Judaism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Judaism - Research Paper Example Judaism is the foremost among the three Abrahamic faiths including Christianity and Islam. Most of the Jews around the world reside in Israel or USA according to The Jewish People Polcy Planning Institute. Back in 2001 half of UK’s population claimed to be Jewish as well. What concerns the scholars of religion and theology the most is the original teachings of the religion founded by Moses. For the Jews, however, their history begins from Abraham (BBC 2012). Jews believe in one God and Torah as their Holy Scripture. Theirs is an oral law by tradition and the interpretation of the laws is called â€Å"halakhah†. Their spiritual mentors are known as Rabbis and their place of worship is the Synagogue. One of the most tragic events in the Jewish history took place at the time of the Holocaust in which nearly six million Jews were killed by Nazis on Hitler’s command. This gave rise to a lot of hatred and grudge against the Christians and many Jews fought to live for t heir rights dying on the way. Addressed as â€Å"Children of Israel† in the Holy Scriptures who traveled from Sumer (near Babylon) to Egypt with Prophet Abraham in around 1700 BC and from there to Canaan with Prophet Moses around 1200 BC, united under Saul then David then Solomon around 900 BC, fell captive to Assyrians in 722 BC and later to Chaldeans in 587 BC only to fall victim of the enchanting Hellenistic culture during Alexander’s reign along with the Greco-Roman civilization (Miller et al 136). The Scriptures refer to them as the superior race, fallen in the hands of Satan despite all the privileges it received from their God, Yahweh. The Kabbala, according to a Jewish historian, Faber d’Olivet, has its roots in the Ancient Egypt (d’Olivet 28). History tells that during 1200 BC and 1000 BC people living in the Western end of the Fertile Crescent and in Western Asia, called the northern portion Phoenicia and Lydia, while the southern section was kn own as Canaan and later Israel and then Palestine. Today, the region that is along and near the Mediterranean Sea forms the nations of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and portion of Egypt and Turkey. The early writing system had started and evolved from Egypt and Mesopotamia. However the Phoenicians worked on developing the alphabets for future model of Western alphabets. They were the first great sea traders of the world. During the same time Greek City-States were flourishing. While the Phoenicians did not believe in after life and sometimes sacrificed their own children to win favor from the many Gods they worshiped, Egyptians worshiped the Sun as well as the Moon, attributing to their Gods the characteristics of animals and humans. They thought Pharaoh was the representative of these Gods. On the other hand the Greeks attributed to their Gods and Goddesses the attributes of humans because they considered them superior beings and practiced rituals to win favor from them. They als o believed that the priests and priestesses were mediums of communication of the Gods at oracles which were sanctuaries especially meant for them. This was done in the form of question and answer pertaining to the future. They were later conquered by Romans, who like Greeks were very particular about the ritual performance. Early Romans believed that spirits inhabited everything. Some of these were attached to the home which included the ancestral spirits called the â€Å"