Judaism is one of the monotheistic religions, sharing a common origin with the world's two most prolific religions, Christianity and Islam. It began in the Middle East over 3, years ago and is one of the oldest continually-practised religions in the world.
Judaism is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion, worshipping and following the commandments of one God. The Torah, meaning "teaching", is the set of laws and beliefs that Jews are expected to follow. According to the traditional interpretation, it consists of a "Written Torah" the Bible, especially its first 5 books as well as an "Oral Torah" the body of traditions from which Jewish law is derived in practice.
The Hebrew Bible what Christians call the "Old Testament", also known by its Hebrew acronym Tanakh is holy to Jews, and it consists of three sections: the first five books called "Chumash", "Pentateuch" or simply "Torah", and traditionally said to have been dictated by God to Moses ; the books of the "Prophets" Nevi'im , and the holy "Writings" Ketuvim. Traditionally, the Torah includes mitzvot commandments. Jewish religious leaders are called "rabbis", and they are expected to be experts in the laws of the Torah, based on the oral tradition as well as the text of the Bible.
However, some small groups do not accept rabbis as leaders. Karaites are a sect that developed in the Middle Ages, rejecting rabbinic interpretations and following their own direct interpretation of the Bible. Also, the Ethiopian Jewish community was separated from other Jews for thousands of years and did not have rabbis until their immigration to Israel, beginning in Traditional Jewish law defines a Jew as anyone who was born to a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism following the religion's laws on conversion.
Jews are of many hues, nationalities and ethnicities. Even those who no longer believe in the Jewish religion recognize one another as belonging to a single people. Religious Jews believe that Jews need to follow the Jewish religion, but non-Jews only need to be ethical monotheists sometimes called "Noachides" to be rewarded by God.
