What are the customs of the Jewish religion?

Answer 1

Some traditions in Judaism are to go to synagogue and celebrate holidays.

If you could break this down into a more detailed question, like "traditions of Marriage," "Traditions of prayer...." etc. it would be easier to answer.

Answer 2

Though it may have an associated culture and one or more associated languages, the traditional definition of Judaism is the observance of the Torah, which is why dictionaries define Judaism as "the religion of Moses." In this sense, the word "Torah" is meant in its wider meaning, which includes the Tanakh, the Talmud, and other classical Jewish texts.
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.
Some examples of the commands:
Belief in God
Putting on Tefillin (phylacteries) in the morning
The sukkah-booth during Sukkot
Avoiding leavened products in Passover
Keeping kosher
Not eating on Yom Kippur
Not working on the Shabbat
Paying workers on time
Marital rights for one's wife
The Ten Commandments
Helping someone who is in danger
Counting the days of the Omer
Returning lost objects when feasible
Wearing the tzitzith-garment
Affixing a mezuzah to the door
Learning Torah
Marrying and having children
Educating one's children in Judaism
Giving tzedakah (charity)
Honoring one's parents
And many more.
The laws have various reasons. Some (such as the Passover) serve to reenact or remember events of our history.
Some (such as saying the Shema-prayer) serve to reiterate our belief in God.
Some of the laws (such as those of ritual purity and kosher food) serve to sanctify us.
Some (such as the laws of torts) serve to maintain an orderly and just society.
Some (such as the law against breaking a vow) serve to prevent bad character traits.
Some (such as the command to offer help) serve to engender good character traits.
And all of the commands serve to subjugate us to God's will (especially those commands for which no explanation is easily apparent).
Note that the Torah "as is" isn't exactly what Judaism observes. Rather, It's the Torah together with the details provided in the Talmud, which is the Oral Law that was handed down together with the laws of Moses. Otherwise, the verses of the Torah often lack enough detail to be fulfilled as is.

Answer 2

Supervisor edit: Many things are posted below. Some are customs, and some are obligatory customs, but some are actually Torah-commands, not mere customs. So reader take note.

General Jewish Customs:

There are literally thousands of different customs for Jews. Some customs are so strongly observed, many people think they're laws. Here is a short list in no particular order:

• Not naming a child after a living person (only for Jews of European descent)
• wearing a head covering during prayer (orthodox men wear them all the time, but this is still a custom, albeit ancient)
• dancing at weddings
• having nice meals on the Sabbath
• wearing black during mourning
• burying the dead within 24 hours (or up to 3 days delay when necessary)
• bar/bat mitzvah celebrations
• stepping on a wine glass at a wedding
• praying in Hebrew
• kissing a mezuzah before walking through a doorway.

More:

Upon awakening, you open your eyes and say a few words ("I am thankful before you, living and existing king, who with pity, gave me back my soul. You are very faithful"). You then rinse your hands three times each from a cup. You put your right shoe on first... and so on throughout the day.

You must wash your hands before eating bread. You must say grace (shortly before and) after every meal (Deuteronomy 8). You must wash your hands after the bathroom.

From age 13 men must learn the words of the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 6) and the explanations of the sages, along with the Jewish traditions and laws, and must pray 3 times a day (Talmud, Berakhot 26). Women must learn the laws and rituals.

Every Friday night you must begin observing the Sabbath: The women light candles, and the men go to prayer. The family dines together, and sing traditional songs. There are many prohibitions (things you're not allowed to do) on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20), so that it is a very quiet day. For example fire and nowadays electricity is allowed only if it was lit before Friday evening. So no TV or radio is allowed, and no driving in cars.

There is a Jewish custom to cover the hair with a "Kippa" or yarmulke. Also less prevailing (you don't see it as much) is the custom not to shave the beard and side curls ("payos").

There are many Jewish customs which non-observant Jews keep which are a subset of the rituals that observant Jews keep.

First in life for Jewish male babies is the command (Genesis 17) of Bris on the 8th day, which is circumcision - practiced by the Jewish religion and Islam (although mostly the Muslims do it at age 13).

Many Jews keep the Jewish holidays (Leviticus 23), The "holy days" of Rosh-Hashana (Jewish new year) feast and Yom Kippur fast (the day for repenting) , Pesach (Passover), Hannuka (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), Purim, and nowadays some Jews celebrate the Israeli day of Independence (Yom Haatzmaut). Each of these comes with many customs. For example on Purim it is the custom to bring two neighbors "Shalach-Monos" a plate of food (as stated in the Book of Esther), with "Mun Taschen" triangular cookies. And during Passover to eat Matzah bread (Exodus 12).

Many of the Shabbat customs are also kept by unobservant Jews: Dressing nicely, lighting the candles. eating together sometimes saying the "Kiddush" a ritual prayer from The Bible about the seventh holy day, preparing "Gefilte fish" and "Tchulent" or other traditional Jewish food (due to the prohibition of fire and preparing cooked food, it had to be prepared in advance - so by the afternoon the food has been cooking for more than 12 hours). The candles, Halla bread and wine signify the three types of fruit that the land of Israel was special for: Wheat, Grapes and Olive (oil, in the olden days there were no paraffin candles).

There are two other points in life where most Jews keep the ancient traditions and customs: When marrying, and at death.

The marriage ceremony has changed little in the last 1000 years, but among Western Liberal Jews has become similar to the Christian wedding. A Rabbi tells the groom what to say, when he puts the ring on the bride's finger. The groom breaks a glass with his foot - a custom to remind the guests that their happiness is not complete as long as they are far away from home (Israel). A Klezmer band is also a Jewish custom, playing old (and new) Jewish tunes.

At death at least ten men gather and follow the casket. The body is not cremated, but rather buried in the ground. The immediate family grieves for seven days (the "Shiva") they do not take a haircut (and so, men have a stubble beard, if they had shaved before) and do not sit on high chairs. Every day, the Kaddish - a prayer glorifying God is recited with ten men.

Most non-observant Jews in the west, particularly in the United States, join Jewish organizations, especially the Jewish Reform movement and to some extent the Jewish Conservative movement. In these organizations, the customs have become more "westernized" - people are dressed in the fashion of the day, and much of the prayers and rituals are translated into English, and sung to modern tunes and music.

An important custom of the Jewish nation is being empathic and caring for others. Many Jews see themselves as caring for the world, joining and many times creating social organizations to assist anyone in need around the world.

Another important Jewish custom is reading writing and studying from an early age. For that reason, many scientists and philosophers, artists and inventors have been Jewish, much more than their proportion in the population. Jews have felt it hard to be isolated, and some converted to the religions and cultures where they lived. They had to prove that they were worthy of becoming part of that culture and so, as we see today with new immigrants from other cultures, many times the Jews excelled in their fields.

The last custom I'll talk about is the custom of humor. Because the Jews had been persecuted for thousands of years, one way to overcome the sadness of the situation was using humor. When the Jews studied the Torah (the bible) they would do so with laughter. For example Moshe (Moses) says in the Bible: You shall teach these words to your children again and again, until their teeth know how to say the words themselves.

The same Hebrew words

("Veshinantam Levanehcha" - Ve = you Shin = teeth, Shinan = Reteach, Ta = You should, m = with them, Le = To, Vaneh = Boys, Cha= your)

are understood as: ("Veshinantam" - And your teeth, "Levanecha" should be white - Levan = white) You should always show a big smile, and get your kids smiling too.

That is probably the reason there are so many Jewish comedians, perfomers and movie makers.

Answer 3

The basic Jewish beliefs:

Monotheism

The Ten Statements

Follow the teachings of the Tanach (Jewish Bible)

Jews do NOT believe in actively converting people to their religion, they believe everyone should live as they wish as long as they don't harm others

Answer:

See the attached related link.

Answer 4

Well there purpose on earth is to cut ur penis off

The above statement was written hopefully as a joke. The practices of Judaism are outlined in the Torah, with the removal of the foreskin being one of them. Non-Jews are not obligated to circumcise.

Answer 5

All the hundreds of mitzvoth (commands), principles and beliefs of the Torah.
See the attached Related Links for full detail on these.
(Though it's not part of the original question, I've added a link on History as well.)
wiki.answers.com/Q/what_are_the_beliefs_and_laws_of_judaism
http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-philosophy/principles-of-judaism
http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-culture/basic-jewish-ethics
www.jewfaq.org/halakhah.htm
http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-history/timeline-of-jewish-history

Answer 6

That's not easy to answer, since very many customs are mentioned in the Code of Jewish Law and are considered obligatory (at least to some degree).

Here are some long-standing customs:

• Not naming a child after a living person
• wearing a head covering during prayer (orthodox men wear them all the time)
• dancing at weddings
• having festive, multi-course meals on the Sabbath, with singing and words of Torah
• wearing black during mourning
• bar/bat mitzvah celebration
• stepping on a wine glass at a wedding
• praying in the Hebrew language
• kissing a mezuzah before walking through a doorway
• giving charity before praying
• learning Torah in memory of a deceased person
• and thousands more

Answer 7

All the hundreds of mitzvoth (commands), principles and beliefs of the Torah.

Though it may have an associated culture and one or more associated languages, the traditional definition of Judaism is the observance of the Torah, which is why dictionaries define Judaism as "the religion of Moses." In this sense, the word "Torah" is meant in its wider meaning, which includes the Tanakh, the Talmud, and other classical Jewish texts.
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.
For fuller detail, see the Related Links.Link: The basic beliefs of Judaism

Link: The practices of Judaism

Link: The principles of Judaism

Link: The ethics of Judaism

Link: How Judaism began

Link: The texts of Judaism

Answer 8

Below are some examples of non-binding customs. For laws, see the relevant Related Link "Jewish Laws."Link: Jewish Laws.
Some Jewish customs:

• Language:
  

In many cases, Jewish communities created their own languages that were based on the local language but quite different from it. These include Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and others.

• Speech:
  

Jewish speech (in any language), especially among religious communities, is seasoned with hundreds of expressions that refer to various Torah-concepts.

Instead of saying "Tomorrow I'll visit," the phrase will be "Tomorrow I'll visit im yirtzeh Hashem" (God willing).

Link: An extensive Jewish glossary of words

• Cuisine:
  

Jewish communities have created certain foods in keeping with Torah-requirements. Matzoh-ball soup and matzoh-brei on Passover replace any leavened equivalent. Gefilte fish (which contains no bones) was created to avoid the stricture against separating bones from food on the Shabbat.

Link: Shabbat and Festivals

• Home design:
  

Here in Israel, homes in religious neighborhoods tend to be designed with two sinks in the kitchen, an additional sink for handwashing outside the bathroom, and a porch for the sukkah.

• Charity:
  

At every Jewish religious wedding, and in very many synagogues, you'll encounter people collecting alms for the indigent. Every religious home has at least one pushke (charity-box) which, when filled, is donated to the tzedakah (charity) of one's choice.

I've tried to give examples that are not in themselves obligatory, but reflect Torah-commands or attitudes.

See also the other Related Link.

More about Jewish life