Essay on Jewish History

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.

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?

     Throughout history the Jewish people have been scapegoats; whenever something was not going right they were the ones to blame. From Biblical times through to the Shakespearean Era, all the way to the Middle East Crisis and the creation of Israel, the Jews have been persecuted and blamed for the problems of the world. The most horrifying account of Jewish persecution is the holocaust, which took place in Europe from 1933 to 1945 when Adolf Hitler tried to eliminate all the people that he thought were inferior to the Germans, namely the Jews, because he wanted a pure Aryan State.

Judaism being the oldest out of these three dominant religions was developed in the “third millennium BCE” (130). Canaan is where the Hebrews first prospered, until around 1500 BCE. At this time a famine struck, and influenced the Jewish people to move to Egypt. Egypt was lead by the Hyksos, which shared languages and cultural beliefs with the Hebrews. In Egypt “the Hebrews thrived over the next few centuries, until the Egyptian overthrew the Hyksos and enslaved the Hebrews” (130). At that time Moses (a man lead by God), rallied the Hebrews and helped them escape the slavery they endured in Egypt.

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.

Across countries and continents, through the rise and fall of great empires, and in multiple civilizations and religions, the Jewish people have been exiled martyrs for reasons far beyond their fault or doing. The Jewish people have come to accept this mutual exile as a part of their faith and religion. They are the people of exile until the messiah comes and the Jews will come together and live in the promised holy land. Since every Jew is an exile to the rest of society, this brings them closer together and creates a bond among the communities that keeps them strong and has kept the religion alive through most every situation. A new situation, however, is questioning the strength of the Jewish religion and its ability to remain as its defined people of exile. The Christian world has begun to push back their biased and hateful opinions on the Jews and recognize them as people. England, along with other governments, will contemplate whether the Jews could be citizens and if that would benefit them or not. It is not as much so for how the Jews have and will affect England at the time, but what

During the Holocaust, In what ways did the Jews resist against the Nazis?. World War II was a terrible time for the Jewish people. The Nazis packed thousands of Jews in really small ghettos together and gave them terrible conditions to live with. The Jews were then later sent to concentration camps which even had worse conditions than the ghettos. During the Holocaust, the Jewish people participated in both armed and unarmed resistance in order to earn their freedom and hope.

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.

“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 so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the

Unlike the other two major religions Judaism evolved form the Israelites who didn't deny the existence of other gods for other nations, though they only worshipped one deity. Its deity was Yahweh, the god of the patriarchs, who was worshipped in a sacrificial cult centered in Jerusalem and later at sanctuaries in the north, where a rival Jewish kingdom was formed. Prophets who warned against the people's reliance on these temple cults saw themselves vindicated when both the northern and southern kingdoms were destroyed by foreign conquerors. The exile of the Judeans to Babylonia in 586 BC was a major turning point in Israelite religion. The prior history of Israel now was reinterpreted

Since the commencing of Judaism coming into existence, the Jewish people have been exposed to oppression and also discrimination. They have not been obliged to even come close to having a stable place of worship and have been through ill-treatment and torture that most of us would consider unimaginable. The two themes that are mainly thought about within this time period is the persecution the Jews had to undergo during this time period but also the perseverance they managed to carry as well during the time. Everything that occurred during this time period is the reason as to how the Jewish faith is impacted today and why everything is the way it is. There are concepts during this time period that are very important and also connect to the reason why the Jewish faith relates to things, for example; the covenant: reciprocal, solemn and binding agreement between humanity and God, this is an important factor to their faith and is connected to the faith in some way shape or form.

As if that were not enough, “Between 1648 and 1658, in organized massacres called pogroms, over 700 Jewish communities were destroyed. Jewish deaths numbered in the hundreds of thousands” (Esposito 107). Finally I learned of the Spanish Inquisition where Jews were once again treated as something separate from humanity. “Many were tortured and burned at the stake. The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492” (Esposito 108). They endured this suffering for no crime they committed. They endured this suffering because of their faith. It is unfathomable to me. The Jews have a long history of violence against them and of others trying to eradicate them, a history that I was not fully aware of until this class.

Judaism was developed among the ancient Hebrews found in the Middle East. It is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religion. Judaism is told in the first five books of the Hebrew bible (Old Testament). They believe they have a covenant with one God. Jews trace their history back to Abraham but Judaism was found by Moses. Followers of Judaism, focus on the relationship between the land of Israel, mankind and the relationships between the Creator. There is no formal set of beliefs. Followers of Judaism, believe God chose them to set an example of ethical behavior and holiness. Jews keeps God’s laws in exchange for the many good things God has done for them. They believe it is important to do everything as a community. Where Christians

Jews have a long history in a world which is being considered one of the ancient holy religions in the world. Jewish history throughout the history of the world, the Jewish people have been persecuted and oppressed because of their religious beliefs and faith. Jews have suffered from years of intolerance because people have not understood what the Jewish religion really means. For example, In Medieval times, the Jews faced blood libels and crusades. In modern Europe, Jews faced with the Holocaust. People do not understand where and why the Jewish religion began, nor the customs of Jews. 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