JUDAISM
I. Introduction
O
ne of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism is
believed to have been founded in 1300 B.C.
with the twelve tribes. It fluorished under the
leadership of Moses and the commandments
given to him by God.
After centuries of persecution, massacres
and repression against them, the Jewish culture
and its descendants have established themselve
in many different places around the world. The
United States has a huge Jewish community, for
example; so does Argentina and even Mexico.
A way fo life, of eating and sometimes
dressing, Judaism rests on the following basic
concepts:
One universal and eternal God
Humans are inherently pure,
good and given free will
No original sin
Sin → Breaking commandments
Obedience to Torah
With all the changes its people have suf-
fered, ranging from relocating, to adapting to all
these new places, Judaism has evolved. Currently
it is divided in three main branches: Orthodox,
Reform and Conservative.
Orthodox Jews tend to follow ancient
traditions more closely, whereas the Reform Jews
have tried to adapt them to their different con-
texts and modernizing them. The Conservative
Jews find themselves in a middle ground.
In the following pages, we will discuss
some of the main features of this ancient religion
and how its members have been imapcted by
changes such as globalization and feminism.