Judaism

Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה, Yehudah, "Judah"; in Hebrew: יַהֲדוּת, Yahedut, the distinctive characteristics of the Judean ethnos) is a set of beliefs and practices that originating in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), as later further explored and explained withtin the Talmud and other texts. Judaism presents itself as the covenantal relationship between the Children of Israel (later, the Jewish nation) and their God. It is considered either the first or one of the first monotheistic religions, and is among the oldest religious traditions that are still being practiced today. Many of its texts and traditions are central to other Abrahamic religions, with Jewish history and the principles and ethics of Judaism having influenced both Christianity and Islam, as well as some non-Abrahamic religions. As the foundation of Western Christianity, many different aspects of Judaism also correspond to many secular Western concepts of ethics and civil law.

Followers of Judaism, whether they are converts or born into the Jewish nation (including seculars), are all called Jews. The Jewish collective is regarded to be an ethnoreligious group, for reasons derived from the sacred texts defining them as a nation, rather than followers of a faith. In 2007, the world Jewish population estimated at about 13.2 million people, 41% of which lived in Israel and 40% of which lived in the United States.
In modern Judaism, central authority is not vested in a single person or body, but rather in sacred texts, religious law, and learned rabbis who interpret the texts and laws. According to Jewish tradition, Judaism begins with the Covenant between God and Abraham (ca. 2000 BCE), who is the patriarch and progenitor of the Jewish nation. Through the ages, Judaism has chosen to follow a number of religious principles, the most important being the belief in a single, omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent, and transcendent god, who created the universe and still continues to govern it. According to most branches, God established a covenant with both the Israelites and their descendants, and revealed his laws and commandments unto Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and the Oral Torah. However, Karaite Judaism holds that only the Written Torah was revealed to Moses. Judaism has traditionally valued Torah study and the observance of all the commandments recorded in the Torah that are expounded in the Talmud.
Historically, Judaism has considered the belief in the divine revelation and acceptance of the Written and Oral Torah as its fundamental core belief, yet Judaism does not have a centralized authority dictating religious dogma. This gave rise to many various formulations as to the specific theological beliefs inherent in the Torah and Talmud. While some rabbis have agreed at times upon a firm formulation, others have disagreed, many criticizing any such attempt to be minimizing acceptance of the entire Torah. Notably, in the Talmud some of the principles of faith (e.g., the Divine origin of the Torah) are considered important enough that rejection of them may put one in the category of "apikoros" (heretic).