A Glance into Judaism

Judaism is an ancient religion that traces its roots back to Abram who is considered to be the father of many nations. Abram formed a covenant with God and thus began the foundation of the Jewish faith. The most important factors of this religion include the concept of God, the keeping of the Covenant, the establishment of the Law, and the element of Faith.

Polytheism was embraced by the majority of ancient religions, but the development of Judaism arose with the concept of a monotheistic and Unitarian god. This god was personal, caring, and non-deistic. Perhaps most importantly, this god allowed for communication between himself and his people. Abram communicated with this god named Yahweh and through his personal encounter received instruction for the development of the Jewish religion.

A covenant is defined as a solemn agreement between man and god. Abram received such a covenant that required the Jewish nation to come before their god with faith and obedience, and in return Yahweh would care for the needs of the people. Obedience required the means of certain rituals and practices. Disobedience and a lack of faith, however, would lead to punishment from the hands of this all-powerful god. This covenant was later reinforced with the other Jewish patriarch Moses when he received the Ten Commandments. These absolute and divine laws should be followed if the Jewish people wished to remain within the realm of God’s blessing.

Jewish Law consists mainly of the first five books of the Old Testament Bible, which were written by Moses. This compilation known as the Torah includes all the customary practices and rituals that were required of the Jewish nation in order to remain clean in the sight of Yahweh. The Torah also includes the written account of the Ten Commandment issued to Moses while he was on Mount Sinai. The Talmud is also another important component of Jewish Law and includes “rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history” (Wikipedia). The law was put into place to ensure that the Jewish people would remain in the favor of Yahweh and to be certain that they would uphold the Covenant.

Perhaps the most important factor of the Jewish religion is the element of faith. They had to trust that Yahweh would take care of them and protect them as they continued to uphold the laws and the Covenant. Although they could not physically see their god, they believed that he would someday come as the Messiah to save the Jewish nation. As God’s chosen people, they had to hope in the unseen yet powerful force of their god as they continued to practice their faith daily.

It is clear that God, the Covenant, the Law, and Faith all played a major role in the development of the early Jewish religion. The interweaving of all these concepts displays the importance of upholding the Jewish tradition in an obidient and faithful fashion. The Jewish faith openend the gateway for other religions to consider the idea of a monotheisic god, communication between god and man, the idea of absolute law, and the importance of faith.

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