pasithea

In Deuteronomy, I find something that makes judism different from what I know of other religions of the time. It's really the important bit.

4:27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be
left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

4:28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and
stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt
find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon
thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and
shalt be obedient unto his voice;

4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a
merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor
forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Most of the other religions of the time, as far as I know, the Gods would say something along the lines of "If you go beyond such and such, I shall no longer be able to protect you."

But this religion is saying, if you keep believing in your God, even if you're in some foreign land or lorded over by someone else, that he'll continue to protect you. Things might not be fantastic, but you won't perish.

This really gets at the core of why judism is still around. No promises of huge gifts, just survival, but for the common person, who was toiling away in rotten conditions, even survival was a pretty huge promise, but it was one people could believe in as long as they were alive.

These few passages, in my opinion, get at the core of why this religion is still around.