This article describes the Jewish religion; for a consideration of ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity refer to the article Jew.

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 15 million followers as of 2006For an exploration of the Jewish population, please see Jewish population and Jews by country. It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The values and history of the Jewish people are a major part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Islam, as well as Samaritanism and the Bahá'í Faith. Judaism has seldom, if ever, been monolithic in practice (although it has always been monotheistic in theology), and differs from many religions in that its central authority is not vested in any person or group but rather in its writings and traditions. Despite this, Judaism in all its variations has remained tightly bound to a number of religious principles, the most important of which is the belief in a single, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, transcendent God, יהוה, YHWH, who created the universe and continues to be involved in its governance. According to traditional Jewish thought, the God who created the world established a covenant with the Jewish people, and revealed his laws and commandments to them in the form of the Torah. The practice of Judaism is devoted to the study and observance of these laws and commandments, as written in the Torah.

Traditional view of the development of Judaism

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The subject of the Hebrew Bible is an account of the Israelites' (a branch of Hebrews) relationship with God as reflected in their history from the beginning of time until the building of the Second Temple (ca. 350 BCE). This relationship is often portrayed as contentious, as Hebrews struggle between their faith in God and their attraction for other gods, and as some Hebrews, such as Abraham; (most notably and directly), Jacob, the father of all Israelites -- later known as Israel; and Moses struggle with God.

More on [ Judaism ]

BBC News | UK | World Edition

Prison for BNP activist's killer
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:27:01 -0000
An Asian man is jailed for the manslaughter of his BNP activist neighbour who he stabbed following a long-running dispute.
More firms increase energy bills
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:03:09 -0000
Two more energy firms, Scottish Energy and Npower, have said they will raise gas and electricity prices, blaming more expensive wholesale costs.
Police resume arson house search
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:44:29 -0000
Officers investigating a fire at the home of a wealthy family, who are all missing, continue their search of the property.
Airline collapse hits thousands
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:39:25 -0000
Hundreds of travellers are stranded and tens of thousands lose bookings after the budget airline Zoom collapses.
UK considers Guantanamo man move
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:30:14 -0000
The government is given more time by the High Court to consider its refusal to disclose material concerning a UK man held in Guantanamo Bay.
Carers 'need more financial help'
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:51:47 -0000
The government must provide more money for Britain's six million unpaid carers, who save the taxpayer £87bn a year, MPs say.

The Economist: Britain

Population changes:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Immigrants and babies could make Britain the EU’s biggest countryIF DEMOGRAPHY is destiny, then the British are roaring forward. On August 27th Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical service, predicted that by 2060 Britain would be the EU’s largest country, with a population of 77m (compared with around 61m today). Germany, the current top dog, will see its 82m citizens dwindle to 71m over the same period. Britain’s boom will be fuelled by a mix of immigration and a comparatively high birth rate (partly a consequence of the higher fecundity of its immigrants).Besides getting bigger, Britain will also remain youthful, at least by EU standards. Although the share of people over 65 will rise from 16% to 25% by 2060, that will still mean fewer greybeards than anywhere else in Europe except Luxembourg. Eurostatisticians prophesy that Britain will suffer less stress on its pensions and social-security systems than faster-ageing countries. Yet not all Britons revel in the idea of millions of new citizens. ...
The next Olympics:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Measures to further sport will work better for the elite than for the massesWHILE lacking, perhaps, the cohesion of the men’s coxless four or the cycling pursuit team who won golds for Britain in Beijing, the unlikely quartet of footballers and pop stars led by Boris Johnson at least managed to accept the Olympic flag from China without dropping it. The whimsy of the British performance at the Olympic handover, featuring twirling umbrellas and a doubledecker bus, suggested that Britain would not attempt to match the pageantry and stadiums that cost China billions. It plans to rely heavily on what London’s mayor hopefully calls Britain’s “wit and flair”.As far as the sporting competition is concerned, however, Britain will give no quarter. Basking in the afterglow of the country’s most successful Olympic games in a century, Gordon Brown has big plans for developing sport in Britain. The prime minister’s initiatives include attempts to get more girls involved, funding to give schoolchildren five hours of sport a week and a return to competitive games in schools (on the wane since the 1960s). More money is also expected for community sports facilities. ...
Sex education:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
A debate over introducing the birds and the bees in primary schoolsA COMMON complaint about education in Britain is that everything begins too early: four-year-olds start school shortly after abandoning afternoon naps; toddlers barely able to hold a pen are supposed to form letters. Yet one subject, some say, is left too late. Sex education first appears on the compulsory curriculum when pupils between 11 and 14 years old learn the basics in science class; relationships, sexually transmitted diseases and the inadvisability of conceiving in one’s teens are relegated to the optional “personal, social and health education”. Primary schools need only have a policy on sex education—and for some that policy is “we don’t teach it”. Backed by sexual-health and children’s charities, a cross-party group of MPs is trying to change all that. In an open letter to the government, published in the Daily Telegraph on August 26th, they call for all sex education, not just the mechanics, to be made compulsory, and to start much earlier. That, they say, could help to cut the number of British teenagers who become pregnant: at 40 per thousand girls under 18 each year, Britain’s rate is outstripped in the developed world only by America’s. ...
Bagehot:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
The economic downturn has brought taxation back to the centre of political debate—but inside parties rather than between themONE of the oddities of the New Labour era has been the disappearance of tax (politically, not financially). The public has seemed blithely confident that the share of the nation’s wealth taken by government has been more or less correct—even as that proportion has risen by a couple of percentage points. After his three predecessors failed in their bids to beat Labour by challenging that consensus, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, decided to join his opponents instead, abandoning tax levels as an electoral issue. Now, suddenly, tax may be making a comeback.Gordon Brown will soon embark on his latest relaunch. At its centre will be what some describe as an “economic plan” (though others, wary of inflating expectations, prefer less grandiose labels). The plan (or whatever) seems set to have two main components: assistance for the grim housing market and help with fuel costs for low-income families. Mr Brown is being urged by some in his party to make tax part of the plan too, by, for example, raising rates on very high-earners to fund a cut for the rest. But the idea that has caused most excitement is that of imposing a windfall tax on energy firms—whose tariffs have been rising along with their profits—to pay for a fuel subsidy. ...
Buying airports:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Britain’s privatised airports may slip back into public handsALONG with cricket and the industrial revolution, privatisation must rank high on any list of Britain’s intangible exports that have helped shape the world. Margaret Thatcher’s wholesale auctioning of huge parts of the state, from telephones to water utilities, has been widely trumpeted (if less widely emulated) as the cure for all economic ills. So one of the ironies to emerge from plans by the competition regulator to break up BAA, the privatised company which owns Britain’s biggest airports, is that the leading bidder for some of its airstrips is itself in public ownership.Two decades after they were privatised, Britain’s main airports are a shambles. Terminals and runways are so overcrowded that flights depart late and bags are lost. Their perennially faulty plumbing has become a point of pride for many visitors from Africa; the lavatories at the airports back home work better. ...
Weak sterling:
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
The pound’s fall is signalling deeper worries about the economyWHATEVER reassurances ministers may offer about the prospects for the economy, the judgment of the foreign-exchange markets is more telling, for it is backed by money. That judgment is a harsh one. The pound has fallen sharply against the dollar over the past month, closing at $1.84, its lowest for over two years, on August 26th.Sterling has not been alone in slipping against the dollar. The euro fell almost as steeply during August. But the latest setback to the pound follows a bigger and longer devaluation against the euro that started a year ago (see chart). Altogether, sterling’s trade-weighted index (in which the euro has a weight of 54% compared with the dollar’s 16.5%) has declined by over 13% in the past 12 months, reaching its lowest point since 1996. ...

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