Judaism and Zionism

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Judaism and Zionism
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Who are the Jews?

• A Caucasian people who speak a Semitic language.
• Jewish tribes first migrated into Palestine
  between 1500 BCE and 1250 BCE.
• First Jewish kingdom established about 1200 BCE.
• Jewish kingdom conquered by Babylonians in 587
  BCE. Many deported to Babylon.
• Persians conquered Palestine in 539 BCE.
• Greeks (Alexander the Great) conquered Palestine
  in 332 BCE.
• Romans conquered Palestine in 63 BCE.
• Revolt of the Jews from 66-70 CE. Destruction of
  Jerusalem by Romans in 70 AD. Deportation of
  Jews.
• Jewish revolt in 133 CE. Jews deported from
  Jerusalem.

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What is Judaism?

• A strongly monotheistic religion.
• Emerged in Palestine.
• Strong Mesopotamian influences in cosmology.

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Who is a Jew?

• Depends on who you speak to.
• Orthodox Judaism children who have a Jewish
  mother.
• Others anyone who has a Jewish parent.
• Converts.

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Holy texts Tankh

• The Torah (Law) also known as the Pentateuch
  consists of
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• The books of Nevi'im (Prophets) are
• Joshua
• Judges
• Samuel (I II)
• Kings (I II
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• The Twelve Minor Prophets
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos

• The Ketuvim (Writings) are
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Job
• Song of Songs
• Ruth
• Lamentations
• Ecclesiastes
• Esther
• Daniyel
• Ezra-N'chemyah
• Chronicles (I II)

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Varieties of Judaism

• Orthodox.
• Conservative.
• Reform.
• Reconstructionist.
• Humanist?

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Orthodox Judaism

• Adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and
  application of the laws .
• It is governed by these works and the Rabbinical
  commentary of the last 1,000 years.
• Orthodox Judaism is characterized by
• Divine origin of the Torah (i.e. the Pentateuch)
• Transmitted by God to Moses who then wrote it
  down, and cannot be changed by a human being.
• Covenant
• God has made an exclusive unbreakable covenant
  with the Children of Israel, the ancestors of the
  Jewish people, to be governed by the Torah.
• The belief that there is also an oral law in
  Judaism, embodied mainly in the Talmud and
  Aggadah, which is intrinsically and inherently
  entwined with the written law of the Torah.
• Adherence to Halakha (code/s of Jewish law.
• Judging the world outside by the principles and
  guidance of the holy books as interpreted by
  rabbis and their rabbinical literature.
• The centrality of yeshivas as schools of Talmudic
  study and learning.
• Belief in the thirteen principles as stated by
  the Maimonides.

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Maimonides (1135 TO 1204 CE)13 principles of
faith

• The existence of God.
• God's unity.
• God's spirituality and incorporeality.
• God's eternity.
• God alone should be the object of worship.
• Revelation through God's prophets.
• The preeminence of Moses among the prophets.
• God's law given on Mount Sinai.
• The immutability of the Torah as God's Law.
• God's foreknowledge of human actions.
• Reward of good and retribution of evil.
• The coming of the Jewish Messiah.
• The resurrection of the dead.

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Reconstructionist Judaism

• Contains a very liberal set of beliefs
• Personal choice should generally override
  traditional Jewish law and custom, yet also take
  into account communal consensus.
• Modern culture is accepted.
• Traditional rabbinic modes of study, as well as
  modern scholarship and critical text study, are
  both valid ways to learn about religious texts.
• Non-fundamentalist methods of teaching about
  Jewish principles of faith are acceptable.
• No Jew needs to accept all, or any, principles of
  faith.
• Rejection of belief that the Jews are the only
  chosen people.
• Miracles and theism are generally not accepted.
• Generally practice more traditional observances
  than do Reform Jews.
• Originated in the United States between the two
  world wars (1920-40).
• Founder Rabbis Mordecai Kaplan (18811983) and
  Ira Eisenstein.
• It formally became a distinct denomination within
  Judaism with the foundation of the
  Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968.

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Reform Judaism

• The largest denomination of Judaism in America
  and its sibling movements in other countries.
• Roots in 19th century Germany and in the European
  Enlightenment.
• Contemporary Reform Judaism movements share most
  of the following principles
• The autonomy of the individual in interpreting
  the Torah and Oral Law, as well as in deciding
  which observances one is thereby prescribed to
  follow.
• Applicability of textual analysis (including
  higher criticism), as well as traditional
  rabbinic modes of study, to the Hebrew Bible and
  rabbinic literature.
• Learning Jewish principles of faith through
  non-religious methods, as well as religious ones.
• Embracing modern culture in customs, dress, and
  common practices.
• Complete gender equality in religious study,
  ritual, and observance.

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Conservative Judaism

• A modern denomination of Judaism.
• Arose in Europe and the United States in the
  early 1900s.
• Developed as a reaction to the European
  Enlightenment.
• The term conservative was meant to signify that
  Jews should attempt to conserve Jewish tradition,
  rather than reform or abandon it.
• Conservative Judaism is characterized by
• A commitment to following traditional Jewish laws
  and customs.
• A deliberately non-fundamentalist teaching of
  Jewish principles of faith.
• A positive attitude toward modern culture.
• An acceptance of both traditional rabbinic modes
  of study and modern scholarship and critical text
  study when considering Jewish religious texts.

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Ethnic and religious geography
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Jewish population around the world by rank
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Rank 15 to 42
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Who are the Palestinians?

• It is thought that at about the same time that
  the Jews were entering or emerging, the
  Philistines migrated and settled along the
  Mediterranean coast around present-day Gaza.
• Were the Philistines part of the Sea Peoples
  who were mentioned by the Pharaohs?
• Were they Indo-European language speakers?
• Contemporary archeological evidence links them
  with late bronze-age Greece (1600-1200 BCE)
  Mycenaean Greece.
• They acculturated to the local Canaanite culture.
  
• The Philistines occupied the five cities of Gaza,
  Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath that had been
  under Egyptian control up to about 1190 BCE.
• Conflict between Philistine and Israeli was
  depicted in the Christian Old Testament.

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Similarities between early Islam and Judaism

• Muhammad changed several of the customs that were
  borrowed from the Jews.
• The Qibla.
• The number of prayers required each day.
• The annual fast.
• Prophets.
• Much of the religious language has been borrowed
  from Jewish culture but some may be
  Mesopotamian.

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Palestine, 1936
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Theodore Herzel, 1860-1904
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The Basle Program of the World Zionist
Organization in 1897

• Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish
  people in Eretz-Israel secured under public law.
  The Congress contemplates the following means to
  the attainment of this end
• The promotion by appropriate means of the
  settlement in Eretz-Israel of Jewish farmers,
  artisans, and manufacturers.
• The organization and uniting of the whole of
  Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, both
  local and international, in accordance with the
  laws of each country.
• The strengthening and fostering of Jewish
  national sentiment and national consciousness.
  Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of
  governments, where necessary, in order to reach
  the goals of Zionism.

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Hertzls efforts to acquire a homeland

• Hertzl tried to secure a Jewish homeland in
• Palestine with the consent of the Ottoman Empire
  and the German Kaiser.
• Uganda or Argentina or anywhere.
• The program was controversial and eventually
  abandoned by the Zionist organization.
• There were several schools of Zionist thought on
  how to resolve the homeland issue.
• Enlist the aid of rich and powerful leaders, who
  would petition governments (Ottoman) for a
  charter to create a homeland.
• Begin settling Palestine (or elsewhere) and
  political recognition would follow the facts on
  the ground (fait accompli).

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Jewish settlers of a Kibbutz, early 20th century
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The political context for Zionism

• The Ottoman Empire was broken up after World War
  One.
• Palestine became a League of Nations Mandate.
• Purpose of mandate?
• Britain had promised political autonomy to both
  the Jews and the Palestinians to repay them for
  the help that they had provided during the war.
• The Arabs of Palestine were promised a state.
• In the Husein-McMahon Correspondence, the Arabs
  were promised the right to a new Arab nation in
  the lands of the former Ottoman Empire.
• The Jews were promised a state too.
• Balfour Declaration

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The Balfour declaration of 1917

• Foreign Office
• November 2nd, 1917Dear Lord RothschildI have
  much pleasure in conveying to you. on behalf of
  His Majesty'sGovernment, the following
  declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist
  aspirations which has been submitted to, and
  approved by, the CabinetHis Majesty's
  Government view with favor the establishment in
  Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
  people, and will use their best endeavors to
  facilitate the achievement of this object, it
  being clearly understood that nothing shall be
  done which may prejudice the civil and religious
  rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
  Palestine, or the rights and political status
  enjoyed by Jews in any other country.I should
  be grateful if you would bring this declaration
  to the knowledgeof the Zionist
  Federation.Yours,Arthur James Balfour

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Frontier proposals, 1892 to 1919

• El Arish.
• Sykes-Picot agreement, 1916.
• British mandate, 1919.

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The creation of Palestine

• In 1922 the British separated Palestine into two
  territories
• Emirate of Transjordan was the land east of the
  Jordan River.
• Palestine was
• Violence was perpetrated by both Jewish settlers
  and Palestinian nationalists.
• The struggle was reflected in political efforts
  to control land, institutions, and the economy.
• Zionists got the advantage by steady land
  purchases, slow but continual immigration, and
  community organization.
• Jewish-owned land by 1942.
• The impact of the Jewish Holocaust in WWII.
• After WWII, World opinion began to favor the
  creation of an independent Jewish state.
• November 29, 1947, the UN passed Resolution 181.
• The Jews accepted the resolution, but the Arabs
  opposed it.
• On May 14, 1948, the British mandate was
  terminated and Israel unilaterally declared its
  independence.

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Mass immigration into the state of Israel of
Jews, mass emigration of Arabs out of the state
of Israel

• Jewish influx.
• 350,000 Jews emigrated from Europe.
• 283,000 Jews emigrated from Southwest Asia.
• 264,000 Jews emigrated from North Africa.
• Arab outflow.
• 726.000 Arabs were forced to flee from their
  homes.
• Of the 650 Arab villages that existed up to 1948
  within the bounds of Israel 394 were destroyed
  by the Israelis in 1948.

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A subregion of continuous conflict

• War in the Suez in 1956.
• Israel, France, and Britain invaded Egypt.
• Six-day war in 1967.
• Multi-pronged attack.
• Gaza, West Bank, Sinai, Golan Heights.
• October war in 1973.
• Yom Kippur war.
• Ramadan war.
• Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982.
• The Intifada, uprising" of the Palestinians.
  September 1988 to the present.
• Made political situation in Israel more complex.
• Divided Israeli public and politicians.

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Importance of the collapse of the U.S.S.R.

• Loss of the major financial backer of many
  anti-Israeli groups in and outside Palestine.
• Failure of the Western ideologies (capitalism,
  socialism) to resolve the problems faced by
  people in Palestine (and Middle East).
• Rise of Islam as the solution.
• Palestine Liberation Organization takes steps
  toward peace.
• Hamas takes the warpath.
• U.S. takes control of the peace process in early
  1990s.
• Recognition of the Palestinian Authority in
  Jericho and Gaza.
• Israel pulls out of Gaza and Jericho in 1994 and
  were replaced by Palestinian Police.
• Palestinian Authority took control of taxes,
  tourism, education, health, and welfare on the
  West Bank in mid 1994.
• P.A. began issuing passports in 1995.
• Palestinian elections in 1995.
• Palestinian elections in 2006.

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Difficult problems remain

• Problems that remain between Jews and Arabs
• Demographic problem
• Arab population grows faster than the Jewish
  population.
• Population of Israel (1998).
• 5,421,995 people.
• Jewish 81.8.
• Arab and others 18.2 .
• Religion.
• Jewish 81.5.
• Muslim (mostly Sunni) 14.4.
• Christian 2.3.
• Druze 1.6
• Many Israelis feel that the very nature of their
  state is at stake.
• How can Israel remain a Jewish state if the
  Palestinian population grows faster?

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Two difficult problems for Israel

• Democracy problem how can Israel remain a
  democratic state if Palestinians do not have the
  same rights as Jews?
• Geographic problems
• The West Bank represents a dilemma for Israelis.
• The West Banks projection into the core of
  Israel reduces the width of the state to only 9
  miles.
• The Golan Heights possesses a strategic advantage
  that the Israelis are reluctant to give up.
• An independent West Bank poses a big security
  problem for the Israelis.
• Consequences?

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Palestinian refugee camp after 1948 war
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