roles in the history of the faith. For example, Jacob took the name Israel with all his children and descendants later being referred to as Israelites.

One of the crucial moments in the history of Judaism is when the Jews left Egypt after long years of slavery. This exodus from Egypt was led by Moses, another prominent figure in Judaism. Moses is also the man who gave Jess the Torah that contains the laws of God, at about 1250 BC (Greenstein, 2006). These laws are essential because they touch on every facet of a believer's life, ranging from how to worship to what not to eat.

The years between 1941 and 1945 are also notable moments in Jewish history because they mark a period of the organized killing of millions of Jewish people in an attempt to exterminate the community. This period is commonly known as the Holocaust. 1948 is also a critical year in Jewish history because it was the year when the country of Israel was created. A new Jewish state was created and granted independence, with only approximately 650,000 people (Greenstein, 2006).

Lessons

One of the things that I found most interesting about the Jewish religion is its dietary laws. I have not found another religion with such elaborate guidelines about the diet of its believers. For example, the religion forbids eating of dairy and meat products at the same meal as well as totally outlawing the eating of shell-fish, pork and blood. The dietary laws also go ahead to outline the humane slaughter of animals. I found these laws to be quite detailed and interesting.

Secondly, I also found the guidelines towards circumcision of boys to be interesting. According to this religion, all baby boys must be circumcised eight days after birth, as per the instructions given to Abraham about 4,000 years ago (Cohn-Sherbok, 2003).

What most resonates with me is the spirit of the Jewish laws. From the rules and the nature in which they are supposed to be obeyed, there is a feeling that believers are supposed to bring holiness into everything that they do. It is as if every act by the believer should become an act of worship. The fact that these laws are many means that they touch on almost every aspect of a person's life. I resonated with this concept because I felt that if all the world religions followed this principle, the world would be a much better place.

What most surprised me is that the religion has quite a long list of laws that all the believers should follow. For example, the Torah has 613 commandments. On top of these laws given by God are other laws and customs established by the rabbis. It was a surprise to me that people can remember such a long list of rules and manage to observe them throughout their lives.

Different Branches of Judaism

According to the Jewish law or Halachah, a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or an adult who has undergone conversion into Judaism. There are three primary groups of Judaism, and all have different understanding and interpretation of the Torah. One of the branches of Judaism is Orthodox Judaism, whose members practice the Judaism beliefs in their most traditional form.

Orthodox Believers hold that the entire Torah, both oral and written, is divinely inspired and should be interpreted literally without any adaptation to the changing circumstances of the society. Orthodox believers hold that any attempt to interpret Judaism otherwise is to water down of the laws and traditions received by Moses on Mount Sinai. As a result, they adhere to all 613 commandments (Rivera, 2000).

The other branch of Judaism is Conservative Judaism. This movement came as a response to Reform Judaism. It occupies the theological space between orthodox and reform traditions. For example, the movement urges its believers to observe Halakha and Kosher and its men to wear yarmulke as well as discouraging marriage to non-Jews (Rivera, 2000). However, it ordains female cantors and rabbis among other modern life concession prohibited by the orthodox.

The last branch is the Reform Judaism, characterized by liturgical changes as well as choral singing accompanied by organs in a move to embrace modernity. Believers see God as evolutionary and continuing. Judaism has had such different views within one religion because believers have tended to disagree with the extent to which they should embrace modernity.

References

Cohn-Sherbok, D. (2003). Judaism: history, belief and practice. New York: Routledge.

Greenstein, H. R. (2006). Judaism, an eternal covenant. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.

Rivera, J. (2000, Aug 16). The three branches of Judaism. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2000-08-16-0008160154-story.html