Judaism
JudaismA monotheistic world religion with origins in the prophetic activities of the Jews in relation to the God Yahweh. It is important to distinguish early biblical Judaism, before the fall of the Temple in 70ce, and later Judaism which was focused on the synagogue. Judaism was organized around religious teachers (the rabbis) and religious knowledge was contained in the Torah or teaching (especially the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). Judaism, which was based on the idea of a sacred covenant between Yahweh and his people, produced profound messianic movements throughout history.
In the Middle Ages, there were a number of important mystical movements, such as the Kabbalah, which gave an esoteric reading to traditional Jewish theology. In the 19th century, there were attempts to change and reform many traditional practices, giving rise to the creation of two separate religious...
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