Answer:
   
   You couldn't ask a easy question, huh? Actually, this is one of the
   most common questions asked of the FAQ maintainer, often by students
   who want an easy, concise summary of Judaism in a single mail message.
   Alas, it isn't that easy. Don't expect this message to answer
   everything. You should read this entire FAQ, and take a look at other
   Jewish FAQs on the network, such as [5]http://www.jewfaq.org/,
   [6]http://www.beingjewish.com/ and the material at
   [7]http://www.torah.org/ and [8]http://members.aol.com/LazerA/. You
   should also check out the General portion of the reading list
   ([9]http://www.scjfaq.org/rl/), and go to a library and read some of
   the books there.
   
   Hillel the Elder, who lived in the first century, BCE, was asked this
   question. His response was, "That which is distasteful to thyself, do
   not do unto thy neighbor. All the rest is commentary. Now go forth and
   study."
   
   The real answer, however, is far more complex than that. To begin
   with, there is no such thing as a religion called Judaism. Judaism is
   a civilization, in which religion is one of its many dimensions.
   Within its religious area we find a number of mutually similar but
   different (you expected this to be easy?) belief systems that are
   called names such as: Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reconstructionism,
   Reform, and Humanistic Judaism.
   
   Judaism is a monotheistic religion (one god) founded by Abraham of the
   book of Genesis. It's holy text is what Christian's call the "Old
   Testament", and what Jews call the Tanakh, for Torah (1st five books),
   Prophets, and Writings. There is also a tradition of an Oral Torah,
   which was written down around the time of Christ as the Talmud.
   
   There are varying degrees to which Jews give authority to Torah and
   follow is practices. The most traditional are called Orthodox Jews;
   the least traditional Reform. Some practices are common to all.
   
   Many Jews follow the dietary laws called out in Lev. 11 and elsewhere,
   and refrain from eating pork, shellfish, insects, and separate meat
   (chicken, beef, lamb, goat, turkey) from milk.
   
   Jews observe the Sabbath from Friday Night to Saturday night, as well
   as a large variety of holy days during the year. These are all listed
   and described in the FAQ ([10]http://www.scjfaq.org/faq/).