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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
The proper pronunciation is Zevulun; very brief "e," and the "u" pronounced as in "roof." Z-voo-loon.The name, as indicated in Genesis 30:20, is a combination of two Hebrew words, zeved and zevul, and also alludes to a third word, zevel.
Zeved="gift-portion."
Zevul - this is a poetic synonym for "habitation."
Zevel - that which makes fertile.
In giving this name, Leah was thanking God for the gift of fertility (this was her sixth son) and also expressing the hope that Jacob would share her tent more (Jacob had more than one wife).
Why did the Israelites need 40 years to reach Canaan?
Technically, they didn't. The delay was imposed by God, because the Israelites weren't sufficiently confident in God's promise to help them take the Holy Land (Numbers ch.13-14). See also:
How do the common beliefs and history unite the Jewish people?
Language is your answer. It is responsible that the father hands down God to their children and they did it through language--the Word of God. I will rephrase the answer; the Word of God separated the Jews and then united them 2,000 years later. Read the Word of God, the same answer I just given is in it.
Another answer:Their common history unites the Jews by giving them a common identity and shared experiences: a national personality.
The common beliefs unite the Jews with a shared creed and ways of thought and aspirations.
How many years was Israel free from harsh rule after the Maccabean revolt?
It depends on how you perceive the Hasmonean Dynasty (the dynasty set up by the Maccabees). Most of its Kings were relatively draconian and authoritarian, but they were Jewish. Israel was not under foreign occupation for barely more than a century before being conquered by Rome.
How were Jews treated in the 1600s?
In the 16th century, Jews thrived economically and took part in the settler movement of Poland.
Why was Zionism a controversial movement?
Zionism is and was controversial for three different reasons:
Nationalism: The concept of Nationalism today and in the late 1800s was still very controversial. It holds that each people has the right to govern its own future and stands in stark contrast of the idea of a global community or cosmopolitanism.
Diasporic Nationalism: Zionism is a unique case in nationalism, since in most cases, nationalism occurs where the ethnicity desiring a homeland is already the majority population of that region. The Jews were not a majority in any region of the world (with the possible exception of Thessaloniki, Greece). As a result, the formation of a Jewish Nation would require a vast immigration to a certain area of the world, upsetting a local majority and denying their right to self-determination. This is eventually what happened to the Palestinians. Albeit, the Palestinians were not innocent in this, but it was a natural outgrowth of Diasporic Nationalism.
"Religious" Nationalism: Many people confuse the term "Jewish" in "Jewish State" with the religion of Judaism. Jews are an ethno-religious group. The term "Jewish" in "Jewish State" refers exclusively to the ethnic character of Jews. Herzl, Jabotinsky, Ahad Ha'am, and Weizmann were all Atheists or Agnostic Zionists. However, many incorrectly see the "Jewish" in "Jewish State" as referring to the religious aspect of Judaism and are bothered by the creation of a state that is inherently religious. (However, they seem not to have this reaction to "Islamic States", "Hindu States", and "Buddhist States" which are clearly religious terms.)
What was the Christian policy towards the Jews in middle ages?
Jews were considered second-class citizens at best. Even during times of quiet, they were subject to ostracism from various guilds of craftsmen, extra taxation, and the occasional burning of Jewish texts. In the worst instances, there were massacres, pogroms, and expulsions. See also:
What were Ze'ev Jabotinsky's ideas and what did he do?
Ze'ev Jabotinsky was considered to be a Right-Wing Zionist in the Pre-Israel Period. This means that he supported an aggressive and persistent settlement of European Jews in Ottoman and British Palestine. He personally assisted settlement and petitioned governments (especially the British government) to allow for the growth of a Jewish State in British Palestine. He is considered one of Israel's "Founding Fathers" and the spiritual father of the Israeli Right-Wing today.
How did the exiles maintain their identity in Babylon?
To keep their identity they continued to observe religious laws, celebrate holidays, and worship as they had in Judah.
1) Reading the Torah in the synagogue and studying it at other times. In those communities where there were zero Torah-scholars, Judaism slowly died out.
2) Keeping the laws and beliefs of the Torah. Those who didn't do this, such as the (later) Hellenizers and Sadducees, went lost.
3) Maintaining vibrant Jewish communities, with communal prayer and study, mutual help, maintaining ties between the various communities, etc.
4) Remembering God's covenant and promise that the Jews and Judaism will never cease.
How many Jews were still alive after the Holocaust including the ones not in death camps all along?
The number of Jewish survivors from concentration camps, labour camps and the like still alive at the end of World War 2 in Europe is estimated at 200,000. (Please see the related question).
However, if you are asking how many Jews in areas that were under Nazi rule at one time or other during World War 2 survived, the figure would be much higher - probably around 1.5 million.
When did Judah come back to Israel?
The wording of this question is confusing. "Judah" was the name of the country and after Judah was conquered by the Assyrians, it never asserted independence again under that name. "Israel" is also confusing because Israel was the kingdom to the North of Judah whose inhabitants stopped associating themselves with that State by the time of the Persian Empire.
If your question means to say "When were the Judeans allowed to return to Canaan following the Babylonian Exile?" the answer is the 520s-510s BCE.
How does the Golan Heights dispute relate to Spain?
The Golan Heights dispute has nothing at all to do with Spain.
The Golan Heights is officially Syrian territory that Syrians held until 1967 when they lost it to Israel in the Six-Day War. Syria has been campaigning ever since to get the Golan Heights back from Israel. Israel, however, has (by its own laws) annexed the territory and shows little if any intent on returning it to Syria.
How many Jewish people are there in Nepal?
The permanent Jewish community in Nepal is very small and consists largely of
diplomatic officials and Chabad staff. Nepal established diplomatic relations with
Israel in 1960. Among Jews, Nepal is known as the premier destination of Israeli
backpackers.
In 1986, the Israeli embassy in the Thamel section of Katmandu began the tradition
of holding a Passover Seder for Israeli travelers. In 1999, the Chabad organization
picked up this tradition and became the main organizer of this annual event. In 2006,
the annual Chabad seder hosted 1,500 participants. The acting Chief Rabbi of Chabad
in Nepal is Chezky Lifshitz. In November 2007, Rabbi Lifshitz announced the opening
of a second permanent Chabad house in the city of Pokhara, to assist Jewish travelers
in that area.
Does Jewish tradition support the claim that Ashkenazim are descended from Khazars?
No. That is an anti-Semitic slur made popular in a screed written by a Jewish Jew-hater named Koestler.
1) We have an unbroken tradition of 3800 years with thousands of names and dates, which among other things identifies us (the Jews) as the descendants of the ancient Israelites. American and Russian Jews have the names and bloodlines of our families' Ashkenaz Jewish ancestors for over eleven centuries. The early Ashkenazi families were brought to the Frankish empire 1200 years ago by Charlemagne from the Jewish communities of Italy (Bari, Lucca and Otrento). Note also that converted groups do not contain any Kohens or Levites, whereas the Ashkenazim and Sephardim all have good percentages of them.
2) Non-Jewish tradition and scholarship: here too, the great majority (ancient historians and recent scholarship) verify that the Jewish people are who they say they are.3) Science: recently, worldwide DNA analyses have confirmed that today's Jews are related to each other and originated in the Middle East. Among other things, the "from the Khazars" canard has been debunked. A 2013 study of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA found no significant evidence of Khazar contribution to the Ashkenazi Jewish DNA, as would be predicted by the Khazar hypothesis.Although there is no historical or DNA evidence to support the Khazar idea, it is still popular among anti-Semites.
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."
How many Israelites came out of Egypt according to Jewish tradition?
The mature men were about 600,000 (Exodus 12:37), plus the 22,000 Levites (Numbers 3:39). To this must be added the converts (Exodus 12:38), and the women and children. Based on the ratio of firstborn to younger children (Numbers ch.3), it can be seen that the children were numerous. Estimates for the total number are usually given at two million or more.
Can someone live outside Israel and be a Zionist?
Quite easily.
Being a Zionist only means one thing: Believing that the Jews have a right to an independent State and that this State should be in the Land of Israel. A person can hold this belief regardless of whether he is in Israel or not and can disagree with this belief regardless of whether he is in Israel or not. The largest group of Zionists (numerically) are American Christian Zionists.
There are three reasons why non-Israeli Zionists are more visible than Greek Nationalists or Turkish Nationalists operating outside of their home countries.
1) People believe that Zionism is something other than the definition given above. Usually people incorrectly use Zionism to refer to the Anti-Semitic depictions of a worldwide Jewish Cabal or some other conspiracy theory. However, that is not what Zionism is.
2) The State of Israel was a national state created by the Return of a People to their Native Land as opposed to the Greek and Turkish States which were created roughly where each group already had a majority. As a result, it required a huge initial demographic shift.
3) Israel is a more "controversial" state than either Greece or Turkey because more countries use hatred of Israel as a release valve for their citizens' hatred of their own government's poor record.
Who exiled the Jews and the Palestinians?
The Jews: 1) Around 2600 years ago, the Assyrians forcibly exiled the Ten Israelite tribes to points now unknown. A small percentage of each of these tribes is still among us, but most of them were exiled.
2) Around 2500 years ago, the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and forcibly exiled the remainder of Israel's population to Babylonia.
While the Jews were permitted to return to Israel (Judea) seventy years later, and thousands did so (and rebuilt the Temple), most of them remained in Babylonia, while others began to settle in North Africa, southern Europe, the Crimea, throughout the Near East and elsewhere.
3) In 68 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. The Romans did not force the Jews out of Judea in a single expulsion. Rather, the Romans expelled them from Jerusalem only; and the rest of Judea lost its Jews slowly, over a period of centuries, as conditions in Judea became too harsh. Even then, we have records of Jewish communities who lived in Judea (Palestine) during the entire period of the last two millenia.
Those Jews who left Judea went to southern Europe, North Africa, Arabia, the Near East, and (slowly) further afield (especially throughout Europe).
What does Zionism have to do with the current state of affairs in the Gaza strip?
In a very distant way, Zionism is responsible for the existence of Israel. Without Israel, there would be a unitary Arab State in Palestine and therefore no blockade problem in Gaza.
However, Zionism has no direct connection to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
