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The Jewish People
Two of the major events of the 20th century involved Jewish people: the
holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Some of the most
influential people who influenced the development of thought and science in
the 20th century were Jewish: Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Leon
Trotsky, Arthur Miller. Jesus was Jewish.
So who are the Jewish people and why have they been so important in the
history of the world?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------The first important thing to understand about the Jewish
people is that their history is very long, very complicated
and there are many things which we don’t know for sure
and many things about which people disagree. Most of
what we know about early Jewish history comes from the
bible. Some people see this story as the word of god;
other people see it as mythology. The story begins
around 1500 years ago with Abraham. Abraham is
considered the father of Israel and he started the idea of
one god (monotheism). Abraham had a son called Issac
and Issac had a son called Jacob. Jacob had twelve
sons and this was the beginning of the twelve tribes of
Israel. One of the sons was called Judah and the tribe of
Judah is today where we get the idea of Judaism or Jew.
Just as today, that area of the world has always been part of
different empires: Egypt, Greece, Roman, Ottoman, British,
and American. During the time of the Egyptian Empire, the
Jews were taken as slaves to Egypt. They were then led
back to their homeland by Moses. It was during this time
that Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.
The Jewish people returned to their homeland (The Promised
Land, The Land of Milk and Honey)
and reformed a nation of Israel with
a king. The most famous kings
were King David and King Solomon. After the
death of Solomon, the nation disintegrated and was
taken over by the empire of Babylon, then the Roman
Empire, and so on.
The Jewish people then left their homeland and went
in all different directions. Some went north into
Russia and Eastern Europe. Some went east into
Babylon. Some went west into North Africa and
eventually into Spain.
After this, no one knows for sure what happened. The Jewish people
intermarried with non-Jews and many people also converted to Judaism. It is
possible that the people who are Jewish today have no blood link to the Jewish
people in the bible story. Today, there are two main groups of Jewish people:
the Ashkenazi Jews and the Sephardic Jews. The Ashkenazi Jews are the
ones who went north. These are the Jews who suffered in Russia (the
pogroms) and these are the Jews who were persecuted in Germany and Poland
in WWII. The Sephardic Jews had a better time and were accepted into
Islamic society and became successful traders and artists.
Why are Jewish people persecuted?
This is another complicate question and not an easy
one to answer. One reason is that the Jewish people are
very different in their lifestyle, beliefs and culture and
are therefore viewed with suspicion.
In The
Merchant of Venice, we will see how people treat the
Jew and beliefs people have about the Jews such as that
they put poison in wells. The Jews have often been
moneylenders and very successful in business and
other areas so they generate a lot of jealousy.
The Jewish people have often also been used as pawns
in the game of empire making and have been
favouritised. The creation of the state of Israel, which
is basically a big American military base in the region,
is the latest example.