Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Abraham, his descendants and Moses are believed to have been its founders. According to Jewish beliefs until Abraham, man worshiped many gods. The story begins with Abraham and his wife Sarah trying to conceive a child. When Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, God came to Abraham and told him that they would have a son. After the child was born, God returned to Abraham and tested his beliefs by asking him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Isaac willingly went with Abraham to be sacrificed. Before Abraham could sacrifice Isaac, God sent an angel to stop him. As a reward for his faith, God made a covenant with Abraham that he and his descendants would be protected as long as they continued to exercise faith in him and live healthy lives. It is also said that God blessed Abraham with many children. His son Isaac had two sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob who changed his name to Israel had twelve sons. Israel had twelve sons, they are the "12 tribes of Israel" and their descendants are later known as the Israelites also called Hebrews. Moses, who was a direct descendant of the twelve tribes of Israel, is also considered one of the founders of Judaism. His story begins with his mother, an Israelite/Hebrew, who feared that King Pharaoh would have him killed, so she put him in a basket and sent him downstream. Pharaoh's daughter found him and she asked a servant girl who was actually his mother to look after him until he was older, then she took him in and raised him as her own. One day when Moses was a young man he was outside and saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Fearing that Pharaoh would know what had happened, he fled and lived in Mid'ian where he married and had...... middle of paper ... whose care is the position of the woman. Even if they have made some adjustments, such as divorce, some things could still be changed. The biggest impact, I believe, is that they were one of the original monotheistic religions. They also have an unwavering faith in God which I admire throughout their trials and tribulations, their faith has remained strong. There aren't many people who would not only keep their faith, but live honorably after everything that has happened to them throughout history. Works Cited Epstein, Rabbi I., Judaism, Pomona Press, 2008 Littman, Robert and Pasachoff, Naomi E, Concise History of the Jewish People, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005 Steinberg, Milton, Basic Judaism, Publisher: HBJ, 1975 Kaplan, Marian A. , Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999