Rabbi Michael Lotker Community Rabbi Jewish Federation of Ventura County

Judaism: A Religion & A Nation The Jews: People and Religion People/Nation/Tribe: born into Judaism Jews are members of the nation/people Israel: Am Yisrael Atheist/apostate Jew fully Jewish if born of a Jewish mother. Reform/Reconstructionist approach A child of a Jew and non-jew is Jewish if raised Jewishly Law of Return in Israel. A Jew is someone with one Jewish grandparent. We have a language and a land The deal made after Roman destruction Religion: You can convert to Judaism and be fully Jewish Judaism is the one true religion for Jews: don t seek converts.

The Jewish Mission To teach the world that there is one God whose primary demand is ethical behavior. Va-yom ha hu yih yeh Adonai echad u Shmo echad. On that day Adonai s will be one and His name one. This is why we are hated We are to serve as an Ohr l Goyim A light to the nations Choosiness in Judaism means increased obligations not increased privileges. To perfect the world Messianic age Judaism is about this world Salvation is a political concept The Three Essential Elements in Judaism God Torah (story of teach me all of Torah on 1 foot) Israel Judaism also revolves around Creation, Revelation & Redemption

The Miracle of the Jewish People and of Israel A Jew who does not believe in miracles is not a realist David Ben Gurion - First Prime Minister of the State of Israel: From Joseph Sonnenblick

The Modern State of Israel Born in response to antisemitism and the Shoah (Holocaust) First independent Jewish state since the days of the Maccabees Key dilemmas Can Israel be a nation like any other nation and a light to the nations? Can Israel be a Jewish state and a democracy? Israeli Politics and the power of religious parties I am a member of the people Israel but I am not an Israeli

Israel in the Middle East From Joseph Sonnenblick

Israel: A Tiny Nation Surrounded From Joseph Sonnenblick

Israel in the 1940s 1947-48 UN Partition Plan 1948 Armistice

Israel: Changing Borders 1967: 6 Day War 1993 Accords

Overview of Jewish History Creation: 3760 BCE (Rosh Hashanah: Birthday of the World) Abraham: 1743 BCE Sinai & Promised Land: 1313 BCE (Shavout: Giving of the Torah, Passover) King David: 975 BCE 1st Temple-Solomon 950-586 BCE (Tisha B Av: Destruction of the Temple) Kingdom Divided c. 925 BCE Northern Kingdom Conq. 722 BCE Southern Kingdom Conq. 586 BCE 2nd Jewish Commonwealth 536 BCE Torah Edited c. 400 BCE Maccabee Revolt 167 BCE (Chanukah: Re-dedication of the Temple) Sects of 1st Century Judea: Sadducees: Priestly/upper class Pharisees: The rabbis - middle and lower class. Becomes modern Judaism. Schools of Hillel and Shammai. Development of the synagogue Essenes: Monastic - Qumran - John the Baptist Zealots: For war with Rome, escaped to Masada

Overview of Jewish History 2nd Temple Destroyed 70 CE. [Yohanan ben Zakkai establishes school in Yavne. 3rd Temple will be built by the Messiah]. Bar Kochba Revolt Fails 135 Mishna codified 200 Roman Empire Christian c. 300 [Babylon becomes center of Jewish life.] Talmud c. 550 Islam Founded 622 Sephardim/Ashkenazim c. 900 Sephardim from Spain, Ashkenazim from Germany In the middle ages, Jews exist outside of normal feudal society with own courts and society. Jews limited to commerce and banking. Death of Rashi 1105 Commentator extraordinaire Death of Maimonides 1204 Commentaries, theology and legal codes

Overview of Jewish History Jews expelled from England 1290 Jews expelled from France 1305 Jews expelled from Spain 1492 Conversos & Marranos (including Columbus?) Jews expelled from Portugal 1496 Shulchan Aruch Printed 1565 Death of Shabbetai Zevi 1676 False Messiah Death of the Baal Shem Tov 1760 Founder of Hasidic Judaism Reform Movement Begins 1819 In Germany Conservative Mvmt. Begins 1887 In the US E. Ben Yehuda & Hebrew c. 1890 1st Zionist World Congress 1897 Shoah 1933-45 State of Israel 1948 Six Day War 1967 Yom Kippur War 1973

The Miracle of Jewish History Mark Twain Harper's Magazine,1898 The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then... passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed. The Jew saw them all, beat them all All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? From Joseph Sonnenblick

Snapshots of Israel Trips Tel Aviv

Sfat/Safed

Jerusalem

Jerusalem: Temple Mount

Jerusalem: Southern Steps

Masada

The Dead Sea

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

More Snapshots

Images of Rome

Facts About Israel 1st for total expenditure on R&D * 1st for business expenditure on R&D * 1st for availability of qualified scientists and engineers * 2nd for venture capital availability * 2nd for information technology skills * 3rd for Quality of Scientific Research Organizations ** 3rd for Registered Patents Per Capita ** 3rd for flexibility and availability of the workforce * 4th for higher education achievements * 6th for overall innovation ** * IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2007-2008 ** WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009

Facts About Israel Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world; 24% of Israeli workers hold university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the U.S. and Holland, and 12% hold advanced degrees. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin 109 per 10,000 people and have one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies compared to any other country in the world, except the U.S. Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its workforce employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews, at risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel. Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.

Facts About Israel Israel recycles 75% of its wastewater a world record. Israel was one of the first countries to respond after the Pakistani earthquake in 2005 even though they have still not recognized Israel as a legitimate state. When Golda Meir was elected prime minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world s second elected female leader in modern times. Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as conflict-free. Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, a remarkable feat because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country. An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale, solarpowered, and fully functional electricity-generating plant in southern California s Mojave Desert.

Facts About Israel/Jews Nobel prizes have been awarded to 167 Jews and persons of half- Jewish ancestry, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2004. Jews currently make up approximately 0.25% of the world s population and 2% of the U.S. population. Yet they have won prizes in these fields: CHEMISTRY: (28 prize winners, 19% of world total) ECONOMICS: (21 prize winners, 38% of world total) LITERATURE: (12 prize winners, 12% of world total) PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE: (52 prize winners, 29% of world total) PEACE: (9 prize winners, 10% of world total PHYSICS: (45 prize winners, 26% of world total

Suggested Reading Tour Books: There are lots of them. Here s an interesting one: L. Hoffman s Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide History Here are a few suggestions: Karen Armstrong, A History of God, Ballantine Books, 1993. This is a wonderful history of how ideas about God evolved focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, HarperPerennial, 1988. There are many excellent books on Jewish history; I have found this one especially helpful. Max Dimont, Jews, God and History, Signet, 1962. This is a very popular, widely available history. This is not as scholarly as Johnson s. Stephen M. Wylen, the Jews in the Time of Jesus, Paulist Press, 1996. An excellent, readable introduction for those especially interested in these times. Historical Fiction: Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, O Jerusalem!, Simon and Schuster, 1972. A wonderfully engaging and historically accurate novel about the birth of modern Israel.

Repeat After Me: We can t do everything!

Repeat After Me: Next Month in Jerusalem!