Judaism

Judaism is an important religion in the world today and in world history. Jesus was known to be a Jew, and Hitler was known to kill the Jews. I would like to know more about the Judaism Religion and where is started and what traditions they still practice today. I have always wanted to go to a Bar Mitzvah and would love to know more of how they celebrate! How many Jews are there in the world today?

Mazel Tov!

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Judaism is the religion, philosophy and way of life of the Jewish people. It is originated from the Hebrew Bible and is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and oldest surviving religions in the world. It's texts, traditions and values have inspired later religions including Christianity. According to traditional Judaism, God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Judaism claims a historical continuity spanning 3000 years. Many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law.

It is hard to access how many Jewish people there are in the world but in 2007 it was estimated to be around 13 million. Of whom about 40% reside in Israel and about 40% reside in the United States. The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. A major source of difference between these groups is their approach to Jewish law. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism maintain that Jewish law should be followed, with Conservative Judaism promoting a more "modern" interpretation of it's requirements. Reform Judaism is generally more liberal than the other two movements, and its typical position is that the Jewish law should be viewed as a set of general guidelines rather than restrictions and rules.

According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach 13 years old for boys and 12 years old of girls they become responsible for their actions, and become a "Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (meaning: Son (Bar) or Daughter (Bat) of the commandments). The purpose of the commandments are to keep ones life focused on the important things like family, community and their relationship with God. There is a ceremony which is usually followed by a party also called a bar mitzvah. For the bar mitzvah it usually requires a lot of planning and preparing for the children who will study with a Rabbi for months (or years) before hand. It is customary to give a gift to the Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Common gifts are usually religious books or college savings bonds in multiples of 18 since that number is considered to be favorable in the Jewish religion.