ABSTRACT
Judaism Defined Today a Jew is someone who is a member of a Jewish religious or cultural group or who practices the religion of Judaism. The origins of Judaism began in Israel approximately 2000 BCE (Before the Common Era) (Fishbane, 1993). According to Morrison and Brown (1991), the word Jew is derived from the term Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel that existed from 922 to 586 BCE. The Latin name for Judaism is Judaeus, meaning “a resident of Judea.” The name was later shortened to Jew. According to Langer (2003), at its most fundamental level, the definition of “Jew” is neither religious nor theological, but ethnic.
