Introduction

From the frontiers of West Asia developed the Abrahamic

religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, known as
the first monotheistic religions of the world. They are
called Abrahamic religions because they all trace their
origins to the great patriarch Abraham and his descendants.
Followers of these religions, namely the Jews, Christians,
and Muslims all believe that Abraham and his family
played a significant role in the begin nings of their
respective faiths. Since these religions came from the same
region, it is not surprising that they share common beliefs,
foremost of which is the belief that they share common
roots to the patriarch Abraham.
 Aside from this, they also share certain similarities such as
belief in one god. They also believe in heaven and hell; in
prophets as instruments of god in propagating his words to
the people; in angels as messengers of god to humanity: and
in judgment day, among others. Today, Christianity is
considered as the most popular religion in the world based
on the number of adherents, followed by Islam. Indeed, these
Abrahamic religions have largely influenced the world today.
 What is Judaism?
Judaism is an ancient monotheistic religion that traces its
origin as an organized belief system during the Bronze
Age in West Asia. The religion of the Jewish people,
Judaism is one of three Abrahamic religions that also
include Christianity and Islam. It is the religion professed
by the Jews known as the "people of the Book" in
reference to their sacred text written covering nearly a
thousand years and formalized as a canon of teaching by
the end of the first century C.E.
 The picture below is the Torah which is the most
important text of the Jewish people. It contains the
"Five Books of Moses" and many sacred laws.
 What is Torah?
It contains the "Five Books of Moses" and many sacred
laws. The Jews consider themselves as the people chosen
by God to serve as an exemplar of devotion and purity to
humankind. It is quite difficult to study key events in the
historical foundation of Judaism without discussing the
history of the Jewish people from the time of the Hebrews'
mass departure from Egypt or the Exodus. During the 20th
century, the growth in their population has remained
sluggish for quite a longtime as it grew to only 25% after
the catastrophic event called Holocaust.
 Historical Background
It is quite difficult to separate the history of Judaism from the history of
the Jews themselves (Parrinder 1971). The ancestors of the Jews were
groups of Semites called Hebrews whose origin can be traced in the
desert lands of Arabia (Brown 1975). The origin of the Jewish people
and the beginning of Judaism are recorded in the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch. As a religion and culture, Judaism has
three notable founding figures or patriarchs, namely, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. These biblical patriarchs are the physical and spiritual
forebears of the Jewish people and their narratives can be found in
Genesis 12-50 of their scripture.
 Judaism is anchored upon God's revelation to Abrahain that He is the
creator and ruler of the universe, and that He loves His creatures and
demands righteousness from them (Losch 2001). God chose Abraham
and his family from all the people living on earth as recorded in
Genesis 12. After a series of tragic events involving humankind, God
entered into a covenant with Abraham promising him that he would
become the father of a great nation and would possess vast tracts of
land. Abraham, in return, must remain covenant. He would become the
embodiment of uprightness and holiness to the world. Later on, he was
succeeded by his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons
(Hopfe1983).
These patriarchs are depicted as nomads in biblical stories. According
to tradition, Abraham's original name was "Abram" who was born in
the city of Ur of the Chaldeas around 1800 B.C.E. Questioning the
folly of idol worship. Abram left his home and family to heed the call
of God en route to Canaan situated on the western side of the Fertile
Crescent. The Jewish people believe that they descended from a tribe in
Canaan located in the eastern Mediterra nean presently occupied by
Israel, Jordan, and Syria (Bowker 1997).
 A covenant has been established between God and Abram, and
Abram must prove his worth to this agreement by way of tests of
faith throughout his lifetime. While Abram and his wife Sarai were
initially childless, Abram bore a son to Sarai's Egyptian handmaid
Hagar. He was named Ishmael who is considered as the ancestor of
the Arabs. However, Ishmael was not the heir to God's promise.
God changed Sarai's name to "Sarah," meaning "princess" or
"noblewoman." Later in life, the old Abram and Sarah had a son
named Isaac, the heir to God's covenant, and the ancestor of the
Jewish people. Abram's name was changed to "Abraham" or the
"the father of many nations." Abraham's story is narrated in
Genesis 11-25 of the Hebrew Bible. The most difficult trial given
to Abraham came when God commanded that he sacrifice his own
son Isaac at an altar in Mount Moriah. Abraham obeyed by
building a fire and tying up Isaac. With Abraham's obedience being
put to the test, an angel stopped him and he was eventually
reunited with his son. A ram was instead sacrificed in place of
Isaac.
 Later on, Isaac married Rebecca who bore him twin sons, Jacob
and Esau. Always in constant strife, the younger Jacob bought
Esau's birthright and tricked his father Isaac into giving him
Esau's blessing as the eldest son (Bowker 1997). Jacob fled to his
uncle's house to escape Esau's fury. Later on, Jacob returned home
and reconciled with Esau. A close encounter with an angel merited
him a change of name from Jacob to "Israel" which means "the
one who wrestled with God." The Jewish people are referred to as
the "children of Israel." Among four different women, Jacob
fathered twelve sons and one daughter. The twelve sons who
became the ancestors of the tribes in Israel were Reuben, Simeon,
Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali,
Joseph, and Benjamin.After being sold to slavery by his jealous
brothers, Joseph was brought to Egypt where his ability to see and
interpret visions earned him a place in the court as a vizier, a
position next only to the pharaoh. As famine struck Canaan, Jacob
and his family were forced to settle in Egypt.
 While the book of Genesis ends with a great nation emerging
from Abraham's descendants, the book of Exodus begins with
them crying out for deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Hopfe
1983). They were not in Canaan as initially promised but were
under enslavement in Egypt. As centuries passed and the
descendants of Israel grew in number, the alarmed pharaoh
decreed that all male children be put to death by throwing them
to the river.A woman from Levi's tribe, Jochebed, secretly
placed her youngest child in a woven basket and sent him down
the Nile River. The pharaoh's daughter, Bithia, found the child,
rescued him, and reared him as her own. Jochebed volunteered
to nurse the child, now named Moses, who was raised within the
Egyptian royal family.
 At the age of forty, Moses killed an Egyptian in defense of a
slave and fled to the Sinai desert where he spent the next forty
years as a shepherd (Hopfe 1983). On Mount Horeb, Abraham's
God revealed himself to Moses as he spoke through a burning
bush that was not consumed. Revealing God's name as
"Yahweh," he commanded Moses to return to Egypt and
demand the release of Israelites from slavery. After his initial
refusal, the Egyptian pharaoh conceded after the ten miraculous
and horrific plagues were inflicted by God upon Egypt and its
people, most especially the plague on the first born. While the
firstborn sons of every Egyptian household would die, sons of
Israelites would be saved if they marked their door posts with
the blood of lamb killed in sacrifice. In that fated night, the
lamb must be cooked and enten with bitter herbs and
unleavened bread. This is known as the Passover, an important
Jewish festival.
 The Israelites were banished from Egypt with Moses leading them
across the Red Sea (Yarn Suph or "Sea of Reeds" in some
accounts). When the pharaoh changed his mind and began to
pursue the fleeing Israelites, Moses parted the Red Sea that allowed
them to cross the water and reach the dry lands of Sinai.
Meanwhile, the pursuing Egyptian chariots were drowned after the
waters receded. This event called Exodus became part of Jewish
history that manifested Yahweh's intervention to deliver his chosen
people (Hopfe 1983).
Another significant event in Jewish history was the giving of the
Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. These supreme laws, which
are basic to the Jewish people, were communicated to the Israelites
through Moses during their time in the wilderness, Moses
eventually united the different tribes into one group and
consecrated to the worship of the one living god (Brown 1975).
Forty years after the Exodus, Moses died in the desert within reach
of the "Promised Land."