What is Judaism?

Judaism 101

Judaism is one of the oldest religions celebrated today. It is the religion of the Jewish people. The religion of Judaism has advanced into something new. It began as a religion of a small nation of Hebrews. It has made it through thousands of years of suffering, prosecution, and once in a while a victory. The religion of Judaism lives on today. The sign of Judaism is the Star of David (on the right). Its a monotheistic religion, which means they only worship and believe in one god.

Founder

The founder of Judaism is Abraham (on the left). He was sent by god. Judaism was found around 1300 B.C.

Adherents

There are 14 million adherents, which are followers.

Found mostly in Israel, Europe, and U.S.A.

Holy Books and Sacred texts

The Tanakh is the holy book. It contains 39 books in all. 5 books are from the Torah (picture on the right) and they are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Tanakh also contains 21 books of the Prophets and 13 books of Writings. Another important text in Judaism is the Talmud, which is a collection of rabbinical writings that describe the Torah.

Religious Holidays

Religious holidays of Judaism include the Jewish New Year also known as Rosh Hashanah which is celebrated on different dates depending on the Jewish year. Another Jewish holiday is Yom Kippur ,also known as "The Day of Atonement", it is celebrated on the 10th day of Tishri, a month on the Jewish calender. Sukkot is also a holiday of Judaism known as the festival of Booths it begins of the 5th day of Yom Kippur or the 15th Tishri. Hanukkah is a major holiday for Jews that is celebrated in December with gift giving and fried foods it is also known as the festival of lights.Hanukkah is mostly known for the menorah. Tu B'Shevat is another Jewish holiday known as "A New Year for Trees" mostly celebrated at the beginning of the year. Purim is a Jewish spring festival celebrated with food, dancing, and music. Passover also known as Pesach is a spring holiday commemorating the Exodus. Shavuot is the Pentecost celebrated in the Judaism religion. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown.

Rituals and Customs

A custom in Judaism is the day of worship,or the Sabbath. It is on Saturday and Jews are not suppose to work because it is a day of rest and peace. Another custom is to worship at a synagogue, which is a house of worship. They stay true to who they are and stand for what they believe in as you can see by these songs.

Clothing

Clothing of the Jewish religion of Judaism. They wear a kittel, which is a white robe, see at left.

They have things called skull caps known as yarmulke. Women wear a cover over their head called a tichl. A shaytl is a wig that they wear. Something that observant adult male jews wear are two small leather boxes worn on the left arm and forehead known as tefillin, or phylacteries. Tallits are prayer shawls worn by Jews during weekday morning services, on the

Sabbath, and on holidays. Men are not permitted to trim their beards. Women also must have almost their whole body covered up. These are the traditional clothing of the Jewish people.

The Hierarchy

The hierarchy of the Judaism religion is the rabbi. He is also known as the spiritual leader.

To become a rabbi you have to go through schooling. You also have to be familiar with Israel and their religion.

You have to be Jewish or convert to Judaism to be a rabbi. You have to be a good speaker and a good listener.

Have a master's degree in Hebrew letters to become a rabbi. Start off small and grow to a bigger congregation.

And that is Judaism 101.

How do fights start between friends and how to stop them?

How do fights between friends start and how to stop them? There are many ways that fights can start one of the most common ways is lying. If one friend lies to another it can make that friend angry and may start a fight between those two friends. Stay true to your friends and try not to lie. This article tells you why friends fight sometimes and things about friendship that you may have never knew. Fights can start very easily if you don't watch what you say. A lot of times fights start because of secrets. This article explains how to keep secrets and even has tips on how to keep them. Fights can end in broken hearts or broken bones a lot of times but neither one is good. This poem and other poems on this page are about friendship and how to resolve a fight without breaking it up. Sometimes its just a misunderstanding between friends. One friend could have only heard part of what the other said and misunderstood it and went and told another friend. Thats called a rumor, a rumor is a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts also known as gossip. Heres an article on what gossip is and how to stop it before it starts. Fighting is never a good thing but when its between friends it is worse. Check out this book about friendship, it's the real deal! Friends know the most about you and can use stuff against you when they get mad so even though they may be your friends only tell your secrets to the one friends that you can trust the most. So even though fights may start they can be stopped.