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History of Judaism
The History of Judaism is the history of the Jewish people, their religion and culture, tracing back to the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the 18th c. BCE. The earliest mention of Israel as a people was discovered in an inscription on the Merneptah Stele from the 1200s BCE.
1,396 Questions
When did King Herod the Great conquer Jerusalem?
On the death of Herod the Great in the year of our Lord's birth, his son Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee, and reigned until A.D. 39, when he was banished by the Emperor Caligula. Galilee then came under the rule of Herod Agrippa I, who died in A.D. 44.
How was Roman Rule in Judaea structured before Jesus?
Originally, following the intervention of Pompey, a roman military commander, in a civil war in 64 BC, Judea was a Roman client state with kings supported by Rome. Rome intervened when members of the royal family tried to depose their favoured king. After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans captured Jerusalem and Herod the Great was appointed king of Judea in 37 or 36 BC. In 6 AD the emperor Augustus deposed Herod's son, Herod Archelaus on the request of the Jews, who were fed up with the rule of the Herodian dynasty. He annexed Judea to the Roman Empire. It became a satellite province of the Roman province of Syria. It was governed by a prefect who administered the territory on behalf of the governor of Syria. The prefects were military men who governed parts of larger provinces. They acted as representatives of the empire they were responsible for the collection of imperial taxes. They also had limited judicial functions. Other civil administration functions were lay in the hands the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem and its president the High Priest. The Sanhedrin was a council which acted as a court.
After Jesus' days, from 44 AD, Judea was governed by procurators, who were civil officials.
What aspect of the israelite culture had the greatest impact on western civilization?
Monotheism, the Ten Commandments, the Torah and the Prophets.
Judaism is egalitarian and values all individuals, both men and women. The wealthy have no privileges; and the poor are valued, treated well and their opinions listened to. (Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had any legal status.)
Judaism applied laws, and rules of moral behavior, to all its members equally. The laws of Moses form much of Western legal background.
Quote:
"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations" (John Adams, 2nd President of the United States).
"Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights, but we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both Divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and of collective conscience, and social responsibility" (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity).
What is the Exodus symbol in Jewish history?
Many mitzvoth (Torah commands) have, among their other purposes, the remembering of the Exodus. These include the Sabbath, the holy days, the tefillin (phylacteries), the redemption of the first born, the prohibition against inaccurate weights and measures, and more.
What is the temperature in ancient Canaan?
For the most part it is a land of sunshine and good weather with constant heavy dews.
January. (Shebat, New Year for trees). This is the coldest month, which brings with it dark and gloomy days and heavy rainfalls.
February. (Adar, almonds blooming). During this month rainy days and sunny days alternated frequently. This is why the Arabs would call this month "the one eyed" because it had a dark face on one side and a bright one on the other. They would also say "February has no bounds" and "the storms have the smell of summer in it." During this month the almond trees begin to blossom and the late barley seeds are sown.
March. (Nisan, beginning of barley harvest). This month had much sunshine but very heavy winds. The rains of March and April are known in Scripture as the "latter rains", which supplied nourishment to the barley and wheat crops before they are "white for harvest." Sometimes this month would receive the heaviest rainfall, the apricot and almond trees would show off their beauty.
April. (Iyyar, barley harvest). This was called the month of flowers, and it was the greenest and considered the most beautiful of all the months. Many times during this month the dry desert winds would blow in for three days at a time, melting the snow, and quickening the vegetation. During this month the harvesting begins in the Jordan valley and on the coastal plain. The fruit trees are in blossom and show their young foliage as the peach, pomegranate, olive, and many more.
May. (Sivan, wheat harvest). During the month of May the heat magnifies and the rain ceases for about five months. Because of the change in landscape of this hot month Jesus may have drawn His analogy "the grass withers and the flowers fade away." Also in May the harvesting begins in the plains and the lands, the spring fruits are ready, the green almonds, apricots, plums, and the vines are in blossom.
June. (Tammuz, harvesting). During June the land for the most part becomes barren and parched, and harvesting continues in the highlands.
July. (Av, grapes, figs and olives are ripe). During this month the intense summer heat is cooled by the westerly breezes and the commoners are busy on their threshing floors.
August. (Elul, vintage begins). This is the hottest month of the year, and even on the coast it is 90 degrees in the shade, and much hotter inland. During this month the grapes, figs, peaches, apples, and pears ripen.
September. (Tishri, early rains, plowing). During September the summer heat is intensified by the "siroccos" or desert winds, which can last much longer than the winds of spring. The farmers would dry their figs for winter and would make their grapes into raisins, syrup, and wine. The pomegranates and bananas would ripen. Usually around the end of September would be the first shower after a long summer drought.
October. (Heshvan, wheat, barley sowing). Farmers would be finishing with their grape and fig harvests, olives would be gathered, the fattened sheep would be slaughtered, and the sugarcane and dates would ripen, plowing would begin and the rains would loosen up the hard dry ground. During October were the heavier rains known in Scripture as "the former rains."
November. (Chislev, plowing and sowing). During this month there would be much plowing and sowing of wheat and barley.
December. (Tebeth, rainy winter months). December would bring heavier rains and cooler weather. Fruit trees would ripen with their oranges, citrons, and lemons. The vines would be pruned.
He is non-physical, indivisible and incomparable. Jewish tradition teaches that God is beyond human comprehension; and that it is only God's revealed deeds, as He interacts with mankind and the world, that we can begin to grasp.
God is One. The concept of a dualism (as in Zoroastrianism), an independent Satan, multiple gods (polytheism; paganism) or a trinity of three in one, are all unimaginable in Judaism. Also, any belief that an intermediary between humanity and God should be used, whether as necessary or even optional, is considered heretical.
God created the universe and all existence, including time and space.
The God of Israel is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the guide of history, who delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
God is the source of morality and law, who gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
God is immanent and personal, meaning that he relates to humanity and hears our prayers. This is the basis of the Psalms and our siddur (prayerbook).
Answer:
If you meant literally, the word "HaShem" (which means "The Name" and is a circumlocution used to avoid using the actual name of the Most High) in Hebrew is spelled either like this 'ה or like this השם.
What did the Russian Jews do in response to harassment and pogroms in russia?
Many fled to Western Europe.
Why did the Roman legions sent to defeat the Jewish rebels in Masada take so long to do so?
1) Masada is located in a difficult, desert environment. 2) Masada is located on top of a high, steep slope. 3) The Jews fought back as long as they were able.
Specifically, as concerns battle tactics, the slope upwards to Masada was very difficult to traverse. The one path up the mountain was in a zigzag line that left any advancing army open to a hail of arrowfire. Additionally, as the walls of the fortress were directly on the edge of the mesa, there was no ability to use typical siege weapons outside the fortress (like siege towers or ballistas). The Romans resolved that the only way to take the fortress was to literally build a ramp up to the fortress and use a battering ram to smash the wall down. They chose an area where they were relatively protected from arrow-fire to begin building, but the construction took an incredible amount of time. Eventually, when the ramp was complete, they were finally able to break down the wall at that particular point and stormed the fortress. After that, they had a Pyrrhic victory as all of the Jewish rebels had committed mass suicide (and therefore could not be enslaved, tortured, or interrogated).
With the Allied powers defeating the Axis powers in WWII.
Did the Northern Kingdom of Israel return from captivity in Assyria?
The people of the northern kingdom did not go into captivity in Assyria. Their aristocracy was sent to rule a province in Assyria, and that province's aristocracy was imported to rule Israel. This was a technique used by the Assyrians to ensure that aristocracies were not friendly with the inhabitants and lead uprisings, rather they would keep the people quiet. The Israelite aristocracy remained in Assyria, absorbed into the population. The ten tribes of Israelites remained in Israel.
The Babylonians who took over Assyria did the same thing when they captured southern Judea - deported the aristocracy to Babylon and brought in an unsympathetic replacement one. When Persia took over from Babylon, Cyrus gave the Judean aristocracy the option of returning to try to reclaim their estates. Some did, the remainder stayed in Babylon where they were comfortably established.
What can Zionism best be described as?
jewish nationalist movement with the goal of creating a jewish homeland
What does the water libation symbolize?
According to our traditions, it was a form of prayer for rain.
What were the first stories of the Hebrew people?
1) From the time of Moses, they read the Torah (Talmud, Bava Kama 82a).
2) Even before Moses, they had Israelite parchments on which their traditions were recorded (midrash Shemot Rabbah 5:18) which they studied regularly (ibid). These included the entire book of Genesis (ibid. 5:22), which had been prophetically written by the Forefathers themselves. They may have also had such ancient texts as the Book of Yashar (see Joshua 10:13), the Book of the Generations of Man (Genesis ch.5), the Book of the Wars of the Lord (see Numbers 21:14) and others.
What was the name given to the group of scattered Israelites?
The Israelite Tribes that were scattered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. are typically called the TEN LOST TRIBES, since they lost their religion and historical identity after the Assyrian conquest and deportation.
Was Galilean time different than Judean time?
Each town kept time in accordance with local sunrise and sunset.
Answer 1
If the "religious" claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel's present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfilment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was Ralph Bunche who "negotiated" the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?
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Distributed as one of the final Four Finalists
in the competition for
2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Answer 2
It depends on how low you set the bar for being a Zionist. Most people do not consider Ralph Bunche a Zionist since he did not advocate for the creation, maintenance, or desirability of a Jewish State. There are those who say that mere recognition of the State of Israel makes someone a Zionist, which would make every non-Islamic government (and some Islamic ones like Egypt and Jordan) de facto Zionists for recognizing Israel and would make the term "Zionist" useless.
The one major pro-Israeli action that he took was negotiating a ceasefire between the Egyptian and Israeli forces in 1949 at Egypt's request. He received the Nobel Prize specifically for the way he held that negotiation. Bunche did this in his general capacity as a part of the US State Department and not to protect either Israel or Egypt. Bunche had nothing to do with UN Resolution 181 (II) which created the UN Partition Plan nor did he have anything to do with US President Truman's endorsement of Israel.
To respond to the nonsense in answer 1, the entire point of modern Zionism was that secular Jews were tired of waiting for the Messiah and therefore chose to realize their own return to the Land of Israel without waiting. The religious Zionists (which was a movement that came over 50 years later) say that the current secular country of Israel is merely the forerunner of a religious state whose establishment would bring the Messiah. It took the extra fifty years because of the exact problem of supporting a return to Israel without the Messiah in religious Judaism.
When and why was Israel founded?
Answer 1
Israel was "set up" to give the Jewish people a homeland, a nation after the Holocaust of WW2. If you remember during the war the Jews had nowhere to flee, being persecuted in the countries they had lived for generations. Some could not leave these countries. They could not get out and had no place to go from the persecution. Other European countries would not take them, some did flee to the USA in time. Because of the Holocaust and the horrendous things done to the Jewish people, after the war, through British mandate Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. Never again will they be a people without a nation with nowhere to flee. It is His will, according to the scriptures, the word of God..
Answer 2
Jews wanted their own country. So they went to Palestine, killed a lot of people, forced out a lot more people, and took the land. They changed the name from Palestine to Israel. Now the Jews have a country but the Palestinians don't. Some people call this theft; some people call it God swill.
Answer 3
Who set up Israel? - Jewish Zionists, non-Jewish Zionists, and collaborators acting in personal, national, or strategic interest.
How was Israel set up? - Israel came into being through a very interesting historical trajectory. Britain created the Mandate of Palestine with the initial intention that it would be a future Jewish state as discussed in the Balfour Declaration. In 1939, Britain issued the White Papers, limiting Jewish immigration to the land and ostensibly going back on their word. After World War II, when the colonial empires were shrinking, Britain continued to deny the Jews a right to a State. This resulted in Jewish violence in the territory. (There was already Arab violence and independence movements in the territory.) Britain ceded the question to the United Nations whose general assembly approved the binding UN Resolution 181 providing for the Declaration of a Jewish State and an Arab State in the Mandate of Palestine. The Arabs rejected this Resolution and argued that they would not consider it (even though it was International Law). The Jews, at the discretion and right given them by the UN Resolution, declared an independent Jewish State.
Why was the Jewish State set up? - To protect the Jewish people from the non-Jewish world which has consistently historically attacked them, murdered them, forcibly converted them, and made their lives a living hell in some cases. The Holocaust proved that even modern Western countries could be prone to such malicious Anti-Semitic Activities.
Who is Jesus Christ in Jewish history?
Nobody. He was not well-known in his time (most historians of the time don't mention him); and he plays no part in Judaism.
Zionism has only at its root the idea that that Jews should have self-sovereignty in their own country: Israel. Every other aspect of Zionism is at the whim of the individual who can has a number of auxiliary beliefs about how best to achieve the goal of Zionism, such as:
- Whether or not a Palestinian State helps or hinders the existence of a Jewish State?
- What is the best way to realize such a state if it is in Israel's benefit?
- What rights and privileges should Jews have in this state and should they be more, less, or equal to non-Jews?
- What should the welfare system of this country be like?
- How should the government be structured?
- What should immigration policy look like?
- How should the economy be organized and what economic activities should be incentivized?
- Many other questions.
The core tenet of Zionism cannot be changed (or else the person is no longer a Zionist) but the other pieces of a person's Zionist beliefs are completely at his discretion. Convince someone, and perhaps he'll believe like you do.
