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Role of religion to early civilizations
importance of religion in the life of ancient people
Role of religion to early civilizations
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All throughout the recorded history of conscious human life, religion has played a major role in our development. Israel isn’t just an incredibly interesting country because of the land or location, but because of its biblical relations. Being a religious landmark in many religions, Israel is believed to be the Holy Land promised to the Israelites by god.
Eretz Yisrael, meaning Israel in Hebrew, has been important and sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times. Stated in Torah, the time of the three Patriarchs is placed on a timeline somewhere early in the 2nd millennium BCE, and the first Kingdom of Israel was believed to be present around the 11th century BCE. The city of Jerusalem is very important to Jews, Muslims and Christians, being the home of sites that are linked to their religious beliefs. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have been used as other names to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and Judaism. The name Israel refers to the patriarch Jacob, and his struggle with God who, according to the Torah, was given the name after successfully wrestling with the angel of the Lord. Jacob had twelve sons who became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as The Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine and disease to move to Egypt. Until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob led the Israelites back into Canaan during the "Exodus,” Jacob’s family remained in Egypt.
Israel and the Palestinian territories make up most of the Holy Land, a land promised to all Abrahamic religions – Jews, Christians, Muslims and Baha'is — by god. Israel’s two official languages are Hebrew and Arabic; Hebrew being the primary language of the state and is spoken by the m...
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...ve their defenses and create closer military relationships between the U.S. and other receiving nations. The main Congressional support for Israel has been foreign aid via the Zionist Ben Gurion Organization stationed in Washington DC. Since 1985, it has provided nearly $3 billion in grants annually to Israel. Israel had been the largest annual recipient of American aid from 1976 to 2004, and the largest cumulative recipient of aid since World War II. Stated in the policy between the US and Israel, 74% percent of Israel’s funds must be spent purchasing US goods and services. Almost all U.S. aid to Israel is now in the form of military assistance, while in the past it also received significant economic assistance. Strong congressional support and a strategically genius alliance with Israel has resulted in Israel receiving benefits unavailable to other countries
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
The story of the state of Israel began with a man named Abraham, and a promise that God made to him. God told him to leave his homeland, promising Abraham and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan, known as present day Israel(Rich, 1). Abraham was a firm believer in God, and decided to carry out his commands, since he knew God would be able to fulfill His promise to him. It was here, that God gave Abraham a unique homeland for his descendents to form a model nation. In the Torah, The Land of Israel was claimed to be the only place on the earth where the Jewish people could create the model nation(Spiro, 1). Jews desired to fulfill God’s plan to create the model nation, forming a strong connection between the land and the people for all eternity. Nonetheless, the Jews have not always been in political control of Israel; foreign nations had always been attacking the land...
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
A Political, Cultural, and Religious Description of the Current Atmosphere as Exists in Israel Israel, in the 1990's, is in a continual state of political, cultural and religious flux. Religion continues to play a central factor in the difficulties which the state has been and continues to experience. This unique country is characterized by an amalgam of cultural and ethnic diversity. This historical and cultural fact ensures that the difficulties the state has been experiencing in realizing self-adjustment will continue. At the same time, there exist mostly positive and persistent facets of the culture which continue unabated as will be discussed. Israel is characterized by many religious groups including Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Palestinians, Jews, Arabs and others. Similarly, the Labor Ruling Party is integrally linked to religious orientation and has been embroiled in domestic controversy and flagellation from many sides in recent years. OVERVIEW Statehood in Israel was attained some three thousand years ago, and has served as the home of the Jewish people who are credited with giving the world the Bible. As mentioned, however, this land is comprised of many different groups. The Jewish people constitute 81.8%, and Muslims represent 14.1%. The Christians comprise 2.4% and the Druze and others make up 1.4%. Some five million people from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds live in Israel today. It is a country of immigration, and in the decades prior to the establishment of the state, the majority of newcomers came from Europe, joining Jews whose families had lived in the land for generations. Immediately following independe...
The Palestinian and Israeli conflict can be resolved only if both countries agree to internationalize Jerusalem: this holy city is the home of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The city has important religious connections with all three faiths; the Jews and the Christians see it as has a land of prophets and a promised land for all children of Abraham, the Christians see it also as the birthplace of Jesus, and the Muslim have the al Aqsa Intifada. This has been an on going war between Palestinians who are Muslims and Israelis who are Jews caused by conflicting religious and historical claims to the city, the desire of displaced Jews for a homeland and Palestinian anger at the British and U.S backed takeover of the city by the Israeli Jews. The effects of the conflict have been terrorist attacks around the world by both sides and the deaths of many soldiers and civilians.
For decades the U.S has provided consistent and unparalleled support to Israel. Since the world war II, Israel has been receiving the largest amount of U.S. military and economic aid.
After World War II, the United Nations handed the Jewish people a piece a land so they could live together. This land known as Israel has holy places for the Jewish religion and is surrounded by Muslim countries. Before the United Nations relinquished the land to the Jewish people it belonged to the Palestinian Muslims. This land is important to the Muslims as they consider it holy. There is a religious belief among Palestinians to regain control of East Jerusalem as part of lasting peace region. Also Palestinians are in an occupied nation with Israelis have military rule. The Palestinians have retaliated with a terrorist network to attack innocent Israeli civilians. Israelis believe they must control the Palestinians with military force to protect against terrorism.
Israel, officially known as the State of Israel, is located in Western Asia, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, sharing its borders with Lebanon in the north, Jordan in the East, Egypt in the South, and Palestinian territories in the West. In its Basic Laws, Israel’s constitutional law, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and Democratic State; it currently is the world’s only Jewish majority country. Since declaring its independence in 1948, Israel has been home to the majority of Jewish immigrants from all over the world. The country’s population consisted mainly of Jews (75%), Arabs (20%), and the rest immigrants from all over the world increased from 870,000 individuals in 1948 to over 7.9 million in 2012 (Haft 2013). Over the past decade, Israel’s population has continued to grow, at about a rate of 20% per year. The country’s financial center is Tel Aviv, while Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, is also the country’s most highly populated city; although, internationally Jerusalem is not considered to be a part of Israel.
Judaism is a religion with an excess of 13 million believers located mainly within the United States and Israel. Of all the religions practiced today, Judaism is one of the oldest. The roots of Judaism can be traced back over 3500 years to the Middle East with a lineage that descends from Abraham as a patriarch. With Abraham as a common ancestor, Judaism is considered one of the Abrahamic faiths alongside Christianity and Islam. The historical events within the Bible of Judaism’s past, all the way back to Abraham, have molded the beliefs and traditions practiced by Jewish adherents today.
Many scholars have written about what exactly the boundaries of this are, and it is much debated. Some believe the River of Egypt refers to the Nile River, while others dispute this. Others believe it refers to a smaller river that was flowing during that time but has since dried up. Today, the Land of Canaan is thought to include all of Israel, and all of the land of the Palestinians (the West Bank and Gaza), plus some of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria. Israel only occupies a small portion of this land. The West Bank and Gaza continue to be a source of dispute between Palestine and Israel because the Israelis believe this land was given to them by God in Genesis 15 and has significant religious meaning to them. Therefore some believe that this part of God’s covenant with Abram has not yet been completely fulfilled. However, these individuals continue to believe that eventually Israel will get control of the West Bank and Gaza, because God always fulfills his
Israel is a state founded on the ideology of being a land for the Jewish people. To be able to accomplish this feat, it has been reasoned by Theodor Herzl, in his publication “Der Judenstaat” (1896), that the Jewish people see themselves as more than a religious body, but rather as a nation which is able to create political institutions in a land of its own. While presenting this idea, Herzl also put down a separation of church and state, creating a non-theocratic state. He claimed that “Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom.” The debate over how much of an input religion should have in Israeli policy and public life is continuing today. Different groups of Israelis with diverse religious observances often have distinct views of the role that Judaism should have in the running of the Jewish State. This is reflected in the voting patterns of people with differing levels of religiosity, which has an effect on the level of religious impact on Israeli laws and society.
In regards to the conflict between Palestine and Israel, each group behave according to each of the groups own religious doctrine. Islamic and Judaism cultures consist of religious views and attitudes that are complex in nature even more so than other religions. Both cultures consist of following rules with high expectations of religion and religious norms. Because of this c...
Biblically, Israel is the promised land God set aside this his people. “We believe that the immergence of a Jewish state in the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob was ordained by God (Robertson, nd). In Deuteronomy, God shows the land to Moses and tells him, “this is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 34:4). This promise is in the bible of the Christians and they should support reinstatement of this land to the Jewish people as God promised.
The Jews are still in constant conflict with their neighbors, the Palestinians, and once again this conflict is derived from Religion. Since the formation of the state of Israel the Jews were met with constant conflict from their neighbors, and this conflict was mostly based on intolerance and hatred for the Jews. The events in Israel illustrates why it is crucial to remember previous historical events and atrocities. These feelings expressed against the Jewish people in the Middle East resembles that of the Jews in Nazi Germany. Those unchecked feelings of hatred and intolerance were utilized by Hitler to systematically slaughter six million Jews and reshape Europe forever, and if left unchecked the same could happen in the Middle
God helped the Hebrews cross the Red Sea, causing many Egyptians to drown, he made sure the Hebrews were fed while wandering in the desert by giving them Manna every day, and God helped the men to conquer the other civilizations living in “The Promise Land.” They would start with a peace offering, if declined they would kill to continue to take over the land with the hand of God in their battles. This caused the Hebrews to be capable to take over the entire land promised to Abraham, and they could live their in peace thus advancing their civilization from being slaves to Egypt. However, because of this act there is a lot of conflict over the land in today’s society. Since many religions had major events that happened in this land, and many believe that Abraham is their father as well, almost every culture believes that the land should belong to