What are four central beliefs and an important fact about Judaism?

Answer 1

The philosophy* of Judaism is that this world is a purposeful creation by God*, in which all people are tested concerning their use of free-will. We possess a soul which lives on after the body dies and is held responsible for the person's actions. Anyone who is worthy, Jewish or not, can merit reward in the afterlife.*See Related Links

Link: Judaism and philosophy

Link: The Creation

Here are four basic beliefs of Judaism, from among those codified by Maimonides:
1a. God exists, and is the Creator.
This tells us that the world is not purposeless or chaotic. Life is the result of a deliberate, purposeful, intelligent and kind Creator; not a melancholy chaos or a string of fortuitous accidents.
1b. God is One and unique. This is the basis of all Western monotheistic belief, which was given to the world by Abraham and his descendants*. This belief places God at the center of reality and of our world-outlook and thoughts.

*Link: Biography of Abraham

1c. God is not physical.
This includes the corollary that no person should be worshiped as God or as a god. Judaism has no god-kings, no demigods, no angel who flouts God's will, and no sports-idols, movie-idols etc.
1d. God is eternal.
This includes the belief that God's ways are also eternal. God is not capricious, forgetful or fickle. Investing in a relationship with God is the only thing that will bear eternal benefits. 1e. God rewards the good and punishes the wicked.
This belief provides a vast incentive towards righteousness and, when needed, repentance.
It also forms part of the basis of our belief in the afterlife, since this entire world wouldn't be enough to reward a Moses or punish a Hitler.

2. Prayer is to be directed only to God.
This also teaches us that no person, government or institution is to be accorded blind trust. We pray directly to God, three times a day; and we recount our shortcomings, ask for our needs, and acknowledge our successes with happy thanks.

3. The words of the prophets are true. Link: About the Hebrew Prophets

The prophecies of the Hebrew Bible have been coming true throughout history. Even secular archaeologists (the unbiased ones) have stated that the Hebrew Bible is the most accurate of historical records, as the disdainful theories of Wellhausen and Bible-critics of his ilk have been shattered by the archaeologist's spade. A list of Bible verses which were deemed anachronistic but later shown to be perfectly accurate would run into the many hundreds.

Link: Refuting theories of Bible-critics

4a. The prophecies of Moses are true; and he was the greatest prophet.
4b. The Torah was given to Moses by God.
These two beliefs are the basis of our attitude towards the Torah: it is the center of our lives. Jews are keeping mitzvot (commands), saying blessings, praying, learning Torah and doing acts of kindness and charity all the time. The Torah is the single greatest thing that a Jew has; given to us to provide knowledge, guidance, inspiration, awe and reverence, advice, law, comfort, history and more. It is the basis of Judaism.
4c. There will be no other Torah.
We Jews have been around for 3800 years. New fads, manifestos, beliefs or lifestyles which rear their heads are met by the Jew with a calm, seasoned eye and the proverbial grain of salt. The Torah doesn't change; and every new thing can be measured against the Torah's standards.
See also other Related Links.

Link: What do Jews believe God is like?

Link: Can you show that God exists

Link: The afterlife in Judaism

Link: How did the Hebrew Bible affect the Israelites?

Answer 2

1) God. Belief in God was the universal tradition of all mankind. People have always believed in a Higher Power. Archaeology has shown that no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the supernatural.
Based upon a massive worldwide study of the most ancient inscriptions and the earliest levels of civilization, Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (in his twelve-volume Der Ursprung Der Gottesidee) concluded that the original belief was monotheistic. It was a simple belief in the Creator (Sky-Father) with no imagery of any kind.

Abraham was born after the world had slipped into idolatry. He taught about the One God based on the workings of the universe and the wisdom visible in creation.
2) The soul. This too is a universal tradition going all the way back. It explains why human emotions are so vast; and it explains (at least partially) what consciousness is. The question of how to pin down the workings of consciousness has dogged scientists for centuries: but you have the answer.
3) The afterlife. This is another universal tradition and one whose importance must not be understated. It goes a long way in explaining why we have free-will, what we're doing here, what about the suffering of the innocent, and why our very instincts tell us that death is not the end. Here too, no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the afterlife; and to the thinking person, this fact cannot be dismissed offhand.
4) The Creation. In addition to the worldwide tradition on this subject, consider a simple device in logic called Occam's razor. This principle states that the simplest explanation for a set of circumstances is usually the correct one. "In the beginning God created" is beautifully simple; and it topples that tangled web of tautologies and that huge house of cards into which atheistic physicists and biologists try to indoctrinate us. And of course, it enables us to appreciate the infinite wisdom and detail within the created things, instead of having (as atheists do) to timidly hide our eyes from the blindingly clear evidence of this wisdom.

5) The Torah. The national tradition of the Israelite (Jewish) people is that God gave us the Torah on Mount Sinai (Exodus ch.19-20 and 24:12), and that this was witnessed by the entire nation. No Hebrew copy of the Torah, worldwide, has ever been found to differ from what we possess today.

Answer 3

Existence of God

Belief in (and obedience to) the Torah

Existence of our God-given soul

The purposefulness of Creation