According to Rabbinic Judaism, a patriarchal God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai while the “Chosen People” were wandering about the desert after escaping from bondage. And it all got written down in the Torah (with some parts morphing into the Christian Old Testament), which forms the foundation of the Tanakh.
In point of prosaic fact, it is generally believed by scholars that Judaism first appeared some 3500 years ago, one of the earliest monotheistic religions, as an evolution of several Babylonian religions around the 6th Century BC.
Although Judaism’s core doctrines have been debated by rabbis for centuries, the Jews believe they are selected by God to be in covenant with him, and that God will send a messiah to bring all of the chosen back to Israel. While many have emerged claiming to be this messiah, for modern-day Jews the real one hasn’t arrived yet.
Although the Jews have been persecuted throughout history and scattered across the world, Judaism as a religion has survived and even prospered. The Jewish ethno-religion numbers around 14 million, or roughly 0.2% of the world’s population.
Despite their inherent differences, many aspects of Judaism are closely tied with both Christianity and Islam, as they are all considered “Abrahamic” religions, all descended from Abraham, the father of both Isaac (ancestor of the Israelites) and Ishmael (ancestor of Muhammed).
