Historical Foundations and Judaism Practices
Judaism is the world’s oldest religion, whose origin traces back in the era of Abraham. The religion founded about 4,000 years ago, was established through a covenant of God with Abraham and his lineage to bless and make his generation sacred. Abraham, alongside Moses, Isaac, and Jacob, forms the primary figures of the religion’s founders. Judaism incorporates ethical, religious, and social laws through the Torah – the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the historical foundations and the current practices of Judaism with other religious communities in the Middle East. The paper also establishes the goals and objectives for the future religion.
Historical Foundations
The history of Judaism is critical in providing approaches to understanding its primal assertions. Judaism history’s enthralling chronicle of multidimensional and vibrant religious tradition has mounded the spiritual heritage of humankind (Reed et al., 2018). Judaism denotes the belief in one Supreme Being whose presence is experienced through human activities and within man’s inner soul. Judaism is claimed to have its roots in Jerusalem. However, other religions like Christianity and Islam have Jerusalem as their birthplace. Accordingly, the temple of the Jews once stood in Jerusalem, where the believers would encounter an experience with God. The temple was destroyed in 586 BCE, and holding to Jerusalem as the geographic center of this religion, Judaism spread throughout the world as the Jewish people migrated (Reed et al., 2018).
The core founder of Judaism was Abraham, who, until his existence, man worshipped multiple gods. Abraham and his wife Sarah hesitated, bearing children until their old age when God promised them a son through a massager – angel. When the child was born, God tested the faith of Abraham by wooing him to sacrifice Isaac. It is through the willing attempt of Abraham to sacrifice his son that God proved his faithfulness and promised to bless him and his descendants. God made a covenant to protect Abraham and his lineage throughout the ages. Nonetheless, God demanded a contrite belief in Him to accomplish His promises. Isaac bore Jacob and Esau. Jacob had 12 sons and his name transformed to Israel, and while they believed in the supreme God with reference to their father Abraham, the religion continuously spread as generations thrived (Reed et al., 2018). Abraham was promised a numerous people of his genealogy who would inherit Canaan –the Promised Land. The Israelites believed that their relationship with the divine sustained their existence. They believed that the kind of response directed to the divine presence was the core determinacy of their encounter with God.
Current Practices/Relations with Other Religious Communities in the Middle East
The Middle East is dominated by three major religions which are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The three hold their faith in different beliefs, although they share the same founding patriarch– Abraham, and hence called Abrahamic religions. With Judaism as the oldest monotheistic religion, Islam is the most dominant religion, and the presence of other faiths poses the Middle East a region of incredible diversity (Gottreich & Miller, 2016). The Israelites anciently believed in one God and barely belonged to the Judaism religion. Nonetheless, with the constant immigration and interaction with people from different religious backgrounds, the current practices of Judaism are grounded on varied beliefs and practices. Notably, Israel citizens can be Christians or even Muslims. In this regard, the Jews have adopted the practices of other religions while still holding to the Judaism religion.
Additionally, the development of various religious sects within Judaism has initiated diverse beliefs. The Jewish communities base their core doctrines from the Torah, although the practices vary from community to community. The three religions refer to the same God known as Jehovah in English, Yahweh in Hebrew, and Allah in Arabic (Reed et al., 2018). Judaism uses similar concepts of justice as those of Christianity and Islam. For instance, sexual sin, murder, and stealing are considered highly punishable crimes and have remained as the most egregious crimes since the founding of these religions. Notably, Judaism shares more similar values with Islam than it does with Christianity based on God having no partner and offspring. Nonetheless, unlike Christianity and Islam, to be a Judaism, one has to be born into it (Gottreich & Miller, 2016). In lieu of religious violence, the Jewish people resolved to establish their sole kingdom in Jerusalem, which the Muslims also eye for. Hostilities against other religions by the Muslims in the Middle East have resulted in a decrease in the number of Jews through immigration and mass killings.
Goals and Objectives for the Future Religion.
Judaism has its fundamental values and future objectives, just like any other religion. The core objective of this religion lies in the push for humanity to draw nearer to God and attain completeness. The society is encompassed by immoral values, social evils, and loss of good cultural norms. These imply through the regular incidences of war crimes, terrorist attacks, and lack of human dignity. As such, Judaism plays the role of restoring moral ethics. As one of the objectives of Judaism, the religion focuses to fix the society by initiating moral values among the believers, and non-believers. A community with moral values is deemed to be peaceful and uphold love for one another. The religion aims to epitomize the Torah and spread the word of God throughout the world. The Jewish believe that founding their lives on the ethical and spiritual constraints of the Torah, and they transcend their human confines.
Further, the Jewish aim to establish their identity through their way of life and by practicing the basic teaching of the religion. As such, they make more people believe in the existence of one God, and by practicing Torah, they partake of a living tradition (Schweid et al., 2019). Based on the efforts to follow the commandments of God, the Jewish people view their bodies as Torah scrolls to experience its liveliness in their souls. Judaism also aims to create sanity in one’s behavior and heighten the understanding of God. The world is dynamic, and the waves of the varying ethical considerations pose to cause people to wander away from the teachings of God. As such, Judaism sets the goals to initiate the teachings of the Torah to the children while at a tender age to ensure they develop a sense of the fear of God throughout their lives (Schweid et al., 2019). The aim is to ensure God’s power acknowledgment in the entire world and follows their commands to enhance goodness and justice.
Generally, Judaism has remained a fundamental religion in the world. The paper has discussed Judaism history, relations with other religions, and future objectives. Despite the encroachment of multiple religions, most of the doctrines derive their roots from Judaism. Abraham founded Judaism, and through his genealogy, it has spread all over the world. The religion relates to others in the essence of the belief in one God.
References
Gottreich, E., & Miller, S. G. (2016). Moroccan Jews and The American Historical Imaginary: A Survey Across Time. Hespéris-Tamuda, 51(2), 57-82.
Reed, A. Y., & Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG. (2018). Jewish-Christianity and the History of Judaism.
Schweid, E., Levin, L., Hopp, C., & Leiblich, Y. (2019). A history of modern Jewish religious philosophy: Volume III.