Jinja is a Java-like programming language with a formal semantics designed to exhibit core features of Java. It is a compromise between realism of the language and tractability and clarity of the formal semantics. A big and a small step operational semantics are defined and shown equivalent. A type system and a definite initialization analysis are defined and type safety of the small step semantics is shown. The whole development has been carried out in the theorem prover Isabelle/HOL.