Judaism. Explore exclusivism, prejudice and oppression in religious communities.

Professor’s Name
Religion & Theology
2nd, December 2020
JUDAISM
Religiosity most often dictates exclusivism, prejudice and, oppression in the societies that practice it. It is a multi-millennial old practice that has been perfected by different societies from the beginning of time and transferred to new generations. Judaism forms one of the oldest religions that has faced numerous challenges and persecutions because of its major beliefs and doctrines and its refusal to recognize Jesus Christ as God’s messenger. It pegs its covenant with God through Moses who led the Jews in obeying God’s commandments.
The antebellum Jewish faith begins with The Hebrew bible or the Tanakh (Torah, Nevi’im and, Ketuvim) which Christians have commonly called the old testament (Fisher, 2005). Torah, which includes a set of new rules and teachings from a book called Talmud, affects and influences Jewish people’s lifestyle. It is in their credence that by obeying God’s command as prescribed in the commandments, in return, God will deliver on the promises made to them. The word Jew is coined from Greek and Latin of the Hebrew Yehuda (Judah) one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel. Following the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE, Judah was the main surviving Israelite tribe, and it became synonymous with Israel as a whole.
Exclusivism in any religious community indicates radicalism as opposed to the ideal inclusivism precept. Religion practice is usually meant to invoke one’s spiritual Holiness to their maker. It is quite the contrary in our modern social religious adherence. Most societies adopt the exclusivism principle in observing religion. Judaism is not an exception! Exclusivism sympathizers believe that there is only one true religion, and therefore other religious doctrines are false and misleading. In the Jewish community, they have strict values in Judaism and follow its dogmas to the letter. Anyone that has a contrary opinion is sulked and considered as an infidel. The Jews believe that the only way to get to God of Abraham is through Torah. They highlight that God only made a covenant with the ancient Israelites, and consequently puts them as His Chosen race and are given the sole responsibility of spreading the monotheism concept through Judaism.
The Jews have been persecuted and discriminated beginning from the earlier times of Pharaoh of Egypt when they were abducted into slavery to the Nazi Holocaust. They have been exiled from their motherland and scattered everywhere in the world, with an attempt to dilute their heritage and cultural beliefs by other pluralist and inclusivist religious proponents. All this while, wherever they were, the Jews still practiced Judaism and maintained the rituals that set them apart from the rest. Whereas the Jews’ oppressors always believed that their sufferings were as a result of punishment and abandonment by God, they believed that it was an affirmation of ‘the chosen people status’, for “those whom He loves does the Lord chastise” (Prov. 3:12).
Numerous rituals practiced and embraced by the Jews since the times of Moses have continued to propagate their belief in exclusivism, hence disregarding other religions. Most of the rituals Christians believe in today were well documented in the Torah, even before the coming of Christ. Albeit in constant wrangles, Judaism and Christiani...