Which country are Jews originally from?

Answer 1

Judaism as a religion was formed in the desert between Egypt and what is now Israel. Egyptians worshipping a single God left the country to find a land where they would not be persecuted. During the journey Moses claimed that God gave him tablets on which were inscribed the ten commandments, which created the covenant between the Jews and God. He also had the Ark of the Covenant built during this journey along with a brass snake.

The commandments are written in as Egyptian prayers were written, the ark (a box containing holy objects carried on two poles that must not touch the ground) is a common Egyptian religious item often seen in paintings found at Egyptian archaeological sites, while the brass snake or Nehushtan was a religious symbol more commonly found around Canaan. Moses is an Egytian name meaning 'child' or 'son'.

These people appear to have fused their own Egyptian beliefs with those of the Canaanites to form the basis of Judaism. The parts of the Talmud and Bible that precede the Exodus such as Genesis and the Flood are derived primarily from older Babylonian myth and variations on these stories are not specific to Judaism.

Answer

Judaism was formed by Abraham, who was born in Ur and lived most of his life in the Holy Land. Judaism had already existed for over two centuries before the Israelites descended into Egypt. The Israelites are of Western Semitic stock, unrelated to the Egyptians and Canaanites who are Hamites (Genesis ch.10).

When God gave Moses the two Stone Tablets, the event was witnessed by a few million people and was not a mere "claim."

The Israelites went to the land of Canaan not in order to "find a land", but because God commanded them to (Deuteronomy ch.1), in keeping with His covenant with Abraham (Genesis ch.15).

In the wilderness (not "desert"), the Jews constructed the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40). The copper snake (Numbers ch.21) was a minor event, and it was later destroyed by Hezekiah for a certain reason, with the permission of the Sanhedrin (sages) of his time (Talmud, Berakhot 10b).

The Jews were commanded not to imitate the ways of their Egyptian or Canaanite neighbors (Leviticus ch.18). Any similarities between the Jews and their neighbors was either a result of falling to temptation (Judges ch.1), or because certain traditions went all the way back to Noah, such as the universal tradition of the Flood.

The Torah's narrative of the Creation and the Flood makes no mention of the perverse and numerous idols in the Babylonian (and other) stories, because the Torah has preserved the original wording, which God revealed to Moses.

Answer 2

Though there must have been individual Jews in Anglo-Saxon England, there is no evidence of settled communities. But after the Norman Conquest, hundreds of Jews entered the country, mainly from Normandy where there had been settlements. As their numbers increased and they moved outside London into provincial towns, tensions rose. As early as 1144 the accusation of ritual murder was made against them, with the charge that they had killed a small boy in Norwich, 'St William'. Severe restrictions were placed upon them. They were confined to Jewries, from 1218 were obliged to wear badges, and in 1232 a domus conversorum was opened in London for proselytizing. Fresh hostility came with the crusading movement. At the accession of Richard I in 1189-a notable crusader-there were attacks on Jews in London, which spread to the provinces, and culminated in the slaughter of 150 Jews in the castle at York. Religious zeal was reinforced by greed and envy. Some of the Jews were already very wealthy-Aaron of Lincoln in the 1170s dealt with kings, archbishops, municipalities, and monasteries.

The difficulties of the Jews continued in the 13th cent. The story of William of Norwich was repeated in 1255 with the account of Hugh of Lincoln-another boy said to have been butchered, and again given saintly status. In 1290, in exchange for a large subsidy from Parliament, Edward I expelled all Jews from the kingdom, giving them three months to leave.

Between 1290 and the 1650s there were no Jewish communities of any size, though individuals slipped through, sometimes professing conversion. When approached in the 1650s, Cromwell was more sympathetic than his council, perhaps because he had made use of some Jews in espionage and diplomacy. There was no dramatic reversal of policy but Jews were allowed in once more. Their numbers and status built up and the financial and commercial revolutions of the early 18th cent. gave them enhanced possibilities. Sir Samuel Gideon was prominent in assisting the government with loans in the crisis of 1745, and his son was given an Irish peerage in 1789. But old hatreds died hard and when the Pelhams brought in a modest measure to facilitate naturalization in 1753, the public outcry was so great that they were forced to repeal it.

Catholic emancipation in 1829 left the Jews as the only religious group suffering under severe disabilities. Yet the progress of Jews in society was unmistakable. David Salomons was made sheriff of London in 1835 and lord mayor in 1855; Francis Goldsmid was the first practising Jew to be given a baronetcy in 1841. When first Lionel Rothschild (1847) and then Salomons (1851) were elected to Parliament, only to be kept out by their inability to take the oath as a Christian, the plight of the Jews was dramatized, and the law was changed in 1858. The first government minister of Jewish faith was appointed in 1871, the first judge in 1873. The obstacles facing Jews remained substantial, but they were personal and social rather than legal.

Answer 3

If you go to the extreme they were a Middle Easterntribe that lived around Israel. However they were forced to leave there nearly 2,000 years ago and since then have lived all over the world still claiming territorial rights over Israel.

Answer 4

Abraham spent most of his life in what is today Iraq but he also journeyed the whole Middle East and spent some time in Israel. The Jewish people did not become a nation till they descended to slavery in Egypt with a total of 70 descendants of Abraham and after about 200 hundred years of slavery they left Egypt and went to Israel at wich point they numbered many thousands.

Answer 5

The Jews are from an area that was known as Mesopotamia. The particular city was called Ur and it was situated between the modern city of Baghdad in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. There have been archaelogical excavations of this city amongst others in the region.

Jews believe that their ancestors came from the city of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, and the Patriarch Abraham travelled westward to the Levant, before the sons of Judah travelled to Egypt to escape a famine. Jews believe that after 400 years, Moses led their ancestors out of Egypt and into Israel.

Some scholars say that the biblical account is probably not true, and that the Israelites were really West Semitic people, closely related to the Canaanites, and that they gradually settled the Canaanite hinterland around 1250 CE. Professor Israel Finkelstein said, "Today more than 90% of scholars agree that there was no Exodus from Egypt, 80% feel that that the Conquest of the Land did not take place as described in The Bible".

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 (only Abraham himself was born in Ur).

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.

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.

Answer 6

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 "Hebrews" (Ivrim) means descendants of Eber (Ever). 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 2000, the analysis of a report by Nicholas Wade "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, showing relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition and refute theories which would allege that Jewish communities consist mostly of converts."

Answer 7

The Jewish people are descendants of Abraham, the first Jew, 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 gave birth to Isaac and Isaac gave birth to Jacob. Jacob was later renamed Israel (Genesis ch.35). 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 8

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:Where did the Jews come from?
Jewish connection to Israel

Jewish history in Israel

Answer 9

The Bible certainly tells us that the forerunner of the Jews, the patriarch Abraham, came from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia and that his descendants spent 400 years in Egypt before emerging to conquer the Canaanites and occupying the Levantine area. This tradition is what historians call the ‘Immigration’ model of Israelite history.

F. S. Frick says in 'Israel as a tribal society' (published in The World of Ancient Israel) that the ‘immigration’ model has been largely abandoned. Nearly all historians and biblical scholars say that the Hebrew people were themselves Canaanites who emerged as rural settlers in the hinterland after leaving the area of the rich coastal cities towards the end of the second millennium BCE. Around the same time, the Canaanites were driven out of the coastal region south of present-day Tel Aviv by the Philistines, but continued to occupy the coastal area to the north, with principal city of Dor.

Thus, the Hebrew ancestors of the Jews were themselves from Canaan, which they left to occupy the mountainous hinterland at the beginning of the Iron Age.

Answer 10

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.

The Israelites are of Western Semitic stock, unrelated to the Egyptians and Canaanites who are Hamites (Genesis ch.10).
When God gave Moses the two Stone Tablets, the event was witnessed by a few million people.
The Israelites went to the land of Canaan not in order to find a land, but because God commanded them to (Deuteronomy ch.1), in keeping with His covenant with Abraham (Genesis ch.15).

The Jews were commanded not to imitate the ways of their Egyptian or Canaanite neighbors (Leviticus ch.18). Any similarities between the Jews and their neighbors was either a result of falling to temptation (Judges ch.1), or because certain traditions went all the way back to Noah, such as the universal tradition of the Flood.
The Torah's narrative of the Creation and the Flood makes no mention of the perverse and numerous idols in the Babylonian (and other) stories, because the Torah has preserved the original wording, which God revealed to Moses.

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

Link: Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible