The Ashkenazim, the Sephardim and the Mizrahim Jews Essay

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

Abrahams children brought the religion to Egypt, where they were enslaved for years. They then escaped and migrated to Israel where they live for years. Than the Jews migrated from Israel to southern Europe/North Africa became known as Sephardic (Spanish), and the Jews who had migrated to Northern and Western Europe and Northern Asia became known as Ashkenazic (German) Jews. They spread Judaism whenever Jews migrated to different regions and reading their holy book Torah and gathered followers.

it all started back in 135 AD when the Jews were expelled from they're homeland in Palestine causing them too spread out across Europe creating the Diaspora. Although the jews had been forced to leave the homeland they never lost their identity as jews and still longed too return to their

Western European countries fought to be superior and each took a different route to how they believed this could be achieved. The Spanish and Polish colonies in the Americas enacted Inquisitions against the non-Christian religions, creating territories of distrust and hatred towards each other. The English colonies, however, took on a more tolerant direction. After the Jews were readmitted into England, their value became more evident as the population grew along with their commerce. As trade for England traveled to the American colonies, so did the Jews. America was a new land that promised religious tolerance and revenue to those who lived there. Where there is religious tolerance there will be Jews moving there to escape

After their exile, around fifty-thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem which was now called Judaea. The leader of Judea, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return and to build another place of worship (Fisher 251). The second temple was built in 515 BCE and according to the text Living Religions, became “the central symbol to a scattered Jewish nation” (Fisher). The temple became a place where the Torah was formed and where the religion prospered. However, Jewish prosperity was not going to last. After four centuries of Roman rule, that was domineering and dreadful, a group of Jews decided to rebel against their oppressors. This led to Jews being slaughtered by the Romans and to the second Temple being destroyed. All that is left of the Temple are foundation stones which are referred to as the Western Wall. The temple has never been rebuilt and the Western Wall has become a place for prayer and remembrance for Jews all over the world. Jewish people look at the Western Wall as a representation of the hardships and oppression that their religion and people have endured. According to the article, Mystical Secret of the Western Wall:

Antisemitism, the hatred for the Jewish people, has been called the longest hatred in history. This history is deep rooted and has existed for thousands of years, taking different forms throughout its existence, and intensifying up until and through the Holocaust, to then diminish to an extent but still be prevalent in most societies. Antisemitism exists in different forms, religious, ethnic, and political. The presence of Christianity as the predominant religion in Europe can be noted as a driving factor in religious and ethnic antisemitism, as can the Holocaust. Whereas instances such as the Islamic view on Judaism can be

Judaism is one of the oldest Abrahamic religion on the earth. Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. There are many kind Jews, but the most recognized are orthodox, Ashkenazim, Sephardic and Mizrahi. Orthodox Jews are those, who understand the holy and the laws book of Judaism and believe in the implementation of the book to the state where they live. They are also considered the legally recognized religion of Israel. Orthodox are have political and legal control over the Jewish state. Ashkenazim Jews are those who came from Europe. Most of them escape Europe and settle down in Palestine because of the racial and religious discrimination they faced. Sephardic Jews are those who belongs from Iberian Peninsula, which Spain and Portugal

The history of the Jewish people in Spain is certainly a pivotal time period that changed the future of the Jews and specifically, the Sephardic Jews. At the time of the issuing and signing of the Edict of Expulsion on March 31, 1492, Spanish Jews were experiencing the most persecution that had been felt in the many centuries of which the Jews had been in Spain. Spanish Jewry came to a dramatic end after almost a millennium of Jewish presence in the country. Spanish Jewry’s golden age, however, the Jews experienced almost no persecution, resulting in a new centre of Talmudic study, before suffering from a relapse of anti-Semitism that eventually led to the Inquisition and the Edict of Expulsion. (SOURCE 1) This essay will discuss and analyze

In the late 15th century, Spain gained its freedom from the Moors. They were Islamic North African people that were and controlled much of Spain. The wealthy, educated Jewish population financially assisted the monarchy to regain Spain from the Moors. Large prosperous Jewish communities existed in Spain. They were respected, unlike other areas of Europe where the Jews were persecuted and victims of organized massacres. In Spain, they remained the financial and scientific leaders in the 15th century. Many of Jews married into Catholic families, consequently, many of Spain’s Christian leaders were of Jewish descent. As Spain became a unified country, many Hispanics forgot the services from which the Jewish had provided them. The economy plummeted, and to many, the Jews became a scapegoat. They became targets for bigotry. Stories were created to lessen the Jews image. These stories included Jews murdering innocent Christian children. Such legends fueled the expulsion of the Jews from

“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

Before we can totally dive into how the Temple destruction changed Judaism, we must gain some knowledge of the Jewish faith itself, as well as Jewish terms. One of the first ideas many people may discover about the term “Jew” is its lack of use in the Old Testament scriptures.

Last but not least, Judaism comes from the Hebrew word Yehudah meaning Judah. It is the religion and way of life for the Jewish people. Judaism is considered to be the oldest religion. The Hebrew Bible is called the Torah. A synagogue is their place of worship and their services are led by a rabbi. You can be born Jewish or you can convert. There are 14 million Jews worldwide. About 42% are in Israel and about 42% are in the U.S. The remaining Jews are spread worldwide. The spoken language of the Jews is Hebrew. Men wear a small beanie on their head called a kippa while praying, eating or saying blessings. Jews have kosher diets. They can eat chicken and turkey but not pig. The Jewish religion celebrates their own holidays and special days such as Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. Imagine receiving

I learned a lot of facts about Judaism that I had previously been ignorant to. I had no idea that we (Christians & Jews) maintained the same bible (The Old Testament) but that we interpreted certain events differently, such as Adam and Eve. “In Judaism, each and every human being is free to choose good or evil because each person stands before God in the same relationship that Adam and Eve did” (Esposito 77). I was unaware that Judaism did not believe in “original sin.” I had no knowledge of the fact that Jews did not believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead. I found it interesting how Jews have split into separate groups – Reform Jews, who believe that Judaism is a cultural inheritance and that neither the laws nor beliefs are

After King Saul died, David was appointed king. The temple built by King Solomon who also held the Ark of the Covenant. This was where sacrifices were made to God. After the first temple was built the Jewish people were sent to Babylon and after their return 50 years later, a second temple was built. This second temple was where the Torah was established. After a war with the Romans in 132-135 CE the Jewish temple was destroyed and Jewish people were forbidden to practice their faith (Fisher, 2005). Judea was renamed Palestine and the Jewish people no longer had a home.