The Jews have only one god: Yahweh. They have faith in Yahweh, believing him to be the Creator, ruling the universe, and judges the consequences of what happens after death. According to Judaism, Abraham, a prophet, was instructed to go to Canaan by Yahweh. However, their biggest belief is that God will send the Messiah to redeem the Jews. They have many practices, like Kosher. Since I am very interested in why they practice kosher, the main part of this section will be dedicated to it.
Kosher is not a style of cooking. It is a set of rules to follow when preparing and eating food. The opposite of kosher is called treyf. Anything that is not called kosher is treyf. Certain animals are not eaten at all (any animal that does not both chew its cud and has cloven hooves is forbidden). Any non-forbidden animal is killed in accordance with Jewish law. A sharp knife is cut across the animal’s throat, giving it a painless death and is the most humane way of killing an animal possible. Also, this method drains the blood, and blood products are forbidden in kosher. Meat is never eaten with dairy, and anything that has touched meat will never ever touch dairy. Any grape products that are prepared by non-Jews are forbidden to Jews; this rule applies only to wine and grape juice, and not whole grapes. This presents a problem, because many drinks use grape juice for flavoring. No shellfish are to be eaten, but other than that, seafood is fine. Only specific birds (permitted by the Torah) are to be eaten. And now the big question: why do Jews follow kosher anyways? The simplest answer is (now this may seem a little stupid) because the Torah says so. Also, for a long time, Jews have been following these rules, and recently research has shown that this is much healthier than treyf!
There are many holidays in Judaism. Passover is a holiday that commemorates the exodus from Egypt. Sukkoth is a festival marking the wandering of Jews in the desert. The Shavuot is a festival immortalizing the giving of the Torah. The Rosh Hashanah is a holiday like New Year’s. Days of Awe are ten days considering the sins of last year. And finally, Yom Kippur is a fast (like Ramadan, except for the fact that it lasts only one day) and it’s a day of propitiation. In Hebrew, you should say "have an easy fast" during Yom Kippur and NEVER say "have a happy Yom Kippur". Yom Kippur is not something to be happy about.
