Where did the Jews come from? Are jews a race or just a religion? What is hebrew? Any similarities to Arabic?

Question

Did the jews originate from Europe? I don't get why muslims are againsts jews being in the middle easts.

Answer 1

Judaism is a small ethnic-religious group. The nowadays Jews are the descendants of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon and Levi- three out of the twelve tribes that assembled the Israelite people.
Historically, the word "Jew" (Hebrew: "Yehudi", of Judah) referred to an Israelite of the tribe of Judah; nowadays, the term "Jew" is synonymous to the word "Israelite".

The chronicles of the Jewish people (or to be exact- Hebrews, or Israelites, as they were known back than) start with Abraham, a Mesopotamian guy who had a special relationship with god. God promised Abraham that he'll be the ancestor of a great nation, and he told Abraham and his wife Sarah to immigrate to Canaan (nowadays Israel); there they bred Isaac, who bred Jacob.
The latter was named "Israel" by god after he wrestled an angel (Israel in Hebrew means "he who struggles god"), and his children are the ancestors of the twelve Israelite tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Manasseh and Ephraim (the two last tribes are sometimes considered one tribe and called "Beit Yosef"- house of Josef).
The Israelites established a kingdom in the land of Israel and ruled it for about 120 years; then the kingdom was split to two different kingdoms that were ruled by two groups of tribes: the kingdom of Judah (ruled by Judah in Jerusalem's area and included the tribes Simeon, Benjamin and part of Levi) and the kingdom of Israel.
In 722 BCE the kingdom of Israel was occupied by the Assyrian empire and its tribes were exiled to Assyria; no one knows for sure what happened to them and they are considered gone ever since. The kingdom of Israel held on a little longer, but finally it was occupied by the Babylonian empire and its tribes were exiled to Babylonia. Several decades later, the exiled tribes were allowed to come back to Israel and reestablish their kingdom. Later, the land was occupied time and again by different empires, until it was occupied by the Romans who destroyed the sovereignty of Judah in 133 BCE for a very long time.
2000 years later, a Jewish national movement called "Zionism" started to resettle the land and establish a Jewish state. In May 15th 1948, Israel, the new Jewish state, was officially declared.

The Jews did not originate from Europe. They originate from the Middle East.
~Some~ Muslim countries are against Israel for political reasons- prior to the establishment of nowadays Israel, most of the land's population was Muslim Arab. The Jewish resettle of Israel caused what's known as the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
Hebrew is a Semitic language that was spoken by the Hebrews, the Israelites. After the Roman conquest of Judah the Hebrew language had "died" and the exiled Jews started talking new languages (whether the languages of the nations which among they set, or new languages that they have invented). Hebrew was artificially revived in the mid 19th century by the Jews who rebuilt Israel. Its modern dialect (Modern Hebrew) is spoken in nowadays Israel by 7,000,000 people approximately.

Answer 2

Judaism was the religion of the ancient Israelites, an ethnic group in the Middle East. Jews are frequently still considered to be a distinct ethnic group, but this is open for debate. Some Jews agree and some don't. Some identify as Jewish because of their religion, nationality, and ethnic heritage. Some identify as Jewish because they converted to Judaism. Some identify as Jewish based on ethnic heritage alone. (i.e. They are descended from Jews.)

Since Judaism spread across the world, gaining converts and mingling with Gentiles, there are several different ethnic divisions within Judaism, as well. Ashkenazi and Sephardi are the two big ones, I think, but there are others as well.

Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism and also a daily spoken language. It is a Semitic language, as is Arabic. Arabs and Jews are thus both considered Semitic peoples. (Hence, "anti-Semitism". Don't ask me how that came to refer only to anti-Jewish sentiment, though, because I haven't a clue.) Hebrew and Arabic are the two official languages of Israel, in case you were curious.

I'm not going to try to get into the Muslim/Jewish infighting, though. That's thousands of years worth of history right there.

Answer 3

The word Jew is a translation of "yehudah", which is the tribe of Judah - one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jews were (and are still) called "ivrim", which in Hebrew means "the ones who crossed over". Comes from crossing over the Jordan river to the land of Palestine. The Jews originated in the Middle East. This is confirmed by DNA analysis and is consistant with the Bible.

Whether Jews are a 'race', is an issue for anthropoligists. There are black, brown, nordic, white and yellow Jews. Not all Jews practise their religion, but their tradition is that God singled them out to be responsible to observe the 613 Biblical commandments.
The existance of aJewish state in the Middle East contradicts many Islamic teachings. Jews in a self-governing, independent state in the Middle East represent a constant and embarrassing reminder to Fundamentalist Muslims, that the world isn't working out the way their prophet instructed them.

According to the Koran, subservient Jews (or Christians for that matter), are tolerated and allowed to live in peace ---- as long as things are run by Moslems, according to their holy teachings. Islam, which derives from the Arabic word for "peace", is based on a peace of domination of everyone else, by a Moslem majority. That's why the existance of Israel drives them crazy.

Answer 4

Jewish people are not a race, any more than atheists and Christians are a "race." We all belong to only ONE race-- human. We come in different colors due to genetics and evolution. We all share a common black ancestor, and as man moved farther from the equator, his skin lightened. This allows for better vitamin D absorption in the northern climates.

To be Jewish is to follow the religion Judaism.

The Jews originated in the Middle East, in what I believe was Palestine. I've always wondered why the Jews have been persecuted by people for millenia, not just by the Muslims.

Answer 5

To take your last question, why should any people welcome an outside group? How do you make yourself welcome in a new group? Sometimes you don't. But if you come on with nothing but brute force, history shows that no people will willingly lie down for it. I take that to be a prmary lesson of the Old Testament. And I think it's mighty funny the Israelis don't seem to know it. I think the idea of a Jewish Homeland was a rigtheous one, but to locate it in the historical land of Israel was a cruel joke. I mean after all, they are entitled to a secular state--not validation of themselves as the Chosen People. Since--maybe God does think so--the People of the Earth Don't. But with victory by the Allies, the arrogant leaders of the world dismissed the interests of the natives there. (While they were writing maps they also hobbled Iraq by making it landlocked.) Thus the Israelis were given a contentious scenario fom the start. But are seperate nations really built on military power alone? Also, I do not think that Americans (at least at their best) would gratify the will of an assassin by voting as Israel did after Rabin died. But then to believe in a possibility of Peace : that's believing in a miracle. George Bush has learned so much from Israel--a claim to superiority in itself! Look at you--you've got a follower.

Answer 6

Jew is the name for someone who follows Judaism, just as Muslim is the name for someone who follows Islam.

Most likely middle East. As the three monotheistic faiths all came from roughly same region.

Muslims arent against Jews. I just dont appreciate that they get total control of the Holy Land that is also a sacred place to Muslims. The Palestinians deserve a piece of that land, but Israel has the backing of US (big suprise there *sarcastic*).

Most things in media are bias and one-sided. The israelis are causing most of the damage over there.

Im not against jews, Id just appreciate Israelis to stop being such douche-bags.

Answer 7

Jews practiced Judaism, religious conflict is very common between the 3 Abrahamic religion(whch includes christianity)

Answer 8

Ol' Abe had two kids:

Jews = children of Isac
Arabs = children of Ishmail

They are brothers....very bad brothers.

The Romans kicked all the jews out of Israel, because they kept making trouble for them, so they were scattered all over the place within the empire and in Persia.

There are also many jews from Ethiopia.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html

Good artical:
http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.asp

Answer 9

The Jews are an ethinic group and... *snickers* *laughs crazily hard* A RACE? Do you have any idea of what a race is, people?

Answer 10

I think a lot of people don't understand this either.