Jewish History Final Review

v Disputation

¨     Start of the decline of Jewish conditions in Spain

¨     Tried to get Jews to convert

¨     Messiah did not come yet, if it did we would be living in Israel in peace

¨     Messiah is not G-d, because then there would be 2 G-d’s and that’s idolatry

v Middle Ages

¨     Ghettoes, small communities

¨     Juspa Shamas- recorded life in Medieval Europe, communal chulent pots (basically Jews in the Middle Ages lived the same way for hundreds of years)

¨     R. Yoselman- Shtadlan, risked his life for the benefit of the Jews, representative of the Jews to the secular leaders to get better conditions and argue on behalf of the Jews

¨     Rama- Ashkenazic minhags for the Shulchan Aruch

¨     Mendelssohn- Haskalah, Maskilim (his followers), emancipation (getting out of ghettos and getting the right to vote)

¨     Chassidim- you can be a great Jew without being a great Torah scholar, follow advice of a rebbe, do all mitzvoth with extreme passion

¨     Misnagdim- cannot be a leader if you are not a great scholar, deemphasizing learning is a huge mistake, rebbe is not good because you do not need a middleman

¨     Chabad- combination of Chassidism and learning

v 19^th Century

¨     Got out of the ghettos (Napoleon)

¨     Right to vote and hold office (Solomon in England was elected mayor of London)

¨     Geiger- leader of reform movement, don’t need to follow any mitzvoth because G-d never commanded them, treat laws like the constitution- wise document that can be changed to fit with the times, keep the spirit of Judaism but change the forms, kept laws between man and man

¨     Treifa Banquet (graduation where nothing could possibly be Kosher) à conservative Jews split off from the reform movement and started the conservative movement (follow laws because it’s Jewish tradition, and Jews have been doing it for thousands of years), led by Solomon Schechter in America, followed ideas of Zechariah Frenkel (historical)

v Holocaust

¨     Evian conference- countries came to discuss helping the Jews, but it was a failure because the countries who came were promised that they did not have to take in any Jews

v Zionism

¨     Conflicts- arguments over whether

¨     Weitzman- acetone, first President of Israel

¨     Trumpledore- leader of self defense movement in Israel

¨     Herbert Samuel- Jew appointed as high commissioner for Palestine in 1922, Zionist, but he left his Zionism in England and was fairer to the Arabs, which encouraged Arabs to believe they could prevent a Jewish state

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