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 In our last Instruction, we told you about the early history of the Israelites,
and about how Abraham, the father of Israel, is said to have made a covenant with
God (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham)
We also told you how Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt but didn't live long enough to get to Canaan with them.
We told you about the creation of the Kingdom of Israel in approximately 1000 BC,
and about the building of The First Temple of the Jews by King Solomon on Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) in Jerusalem.
Then we explained how the Kingdom collapsed after Solomon's death and split into two separate countries:
Israel in the north, with Samaria as its capital, and Judah in the south, with Jerusalem as its capital.
To see a map of ancient Israel, go to http://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations
/Middle_East_Civilizations/Hebrews/hebrews.html.
The weakened, divided nation was now vulnerable to attack. The brief history of The Kingdom of Israel was over.
But the history of the Jews was not.
The Destruction of The Temple
http://www.snunit.k12.il/njeru/eb1s.htm
In 722 BC, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, consequently Samaria's Jews disappeared. These missing Jews are known as the ten lost tribes of Israel, which refers the Northern and Southern tribes of Israel. Judah hung on until 598 BC. That's when King Nebachadnezzar II of Babylon invaded it. King Nebachadnezzar exiled most of the Jews to Babylonia and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its Temple (which had become the spiritual center of world Jewry).
Devastating as it was, the destruction of the Temple did not stop the practice of Judaism. That was because Prophets assured the Jews that they didn't need the Temple for worship – they could worship in neighborhood centers called synagogues.
These synagogues were set up wherever there were enough Jewish men
(ten) for a congregation.
When King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon he did let some of Babylonia's Jews return to Jerusalem. Once there, they built and dedicated a Second Temple on Temple Mount in 516 BC. They didn't, however, retain control of their country.
Foreign Rule
 For several centuries, Egyptians ruled much of what had been the Kingdom
of Israel.
In 322 BC, Israel was conquered by Alexander the Great of Macedonia. After his death, it passed to the Seleucid dynasty of Syria. During this period, Greek influences began to penetrate Jewish life.
In 168 BC, the Syrians did something that angered the Jews. They erected a statue of the pagan god Zeus in the Temple and ordered the Jews to worship it.
The Jews refused. They rebelled under the leadership of a family called the Maccabees. By 165 BC, the Jews had recaptured the Temple.
They cleansed it of pagan images and rededicated it to the God of Israel. (The Festival of Hanukkah commemorates this event.)
But the triumph over the Syrians didn't last – the Roman Empire soon engulfed the area and controlled it for almost 700 years.
The Roman Empire
http://www.snunit.k12.il/njeru/ec1.htm
One of the most significant Roman rulers of this land was King Herod. Herod had been a Maccabean general and persuaded the Romans to give him the throne in 37 BC.
He was a ruthless leader and much hated by the people. We know his name because he was involved in death of Jesus, who was preaching to his fellow Jews in Jerusalem when he was killed.
Herod was also a master builder who constructed ports, public works and palaces. He undertook a magnificent restoration of the Temple, the Western Wall of which remains to this day. This wall is also called The Wailing Wall. It is one of the most sacred Jewish sites in Jerusalem.
In 66 AD, the Jews revolted against Roman tyranny. After a bitter war, however, the Romans put down the revolt. They captured Jerusalem and burned the Second Temple in 70 AD
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Jerusalem).
One group of Jewish revolutionaries, the Zealots, held out at a stronghold called Masada for three years.
They committed suicide rather than let themselves be captured by the Romans.
Thousands of Jews were sold into slavery and were scattered widely throughout the Roman world. Others left voluntarily. This is called the Diaspora (which means scattering) of the Jews.
The Romans restored Jerusalem as a pagan city.
In 135 AD, the Emperor Hadrian built a Temple to Jove (the Greek God Jupiter) on Temple Mount (where the First and Second Jewish Temples had stood).
This Temple would itself be demolished when the Byzantine Empire converted to Christianity.
The Talmud
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/talmud.htm
Following the destruction of the Second Temple, a group of Jewish scholars went from Jerusalem to Yavneh (a seacoast town near today's Tel Aviv).
Once there, they created an oral Jewish Law to complement The Torah (the part of the Hebrew Bible known as The Laws). It is called the
Mishrah. Discussion of it was also written down. This is called the Gemara.
Together, the Mishrah and the Gemara form the Talmud.
Jewish scholars in Babylon also created a Talmud. This Talmud eventually supplanted the Yavneh Talmud as the ultimate authority in Jewish legal matters.
Historians think that this is when modern Judaism began.
Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity
 Christianity evolved from Judaism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity)
It became the official religion of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
When this happened, Jewish legal rights were severely restricted.
During the first 3 centuries of Christianity, the main issue that separated the Jews and the Christians was debate on whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm).
In the early days, a person had to be (or become) a Jew before he or she could become a Christian. This meant observing Jewish dietary and other laws, including male circumcision.
But by the beginning of the 4th century, people were allowed to become Christians without having to become Jews first
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/why/).
The Sephardim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi
Palestine (much of the former Kingdom of Israel) was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century BC.
This didn't change life all that much for the Jews, many who served in the Arab army and settled in Spain.
The Arab rulers who conquered southern Spain were very tolerant and, for centuries, Jews flourished in Spain and North Africa.
They participated in the Arab cultural renaissance, writing in Arabic.
They made major contributions to science, medicine, music, poetry and philosophy.
They lived happily in Babylonia for thousands of years.
The Jews of Spain, Portugal, and the Middle East are known as Sephardim.
They are different from the Jews of Europe, who are known as Ashkenazim.
Even when the Byzantine Emperor Constantine (who now ruled Palestine) converted to Christianity, things were relatively peaceful. In 326, a prosperous epoch began.
The Christianization of Jerusalem continued until 614 AD, when the Persians invaded the city and massacred its inhabitants. They also destroyed many churches and monuments.
This included a Christian shrine that had been built on Temple Mount. It was called Templum Domini (Temple of the Lord).
The Continuing Saga of Temple Mount
http://www.templemount.org/
 After a brief period of Persian rule, the Muslim leader Caliph Umar captured Jerusalem in 638. This was only 6 years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Umar built a small mosque on Temple Mount, which replaced the Christian shrine. He dedicated the site to Muslim worship
The Temple Mount is where the First and Second Jewish Temples, the Roman Temple of Jupiter, and the Christian Temple of the Lord have all stood at one time.
In 687, construction began on Temple Mount for a structure called The Dome of the Rock.
It is known in Arabic as Qubbat As-Sakhrah. It is not a mosque for public worship. It is a mashhad, a shrine for pilgrims. The Al-Aqsa Mosque adjoins it, where Muslims pray.
The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque still stand on Temple Mount. This is not far from the Western (Wailing) Wall, which is all that remains of the Second Temple.
Difficult Days in Spain
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Spain.html
Throughout history, there have been many attempts to persuade Jews to convert to other faiths. This is especially true in countries with state religions.
Millions of Jews have suffered tremendous hardships or death because of their desire to preserve their cultural and religious identity.
In the 12th Century, a fanatical Berber Muslim sect from North Africa captured Muslim Spain.
The time of tolerance was over. Jews were forced to choose between conversion to Islam, martyrdom or
flight (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Granada.html).
In the 14th century, the Jews of Spain had to make yet another choice. By now, Christianity had become the official religion of the state. This time, Jews were forced to accept Christian baptism or flee.
In 1391, many were converted by force. These new Christians were called Marranos
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano). Many Marranos continued to practice their Judaism in secret.
One of the main objectives of the Spanish Inquisition was to ferret out the Marranos, and by 1492, most Jews had left Spain.
Under pressure from Spain, Portugal expelled its Jews in 1498. These exiles found refuge in North Africa, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire (including the Balkans).
The Ottoman Turks captured Palestine (much of the former Kingdom of Israel) in 1517. They ruled it until they were defeated by Britain in World War I.
The Ashkenazim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi
During Ottoman rule, the Ashkenazim (European Jews) weren't faring very well.
Jews had lived in Italy, Germany, France and the Low Countries since Roman times. They lived in England since the Norman Conquest (1066 AD).
In many countries, the Jewish population kept largely to itself. Some of this segregation was voluntary so that people could be near their local synagogues, but other segregation was not by choice.
Often Jews were required to live in walled enclosures where they were locked in at night. This practice began in 1462 in Frankfurt, Germany, and soon spread to the rest of Europe.
In Italy, Jews were forced to live on an island near Venice named Ghetto. That's how ghetto became the name for segregated Jewish communities throughout the world.
Even where Jews were oppressed, they filled an important economic niche.
Christians were forbidden to lend money for interest (this is called usury). So the Jews
found work as moneylenders and financiers. Christians learned to lend money under different, acceptable rules,
thus driving the Jews away.
The Jews were expelled from England in 1290, France in 1394, Austria in 1420, and Spain in 1492.
In the 16th century, many Marranos fled Spain and Portugal to settle in Amsterdam. Others fled to what we think of as Eastern Europe.
In Poland and Lithuania, the Jews developed their own language –
Yiddish. Yiddish is basically a blend of German dialects mixed with Hebrew and Slavic words.
Yiddish – Where "Nosh" Comes From
Many people speak Yiddish today -- especially in Argentina, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico, Romania and the United States.
In fact, Yiddish words are part of everyday speech in much of America.
Here are some Yiddish words you may know (http://www.koshernosh.com/dictiona.htm):
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Kvetch for complain
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Nosh for snack
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Schlemiel for dope or fool
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Schlepp for drag
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Yenta for a gossip or a matchmaker
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Kibbitz for meddle
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Mazl-tov for congratulations
Recent History
When Poland was partitioned in the 18th century, most of Poland's Jews fell
under Russian rule. There, officers of the Tsar tried to force them to convert to
Christianity.
During the 1930's and 1940's, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party tried to eliminate all of Germany's Jews (through expulsion or extermination).
Hitler called this "the final solution," although many people call it The Holocaust
(http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/)
Over 6 million Jews died during this period, as well as Catholics, the mentally and physically impaired, and others who were considered "undesirable" or "impure" by the Nazis.
Today
In the 20th century, the Jewish population of Western Europe and the United States grew rapidly.
Millions of Jews immigrated from Germany and Eastern Europe.
Today, there are more than 14 million Jews. For the most part, they are accepted and influential at all levels of society and are free to practice their religion.
In 2002, over 6,100,000 Jews lived in the United States, according to The American Jewish Yearbook. Many Jews, particularly from Eastern Europe and Asia, immigrated to Israel, which remained under Ottoman Turkish rule until World War I. It was then placed under British mandate until May 14, 1948, when the United Nations proclaimed the modern state of Israel.
for Students, Parents and Teachers
Now let's do Practice Exercise 3-2 (top). Choose
printer friendly or
online exercises. Printer friendly version requires
the Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. Click
HERE to obtain a free copy.
SUMMARY
You have now completed this Lesson and are ready to do the Problem and Test Sections.
You may wish to review any or all of the topics before answering the questions that follow.
Good luck!
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