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Welcome to Religions of the World. Judaism: The Religion of Jewish people.

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. It began about 4,000 years ago in the Middle East. One of the most important people in Judaism is called Moses. He was a great leader who helped the Jewish people make their home in their promised land, a country that is now called Israel.

The Jewish Story of Moses. Many years ago, the Jewish people were living in Egypt. The Egyptians and their King, the Pharaoh, were very mean to the Jewish people because they were worried that they were going to take over their land. The Egyptians put all the Jewish people to work as slaves and decided that they would kill all the Jewish newborn baby boys. The Jewish people were very upset about this and prayed to God for a leader to help them.

Moses was born. To make sure Moses wasn’t killed by the Egyptians, Moses’ mother put him in a basket and set him adrift on the river. There, the Pharaoh’s daughter found him. He was rescued by a princess. Without realising, the princess let Moses’ real mum look after him and Moses grew up as an Egyptian prince in the palace.

When he was grown up, he was very angry that his people (the Jewish people) were still being treated so badly by the Egyptians. One day, he lost his temper and killed an Egyptian guard. The Pharaoh was furious about this and Moses ran away to another land.

Moses worked there as a shepherd for many years. One day, he saw a flaming bush in the desert. As he came close, he heard God’s voice. “Go back to Egypt. Tell Pharaoh to let my people go.” Moses travelled back to Egypt and demanded that the Pharaoh set his people free. The Pharaoh laughed and said, “No way!”

Because the Pharaoh said “No,” God sent ten plagues to Egypt to teach Pharaoh a lesson. Each one was worse than the last. A plague of frogs, locusts, diseases for cattle… But Pharaoh would still not set the Jewish people free. Then God sent the tenth and final plague. God sent the Angel of Death to Egypt to kill all of the firstborn sons of families in Egypt.

The Jewish people were told, “Paint your door with a lamb’s blood, then the Angel of Death will pass over your houses. Your children will be safe.” The next morning, the Pharaoh finally agreed to Moses’ demands. The slaves were set free.

The Jewish festival of Passover is celebrated in the Spring every year to remember this. The Pharaoh demanded that Moses lead his people away, never to return to Egypt. So Moses led his people away from Egypt, hoping to find their promised land, a place where the Jewish people could live in peace. But once Moses and the Jewish people had set off on their journey, the Pharaoh soon changed his mind and decided to go after them with 600 chariots.

When Moses and his people reached the Red Sea (which wasn’t actually red, despite its name), they didn’t know what to do. “How can we get across?” The Egyptians had nearly caught them. God told Moses to lift his shepherd’s staff up to the heavens. By a miracle, the waters of the Red Sea parted and Moses was able to lead his people through the middle of the water.

They made it safely to the other side, before the sea came crashing down all over the Egyptians who were trying to catch them. 600 chariots were no use at the bottom of the sea. Moses had helped his people escape to freedom and they continued their journey to their promised land, trusting in God.