I know nothing about jewish community. I am curious where the community hails from, origin, evolution etc.
120805
Hmm- there are while books written on this, but I'll try for a summarised version.\n\nJews are the descendeants of Abraham though his son Isaac, grandson Jacob and then divided into twelve tribes representing the sons of Jacob.\n\nJacobs sons went down to Egypt during a time of famine and were eventually enslaved- GOd eventually freed them through a series of divine miracles and they left Egypt, accompanied by the mixed multitude- peple that had converted to Judaism and thus introduced all the varying ethnicities into the Jewsih people.\n\nOver  time Jews have spread across the globe and can be found in every ethnicity and country (Hmm dunno if there are any Innuit Jews though!).  So Jews can be black (prime examples of this are the Ethiopian jewish community and some of the memebers of the Moroccan and Yeminite Jewish communities), white, asian (yep- there are Indian Jews) and oriental (primarily Chinese jews)\n\nWhat bonds these disparate groups together is a common belief in the Jewish religion the laws given to moses, by God, on Mount Sinai shortly ater the Jews left slavery in Egypt and seen as eternally binding and never to be changed.\nFollow the links supplied by the others if you want the details behind this development and dispersal.
120374
Don't get me started on this subject. I believe and some historians agree that the only true originals of that area of the world is the Palestinians every Jew is not genetically connect to the original people only religously.\nNotice most of the Jews that came back to "take back their land" came there from European countries. I have no problems with Jews at all but the facts are most Jews of wealth and knowledge were taken away by the Romans in the \ndays of Roman rule  inter-bred wth  the local people and convert some to Judaism.This is over 2000 years!\n The ones that stayed were invaded by others and eventually became Islamic and called themselves Palestinian.\nThe only reason the major countries of the world support Israel is because the Jews control the banking industry of the world.They got the money! I told you not to get me started.
334931
israel is jewish land, and has been since 3300 years ago. long before arab/muslim occupiers came to the area. End of story.
87337
i'm from israel! its the best place to be!!sure i can help u. flootzy@yahoo.com
399000
Most of my ancestors came here from Switzerland.They came here because they were being persecuted in their country because of their religion.One of my ancestors actually had his tongue cut out because he was preaching a religion not allowed.They were Mennonites.
500433
wow so sad.\n\nI grew up in as a Reform Jew. I left when I was 17 because I did not find it to be authentic Judaism. My heart crys when I read the other answers. I have yet to meet a Orthodox Jew that dose not truly care about his Reform brethren. They might disagree what is Judaism but they truly care about every Jew. \n\nfor the life of me I dont where the that idea came from. I am actually having trouble finish this because it really bothers me that Jews would actually think that other Jews would look down on them just because how they practice their faith. \n\n-I have to stop this or I will cry
32763
>>>>I'm just curious who was historically the first on the land….\n\nThe trouble is that the question makes no sense. Both historically and mythologically the Jews were Arabs. They aren’t a different people, they are simply a different religious sect. Prior to the rise of Islam around 1500 years ago the Middle East and North Africa was home to thousands of different religions, and one of those religions was Judaism. The different sects were in a state of near perpetual war with their neighbours as well as with the great powers like Babylon and Egypt.\n\nFrom a purely historical perspective it seems that one of the numerous religious sects living in Palestine gained the upper hand, either through theocratic means or through warfare or a combination of the two. Gradually they absorbed all the other people of that region and formed the state of Israel.\n\nBear in mind also that even at the time of Christ present day Israel wasn’t entirely Jewish occupied or controlled. Much of it was in Samaria, the Samaritans being a Hebrew but not Jewish sect that didn’t accept the absolute sanctity of the temple.\n\nSo as you can see it’s not a simple case of saying the Arabs or Jews were there first. Historically Jews are Arabs and Jews never historically occupied all of what is now Israel.\n\n>>>> were the jews exiled or chased out or volunteerily left?\n\nA little from column A, a little from column B.\n\nRemember how at the time of Jesus Israel had been occupied by the Romans?  Needless to say the Jews didn’t like that, and the situation was further aggravated by the Romans doing various stupid and offensive things. Eventually the people of Jerusalem and much of Judeaea got fed up and rebelled. A lot of Romans were killed, a lot more Jews were killed, a lot of Jews killed themselves rather than be captured. \n\nThe Romans ascribed the unrest to a religious source and decided that enough was enough and The Temple was torn down. \n\nWithout the temple to sacrifice at the Jews had no strong reason to cling to Israel, and combined with Roman persecution they mostly decided to leave in several waves over the next few hundred years.\n\nSo you could say that it was a voluntary Exodus, but it was just as much a refugee movement.\n\n>>>>Why did the international community choose the land in dispute now?\n\nBasically because\n\n1)It is the traditional Jewish homeland and a lot of Jews wanted it back.\n2)Jews had a lot of political clout in Washington after the war.\n3) Jews had been regularly slaughtered in Europe over the last 2000 years, and the recent Nazi holocaust was by far the worst example. A lot of people tjought that it would be a good idea not let it keep happening, and decided the best way to do that would be to give the Jews their own country outside Europe.\n\nCombine those three factors and you see a simple solution to all problems/ The fact that Palestine was a British colony/protectorate at the time and Britain wanted to offload all its colonies as fast as possible helped no end.\n\nBenji Man  wrote:\n>>>>>Africa is the cradle of civ so I will go with an early nomadic african people.\n\nAfrica is not the cradle of civilisation. Asia is without a doubt the cradle of civilisation with a second nucleus in Central America.
444786
well I learn something every day, when I got married I didn't know any jews so didn't invite any to the festivities, but I suppose as Saturday is the sabbath, it could come into conflict with turning up at a church when they should be at the synagoge.  Now I do know a few jews and will ask them why not.  They are an honest crowd and will give me a truthful answer.................
321578
What people don't know is that the Jews were the first around in the world. People are jerks that don't like other people because of the religion.
232210
He did not attend any churches at all. There was something I read one time about his father's family originally coming from a place in England where there were secret Jews, but I don't think he was Jewish either. He was probably an agnostic like some other 19th century thinkers. Remember he read and thought a lot and probably came to his own conclusions.
598734
I've asked this question before, actually. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AutS5JZA1SeAz4Wwe_TTd9rsy6IX?qid=1006053111285\nSeems to be a jewish tradition.
343498
Here is a good list of Jewish surnames and what biblical name that are derived from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_surnames\n\nI also find it interesting, doesn't mean that I'm racist either. Jewish history and culture are fascinating and teach us valuable lessons.
27622
well, 'jew' means 2 things.  it can mean someone who adheres to a particular religion, and it also can refer to someone of a particular ethnic background.\n\nthere are actually several jewish ethnicities - ashkenazi jews, for instance are typically from eastern european/slavic backgrounds and have pale skin, whereas sephardic jews are from spain/southern europe and have dark skin, sorta like what one thinks of when one pictures an israeli.\n\nso, most religion-jews are descended from one of the main jewish ethnic groups.  but not all.  as someone else pointed out, a few (not many) black people have converted to judaism.  i would say the confusion arises from having a single term carry two meanings.\n\n(also, for what it's worth - jesus was born and lived in what is modern-day israel, jordan and egypt.  the people from around there aren't really black in the sense of black africans from central/southern africa.. so i would call BS on whoever says he was black, and suggest that maybe he was more medium-toned and his ethnicity could be described as israeli, jewish or closer to arabic than black.)
135477
"I asked what if Jesus wasn't the only Messiah"\nYou're a bit confused, aren't you ... ... I see a messiah-related question from you, linked to whether there was a fifth Judas gospel. How can you expect an open answer to that question.\n\nAnd the Jews don't think Abraham is/was the Messiah.\n\nNot only don't you know what you're asking, you obviously don't know what you're talking about either ...\n\n... and this from the man who asked "Why did yahoo censor my reply to "how many differant sorts of rape"? Good to see you're a well-balanced individual.\n\nHonestly - what is the point of you?
377326
They are downright weird. The number of Jews who would actually agree with the JTF on everything could probably be counted on one hand. The JTF calls some people "race tratiors" they sound more like neo-nazis! If it were not for the fact that I know these guys are Jewish I would suspect it was someone's idea of a joke.
482416
We think your religion is wrong (and sometime absurd). As for the people themselves, we think many of you are nice people with the major exception of missionaries (especially j4j types) and those who teach antisemitism.\n\ncheerio
288388
Several of us will pop up when we see the word Jewish, Judaism, Torah, etc. in the question.  I for example just found your question by putting the word "Jewish" in the search for open questions.  I used to scroll through all the questions but that has become too tedious lately and I don't answer on Christian or general Bible matters because I have no need to impose my beliefs on anyone else. \n\nPersonally I think it's time there were subcategories under R&S, so that we can all have a forum to discuss things without constantly being interrupted by people who are not respectful.  To me that's like someone going into a section on mathematics and saying "i hate math".  If you don't like the topic, just stay away.  For example when someone asks a question about Jesus, I don't think it's necessary for someone atheist to comment, "he's a figment of your imagination" and by the same token I as a Jew, would NOT comment "he's not the messiah" even if that's what I believe.  I don't feel it's my place and it is not relevant to the question being asked. Everyone has a right to their beliefs and I don't need to chime in with my opinion every two seconds.  In fact the ones who do this are probably insecure with their belief systems and feel a need to be loud about it.   \n\nAnd for questions asked about Judaism I only answer the ones asked respectfully.  You can tell when someone really wants to know or they just want to spout their own prejudices and are not open to answers. If you scroll through my answers you can see I have answered many questions on Judaism that were asked in a thoughtful and respectful manner.\n\nWell, I hope that answers your question somewhat... :)