Vanity: Questions about Jewish history

[no more apples]

I am taking a Western Civ class in college and we're about to study the beginnings of Jewish history. Being a good conservative and a Christian who highly respects my elder bretheren in my faith in God, I always question history books. Revisionist history has never been my cup of tea.

I'm looking for someone who is VERY knowledgeable in Jewish history - especially as it pertains to early civilization. If you don't mind answering questions, please let me know.

[no more apples]

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.

[devane617]

they got it from a book...

[americanophile]

A good alternative source:
http://www.amazon.com/Jews-Reason-Antisemitism-Dennis-Prager/dp/067155624X

[PC99]

PBS just showed a fantastic documentary on this very subject (The Bible’s Buried Secrets) - you should check it out if you can find a copy or stream it:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bible/about.html

[SkyDancer]

Good book to read is "Customs And Courtesies Of The Bible".

Great overview on Jewish history - how their lives were lived and why they do what they do ....

[no more apples]

Thank you for your wise advice.

[MindBender26]

Three tenants of every Jewish Holy Day

1: They tried to kill us
2: We won
3: Let's eat

Mazel tov.

[no more apples]

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into them. In the meantime, I guess I should say that I’m looking for some quick answers in the short term (we’ll only be covering this for a week or so) and I’ll look into more in depth answers over the long term (because I’m so curious).

[Bob017]

Howard Metzenberg provides an extensive historical record here. http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/004083.html

If you emailed him, he may be willing to assist.

metzenberg[nospam]@yahoo.com

[no more apples]

Gee, that was helpful.

[no more apples]

Thank you.

[SkyDancer]

OK - we’re Jewish so maybe I can help. Don’t get too technical where it would take a rabbi to answer ....

[MindBender26]

:)

[MindBender26]

Seriously, never forget that we and and our Jewish brethern are all People of The Book.

That sets us aside from everyone else.

[PAR35]

Folks would have an easier time helping you if you could articulate your questions.

You should probably start by reading at least the first 3 books of the Christian Old Testament. Better still would be to read the whole thing - and then formulate your questions and post them on the Religion board rather than Chat.

[pabianice]

How tragic that the endless war against Jews has removed almost every book on true Jewish history from public view. Instead we have CAIR and its viciously corrupted version of history.

[wendy1946]

The single biggest question in Jewish history involves AD times and not BC and involves the nature of the Khazar kingdom and related Jewish groups in Russia since most Jews ultimately are descended from these groups and many muslims claim and a few scholars claim that these groups converted to Judaism in AD times; that would invalidate the basic historical claim which a majority of Jews have to the land of Israel if it were true. Nonetheless there is an alternate view on the subject involving a famous (or infamous) name.

[Alberta's Child]

I think Jewish history can be summed up pretty well as follows:

1. Jewish history goes back nearly 5,000 years.
2. Chinese history is about 4,000 years old.

Which means, of course, that the Jews wandered in the desert for 1,000 years without any Chinese restaurants.

:-P

[no more apples]

Okay, here goes...

My book says, "During and especially after the Babylonian Captivity, the exiles redefined their beliefs and practices and thus established what they believed ws the law of Yahweh."

MY questions is, did they "redefine" or did they "articulate?"

[amom]

Good question and I was hoping for some great Q&A on this thread.

I went online and found this website called The Virtual Israel Experience which I hope will help us both better understand.

They say about themselves:
The Virtual Israel Experience is designed for anyone who plans a trip to Israel, hopes to visit in the future or just wants to learn more about the history of the Jewish state.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.html

Happy reading.