...“Loyalty of the Ancient Jews” 17 February 2010 It is interesting how many of the values of the Jews can be seen from the earliest of their documents, and through these writings we can see how they attempted to remain steadfast to their morals and beliefs. As I read the excerpts of ancient writings in our Encounters in World History book, what seemed to stand out most to me about the Jewish values, was the concept of unwavering commitment to the ways of Yahweh. I’m not saying that the Jewish people were always successful in this endeavor, but it appears that the endeavor itself never changed. There was always a deep sense in their historical writings that committing to the ways of their creator was not only the correct, but the most absolute valuable thing they could do with their existence. We can trace this theme of commitment from Yahweh back to the creation story of the Jews which is found in the book of Genesis. After Yahweh created man he commanded to Adam that “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (49). This appears to be the first instruction that man ever received from the Creator. As the story goes, Adam and Eve both ate from the tree exposing them to the knowledge of good and evil. Yahweh went on to say “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it...
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...only recently been acknowledged by the United Nations, but the history of this land goes back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. After escaping the clutches of the Pharaoh, G-d brings the Jewish person, whom is led by Abraham, to the land of Canaan, now called Israel. This promise land was told to be “the land of milk and honey.” The promise of fertile land, made this location even more desirable, especially after wondering forty years in the desert. The promise land was quickly taken by other countries, forcing the Jewish population into exile. Thousands of years later, the Jewish people still had no place to call home, leading towards the creation of the Zionist movement. During the 19th century, Jews were facing discrimination in East Europe, facing prosecution, legal restrictions, and even pogroms. This caused many Jews to emigrate to the United States, and some towards the notion of their homeland. This vast migration spurred the revival of the Hebrew language, enticing many other Jewish people to migrate towards this region, Southern Syria. The push for a Jewish state didn’t take off until 1896, where Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat, a pamphlet stating that the only way to fight off anti-Semitism that was growing in Europe was for the Jews to establish a Jewish state. A year later, the Zionist Organization was founded and the First Zionist Congress set its goal to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The start of the 20th century brought thousands...
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...Running Head: EZRA AND HEROD THE GREAT Ezra and Herod the Great Ezra and Herod the Great, two important figures taking part in the history of the Jews. Who are they? What were their contributions to Jewish life? How did they affect the way of life of the Jews at the beginning of the Common Era? The object of the assignment is to discuss these events. Ezra was a man of great importance to the development of Judaism. He was known as Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest (Hirsch, 2002). According to Niswonger, Ezra was one of the people who led the Jews back to their lands after the exile by the Persians (1988). Ezra stressed that marriages to pagan was deeply offensive. He taught that in order to establish and build the Jewish identity, Jew should only marry within their community (Niswonger, 1988). Niswonger states that Ezra was not only a scribe, but “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses (1988, p.55). Ezra stresses the importance of the oral traditions of the Synagogues. The lecture teaches us that Ezra was an instrumental in the acceptance of the Torah, the Jewish bible as their cannon (Price, 2008). Because of the teachings of Ezra, the Jews became a people together who followed the book and the oral laws as interpreted by the scribes (Price, 2008). Niswonger teaches that these scribes were often referred to as “The Great Synagogue (1988, p. 73). Ezra was a very important part of the value that the Jews placed on the Law of the Torah and...
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...The war waged by Hitler and his accomplices was a war against the Jewish people, Jewish culture and thus, Jewish memory. If the twisted philosophy of the Nazi regime was to eradicate Jewish memory, then it is our duty to remember the Jewish lives that perished and to keep Jewish memory alive. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, explains in his preface his reasons for writing the latest edition of his memoir Night: “[I] believe that [I] have a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory.” The number of Holocaust survivors is dwindling. It is imperative that we remember their stories in order to give meaning to their survival. As Wiesel writes, “[The survivor] has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory.” Wiesel has painstakingly endowed us, the next generation, with the knowledge of the moral depravity during the Holocaust as well as the importance of remembrance. Now it is up to us to apply this knowledge and to fight against future genocides. As a Jewish teenager growing up in the United States, I believe that it is essential for our generation to remember not only the Holocaust, but also the debacle of our country’s lack of support for the Jewish community in its most crucial time of need. In his book, Abandonment of the Jews, David Wyman asserts that: “The United States was willing to attempt almost nothing to save the Jews” (5). Indeed, the...
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...The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Quiz Please write using complete sentence and use your own words for each answer. Be sure to check grammar and spelling. You may write on the quiz sheet, but it is recommended you use own paper for writing answers. 1. Why are Bruno (Asa Butterfield) and Shmuel (Jack) drawn to each other, despite their opposing circumstances? Bruno and Shmuel are drawn to each other simply because they are two kids of similar age that don’t have any friends where they reside. Despite their “political” differences, they were able to relate to one another by playing games and just getting a sense of each other’s daily lives and activities 2. Gretel (Amber Beattie) believes Father (David Thewlis) and his peers in their viewpoints on the persecution of Jews. Through Bruno is even younger than her, why does he question these viewpoints while Gretel does not? Gretel seems to believe in his Father’s viewpoints because she has the mindset of a realist. She backs up her views, along with the viewpoints of her father’s peers with the propaganda that she reads along with her professor’s teachings. Bruno, on the other hand, is more ignorant and naïve, which is very understandable for someone his age. His attitude towards the persecution of Jews is an unbiased one, and that the treatment that they receive is unjust and cruel. He doesn’t really grasp the magnitude of political differences that the Jews and Nazi’s have. 3. Contrast Father with Lieutenant Kotler...
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...the problems of the world, I would also argue that he calls a lack of direct action indifference, which I strongly disagree with. The oxford dictionary defines indifference as “Lack of interest, concern, or sympathy” (oxford dictionary). He says “ I don't understand. Why the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of the victims?” (Wiesel 421),. Anyone with indifference will almost never take action. Wiesel cites president Franklin D. Roosevelt as forever tainted in jewish history for his turning away of the St. Louis. The St. Louis was a ship coming into New York during WW2 and it had on it roughly 500 escaped jews. FDR made the somewhat notorious decision to turn away the passengers and send them back. Now when you look at this for its face value one could argue that FDR was being indifferent to the problems of the jews and that he simply didn't want the hassle. However upon further investigation we would find that FDR made this decision because of reports of nazi spies amongst the jewish group. Now in hindsight was FDRs decision the right one? Some may say yes others no and both have logical reasons to say so, however i think both sides can recognize and understand that it wasn't mere indifference that FDR had for the jews it was simply that...
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...conquest. One conflict was class, between the wealthy and the poor, as the Sadducees included mainly the priestly and aristocratic families. Another conflict was cultural, between those who favored hellenization and those who resisted it. A third was juridico-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Temple, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic laws and prophetic values. A fourth, specifically religious, involved different interpretations of the Bible, and how to apply the Torah to Jewish life, with the Sadducees recognizing only the written letter of the Tanakh or Torah and rejecting life after death, while the Pharisees held to Rabbinic interpretations additional to the written texts. Josephus indicates that the Pharisees received the backing and goodwill of the common people, apparently in contrast to the more elite Sadducees. Pharisees claimed prophetic or Mosaic authority for their interpretation of Jewish laws, while the Sadducees represented the authority of the priestly privileges and prerogatives established since the days of Solomon, when Zadok, their ancestor, officiated as High Priest. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE Pharisaic beliefs became the basis for Rabbinic Judaism, which ultimately produced the normative traditional Judaism...
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...In The Wake of The Plague In the Wake of the Plague, Cantor reasons his thesis that the Black Plague had tremendously altered the history of Europe and the lives of its people. Furthermore, he reasons that the plague has not just had an effect on a particular estate or a specific aspect in a society, but affected everyone alike in many different aspects. He specifically states in his writing how the plague had affected the nobilities, the priests, and the peasants. Subsequently, he argues that the plague had an impact on the population change, economics, literature, and science of medieval Europe. Cantor makes a coherent and clear argument that justifies his thesis through organizing the novel in three parts: biomedical context, people, and history. The first part serves as an introductory reading that defines the Black Plague in biological terms and gives background information of how the plague swept the entire continent of Europe. The second part serves as the body of his argument, where he refers to how the plague had affected all three estates of people: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The body of the argument is not necessarily organized in a chronological order, but organized in different estates of people. In the third chapter, Cantor uses the example of Princess Joan and the incident of Bordeaux fire to explain how a noble family was affected by the plague. When Edward III asked Pedro to rescue Princess Joan from Bordeaux where the plague was spread, the...
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...Signature assignment: The Impact of Jewish life in Florida Michael Otero West Coast University Abstract This paper identifies and shows my reflection on the Jewish museum of Florida which exhibits the richness and diversity of Jewish life from 1763 to the present Jews, non-Jews, Florida residents and visitors alike. I examined how Jews during these times grew to develop a dynamic variety of ethnic groups, all seeking to balance the continuity and traditions of their heritage wit the values and customs of a larger society. This paper also explains the central issues rose from the museum and historical purpose it served as the Jewish community made its contributions in Florida. Topics * Identify and explain the central issues raised by the museum. * Formulate a distinct, individual point of view (personal reflection) that engages critically with various perspectives offered by the museum. * Evaluate the evidence that the museum offers for its point of view. * Consider how the site/exhibit/museum uses cultural, political, and (or) historical contexts to present its issues and purposes. * Exhibit your knowledge of how the museum presents and uses cultural worldview frameworks, and also how you use your own knowledge of those frameworks to engage the museum. The Jewish museum of Florida located in Miami was home to congregation Beth Jacob and was the first synagogue on south beach. The synagogue is the building in which congregation meets...
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...Name: Instructors name: Course: Date: Jewish Holy Day of Hanukkah With many religions worldwide, there are special and dedicated times of the year where followers celebrate the associated holidays with the religion practiced. I had the privilege of celebrating one of the historic Jewish Holy Days called Hanukkah or Chanukah with my friends from the Jewish community. Chanukah or Hanukkah celebrates Jewish rededication of their temple in Jerusalem during the second century. Chanukah or Hanukkah as I came to learn means dedication in Hebrew and it commemorates a miracle which is oil based. The festival ran for eight consecutive days and each of the days was marked with games, dances, songs, oily fried foods, candle lighting and a lot of joy and laughter. Each day of Hanukkah we thanked God by reciting a complete ‘Hallel’ during the Morning Prayer service. We also inserted a special thanks giving prayer and read from the Torah. After each Morning Prayer service we ate oily fried foods such as fried potato pancakes also known as latkes, deep fried doughnuts also known as sufganiyot, cheese and a lot of dairy foods. We also got to play dreidel games. From the brief history given I came to learn that during the ancient days, the Greek oppressors banned Torah schools and so the young children would study deep in the forest. All this while, they would post sentry to make them aware of Greek patrols. When the soldiers came, the kids would hide or bury their texts into the...
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...Torah, saying the blessing for the reading, and by helping to lead the service, the Bar Mitzvah will show he has acquired the knowledge and skill to accept this responsibility and its privileges. Becoming a Bar Mitzvah is not itself a religious service. That is, the Sabbath services are not being conducted because of the Bar Mitzvah. The reverse is true: The boy marks the fact that he is a Bar Mitzvah by participating in the Sabbath service. If no one was celebrating a Bar Mitzvah, the services would still be conducted and the portions read by the boy would be read by another adult member of the congregation. The Sabbath service at Congregation Tifereth Israel is a traditional service conducted almost entirely in Hebrew, the Jewish language of prayer. The form and structure of the service are 1,800 to 2,000 years old, with some sections dating back 2,500 years. For example, the "Musaf" service dates almost to the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. and was written to replace the sacrificial ceremony in the temple. (It is interesting to note that the synagogue itself, as an institution, dates to that event, when the Jews were exiled to Babylonia (now Iraq) and established houses of worship there.) The Torah Service is the central part of the morning, and marks the reading of the weekly portion of the Torah scrolls. The Torah contains the entire text of the five books of Moses, hand written in Hebrew characters on parchment and unchanged...
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...Jewish Holy Days Paper REL/134 June 12, 2013 Hanukkah Hanukkah is an eight day and night celebration. That begins in the Jewish month called Kislev, occurring in November or December of a secular calendar. The word Hanukkah means dedication. The holiday is rededication of the holy temple in Jerusalem (165 B.C). The event was established when Jewish victory over the Syrian Greeks. Hanukkah is a holiday that has significance like Christmas. The celebration has a meaningful history, traditions practices, and cultural differences in the various branches of Judaism. The story is in 168 B.C. the Jewish temple was seized by the Syrian Greek soldiers. The Jewish people were afraid to fight back. After the Syrian Greek Emperor ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods. The Jews began to resistance and join together to retake their land from the Greeks. The rebels were called Maccabees. Maccabees got control of their land and returned to the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews were forced to eat swine and worship ideal gods. So to cleanse their selves they burned ritual oils in the temple of Jerusalem for eight days. The significant thing was there was only enough oil for one day but, the oil surprised the Jews and lasted eight days. That was the miracle of Hanukkah. There are many traditions when it comes to celebrating Hanukkah. The celebration involves games, the songs, and foods. One of the games is called dreidel. It’s the spinning of the four side toy. The songs are like...
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...Medias Synagogue By Julie Dawson and Letitia Cosnean The Mihai Eminescu Trust 63 Hillgate Place, London W8 7SS Tel. +44 20 72297618 Romania Str. Cojocarilor nr. 10, Sighisoara 545400 Tel. +4 0265 506024 The Mihai Eminescu Trust UK 63 Hillgate Place, London W8 7SS Tel. +44 20 72297618 with the Ten Commandments. The pediment is flanked by two carved wooden acroteria. The mural paintings along the interior walls depict artistic representations of a menorah, vegetal motifs, lions, Stars of David, the Ten Commandments and a fortress, probably a romantic depiction of Jerusalem. During Ceauşescu’s dictatorship, the Trust helped dissidents keep in touch with western academic thought; and by alerting the world to his plan to bulldoze Romania’s rural architecture, it played a part in saving hundreds of villages from destruction. After his death, the Trust turned its attention to the country’s cultural revival and rural regeneration. The Trust concentrates on the Saxon villages of Transylvania, a special case because of the age and richness of their past and the emergency caused by the mass emigration of the Saxon inhabitants to Germany in 1990, leading to the abandonment of many of their houses and a loss of awareness of the value of their heritage. These villages – farmers’ houses and barns built around fortified churches, substantially unchanged since the Middle Ages – lie in spectacularly beautiful surroundings, rich in wild flowers. Wolves, bears and wild boar roam...
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...The Most Important Jewish Holy Day: Yom Kippur REL/134 February 28, 2012 The Most Important Jewish Holy Day: Yom Kippur The Holy Day of Yom Kippur is widely considered to be the most important of Jewish Holy Days. Yom Kippur translates to “Day of Atonement,” and is many times observed by even the most secular of Jews (Malloy and Hilgers 2010). It is observed on the tenth and final day of a period that begins with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. These 10 days are referred to as The Days of Awe. According to Jewish law, on Rosh Hashanah, God inscribes the names of the righteous in His book of life and declares the evil to death; people who fall between righteous and evil have until Yom Kippur to repent. As a result, observant Jews consider Yom Kippur and The Days of Awe a time for prayer, donations, community service, reflection on the past, and making amends with others ("Atonement, Day Of",2010). “...In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work ... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the L-RD” (Leviticus 16:29-30). Yom Kippur is observed on the tenth day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish year. Tishri occurs in September and October of the Gregorian Calendar. The traditions of Yom Kippur begin on the eve, just before the sun sets, with a fast that will last for the next 25 hours. During the fast, it is expected that...
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...BIMA as an artist and as a member of the Jewish community. For the past two years, I have been attending high school at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts as a film major. I have been studying both the history of film and the production of film. I have created various films ranging from music videos to movie trailers. I hope to contribute to BIMA by sharing my knowledge and experience of films with my fellow BIMA participants. I hope to grow as an artist in that I hope to learn from my instructors to further develop and improve my film techniques in areas such as camerawork and editing. I also hope to learn new techniques and skills in the workshops and master classes that are ran by professionals in the field. I hope to collaborate with BIMA participants by creating films with them and learning from them as well. I attended Solomon Schechter day school from elementary school through middle school. I would therefore contribute my knowledge of Judaism and Shabbat with other BIMA participants. For example, I have experienced Shabbat in traditional ways such as attending services and eating a Shabbat dinner with my family. However, I would also look forward to growing as a Jew by exploring new ways to observe Shabbat. For example, meditation and yoga would be new ways that I could experience Shabbat and relax on the Day of Rest. Imagine a Jewish community whose members come from all kinds of geographic, cultural, educational, and Jewish backgrounds. How do you envision Shabbat...
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