Judaism
In Acts 26:5 and Galatians 1:13 there is a description of how God has entered into relationships with Jews which later resulted in Judaism, or as the Apostle calls it, the religion of the Jews. And although it is know that the major religions of the world are Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, labeling Judaism solely a religion is an incorrect notion, and harms the understanding of the Judaism and Jews. Most people will agree that religion is basically a group of people who share common beliefs and money. Although this is also true for Judaism, Judaism should not be classified as a religion only.
Let us analyze Judaism from the point of view of people and the traits of belongingness to various groups. One such group is the religious group in which people share common views as to God and other aspects of spiritual life. On such basis people can be bound as the believers, although they may live in different parts of the world. Another bounding characteristic is a national relationships, meaning that people can feel bonded together on the basis of common nationality. For instance Italians feel strong about being such and could support their natives only because they live on the same land. However if this bond brakes and an Italian leaves the country, say for India, he no longer feels the bonding power of his nation. Finally, the third and most significant, adherence power in people’s life belongs to family ties. Related people by blood tend to maintain constant relationships with each other and feel lost when such bond brake. Not only closest family is considered relatives but also cousins, and even cousins’ “club” which includes second and third cousins.
All of those connections taken and blended together will constitute the meaning of Judaism. It has an aspect of all three, as Jews have common religious believes, were ones gives a “promised” land which to these days remains their dreamed of land, and certainly Jews believe in having common ancestors. Consequently we see that Judaism in not merely a religion, but a threefold concept which includes a lot f aspects. Thus Judaism cannot be called a race, as it is not related to skin color or place of living. Judaism is a national identity that does not depend on the territorial attachment and independent of the fact of whether the Jew lives in Israel or not. His nationality is inherently related to the Land of Israel since God granted it to him/her as a descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and therefore unalterable.
Altogether the Jew remains a Jew, and thus relates to Judaism, regardless of the fact if he or she follows the religious rites, participates in Jewish causes has a comprehensive understanding of the Jewish history. Since Judaism is an essential part of the Jew, which relates to his God given soul, no matter how good or bad he/she may do in life, a person remains a complete Jew, ignorant perhaps of the tradition and rituals, not attentive to its people perhaps, or even not interested in the Land of his heritage.
The vision that creates such misconception of Judaism and being a Jew comes from gentile perception of this idea, who view Jews as only a religious group. Certainly there are Jews, who view themselves only as a religion followers, but those are Jews who have converted into in, without being born of Jewish parents, or should I say mother. Only a person who has Jewish blood, can comprehend the meaning of Judaism as it is now and as it was a thousand years ago. Those Jews still have the same values, which mostly are centered on their family. This proves the claim that regardless of the societal or material success of a person, a Jew still remains a Jew, because the family ties exist perpetually, and cannot be broke by rhyme nor reason.
Such family connections and religious affairs in Judaism can easily explain the phenomenon of it. For thousand of years the followers of this faith have been coming together and landing a helping hand to each other like no other religious group in the world. This happens because being a Jew is also being a family member and for them it’s not only empty words but a way of life. They are bond by their Land of Israel even if they do not live their, by common ancestors even if they might not know their names, and by universal religious belief, which can be disregarded. Those are the unique components of the eternal recipe called Judaism.
