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The Amazing History
of e Jews
Chaya Burstein
ISBN: 978-1-934527-48-1
Text and illustration © 2012 Chaya Burstein. Published by Torah Aura Productions. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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nIn memory of the grandparents I never knew,Eliyahu, Michal, Chaya, and Mosheh
Chaya
iii
.Table of Contents.Chapter 1: In the Beginning, A Quick Look at the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter 2: Trouble and Triumphs in Second Temple Times . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 3: Jews and Greeks Fight It Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 4: Rome Takes Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 5: Tempers Boil in Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 6: The Great Revolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 7: Living By the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Chapter 8: Babylonia Takes the Lead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 9: Islam, the Desert Religion, Takes Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 10: Home Sweet(?) Home in Spain and North Africa . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 11: Life and Death in England, France and Germany . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 12: The Last Act in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 13: Desperate Escapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Chapter 14: Welcome (in Poland) and not so welcome (in Central Europe). 97
Chapter 15: Shadows and Lights in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Chapter 16: Giddy with Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 17: In Darkest Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 18: In Arab Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Chapter 19: To the Golden Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Chapter 20: Pogroms, Revolution and War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Chapter 21: Between Two Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chapter 22: War and Holocaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Chapter 23: Coming Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 24: War, War and Growing Pains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter 25: Jewish Americans/American Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Chapter 26: What’s Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
iv
1
The story of Jewish history starts in the Torah scroll that Jews read aloud in the synagogue. The Torah, also called the five books of Moses, tells about the creation of the world and the beginning of the Jewish people. It ends with the arrival of the Jews at the border of the land God has promised to them, the land of Israel.
In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
Why don’t you try something
crunchier?
In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
In e Beginning, In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
In e Beginning, a Quick Look at e Bible
2
Two more books of the Bible called Nevi’im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings) continue the story until the sad time when the Jews were forced to leave their land and go into exile in Babylonia. Ketuvim ends when some of the Jewish people return to their land.
Together, the Five Books of Moses, Nevi’im and Ketuvim make up the tANAKH (also known as the Bible). The Tanakh has been a guide that holds the Jewish people together, comforts them and inspires them on the amazing, centuries-long journey that they travel.
Here’s a Timeline of Events Described in the Torah
HOLY MATH
Torah scroll (Five Books of Moses)
Nevi’im (Prophets)
Bible (Tanakh).
+
+
In the beginning there were
six days of creation when God created the heavens, the
earth, the sun, moon, stars and all living things…
Alm
ost
6,0
00 y
ears
ag
o b
y Bib
le r
eckon
ing
…and then, on the seventh day, God rested.
All the creatures who lived in the Garden of
Eden rested, too. But later…
…humans were driven from the Garden of Eden because they disobeyed God.
=
Five Books of Moses (Torah)
Ketuvim (Writings)
3
Human
s be
gan
to
rob
and k
ill
each
oth
er. G
od g
ot
dis
gus
ted a
nd c
lean
ed o
ut t
he
eart
h w
ith
a gre
at f
lood.
Only
Noah a
nd
his
fam
ily
(who w
ere
good
peo
ple
) and
pair
s o
f all
liv
ing
thin
gs r
emain
ed a
live.
Noa
h’s
des
cendan
ts b
uilt a
tow
er o
f Ba
bel
to r
each
hea
ven.
God w
as c
once
rned
. God
taught
eac
h bu
ilder
a
diffe
rent
lan
gua
ge
so t
hey
could
n’t
under
stan
d e
ach
other
and h
ad t
o
stop
buildin
g.
about
1500 •
•• •• .
Years p
assed
.
Abraham
’s f
am
ily
grew
an
d w
an
dered
south t
o E
gyp
t.
The
Egyp
tian
s en
slav
ed
them
. God
hel
ped M
oses
to fre
e th
e Je
wish
peop
le
and lea
d t
hem o
ut o
f th
e
des
ert
and t
owar
d t
he
land
of
Isra
el, t
he lan
d
God
pro
mised
to
them
.
The J
ews h
ad grown in
to twel
ve tribes
.
Deep in
the d
eser
t, out o
f the t
hunder
and lightnin
g above M
ount Sinai, G
od gave
the Jew
s the T
en Commandmen
ts and t
he
laws o
f the T
orah.
abo
ut
1200
•••••
.
Fina
lly th
e Je
ws
reac
hed t
he b
order
of t
he P
romised
Land. M
oses
died a
nd
the pe
ople
mou
rned
their
great
lea
der. • •• •• • means Before the Common Era.
The years are counted from higher
numbers to lower numbers. For example:
from 586 • •• •• ••to 1 • •• •• ••C.E.•means the Common Era. It begins
with 1 • •• • and is counted forward.
Canaan = Promised Land = Land of Israel.
A Torah scroll dressed up in a velvet mantle, shiny crown, silver breast plate and tinkling bells is a splendid sight.
People worshipped
many gods. A
braham of
Ur believed that there was
only one God. H
e became the
first
Jew. God le
d Abraham and
his family
to the land of Canaan
and made a c
ovenant with them.
4
Here’s a Timeline
for Nevi’im and Ketuvim
About 1100 • •• •• •
The Hebrew tribes
settled in the land of
Israel. Many tribes were
led by judges.
922 • •• •• •
The kingdom of Israel split
into two: Judea and Samaria.
The two kingdoms fought
to stay indepen dent, but
Samaria was conquered by
Assyria in 722 • •• •• •
538 • •• •• ••
King Cyrus of Persia
conquered Babylonia and
allowed Jews to return
to Judea and rebuild
their Temple.
Prophets were le
aders
who spoke to God and
taught the people to
obey God’s la
ws and to
be just and generous
with each other.
About 1000 • •• •• •The tribes united under King
Saul. David, Israel’s second
king, enlarged the kingdom.
Solomon, Israel’s third king,
built a Temple to God in the city
of Jerusalem. At holiday-time
Israelites brought gifts to God
at the Temple.
800’s to 600’s • •• •• •Prophets arose in both kingdoms and taught people that justice and mercy toward each other are more important to God than gifts and sacrifices at the Temple. 586 • •• •• •
The Babylonians conquered Judea, destroyed the Temple and took many Judeans away into exile.About 450 • •• •• • to about 400 • •• •• •Two Babylonian Jews named Ezra and Nehemiah helped to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and to renew the Jewish people’s covenant with God. Instead of reaching the end of their history, the Jews found a new beginning!
Trouble and triumphs in second temple times Trouble and triumphs in second temple times
Trouble and triumphsin second temple timesTrouble and triumphs Trouble and triumphs
in second temple timesTrouble and triumphsin second temple timesTrouble and triumphs
5
On a summer day in 586 b.c.e., the
Babylonian army burned the Jewish Temple to the ground
and tore apart the city of Jerusalem. Some Jews were forced into exile. The great
prophet Jeremiah fled to Egypt.
THE HEART OF JEWISH LIFE WAS DESTROYED!
586 • •• •• •First Temple was
destroyed. Jews
were exiled to Babylonia.
Prophets Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Isaiah
538 • •• •• •Many Jews returned
to the Land of
Israel and rebuilt
Jerusalem.Cyrus the Great,
king of Persia
about 450–400 • •• •• •In a great religious revival the walls
of Jerusalem were rebuilt and Torah
study grew.Ezra and Nehemiah
about 400 • •• •• •Persian Jews faced
death and were saved.
Esther, Mordecai, Haman,
Ahasueros
Timeline 586 B.C.E. to 300 B.C.E.
Date:Events:
People:
6
To a Strange Landd
The Babylonians blinded King Zedekiah of Judea and dragged
him to Babylonia along with priests, merchants and other
leaders of Judea.
Mama, will we ever come back home?
Of course we’ll come back home. We’re God’s people. God
would never let us die in exile.
Ha! Are you kidding? We defeated your God.
He’s a loser—a nothing. Your God can’t help you. No way! That’s not true. God can’t be a loser. God left us because we disobeyed the Torah’s laws.
Play us some music and sing some of
those Temple songs. Come on—
Look alive!
How can we sing the songs of Zion
in a strange land?
If I forget Jerusalem let my
right hand forget its skill.
7
Finally the exiles reached Babylonia, the land of two great rivers. They settled down and to their surprise found that exile wasn’t so bad.
Hey, Babylonia is okay. There’s plenty of clay
and water to make my pots.
Good soil for my garbanzo beans and grass for
my goats.
Plenty of customers to
buy all my wares.
But there was one BIG problem.
How will God hear us if we haven’t got a Temple and priests
and sacrifices?
Stop crying! God will manage without our
sacrifices. The prophets told us that God wants us
to pray and study Torah and be honest and fair
with each other.
So the Jews built meeting places (Batei Knesset) where they could study Torah together and pray. Later these meeting places were called synagogues. And they set up schools where their children studied.
How come none of the
Babylonian kids have to learn
Torah?We’re lucky. We’re Jews.
Even in Babylonia there were Hebrew prophets. They reminded the Jews to follow the Torah’s laws and promised that God would bring them back to the Land of Israel. The prophet Ezekiel said. . .
You’ll see, if you’re sorry for the bad things you’ve done, God will give you a
new heart and a new spirit, and you’ll rebuild the holy
Temple. Here’s what the Temple will look like. . .
The prophet Isaiah had a glowing vision.
We’ll rebuild God’s Temple and all the
people of the world will come to worship with us. Righteousness, peace and
happiness will fill the world!
8
Almost fifty years after the Jews had been exiled to Babylonia a king called Cyrus the Great marched down from Persia and conquered Babylonia.
Uh-oh! Now what?
The new king, Cyrus, gave permission to all the captive peoples to go back home.
All you foreigners,
Jews too, go home!
Some Jews were wildly happy.
Some were not.
You guys go ahead. I’m a little busy right now.
I baked you cookies for
the trip.
So, many Jews headed west across the desert to Israel. And many others stayed in Babylonia…which turned out to be a good thing, as you’ll see in Chapter Eight.
Bye, have fun.
May God protect you.
We’ll miss you.
9
Home again…in Jerusalem a few mon s later..Home at last!
Where’s Jerusalem?
You must be kidding…
Is this it?
Listen people, the prophets never promised us a rose garden. We have to
work to clean up the ruins and build a new
altar. Don’t be scared. God is
with us!
Fired up, everyone got to work to rebuild the ruins.