Causes And Effects Of The Jewish Revolts

The history of Jews in host cities often depict a story of success or of failure when it comes to relations between the Jews and the Christians in Europe. Historian Jonathan Elukin, author of Living Together, Living Apart, presents the integration as a success process with rare, and special cases, of failure. On the other side of the spectrum is historian Raymond P. Scheindlin. Scheindlin’s novel, A Short History of the Jewish People, presents many cases of integration between the Christians and Jews that led to massacres and brutal endings for the Jewish community. There are many monumental events that take place during the long span of time that oversees European Jewish history, and both historians study and evaluate the events, however, they do so through different lenses.

By the year 1000 B.C.E the Jews had founded Israel as their national state (“Jews”). They actively practiced a very distinctive religion, Judaism. Israel was conquered several times and eventually came under the rule of the Roman Empire (“Jews”). During this time, Jews were legal citizens of the Empire. However, the Jews and Christians diverged quickly; the Jews were marginalized for being different and strange. They rejected the belief that Jesus is the Messiah and other christian laws. Eventually the Jewish revolt in 135 C.E. drove the Jews out of Jerusalem (“Jews”). They then lived throughout the Roman Empire and the materializing medieval states. They lived in their own communities called ghettos because they were not allowed to own land

1 Id-According to the Old Testament, what massacre took place shortly after Moses received the 10 Commandments and why did it take place? Briefly list the main events in Moses’ life according to the Old Testament. Do any Egyptian sources confirm the events narrated in the Old Testament?

Titus, backed by four legions, began his assault on the beleaguered city in the spring of 70 CE. In less than four weeks, he had breached the walls of Jerusalem, and by that August, the outer Temple court had been reached, the Temple burned to the ground and its captives killed. With the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the revolt, Titus was hailed as imperator, or commander, by his troops. This was a necessary step in order for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph, which Titus shared with his father Vespasian when he returned to Rome.

Every religious group has suffered a time when their religion was not considered to be popular or right. Out of all of these religious groups that have suffered, no one group has suffered so much as that of the Jewish religion. They have been exiled from almost every country that they have ever inhabited, beginning with Israel, and leading all the was up to Germany, France, Spain, England, and Russia. Not only have they been exiled but also they have suffered through torture, punishment, and murder. Thus, because of the history of the religion, the Jewish people have become a very resilient people. They have survived thousands of years carrying their religion with them from one country to

Throughout history, Jews have remained firmly stuck to Jewish tradition. Despite this, since the start of the Judaism Reformation, it has been found that Jewish people cannot coexist effectively with those who live in modern times. The reformations that were made included services no longer being conducted solely in Hebrew, but in a mixture of Hebrew and English and recognising the fact that for most Jews the vernacular was the main language of communication. As well as this, sections of the liturgy were omitted if they no longer corresponded to what Jews believed. The most dramatic of all has been the complete equality accorded to women. In Orthodox synagogues women are seated separately from men and do not lead any part of the service when men are present. In Reformed synagogues they sit together with men, participate actively in public worship and can now also be rabbis.

Since the beginning of the Judaism, the Jewish people have been subject to hardships and discrimination. They have not been allowed to have a stabile place of worship and have also faced persecution and atrocities that most of us can not even imagine. Three events that have had a big impact on the Jewish faith were the building and destruction of the First Great Temple, the Second Great Temple and the events of the Holocaust. In this paper, I will discuss these three events and also explain and give examples as to why I feel that the Jewish people have always been discriminated against and not allowed the freedom of worship.

The holocaust was a time of pure darkness. The German Nazi’s thought their race would be better off without Jews and so they decided to kill them off. The Nazi’s were a group who was under Adolf Hitler’s control and had the power to kill Jews. The Nazi’s were basically Hitler’s soldiers. Adolf Hitler was the current Chancellor of Germany during that time. The Nazi’s however did not only target Jews which accounted for nine million of Europe’s population alone, but also homosexual’s, Jehovah’s witnesses, Gypsies, disabled individuals, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, communists and socialists. The holocaust plays a role in the start of World War II. During the war, the Nazi’s managed to wipe out hundreds of Jewish communities and ended up killing around six million people total. They used to make Jews wear a badge on their clothes when going anywhere to show everyone they were Jewish. It used to be a law for Jews to wear such garments up until the nineteenth century and if they failed to do so, there was severe punishment. This is how Nazi’s chose whom to persecute.

Early modern Jewish history is filled with depth and knowledge that captivated and cultivated the religion into what it would become. An important part of the history were the ideologies and philosophies of Moses Mendelssohn. Considered the first modern Jewish philosopher and a shaper of Judaism, Mendelssohn was the start of what would become the Jewish Enlightenment. Being the first person to translate the Bible from Hebrew to German, he opened up the door for Jews to rediscover and enhance their knowledge. A writer and philosopher, several of Mendelssohn's writings were highly successful and considered a herald to a new way of thinking. While many of his writings received praise from people of different parts, critiques arose, including

After the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, Jerusalem was taken by Titus. The war ends in 70 C.E. Josephus was then rewarded with land in Judeas, but became a Roman citizen instead. He was commissioned by Vespasian to write a history of the war. This is followed by the birth of his first son. His book

In Germany in 1939, the German Nazis took down almost all of Europe, and on their way, 64.5 million people, including six million Jewish people. This war could have extinguished the Jewish culture. According to Holocaust Encyclopedia, this is some of the aftermath of the Holocaust (2).

Biblically, Jews in the City of Rome showed unpredictable tensions and riots against the civil government. “Roman Emperor, Claudius made an edict to expel the Jews from the City of Rome. Right after Claudius was assassinated, many Christian Jews moved back to Rome” (Maier, 1988, pg.355). Meanwhile, there were tensions in Judea. A growing compassion toward Zealots in Judea happened which encouraged the Roman Jews to rebel against the civil government.

Throughout the history of the world, the Jewish people have been persecuted and oppressed because of their religious beliefs and faith. Many groups of people have made Jews their scapegoat. Jews have suffered from years of intolerance because people have not understood what the religion really means. They do not understand where and why the religion began, nor the customs of it's people. For one to understand the great hardships, triumphs, and history of the Jewish people one must open-mindedly peruse a greater knowledge of the Jewish people and faith.

In 70 AD the second temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, hence solidifying the Roman rule over the Jewish Kingdom for the next 254 years. But first lets go back a couple of years and see how the Jewish people where living before the Roman ruled. In 198 BCE the Seleucids integrated the Jewish kingdom into theirs when the lands where divided. The Jews were pleasant at first, however later on the relationship between the hellenized Jews and the religious Jews fell apart. So the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes tried to prohibit certain Jewish religious rites and traditions. As a result this created a national rebellion led by Judas Maccabeus. These rebels became known as the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans. The Maccabean Revolt lasted from 174–135 BCE and the story of how the Maccabees purified the temple of Jerusalem when they took it back was the start of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. For this part the story goes like this. Once the Maccabees had regained control of the kingdom they returned to the Temple in Jerusalem. To their dismay they had found that there temple had been defiled by being used for the worship of foreign gods and the sacrificing of pigs. The Jewish troops where going to burn ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days to cleanse the temple of the unholy acts that had happened in there. However they discovered that there was only one day's worth of oil left but they lit the menorah anyways and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted

The nation of Israel was originally a nation of nomadic people who were isolated and oppressed. After the horrific events of the Holocaust some Jewish people made homes in Israel. The people who made their homes came to be known as Israelites. They were given this name because the nation was named after Israel who was originally known as Jacob (Fisher, 2005). The nation of Israel has always been in a state of disorder and confusion, and in 1947 the United Nations gave Israel to the Jewish people who declared it an independent state in 1948. Israel’s Arabic neighbors did not support this decision and war followed. Battles are still being fought today. Tension also exists within the Jewish community in Israel. There have been many Jewish people who have settled in Israel. These settlers have diverse backgrounds. Some are orthodox and some are not which can bring tension. Even