Shalom!

Judaism came to be around 3,500 years ago (according to tradition) in what is now modern day Palestine/Israel. Islam, Christianity and Judaism are all Abrahamic religions, Judaism being the first of the three. According to Judaism, the Jewish people and God (Yahweh) made a covenant (agreement) where God would give His protection in return for the worship of God. Jews believe that one day a Messiah sent by God will come to Earth and return the exiles, build the third Temple (the last two of which were destroyed), create a universal recognition of God and world peace through an era that will become known as the Messianic Era.

Texts

The Jewish Bible or the Tanakh is a sacred text within Judaism that consists of the Torah (Law), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings), in total making up 24 books. Other texts, specific to rabbinic literature include the Talmud (explains how to apply laws of the Torah to daily life) and Midrash, which are stories and also comments on the Torah, providing extra insight.

Who is a Jew?

In most traditions, a Jew is anyone who has a Jewish mother. Jews are an ethnicity, so an Italian Jew is culturally and legally Italian but it's up to them whether they want to affiliate themselves with being a Jew (yet ultimately Jewish law dictates that anyone with a Jewish mother is automatically a Jew). Keep in mind that while Israel is the world's only Jewish-majority country, most Jews live outside of Israel. Though, through Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel), many Jews after the founding of Israel migrated there, particularly from the Middle East and North Africa.

Some history

Various Hebrew nomad tribes lived around Around 2000 BCE in the modern day Levant region of the Middle East. They are believed to have come from the modern-day Iraq (Mesopotamia) and have crossed the rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates, sometimes forced to search for new land due to the land of their settlements drying up or because of the danger that neighboring tribes posed.

According to biblical accounts, these tribes, during one of the trips they crossed into Egypt where the Jews were forced into slavery yet eventually were let free and later around 1300 BCE settled in what is today Palestine/Israel. Later, various kingdoms like Babylon (586 BCE) and Rome (70 CE) conquered the then-kingdom of Judah. Many Jews later found themselves scattered across Asia and Europe after hundreds of years of persecution, discrimination, trade opportunities (among other reasons) which led to Jews migrating and settling throughout Asia, Africa and Europe.