Where did the Jewish people come from?

Answer 1

Jews are an ethno-religious group whose origins lie in the southern Levant, but the Jews spread to most of Europe and the Arab World prior to the Holocaust and the Creation of the State of Israel.

Answer 2

According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish people, emigrated from the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia. Genesis says that the people then went into Egypt, where they spent four hundred years before travelling to Canaan.

However, the Hebrew language shows little similarity to the language of the ancient Mesopotamian languages and none of the Egyptian influences that would be expected after such a long period in captivity. Instead, ancient Hebrew was a West Semitic language, very close to the language of the Canaanite people they were supposed to have conquered. For reasons of language, culture and archaeological evidence, scholars now say that the Hebrew people were West SEmitic settlers who gradually and peacefully arrived in the Canaanite hinterland, probably around 1250 BCE. They may have emigrated from the coastal cities of Canaan.

Jewish answer:

The Jewish people are descendants of Abraham, whose Semitic ancestors lived in the Fertile Crescent and who lived most of his life in the Middle Eastern country of Israel (Canaan) 3800 years ago. Abraham is called a Hebrew (Genesis ch.14) because Hebrew (Ivrim) means descendants of Eber (Ever). Ever was an anscestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10-11) and the early Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates.

Abraham gave birth to Isaac and Isaac gave birth to Jacob. Jacob was later renamed Israel (Genesis ch.35), which is why we're called Israelites. There were 12 sons of Israel, who formed the 12 tribes. The Israelites worshiped One God. One thousand years after Jacob, the bulk of the tribes were exiled to points unknown. The only tribes left were Judah, Benjamin and part of Levi. The few who remained from the other tribes joined the Tribe of Judah; and modern Jews are mainly descendants of this tribe (the word "Jew" comes from Judah). Even now, through DNA analysis, Jewish communities worldwide have been shown to come from a common Middle Eastern tribe. The Cohanim, a family of the tribe of Levi, also share common genetics.

Today, "Judaism" and "Jewish" refer to all members of the tribes of Israel.

Answer 3

Divide it into two categories, the Jews and the Arabs

Jews.

There was a small group of endemic Jews who were supplemented by the Halutzim or Zionist Pioneers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When the British Mandate came in full force in the 1920s and 1930s, many more Halutzim (mostly from Western Europe) came to the territory. The numbers of Halutzim arriving after 1939 was lessened due to the British White Papers of 1939.

However, the largest waves of immigration came from Holocaust survivors who came in hope of starting a Jewish state after the World War II. These were primarily Polish, Russian, French, German, and Dutch. They came to make a new state, and did so in 1948. Those types of European Jews are classed as "Ashekanizi".

The second almost simultaneous wave (1950-1952) of immigrants to Israel was the "Sephardi" or "Mizrahi" population from countries such as Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, and Egypt. They were forced out of many of these countries by the governments due to increasing hostilities towards Jews. Thousands of people fled Iran as the people became more and more violent.

There is also a large population of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, who were rescued from Ethiopia in a huge air operation named "operation Moses" back in the 1980s. They now number in the tens of thousands. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, over one million Russians (of whom the majority were Jews) immigrated to Israel.

There are also many Israelis who are immigrants from America, France, UK and Russia who have moved their since the end of the Second Intifada (2005-On), for a better life or ideological reasons.

Arabs

Most of the Arabs living in Israel are a medley mixture of the surrounding Arab states in addition to the descendants of those Arabs who were there before the Halutzim arrived. In the 1920s, 30s, and 40s there was a corresponding increase of the Arab population to complement the increase in Jewish population. These Arabs immigrated to Israel from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in order to look for work, as the growing Jewish population was wealthy and payed good wages. The medley of indigenous Arabs and these new migrants people became the "Palestinians" that we now know today. The Palestinians who remained in Israel in 1949 have become naturalized as the "Israeli Arabs", who make 19% of Israel's population.

Answer 4

The original Hebrew people were the family of the Biblical Abraham.

At around 70 years of age, Abraham moved himself and his family away from the

place where he grew up ... the place was called "Ur Kahsdim" in the Hebrew Bible,

and translated into English as "Ur of the Chaldees"; several archaeologists identify

it with the city of Ur in present-day Iraq.

Abraham and his family migrated to the land of Canaan, where they and the next

two generations lived and were buried. That area is known as "Israel" today.

About 200 years after Abraham's migration to Canaan, the entire family migrated

to Egypt. They became oppressed and enslaved there, escaped only after another

230 years had passed, and spent 40 years in the deserts of Sinai and what is now

Jordan, before returning to their homeland in Canaan.

Their numbers and their power waxed and waned in the 3300 years since then,

but it never quite shrank to zero, and there has been a continuous Hebrew presence

there throughout history.

Answer 5

The Jewish people and their Israelite ancestors are descendants of Abraham, whose Semitic forefathers lived in the Fertile Crescent and who lived most of his life in the Middle Eastern country of Israel (Canaan) 3800 years ago.

Abraham is called a Hebrew (Genesis ch.14) because "Hebrews" (Ivrim) means descendants of Eber (Ever). Ever was a Semite and an ancestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10-11), and the early Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia.

In 1934-39, excavations were conducted at ancient Mari on the Euphrates River. They found that ancient towns were named after the ancestors of Abraham:

The city of Nahor was found near the city of Harran which exists to this day. Equally clear signs of early Hebrew residence appear in the names of other towns nearby: Serug (Assyrian Sarugi), Terah (Til Turakhi, "Mound of Terah"), and Peleg (Paliga, on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Habur). All these names are found in Genesis ch.11.

In Ur, Abraham first repudiated idolatry. He then sojourned in Harran (Syria) for several years, and then lived in Canaan (Israel). It was in Canaan that Abraham 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 chosen son was Isaac (Genesis ch.21). Isaac's son Jacob was blessed by God, who renamed him, calling him Israel (Genesis ch.35), which is why Jews are also called Israelites.

This tradition has been substantiated by DNA analysis of Jewish communities all over the world, showing them to be inter-related and of Middle Eastern origin. The Cohanim, a family of the tribe of Levi, also share common genetics.

We possess the names and dates of our ancestors and leaders in an unbroken chain for 3800 years.

In 2000, Nicholas Wade concluded that his DNA study "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, evidence of relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition."

Answer 6

Biblical tradition says that the Israelites were descended from Abraham, who migrated out of Ur in Mesopotamia.

However, there is now a high degree of consensus among scholars and historians that the Israelites were really Canaanites who left the coastal cities during the the economic and social decline of late bronze age Canaan in the thirteenth century BCE and settled in the Palestinian hinterland. H. G. M. Williamson (The World of Ancient Israel, The concept of Israel in transition) says this internal migration coincided with the development of new agricultural techniques which enabled increasing numbers to withdraw from the city states and to start settling in the hitherto sparsely populated hill country of Judah and Samaria.

Answer 7

The Jewish people and their Israelite ancestors are descendants of Abraham, whose Semitic forefathers lived in the Fertile Crescent and who lived most of his life in the Middle Eastern country of Israel (Canaan) 3800 years ago.

Abraham is called a Hebrew (Genesis ch.14) because "Hebrews" (Ivrim) means descendants of Eber (Ever). Ever was a Semite and an ancestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10-11), and the early Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia.In 1934-39, excavations were conducted at ancient Mari on the Euphrates River. They found that ancient towns were named after the ancestors of Abraham:
The city of Nahor was found near the city of Harran which exists to this day. Equally clear signs of early Hebrew residence appear in the names of other towns nearby: Serug (Assyrian Sarugi), Terah (Til Turakhi, "Mound of Terah"), and Peleg (Paliga, on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Habur). All these names are found in Genesis ch.11.

In Ur, Abraham first repudiated idolatry. He then sojourned in Harran (Syria) for several years, and then lived in Canaan (Israel). It was in Canaan that Abraham 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 chosen son was Isaac (Genesis ch.21). Isaac's son Jacob was blessed by God, who renamed him, calling him Israel (Genesis ch.35), which is why Jews are also called Israelites.

Jacob had 12 sons, who fathered the 12 Israelite tribes. The Israelites worshiped One God.

One thousand years after Jacob, ten of the tribes were exiled by the Assyrians, to points unknown. The only complete tribes left were Judah and Benjamin; plus part of Levi. The few thousands who remained from the other tribes joined the Tribe of Judah; and modern Jews are mostly descendants of Judah (hence the word "Jew").

This tradition has been substantiated by DNA analysis of Jewish communities all over the world, showing them to be inter-related and of Middle Eastern origin. The Cohanim, a family of the tribe of Levi, also share common genetics.

We possess the names and dates of our ancestors and leaders in an unbroken chain for 3800 years.

In 2000, Nicholas Wade concluded that his DNA study "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, evidence of relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition."

See also the Related Links.

Link: Archaeology

Link: What race were the Israelites?

Link: Jewish ancestry

Answer 8

Israel is the name of Abraham's grandson, Jacob, after he was chosen by God to be the leader of a nation. His descendants were called "the children of Israel" in The Bible.