What is Judaism?

There are many religions. So many that I don't think it's possible to know of all of them. For World Studies we had to do a project on common religions. One common religion that we had to study was Judaism.

Founder:

Judaism is traced back to the beginning of mankind. We credit the find to a group of Hebrews. The leader of the group who is credited for the find is Abraham. He founded Judaism in around 1300 B.C. Abraham didn't actually discover the God but he was called by the God who is already known into a covenant.

Followers:

Judaism is the 12th biggest religion in the world. There are 14 million people who follow Judaism. The most popular places for Judaism are Israel, Europe, and the USA. Those are not the only places that Judaism exists, but they're the more common places. People who follow Judaism live by one God. Their purpose of life is to obey god. They live by the law and make amends with their sins.

Holy Books:

There are many books that people who follow Judaism have many holy books. For example there is the Talmud, Torah, Tanakh, Responsa, Midrash, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. The most important books are probably the Torah, and Tanakh. The Tanakh and Torah are both jewish bibles. They contain what Christians would call the "old testaments".

Holidays:

Judaism is a religion with many holidays. Many holidays I haven't even heard about. They have the Day of Awe, Pesach, Perim, Sukkot, Shabbat, etc. The holiday that I know the most about is Hanukkah A.K.A The Festival of Lights. Hanukkah starts on the twenty-fifth day of the jewish month Kislev-which is in November or December on the Gregorian calender. When celebrating Hanukkah you light one candle everyday for eight days. Hanukkah is held to celebrate the victory of the Jews against the Hellenist Syrians in 165 B.C.

Rituals/Customs:

Every religion has its own customs and beliefs and Judaism is no different. People who follow Judaism believe in many things that christians believe in like death, divorce, marriage, and mourning.