The traditional history of Jews

Jews do not come from any country or culture, but from many countries and belong to different cultures. The first Jews who arrived in the North American colonies were the so-called Sefadi Jews. They lived in Spain and Portugal for centuries before, and their situation is very different from that of Germany, Russia or Eastern Europe where American Jews came from later generations. No matter how confused outsiders are, these Jews actually belong to different communities. They are not yet fully integrated.

Today, the vast majority of American Jews are descendants of Jews who immigrated to the United States from Russia, Poland and other Eastern European countries between 1880 and 1920. During these 40 years, 1/3 Eastern European Jews immigrated to the United States.

Despite the cultural rupture caused by different countries. Even in religious theory and practice, there are internal differences, but Jews not only worship the same ancestor of ancient Israel, but also have the same core of religious beliefs and historical traditions. As a minority, no matter where they live, they have suffered long-term hostility from different ethnic groups to varying degrees. Other races have become "minorities" only in the United States, while Jews have lived in European countries as "minorities" for hundreds of years.

homeland

In 70 AD, the Roman army occupied Palestine and the ancient Jews were expelled from their homeland. Since then, he has been living in a foreign country and has been scattered in Europe and even around the world for centuries.

After Christianity replaced polytheism throughout Europe, Jews became the only non-Christian nation in the European continent, so they became "outsiders" wherever they went. This puts Jews in a difficult position during the period of Christian fanaticism (such as the Crusades) or religious terror (such as the disasters that destroyed the whole region from time to time in the Middle Ages). Crusaders crossed Europe and crusaded against Muslims eastward. They often stop along the way to slaughter Jews in their area, and local thugs also take advantage of the fire to rob them. When the devastating disaster came to Europe, many people thought it was a manifestation of God's anger, hoping to calm God's anger by exterminating the Jews among them. In addition to these motives caused by direct prejudice and fear, there are also many people with ulterior motives who try to gain material benefits by destroying the Jewish nation, because Jews are regarded as economic and religious competitors or creditors, killing creditors and their legitimate heirs, so there is no need to repay their debts. Ordinary people who were extremely ignorant at that time were easily manipulated by wily political, economic or religious leaders and provoked anti-Semitism. For centuries, Jews have been periodically persecuted, slaughtered or expelled from European countries in large numbers.

In the interval of these historical tragedies, the Jews compromised. Trying to seek survival opportunities in the cracks of different cultural, social and economic environments. If Jews want to resist by force, it is tantamount to self-destruction, because they are absolutely outnumbered anywhere. After all, there are a large number of Irish and Italians oppressed by foreign countries in their respective countries, and they can organize sporadic riots or conduct underground terrorist activities to deal with conquerors. Foreign aggression has created the fighting spirit of Irish and Italians, but for Jews in completely different situations, foreign aggression has cultivated their psychology of resignation, emphasizing the futility of resorting to force and atrocities, and thinking that it is necessary to rely on their own wisdom, strategy and adaptability in adversity. When Jews lived in their homeland, Palestine, they were brave and good at fighting, as the modern Israeli people once again showed. But in those years when they lived abroad, this was not the case.

In many ways, the position of Jews in the early centuries of the Roman Empire was better than that in the late decline of the Empire and the rise of Europe in the Middle Ages. The early Roman Empire was a polytheistic and diversified behemoth. Within the relatively tolerant empire, various ethnic groups and religious groups can live in harmony, and Jews are just one of them. Ironically, it was the Jewish-Christian theological thought that injected a major intolerant factor into the Roman Empire and even the whole western civilization. In ancient Rome, it was common for many religious sects to hold ceremonies or commemorative activities to show mutual respect, but neither Jews nor Christians participated in such activities. For them, this means "idolatry". Both of them were punished by the Roman imperial authorities for their attitude and behavior of political separation, but this punishment was not a religious persecution that later prevailed in medieval and modern Europe.

Christianity finally won a great victory and became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The religious bigotry that followed was manifested in forcing people to convert to Christianity and punishing pagans and skeptics who did not recognize Christianity as the only correct belief. In the religious disputes in the late Roman Empire, the number of deaths caused by Christians killing each other greatly exceeded the number of people who were executed for their beliefs in the polytheism era in the early Empire. Jews are also one of the victims of this religious struggle. With the unified Christian doctrine-Roman Catholicism firmly established in the west, Jews, as the only remaining major minority in the faith, have been isolated. The theological concept of idolatry makes Christians unwilling to compromise with polytheists. The same idea also makes Jews unwilling to compromise with Christians, and vice versa.

Jews hold different views on religion, and their seriousness was really rare at that time. The problem is not only that. Because they were exiled after the invasion of their motherland, they are foreigners in any country, have their own culture, speak different languages and wear different clothes, and generally live in a corner of a single village or town. In a word, they are people with labels on their bodies. No matter what passion or fear the ignorant and superstitious residents around them are involved in, Jews will naturally be the target of attack when they are in trouble. What's more, Jews are usually deprived of the right to own land and engage in many other economic activities. They often engage in intermediary work, such as small businessmen and money lenders. People engaged in this industry are not welcome anywhere. Intermediary business is prominent among ethnic minorities-for example, China people are in Southeast Asia, East Indians are in Uganda, or Igbo people are in Nigeria. This minority will attract the hatred of the local people who deal with it. Jews are typical of ethnic minorities engaged in this industry. For centuries, Jews have been periodically persecuted, slaughtered or expelled from European countries in large numbers. In the interval of these historical tragedies, the Jews compromised. Trying to seek survival opportunities in the cracks of different cultural, social and economic environments. If Jews want to resist by force, it is tantamount to self-destruction, because they are absolutely outnumbered anywhere.

What little protection Jews get is actually given by the upper class (nobles, kings, popes). They did it not so much out of humanitarian considerations or sense of justice as for their own interests. Because Jews have useful skills and are often rich. In many places, they just use money to buy the privilege of living in the territory of those in power. Within the ruling clique, once the political climate changes, or the capricious authority is encountered, the peace that Jews exchanged for blood may end at any time. Even after living in a certain place for generations or even centuries, Jews are rarely an organic part of the local society. Intermarriage with local people is also rare.

Jews usually live together, but for centuries, with the rise of Christianity, they have been forced to do so. 1266, Poland issued an imperial edict, stipulating that Jews "should not live among Christians, but should build their houses in an isolated corner of a state or town, adjacent to each other", and this isolated corner "should be separated from the place where Christians live by hedges, walls or ditches". Many countries have such regulations, which gradually evolved into a traditional Jewish "gathering area". Building a high wall around this gathering area and locking the door at night lasted for about 400 years.

In many parts of Europe, Jews cannot be safe without Jewish settlements. According to the specific conditions existing in various places. They may also make a living outside the gathering area during the day, sometimes they will find very profitable jobs, and occasionally they will encounter very glorious jobs, but their personal life and social interaction are confined to the gathering area. The Jewish community is an isolated autonomous entity with its own culture, laws and taxes. Jewish culture and values are deeply rooted in everyone's heart. Whether living in Italy, Poland or France, the identity of a Jew is always a Jew. One of the genetic consequences of these Xiaotian fields with similar reproduction is that many people are born with physical and mental defects.

The way of life in the gathering area ruled out the possibility of European Jews engaging in agriculture. They were urbanized hundreds of years before they arrived in new york and other American cities. Jews in their most isolated European region are basically unaffected by the post-modern thoughts of Renaissance, so their culture is still an ancient local culture. Jews who immigrated to the United States in large numbers from Eastern Europe have such a local cultural background.

Jews come into contact with each other from time to time on isolated islands all over Europe. Every family tries to keep the Jewish tradition, but basically does not interfere with each other. This inevitably makes the slowly changing Judaism and Jewish culture vary from place to place in form, thus laying the groundwork for the internal religious differences and disputes after different Jewish tribes came to the United States. Refugees caused by various persecutions have established international ties among Jews all over Europe, thus forming Yiddish, a German dialect mixed with Hebrew and Polish.

One of the typical characteristics of European Jewish culture is the respect and worship of knowledge. What I am talking about here is mainly religious knowledge, knowledge about Talmud, and a careful and detailed analysis of its meaning and connotation. A mother wants her daughter to marry a learned man, and it doesn't matter if she is poor. Most Jews who immigrated to the United States had almost no education, and many were even illiterate, but they had an indissoluble bond with education.

Jews are still skilled workers, many of them are small businessmen and money lenders, and a few are big businessmen and bankers. In some countries, Jews become tax collectors or other government officials and consultants. Alliances with government figures in power provided protection for some Jewish individuals or groups, but at the same time they also attracted resentment from government enemies. Once the ruling government is overthrown, Jews are more likely to become targets.

Many European Jewish fashions later became American heirlooms, including cleanliness, generosity and extremely low alcoholism. In an era when the installation of tap water in private rooms was not known to the world, public bathhouses were facilities set up by Jews. Charity is a long-standing religious tradition of European Jews, even in times of poverty. Therefore, when the United States is rich, large-scale charity will inevitably become a Jewish tradition. Strange to say, people always think that Jews are misers and misers! In most parts of Europe, for most of history, people around them have been in danger because of their resentment against Jews. Therefore, it is very foolish for them to show off their wealth and even show signs of running away from home. Also, it is unwise for Jews to use their usual savings to buy clothes, furniture and other large items that are not suitable for carrying around, because they must be ready at any time. It is wise to turn their wealth into gold, silver and jewels. Jews, like Italians, drink while eating, but seldom get drunk. Drunk as mud, causing a big fight or reckless behavior, it is easy to cause great disaster to the endangered European Jews.

Things have changed, times have changed. After the world entered modern history, many restrictions on Jews began to relax or cancel. More developed commerce, trade, industry and finance make Jews no longer lag behind the times as they did in feudal society, and at the same time make their skills and experience in these fields more valuable. /kloc-In the 8th century, Britain, France and Holland successively gave the Jewish regime. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/9th century, other European countries also began to abolish legal discrimination against Jews. France's policy towards Jews spread with Napoleon's conquest, liberating the Jewish nation in all parts of Europe, but Napoleon was finally defeated, and Jews in many places returned to the original situation, and massacres and expulsions occurred again. However, the process of Jewish political liberation in European countries is uneven. 1858, a Jew was elected to the British parliament for the first time, but it was not until 1885 that the last Jewish settlement in Italy was demolished.

In places where restrictions on Jews have been relaxed, such as Western Europe, there is a trend of assimilation in culture and descent, and the differences in clothing and hairstyles have gradually disappeared. Jews began to use the language of their country and became familiar with its literature and philosophy. Judaism itself adopted more superficial Christian rituals, such as placing an organ in the place of prayer, having a choir, installing stained glass in the windows, and changing the worship service from Saturday to Sunday.

This reformed Judaism originated in Germany, which was a country that was more open to Jews at that time. Orthodox Judaism has always prevailed in Russia and Eastern Europe, where Jews are still isolated and restricted.

In the west, individuals with obvious Jewish ancestry can also live among Christians as non-Jews. /kloc-there are three famous examples in the 0/9th century. They are Benjamin Disraeli, david ricardo and Karl Marx. As mentioned earlier, the first Jew became a member of the lower house of the British Parliament in 1858, while Ricardo entered the parliament as early as 18 19, and disraeli became a member of parliament in 1837. In fact, Ricardo and disraeli didn't hide their identities in order to "muddle through", but converted to Christianity long ago and took part in politics as Christians. Similarly, Marx was the son of a Jew who converted to Christianity and was baptized by Lutheranism, even though his parents were rabbis. Marx never considered himself a Jew, and always used the third person when talking about Jews.

Even for people who stick to the Jewish faith, in more enlightened western Europe, this does not mean that they have any estrangement from the people around them or have lost their nationality. They can be considered French, German or Dutch with Jewish faith. In eastern Europe, insisting on being a Jew has become a completely different person with different forms of worship and clothing. In a word, when Jews from Western Europe and Eastern Europe immigrated to the United States on a large scale in the19th century, there were profound social differences and even religious differences between them. For centuries, Jews have been periodically persecuted, slaughtered or expelled from European countries in large numbers. In the interval of these historical tragedies, the Jews compromised. Trying to seek survival opportunities in the cracks of different cultural, social and economic environments. If Jews want to resist by force, it is tantamount to self-destruction, because they are absolutely outnumbered anywhere.

However, in any case, the charity tradition of the Jewish nation still overwhelmed all this resentment. Various organizations of German Jews tried their best to help Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and made special efforts for their Americanization. In order to provide services for Jews in downtown areas, Jews in residential areas invested in the construction of schools, libraries, hospitals and community centers. Even carrying out these humanitarian undertakings has caused some tension in Jewish internal relations. For example, even though 90% of the patients in Mount Sinai Hospital in new york are Eastern European Jews, the hospital still refuses to employ Eastern European Jewish doctors. The People's Church (a synagogue) uses Hebrew and German from beginning to end, and Yiddish has become taboo. At that time, someone wrote:

In those charities hosted by our noble German Jews, you can see beautiful offices and desks, which are well decorated, but at the same time you can also see livid and angry faces. Every poor man was tried as a prisoner, and no one looked down on them. Every unfortunate person felt ashamed and his legs trembled with fear, just like standing in front of a Russian official.

Once the economic situation permits, Jews in Eastern Europe will set up their own charities. This undertaking began in the late 1980s, from 65438 to 2009. One of the charities claims that when giving money and bread to the poor, we should admit that we are all descendants of the same ancestor and should not draw artificial lines according to different places of birth.

Although new york used the words "residential area" (German Jew) and "downtown area" (Russian Jew) to divide Jews into two, which is unique, the distinction reflected by this word is universal everywhere. /kloc-In Chicago in the middle of 0/9th century, German Jews thought Polish Jews were "inferior classes". When calling for donations to the Hebrew United Relief Association, a Chicago rabbi lamented that the Jews in Chicago were "torn apart by family wealth, intelligence and social differences, by intolerant jealousy, and even by religious factions and differences" and questioned the world. Are those new immigrants "just because they saw the light of the world for the first time in Poland or Russia?" Although this appeal has won a lot of good deeds, the German Jews who donated money still "looked at it with pity-with good intentions, of course, but also with some kind of gift mentality-compatriots from Poland and Russia". As in new york, German Jews in Chicago set up charities for Jews who moved from Eastern Europe. Like new york, Jews from Eastern Europe are full of complaints. They felt that their German Jewish compatriots treated them inappropriately and set up their own charity.

Jewish immigrants "still have the appearance of being chased around in the Russian isolation zone" and rarely dare to walk out of their own blocks. When dealing with people, they are "lack of self-confidence and tolerance", and often dare not strike up a conversation with strangers, or even dare not talk to American Jews who can't speak Yiddish. Because they dare not look up when they walk (the so-called slum bend), and because they are timid and resigned, they naturally become the targets of street hooligans. These guys deliberately taunt them, harass them and occasionally pull up their long beards for fun. This kind of sacrifice aroused German Jews' indignation against them, accused them of being disappointing, and made non-Jews think Jews were cowards. However, German Jews who have been living in the safe environment of the United States have never experienced the heinous bullying suffered by Jewish immigrants in Eastern Europe, and they don't know what it means, but Eastern European Jews still remember the bullying they suffered in those years.

For a long time, there has been a "caste difference" between Jews in Eastern Europe and Jews in Germany. For example, in Philadelphia in 1940, the Jewish upper class "is still almost entirely descended from Germans". In new york, Jews in "residential areas" rarely intermarry with Jews in "downtown areas". In Chicago, Russian Jews established their own independent community life. Marriage between Jews from different countries is "as rare as marriage between Jews in the gathering area and non-Jews outside".

There is a saying in society that Jewish mothers are too protective of their children. In fact, these Jewish women are all from Eastern Europe. When I was in Eastern Europe, once the children of Jewish families left their homes, they might never see them again. If people know this experience, it is not difficult to understand why these mothers are always eager for their children to be with them, and look up. In Eastern Europe, even Jewish children living on the edge of the forest seldom go swimming, fishing or walking in the forest. Living habits formed for thousands of years are difficult to change in the United States for a while.

/kloc-In the last quarter of the 20th century, with the arrival of a large number of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, the United States also formed an increasingly strong anti-Semitic sentiment. German Jews were severely hit by this. Although many of them are fully qualified to join social clubs in the inner circle, stay in luxury hotels and enjoy other benefits or honors, they are deprived of these rights because of their religious beliefs and many of their Christian compatriots immigrated to the United States. On the level of daily life, just like those job advertisements in the past, it used to be stated that "Protestants" should exclude Irish people, but now it is stated that only "Christians" are required.