Autonomous and Hierarchical Religions. Judaism

Judaism, like Christianity and Islam, is a monotheistic religion, professing belief in a single God. However, in contrast to Christianity and Islam, Judaism does not actively seek new converts. Other major religions are polytheistic, professing belief in many gods. All three major monotheistic religions originated in Southwestern Asia.

Because Jews believe that the universe was created by a single, all-knowing divinity, all things in it have order, meaning, and purpose. According to Jewish theology, God's will for human conduct was revealed to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The content of this revelation is known as the Torah» or commandments regulating how human beings are to live their lives in response to God's will. God established a covenant, or contractual agreement with the Jewish people. Jews acknowledged God's dominion while agreeing to obey His law.

According to tradition, this covenant between the Jewish people and God occurred at a time when the Jews prepared to enter the Promised Land, in the region of today's Israel. The Old Testament of the Bible describes the subsequent occupation of the Promised Land by the Jews along with their conflicts with neighboring societies. For several centuries, the Hebrews maintained a unified state centered in Jerusalem.

Over the years, the power of the Hebrew state waned. The northern part of the country fell to Assyrian invaders in 722 B.C. Jerusalem itself was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The area was successively ruled by the Persians, the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire.

In A.D. 70 a Roman army destroyed Jerusalem. The Jews who survived Roman persecution moved to new homes in the Mediterranean countries and elsewhere in southwestern Asia. This migration, or dispersal of the Jewish population, is known as the Diaspora (Figure 5-2). In the centuries following the Diaspora, many Jews settled in Europe. Many were victims of persecution by Christian rulers and citizens. During the Middle Ages, the laws of some European nations forbade Jews to own land. These laws encouraged clustered as opposed to dispersed settlement of the Jewish population. Many settled in cities and worked as merchants, artisans, or craftsmen.

Figure 5-2 The Diaspora. After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Jews and other non-Christians became subject to religious persecution. As a result, large numbers of Jews moved from their original homes in the Middle East to destinations throughout central, southern, and eastern Europe. Further persecutions and migrations led to the current distribution of the world's Jewish population

Some countries required Jews to live in designated areas within cities. These areas were known as ghettoes, after the metal-casting district in Venice where Jews were forced to live. Hence, the origin of the term describing contemporary neighborhoods inhabited by ethnic minorities and plagued by poverty and discrimination. Over the years, persecution proved a powerful push factor to the Jewish population. In reaction to massacres or pogroms, which began in Germany and spread through Europe, many Jews fled eastward to Turkey, Syria, and Palestine.

In the late nineteenth century, many Jews from Poland, Germany, Russia, and the Ukraine migrated to the United States. Economic opportunity and freedom from religious persecution were important pull factors that attracted hundreds of thousands to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Further pogroms, including the systematic murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis drove many survivors to flee overseas during and after World War II.

Today, the United States has the largest Jewish population in the world. Many American Jews are concentrated in and near large Eastern. Middle Western, and Sunbelt cities, with the largest populations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, and Washington. D.C.

Beginning about 1917, a group of influential Jewish leaders became active in attempting to re-establish Palestine as a Jewish homeland. This Zionist movement gained impetus as Hitler's persecutions caused the death or emigration of much of Europe’s Jewish population. In 1948 the state of Israel became an independent country. Eighty percent of its current population is Jewish. The official language is Hebrew, although street signs may also include English or Arabic, and. increasingly. Russian to accommodate the recent influx or Russian immigrants (Figure 5-3).

Figure 5-3 Hebrew. When Israel became an independent state in 1948, Hebrew was adopted as the official language. Buildings in downtown Tel Aviv have their signage both in English and in Hebrew to accommodate the people's preferences