answersLogoWhite

0

[Supervisor's note: All Israelite tribes were Jewish. The modern meaning of the word "Jew" is any adherent of Judaism, regardless of one's tribe. The following answer splits hairs, by using the strict and misleading definition that a Jew can only be a member of the tribe of Judah.]

Judaism is the term for the religion practiced by those of the tribe of Judah. Judah was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel in Genesis 29. Each of the twelve sons' families became a tribe; that is, each family grew so large that they were counted as a complete subset of the nation. When the Exodus happened, there were about 3 million people leaving Egypt, therefore each family would have had about a quarter of a million in it's roster.
Judah's tribe was the one tribe that converts to the nation of Israel joined. The name Judah means praise, so Judaism litterally means the people of praise. In the book of first Kings in the JudeoChristian Bible the division of Israel into the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom left the Southern Kingdom comprised of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and Levi. Since Levi has no land inheritance, Judah and Benjamin were the landholders. When the Assyrian Army carried off the 10 northern tribes, all that was left of ancient Israel was Judah and Benjamin and Levi. Since Judah was the larger tribe, the custom became to call Israel by the larger tribe...Judah. The Hebrew word for this grouping is Yehudim, from which we anglicise into Jew; hence the name Judaism.
that is all correct but for one thing it was the Romans who gave the name Jew to us they came to israel and found most of the peoepl callign themslef fro mthe tribe of judea so they called the peopel judea which eveolved into Jew and so forth

  • Answer:
1) Dictionaries define Judaism as the religion of Moses. All of the twelve Israelite tribes practiced the religion which we today call Judaism. The word comes from "Judah" because most Jews, but not all, are from that tribe. But the religion itself belonged not only to Judah.
2) We call someone Jewish not just because of genealogical descent, but also because of their beliefs and observances. "Anyone who opposes idolatry is called Jewish" (Talmud, Megillah 13a). It is in that sense of belonging to the Jewish religion that members of Israelite tribes other than Judah are called Jewish. Therefore, any attempt to go technical based upon specific tribes, is disingenuous and misleading. No one today would claim, for example, that today's Kohens and Levites are not Jewish.
User Avatar

Wiki User

7y ago

What else can I help you with?