JUDAISM

JUDAISM
A religion and a way of life.
 
It is defined as the Jewish religion
It is a Jewish way of life.
One of the oldest monotheistic religions
Founded over 3500 years ago in the Middle East.
 JEWS

1. Believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people in order to
set an example of holiness and ethical behavior in the world.
2. Believe that there is only one God with whom they have a covenant.
3. In exchange for all the good that God has done for the Jewish people,
Jewish people keep God’s laws and try to bring holiness into every aspect
of their lives.
 GOD
YHWH
YAHWEH

Hebrew
 FOUNDER
Judaism was founded
by Moses, although
Jews trace their
history back to 
Abraham.
 SACRED TEXT
Judaism has a rich history
of religious text, but the
central and most important
religious document is the 
Torah.
Jewish traditional or oral
law, the interpretation of
the laws of the Torah, is
called halakhah.
SPIRITUAL LEADER
Rabbi
 PLACE OF WORSHIP

Synagogue
 JEWISH SYMBOLS
STAR OF DAVID MERONAH
 HISTORY OF SYMBOLS
STAR OF DAVID
A symbol of Judaism, as a religion and
the Jewish people as a whole
Is a primary symbol of the Jewish faith.
Some legends say that it was used by
the biblical King David, but it appeared
in modern day Judaism during the
Middle Ages when it decorated flags, to
monotones and synagogues.
It presents the divine union of male
female energy
 BIRTH OF RELIGION
The largest
concentration of
the followers of
Judaism is found in
ISRAEL
The largest concentration of the followers of
Judaism is found the country of Israel.
THE STORY OF
JUDAISM
 ABRAHAM, A HEBREW MAN,
IS CONSIDERED THE FATHER
OF THE JEWISH FAITH
BECAUSE HE PROMOTED
THE CENTRAL IDEA OF THE
JEWISH FAITH: THAT THERE
IS ONE GOD.
According to Jewish tradition, this
agreement stated that God would ‘make a
Jews call God Yahweh(yah-way), and they great nation’ out of Abraham and his
believe that in 2000’s BC, God made a descendants if they remained faithful.
covenant or agreement with Abraham.

Abraham’s
descendants, the
Hebrews that live in
Canaan for many years.
 1300 BCE - THE BEGINNING OF A
RELIGION

One day, God spoke to a man named

Abraham telling him to leave his
home in Mesopotamia and take his
family on a long journey west to a
land collected Canaan.
 ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
•God ordered Abraham to abandon his way of life and leave his home country
to live in the land of Canaan.
•Abraham was 99 at the time, so this was a hard thing to ask. The LORD said

•Genesis 12:1-2
•Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to
the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will
bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
God did cause Sarah to become pregnant with Isaac. By doing
this God showed that he was in control of even the processes
of nature like having children.

God also showed that in order to keep his promises to his

chosen people he would intervene in the world and alter it.

Later, God tested Abraham’s obedience by ordering him to kill

his much-loved son Isaac as a sacrifice.

Abraham didn’t argue with God, he kept his side of the

covenant and prepared to sacrifice Isaac. God stopped him
from killing his son, but the story remains as a perfect
example of the level of obedience that God expected.

So in the year 2000 BC, Abraham, following God’s wishes,

left his home. God promised to lead Abraham to Canaan and
that in time it would turn into a mighty nation.
TEST OF GOD OFFER HIS SON
ISAAC
Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrews,
lived in Canaan for any years.
However, struggling to find food and
water because of a long drought, many
Hebrews left Canaan and travelled to
Egypt.
As the Hebrew population grew in Egypt, Egypt’s
ruler, the pharaoh, feared that the Hebrews could
become too powerful.
To stop this from happening, the pharaoh mode
the Hebrews slaves.
  Moses, a Hebrew, was chosen by
God to lead the Hebrew people out of
Egypt.
Moses led the Hebrew people out of
the Sanai Desert toward the Promised
Land.
At Mt. Sanai, God gave Moses the
Law which would guide the Israelites
to today.
The laws were called the Ten
Commandments and form the basis
of the Torah, the book of Jewish law.
 BRIEF STORY OF MOSES
Best known from the story in the
biblical Book of Exodus and
Quran as the lawgiver who met
God face-to-face on Mount
Sinai to receive the Ten
Commandments after leading
his people, the Hebrews, out of
bondage in Egypt and to the
"promised land" of Canaan.
 MOSES WAS A HEBREW
1. He was born to Jochebed and Amram
2. Both of them from the tribe of Levi, when
the children of Israel lived in Egypt as slaves.
3. He was the youngest of three children, with
a sister named Miriam and a brother named
Aaron.
MOSES WAS A SPECIAL BABY
The Pharaoh was afraid of the
Israelite slaves because there were
so many of them and ordered all
the boy babies to be killed.
Moses mother protected him.
“She saw that he was a special
baby and kept him hidden for
three months”
MOSES WAS A SPECIAL BABY
When she couldn’t hide him anymore, she made
a little boat, placed him in it, and hid baby
Moses in the reeds on the banks of the Nile
River.
He didn’t stay there long before being rescued
by the Pharaoh’s daughter.
Being unable to nurse him, she hired a Hebrew
woman to do the job.
This woman just so happened to be Moses’
mother.
 MOSES WAS RAISED AS ROYALTY

After Moses was

weaned, the Pharaoh’s
daughter BITHIAH
raised him in the
palace surrounded by
all the luxuries of
Egypt
 MOSES WAS A MURDERER
He grew up in the palace but
knew he was a Hebrew.
When Moses saw an Egyptian
beating a Hebrew slave the
Bible says, “Looking this way
and that and seeing no one, he
killed the Egyptian and hid him
in the sand”
 MOSES WAS AFRAID
We know we deal with fear,
but so did Moses.
Pharaoh found out what
Moses had done and tried to
kill him.
Moses ran for his life.
He lived out in the desert of
Midian for 40 years, became
a husband to Tharbis and
Zipporah, and a father to
Gershom and Eliezer
Tharbis (alternatively
Adoniah), according to
Josephus, was a Cushite
princess of the Kingdom
of Kush, who married
Moses prior to his
marriage to Zipporah as
told in the Book of
Exodus
 GOD APPEARED TO MOSES
Fear showed up when
God “…appeared to
him in flames of fire
from within a bush.
Moses saw that
though the bush was
on fire it did not burn
up”
 MOSES WAS AFRAID
God wanted Moses to rescue the Israelites from Egypt.
Moses was afraid and gave excuse after excuse, one being that he
stuttered.
Moses told God, “Please send someone else”(Exodus 4:13).
God didn’t want to send someone else and got angry with Moses.
MOSES WAS A COURAGEOUS LEADER
To overcome Moses’ fear,
God recruited his brother
Aaron to assist, promising
to help them both.
Moses rose to the
challenge.
Through the long story of
the 10 plagues and the
Pharaoh’s opposition; he
led the Israelites out of
Egypt.
MOSES WAS A COURAGEOUS LEADER
When trapped between the
Pharaoh—who’d changed
his mind and pursued the
newly freed slaves—and
the Red Sea, Moses told the
people, “Do not be afraid.
Stand firm and you will see
the deliverance the LORD
will bring you today”
THE TEN PLAGUES OF EGYPT
The pharaoh refused to free the slaves, which
angered God, and a series of plagues spread
fear throughout Egypt.
The plagues were water into blood, frogs, lice,
flies, diseased, livestock, boils that would not
heal, hail and thunder, locusts, darkness and
death.
 1ST PLAGUE OF EGYPT
Water Turned to Blood
The first plague that was given to
the Egyptians from God was that
of turning the water to blood.
As Aaron, the spokesman for
Moses, touched the "rod" of the
Lord to the Nile River it
immediately turned to blood, all
the fish died, and the river stank.
 2ND PLAGUE
Frogs coming from the Nile River
The second plague that was extended
upon Egypt, from the "rod" by
Aaron, was that of frogs.
The frogs came up from the river and
were in their houses, in their food, in
their clothing, in every place
possible.
 3RD PLAGUE
Plague of Lice
The toxic water would have caused the
amphibians to leave and swarm over
the land in overwhelming numbers.
The amphibians would have stayed
away from the deadly river and many
would have died, leading to the third
plague – lice (this could mean lice,
fleas or gnats, based on the Hebrew
word kînnîm)
 4TH PLAGUE
Creatures capable of damage
people and livestock.
The Torah emphasizes that the 'arob
(‫" עָרוֹב‬mixture" or "swarm") only
came against the Egyptians and did
not affect the Israelites.
Pharaoh asked Moses to remove
this plague and promised to grant
the Israelites their freedom
 5TH PLAGUE
Killed off the Egyptian
livestock, has similarities
of rinderpest, a member of
the genus Morbillivirus, a
member of the
Paramyxoviridae family.
This causes high fever,
diarrhoea and ulcers in the
mouths and noses.
 6TH PLAGUE
Acute epidemic skin disease,
though probably not deadly,
characterized by boils that
eventually formed ulcers on the
skin.
The Egyptians and their animals
were most likely exposed to fine
dust with soot from kilns not only
via the skin, but also via inhalation.
 7TH PLAGUE
The fiery hails
Then, around 1600 BC, the
plume of another Santorini
eruption may have been
responsible for the seventh,
eighth and ninth plagues
 8TH PLAGUE
Locusts
When the Pharaoh once
again refuses to let the
Jewish people go, hungry
locusts descend as the
eighth plague
 9TH PLAGUE
Darkness
No one could see another
 10TH PLAGUE
The killing of all
firstborn Egyptian
sons
 EXODUS
After the tenth
plague, the pharaoh
agreed to free the
Hebrews.
Moses led his people
out of Egypt in a
journey called the
Exodus.
MEANING OF THE 10 PLAGUES
Ten Egyptian Plagues Means Completely Plagued.
Just as the "Ten Commandments" become symbolic
of the fullness of the moral law of God, the ten
ancient plagues of Egypt represent the fullness of
God's expression of justice and judgments, upon
those who refuse to repent.
 MOSES WAS A COURAGEOUS LEADER
He also prophesied, “The
Egyptians you see today you
will never see again…” (
Exodus 14:13), and he was
right.
Moses led them through the
Red Sea on dry ground by the
power of the God. That was
just the beginning of Moses’
courageous leadership.
THE EXODUS
 MOSES WAS CLOSE WITH
GOD
The job God called Moses to do was full
of difficulties and challenges.
Moses never hid his emotions and
questions from God.
They spent 40 days together on top of
Mount Sinai and God gave Moses “…the
two tablets of the covenant law, the
tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of
God”
 MOSES WAS CLOSE WITH GOD
IDOLATRY
The people got tired of waiting
for Moses, made an idol, and
started worshiping it.
This made God angry, and He
offered to kill them all, making
Moses into a great nation
instead. 
“But Moses sought the favor
of the LORD his God”
(Exodus 32:11).
God heard Moses and didn’t act
on His emotions.
MOSES WAS CLOSE WITH GOD

In response to Moses’ request to see God’s glory, he

saw parts of God no one ever had before.
“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,
‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and
gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and
forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin…’” 
MOSES WAS CLOSE WITH GOD
For 40 years Moses led the Israelites, and God
kept His promise to always be with him.
Even when Moses messed up, due to his
anger, which disallowed him from entering the
promised land.
The Bible says Moses “whom the LORD
knew face to face”
 MOSES WAS BURIED BY GOD
God was with Moses to the very end, burying him
in secret.
Moses lived to be 120 years old and was
completely healthy. “…his eyes were not weak, nor
his strength gone”(Deuteronomy 34:7).
The people grieved 30 days for him until God put a
stop to it, instructing Joshua to take the leadership
position.
 THE SECOND COVENANT
On their journey they reached a mountain called Sinai. While Mosess was on
the mountain, God visited him and give him two stone tablets.
Moses received torah, traditionally translated 'law'.
This is not law in the modern sense but rather authoritative
teaching, instruction, or guidance.
On the tablets was written a code of moral laws known as the Ten
Commandments but there are actually 613 commandments covering every
aspect of life including law, family, and personal hygiene and diet.
Reinforced the covenant that God had given to Abraham.
God again promised to stay with the Jews and never to abandon them, because
they were his chosen people.
 Exodus 19:1-8
All that the LORD has spoken we will do

What does it all mean?

The covenant is made with the Jewish People as a whole, not with each individual Jew - and
the result of this is that Jewish history is full of the Jews' attempts to create a good and just
society.
In modern times Jews continue to be very active in the fight for social justice and equality for
all people.
THE KINGS
 1ST KING OF ISRAEL
In the Book of Samuel,
 Saul, the first king of Israel,
failed to reach a decisive victory against an enemy tribe,
the Philistines.
God sent the Prophet Samuel to Bethlehem and guided
him to David, a humble shepherd and talented musician
 KING SAUL
According to the biblical account found mainly in I
Samuel, Saul was chosen king both by the judge Samuel
and by public acclamation.
Saul was similar to the charismatic judges who preceded
him in the role of governing; his chief contribution,
however, was to defend Israel against its many enemies,
especially the Philistines.
 KING DAVID
•One of the reasons David is so successful as a king is that he weaves the relationship with God into the
very life of the people. When David establishes his capital in Jerusalem he establishes it with the Ark
of the Covenant.
•One of the most important features of the establishment of the capital is that the Ark of the Covenant is
taken in a joyful procession into the capital and the capital becomes not only the political heart of the
nation but also the religious heart of the nation.
•David does not build a temple, because he is told by God that he is not the person who is called to
build it.
•Nevertheless David establishes the worship of God in a single place. This is very important because
until this point God has been worshipped wherever the Ark of the Covenant is, and the Ark of the
Covenant moves round wherever the leaders of the people are based, so it is discovered in various
different places in Israel.
•David places the Ark of the Covenant in a single place in the capital, and it is there that the people
must come to worship God. David's capital is so successful because the people have to come and
worship God in the one place. It’s as though David gives those twelve disparate tribes a focus that they
can all look to. They can come and worship and have their political life at the center of the nation.
BELIEFS
 Jewish people believe in the Torah, which was
the whole of the laws given to the Israelites at
Sinai. They believe they must follow God’s laws
which govern daily life. Later legal books, written
by rabbis, determine the law as it applies to life in
each new place and time.
The Ten Commandments, as written in the Torah, WHAT
are:
•1. Worship no other God but me.
DO
• Do not make images to worship. JEWISH
•2. Do not misuse the name of God.
•3. Observe the Sabbath Day (Saturday). Keep it PEOPLE
Holy.
•4. Honor and respect your father and mother.
BELIEV
•5. Do not murder. E?
•6. Do not commit adultery.
•7. Do not steal.
•8. Do not accuse anyone falsely.
• Do not tell lies about other people.
•9. Do not envy other’s possessions.
•10. Do not covet.
• There are three basic groups of Jewish
people who have a different
understanding of the interpretation of the
Torah.
 ORTHODOX JEWS
• They believe that all of the practices in the
Torah which it is practical to obey must be
obeyed without question.
 CONSERVATIVE JEWS
They believe that the ancient laws and
practices have to be interpreted for modern
life with in conclusion of contemporary
sources and with more concern with
community practices than with ritual
practices.
 REFORM JEWS
• They allow everyone to sit together, men and
women, and both Hebrew and the local
language are spoken in services.
 JEWISH BELIEFS
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Their sacred text, the
Hebrew Bible, teaches several doctrines – such as those about God, the
Messiah, human beings, and the universe – making beliefs very important to
Jews. Judaism has no official creed, however.

Judaism shares some beliefs with other world religions, like monotheism
with Christianity and Islam, but in other respects there are sharp differences
between the faiths.

It is important to understand that the term “Jewish” can be used to describe

a race and a culture, rather than a religion, so some who identify themselves
as Jewish may have little interest in the beliefs of Judaism.
 Jewish people also
believe:
• Jews believe that a Jew is someone who is the child of a
Jewish mother; although some groups also accept children
of Jewish fathers as Jewish. A Jew traditionally can't lose
the technical 'status' of being a Jew by adopting another
faith, but they do lose the religious element of their Jewish
identity.
• Someone who isn't born a Jew can convert to Judaism, but
it is not easy to do so.
• Judaism is a faith of action and Jews believe people should
be judged not so much by the intellectual content of their
beliefs, but by the way they live their faith - by how much
they contribute to the overall holiness of the world.
• God can't be subdivided into different persons (unlike the 
Christian view of God)
• God doesn't have a body
• Which means that God is neither female nor male.
 JEWISH BELIEFS ABOUT THE
MESSIAH

Many of the world’s religions have hope in a

future heroic figure who will rescue the
righteous, judge the wicked, and restore
peace to the world (Krishna in Hinduism,
Maitreya in Buddhism and the Second
Coming of Christ in Christianity).
In Judaism, this figure is the Messiah.
JEWISH BELIEFS ABOUT HUMAN
NATURE
When Genesis 2:7 says “God formed man,” it uses the Hebrew
word vayyitzer (“formed”). The Talmud finds special meaning in
the unique spelling of the word in this context, with two yods
instead of one. The two yods, the rabbis explain, strand for the two
impulses found in humans: the yetzer tov and the yetzer ra.
Olam Ha-Ba” Jewish Beliefs about the Afterlife
Jewish sacred text and literature have little to say about what
happens after death, which may seem surprising to non-Jews since
the sacred texts of Christianity and Islam, both of which have their
foundations in Judaism, elaborate rather fully about the afterlife.
 WHAT ARE THE SACRED TEXT
OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE?
•The Tenakh is the ancient collection of writings that are sacred to the
Jews. They were written over almost a thousand years from 1000 to 100
BCE. The word Tenakh comes from the three first letters of the three books
included in this text: the Torah, plust the Nev’im (prophets) and the
Ki’tuvim (writings, which include histories, prophecies, poems, hymns and
sayings).
•The Torah is written on scrolls and kept in a special cabinet called the are
on hakodish, the Holy Ark in synagogues. The Torah is read with a pointer
called yad (hand) to keep it from being spoiled. Each week, one section is
read until the entire Torah is completed and the reading begins again.
•The Talmund is also an important collection of Jewish writings. Written
about 2000 years ago, it is a recording of the rabbi’s discussion of the way
to follow the Torah at that time. Later text, the Mishnah Torah and the
Shulhan Aruch, are recordings of rabbinic discussions from later periods.
CHURCH TEACHING
OLD TESTAMENT
- known to the JEWS as
HEBREW SCRIPTURES or TaNaK
T Torah (the Law/Instruction)
N Nebi’im (the Prophets)
K Kethubim (the Writings)
4 MAJOR PARTS/DIVISION OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT
1. The Pentateuch
2. The Historical Books
3. The Wisdom Books
4. The Prophetic Books
 Genesis
THE
FIVE Exodus
BOOK
S OF Leviticus
THE Numbers
BIBLE
Deuteronomy
THE PENTATEUCH (5)
JEWISH, PROTESTANT, ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
 HISTORICAL BOOKS
PROTESTANT
PROTESTANT

Joshua 1 Chronicles
Judges 2 Chronicles
Ruth Ezra
1 Samuel Nehemiah
2 Samuel Esther
1 Kings
2 Kings
 HISTORICAL BOOKS
ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC
Joshua Tobit
Judges
Judith
Ruth
1 Samuel Esther
2 Samuel 1 Maccabees
1 Kings
2 Maccabees
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
 POETRY AND WISDOM
ORTODOX/CATHOLIC
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (Ecclesiaticus)
 POETRY AND WISDOM
PROTESTANT
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
 PROPHETICS WRITINGS
HEBREW
Minor prophets
Major Prophets

Isaiah Hosea
Amos
Jeremiah
Obadiah
Lamentations Jonah
Ezekiel Micah
Nahum
Daniel
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
PROPHETICS WRITINGS
ORTHODOX/CATHOLIC
Isaiah Zephaniah
Jeremiah Haggai
Lamentations Zechariah
Baruch Malachi
Ezekiel Daniel
Hosea Joel
Amos Obadiah
Jonah Micah
Nahum Habakkuk
THE DECALOGUE
 THE DECALOGUE
RECORDED IN PENTATEUCH
TWICE
Exodus 20:1-17

Deuteronomy 5:6-21
 DIVISION OF THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
Decalogue – terms Deca and Logois (10 words)
These are precepts (guides) bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and
morality and embodying the revealed expression of the Creator’s will in relation to
man’s whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures.
 DIVISION OF THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
The Divine Code was received from the
Almighty by Moses amid the thunders
of Mount Sinai, thus resulting to the
ground-work of the Mosaic Law.
DIVISION OF THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
There is no numerical division of the
Commandments in the book of
Moses but the commands are
distinctly tenfold.
The order is the same except in the
numbering, which is due to a
difference of opinion concerning the
initial precept on Divine worship.
 DECALOGUE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT – JESUS
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
(MATTHEW 22:34-40 & MARK 12:28-34)

You shall love the Lord your God, with You shall love your neighbor as
all your heart, with all your soul, and yourself.
with all your mind.
 DIVISION OF THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
Decalogue – terms Deca and Logois (10 words)
These are precepts (guides) bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and
morality and embodying the revealed expression of the Creator’s will in relation to
man’s whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures.
DIVISION OF COMMANDMENTS ACCORDING
TO ITS BASIC IMPERATIVES (IMPORTANCE)
A CALL TO LOVE GOD
 1ST COMMANDMENT
I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not
have other gods besides me.
 2ND COMMANDMENT
You shall not take the name of the Lord,
your God, in vain.
 3RD COMMANDMENT
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day
(Lord’s day)
A CALL TO LIVE
 4RT COMMANDMENT
Honor your father and your mother
 5TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not kill
A CALL TO SEXUALITY
 6TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not commit adultery
 9TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
A CALL TO FAIRNESS AND
EQUALITY
 7TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not steal
 10TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not covet your neighbor’s
goods
A CALL TO TRUTH
 8TH COMMANDMENT
You shall not bear false witness against
your neighbor.
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS AND ITS VALUE
IN THE COMMUNITY LIFE
They form an organic whole which all of the commandments relate to, and
mutually condition, one another.
No can relate to God authentically while sinning against one’s neighbor,
neither can one adequately love one’s neighbor while rejecting our heavenly
Father.
The 10 Commandments reveals to us the basic norms of the law written into
our human nature, the Natural Law, on how to act toward God and Neighbor.
CATECHISM FOR THE FILIPINO
CATHOLICS (CFC)
Provides the clear and understanding reasons on what value can we draw out of the Ten
Commandments as Filipinos;

1. It constitute the basic imperatives needed for life in community (Bill of

Rights)
2. The lasting and exceptional value of the Ten Commandments in their
historical origin, their covenantal character and their liberating power.
3. It set in the context of Exodus, is that great act of God which stands at the
center of salvation history.
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
PROVIDES;
A. Credible and durable moral norms for everyday life;
B. A pattern and structure for living according to Christ's Commandments to love
God and neighbor,
C. A universally accessible source for relating to non-Christians in moral matters.
Over time, the two kingdoms would fall to
invaders. Solomon’s Temple would be
destroyed  and the Jews would be forced from
their land. The scattering of Jews  outside of
Israel and Judah is called the Diaspora.  
After some fighting the Jews established the
Israelite kingdom, and many years later,
Canaan was conquered by the Assyrians, the
Babylonians and then eventually the Romans.
The Israelites once again found themselves
enslaved, this time by Babylonians.
The Israelites were then taken over by
Romans who destroyed much of what had
been built in Jerusalem by the Israelites.
Most of the Jews were scattered all over the
region and eventually moved from place to
place to avoid persecution which continues to
this day. The dispersion of the Jews is called
the Diaspora.
OVER TIME, THE TWO KINGDOMS WOULD
FALL TO INVADERS. SOLOMON’S TEMPLE
WOULD BE DESTROYED  AND THE JEWS
WOULD BE FORCED FROM THEIR LAND.
THE SCATTERING OF JEWS  OUTSIDE OF
ISRAEL AND JUDAH IS CALLED THE
DIASPORA.  
AFTER SOME FIGHTING THE JEWS
ESTABLISHED THE ISRAELITE KINGDOM,
AND MANY YEARS LATER, CANAAN WAS
CONQUERED BY THE ASSYRIANS, THE
BABYLONIANS AND THEN EVENTUALLY
THE ROMANS. THE ISRAELITES ONCE
AGAIN FOUND THEMSELVES ENSLAVED,
THIS TIME BY BABYLONIANS.
THE ISRAELITES WERE THEN TAKEN OVER
BY ROMANS WHO DESTROYED MUCH OF
WHAT HAD BEEN BUILT IN JERUSALEM BY
THE ISRAELITES.
MOST OF THE JEWS WERE SCATTERED ALL
OVER THE REGION AND EVENTUALLY
MOVED FROM PLACE TO PLACE TO AVOID
PERSECUTION WHICH CONTINUES TO THIS
DAY. THE DISPERSION OF THE JEWS IS
CALLED THE DIASPORA.
After some fighting the Jews
established the Israelite
kingdom, and many years later,
Canaan was conquered by the
Assyrians, the Babylonians and
then eventually the Romans. INVADERS
The Israelites once again found
themselves enslaved, this time
by Babylonians.
The Israelites were
then taken over by
Romans who
destroyed much of
what had been built in
DESTROYED
Jerusalem by the
Israelites.
Most of the Jews were
scattered all over the
region and eventually
moved from place to
THE
place to avoid
SCATTERIN
persecution which
G OF JEWS
continues to this day.
The dispersion of the
Jews is called the
Diaspora.
The worst persecution of the Jews was during World War II by the Nazis
who murdered more than six million Jews or a third of the world’s
Jewish population. This was called the Holocaust. Beginning in the
1880’s Jews began returning to their homeland in growing numbers, this
time to avoid persecution where they lived.
After World War II, many Jews believed that for the Jewish people and
culture to survive, Jews needed to live in their own country where all
Jews from anywhere in the world would have the right to live and be
critizens.
In 1948, Palestine was divided up and a Jewish state of Israel was
formed in the land that was once called Canaan, surrounded by countries
with predominantly Muslim populations.
Since Muslims also claimed rights to the land where the Jews were
living, there was conflict, which continues to this day in the Middle East.
Today nearly fourteen million Jewish people live all over the world.
Approximately half of them live in the United States, one quarter live in
Israel, and a quarter are still scattered around the world in countries in
Europe, Russia, South America, Africa, Asia and other North American
and Middle Eastern countries. Anyone born to a Jewish mother is
considered a Jew.
 JEWISH PEOPLE 
 
IT’S THE UNIQUENESS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE TO WORSHIP
ONLY ONE GOD AT A TIME WHILE MOST PEOPLE ARE
POLYTHEISTIC.

From the 5th century BCE until 70 CE, Israelite religion developed into

the various theological schools of Second Temple Judaism, besides
Hellenistic Judaism in the diaspora. Second Temple eschatology was
significantly influenced by Zoroastrianism.
CUSTOMS
Sabbath
Eruvs
Tefillin
Kippah/Yarmulke
The Sabbath is commanded by God
Every week religious Jews observe the Sabbath, the Jewish
holy day, and keep its laws and customs.

Tefillin
Tefillin (sometimes called phylacteries) are cubic black
leather boxes with leather straps that Orthodox Jewish men
wear on their head and their arm during weekday morning
prayer. Observant Jews consider wearing tefillin to be a
very great mitzvah (command).
The hand tefillin has all four texts written on a single
parchment strip but the head tefillin has four separate
compartments, with a single text in each.
Jewish men start wearing tefillin just before their Bar
Mitzvah.
Eruvs
An eruv is an area within which observant Jews can carry or push objects on the
Sabbath, (which lasts from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday), without
violating a Jewish law that prohibits carrying anything except within the home.
There are over 200 eruvs (or eruvim) in the world.
An eruv must be 'completely enclosed'. The area is not enclosed by building a
special wall round it - most of it is enclosed by existing natural boundaries like
railway lines or walls. What matters is that the area is completely enclosed by
boundaries that conform to Jewish law. The North West London eruv has been
recognised as valid by the London Beth Din - the Orthodox Jewish religious
court.
kippah/yarmulke
• Clothing worn by Jews usually varies according to which denomination of Judaism they
adhere to.
• Orthodox Jewish men always cover their heads by wearing a skullcap known in Hebrew
as a kippah or in Yiddish as a yarmulke. Liberal or Reform Jews see the covering of the
head as optional.
• Most Jews will cover their heads when praying, attending the synagogue or at a religious
event or festival.
• Wearing a skullcap is seen as a sign of devoutness.
• Women also cover their heads by wearing a scarf or a hat.
• The most common reason (for covering the head) is a sign of respect and fear of God. It
is also felt that this separates God and human, by wearing a hat you are recognising that
God is above all mankind.
 ISSUE
6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in an attempt to wipe out Judaism.