With all the recent furore over circumcision in the media I thought I'd put up some accurate information about Judaism below.




Knapp and Magloffs guide to Jewish faith and practice



Faith can be described as believing in certain things with mind heart and soul; and then living by them in the course of everyday life. Faith is always personal. Each person must believe for themselves. Here are some m...ain parts of the Jewish faith.



Jewish beliefs



There is only one God and creator, who cannot be seen and described



Prayers should be said to God and only to God



God knows the thoughts and deeds of all people



God made a unique covenant or agreement with the Jewish people



One of the Greatest leaders of the ancient Jewish people was Moses. God gave laws to Moses on Mount Sinai. These laws include the Ten commandments



The Jewish Bible includes the writings of Moses, called the Torah. It also includes writings by prophets and kings, as well as proverbs and Psalms. Jewish scriptures also include writings made by scholars over a long period of time.



A man named Abraham was one of the founders of the Jewish faith. He had a special covenant with God.



God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would live in the promised land. This land is ancient Israel.



Jewish scripture teaches us that we must all work to make the world a perfect place.



Judaism is not just a set of beliefs and practices, it is a way of living life. Judaism is filled with practices and traditions that affect every aspect of life



Many of the laws in the Jewish Bible teach us how to help make the world a perfect place. They include ideas like having compassion for all living things, and striving towards peace.



The above are common to (for want of a better term) the Jewsih Sects / demoninations and form the introduction to the book.



These are Haredi

United

Reform

Liberal

Progressive



And in London there are also other secular, humanist and the Jews for Jesus groups.



The main religious festivals are based on a 13 month, 52 week calendar with festivals that vary in date based on the lunar calendar (such as Pesach / Passover like the Christian festival of Easter).



The recently contentious practice of male circumcision can vary with each sect as to ‘how much skin gets lopped off’. However it is not barbaric compared with extreme Islamist (whahibi) practice of female circumcision where the Clitoris gets fully removed and the female pee tube gets rerouted into the birth canal. Men who are circumcised can still have sex when they grow up or after conversion as adults.
 
Also like the Scots within their own faith they have a lower minimum marriage age which is recognised in law in the UK. Some other faiths seek this parity as well. However this should never negate from getting GCSEs and O levels as the basis for subsequent external study while bringing up a family or vocational training.