Jews

The term Jews refers to the followers of Judaism. Although the term Jew or Jews refers literally to the descendants of Judas, it is commonly used to refer to all the descendants of the patriarch, Israel. Judas was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, also called Israel, one of the three patriarchs of the Bible in the old Testament.

Jewish ancestry is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Biblical matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel, who lived in Canaan around the 18th century BCE. Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Joseph in the Land of Goshen region by Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs' descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, which is commonly dated to the 13th century BCE.

Judaism was the first religion based on monotheism, the belief in one God. All of the major Western religions found their roots in Judaism. A central tenet of Judaism is that God, the Creator of the World, made a special agreement called a covenant (berit in Hebrew) with Abraham, from whom the Jewish people descended.

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External links

• Wikipedia Jews