Read more about the article The Empire and its decline – 14

The Empire and its decline – 14

David (with help from the Philistine enemy) succeeded in creating a united kingdom of all the tribes, and withstanding a number of challenges to his sovereignty.  His successor Solomon continued the work of consolidation and institutionalization, the crown of this effort being of course the Temple.  Clearly, Solomon’s Temple continues to serve as a crucial symbol in Jewish consciousness and belief, and a key factor in the traditional connection to Eretz Yisrael.

The glory was short-lived: already with Solomon’s death centrifugal forces dominated, and the kingdom was re-divided with the ten northern tribes splitting off from Judah and Simeon.  200 years later, the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, who apparently adopted a policy of destroying the national identities of subject peoples by forced migrations – and thus the ten tribes disappeared from history and moved into legend.  Our sovereignty over the land was restricted to the area of Judah – until it too was lost just over a century later. (see next lesson)

The question that is relevant for us to consider as we examine these events is: what is the ideal relationship among Jewish religion, a Jewish state, and the land of Israel?  How do we feel about “the good old days” of Solomon?  How do we respond to the traditional idealization of that period? (more…)

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Read more about the article Destruction of the First Temple – 15

Destruction of the First Temple – 15

After the forced exile of the 10 tribes from the kingdomof Israel, Judahcarries on alone. It continues to be buffeted by the clashes between the great powers on its borders, and its kings must choose their alliances wisely. The kings of Judahare not always successful in this, and Judahis swept by a series of invasions which ultimately end in the exile of the top echelons of society, the destruction of the temple, and the termination of Jewish sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael. (more…)

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Read more about the article Shivat Tziyon – 17

Shivat Tziyon – 17

The destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the elites to Babylonia were of course a huge shock to our system, theologically, socially, and politically.  It seems that the people’s expectation, encouraged by the prophets, was that this punishment would be a harsh but passing blow – that in the near future God would relent and accept our repentance and restore our sovereignty and our connection to Him through the Temple ritual (see, for example, Jeremiah 29).  And indeed, so it happened – with the Persian conquest of Babylonia, a new policy was instituted, and the emperor Cyrus allowed the restoration of autonomy in Judah and the rebuilding of the Temple (but not, significantly, the restoration of the monarchy!) just 50 years after the destruction.  Therefore it is remarkable that the response was . not a mass return, but rather a trickle, with many of the exiles choosing to stay in their new home.  And thus was created the model of Diaspora Jewish life coexisting with a Jewish state.  Moreover, the process of rebuilding and reorganizing the community in Israel was difficult and frustrating, and didn’t look much like the promised redemption.  The period of Shivat Tziyon therefore offers suggestive parallels to our own modern situation of Israel-Diaspora coexistence.  This unit explores the somewhat sketchy historical knowledge we have of the period, focusing on the apparent dilemmas raised by the exiles’ ambivalent response to the possibility of restoration.

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Read more about the article The Hellenistic period and the Hasmoneans – 19

The Hellenistic period and the Hasmoneans – 19

With the conquest of the Middle East by Alexander the Great (331 BCE), Judah confronted a new cultural context, different in important ways from the cultures of Mesopotamia that had dominated the region for almost 500 years.  The dilemma of how to draw the line between faithfulness to the Torah and acceptance of values and behaviors from the dominant culture became more complicated during the Hellenistic period than in the days of the First Temple.  The same problem of the connection between political and cultural independence continued to exist, but was made more difficult by certain emphases of Hellenistic culture: on individualism, on cosmopolitanism, and on rationalism.  These qualities made it possible for the individual Jew to define an integrated identity, incorporating elements of both Jewish and Hellenistic cultures.  Thus, the meeting with Hellenism confronted Judaism with new challenges.

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Continue ReadingThe Hellenistic period and the Hasmoneans – 19