A Short History Of Judaism It has been estimated that around 80% of the world's population believe in one r eligion

or another (and there are lots of them), but about 70% of those are memb ers to the big four. The four largest religions are: Christianity, Islam, Hindui sm and Buddhism. Judaism is the precursor of both Islam and Christianity. The Hebrew Bible recounts the history of the world and the story of the passage of the nation from creation, all through the flood to the arrival in the Promise d Land, or from Mesopotamia to Canaan, led by Abraham. The offspring of Abraham and his people were enslaved by the Egyptians and did n ot manage to escape until Moses led them out of captivity. During this journey, Moses was given the Ten Commandments from God and they went on to become the bed rock of Jewish law and custom although there is no doubt that the Jewish mode of life has developed from this period in the Tenth Century before Christ. The sacred texts of the Hebrew Bible or Masorah are divided into twenty-four boo ks. However, the same texts are divided up into thirty-nine books in the Chirtia n Bible's Old Testament. The Torah or The Law was being written at this time but it was altered and updated between the Tenth and Fifth Centuries before Christ. In addition to the Hebrew scriptures, there is a rich tradition of ancient oral observations called the Talmud, which is a colossal compilation of the Oral Law. The Talmud is the traditional authority for Orthodox Jews. Judaism is the most ancient monotheistic religion known to the West. Jews believ ed in one God whilst all of the known world believed in pantheism or many gods l ike the Ancient Greeks. The name of God in the Jewish language is Yahweh and the y believe that Yahweh made a covenant with His people to take care of them for e ver so long as they remained loyal exclusively to him. In the Jewish faith, sin is the blatant disrespect of God's will and that is lia ble to get punished by by God in a similar manner to the Buddhist belief in karm a.. The objective of following God's Law is being accepted into His Kingdom. Jews worship in synagogues in congregations led by Rabbis who are thought of as Teachers or Masters (as in the old style of calling teachers, 'masters') rather than as monks or vicars. The Jewish Sabbath is not the Sunday as in Christianity , but is observed from sunset Friday until sundown Saturday night. The most significant vacations or holy days in the Jewish calendar are: Rosh Has hanah (New Year); Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement); Hanukah (Festival of Lights) an d Pesach (Passover). The Jewish people does not celebrate Christmas because they believe that the Son of God is still yet to be born. They see Jesus as a prophe t in the same manner as the Muslims do. Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with <a href="http://whatisreligiousbelief.com/native-religious-bel iefs.html">native religious beliefs</a>. If you would like to know more go to <a href="http://whatisreligiousbelief.com">What is Religious Belief</a>?