Israel

The office of prime minister of Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948, the date of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, when the provisional government was created. David Ben-Gurion, leader of Mapai and head of the Jewish Agency became Israel's first Prime Minister. The position became permanent on 8 March 1949, when the first government was formed.

Theodor Herzl, an early leader in the Zionist movement died on July 3, 1904, almost 44 years earlier.

This question is difficult to answer as the term "place" is nondescript:

State of Israel, Specifically Jerusalem

Contemplated on a worldwide basis and from a historical perspective, the holiest country in that world is Israel, and the holiest city in that country is Jerusalem. If things were as Judaism needs and yearns to see them, the holiest place in that city would be the Temple, and the holiest part of that Temple would be the Kadshey Hakadashim ("Holy of Holies"), where nobody could enter except the highest priest, and he only one moment of one day in the year. But because of our misconduct, we were driven out of our land, and we presently haven't the opportunity to worship and bring offerings to the Temple, and witness the Priests and Levites in its holy service. Currently, as the Temple is destroyed, the most sacred place in Judaism is the Western Wall, which formed part of the retaining wall structure for the Temple Mount.

The Jewish Home

In these times, although we have seen the beginning of the in-gathering, the world is still a big place, we have been dispersed for so long that Jews often regard other Jews as foreigners and strangers, and the adherents to Judaism, although only 0.2 percent of the world's population, are still found to be dispersed in 135 different countries. Though we may be strangers to each other outwardly, we resemble each other in our inward Judaism, and I will venture to answer the question as follows: Judaism exists today because as time went on and Jews first lost ten of their tribes to invasion and conquest, then lost most of their land, then their Temple, then their City, and then the right to live as a community of family in their country, they found and practiced substitutes strong enough to keep the memory of their holiness alive, and to sustain the objective of regaining the holiness of their place in the land and in the world. Today, not every Jew has the means or the practical ability to migrate to Israel, nor does every Jew even desire to migrate from his familiar place of perceived comfort and security. But even for the Jews who cannot go up to the holy places, the 'network' of holiness still weaves them together, as it has for two thousand years. They call the private home the "small Temple", and the Sabbath table is seen as the Altar. For the Jews who observe and practice Judaism in the twenty-first Century, whether in Israel or in one of the other 134 countries, the "Holy Place" is the family home, where the heritage is celebrated, the traditions are learned, and the dreams of the future are formed. Judaism will find its Temple again, by the light of the fire that glows in the Jewish home.

Synagogues

Today, we worship in synagogues. The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was our most sacred place before the Romans destroyed it.

Locations Throughout Israel and Palestine

The Western Wall and the entire city of Jerusalem is holy to Judaism. As is the Israeli cities of 'Tzfat', Tiberias & Hebron (where the Jewish Patriarchs/Matriarchs are buried).

For many reasons, ranging from fleeing persecution, to purely religious motives.

Israel is important to Jews because God promised it to Jacob (Genesis ch.28), the father of the Israelites, and his descendants. Jacob was renamed Israel by God (Genesis ch.35); and the Israelites lived in Israel during the era of the Patriarchs (220 years), during the era from Joshua until the First Destruction (850 years), during the Second Temple era (420 years) and afterwards. They remained a majority in the land for another 300 years after the Second Destruction; and a minority of Jews remained there throughout the ensuing centuries.
Israel had been the site of the First Temple, built by King Solomon; the dynasty of King David; the Second Temple, built by Ezra; and the Hasmonean Dynasty. It was where the Hebrew Prophets lived, and where the Mishna (Oral Torah) was codified. Also, many of the Torah's commands apply only in Israel.

See links:

1. God promised the land to the Israelites many times.
   
2. Jews have had a continuous presence in Israelfor over 3300 years. Of that time, the Jews were a majority in the land for around 1900 years.
   
3. The Muslims' Qur'an clearly states that Israel belongs to the Jews.

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.

Jacob, son of Isaac, in book of Genesis was renamed by God to Israel.

Genesis 35:10

God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. " So he named him Israel.

Judaism has many beliefs. Belief in one ethical God (though interpreted in many different ways today) is a central belief, but it is not the only one.

The following short list of Jewish beliefs apply mainly to traditional Jews, but modern and liberal Jews may share a these views in a similar way, or even a very different way:

• There is one God who created the universe (understood very differently by different people).
• The Torah and all its commandments come from God
• The Jews were chosen by God to receive the Torah (a view not held by reconstructionist Jews, and greatly downplayed by Reform and many Conservative Jews.
• The Land of Israel is the Jewish homeland
• Jews have a duty to love others as they love themselves
• Jews have a duty to repair the world (Tikkun Olam)
• Jews have a duty to maintain peace within their families (Shlom Habayit)

They were called 'Judges'. (For details, see the book of Judges.) Everything was ok while Joshua and the men of his generation were alive:-

Jdg 2:6...Joshua died at the age of one hundred ten. He was buried on his land in Timnath-Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. Even though Joshua was gone, the Israelites were faithful to the LORD during the lifetime of those men who had been leaders with Joshua and who had seen the wonderful things the LORD had done for Israel.

However, Israel then went on a cycle of disobedience, worshipping the gods of other nations, raids by those countries, always losing their battles, crying out to God, leaders [judges] raised up, enemies defeated, obedience while judge lived, peace, disobedience when judge died, then worshipping other gods again, etc and the whole cycle starts all over again.

Jdg 2:10 After a while the people of Joshua's generation died, and the next generation did not know the LORD or any of the things he had done for Israel.

Jdg 2:11 The LORD had brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they had worshiped him. But now the Israelites stopped worshiping the LORD and worshiped the idols of Baal and Astarte, as well as the idols of other gods from nearby nations. The LORD was so angry

Jdg 2:12 (SEE 2:11)

Jdg 2:13 (SEE 2:11)

Jdg 2:14 at the Israelites that he let other nations raid Israel and steal their crops and other possessions. Enemies were everywhere, and the LORD always let them [ie Israel's enemies] defeat Israel in battle. The LORD had warned Israel he would do this, and now the Israelites were miserable.

Jdg 2:15 (SEE 2:14)

Jdg 2:16 From time to time, the LORD would choose special leaders known as judges. These judges would lead the Israelites into battle and defeat the enemies that made raids on them.

Jdg 2:17 In years gone by, the Israelites had been faithful to the LORD, but now they were quick to be unfaithful and to refuse even to listen to these judges. The Israelites would disobey the LORD, and instead of worshiping him, they would worship other gods.

Jdg 2:18 When enemies made life miserable for the Israelites, the LORD would feel sorry for them. He would choose a judge and help that judge rescue Israel from its enemies. The LORD would be kind to Israel as long as that judge lived.

Jdg 2:19 But afterwards, the Israelites would become even more sinful than their ancestors had been. The Israelites were stubborn--they simply would not stop worshiping other gods or following the teachings of other religions.

Jdg 2:20 The LORD was angry with Israel and said: The Israelites have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They won't obey me,

Jdg 2:21 so I'll stop helping them defeat their enemies. Israel still had a lot of enemies when Joshua died,

Jdg 2:22 and I'm going to let those enemies stay. I'll use them to test Israel, because then I can find out if Israel will worship and obey me as their ancestors did.

It depends on what you are referring to.

Old Testament

The Biblical Israel was founded around 1000 BCE, by the confederation of various Israelite tribes uniting behind one monarch. According the Biblical Narrative, that monarch was Saul, who was appointed to challenge the Philistine peoples along the Mediterranean coast.

Modern State of Israel

Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948.

Some individuals claim incorrectly that UNGA Resolution 181 (II), passed on November 29, 1947, "created" a Jewish State (Israel) and an Arab State (Palestine) on the map. This is not the case. What the UN Resolution does provide for is the permission for the different ethno-religious groups in Mandatory Palestine to declare a state. In the case of most mandates, the understanding was that the mandate would eventually become independent as one new state, like Iraq or Syria had. The case of Palestine was therefore unique and needed the permission to deviate from the traditional path of independence. Because of there being two states, provisional borders had to be provided, which is why a map was used, but those borders would only come into play if both sides decided to remain at peace, which, unfortunately, was not the case. There was internecine violence between the Jewish and Arab communities of Mandatory violence from November 30, 1947 on, in what has been termed the Palestinian Civil War of 1947-1948 and is the preliminary part of the Jewish-Arab Engagement of 1947-1949. After six months of fighting, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion made the executive decision to declare independence because it would allow for Israel to negotiate for foreign weapons purchases, even though it resulted in immediate declarations of war by Israel's Arab neighbors, thus expanding the Jewish-Arab Engagement from internecine strife to a "full-on" international war.