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Page 1 of 8 JEWS & JUDAISM
Introduction
The story of the Jews is compulsory reading for everybody who is interested a full picture of England today, the history of the human race, their religious concepts and the slow development of human rights. Jews have been a persecuted race for over 3000 years, but were the people who gave England and the rest of the Western World their current moral code. England was the first country in Europe to expel Jews (1290) and under Oliver Cromwell (1656) the first country to welcome them back into an environment where they could live at peace with their neighbours for the first time for over 1000 years. The English during the interwar years (1918-1938) were the only country to drive forward the concept of Jews being allowed to set up a Jewish state in Palestine , their original Biblical “Promised land” while being powerful enough to make it actually happen.
The Jews have the longest and the most interesting documented history of any race, which spans 4000 years or three quarters of what is normally called human civilization. The Jews came from the area in the world where civilisation commenced and writing was invented, (Sumer in southern Iraq), were the people who gave the world the concept of one God rather than the pagan idea of a God for each occasion. On the other hand no race has been persecuted more, has been so unpopular but in spite of this has achieved a position of such dominant wealth as the Jews. These pages try to provide the reasons why, and also look at the basis of their religion, Judaism, which is also the basis of Christianity and of Islam. We will also look at the modern state of Israel formed in 1948 within Palestine which the English had been ruling for 30 years following their conquests in the 1914-1918 or First World War.
Summary
This section is one of the longest on this web site. We have therefore provided an extended summary for those not wishing to study the History of the Jews in such detail.
The history of the Jewish race may be divided into the following periods.
- 4000 years ago to 2000 years ago
This is the period described in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible (or the Jewish Torah). Nearly all Western school children will have heard of the famous characters like Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and Moses, the father of Judaism, their religion, who lead the Jews out of captivity in Egypt to their new homeland on the west bank of the river Jordan. (Disputed land in present day Israel and Palestine). Also the likes of warrior King David (and his conquest of the Philistine giant, Goliath) and wise King Solomon and Jesus who was born at the end of this period. (6 BC). The Jew Jesus, a religious and social reformer also claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of God. His fellow Jews did not believe him and a Jewish court sentenced him to death for blasphemy. Execution by Crucifixion was carried out by the occupying rulers, the Romans. - 2000 years ago to 1000 years ago
Following a revolt by the Jews in AD 70 the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish faith and culture, and banned the Jews from entering the city. This triggered a mass exodus (Diaspora) from their fertile “promised homeland” between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean sea and the steady spread of the Jewish race mainly westwards across North Africa and into Spain and also north west into Roman Europe but not in this period as far as England. Initially this was a period of reasonable peace for the Jews who wherever they went retained a separate identity, as ethnic minorities, marked by retaining their own religion, their strict eating habits and a notable concentration on education. Unfortunately this all changed 250 years later when Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Following the Nicene council of AD 325 it was decreed that (as Christianity was now the official Roman religion) Jews could no longer have Roman citizenship and were thenceforth a persecuted race, mainly by the Christian Churches, for the next 1500 years, that is up to the French revolution c.1800. - 1000 years ago to 200 years ago
This was an even worse period for Jews who became caught up in the Christian Religious Crusades against the Muslims who had occupied Jerusalem, the old Jewish city west of the river Jordan. Jews, Christians and Muslims all thought Jerusalem was their exclusive Holy City. The fanatical Crusading Christians unfortunately considered any Jews they came across on the way to the Middle East, fair game to kill, to get into practice for killing Muslims. Thousand were massacred particularly in Germany. About this time the Christian Pope supported by the mass of Christian hierarchy, who had, since Roman Emperor Constantine, always blamed the Jews for the execution of their Messiah Jesus, put out the following instructions: - No Jews could own any land. (This was re-issuing the Nicean instructions) This meant that Jewish farmers had to move into the towns where they were taken in by caring Jewish towns folk to learn new trades
- No Christian could be in the banking business for theological reasons, then called simply money lending. This was a new restriction for Christians issued in 1179
This had the obvious result. Along with other business restrictions put on Jews by the Christian Church the only real job left for them was money lending for which they now had a monopoly. They became the money lenders of Europe and were used regularly by kings and barons to finance their wars and the church to finance the building of monasteries.
Jews and international trade
In addition to this the Jews also found they were much better at international trade than any other section of the community. This was because for over 1000 years Jews had dispersed throughout Europe whilst at the same time keeping in contact with other Jews in other towns across Europe, the Middle and Far East. If you wanted to find out where to buy spices, sheep or silk at the best price simply ask the nearest Jew. They had indeed developed the communications Internet of 1000 years ago. Further the Jews had no trouble with translating other languages as Jews were much better educated than the average Christian and many local Jews spoke two languages, the Jewish Language, Hebrew (or a local version of it like Yiddish) and the local national language. No wonder many Jews became rich and with it unpopular, but perhaps through no fault of their own.
Jews come to England with William the Conqueror at his request. (1066)
Jews were so important to trade that for example, when the Norman King, William “The Conqueror”, invaded England and became King in 1066 he asked a selection of the Jews who lived in Normandy to come with him to set up his financial and trading links. 200 years later (1290), when many English Jews had become very rich, English King Edward 1st expelled the lot and confiscated their wealth. It took 400 years and the brain behind that notorious English ruler, Oliver Cromwell, to ask the Jews to return to England to re-boost English international trade. After the Christian Reformation of 500 years ago, the Roman Catholic Christian Church, then banned in England, continued to brutally kill Jews, normally by burning at the stake. Protestant Holland and England became more tolerant which helped these countries become leaders in international trade at that time.
- 200 years ago to the present day
The Christian Church (except in England, Holland and the US) went on persecuting Jews until the French Revolution (1789-99) which was in part triggered by the American War of independence (1775-83) in which the French were very much involved. Human rights statements were built into legislation for the first time, stating that all men are born equal including finally Jews. The French, being less fortunate than the English in the sense of being ruled by an unelected King without parliamentary control plus the dogmatic and ruthless Roman Catholic Christian Church , erupted in 1777 and killed their King and some 40,000 members of the Catholic Church hierarchy (including over 20,000 nuns) on their way to a democratic state. This fervour against the corrupt ruling classes and Catholic Church was continued by Napoleon who rose as ruler from the ashes of the French revolution and proceeded to conquer the whole of Europe (never England where the Navy and military leaders were too powerful). When Napoleon entered Italy one of his first tasks was to imprison the Pope (for crimes against humanity) and release the Jews from their Ghettos. This triggered the freedom (emancipation) for all European Jews but as the world knows, old habits die hard and the suspicion and hatred of the Jewish race by “Christians” has not completely disappeared.
HITLER 1935-45 THE HOLOCAUST
The German ruler Hitler holds the prize! for firstly using Jews as his excuse for their defeat in the First World War and secondly organising the extermination of 6 million European Jews by death in gas chambers (the Holocaust) to ensure that “Jewish contamination” would not stop him winning the Second World War. As the world now knows it didn’t do him much good.
ANTI SEMITISM
Unfortunately, even today Anti Semitism still exists and in the last 50 years Muslims, prompted by the return of many Jews to their Promised Land, largely organised by England, then Muslim Arab occupied Palestine, have followed the Christians as perpetrators of this evil initially much aided and abetted by Stalin. The five countries in the world which are now the safest havens for Jews, still living as minorities are the US, Canada, Holland, New Zealand and England.
In the UK there are now some 300,000 Jews many indistinguishable from the Anglo Saxon natives. The main exception being in Stamford Hill in north east London where there is a thriving sect of Orthodox/Hasidic Jews very noticeable in their black habits and unshaven beards. These Jews although they live apart are not persecuted and live in peace with their “English” neighbours. England still plays a major role in trying to ensure fair play in Palestine and Israel where 6 million Jews are surrounded by more than 100 million Islamic Arabs.
In the US where Jews arrived soon after the first immigrants 350 years ago, there are now six million which, thanks to Hitler is now almost half the world’s Jewry. Thanks to their education, there are few fields in which Jews have not held dominant roles particularly in the arts and sciences. In Politics 10% of US Senators are Jews, well above the proportion suggested by their population. It is not surprising that American support for Israel is seen to be so strong.
THE JEWISH STORY
This starts the story which is well documented in the Old Testament of the Bible and is now supported or modified by recent archaeological research. That is 2000 years of history before the birth of Jesus which until recently was always taught in English schools.
6000 YEARS AGO
Human civilisation commenced in the fertile land between the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in the country we now call Iraq (now ruled by Saddam Hussein). Two main centres developed, Babylon just south of modern day Baghdad and Sumer further south (now occupied by the “Marsh Arabs”) One of the better known towns in Sumer was Ur where Abraham the father of the Jews lived his early life. Writing, a huge aid to logical thought and communication, was also developed in Sumer.
4000 YEARS AGO
1800 BC - Abraham leaves the civilised city of Ur with a party of family and friends and settles some 1000 miles west in a the fertile but undeveloped area around the river Jordan in Cannan now called Jewish Israel in part and Islamic Palestine in part, at the east end of the Mediterranean sea.
1700 BC - Only about 100 years later and due to famine caused by drought Abraham’s descendants now called Israelites travel to the Nile valley in Egypt in search of food. Here as an ethnic minority, they live as second class citizens and slaves to the Egyptians.
1250 BC - After almost 500 years in captivity, the Israelite/Jew, Moses persuades the Egyptian rulers to let the Israelite slaves return to Cannan (now Palestine/Israel) and leads the Israelite slaves to freedom to the east bank of the river Jordon via the Red Sea (probably the reed sea) and the Sinai desert peninsular. Moses persuades the ruling pharaoh by saying if he does not agree to let the Israelites leave he will bring a curse of 10 plagues upon the land of Egypt. Modern science has confirmed the likelihood of 10 plagues at this time brought about by a huge volcanic eruption 500 miles north, on the island of Santorini. This volcano could also explain the parting of the reed sea which is the most likely crossing point for their journey from Egypt to the Sinai. On Mount Sinai Moses receives the Ten Commandments from God. These Commandments written on tablets some 3000 years ago form the basis of the moral codes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and the whole of the Western World to this day. Moses is justifiably known as the Law Giver.
1200 BC - The trip from Egypt to the river Jordan took about 40 years. Moses died when around 100 years old and his successor Joshua commenced military sorties west across the river to establish a settlement amongst not surprisingly, hostile Canaanites. This campaign included the famous siege of the city of Jericho. (It is interesting to note that, coincidently this was also the time of the siege of Troy)
1029 -1007 BC - Saul becomes the first king of the Israelites. Up to this time they had behaved like independent tribes with only their religion and their priests holding them together. With some reluctance they appointed a king who was needed to unite the tribes in times of war against any third party. Up to this point most of their battles had been amongst themselves!
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