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Judaism is a monotheistic, non-Trinitarian world religion which was founded upon that is comprised by those "who define themselves as Jews in positive relation to the traditions formulated by the rabbis of the Talmud,"<ref>Norman Solomon, ''Judaism: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford, 1996), p. 4.</ref>. The Talmudic tradition begins around AD 200, although the Palestinian Talmud is not completed until c. AD 450, and the 613 laws given Babllonian Talmud c. AD 550. By this definition, Judaism excludes the Hebrew religion of the Old Testament, as well as first-century sects such as the Sadducees, Samaritans, Essenes, and Jewish Christians. Judaism nonetheless sees itself as an heir to the religion of Abraham and the covenant made with Moses by God during the events of the Israelite journey to the Promised Land from Egypt.
After the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in AD 70, the Jewish inhabitants of Judea were scattered throughout the empire, setting up their homes in Europe and North Africa. It was the destruction and subsequent diaspora that gave rise to the reforms which established Rabbinical Judaism.
