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Judaism and the Jewish Community
Israel |
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Additional Information |
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Israel (then known as Cana’an) is the setting of most of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, covering the lives of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Later, after being liberated from slavery in Egypt, and 40 years in the desert, the Torah ends with the Jewish people crossing the river Jordan to return to the land of Israel. |
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The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings then take the story forward through the kingdoms of Judea and Israel, and the building and subsequent destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem. |
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After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, most of the Jewish population were dispersed around the Roman Empire, and the area was renamed “Palestina” to obliterate the memory of the Jewish kingdoms, but small communities always remained in Yavneh, Safad, Tiberias, Hebron, and other places, as well as returning to Jerusalem when it was gradually rebuilt. |
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Many of the laws in the Torah relate to agriculture in the land of Israel. Jewish prayer has always spoken of return to Zion and Jerusalem, and pious people from around the Diaspora always yearned to visit, to settle, or to be buried there. |
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At the end of the 19th century, as transport became easier, mainly religious groups like Chovevei Tzion (“Lovers of Zion”) formed in Tzarist Russia aiming to escape the pogroms by emigrating to Israel to farm the land. Around the same time, Zionism developed as a movement for Jewish self–determination, with Theodor Herzl holding the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897. |
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From the Middle Ages, the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean had been part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, and when that was dissolved after the end of the First World War, the newly-formed League of Nations awarded Britain a mandate over “Palestine” (including both what is now Israel and Jordan. Later, in what became known as the “Balfour Declaration”, in 1918 Britain promised to create a “Jewish national home in Palestine”, and gave independence to “Transjordan” (the part of Palestine to the east of the river Jordan) in 1922. |
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Refugees expelled from Arab countries, and survivors of the Holocaust sought sanctuary in Israel, which became an independent country in 1948 after the United Nations voted to in favour of partitioning the country into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. |
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The borders of Israel have changed a number of times as a result of repeated invasions and wars, and when Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. |
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The Israeli parliament, the Knesset (literally “Assembly”), has 120 members who are elected using proportional representation, and reflect the diversity of Israeli society. There are men and women MKs (Members of the Knesset), religious and secular Jewish MKs, Muslim and Christian Arab MKs, LGBTQ+ MKs, and MKs from a wide range of other backgrounds. |
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Suggested discussion questions and activities |
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Trace the dispersion of Jewish people from the land of Israel to other parts of the world and consider how that relates to the different communities described above in “What do Jewish People Look Like?”. |
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Find out about the British Mandate, the Balfour Declaration, and the McMahon proposal. What do you think the British Government at the time should have done? |
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Find out about Yom Ha'atzmaut(Israel Independence Day), the anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. |
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Find out how the population of what is now Israel grew through the 20th century. Where did immigrants come from, and why? How do you think the development of the country was affected by migrants from neighbouring countries? |
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Members of the Knesset are elected by a form of proportional representation. Find out how this differs from the form used to elect members of the Scottish Parliament. What are the pros and cons of each system? |
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Find out about how Israel and Jordan have collaborated to address the problem of water shortage. What other examples of cooperation can you find out about? |
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Additional Resources |
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