Judaism or at least Jewish concepts of God might be more familiar to many members of Western civilization than the idea of God or gods that appears in Hinduism, given the relation between Judaism and Christianity. The concept of God according to the Jewish tradition is a complex and shifting element of the religion, however with the God directly observable in the Old Testament colored by the rabbinical commentary of the Talmudic period, leading to a multifaceted God that covers many of the seemingly paradoxical elements with which this God is imbued by many today (Avery-Peck, n.d.). God is at once all-pervasive and all-powerful, able to directly intervene in human affairs and to direct even the most minute of processes or actions, while at the same time the Jewish God is unknowable and indiscernible, working in "mysterious ways" and avoiding direct involvement in human affairs, for the most part (Avery-Peck, n.d.; Coogan, 2008). At the same time, God both rewards and punishes mankind through the manipulation of history (Avery-Peck, n.d.).

In Hindu, the concept of God or gods is also multifaceted and complex, which is clearly demonstrated in the fact that it is not always possible to talk of a single deity but at other times this is the most appropriate perspective (Kesarcodi-Watson, 1976). For Hindus, there is one eternal substance or power that fills the universe, and indeed is the universe, called Brahmin, and this Brahmin is essentially equivalent to the Judeo-Christian concept of God, especially when it takes the form of a single entity, Isvara (Kesarcodi-Watson, 1976; Woodburne, 1925). The devas, which are commonly thought of as gods, are more accurately described as "angels," in a certain sense, in that they are lesser than Brahmin even though they are more rigidly codified as conscious entities (Kesarcodi-Watson, 1976). If Brahmin can be thought of as the "true" God of Hindu or the closest analog to the Judeo-Christian concept of God, then it can be seen that the Jewish and Hindi traditions are not as far removed as might initially be thought. Both God and Brahmin are all-pervasive and ultimately all-powerful, and both are singular and unified in a cohesive consciousness or substance (Coogan, 2008; Avery-Peck, n.d.; Woodburne, 1925; Kesarcodu-Watson, 1976).

There are undoubtedly many differences between the Jewish and Hindu religions. The concept of God in these two religions is far from uniform and is one area of significant theological and philosophical differences between the two religions. At the same time, there are some significant similarities between the Hindu and Jewish concepts of God that are worthy of noting and considering.