How to learn Judaism

[sshoaib]

Currently reading A history of Jews by Paul Johnson which seems to be a very good book on Jewish history. In addition checking Wikipedia and you tube documentaries. However in order to learn their religious, political, moral teachings  do I need to study Torah or such? I guess it will be hard to find enough time to study in detail all of their religious books however a concise book with highlights and commentaries might be helpful. Any suggestions?
My long term aim is to get knowledge og human history and some study on major religions, for non-academic self quest purpose.

[c172]

Tell us about yourself. Is your moniker something backwards? What else shall we know about you, stranger?

http://atheistforums.org/forum-11.html

[robvalue]

Hello, welcome

I don't know but it seems likely some familiarity would be helpful.

[abaris]

Give him a break.

As opposed to some others he doesn't seem to be troll, but comes here with a serious question. It's only that we're probably not the right people to answer it. It's also helpful to bear in mind that judaism is as diverse as any other religion. Both my grandfathers have been jewish, but it didn't show in their lifestyles. But some of my extended family are orthodox jews. They follow a very different routine. It also depends in what culture they have been brought up and where they live.

So, probably not the right place to ask these questions here.

[Brian37]

There is no such thing as a perfect religion or a perfectly unifying or perfectly peaceful religion. The Jewish religion is a mere spin off of the Canaanite polytheism of it's time. The Yahweh character prior to becoming the monotheistic god of Abraham was a lesser god in the divine family under the head God El.

The religions of antiquity reflected the local tribal kingships of their times. But even today you have conservative right wing Jews as well as liberal Jews, just like any other religion. It is NOT a race anymore than Islam or Christianity or Buddhism. There were polytheists occupying that same land prior to the beginning of the Hebrews and go back far enough, our entire species started out in Africa 200,000 years ago long before any written religion or national boarders.

[Aegon]

I've recently read a bit of Richard Horsely (Paul & Empire, Jesus & Empire) which does a good job on explaining how radically the concept of "religion" changed between the Romans, Jews, and Christians. Maybe not exactly what you meant but it's just an example of some religious history I've recently studied

[Excited Penguin]

Life is too short to read about religion, me thinks. But have at it - if you enjoy it, I mean.

[Brian37]

Life is too short to read about religion, me thinks. But have at it - if you enjoy it, I mean.

Life is to short not to read about ALL the world's religions. No, you don't educate yourself on them to indoctrinate, you educate yourself to know the reality that our morality isn't in a club or old writing, but in our species. Every religion likes to point to their good history, and that should tell our species that the behaviors of humans isn't some battle between a super hero or super villain, nor is it a "philosophy". Our species ability to be cruel or compassionate, to use force or cooperation is in our evolution. There is not one nation, friend or foe alike that does not have hospitals or prisons. 

The reason you should know at least enough about global history is to learn from it so that progress can be made in giving up on bad claims. Religion will not be forced off the face of the planet, but as a species, we should be more educated beyond our own local tribalism as to which far to many humans of all labels defend because it is the social norm their parents sold to them.

Ignoring ANY religion is dangerous, it is to pretend the volcano has no potential to explode. You simply learn and work to minimize the harm  it can do, even within the sub sects of an umbrella label.

[Excited Penguin]

Life is too short to read about religion, me thinks. But have at it - if you enjoy it, I mean.

Life is to short not to read about ALL the world's religions. No, you don't educate yourself on them to indoctrinate, you educate yourself to know the reality that our morality isn't in a club or old writing, but in our species. Every religion likes to point to their good history, and that should tell our species that the behaviors of humans isn't some battle between a super hero or super villain, nor is it a "philosophy". Our species ability to be cruel or compassionate, to use force or cooperation is in our evolution. There is not one nation, friend or foe alike that does not have hospitals or prisons. 

The reason you should know at least enough about global history is to learn from it so that progress can be made in giving up on bad claims. Religion will not be forced off the face of the planet, but as a species, we should be more educated beyond our own local tribalism as to which far to many humans of all labels defend because it is the social norm their parents sold to them.

Ignoring ANY religion is dangerous, it is to pretend the volcano has no potential to explode. You simply learn and work to minimize the harm  it can do, even within the sub sects of an umbrella label.

Look, mate,

Life is too short to read about religion, me thinks. But have at it - if you enjoy it, I mean.

[Crossless2.0]

Currently reading A history of Jews by Paul Johnson which seems to be a very good book on Jewish history. In addition checking Wikipedia and you tube documentaries. However in order to learn their religious, political, moral teachings  do I need to study Torah or such? I guess it will be hard to find enough time to study in detail all of their religious books however a concise book with highlights and commentaries might be helpful. Any suggestions?
My long term aim is to get knowledge og human history and some study on major religions, for non-academic self quest purpose.

I read Johnson's book years ago and thought it was a good history, overall. Yes, you should study Torah if you want to get at the heart of Judaism, but you should also try to acquaint yourself with some as much of the Talmud as you can. It's vast and likely more material than anyone with a casual interest will care to wade through, but I think there are concise selections available that you might dip into to get a taste. An internet search should point you in the right direction.