Judaism and Western Civilization The basic contribution of Judaism to Western civilization is monotheism. Understood from the standpoint of Jewish tradition, Abraham was the first monotheist. He left polytheism behind to follow the directions of the one God. The Tanakh itself gives evidence that significant numbers of ancient Israelites worshipped multiple deities.(Rabbi Shofet) Jewish leadership called upon Israel to worship the one God with whom they had a covenant relationship. But as Tanakh develops …showed first 75 words of 764 total…

…showed last 75 words of 764 total…now) when I have a family of my own such as keeping the Sabbath and keeping the laws of Kashrout(Kosher). I also plan on studying different religions and adopting traditions which feel appropriate such as lent. Bibliography Matthew, Warren World Religions Wadsoworth Publishing Company, Belmont, CA 1999. Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization Thomson Learning Inc., Belmont, CA 2003. http://citlink.net/~tocoons/Institutions/christian.htm http://www.evsc.k12.in.us/curriculum/socstud/standard/WHpower.pdf