What was the first all Jewish city in Israel?

Answer 1

There is no particular city that can be credited as being the origin of Judaism. Jerusalem obviously played a part, but the religion as a set of sacred laws could be said to have originated in the deserts of the Sinai peninsula, when Moses received Gods law at Mount Sinai and gave it to the Israelites.

However, the faith and beliefs of Moses and the Israelites pre-dated those oustanding events in Judaism's history.

In order to trace the origins of Judaism, lets start from now and work back in time. This will show whether Judaism originated in a city, or somewhere else!

JUDAISM is widespread. Worldwide there are about 15 to 18 million adherents to this faith. There are various forms of Judaism e.g. Orthodox, Haredi, Hasidim, Ashkenazi, Reform (also known as 'Liberal' and 'Progressive'), Conservative, etc. HISTORY: The fundamental history and beliefs of Judaism are contained in the Tanakh, (which Christians call the Old Testament). Jews consider these writings to be sacred. Judaism also embraces the teachings written in their Talmud, a collection of commentaries on Scriptural Law. The different parts of the Talmud were compiled by Jewish Rabbis (teachers) from the second century A.D. onwards. ANCIENT ISRAELITES AND MOSES So Judaism, as a faith, with its customs, practices and beliefs can be traced to the ancient Israelites and even further back in time. As an ethnic/group religion, a significant moment in their founding history was at Mount Sinai, when Moses received Scriptural Law for the Jews from their God. This included the ten commandments and all the other laws contained in the Torah, i.e. the first five books of the Tanank/Bible. JACOB AND JUDAH However, Judaism didn't start with Moses. Moses was an Israelite, a member of a very large tribe of Semitic people descended from a man called Jacob, who was given the name Israel by God. Jacob/Israel had twelve sons, who in turn became the progenitors of the 'twelve tribes of Israel'. One of his sons was called Judah,and who became the paternal head of the tribe of Judah. The word Judaism may have come from Judah's name. In later times a federation of Israelite tribes became collectively known as Judah. ABRAHAM'S FAITH Even so, although Jacob played a significant role in the history of Judaism, Jews consider Jacob's grandfather Abraham to be the founding patriarch of the Israelites and the Jewish faith. Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldees. (Genesis 11:28) Abraham was a prosperous man living in what was then a prosperous city, but his faith in God was so strong that he was prepared to make great personal sacrifices which showed his total trust in God. Because of Abraham's faith in God, God promised him that, through his offspring, all the nations of the earth would come to be blessed (Gen 12:3). So was Abraham the founder of the Jewish religion with its belief and faith in an invisible God who made the universe, and earth, and life and mankind? Abraham can trace his ancestry back to Noah, another righteous and faithful man of God (Gen chapters 5 to 11). One of Noah's sons was Shem, the progenitor of the Shemitic or Semitic races. Abraham came through Shem's line. NOAH, SETH AND ABEL Does this mean that Noah was the first to worship the God of the Jews? Noah was tenth in line from Adam, through Seth, one of Adam's sons. (Gen 5). Although Noah was a biological ancestor of Seth, he demonstrated the faith of Seth's brother Abel, who had been killed before Seth was born (Gen 4). Abel was favoured by God, although the Torah/Old Testament does not explicitly say why Abel met with God's special approval. Abel is given honourable mention in the New Testament as a righteous man of faith (Luke 11:48-51; Hebrews 11:4). Evidently the heart and mind of Abel was godly.

CONCLUSION: So, using Scriptural history as a basis, Abel's heart and mind would seem to be the place where faith in the God of the Jews was first demonstrated by a human. This God subsequently came to be worshipped by faithful Jews, descendants of Abel's brother, Seth.

Answer 2

It's hard to pin it down, since Abraham was a traveler (Genesis 12:1-9). He was born in the city of Ur, where he first recognized the existence of the One God.

He first gained disciples in the town of Harran.

Later, he sojourned throughout the land of Canaan, where God made a covenant with him (Genesis ch.15 & 17); and he also briefly visited Egypt.

Answer 3

The Middle East.
Abraham, tenth-generation descendant of Noah, of Hebrew lineage, was the son of Terah, uncle of Lot, father of Isaac, grandfather of Jacob, and ancestor of the Israelites. His story is in Genesis ch.11 (end), through ch.25. Jewish tradition states that he was the first to actively spread belief in One God; and it is in his merit that Jews continue to exist (Genesis 18:19, and ch.17).
Abraham came from ancestry that had been aware of God a couple of centuries earlier but had afterwards slipped into idolatry (Joshua 24:2).
By the time of Abraham, the area where he lived was full of pagan cults; they were polytheistic, worshiping multiple deities. Abraham became the first to advance the idea of ethical monotheism: the worship of One God, and the appropriate ethical code of conduct.
Nimrod, the idolatrous tyrant, had brought Abraham's father (Terah) from the Semitic ancestral seat near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates, and instated him in a position of power in his army in the royal Babylonian city of Ur, where Abraham was born. Nimrod persecuted any who would question his idolatrous cult.
The Kuzari (Rabbi Judah HaLevi, 1075-1141) states that Abraham was gifted with high intelligence; and, as Maimonides (1135-1204) describes, Abraham didn't blindly accept the ubiquitous idolatry. The whole populace had been duped, but the young Abraham contemplated the matter relentlessly, finally arriving at the conclusion that there is One God and that this should be taught to others as well. This is what is meant by his "calling out in the name of the Lord" (Genesis ch.12).
As a young man, he remonstrated with passersby in public, demonstrating to them the falsehood of their idols; and our tradition tells how he was threatened and endangered by Nimrod.
Subsequently, Terah relocated to Harran; and it is here that Abraham began to develop a circle of disciples (Rashi commentary, on Genesis 12:5).
Later, God told Abraham in prophecy to move to the Holy Land, which is where he raised his family.
He continued his contemplations, eventually arriving at the attitudes and forms of behavior which God later incorporated into the Torah given to Moses.
Abraham became the greatest thinker of all time. His originality, perseverance, strength of conviction, and influence, cannot be overestimated.
Abraham, with God's help, trounced the supremacy of the evil Nimrod.
He received God's promise of inheriting the Holy Land (Genesis ch.13).
He strove to raise a family (Genesis ch.15, 17, and 24) which would serve God (Genesis 18:19); and God eventually blessed his efforts, granting him numerous descendants (ibid., ch.16, 21 and 25), in keeping with His promise (Genesis ch.17).
Abraham founded the Jewish people and lived to see his work live on in the persons of Isaac and Jacob; and he taught many other disciples as well (Talmud, Yoma 28b).
He saved the population of the south of Canaan from invading foreign kings (Genesis 14); and he was feared by neighboring kings (ibid., ch.12 and 20).
Abraham gave tithes (Genesis ch.14), entered into a covenant with God (Genesis ch.15 and 17), welcomed guests into his home (Genesis ch.18) unlike the inhospitable Sodomites (Genesis ch.19), prayed for people (Genesis ch.18), rebuked others when necessary (Genesis ch.20), eulogized and buried the deceased (Genesis ch.23), and fulfilled God's will unquestioningly (Genesis ch.22).
He became renowned as a prince of God (Genesis 23:6).
The gravesite of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives (Genesis 49:29-32) is located in Hebron and has been known and attested to for many centuries.
All of the above practices of Abraham were based upon the ways of God, which Abraham comprehended through his contemplations. These, and similar personality traits, were the teachings of Abraham and his descendants (unlike idolatry, which had tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the idols were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior).
It is therefore clear why God expresses His love for Abraham (Isaiah 41:8) and calls Himself the God of Abraham (Genesis 26:24), and says that Abraham obeyed Him fully (Genesis 26:5). And this is why Abraham is credited with having begun the religion which became known as Judaism. (However, Abraham and his descendants observed their traditions voluntarily, until the Giving of the Torah to Moses 3325 years ago, when God made it obligatory.)

Answer 4

It really depends on what do you mean by 'Jewish' and 'Israel'.

The first city that was conquered after exodus, was Jericho and then all of C'naan.

But it was considered Israel, and the people were Israelites or 'Bney Israel' (children of Israel which is another name for Jacob).

Judea was a tribe that gained dominance and later, when the rest of the tribe were exiled into Babylon, was a Kingdom with Jerusalem as the main city.

In modern day the first All-Jewish town was Rishon Le Zion (First to Zion)

it was built in 1882 while Jerusalem had an Arab majority.

Answer 5

The first country of Judaism was and is Israel. It was in Israel that God made a covenant with Abraham and later with Isaac and Jacob, promising them that land. See also:

Abraham founded Judaism

Origin of the name Israel

Answer 6

Judaism was founded by Abraham in the Fertile Crescent.
Abraham (18th century BCE) was born in Ur (Mesopotamia; now Iraq), where he first repudiated idolatry. He then sojourned in Harran (Syria) for several years, and then lived most of his life in Canaan (Israel).
It was in Canaan that Abraham lived most of his life, made a covenant with God (Genesis ch.15), and raised a family to be the center of carrying on his traditions (Genesis 18:19).

Abraham's family carried on his teachings voluntarily. Judaism as a binding, permanent entity, was set forth between God and the Israelite nation descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at Mount Sinai in the time of Moses (Exodus ch.19, ch.24, and 34:27).All of the above places are in the ancient Fertile Crescent.

See also the Related Links.Link: Where did the Jews come from?
Link: How Judaism was founded

Link: Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible

Answer 7

Jerusalem