Place of Worship The Western Wall and the Second Temple are all sacred sites in the religion of Judaism. The Western Wall protects the Second Temple. The Western Wall is the most sacred place to the Jewish faith. The Western Wall is located in Old city of Jerusalem at the foot of Temple Mount. The Wall surrounded the Second Temple's courtyard. Its a place where Jews pray. It caused a sense of friction between Muslims and Jewish people. A violent outbreak started in 1930 at the foot of the Western Wall whenMuslims and Jews fought over who the wall was more important to and who claimed the sacred Wall.The Second Temple was an important shrine that stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 B.C.E. and 70 B.C.E. It replaced the First Temple that got destroyed by Romans in 586 B.C.E. Today the ruins of the Second Temple stand next to what was its only defense against the Romans...the Western Wall.
Practices and Laws The four main movements within Judaism today are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. Judaism tends to emphasize practice over belief. Jewish worship is centered in synagogues, which completely replaced the Second Temple after its destruction in 70 C.E. Jewish religious leaders are called rabbis, who oversee the many rituals and ceremonies essential to Jewish religious practice.
Who, What, When, and How Judaism is a monotheistic religion with origins dating back nearly four thousand years, in the ancient eastern region of Canaan. Originating as the beliefs and practices of the people known as Israelite's . Judaism did not emerge until the 1st century C.E. Its heritage is traced to the covenant God made with Abraham and his lineage. The primary figures of Israelite culture include the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophet Moses, who received God's law at Mt. Sinai. Judaism is a tradition grounded in the religious, ethical, and social laws as they are in the Torah. Which are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Other sacred texts include the Talmud and Midrash, the rabbinic, legal, and narrative interpretations of the Torah. The world's core Jewish population in early 2013 was estimated at 13.9 million people which is around 0.2% of the world population.
Beliefs and Symbol Jewish people believe in the Torah, which was the whole of the laws given to the Israelities at Sinai. They believe they must follow God's laws which govern daily life. Later legal books, written by rabbis, determine the law as it applies to life in each new place and time. The main symbol that represents the Jewish religion is the Star of David. The six-pointed star, called a Magen David is a relatively new symbol of Judaism, becoming popular only in the last 200 years. It is named after King David, whom legend tells us had a shield with this star on it. A Magen David appears on the flag of the State of Israel.