Judaism

Also known as Jewish religion

Judaism () is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of observing the Mosaic covenant, which they believe was established between God and the Jewish people. The religion is considered one of the earliest monotheistic religions.

OverviewAI-generated

Judaism is an Abrahamic ethnic religion and lifestyle that originated in Mesopotamia around 500 BCE. It is monotheistic and named after the Kingdom of Judah. The tradition encompasses Jewish religious movements and Jewish philosophy, and it partially coincides with Jewish culture. Its foundational texts include the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and the Talmud. The native label for the subject is יהדות.

The subject is studied through Jewish studies and is associated with Jewish history. It is represented by the Unicode character ✡️. In digital contexts, it is categorized under the OpenStreetMap tag religion=jewish. The topic is covered by the Portal:Judaism and the categories Category:Judaism and Category:Jews. It is described in sources such as the Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron and the Zedler dictionary. Additionally, Judaism is referenced by 13,254 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Key facts

Religion.name: Judaism
Religion.native_name_lang: he
Religion.image: judaica.jpg
Religion.imagewidth: 275px
Religion.caption: Candlesticks for Shabbat, a cup for ritual handwashing, a Chumash and a Tanakh, a Yad, a shofar, and an etrog box.
Religion.type: Ethnic religion
Religion.main_classification: Abrahamic
Religion.theology: Monotheistic
Religion.area: Israel and worldwide as minorities
Religion.language: Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic
Religion.founder: Abraham and Moses (according to tradition)
Religion.founded_place: Judah
Religion.separated_from: Yahwism
Religion.number_of_followers: (referred to as Jews, 2025)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

3,102 papers

Judaism.Cancer treatment and research · 2023Jacobs J, Jacobs PDOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-29923-0_17
Judaism, Women's Health and COVID-19.Journal of religion and health · 2025Carey LB, Cohen J, Gabbay E et al.DOI: 10.1007/s10943-024-02248-5
Chaplaincy, Judaism, Ukraine, COVID-19 and JORH Jubilee.Journal of religion and health · 2023Carey LB, Cohen J, Gabbay E et al.DOI: 10.1007/s10943-023-01737-3
Judaism.Dolentium Hominum · 1996Toaff E
Organ Donation in Judaism.Experimental and clinical transplantation : official journal of the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation · 2020Alaluf İDOI: 10.6002/ect.rlgnsymp2020.L4
Miraculous Healing in Judaism.Psychiatria Danubina · 2021Dadon K
Exercise in Judaism.ReviewBulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 1989Rosner F, Weg IL
Judaism and Medicine.Perspectives in biology and medicine · 1983Sabin ABDOI: 10.1353/pbm.1983.0024

via PubMed

~101 min read

Encyclopedic overview

70 sections

Contents

Etymology
Biblical and Talmudic narrative
The covenant with Abraham in the book of Genesis
The Torah, ''Nevi'im'', and ''Ketuvim''
The Talmud
Historical analysis of the Bible
History of Judaism
Origins
Iron Age kingdoms
Babylonian captivity, return, and Second Temple
Post-Temple Judaism
Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia
Defining characteristics and principles of faith
Core tenets
Religious texts
Legal literature
Jewish philosophy
Rabbinic hermeneutics
Jewish identity
Distinction between Jews as a people and Judaism
Who is a Jew?
Jewish demographics
2020 population estimate
Jewish religious movements
Rabbinic Judaism
Sephardic and Mizrahi Judaism
Jewish movements in Israel
Karaites and Samaritans
Haymanot (Ethiopian Judaism)
Noahide (''B'nei Noah'' movement)
Jewish observances
Jewish ethics
Prayers
Religious clothing
Jewish holidays
Shabbat
Three pilgrimage festivals
High Holy Days
Purim
Hanukkah
Fast days
Israeli holidays
Torah readings
Synagogues and religious buildings
Dietary laws: ''kashrut''
Laws of ritual purity
Family purity
Life-cycle events
Community leadership
Classical priesthood
Prayer leaders
Specialized religious roles
Historical Jewish groupings (to 1700)
Persecutions
Hasidism
The Enlightenment and new religious movements
Spectrum of observance
Judaism and ecology
Judaism and other religions
Christianity and Judaism
Islam and Judaism
Syncretic movements incorporating Judaism
Criticism
See also
Notes
Footnotes
Bibliography
Selected cited works
Further reading
External links

Judaism as a religion and culture is founded upon a diverse body of texts, traditions, theologies, and worldviews. Among Judaism's core texts are the Torah (), the ''Nevi'im (), and the Ketuvim (), which together compose the Hebrew Bible. In Modern Hebrew, the Hebrew Bible is often referred to as the Tanakh ()—an acronym of its constituent divisions—or the Miqra (). With some differences in order and content, what Christianity calls the Old Testament has the same books as the Hebrew Bible.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Judaism” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.