Eternal India Encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

Eternal India encyclopedia

JUDAISM

Origin : 2000 B.C. Founder Global Following Global Spread Predominant

Place:

Canaan

* Judaism is the parent of Christianity and Islam. * Judaism is the oldest of the great monotheist religions. * Jerusalem - Holy place of Jews, Christians and Muslims. * On three things does the world stand: on justice, on truth, and on peace.’

Menorah (Seven-branched candlestick of the Temple of Jerusalem.) shown in coat of arms. ‘David's Shield’, is in the centre of the flag of Israel. The sphere of God (three points from above) is interlinked with the sphere of humans (three points from below).

:

ABRAHAM

: 18,153,000(0.3%) : All Continents (134 countries) : North America

Nos. in ('000)

Africa

Asia

Europe

South America

North America

Oceania Eurasia

- Gamaliel

100

359

6,264

1,475

1,132

6,850

1,973 _

CHRONOLOGY * 1800 B.C. Abraham Migrates from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan (modem Israel and Lebanon). * ca. 1700 B.C. Some ancestors of the Israelites migrate to Egypt in a time of famine in Canaan. Become forced labourers. * 13th B.C. Under the leadership of Moses, they return again to Canaan. * ca. 1000 B.C. David becomes king over Israel. Establishes an empire. * ca. 925 B.C. On death of Solomon, united Israel divides into the northern kingdom of Israel, whose capital eventually becomes Samaria, and the southern kingdom of Judah, whose capital is Jerusalem. * 332 B.C. Alexander the Great incorporates the Jews into his Hellenistic Empire, which reached as far as India. * 63 B.C. Pompey takes Jerusalem; Jews fall under Roman rule. * A.D. 66 First Jewish Revolt breaks out * A.D. 70 Jewish Revolt crushed; Jerusalem Temple destroyed. The synagogue becomes the focal point for Jewish worship. * A.D. 220 Compilation of the Mishnah by Rabbi Judah the Prince. Contains rabbinic interpretations of Torah (the Law of Moses). * A.D. 324 After Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, Palestine becomes part of the Byzantine Empire. Many Christian churches built in Palestine. * A.D. 636 Palestine conquered by Muslim Arabs, who, in the next four and a half centuries, sometimes treat Jews badly, sometimes tolerated them. * A.D. 1099 Beginning of the Christian Crusades. Crusaders persecuted and slaughtered the Jews of Palestine. * A.D. 1291 Crusaders driven from Palestine. The Mameluks, who ruled from Egypt, at times encouraged Jewish settlement; many Jews came to escape persecution from Europe. * A.D. 1517-1918 Palestine under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. Jews of Europe sought refuge in Palestine from persecution. * A.D. 1860 Beginnings of Zionism, the movement seeking a Jewish home in Palestine. First Jewish settlements in 1880. * A.D. 1917 Balfour Declaration gives British support for the establishment of a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. British troops take Palestine from the Turks. * A.D. 1922 Britain received a League of Nations Mandate over Palestine. * A.D. 1933 Beginning of Persecution of Jews in Germany under Hitler. * A.D. 1939 -1945 The Holocaust: Six million Jews murdered in Nazi-dominated Europe.

A.D. 1947 on 29 November, the United Nations votes the partition of Palestine. A.D. 1948 on 15 May, the British withdrew; the State of Israel was declared; the war of Independence began. LINEAGE * The ancestors of the Jews or the Hebrew people may origi- nally have come from the Arabian desert. * Some ancestors of the Jewish people may have migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan in the time of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, Jacob). * Earlier, the Hebrews had a variety of Gods. Under Moses and Joshua they became the worshippers of only one God, Yahweh. * The history of the Jews is narrated in the Old Testament. JEWS IN INDIA * ca. 175 B.C. The first Jews reach India via Persia or the Persian Gulf, coming as traders and refugees. Their earliest large settlement was in Bombay. By A.D. 1170 there were 1,000 Jewish families there. * ca. A.D. 600 Jews were in Cranganore. After a massacre by Muslims in 1523, the remnant fled to Cochin. * A.D. 1543 Portuguese Jews in Goa subjected to the Inquisition. Over 100 Jews burned to death in 1543-1623. Many Jews flee to Madras. * A.D. 1662 Cochin Jews massacred by the Portuguese. After 1663 the Jews here were protected, first by the Dutch (to 1795), then by the British. In 1950 there were 1,200 Jews in Cochin, divided into “black”, “brown” and “white” castes, with separate synagogues. Today fewer than 30 Jews live in Cochin. * A.D. 1950 With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, many Indian Jews migrate to Israel, leaving only a remnant behind in India. PHILOSOPHY * Judaism is based on the concept of a transcendent and om- nipotent one true God, the revelation of his will in the Torah, and the special relation between God and his "chosen people". * The idea of reincarnation is rejected. * Jesus is not recognised as the Messiah and the Messiah has not yet come. * Judaism believes in one God (Jehovah). Their moral laws are considered as an expression of Jehovah's will. * Judaism believes that God loves man but punishes him if he does wrong and is always prepared to forgive a sinner who repents. *