7. Judaism

I. Origins of the Jews
    - Video: Civilization and the Jews

II. The Diaspora and Its Impact on the Development of

     Judaism
     A. The Scattering of the Jews
         1. Sometimes forced:
             - Assyrian destruction of Israel (721 B. C. E.)
             - Babylonian Captivity (586 B. C. E.)
         2. Sometimes voluntarily
         3. Second destruction of the Temple and the Kingdom of

             Judea by the Roman (70 C. E.)

     B. Synagogue
             - an assembly of 10 Jewish men (quorum or minyan) and a

                 copy of the Torah
             - rabbi

     C. Mishnah
             - collection of legal commentary

     D. Talmud
          - Mishnah and Gemara
          1. Halachah (the proper way) > legal material, discussions and

             decisions
         2. Haggadah (tale, narrative) > contains section concerning history,

             folk lore and sermons

III. Medieval Judaism
     A. Judaism and Islam
         1. Origins and spread of Islam
             - Muhammad (570-632)

         2. Umayyad Caliphate (640-750)
             - sporadic persecution of the Jews
         3. Abassid Caliphate
             - religious tolerance
             - Golden Age > Bagdad became the center of science,

                 philosophy and medicine
             - Jews adopted Arabic and worked with Arab scholars

                 in translating Greek and Roman philosophical works

                 into Arabic
             - Jewish academies flourished
             - status of Jews declined after from 847
     B. Judaism in Spain
         1. Golden Age
             - tolerance of Jews enabled them to gain important positions

                 in government, science, medicine, philosophy and literature
         2. Moses ben Maimonides (1145- 1204)
             - philosopher, Talmudist and physician
             - Mishneh Torah > 14 volume summary of Talmudic Law
             - Guide to the Perplexed > attempt to harmonize Judaism

                 and Aristole
         3. Reconquest of Spain
             - intolerance, persecution and force conversions
             - conversos
             - 1492 Expulsion

     C. Edward I and the Jews
         1. Source of Anti-Jewish sentiment
             - resentment against the practice of kings taking of Jewish

                 estates and aggressively collecting on debts
             - Crusader zeal
             - Belief that Jews were killing children

         2. The Statute of the Jewry (1275)
             - Jews could not lend anything for profit
             - Debts could not be inherited
             - Jews can live only in the king’s cities
             - Jews had to wear a distinguishing mark
             - All Jews over 12 years old had to pay a poll tax of 3 pence
             - Jews could not live among Christians

         3. 1290 the Jews were expelled from England

     D. Crusades
         - First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1095
         - Crusading effort was directed toward European Jews

     E. The Kabbala
         - Jewish mystical tradition appeared between

             500 – 900 C. E.
         - Sefer Hazohar (Zohar, Book of Splendor;

             13th century C. E.)
         - a tradition whose appeal rises in troubled times

IV. Judaism and the Modern World
     A. Expulsion of the Jews from Western Europe

     B. Relocation
         1. to the Ottoman Empire
             - Sephardim
         2. to Eastern Europe
             - Ashkenazim > Yiddish
             - Poland > highly settled by Jews who found
                 opportunity in positions as landlords and tax
                 collectors for the nobility
             - 1648 Pogrom

     C. Protestant Reformation
         - Martin Luther decried the Jews

     D. Counter-Reformation
         1. Roman Inquisition
         2. the Ghetto
         3. distinctive clothing fro Jews

V. Responses to Modernity
     A. Shabbatai Zevi (b. 1626)
         - a false messiah

     B. Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786)
         - philosopher and Enlightenment thinker who

             gained acceptance among non-Jews and urged
             Jews in the Ghetto to leave and enter the modern
             world
         - translated the Bible into German

     C. Baal Shem Tov (1699-1760)
         - Polish founder of Hasidim
         - God was to be found in heartfelt faith and Jewish
             traditions and not in the study of the law

     D. French Revolution of 1789
         1 .Declaration of the Rights of Man:
             > Article I: Men are born and remain free and
                  equal in rights. Social distinctions may be
                  founded only upon common utility
             > Article II: the aim of all political association

                 is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible

                 rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security,

                 and resistance to oppression.

         2. Jews were granted civil rights not only in France, but in those

             countries conquered by Napoleon
             > 1789 Jews were first admitted to European universities
             > however, with the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 many

                 Jews lost their rights

     E. Reform Judaism
         - An attempt to reconcile Judaism with the Modern World

             > a response to Jews converting to Christianity to retain their

                 rights
         - 1843 Declaration:
             1. there is a continuation in the development of Judaism.
             2. The Talmud has no authority for the modern Jew.
             3. We seek no Messiah, and we know no homeland but the land

                 of our birth.
         - religious practices were updated, laws relaxed
         - Reform Judaism was practiced by many of the Jews who migrated

             to the U. S. in the early 19th century

         (From 1935 Reform Jews began to reassert the traditional values of

         God, Torah and Israel)

VI. Modern Anti-Semitism
     A. Intensification of Anti-Semitism at the end of the 19th century
         - Assimilation of Jews in Western Europe who became prominent

             in the business and the profession and became associated with

             the new forces of urbanism and modernity
         - Jews became the scapegoats of conservative groups who accused

             them of undermining the social order and national interests
         - Jews became used by nationalist to identify the nation by exclusion
         - Persecution no longer based on religious intolerance but racism

     B. The Dreyfus Affair (1894)
         - French Captain Alfred Dreyfus was accused and convicted of

             spying for the Germans with little evidence
         - the case was exploited by conservative and anti- Semitic journalists
         - even when Dreyfus’s innocence was proven 4 years later the military

             did not release him from Devil’s Island
         - Dreyfus was granted “amnesty” in 1899 due to outcry of liberal

             politicians and writers

     C. Late 19th Century Anti-Semitism: Law and Actions
         - France > call for the expulsion of the Jews
         - Austria > call to bar Jews from participating in public life
         - Romania > Jews prohibited from public office and voting,

             economic activities and educational opportunities limited
         - Russia > access to education limited, Jews expelled from

             the cities or forced into ghettoes, pogroms were encouraged
         - Thousands of Jews fled and sought refuge in Western Europe

             increasing Anti-Semitism sentiments

VII. Jewish Responses to Modern Anti- Semitism
     A. Zionism
         1. Theodore Herzl
             - an assimilated, Viennese Jew who became convinced the

                 Jews would never be secure or treated fairly until they

                 had their own state > The Jewish State, 1896
            - after considering various alternatives looked to Palestine

                 for the establishment of a Jewish homeland

         2. Migration to Palestine
             - City of Tel Aviv founded in 1900
             - 50,000 Jews had migrated to Palestine by 1920

         3. Balfour Declaration (1917)
             - British led Zionists to believe that a Jewish state

                 would be created in Palestine to gain Jewish support

                 during World War I
             - However, the Arabs were also promised their own state

                 after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire

         4. After WWI Palestine became a League of Nations mandate

             under the authority of Britain
             - 220,000 Jews from the West had settled by in Palestine by

                 1933
             - Palestinians resented the influx of Western Jews
             - in response the British established a quota of 15,000 per year

                 for six years

     B. The Holocaust
         1. Basis for Hitler’s Anti-Semitism:
             - as an Austrian believed in the superiority of ethnic Germans

                 over other ethnicities that comprised the Austria-Hungary

                 Empire
             - concerns over his own paternity
             - blamed his mother’s death on her Jewish doctor
             - equated the Jews with Marxists
             - in Vienna admired politicians who advocated anti-Semitism

         2. Nazi ideology based on:
             - Racial nationalism
             - Anti-Semitism
             - Propaganda

         3. 1933 Hitler seized power over Germany and began his campaign

              against the Jews
              - 1933 > Jews were barred from certain professions and

                     government jobs
             - 1935 > Nuremberg Laws: defined who was a Jew: took from

                     Jews their citizenship; prohibited marriage or sex between

                     Jews and non-Jews
             - November 9-10, 1938 > Kristallnacht: introduced a more violent

                     phase of actions vs. the Jews

         4. Final Solution
             - Jews were encouraged to emigrate > problem of finding host

                 countries
             - 6 million Jews murdered, also
             - 9-10 million “racially inferior” people killed

     C. Israel
         - In 1947 the U. N. proposed partitioning the state into an Arab state

             and an Israeli state
         - This was rejected by the Palestinians who preferred a united

             Arab-Jewish state
         - 1948 Israel declared its independence which led to war with the

             Arab states
         - Outcome > Israel won control over 75% of the land and 83% of

             the Palestinian population became refugees in neighboring states
         - this first of several wars that will be fought for territory and security
         - Current status involves partition and negotiations between Israel

             and then Palestinian Authority

VII. Current Variations in Judaism
     A. Orthodox
     B. Reform
     C. Conservative
     D. Reconstructionist
     E. Fundamentalist
     F. Secular
     G. Other Smaller Sects

 

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