Judaism

1
Judaism

• Brief Overview

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Pogroms brief timeline

• Pogroms large-scale, targeted, repeated
  anti-Semitic rioting
• Pre-19th century
• 38 - anti-Semitic riots under Roman rule
• 2nd c. - communal violence against Jews
  Christians who refused to accept Roman rule over
  Israel
• 10951291 - massive violent attacks against Jews
  date during Crusades

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Pre-19th century pogroms cont.

• 11thc. - Muslim pogroms against Jews in Spain.
• 1348 - Because of hysteria surrounding the black
  plague, Jews were massacred throughout Europe.
  Many surviving Jews fled to Poland.
• 1543 - On the Jews and Their Lies (Martin
  Luther), treatise advocating harsh persecution of
  Jewish people.
• 1648-1654 - Jews Roman Catholics massacred by
  Ukrainian Cossacks.

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19th Century Pogroms in Russia

• 1881-84 - large-scale wave of anti-Jewish riots
  swept through Russia. Jews were blamed for the
  assassination of Tsar Alexander II.
• Thousands of Jewish homes destroyed, many
  families were reduced to poverty, large numbers
  of men, women, children were injured in 166
  towns in todays Ukraine.
• Many Russian Jews reassessed their status in
  Russian Empire emigrated to the US.
• Boosted the early Zionist movement.

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20th Century Pogroms in Russia

• 1903-06 Bloody wave of pogroms, leaving an
  estimated 2,000 Jews dead many more wounded.
• 1917 Russian revolution Civil War
• 887 mass pogroms
• 70,000 to 250,000 Jews killed
• Over 300,000 Jewish orphans
• about 40 of pogroms perpetuated by Ukrainian
  forces

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20th Century Pogroms outside Russia

• 1918 pogroms in Poland
• 1919 a pogrom in Argentina
• 1927 pogroms in Romania
• 1945 - pogroms in Libya Iraq led to massive
  emigration from Arab countries to Israel

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Holocaust-era pogroms

• Nazis encouraged pogroms before larger mass
  killings began.
• Deadly pogroms occurred at the hands of
  non-Germans (Ukraine Lithuania).
• Romania 13,266 Jews were killed by Romanian
  citizens, police military.
• After WWII isolated pogroms, i.e. Polish
  pogrom of 1946.

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Influence of Pogroms

• worldwide outcry
• mass Jewish emigration
• 2,000,000 Jews fled the Russian Empire between
  1880 1914, many going to the UK the US.
• Jews became politically active
• The General Jewish Labor Union.
• Participation in Bolshevik movements.
• Jewish self-defense leagues.
• Zionism.

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4 Movements of Judaism

• Reform Judaism
• 1800s in Germany
• Largest Jewish movement in North America, more
  than 900 congregations 1.5 million people
• Western Europe began to tolerate Jews granted
  citizenship civil rights
• Process of social political liberalization
  extended to Judaism
• Emphasized aspects consistent with rationality
  modern thought
• Rejected ancient rules beliefs dietary laws
  (kosher) use of spoken languages in place of
  Hebrew seating segregation by gender

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• Conservative Judaism
• Distinctly US American branch
• Some adaptation of Jewish law to contemporary
  life
• Not as far as Reform Jews in updating ancient
  tradition
• Ex. Ordination of Conservative women rabbis is
  still controversial

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• Orthodox Judaism
• Torah was literally bestowed by God on Moses
  the Jewish people
• Torah is sacred and beyond challenge
• Ultra-orthodox Hasidic Judaism
• 1700s in Poland
• mystical Judaism that finds divine presence in
  all places
• rabbis are charismatic leaders with special
  powers to perform miracles
• Jews lived in segregated ghettos, shtetls

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Origins

• God established covenant with Abraham
• Divine promise to Abraham that his descendants
  would enjoy Gods blessing
• In turn, they were obligated to obey the divine
  word
• Hebrews embraced Judaism
• Monotheism
• Ethical behavior

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• Torah 1st 5 books of the Hebrew Bible received
  by Moses
• Core sacred text of Judaism from about 3,500
  years ago
• Essence of a way of life devotion to God,
  life-long learning, reason, wisdom, ethical
  conduct
• Talmud 60 books of rabbis thinking decisions
  between 300 and 500
• Rome conquered Middle East
• Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed
• Ancient Jewish state of Israel became a province
  of the Roman Empire
• Jewish Diaspora dispersion of Jewish
  communities throughout W. E. Europe, N. Africa,
  E. Mediterranean

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Some Core Beliefs

• Flexibility in belief no hierarchical religious
  authority codifies enforces religious precepts
• Rabbi interpretations of sacred texts
• Ethical practice moral action more important
  than conformity to abstract theological or ritual
  rules
• People are created in Gods image are uniquely
  capable of performing good deeds mitzvah
  (righteous acts)

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• Gods creation is an unending process, always
  unfolding in the virtuous actions of people
• Land of Israel God commanded Abraham to settle
  in Israel
• Returning to the Promised Land coming of the
  messiah, ending 2000 yrs. of exile
• 1948 modern state of Israel
• Longing for the homeland expressed in prayers

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• chosen people covenant placed
  responsibilities on Jewish people to demonstrate
  by their own actions the universal truth of Gods
  commandments
• Jews were to guide others in living morally
  ethically
• NOT an ethnocentric sense of superiority or
  entitlement
• Human nature people are self-determining can
  choose to act righteously or sinfully

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• Judaism Focuses on this world
• Heaven hell vaguely mentioned in Jewish
  writings not distinct places where divinity
  dispenses rewards punishments for behavior on
  earth
• Heaven hell are experienced in this life as
  rewards punishments for human actions