Historical and
Religious Context
Judaism traces its history back to the creation of mankind, but the
explicitly Jewish historical origins begin with Abraham and the Hebrews.
According to the Torah, Abraham's home was the northern Mesopotamian
town of Harran.
Under God's command,
Abraham migrated to the region of Canaan, which is roughly equivalent to
modern Israel and Lebanon. For a time the Hebrews lived in servitude in
Egypt, then returned to Canaan.
The ancient Hebrew
people were seminomadic herdsman and farmers, organized into tribes and
living in Mesopotamia. Contributions of nearby cultures include a West
Semitic concept of divine messengers, Old Babylonian and Hurro-Semite
law, Mesopotamian cosmogony and primitive history, Canaanite language
and mythological literature, and Egyptian hymns and wisdom literature.
All of these cultures
featured belief in creator and preserver gods, a system of ethics, and
developed religious rituals. The head of the Canaanite pantheon was El,
a powerful god depicted as both judgmental and compassionate.
Biblical Jewish
History
The period of Jewish history designated by some historians as
"Biblical Judaism" is the centuries covered by the narratives of the
Tanakh, from the creation and primitive history of mankind to the last
of the prophets in the 4th century BCE.
The Tanakh tells the
history of the Hebrew people from a religious viewpoint, beginning with
the creation of mankind and ending with the words of the last of the
prophets in the 4th century BCE. This period is often referred to by
scholars as "Biblical Judaism." The Tanakh follows the Hebrew nation as
it experiences cycles of favor and discipline by God. {1} God
establishes successive covenants with humanity (Adam, Noah and Abraham)
and issues an extensive set of laws (through Moses) by which the Hebrews
are to be set apart as God's people. When they stray, God sends prophets
and invading armies to bring them back to himself. "It is this
particular claim-to have experienced God's presence in human events-and
its subsequent development that is the differentiating factor in Jewish
thought." {2}
Abraham and the
Patriarchs (19th or 18th century BCE)
The biblical book of Genesis begins with a single, all-powerful God
creating the world out of chaos in six days, with human beings created
on the sixth day. Genesis goes on to chronicle an ancient history in
which mankind repeatedly turns away from God and to immorality until God
destroys the earth with a flood. God then makes a covenant with Noah,
the one man saved from the flood, that he will never destroy the earth
again.
The specifically Hebrew
element of biblical history begins with Abraham, who is considered the
founder of the Jewish religion. However, he does not discover God but is
rather called by the God who is already known into a covenant, in which
God promises to many descendents and the land of Canaan.
Modern scholarship has
identified significant differences between the religion of Abraham and
the patriarchs and the later Israelite religion of Moses. Historians
note that the God of Abraham is referred to using generic, not
specifically Israelite terms (namely, various forms of El), the Mosaic
issues of divine jealousy and idolatry are virtually absent, and God's
role is as a kind of patron deity who has bestowed his favor on Abraham.
The religion of the
patriarchs was simple, and centered on the agreement between Abraham and
God. Religious practice consisted of sacrifice and prayer at a sacred
altar, stone pillar, or sacred tree. Circumcision was the defining mark
of the religious community. Its eschatology was the promise of land and
many descendents.
From Egypt to Sinai:
Moses and the Covenant
According to biblical tradition, a famine caused the Hebrew tribes
to migrate to Egypt, where they were enslaved. God rescued them from
bondage by afflicting the Egyptians with successive plagues then
drowning the Egyptian army in the Red Sea to allow the Hebrews to
escape.
At Mount Sinai, God
established the nation of Israel (named for Abraham's grandson Jacob) as
his own, and gave them the terms of his covenant with them. He then
sustains the Israelites through 40 years of journeying in the wilderness
before leading them into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham. Central
to all these events is Moses, who, like Muhammad, fulfills many
leadership roles, including religious, political, legislative and
military.
This general sequence
of events is accepted by most scholars as historically reliable. As one
source explains, "To disallow these events would make their centrality
as articles of faith in the later religious beliefs of Israel
inexplicable." {3}
Mosaic religion centers
on the covenant between God and the people of Israel. The covenant
required exclusive loyalty to Yahweh, who rescued them from bondage in
Egypt. Worship of other gods, veneration of idols (even of Yahweh), and
magical practices are prohibited. Rituals and festivals are established
to celebrate God's historical and continuing provision.
Conquest of Canaan
and the Judges
The conquest of Canaan is narrated in the biblical book of Joshua,
with miraculous events (walls fell at a shout, the sun stood still)
rivaling those of the Exodus. The process of occupation has been judged
by scholars as more complex than that described in Joshua, incorporating
a combination of military victories and treaty agreements.
After the conquest of
Canaan, Israel was led by leaders called "judges," during which time the
Israelites are described as repeatedly falling into idolatry and
apostasy. Figurines discovered in the Israelite levels of archeological
digs in Palestine support such a report. {4} At the same time, numerous
altars to the God of Israel sprung up, and the Levites rose to the
priesthood to conduct sacrifices at many of them. The ark of the
covenant was housed and carefully protected at the Shiloh sanctuary,
which was staffed by priests of the family of Eli.
The United Monarchy
under Saul, David and Solomon
To maintain occupation of the Promised Land, it became necessary to
have centralized authority and organized armies that could hold off
external enemies. Two diverging views of the prospect of a monarchy
arose: a rejection of God's kingship (1 Sam. 8-12) or a God-given way to
defend Israel (1 Sam. 9:16). The former view is represented by the
prophet-judge Samuel, who reluctantly crowned the first king.
Saul, of the tribe of
Benjamin, was made king (in c. 1020 BCE) after defeating the Ammonites.
He ruled from his hometown of Gibeah, a few miles north of Jerusalem.
Saul's reign was marred by conflicts with the prophet Samuel, who held
ongoing authority over the kingship. King David, Saul's successor,
solved these problems by combining religious and political authority in
one person (David and his descendents) and in one place (the city of
Jerusalem).
David was succeeeded by
his son Solomon, whose history is recorded in 1 Kings 1-11 and 2
Chronicles 1-9. Solomon succeeded his father on the throne in early
manhood, probably about sixteen or eighteen years of age. His father
chose him as his successor, passing over the claims of his elder sons.
His elevation to the throne took place before his father's death, and is
hastened on mainly by Nathan and Bathsheba, in consequence of the
rebellion of Adonijah.
During Solomon's long
reign of 40 years the Hebrew monarchy gained its highest splendour. This
period has well been called the "Augustan age" of the Jewish annals. In
a single year he collected tribute amounting to 666 talents of gold,
according to 1 Kings 10:13. The first half of his reign was, however, by
far the brighter and more prosperous; the latter half was clouded by the
idolatries into which he fell, mainly, accordingh to the scribes, from
his intermarriages. According to 1 Kings 11:3, he had 700 wives and 300
concubines. As soon as he had settled himself in his kingdom, and
arranged the affairs of his extensive empire, he entered into an
alliance with Egypt by a marriage with the daughter of Pharaoh.
The Divided Monarchy
and Exile
After Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, Israel (in
the north) and Judah (in the south). Israel was conquered by the
Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V in the 8th century BCE. The kingdom of
Judah was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BCE.
The Judahite elite was exiled to Babylon, but later at least a part of
them returned to their homeland, led by prophets Ezra and Nehemiah,
after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians. Already at
this point the extreme fragmentation among the Israelites was apparent,
with the formation of political-religious factions, the most important
of which would later be called Sadduccees and Pharisees.
The Hasmonean
Kingdom and the Destruction of the Temple
After the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, his demise,
and the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, the Seleucid
Kingdom was formed. A deterioration of relations between hellenized Jews
and religious Jews led the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes to
impose decrees banning certain Jewish religious rites and traditions.
Consequently, the
orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of the Hasmonean family,
(also known as the Maccabees). This revolt eventually led to the
formation of an independent Jewish kingdom, known as the Hasmonaean
Dynasty, which lasted from 165 BC to 63 BC. The Hasmonean Dynasty
eventually disintegrated as a result of civil war between the sons of
Salome Alexandra, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. The people, who did
not want to be governed by a king but by theocratic clergy, made appeals
in this spirit to the Roman authorities. A Roman campaign of conquest
and annexation, led by Pompey, soon followed.
Judea under Roman rule
was at first an independent Jewish kingdom, but gradually the rule over
Judea became less and less Jewish, until it became under the direct rule
of Roman administration (and renamed the province of Judaea), which was
often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Judean subjects. In AD
66, Judeans began to revolt against the Roman rulers of Judea. The
revolt was defeated by the Roman emperors Vesesapian and Titus Flavius.
The Romans destroyed much of the Temple in Jerusalem and, according to
some accounts, stole artifacts from the temple, such as the Menorah.
Judeans continued to
live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice
their religion, until the 2nd century when Julius Severus ravaged Judea
while putting down the bar Kokhba revolt. After 135, Jews were not
allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem, although this ban must have been
at least partially lifted, since at the destruction of the rebuilt city
by the Persians in the 7th century, Jews are said to have lived there.
Various responses
developed to Roman rule, ranging from armed revolt (the Zealots) or
withdrawal from the world (the Essenes) to a renewed focus on preserving
tradition in a new situation (the Pharisees), to integration with Greek
society (the Sadduccees) and thought (Jewish Neoplatonists).
Rabbinical Judaism
Rabbinical Judaism developed out of the Pharasiac movement and in
response to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The rabbis
sought to reinterpret Jewish concepts and practices in the absence of
the Temple and for a people in exile. Aside from some small side
movements (such as the Karaites), Rabbinical Judaism was the dominant
form of the Jewish religion for nearly 18 centuries. It produced the
Talmud, the Midrash, and the great figures of medieval Jewish
philosophy.
The Fall of Rome
The Eastern Roman Empire, under assault from barbarian invasion,
passed a number of laws in the early Middle Ages, including the
legislation of Justinian which culminated in the principle of taking
away civil rights from heretics and unbelievers and of making their
existence as difficult as possible. The restrictive laws of Constantine
and Theodosius were renewed with increased rigor. The public observance
of their religion was forbidden the Jews. The loss of their civil rights
was followed by disregard for their personal freedom. In the wars waged
by the Iconoclasts (eighth and ninth centuries) the Jews especially had
to suffer, and mostly at the hands of iconoclastic emperors who were
suspected of being heretics with Jewish tendencies. Many Jews fled to
the neighboring states of the Slavs and Tatars, which were just coming
into existence, and found refuge and protection on the lower Volga and
on the northern shores of the Black Sea in the realm of the Khazars.
While the East-Roman
empire was prolonging its inglorious existence by perpetual warfare with
neighbors who were ever growing stronger, the Western Roman Empire fell
prey to the barbarians. With the exception of the restrictive laws of
the first Christian emperors, which still remained in force, the Jews
were not troubled on account of their faith.
The Early Middle
Ages
Not until the beginning of the ninth century did the Church succeed
in drawing all humanity within her jurisdiction, and in bringing
together and definitely settling the regulations in canonical law which
the authority of the Church ordained for believers and their treatment
of non-believers. Intercourse with Jews was almost entirely forbidden to
believers, and thereby a chasm was created between the adherents of the
two religions, which could not be bridged.
On the other hand, the
Church found herself compelled to make the Jew a fellow citizen of the
believer; for she enforced upon her own communities the Biblical
prohibition against usury; and thus the only way left open to her of
conducting financial operations was to seek loans at a legally
determined rate of interest from the adherents of another faith. Through
these peculiar conditions the Jews rapidly acquired influence. At the
same time they were compelled to find their pleasures at home and in
their own circles only. Their sole intellectual food came from their own
literature, to which they devoted themselves with all the strength of
their nature.
This was the general
condition of the Jews in Western lands. Their fate in each particular
country depended on the changing political conditions. In Italy they
experienced dark days during the endless wars waged by the Heruli, Rugii,
Ostrogoths, and Longobardi. The severe laws of the Roman emperors were
in general more mildly administered than elsewhere; the Arian
confession, of which the Germanic conquerors of Italy were adherents,
being in contrast with the Catholic characterized by its tolerance.
Among the Burgundians and Franks, who professed the Catholic faith, the
ecclesiastical sentiment, fortunately for the Jews, made but slow
progress, and the Merovingian rulers rendered only a listless and
indifferent support to the demands of the Church, the influence of which
they had no inclination to increase.
In the Pyrenean
peninsula, from the most ancient times, Jews had lived peaceably in
greater numbers than in the land of the Franks. The same modest good
fortune remained to them when the Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Visigoths
occupied the land. It came to a sudden end when the Visigothic kings
embraced Catholicism and wished to convert all their subjects to the
same faith. Many Jews yielded to compulsion in the secret hope that the
severe measures would be of short duration. But they soon bitterly
repented this hasty step; for the Visigothic legislation insisted with
inexorable severity that those who had been baptized by force should
remain true to the Christian faith. Consequently the Jews eagerly
welcomed the Arabs when the latter conquered the peninsula in 711.
Those Jews who still
wished to remain true to the faith of their fathers were protected by
the Church herself from compulsory conversion. There was no change in
this policy even later, when the pope called for the support of the
Carolingians in protecting his ideal kingdom with their temporal power.
Charlemagne, moreover, was glad to use the Church for the purpose of
welding together the loosely connected elements of his kingdom when he
transformed the old Roman empire into a Christian one, and united under
the imperial crown all the German races at that time firmly settled.
When, a few decades after his death, his world-empire fell apart (843),
the rulers of Italy, France, and Germany left the Church free scope in
her dealings with the Jews, and under the influence of religious zeal
hatred toward the unbelievers ripened into deeds of horror.
The Crusades
The trials which the Jews endured from time to time in the different
kingdoms of the Christian West were only indications of the catastrophe
which broke over them at the time of the Crusades. A wild, unrestrained
throng, for which the crusade was only an excuse to indulge its
rapacity, fell upon the peaceful Jews and sacrificed them to its
fanaticism. In the First Crusade (1096) flourishing communities on the
Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed. In the Second Crusade
(1147) the Jews in France suffered especially. Philip Augustus treated
them with exceptional severity. In his days the Third Crusade took place
(1188); and the preparations for it proved to be momentous for the
English Jews. After unspeakable trials Jews were banished from England
in 1290; and 365 years passed before they were allowed to settle again
in the British Isles. The Jews were also subjected to attacks by the
Shepherds' Crusades of 1251 and 1320.
Persecution and
Blood Libel
The justification for these deeds was found in crimes laid to the
charge of the Jews. They were held responsible for the crime imputed to
them a thousand years before this; and the false charge was circulated
that they wished to dishonor the host which was supposed to represent
Jesus' body. They were further charged with being the cause of every
calamity. In 1240 the plundering raids of the Mongols were laid at their
door. When, a hundred years later, the Black Death raged through Europe,
the tale was invented that the Jews had poisoned the wells. The only
court of appeal that regarded itself as their appointed protector,
according to historical conceptions, was the "Roman emperor of the
German nation." The emperor, as legal successor to Titus, who had
acquired the Jews for his special property through the destruction of
the Temple, claimed the rights of possession and protection over all the
Jews in the former Roman empire.
They thus became
imperial "servi cameræ." He might present them and their possessions to
princes or to cities. That the Jews were not utterly destroyed was due
to two circumstances: (1) the envy, distrust, and greed of princes and
peoples toward one another, and (2) the moral strength which was infused
into the Jews by a suffering which was undeserved but which enabled them
to resist persecution. The abilities which could find no expression in
the service of country or of humanity at large, were directed with all
the more zeal toward the study of the Bible and Talmud, toward ordering
communal affairs, toward building up a happy family life, and toward
bettering the condition of the Jewish race in general.
Expulsions
Everywhere in the Christian Occident an equally gloomy picture was
presented. The Jews, who were driven out of England in 1290, out of
France in 1394, and out of numerous districts of Germany, Italy, and the
Balkan peninsula between 1350 and 1450, were scattered in all
directions, and fled preferably to the new Slavic kingdoms, where for
the time being other confessions were still tolerated. Here they found a
sure refuge under benevolent rulers and acquired a certain prosperity,
in the enjoyment of which the study of the Talmud was followed with
renewed vigor. Together with their faith, they took with them the German
language and customs, which they have cultivated in a Slavic environment
with unexampled faithfulness up to the present time.
As in Slavic countries,
so also under Muslim rule the persecuted Jews often found a humane
reception, especially from the eighth century onward in the Pyrenean
peninsula. But even as early as the thirteenth century the Arabs could
no longer offer a real resistance to the advancing force of Christian
kings; and with the fall of political power Arabic culture declined,
after having been transmitted to the Occident at about the same period,
chiefly through the Jews in the north of Spain and in the south of
France. At that time there was no field of learning which the Spanish
Jews did not cultivate. They studied the secular sciences with the same
zeal as the Bible and Talmud.
But the growing
influence of the Church gradually crowded them out of this advantageous
position. At first the attempt was made to win them to Christianity
through writings and religious disputations; and when these attempts
failed they were ever more and more restricted in the exercise of their
civil rights. Soon they were obliged to live in separate quarters of the
cities and to wear humiliating badges on their clothing. Thereby they
were made a prey to the scorn and hatred of their fellow citizens. In
1391, when a fanatical mob killed thirty thousand Jews in Seville alone,
many in their fright sought refuge in baptism. And although they often
continued to observe in secret the laws of their fathers the Inquisition
soon rooted out these pretended Christians or Maranos. Thousands were
thrown into prison, tortured, and burned, until a project was formed to
sweep all Spain clean of unbelievers. The plan matured when in 1492 the
last Moorish fortress fell into the hands of the Christians. Several
hundred thousand Jews were forced from the country which had been their
home for 1,500 years. Many of them fled to the Balkan peninsula, where a
few decades before the Crescent had won a victory over the Cross through
the Osmanli Turks. These exiles have faithfully preserved the language
of the country they were forced to leave; and to-day, after a lapse of
more than 400 years, Spanish is still the mother tongue of their
descendants.
The Enlightenment
and Haskalah
During the period of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment,
significant changes were happening within the Jewish community. The
Haskalah movement paralelled the wider Enlightenment, as Jews began in
the 1700s to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and
integration into the wider European society. Secular and scientific
education was added to the traditional religious instruction received by
students, and interest in a national Jewish identity, including a
revival in the study of Jewish history and Hebrew, started to grow.
Haskalah gave birth to the Reform and Conservative movements and planted
the seeds of Zionism while at the same time encouraging cultural
assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided. At around the
same time another movement was born, one preaching almost the opposite
of Haskalah, Hasidic Judaism. Hasidic Judiasm began in the 1700s by
Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, and quickly gained a following with its more
exubarent, mystical approach to religion. These two movements, and the
traditional orthodox approach to Judiasm from which they spring, formed
the basis for the modern divisions within Jewish observance.
At the same time, the
outside world was changing. Though persecution still existed in some
European countries (hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in pogroms
in the 18th and 19th centuries), Napoleon invited Jews to leave the
Jewish ghettos in Europe and seek refuge in the newly created tolerant
political regimes that offered equality under Napoleonic Law (see
Napoleon and the Jews). At the same time, Jewish migration to the United
States (see Jews in the United States) created a new community in large
part freed of the restrictions of Europe.
The Holocaust
Anti-Semitism was common in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s (though
its history extends far back throughout many centuries during the course
of Judaism). Adolf Hitler's fanatical anti-Semitism was laid out in his
1925 book Mein Kampf, largely ignored when it was first printed, but
which later became popular in Germany once Hitler acquired political
power.
On April 1, 1933 the
recently elected Nazis, under Julius Streicher, organized a one-day
boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. This policy helped to
usher-in a series of anti-Semitic acts that would eventually culminate
in the Holocaust. The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany were
closed on July 6, 1939. In many cities throughout Europe, Jews had been
living in concentrated areas. During the first years of World War II,
the Nazis formalized the borders of these areas and restricted movement,
creating modern ghettos to which Jews were confined. The ghettos were,
in effect, prisons in which many Jews died from hunger and disease;
others were executed by the Nazis and their collaborators. Concentration
camps for Jews existed in Germany itself. During the invasion of the
Soviet Union, over 3,000 special killing units (Einsatzgruppen) followed
the Wehrmacht and conducted mass killings of Communist officials and of
the Jewish population that lived on Soviet territory. Entire communities
were wiped out by being rounded up, robbed of their possessions and
clothing, and shot at the edges of ditches.
In December 1941,
Hitler finally decided to exterminate European Jews. In January 1942,
during the Wannsee conference, several Nazi leaders discussed the
details of the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" (Endlösung der
Judenfrage). Dr. Josef Buhler urged Reinhard Heydrich to proceed with
the Final Solution in the General Government. They began to
systematically deport Jewish populations from the ghettos and all
occupied territories to the seven camps designated as Vernichtungslager,
or extermination camps: Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Maly
Trostenets, Sobibór and Treblinka II.
Holocaust Aftermath
and the State of Israel
The Holocaust and its aftermath left millions of refugees, including
many Jews who had lost most or all of their family members and
posessions, and often faced persistent anti-Semitism in their home
countries. The need to find a homeland for the Jewish refugees led to
many of them fervently joining the Zionist movement. Many Zionists,
pointing to the fact that Jewish refugees from Germany and Nazi-occupied
lands had been turned away by other countries, argued that if a Jewish
state had existed at the time, the Holocaust could not have occurred on
the scale it did.
The sudden rapid growth
of Zionism and the post-Holocaust displacement resulted in the
emigration of a great many Jews to what became the modern State of
Israel soon after. This immigration had a direct effect on the regional
Arabs, many of whom firmly opposed a Jewish state in the Middle East.
Some would say this stemmed from a lack of understanding of a need for a
Jewish Homeland. While the Holocaust stands as a reminder that modern,
"civilized" nations can engage in the most horrific of organized group
behavior, it is also important to remember that during the Holocaust,
many non-Jews risked (and often lost) their lives attempting to aid Jews
and other victims of Nazi persecution, for no conceivable gain other
than to satisfy their own consciences. In order to recognize these
examples of the most noble of human behaviors among the most debased,
the Israeli government through the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial set up
a Righteous gentiles program to honor and memorialize as many of these
heroic individuals as can be found.
