Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Who We Are (2/12) Previous Document: Question 2.22: How many Jews are in the world? Next Document: Question 2.24: What is Judaism all about? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: There are multiple ways to answer this question: * Who founded the Jewish religion? Abraham. The starting of Judaism is described in Genesis 17, where Abram makes a covenant with G-d, and his name is changed to Abraham. There are many stories told about the founding of Judaism. In one, in which Abraham's father, Terah, is a maker of idols, an old man walks into the shop to buy an idol. Terah is out, and Abraham is minding the store. The old man chose his idol carefully. Abraham asked the man how old he was. The man replied, "70". Abraham then called him a fool, for worshiping an idol younger than he was. In another, similar story, Abraham is minding the store. He smashes all the idols but the largest, and puts the hammer in that idol's hands. When his father comes home, he is angry, and asks what happened. Abraham says that the largest idol got jealous and destroyed the others. The father yelled at Abraham because that couldn't happen, the idols were just stone! For whatever reason, Abraham turned from the moon-worshipping of the farmers of Chaldea and came to a monotheistic belief. It was at this point that he left his father's house, and started Judaism. Judaism is the first monotheistic religion. Other monotheistic religions, such as Christianity or Islam, were essentially offsprings of Judaism. * Who was the first to be called "Jew"? In the days of Abraham, the term "Jew" was not used. Instead, you see the term "Hebrew" ("Israelite" only appears after Jacob changed his name to Israel). The term "Jew" didn't arise until after the Syro-Ephraimite wars of 735-721 BCE, when the tribe of Judah became the dominant tribe. The first "Jewish" reference [as a national identity] comes no sooner than with its appearance at 2nd Kings, 16:6. The Midrash after Rashi establishes the reason why "Jew" is accepted throughout when referring, Talmudically, to any Abrahamic desendant in the Pentateuch. By the way, the term in Hebrew is ivree, which basically means "one who passed over", which is a reference to Abraham's origin from the "other side" (of the Jordan). In the Torah, you only find those terms. * When did the Jewish people start? The answer would be when the special covenant between the Jewish people and G-d started, which required the acceptance of Torah. Thus, the answer would be at Mt. Sinai, In the days of Abraham, the term "Jew" was not used. Instead, you see the term "Hebrew" or "Israelite". The term "Jew" didn't arise until after the Syro-Ephraimite wars of 735-721 BCE, when the tribe of Judah became the dominant tribe. The first "Jewish" reference [as a national identity] comes no sooner than with its appearance at 2nd Kings, 16:6. The Midrash after Rashi establishes the reason why "Jew" is accepted throughout when referring, Talmudically, to any Abrahamic desendant in the Pentateuch. User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Who We Are (2/12) Previous Document: Question 2.22: How many Jews are in the world? Next Document: Question 2.24: What is Judaism all about? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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