JUDAISM

Among the world's major extant historical religions, Judaism may well be the oldest. If we date its origin to the Exodus from Egypt some 3200 years ago, only certain aspects of Hinduism can claim equal antiquity. Across this sea of time, through triumph and catastrophe, the lifeline of the Jewish people has remained their Book. The Jewish Bible is properly called the Tanakh, a word derived from the three consonants T, N, and K, standing for torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Torah means "law" or "teaching"; broadly it refers to the whole of the Jewish Bible, more narrowly to its first five books-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Nevi'im, or "prophets," refers to the 21 books that record the sayings and doings of those whose task it was to remind Israel of its relationship to God when it was in danger of forgetting it. Ketuvim, or "other writings" refers to the 13 books that make up the balance. Besides the written Torah, there is also the oral Torah, or Talmud, a record of the ongoing task of study, commentary, and interpretation through which God's continuing communication to human partners is discerned. Judaism can be viewed as the evolution of a people in the grip of two toweringly great ideas. The first is the idea of One God-imageless, primordially creative, and utterly transcendent-who, nevertheless, cares for the creation. The second is the idea of human dignity; men and women become fully human only by responding to the moral intuitions divinely etched in their hearts. God calls us, Judaism says, into a sacred agreement or covenant in which respect for life and the promotion of justice are paramount concerns. Life's purpose is to be found in the healing of the world so that the world may reflect, for the good of all, the radiance of its creative source. The melding of these two ideas is sometimes called ethical monotheism. Through it Jews have found meaning in life and have helped others do the same. Judaism is the parent tradition from which both Christianity and Islam spring.

The Torah

The main elements are:

Creation	The Garden of Eden and Expulsion	The Universal Covenant with Noah	The Origin of the Israelites: The Story of Abraham	Jacob is Named Israel
The Israelites in Egypt	Moses	God Identifies Himself	Passover and Exodus	Passover Instructions	The Covenant at Sinai

NEVI'IM: The Prophets
Visions and Callings

Isaiah Chastises Israel for Ignoring the Covenant

Kings are Not Above the Moral Law

Hosea: Against Idolatry

Against Empty Ritual

Awaiting the Messiah

KETUVIM:Other Writings
Psalms

Proverbs

The Book of Job

Ecclesiastes

The Ten Commandments

        I, the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land
        of Egypt, the house of bondage; You shall have no other
        gods beside Me.
        
        You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image,
        or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, 
        or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.
        You shall not bow down to them or serve them.  For I
        the LORD your God am an impassioned God,
        visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children,
        upon the third generation and upon the fourth generations
        of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the
        thousandth generation of those who love Me
        and keep my commandments.
        
        You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD
        your God
        
        Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
        
        Honor your father and your mother, that you may long
        endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning you.
        
        You shall not murder.
        
        You shall not commit adultery.  
        
        You shall not steal.
        
        You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
        
        You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall
        not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that is your neighbor's.
        

Other Laws

        The terms of the covenant at Sinai consist not only  of the
        Ten Commandments but of some six hundred and thirteen other
        laws governing various phases of life. 

ORAL TORAH: The Talmud

Two thousand years of Jewish reflection, a great conglomerate of law, legend, and philosophy.

The Shema
Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone.