JEWS

a Semitic race descended from Abraham, through his grandson, Jacob, from whose sons the twelve tribes were traditionally descended. So called because the majority of those who returned to S. Palestine after the captivity in Babylon were of the tribe of Judah; also own as Israeli tes from the name given to Jacob, and as Hebrews, a name which may po ibly be derived from a word meaning ‘beyond.’ Greater part of early history of race is covered by books of O.T. Abraham is said to have settled in Canaan about 2000 B.C., having migrated thither from his native place. Ur of the Chaldees,’ on the W. bank of Euphrates; and after Jacob’s return from Gilead he and his family settled at Shechem and afterwards at Beersheba. They were subsequently driven by famine to migrate to Egypt, on the invitation of Joseph, Jacob’s s., who had become viceroy there. The children of Israel remained in Egypt for 215, or, according to some chronologists, 400 years. At first well treated, they were afterwards subjected to oppre ion and reduced to slavery, from which they were finally delivered by Moses, after the tenth plague had frightened Pharaoh into allowing them to go. After cro ing the Red Sea they are said to have wandered in the wilderne forty years, during which time they received from God a code of social political, and religious laws, and at the end of which they succe fully invaded the Promised Land, their ancestral home, under the leadership of Joshua, about 1270 B.C. The country to the W. of Jordan was apportioned to Asher, Bentribe of Mana eh; while that to the H. of the river was given to Gad, Reuben, and the other half-tribe of Mana eh. The Levites were given a cape towns in different parts of Canaan, au received also a tenth of the produce ‘of: of the soil. The period succeeding the death of Joshua is marked by disputes among the tribes, anarchy and infidelity, and by the attempts of surrounding nations to dispo e the Israeli tes of their country. 4 From time to time judges, or deliverers, arose, who shook off the foreign yoke; thus Ehud delivered the nation from Eglon, King of Moab; Gideon from Midson from Philistines; while the seer Samuel prepared the people for the establishment of a, monarchy. Kings of Israel.—The first king was Saul, who conquered many surrounding peoples, but was defeated by the Philistines at Mt. Gilboa, when he killed himself. His succe or, David, the greatest figure in the history of Israel and the founder of a long line of kings, carried ous a series of succe ful wars, and gave to the nation the full po e ion of the country from Euphrates to river of Egypt, as promised to Abraham, in Gen. 15:18. David was succeeded by his s., Solomon, who was celebrated for his wisdom and vast wealth, and built the temple, although there were incorporated with the sacred cult heathern elements which many pious kings set themselves to eliminate. After his death the kingdom was rent in two: ten tribes revolted under Jeroboam, and formed the kingdom of \Israel; while the other two, Judah and ‘Benjamin, formed the kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam, Solomon’s s, Among the nineteen kings of Israel, most of whom ‘did evil in the sight of the Lord,’ perhaps the most notorious were Jeroboam, s. of Nebat, ‘which made Israel to sin’ by establishing the worship of the golden calf; and Ahab, whose name is a synonym for cruelty. The last King of Israel, Hoshea, was conquered and imprisoned by Shalm anes ser, King of As syria, who also carried off the people into captivity, whence they never returned, their ultimate destiny being veiled in obscurity. » ‘The history of Judah presents a le uniform spectacle of depravity than the N. kingdom; among the kings of David’s line, although many were addicted to idolatry, there were several, such a Hezekiah and Josiah, who were enthusiastic in the cult of the national religion, and who also carried out numerous reforms. At its best, however, the prosperity of Judah was intermittent; and after a long struggle against As syria, Egypt and the Chaldeans, which endured for over one hundred and thirty years, the S. kingdom was overtaken by the same fate as the N. Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar {1rS88 B.C., and the nation was carried off to captivity in Babylon. Unlike the “edom of Israel, however, Judah remained a separate people, retaining its own institutions in exile, and never becoming merged with the conquerors. Some account of the exile is given in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and other prophets; the exiles apparently settled down in comfort, if not content, and were treated with consideration. Persian and Greek Domination.—In 539. B.C., they came under the rule of Persia, and three years later a number of them were allowed by Cyrus the Great to return; Jerusalem and the temple were rebuilt under direction of Ezra and Nehemiah, who also established a system of government in Palestine, Supreme administrative control was at first held by Zerubbabel, from whom it afterwards pa ed to others, and a, council of elders was founded which inaugurated an epoch of great literary activity. Study of law was carried on by a special cla of scholars, who exercised supreme control in spiritual matters, and are represented in later times by the Sanhedrin or great council of the Jews. The period of Gr. domination begins with the break-up of the Persian Empire before the victorious forces of Alexander the Great, to whom Jerusalem surrendered, in 332 B.C. The Jews received many privileges from the conqueror, who invited many of them to settle in his new city of Alexandria. After his death, in 323_B.C., the country came into the hands of one of his generals, Laomedon, from whom it was subsequently taken by Ptolemy Soter; between 314 and 301 it was in po e ion of An tigon us of Syria, but reverted to the Ptolemies at the latter date. Under the Ptolemies the Jews enjoyed considerable prosperity‘ and were allowed to build synagogs in all their settlements. During several decades the po e ion of Palestine was contested by the Seleucids, and eventually the country was captured by Antiochus the Great, in 198 B.C. He also granted the Jews various privileges, as well as religious liberty; but his succe ors, Seanes, subjected them to mercile persecution; the former pillaged the temple, the latter slew and enslaved many of tha people and dedicated the temple to Jupiter. j His determination to eradicate Judaism and to hellenize the people resulted in a national rebellion, the standard of liberty being raised by Matt at hi as, a priest, and head of the Asmonzean family, Matt at hi as d. in 166 B.C., and his s., Judas Maccabeus, after a series of magnificent victories, succeeded in expelling the Syrians and stablishing the Maccabean or Asmonean dynasty, under which the Jews attained a splendor resembling that of the time of David. On Judas’ death his brothers, Jonathan and Simon, reigned in turn with wisdom and succe , Simon was succeeded, in 135, by his s., John Hyrcanus, who conquered Edom and Samaria, and supported the Sadducees, who, with the Pharisees, became an important sect during his reign, His s. and succe or, Aristobulus I., was the first to a ume the kingly title. About this time the power of the As mon seans began to decline; civil wars disturbed the reign of Alexander Jannzeus. 103-79 B.O., and after the death of his wife, Alexandra, who reigned 79-69, quarrels arose pan their sons Hyrcanus and Aristo us. Roman Government.—This led to the inter vent ion of the Romans, who, in 63,: took Jerusale m and established their su. nominated high priest by Pompelus, but sean to take the control of affairs into his| own hands; the result of this was that| Anti pater was, in 47, appointed procu-| rat or of Judea by Julius Cesar, and his| s., Herod the Great, became governor of} Galilee. Herod was made King of Judza, in 40 B.C., and three years later he seized Jerusalem and deposed An tigon us, the} last prince of the Asmonzan family. After Herod’s death, in 4 B.C., his king-| dom was subdivided into a set of princi-| mea, Judea, and Samaria; Herod Anti-| became tetrarch of Galilee and Herod hilip tetrarch of the districts beyond Jordan. Soon afterwards Judea and| aria became provinces of Rome, and were ruled by Roman procurators; Pon-| tius Pilate, during whose administration occurred the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, was procurator from A.D. 26-36. After Pilate’s death, the old kingdom of Palestine was temporarily restored under Herod Agrippa, who was allowed| by Claudius to reign over the whole} country; his reign was marked by perse-| cution of Christians, but lasted only for] three years. When he died, the country was again placed under administration of Roman governors, many of whom|in treated the Jews with great severity, with the result that insurrections were of fre-| ent occurrence. Among the most mer-| le governors were Alexander,an apos-| tate Jew, Felix, Albinus, and Ge ius|a Florus. Under the last-named an open revolt broke out against Rome in Ceesrea, D. 66., and spread in all directions.|early The suppre ion of this rebellion was entrusted by Nero to Vespas i an, who, on succeeding to the imperial throne, left the conduct of affairs in Judza to his s., Titus. Titus brought to a succe ful i ue the siege of Jerusalem, planned by his f.; and the utter destruction of the city, in A.D. 70, finally deprived the Jews of their national habitat, their his-| tory thence forward being that ofa people scattered all over the world. Great num-| bers fled to Egypt, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and elsewhere. Those remaining in| Palestine made one or two further at-| tempts at insurrection, the last of which,was led by Bar-Cochba and was ‘down by the Romans after a three years’ war, 133-5. During this war great num-| bers of Jews were slain, and those re-| maining were forbidden to enter the new city of Alia Capitol in a, built by Had-| rian on the site of Jerusalem, b The national religion, however, sur-| vived all catastrophes, and the Jews|and everywhere retained their own religious| customs and traditions. Everywhere cuted, they were yet everywhere| Bacce ful; and it has been suggested that! | their material prosperity was t o? the fil-treatinont eee ee ane from time to time subjected by the nations among whom they lived. Little more than half a century after the suppre ion of Bar-Cochba’s rebellion there were two regularly organized Jewish | communities: of these one was under the | Prince of the Captivity, to whom all Eastern Jews acknowledged allegiance, | and the other was under the Patriarch of Tiberias, and included all the Jewish inhabitants of the Roman Empire. Compilations of oral laws were begun by scholars, and when complete were called | the Talmud; the Palestinian Talmud was | finished in IV. cent., the Babylonian Talmud in 500. Emigration and Persecution. — Already in Roman times great numbers of | Jews settled in Europe; they were gen- | erally subjected to severe persecution by the Christians, partly on account of their | practice of usury, but continued to pros- | per, and by their genius for finance and commerce made themselves masters of international trade. In Arabia the rise of Mohammedanism resulted in the expulsion of the Jews of Homer it is; but in | most Mohammedan countries they were, | although heavily taxed, allowed to live comparative comfort. In Spain, they | attained their greatest prosperity, and lived on terms of close friendship with the Moors; many of them held offices of state, and letters and scholarship reached high development; but they were ban- | ished from Spain, along with the Moors, | late in the XV. cent. In Germany, in and medixval times they were | mercile ly persecuted, reduced to a con- | dition of slavery, and frequent ma acres | tcok place; from time to time they were | expelled, and persecution continued even | in the XVIII. cent.; in 1812, an Edict of | Toleration removed many of their diseIn France, they were at first regard with toleration, but from the XI. cent. | onwards they were decimated by a series of ma acres, and in the XIV. cent. they | were banished from the country; in 1791,. their citizenship was established by the National A embly, and, in 1805, a Jewe | ish Sanhedrin was established. In Hngput|land, they were regarded with favor by | the first two Norman kings, but in the XII. cent. hostility to them broke out, and during the crusades they were sub- | jected to cruel oppre ion. In 1290, they were banished, and for several centuries few were to be found in Britain; since the XVII. cent. they have been tolerated, jhave received many conce ions, sO that they are now on terms of perfect | equality with the rest of the population, the highest offices of state being open to them. Disraeli became prime minister; while in 1920, the lord chief-justice Jew, as are also other high officials. Ru ia and Rumania they met with cruelty. In the U.S. they have rights of citizenship since 1783. About 1880, an anti-Semitic ment began in Europe among those tions whose jealousy was excited by continually increasing wealth and fluence of the Jewish inhabitants. 1893, the idea of an autonomous state was revived by The odor Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement, aimed at establishing such a state Palestine. _ In 1917, the Zionist movement ceived a great impetus with the capture of Jerusalem, and the declaration of the Brit. Government that every deavor would be made to establish Palestine a national home for the people. ‘The Peace Conference Great Britain the mandate for the rection of affairs in Palestine, and in Sir Herbert Samuel was appointed commi ioner. He briefly outlined policy as follows: the maintenance complete religious liberty, the sacred to the great religions remaining under the control of the adherents those religions; civilian administration be established, the higher ranks ing of Brit. officials, the other ranks to the local population, irrespective creed; the economic development of country to be undertaken; according American Jewish Year Book there were in the world 15,500,000 of this number 20%, or 3,602,150 live -the United States, 67% in There were 83,794 Jews in Palestine. JSEW’S HARP, JEW’S TRUMP, musical instrument in form of metal -held between teeth and played by ing vibrating tongue.