Principles of Judaism, please?

[SparklyTinselBella]

I've long been interested in this religion so can anyone please shed some light for me? I grew up with lots of Jewish friends so I saw all the festivals they celebrated but of course, as children, we never really discussed the religion itself.

TIA

as the basis - jews believe in the old testament not the new testament. ten commandments pretty fundamental. but on top there's various restrictions on food and dress. dress in terms of dressing modestly etc. and positive values - in terms of charity (charity/voluntary work is strongly encouraged), avoiding gossip etc

tall order, isn't it?

have a look here

your question is HUGE

i am orthodox (but there are many sects within this) but there are also Reform, Masorti which are very different

Fundamentals are as Totalchaos says ...

The Jewish Sabbath is from Friday to Saturday (sundown to sundown)

Kashrut - meat has to be koshered and you cannot mix milk and meat (this is very simplistic)

aish

Thank you, girls. I really like the idea of no gossiping being a tenet of one's faith

Will look at those sites, rubyslippers, thank you.

Any books you can recommend (apart from the Torah)?

these are excellent and there is a whole series

Oh thanks, Rubyslippers.

Happy sabbath, or whatever I should say to you