What is the purpose of Judaism?

Answer 1

The Torah is a holy book for the Jewish faith. Its purpose is to instruct jewish people morally and spiritually as well as teach them about jewish history.

• Answer 2

Our tradition is that the Torah was given by God (Exodus 24:12), to provide knowledge, guidance, inspiration, awe and reverence, advice, law, comfort, history and more. It is the basis of Judaism. The Torah is a source of national pride for us (see Deuteronomy 4:6-8). It increases our reverence towards God; crystallizes, strengthens and codifies our beliefs; ensures our awareness and knowledge of our history; and provides powerful impetus to be ethical.
It makes us stand in awe of God, while also providing optimism and comfort through the prophecies of redemption. It inspires us to strive for holiness and informs us how to pray and to approach God's presence. To the wider world, the Torah provided the traditions of Monotheism and the Ten Commandments.
The Torah is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applied laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally. The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Quote:
"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations" (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States).
"Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights, but we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both Divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and of collective conscience, and social responsibility" (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity).

Answer 2

Judaism is one of the oldest religions of mankind. Judaism started in Israel and they believe in One God. People who believe in Judaism are called Jews.

Answer:The purpose of Judaism is that we may serve God, keep the Torah, avoid sin; and pass the tests of life, by properly using our free will (Deuteronomy 31:15-20).
Jewish tradition begins 3800 years ago with Abraham, who rejected idolatry and taught people about the One God. A high point in Jewish history was reached shortly after the Exodus (Exodus ch.12), when God gave us the Torah (Exodus ch.19-20 and ch.24), to serve as our guide in all matters.

It increases our reverence towards God; crystallizes, strengthens and codifies our beliefs; insures our awareness and knowledge of our history; and provides powerful impetus to be ethical.
It makes us stand in awe of God, while also providing optimism and comfort through the prophecies of redemption. It inspires us to strive for holiness and informs us how to pray and to approach God's presence.
It gives us a great deal of general information, guidance and advice.
And it sets detailed laws, practices and traditions for us.

Answer 3

Answer 1Judaism has no end goal, other than a time of peace for all nations in the future.

Answer 2

Judaism envisions a future where God has reappointed the a man from the line of King David to be king over all of the world. The world will change and the darkness, death, and aging will cease. It will literally be paradise. Jews believe that in order to achieve this future, the spiritual qualities of Godliness must manually be brought into this world through acts of piousness and lovingkindness. That's it. The various laws serve as mechanisms to show which acts are desirable and which are not.

Answer 4

Different Jews will give different answers. The traditional goal is to help complete creation by bringing good and justice into the world.

Answer:

"The goal of Judaism is to "perfect the world in the Kingdom of the Almighty." We recite this sentence three times daily in our prayers. In everyday language, this means that the goal of Judaism is to be an exemplary role model for all of humanity, to bring the world to knowledge of the Creator and to adopt the moral way of life that G-d demands of His creations."

Answer:

Social justice is central to the religion.

Answer 5

Our tradition is that the Torah was given by God (Exodus 24:12), to provide knowledge, guidance, inspiration, awe and reverence, advice, law, comfort, history and more. It is the basis of Judaism.
The Torah is a source of national pride for us (see Deuteronomy 4:6-8).

It increases our reverence towards God; crystallizes, strengthens and codifies our beliefs; ensures our awareness and knowledge of our history; and provides powerful impetus to be ethical.
It makes us stand in awe of God, while also providing optimism and comfort through the prophecies of redemption. It inspires us to strive for holiness and informs us how to pray and to approach God's presence.

The Torah's laws have various reasons. Some (such as the Passover) serve to reenact or remember events of our history.

• Link: Passover
  

Some (such as saying the Shema-prayer) serve to reiterate our belief in God.

• Link: The Shema

Some of the laws (such as those of ritual purity and kosher food) serve to sanctify us.

• Link: Kosher-laws

Some (such as the laws of torts) serve to maintain an orderly and just society.
Some (such as the law against breaking a vow) serve to prevent bad character traits.
Some (such as the command to offer help) serve to engender good character traits.

• Link: Jewish ethics

And all of the commands serve to subjugate us to God's will (especially those commands for which no explanation is easily apparent).

Note that the Torah "as is" isn't exactly what Judaism observes. Rather, It's the Torah together with the details provided in the Talmud, which is the Oral Law that was handed down together with the laws of Moses. Otherwise, the verses of the Torah often lack enough detail to be fulfilled as is.

See also the Related Links.

Link: What are some facts about Torah-scrolls?

Link: What are the key teachings of Judaism?

Link: What is the history of the Hebrew Bible?

Answer 6

The Jews are called upon to serve God, to learn and observe the Torah. They are not told to proselytize, but are enjoined to be an example to the nations through righteous behavior.

Answer 7

There are secular and traditional religious explanations: The religious explanation is, God wanted it. God chose Abraham to introduce monotheism to humanity and then God chose the Children of Israel to carry on that tradition, under the leadership of Moses, to whom God revealed the Torah. The secular explanation is that Judaism evolved from the tribal folklore and mythology of a small Hebrew-speaking tribe to become a resilient religion that is sufficiently compelling to retain the allegiance of descendants of that tribe and an uncertain number of converts for well over 2000 years.