{"title":"Judaism","description":"\u003cp\u003eJews believe in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets. They understand God as creator of the world and as a ruler who works toward justice and peace for all humanity, and who entered into a covenant with the Jewish people. The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, stands at the centre of that relationship. Orthodox Judaism holds that the Written Law and the Oral Law, set down in the Mishna and discussed in the Talmud, are fixed. Reform Judaism sees the laws as a process, not necessarily binding at every time. Conservative and other communities hold positions between these.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbout 15.8 million Jews live worldwide, roughly 7.2 million in Israel and 6.3 million in the United States. Smaller communities live in France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Russia, Germany and Australia. Jews are a people as well as a religious community, and many identify as Jewish without observing religious law. Worship takes place in the synagogue, led by a rabbi, with public reading of the Torah at its heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause God is understood as incorporeal, Jewish tradition does not depict God. The second of the Ten Commandments, as Judaism counts them, forbids making a graven image. Rabbinic opinion about other images has varied, and Jewish art flourishes: Torah scrolls are routinely decorated with lions or flowers. The Jewish year centres on Shabbat, a weekly day of rest. Its major festivals include Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. They also include Sukkot, with its temporary shelters, and Passover, marking the Exodus from Egypt. Hanukkah and Purim are celebrated as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"deity-trad-sources\"\u003e\u003csmall\u003eSources: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Judaism\/Basic-beliefs-and-doctrines\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBritannica: Judaism – Basic beliefs and doctrines\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Orthodox-Judaism\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBritannica: Orthodox Judaism\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Jewish-festivals\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBritannica: Jewish festivals\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/worlds-jewish-population-hits-15-8-million-on-eve-of-rosh-hashanah\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eTimes of Israel \/ Jewish Agency: World's Jewish population\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aniconism_in_Judaism\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eWikipedia: Aniconism in Judaism\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/thedeityproject.com\/collections\/judaism.oembed","provider":"The Deity Project","version":"1.0","type":"link"}