What are the most important parts of the beginnings of Judaism in a quick summary?

gman: What are the most important parts of the beginnings of Judaism in a quick summary?
I am taking notes on Judaism, but I can’t seem to find anything good. Does anyone know a quick summary only on the beginnings of Judaism? Thank you and I appreciate your time.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Senator
Try looking up Abraham, the Father of Jews. It is said that God talked to him and choose his descendents who were Jews. Also try Moses, who received the Law from God.

Answer by Mark S
Yes–the site below will give you a good into on just about all aspects of Judaism in a very readable form.

Answer by L’Chaim
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Answer by bruhaha
In one sense, of course, you could look at the roots of Judaism in the roots of the “Jewish” (earlier “Israelite” or “Hebrew”) people, esp two formative events:

1) The call of Abraham, from whom the tribes of Israel descended

2) The giving of the LAW (Torah) of Moses (after the “exodus” from slavery in Egypt)

But to say that Abraham was “the first Jew” is not very helpful — leading to a lot of confusion and assumptions. And there is much in “Abraham’s religion” and, more importantly, in the Law of Moses and the religious practices of ancient Israel that are NOT part of what we know as “Judaism”, esp. the whole system of ritual cleansings and Temple sacrifices.

So to call Abraham’s faith or that of Moses “Judaism” is not necessarily all that helpful.

The distinctives of what we now typically call “Judaism” came much later, related esp. to the following three events:

1) The “diaspora”, esp. the results of the Babylonian Exile (6th century BC). The peoples living far away from the “Promised Land” and often unable to even visit the Temple (or to do so often), esp. when it was destroyed for a time, had to meet in other ways and adapt to the practices they could not carry out away from their land. It is generally believed that the system of the SYNAGOGUE (local meetings for prayers and reading the SCRIPTURES) began to take shape at this time.

2) The work of the scribe Ezra after the return from the Exile, organizing the Scriptures and arranging for its regular reading and teaching.

But the truth is that, for several centuries there were still SEVERAL “Judaisms”. The one (or cluster) that eventually became what WE call “Judaism” might more specifically be called “rabbinic Judaism”.

3) The fall of the Second Temple to the Romans in AD 70. With the destruction of the Temple the LAW (and teachings and traditions about how to follow it) became even MORE central and rabbinic Judaism ‘won out’.

Against this backdrop we can see that what we now call “Judaism” took firm shape at about the same time as early Christianity. In a sense BOTH were responding to key changes and seeking to ‘carry on’ what the believed was the heart (or esp in the case of Christianity the ‘fulfillment’) of the religion of ancient Israel. (That is, Christianity was NOT an ‘offshoot’ of the Judaism we know… but in a sense a ‘sister religion’ from some common roots.)