Is Judaism the Truth — or Just My Upbringing?

Eli asks: “Hello, Rabbi. Recently I’ve been thinking: what would have happened if I had been born Christian? Or Muslim? Or into any other religion? I probably wouldn’t have been able to examine what every religion in the world says. And even if I did, I’d likely turn to the religious leaders of that faith, and they would tell me to continue believing what I received from my parents. 

How can I know that I don’t believe in Judaism only because that’s how my parents raised me? After all, I could just as easily have been Christian, grown up on Christian stories as if they were true, and now be asking a priest. I’d really appreciate your answer.”

***

Shalom Eli,

Let us begin by saying that the very fact that you are asking this wise question is itself testimony to the greatness of your soul.

Most Christians and Muslims live by what might be called the “herd instinct” and do not ask questions about faith. They are not troubled by what might have happened had they been born into another religion. In fact, you’ll find that their religions often forbid asking such questions and instead demand blind faith in their leaders.

The fact that you are seeking God, investigating seriously, searching for the meaning of life, and unwilling to compromise on truth means that God Himself would guide you to His true Torah from anywhere in the world.

In your search for truth, you can easily arrive at the following facts:

1. Mass Revelation

It is obvious that the Creator, who fashioned humanity with such profound wisdom, would not give His Torah in a way that any individual could easily fabricate. Every respectable psychiatric institution has at least ten people who claim to speak with God, fairies, aliens, or monsters. There are well-known cases of schizophrenia in which people imagine things that do not exist in reality.

From our understanding of the physics of the universe and the anatomy of living beings, we know the Creator is wise. Therefore, we know with absolute certainty that God would not give His Torah in a foolish manner to a single individual who could simply lie to the masses.

For this reason, the two religions that imitated Judaism — Christianity and Islam, are immediately disqualified, as both are based on claims by a single individual who said that God appeared to him privately (in a cave, according to Islam) and gave him laws and commandments.

Judaism, by contrast, is the only religion that claims national-scale miracles witnessed by an entire people: the Exodus from Egypt, the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, the revelation at Mount Sinai, forty years of miracles in the desert, the miraculous conquest of the Land, and more.

Judaism alone withstands the tests of history and logic, because it alone claims a Torah given in a mass divine revelation. From this, it follows that Judaism is certainly true.

2. Christianity and Islam Acknowledge the Jewish Torah

There are only three religions in the world that believe in one God without body or physical form: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Christianity and Islam arose after Judaism and are based upon it. Both Christians and Muslims believe in the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Mount Sinai as described in the Bible.

Thus, Jewish history must be true even according to the two religions that imitated it. While Christianity and Islam acknowledge Jewish history, Judaism does not acknowledge theirs. Christians believe in Moses and the prophets of Israel, but Jews do not recognize Jesus as a prophet. Muslims believe in Moses and the Torah, but Jews do not recognize Muhammad as a prophet.

So the probability that Judaism is true stands at 100%, while Christianity and Islam rest on shaky ground.

Imagine a father and a son. The father says: “My path is the absolute truth, and my son deviated from the truth I taught him.” The son says: “I agree that my father’s path was absolute truth, but later I rejected it and discovered a new truth.” Whom do you believe — the father or the son?

Christianity and Islam are like rebellious sons of Judaism. They admit that the Jewish people received the Torah from God at Mount Sinai and that Israel was the chosen people. And yet, they later rebelled and invented new paths. Anyone sincerely searching for truth will return to the source, not to the imitation.

3. Blind Faith vs. Historical Testimony

Both Christians and Muslims admit that they believe in their prophets — Jesus and Muhammad, through blind faith in texts, not through the historical testimony of an entire nation.

Christians themselves admit that Jesus did not write the New Testament. It was written by anonymous disciples nearly a century after his death. Christianity is therefore not based on national history, but on blind belief in individuals.

Similarly, the Quran was not written by Muhammad, who, according to the Quran itself, was illiterate, but by his followers, who transmitted and edited it orally over centuries. Again, this is not a history of mass miracles, but blind faith in individuals.

Neither Christianity nor Islam has holidays like Passover or Shavuot that proclaim: “Our ancestors all saw these miracles with their own eyes.” All they can say is: “We believe the stories told by the disciples of Jesus or Muhammad.”

A truth-seeker will not choose a religion that demands blind faith from the outset.

4. Would the True God Change His Mind?

Christianity and Islam both accept the Torah and the Jewish prophets. They believe God chose Israel at Mount Sinai, but claim that later God “changed His mind” and chose them instead.

Is it logical to believe that the eternal God, who knows the future, would choose a nation, give it a Torah through overwhelming miracles, declare it the chosen people — and later regret His choice, abandon that nation, and choose another without another Mount Sinai–level revelation?

There is no logic in claiming that God would change His mind, abandon His chosen people, or replace His Torah.

5. The Torah Is Written as History, Not Myth

The Jewish Torah is unique among religions because it is written as detailed history: names, genealogies, dates, places, and geography — all hallmarks of serious historiography.

By contrast, the New Testament and the Quran read like folklore, lacking historical precision and documentation.

The Torah does not ask for blind faith; it presents itself as historical record.

6. The Torah as the Manufacturer’s Manual

Other religions contain very few laws — mostly general moral guidelines. Islam has five basic obligations; Christianity has even fewer. This simplicity explains their broad appeal.

By contrast, the Torah contains hundreds of detailed laws governing civil law, criminal law, family law, moral law, national law, and more — exactly what one would expect from a true “manufacturer’s manual” given by the Creator of humanity.

7. The Jewish People Are Unlike Any Other Nation

Every Jewish child has experienced a Passover Seder and heard of the miracles of the Exodus. Every child knows that Shavuot commemorates the revelation at Mount Sinai, when God spoke to an entire nation.

Only Israel claims a history of public divine revelation: the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the sea, forty years of miracles in the desert, the fall of Jericho, and fulfilled prophecies throughout history.

Other religions are based on individuals claiming private revelation. Christianity and Islam not only acknowledge Jewish history — they tried to build upon it, because it is the original and authentic source.

The Jewish people were persecuted by every major empire — Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, Germans, and survived them all.

Israel was exiled and returned to its land through open miracles, exactly as foretold in ancient prophecies preserved by the Jewish people for 3,300 years.

The Jewish people were never foolish or naïve, and Jewish sages throughout history were brilliant, ethical, and intellectually honest.

Many Jewish sages were also scientists and philosophers who debated Christians and philosophers, mastered external wisdoms, and nevertheless concluded that the Torah alone is true (Kuzari, Guide for the Perplexed, Duties of the Heart, and more).

8. Only a True Torah Could Shape World History

The Torah is the most influential and widely disseminated book in human history. Christianity does not accept Islam, and Islam does not accept Christianity — but both accept the Torah of the Jews.

This is no coincidence. It is fitting that God would spread His true Torah throughout the world so that, at the time of redemption, all humanity would recognize His truth and His chosen people.

We know the Torah is true because of a continuous, reliable history spanning thousands of years — documenting the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the sea, forty years of miracles in the desert, fulfilled prophecies over millennia, and above all, the mass revelation at Mount Sinai.

Israel is the only nation to receive divine instruction directly from God in front of an entire people. No Torah has influenced the world as deeply as the Torah of Israel.

The very existence of the Jewish people testifies to divine providence. Israel alone survived countless attempts at annihilation, dispersion across the world, centuries without land, government, or army — while mighty empires vanished. After two thousand years of exile, Israel returned to its land, exactly as foretold in ancient prophecies preserved by the Jewish people for 3,300 years.

We know the secret of our eternity.

There are countless historical reasons to believe in the Torah and to know with certainty that the Torah of Israel is true. There is no religion on earth that can even begin to compete with the historical and miraculous authenticity of the Torah of Israel and the Jewish people.