So, who are the Jewish people? Who was the ‘first Jew’ and why?

We need to go back about 4000 years in history to a place called ‘Ur’ (in modern day Iraq) where a man named Abram grew up. At that time, worshipping multiple gods, mostly in the form of physical idols, was common practice. He pioneered the idea that there was one G-d – an all–powerful creator of everything, who doesn’t have a physical form. We now call this idea monotheism. The word ‘monotheism’ comes” from the Greek words mono, which means “one”, theos meaning “G-d”, and ism, a system or belief. 

According to the story in the Torah (the Jewish Bible) G-d appeared to Abram and told him to leave his home and head for the land of Cana’an (now called Israel). G-d also told Abram that he would be the father of a whole nation.

Abram and his wife Sarai did as G-d said, and their family grew in the land of Cana’an. This was the start of the strong link between Jewish people and the land now known as Israel.

Abram’s and Sarai’s names later had the Hebrew letter “ה” (“hey”, with an “H” sound) added into them, representing G-d in their lives, so they became known as Abraham and Sarah.

They were the first of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people – followed by Isaac and Rebecca, Isaac’s son Jacob and his wives Rachel and Leah, and their 12 sons who founded the 12 tribes of Israel.

Most of the history of the Jewish people that is related in the Torah relates to the 210 years that Jacob’s descendants were enslaved in Egypt and the 40 years they spent in the Sinai Desert after they were led out of Egypt by Moses (“the Exodus” – see the story of Pesach). Moses and his successor, Joshua, led the Jewish people back to Israel where the rest of the Bible story takes place.

The Torah is not only the early history of the Jewish people, but also includes many about all aspects of daily life including civil and criminal law as well as the observance of Shabbat and festivals and other religious obligations such as kashrut.

Some Jewish people believe that G-d dictated the Torah word for word directly to Moses on Mount Sinai, and therefore see every word as holy and relevant for all time. Others see the Torah as a history book that tells the story of the Jewish people, along with guidance that was important at the time but may need reinterpreting due to changes in society and technology.

In 957 BCE, King Solomon built a very large temple in Jerusalem. This was the central point of Jewish life for 370 years but it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 576 BCE.

The Second Temple was built 70 years later in 515 BC and was later restored and extended by King Herod. That was the Temple referred to in the Christian New Testament, and it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

When the temples were destroyed, the Jewish people were exiled from their land and split up across the world, so their religious leaders needed to make changes to ensure that Jewish practice would continue.

One big change was that Jewish worship could no longer be based on animal sacrifices offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. In fact because it was forbidden to offer sacrifices anywhere else, or other than in accordance with the detailed rules in the Torah, a whole new kind of worship had to be developed, synagogues – places where Jewish people could meet, study, and pray. Another change was that rabbis – teachers – became the community leaders in place of the cohanim (priests).

The site of the Temple in Jerusalem was not completely destroyed, and the one remaining part – the “Western Wall” or Kotel – became a place of pilgrimage for Jewish people. Orthodox Jews do not visit the Temple Mount itself because the Torah requires special purification rituals before visiting the site of the Temple. Known to Muslims as Haram a-Sharif (“the noble enclosure”), the compound contains the Dome of the Rock, built as a Muslim shrine in 691 CE, and the Al Aqsa Mosque (around 705 CE).

As Jewish life continued to evolve in different places around the world, many traditions, fashions, recipes, songs, and even languages (such as Yiddish and Ladino) developed, creating a beautiful diversity within one worldwide Jewish community.