Exequiel Ian John G.

Felizardo September 29, 2020

Grade 11A-HUMSS

Judaism

Judaism is the oldest Monotheistic religion in the world, but to further understand Judaism it is necessary
to understand the Tanakh. The Tanakh is considered as the Jews’ sacred text, it isdivided into three main
parts, the Torah or the Law, the Nevi’im or the Prophets, and the Ketuvim or the Writings. Since Judaism
and Christianity are largely related, with only a difference in some major beliefs, the Torah could be
compared to the Old Testament as both of them talks about the creation of the universe and the first 5
books, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, but since Judaism does not
recognize the New Testament, the Torah cannot be simply called as the Old Testament.

Abraham, the Father of All Nations, is one of the most important figures in Judaism, as it is from him
where all the Israelites descended. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, became the father of the 12 Tribes of
Israel, to which then became the Jews. Not long after the Egyptians started enslaving the Jews, and this is
when Moses came into the picture.

Moses was the adopted son of the Pharoah’s daughter. He became a prophet and led all the Israelites out
of Egypt. He also received two tablets from God in Mt. Sinai, which contained the Ten Commandments.

The Jews’ First Temple, or Solomon’s Temple, was a very sacred site for the Jews. It was where the Ark
of the Covenant was located, and it signified the presence of God among the Israelites. Unfortunately, the
Ark of the Covenant mysteriously disappeared after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. The conquest
of the Babylonians also brought the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.

The Persians helped the Jews build the Second Temple, but it wasn’t long until the Romans took over
Jerusalem. The Jews revolted many times against the Romans, but this only infuriated the Romans which
led them to destroy the Second Temple. After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, the Jews were
slowly exiled from their homelands and were scattered through out Europe. For the next hundreds of
years the Jews will experience persecutions and great discrimination. They will receive steretypes like
being greedy and power hungry. Many Jews would migrate to the Americas, while a lot would stay in
Europe. In the events of World War II comes one of the most tragic events in Jewish History, the
Holocaust. Over 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. Currently, there are atleast 15 million Jews living
all over the world.