The Jewish State of Israel

1949 – Armistice agreements are signedwith Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon; Israel is admitted to the United Nations.
1933 – Adolf Hitler comes to power in Germany.
1916 – After World War 1, France and Britain divide up the Middle East.
1950’s-2000s – Conflicts between Arabs and Jews continue.
1948 – The State of Israel is declared; hostilities break out between Israelies and Arabs.
1939-1945 – The Holocaust results in the deaths of about six million Jews.
1920s-1930s – With Palestine under British rule, Jewish immigrationto Palestine increases.

Jewish History Part 3

1. The Crusades, intended to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule, begin; they result in the deaths of many Jews.
2. Much of Europe blames the Black Plague on Jews; hundreds of Jew communities destroyed.
3. One hundred thousand Jews are massacred in Poland.
4. Jews of Vienna are forced to move into a ghetto called Leopoldstadt.
5. French Jews are granted full citizenship for the first time since the Roman Empire.
6. Russia requires thirty-one years of military service for Jews, begining at age 12.
7. A series of massacres of Jews, called pogroms, begins in Russia.
8. Jews from Eastern Europe begin to emigrate to Israel, then called Palestine.

Jewish History: Part 2

1. The Romans reconquer Jerusalem and destroy the temple.
2. Jews rebel against Roman rule and seize Jerusalem.
3. The Romans crush the rebellion and prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem.
4. After the Jewish expulsion from Jerusalem by the Romans, Jewish oral law is written down in a book called the Mishnah.
5. Christianity becomes the primary religion of the Roman Empire.
6. Jews in the Roman Empire are repressed.
7. The Muslim Empire expands to cover southwestern Asia, northern Africa, and Spain.
8. The Jews begin to scatter around the world.

Jewish History Part 1

1. Abraham to whom the jews trace their ancestry, is told to leave Mesopotamia and settle in Canaan, which is now Israel.
2. Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and receives the laws of God.
3. The kingdom of Israel is founded.
4. The kingdom of Israel splits in two. The norther kingdom continues to be called Israel. The southern kingdom is called Judah.
5. The Assyrians conquer the northern kingdom of Israel.
6. The Babylonians conquer the southern kingdom of Judah.
7. Persia conquers Babylonia.
8. Cyrus, king of Persia, allows the Jews to return to Judah.
9. Judah comes under the control of Alexander the Great.
10. When King Antiochus tries to force Jews to worship idols, a group of rebels overthrows the king.

Monotheism and Polytheism

I think that the Jewish monotheistic outlook was different from the outlook of oher people’s in the region. That made it difficult for them to be assimilated by other nations, even when their land was conquered.

Jewish Names

My friend Rachel Riles is Jewish but I dont know if her name is acutally a Jewish name. Some well known people that have jewish names are Ethan Hawke, Adam Sandlar. One person I’m really surpised to find out has a jewish name is SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR.

Facts about Judaism

Judaism is about 3,500 years old and was founded by Abraham and Moses. Judaism is a Monotheistic belief which means that the followers believe in one god. Followers worshiping place is called a synagogue and their spiritual leaders are called rabbis. Judaism has 12 million followers who mostly consist of people in Israel and the US. Another important fact about Jews is that 6 million of them were murdered in the Holocaust in attempt to wipe out Judaism.

The Bhagavead Gita: The Eternal “This”

"Know that to be imperishable whereb all this is pervaded. No one can destroy that immutable being…. This is never born nor ever dies,, nor haveing been will ever not be any more; unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient, this is not slain when the body is slain…. As a man casts off worn-out garments and takes other that are new, even so that embodied one casts off worn-out bodies and passes on to others new. This no weapons wound, this no fire burns, this now aters wet, this no wind doth dry. Beyond all cutting, burning, wetting and drying is this—eternal,all-pervading, stable, immovable, everlasting. Perceivable neither bye the senses nor by the mind. this is called unchangeable; therefore knowing this as suck thou shoulder not grieve."

This famous Hindu passage is about death and life. About natural death and dying of a wound. It’s about being recarnated and whatnot.

The Ramayana

The story The Ramayana is a very complicated story. It’s about a mother who asks her husband (the king) to let her younger son rule instead of her eldest one and to banish the eldest one for 14 years. The king does so and the mother gets kindnapped and the banished son saves her. The story is really complicated. Or at least the summary of it was. I guess in Hinduism you are taught to do good by people no matter what. That’s kind of what this story expresses.

Rig-Veda

Some view the Hindu story "The Rig-Veda" in a very symbolic way. In the story it tells of a the God Indra and the dragon Vritra. Vritra stole all the water for the world for himself and Indra fights the dragon in order to take back the life-giving waters. After a monumental struggle, Indra defeats the dragon and the waters are freed, bringing life to the land.

Explanations of this story often show Indra as a symbol for wind, Vitra as standing for clouds and the waters as meaning the monsoon rains. If a monsoon was to really happen in India it could be BAD.