1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
West Bank
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The West Bank shares boundaries to the west, north, and south with Israel, and to the east, across the Jordan River, with Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. As of July 2015 it has an population of 2,785,366 Palestinians, and approximately 371,000 Israeli settlers. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law and this annexation was recognized only by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan. The term was chosen to differentiate the west bank of the River Jordan from the east bank of this river, the neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and Hungarian. The name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this entity in English. The analogous Transjordan has historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the state of Jordan. From 1517 through 1917, the now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule as part of the provinces of Syria. At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine, the San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was constructed. Faced with the determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the West Bank area, was conquered by Jordan during the 1948 war with the new state of Israel. In 1947, it was designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the United Nations partition plan for Palestine. 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the boundary between Israel and Jordan. In 1950, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River, naming it West Bank or Cisjordan, Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. Jordans annexation was never recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom. King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948. and granted Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, in June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no mans land, the Israeli settlements were, on the other hand, administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approx, 11% of the West Bank which remains subject to Israeli incursions
3.
Districts of Israel
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There are six main administrative districts of Israel, known in Hebrew as mehozot and Arabic as mintaqah and fifteen sub-districts known as nafot. Each sub-district is further divided into Cities, municipalities, and Regional councils it contains, the Judea and Samaria Area, however, is not included in the number of districts and sub-districts as Israel has not applied its civilian jurisdiction in that part of the West Bank. Population,1,358,600 District capital, Nazareth Safed – population,113,700 Kinneret – population,110,500 Yizreel – population,482,300 Akko – population,605,700 Golan – population,46,400. Population,966,700 District capital, Haifa Haifa – population,560,600 Hadera – population,406,000 Central District. Population,2,024,500 District capital, Ramla Sharon – population,446,500 Petah Tikva – population,685,000 Ramla – population,326,400 Rehovot – population,566,600 Tel Aviv District. Population,1,350,000 District capital, Tel Aviv Southern District, currently only the Coordination and Liaison Administration operates there. Jewish Population,407,118, Palestinian population, roughly 1.8 million, largest city, Modiin Illit The name Judea and Samaria for this geographical area is based on terminology from the Hebrew and other sources relating to ancient Israel and Judah/Judea. The territory has been under Israeli control since the 1967 Six-Day War but not annexed by Israel, in Jewish religious terms, it is part of the Land of Israel, which leads to politically contentious issues. However, it is not considered part of the State of Israel by the UN, urban Israel, Details and pictures about many cities in Israel
4.
Judea and Samaria Area
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Judea and Samaria Area is the Israeli government term for the territory generally referred to as the West Bank, but excluding East Jerusalem. The Judea and Samaria Area covers a portion of the territory designated by the ancient names Judea, Samaria corresponds to part of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, also known as the Northern Kingdom. Judea corresponds to part of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, also known as the Southern Kingdom, as a direct consequence, a central part of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel was renamed Samaria. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods the name of the former Southern Kingdom of Judah was hellenized to Judea, in modern times, Samaria was the name of one of the administrative districts of Mandatory Palestine. However, the phrase was used until 1977 when Menachem Begin. The phrase is used today by various figures who support Israeli annexation of the area. The name Judea, when used in Judea and Samaria, refers to all of the south of Jerusalem, including Gush Etzion. The region of Samaria, on the hand, refers to the area north of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem has been incorporated into the Jerusalem District and is under Israeli civilian rule, the terms West Bank, or, alternatively, the Territories, are also current in Israeli usage. The Judea and Samaria Area is administered by the Israel Defense Forces Central Command, administrative decisions are subject to the Commands chief. The incumbent chief of Central Command is Aluf Nitzan Alon, the future status of the region is a key factor in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Supreme Court of Israel has considered the section of the West Bank which excludes East Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied territories, extending Israeli law to the settlements would mean a de facto annexation of the settlements to Israel. Article 43 of the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 is the basis of the Levy committees opinion, the area is further divided into 8 military administrative regions, Menashe, HaBika, Shomron, Efrayim, Binyamin, Maccabim, Etzion and Yehuda. Jewish Agency for Israel Judea and Samaria at DMOZ
5.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
6.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
7.
Haredi Judaism
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Haredi Judaism is a broad spectrum of groups within Orthodox Judaism, all characterized by a rejection of modern secular culture. Its members are referred to as strictly Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox in English. The term ultra-Orthodox, however, is considered pejorative by some of its adherents, Haredim regard themselves as the most religiously authentic group of Jews, although this claim is contested by other streams. However, there are many Haredi communities in which getting a degree or establishing a business is encouraged. Haredi communities are found in Israel, North America. Their estimated global population currently numbers 1. 3–1.5 million, and, due to an absence of interfaith marriage. Their numbers have also boosted by a substantial number of secular Jews adopting a Haredi lifestyle as part of the Baal teshuva movement. The term most commonly used by outsiders, including most American news organizations, is ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Hillel Halkin suggests the origins of the term may date to the 1950s, a period in which Haredi survivors of the Holocaust first began arriving in America. Haredi is a Modern Hebrew adjective derived from the Biblical verb hared which appears in the Book of Isaiah and is translated as trembles at the word of God. The word connotes an awe-inspired fear and anxiety to perform the will of God and is used to describe staunchly Orthodox Jews, others, however, dispute the characterization of the term as pejorative. Ari L. Goldman, a professor at Columbia University, notes that the term simply serves a purpose to distinguish a specific part of the Orthodox community. Sometimes the community has been characterized as Traditional Orthodox, in contradistinction to the Modern Orthodox, Haredi Jews also use other terms to refer to themselves. Common Yiddish words include Yidn or erlekhe Yidn, Ben Torah, frum, according to its adherents, the forebears of the contemporary Haredim were the traditionalists of Eastern Europe who fought against modernization. Indeed, adherents see its beliefs as part of a tradition dating from the revelation at Sinai. However, most historians of Orthodoxy consider Haredi Judaism, in its modern incarnation, for centuries, before Jewish emancipation, European Jews were forced to live in ghettos where Jewish culture and religious observance were preserved. Change began in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment when some European liberals sought to include the Jewish population in the emerging empires, the influence of the Haskalah movement was also evidence. Supporters of the Haskalah held that Judaism must change in keeping with the changes around them. Other Jews insisted on strict adherence to halakha and his approach was to accept the tools of modern scholarship and apply them in defence of Orthodoxy
8.
Israeli settlement
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Such settlements within Palestinian territories currently exist in Area C of the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and within Syrian territory in the Golan Heights. Israel dismantled 18 settlements in the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, while in 2005 all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled, but only four in the West Bank. In the West Bank, however, Israel continues to expand its remaining settlements as well as settling new areas, the International Court of Justice also says these purportedly annexed settlements are illegal in a 2004 advisory opinion. Similar criticism was advanced by the EU and the US, Israel disputes the position of the international community and the legal arguments that were used to declare the settlements illegal. Most of the spending goes to the security of the Israeli citizens living there, on 30 June 2014, according to the Yesha Council,382,031 Israeli citizens lived in the 121 officially recognised Israeli settlements in the West Bank, almost exclusively Jewish citizens of Israel. In January 2015 the Israeli Interior Ministry gave figures of 389,250 Israeli citizens living in the West Bank, settlements range in character from farming communities and frontier villages to urban suburbs and neighborhoods. The four largest settlements, Modiin Illit, Maale Adumim, Beitar Illit, Ariel has 18,000 residents, while the rest have around 37,000 to 55,500 each. The 1967 Six-Day War left Israel in control of the entire West Bank of the Jordan River, the entire Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal, and the Gaza strip. Most of the Golan Heights, since 1981, administered under the Golan Heights Law, as early as 1967, Israeli settlement policy was started by the Labor government of Levi Eshkol. The basis for Israeli settlement in the West Bank became the Allon Plan and it implied Israeli annexation of major parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and the Jordan Valley. The settlement policy of the government of Yitzhak Rabin, was derived from the Allon Plan. The first settlement was Kfar Etzion, in the southern West Bank, many settlements began as Nahal settlements. They were established as military outposts and later expanded and populated with civilian inhabitants, Ariel Sharon declared in the same year that there was a plan to settle 2 million Jews in the West Bank by 2000. Since 1967, government-funded settlement projects in the West Bank are implemented by the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, though formally a non-governmental organization, it is funded by the Israeli government and leases lands from the Civil Administration to settle in the West Bank. It is authorized to create settlements in the West Bank on lands licensed to it by the Civil Administration, traditionally, the Settlement Division has been under the responsibility of the Agriculture Ministry. Since the Olso Accords, it was housed within the Prime Ministers Office. In 2007, it was moved back to the Agriculture Ministry, in 2009, the Netanyahu Government decided to subject all settlement activities to additional approval of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister. In 2011, Netanyahu sought to move the Settlement Division again under the control of PMO
9.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
10.
Tel Aviv
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Tel Aviv-Yafo is a major city in Israel, located on the countrys Mediterranean coastline. It is the center and the technology hub of Israel, with a population of 432,892. Tel Aviv is the largest city in the Gush Dan region of Israel, Tel Aviv is also a focal point in the high-tech concentration known as the Silicon Wadi. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv is a global city, and is the thirty eighth most important financial center in the world. Tel Aviv is known to have the third-largest economy of any city in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, the city receives over a million international visitors annually. Known as The City that Never Sleeps and a party capital, it has a lively nightlife, the city was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It is named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzls 1902 novel, Altneuland, the modern citys first neighbourhoods had already been established in 1886, the first being Neve Tzedek. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffas, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Avivs White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzls Altneuland, translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including Herzliya and it was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for spring, symbolizing renewal, and tel is a man-made mound accumulating layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient. Although founded in 1909 as a settlement on the sand dunes North of Jaffa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment in 1906, wrote, In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city. Since 1886, Jewish settlers had founded new neighborhoods outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv, the first was Neve Tzedek, built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche and inhabited primarily by Mizrahi Jews. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom, Yafa Nof, Achva, Ohel Moshe, Kerem HaTeimanim, once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa. The Second Aliyah led to further expansion, in 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit society. The societys goal was to form a Hebrew urban centre in an environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics
11.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
12.
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut
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Modiin-Maccabim-Reut is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2015 the population was 88,749, the name Modiin derives from the village Modiim of the high priest Mattathias and his five sons, which was located in the same area as the modern city. The name Maccabim is Hebrew for the Maccabees and is a nickname given to Mattathias. In Ancient Israel, a town named Modiin existed in the area the modern city is located in. It was the place of origin of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE, Ancient Jewish artifacts believed to date to the Hasmonean and First Temple periods have been found in the area. Modern Modiin is located near the site of the ancient Modiin described in the Talmud, possibilities are Suba, Umm el-Umdan near Route 20 to Canada Park and Latrun, al-Midya, and Khirbet el-Burj. The towns were united into Maccabim-Reut in 1990, the cornerstone of Modiin was laid in 1993. It was built as a planned city with high standards of urban planning. Environmental issues and future growth were taken into consideration from the design stages. Large greenspaces were incorporated into the layout and comprise 50% of the area within the city limits. The city was opened for residency in 1996, in 2003, the Israeli Interior Ministry unified the Modiin and Maccabim-Reut into a single city. Modiin has become a magnet for Jerusalem residents displeased with the capitals growing Haredi character, thousands of residents of Rosh HaAyin, Lod, and Ramla have also relocated to Modiin. In 2008, it was decided to cap the growth of Modiin to allow for the development of Lod, the city was planned by the well-known architect Moshe Safdie. Modiin has attracted a community of Olim from English speaking countries. The original city of Modiin is laid out around a central hub, each side of the artery is a one-way street, and in between is a wide green space, with linear parks, playgrounds, schools, and some small commercial centers. Short lateral stubs fed by continuous-flow intersection turn lanes allow drivers to traverse the green spaces and these stubs also serve as the entranceways for the schools and mini-malls, preventing parking traffic from blocking the high-speed, left lanes of the arteries. The right shoulders of most arteries do, however, allow parking, except in the pullouts for bus stops, next to fire hydrants, the city center is a large traffic circle punctuated by traffic lights. The traffic circle straddles a major northeast-southwest artery, HaHashmonaim Blvd and this keeps most of the commercial traffic out of the city proper, so that the two arteries between the city and its industrial zone carry primarily commuters rather than trucks
13.
Ni'lin
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Nilin is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located 17 kilometers west of Ramallah. The towns total area consists of approximately 15,000 dunams of which 660 is urban. Under the Oslo II93. 3% of town lands has been classed as Area C, most of the towns inhabitants rely on agriculture for income and prior to the outbreak of the Second Intifada, many had jobs in construction in Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of approximately 4,750 inhabitants in mid-year 2006, situated 262 meters above sea level, Nilin has mild winters and hot, dry summers with temperatures averaging 32 °C during the day. Potsherds from the late Iron Age, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, Mamluk, a person named Isaac de Naelein is mentioned in a Crusader text of the year 1167 in relation to nearby Casale St. Maria. In 1517, Nilin was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Ramla of the Liwa of Gaza. It had a population of 72 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, fruit trees, goats and/or beehives, and a press olives or grapes. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Nilin had 156 houses and it was described as bordering Deir Qaddis. In 1882 the Palestine Exploration Funds Survey of Western Palestine described Nilin as a village on high ground, surrounded by olives. In 1945 the population of Nilin was 1,420, all Muslims, of this,5,921 dunams were plantations and irrigable land,3,053 dunams were used for cereals, while 29 dunams were built-up land. In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, after the Six-Day War in 1967, Nilin has been under Israeli occupation. The residents of Nilin and international activists, have been staging weekly demonstrations against an expansion of the Israeli West Bank barrier. It has been estimated that the completion of the barrier will remove ⅓ of Nilins land, in the first of escalating incidents at the anti-barrier protest demonstrations led to the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Ahmed Moussa on 29 July 2008. The incident occurred when a group of teenage boys had gone to the barrier construction site outside Niilin, where there were no security personnel. A preliminary Israeli police probe has found that Israeli border policemen used live ammunition to disperse the group, during the demonstration 15 others were injured by rubber coated steel bullets. The funeral of Ahmed Moussa was marred by a distinct up-swing in violence, the permanent stationing of a Border Police force, ordered by OC Central Command Maj. -Gen. Gadi Shamni, on the outskirts of the village where the daily demonstrations are held, on the 5 August 2008 Israeli police said that they had detained a border policeman and placed him under house arrest in connection with the death of 10 year old Ahmed Moussa. In the second week of August 2008 Twenty-two unarmed civilians were shot with metal-coated rubber bullets at protests in Nilin and Bilin villages, Israeli forces in the occupied territories have begun using a new method of crowd control in Nilin
14.
Bil'in
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Bilin is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate,12 kilometres west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Bilin has a population of 1,800, potsherds from the Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader/Ayyubid, and Mamluk periods have been found. Potsherds from the early Ottoman period have been found, in 1882 the Palestine Exploration Funds Survey of Western Palestine described Bilin as a little village on a hill-side. In 1945 the village had 210 Muslim inhabitants, in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Bilin came under Jordanian rule. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Bilin was occupied by Israeli forces, since the signing of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995, it has been administered by the Palestinian National Authority. It is adjacent to the Israeli West Bank barrier—which Israelis often call a security fence—and the Israeli settlement of Modiin Illit, historically a small agricultural village, modern Bilin is now nine kilometres from the western outskirts of Ramallah. According to Neil Rogachevsky, Bilin is considered a stronghold of Fatah. Bilin is located 4 kilometres east of the Green Line, Israels West Bank barrier split the village in two, separating it from 60 percent of its farmland. In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued an opinion that the construction of the wall by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is contrary to international law. In 2005, the council leader of Bilin, Ahmed Issa Abdullah Yassin. On 4 September 2007, the Court ordered the government to change the route of the wall near Bilin, chief Justice Dorit Beinish wrote in her ruling, We were not convinced that it is necessary for security-military reasons to retain the current route that passes on Bilins lands. The Israeli Defense Ministry said it would respect the ruling and in 2011 began dismantling a section of the barrier in order to relocate it along an alternative route, the buildings were already in various stages of construction when the SPC announced their decision. In response, Michael Sfard filed a petition on behalf of Peace Now, the HCJ had already ordered that the construction and occupation of the buildings be halted the previous year based on another petition by Peace Now and Bilin residents. On September 5,2007, the day after the HCJ ordered the state to alter the route of a 1. The petition claimed that some of the land on which the settlement was being constructed was owned by Bilin residents, according to the New Left Review, the settlements around Bilin are being funded by Israeli businessmen Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen to promote their political and economic interests. Since January 2005, the Bilin Popular Committee against the Wall, the protests take the form of marches from the village to the site of the wall with the aim of halting construction and dismantling already constructed portions. Israeli forces always intervene to prevent protesters from approaching the wall, some protesters took to wearing gas masks at the protests. The weekly protests, which last a couple of hours, regularly draw international activists who come to support the Palestinian movement
15.
Deir Qaddis
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Deir Qaddis is a Palestinian town in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located sixteen kilometers west of Ramallah. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of approximately 1,942 inhabitants in 2007, the town consists of 8,207 dunams, of which 438 dunams are classified as built-up area. Deir Qaddis means the monastery of the saint, the village was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as Dayr Qiddis in the Nahiya of Ramlah of the Liwa of Gazza. It had a population of 11 households, all Muslim, and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive- and fruit trees, goats and beehives, no sherds from the early Ottoman era have been found here. In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Funds Survey of Western Palestine described Deir el Kuddis as a hamlet on a high hill-top. In 1945 the population of Deir Qaddis was 440 Muslims, with 8,224 dunams of land, according to an official land,1,815 dunams were used for plantations and irrigable land,1,069 dunams for cereals, while 8 dunams were built-up land. In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Deir Qaddis was ruled by the Hashemites of Jordan, Deir Qaddis came under Israeli occupation along with the rest of the West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War. The town today contains a mosque, three schools, two clinics and a sports club. The towns prominent families are Husain, Qattosa, Nasser, Abu Zeid, Hamada, Awadh, Abu Laban and Kreish
16.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
17.
Book of Joshua
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The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile. Almost all scholars agree that the book of Joshua holds little value for early Israel. Although Rabbinic tradition holds that the book was written by Joshua, transfer of leadership to Joshua A. Joshuas instructions to the people II, entrance into and conquest of Canaan A. Entry into Canaan 1. Reconnaissance of Jericho 2, establishing a foothold at Gilgal 4. Failure and success at Ai 3, renewal of the covenant at Mount Ebal 4. Other campaigns in central Canaan 5, summary list of defeated kings III. Division of the land among the tribes A, cities of refuge and levitical cities D. Summary of conquest E. De-commissioning of the eastern tribes IV, conclusion A. Joshuas farewell address B. Methodist writer Joseph Benson suggests that Gods revelation to Joshua comes either immediately after, God commissions Joshua to take possession of the land and warns him to keep faith with the Covenant. The Israelites cross the Jordan River through the intervention of God. The conquest begins in Canaan with Jericho, followed by Ai, after which Joshua builds an altar to Yahweh at Mount Ebal, the covenant ceremony has elements of a divine land-grant ceremony, similar to ceremonies known from Mesopotamia. The narrative then switches to the south, the Gibeonites trick the Israelites into entering into an alliance with them by saying they are not Canaanites, this prevents the Israelites from exterminating them, but they are enslaved instead. An alliance of Amorite kingdoms headed by the Canaanite king of Jerusalem is defeated with Yahwehs miraculous help of stopping the sun and the moon, the enemy kings were eventually hanged on trees. With the south conquered the narrative moves to the northern campaign, a powerful multi-national coalition headed by the king of Hazor, the most important northern city, is defeated with Yahwehs help and Hazor captured and destroyed. Chapter 11, 16–23 summarises the extent of the conquest, Joshua has taken the land, almost entirely through military victories. Joshua 11,18 asserts that the conquest took a long time - the Amplified Bible, anglican churchman Charles Ellicott thinks the war seems to have lasted seven years. The land then had rest from war, the list of the 31 kings is quasi-tabular, the king of Jerusalem, one, the king of Hebron, one, the king of Jarmuth, one, the king of Lachish, one
18.
Book of Judges
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The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. Judges can be divided into three sections, a double prologue, a main body, and a double epilogue. The book opens with the Israelites in the land which God has promised to them but worshiping foreign gods instead of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and with the Canaanites still present everywhere. Chapters 1, 1–2,5 are thus a confession of failure while chapters 2, 6–3,6 are a major summary and reflection from the Deuteronomists. Once peace was regained, for a time Israel does right and receives Yahwehs blessings, only to relapse later into doing evil, Judges follows on from the Book of Joshua and opens with reference to Joshuas death. The Israelites meet, most likely at the sanctuary at Gilgal or at Shechem, the cyclic pattern set out in the prologue is readily apparent at the beginning, but as the stories progress it begins to disintegrate, mirroring the disintegration of the world of the Israelites. The stories are not presented in order, but the judges as they appear in the text are, Othniel vs. Chushan-Rishathaim, King of Aram. Some scholars have inferred that the judges were actual adjudicators, whereas the major judges were leaders. The only time a judge is said to have made legal judgments was Deborah. Despite their appearance at the end of the book, certain characters, early in the period of the judges. Judges contains a chronology of its events and it is overtly schematic and, according to biblical scholar Jeremy Hughes, shows signs of having been introduced at a later period. The basic source for Judges was a collection of connected stories about tribal heroes who saved the people in battle. A statement repeated throughout the book, In those days there was no king in Israel implies a date in the monarchy for the redaction editing) of Judges. Since the second half of the 20th century most scholars have agreed with Martin Noths thesis that the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings form parts of a single work. Noth believed that history was the work of a single author, living in the mid-6th century BCE. After a period of peace, the cycle recurs, further themes are also present, the sovereign freedom of Yahweh, the satirisation of foreign kings, the concept of the flawed agent and the disunity of the Israelite community. Although Judges probably had a monarchist redaction, the book contains passages and themes that represent anti-monarchist views, one of the major themes of the book is Yahwehs sovereignty and the importance of being loyal to Him and His laws above all other gods and sovereigns. Indeed, the authority of the judges comes not through prominent dynasties nor through elections or appointments, anti-monarchist theology is most apparent toward the end of the Gideon cycle in which the Israelites beg Gideon to create a dynastic monarchy over them and Gideon refuses
19.
Hebron
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Hebron is a Palestinian city located in the southern West Bank,30 km south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level, the city is divided into two sectors, H1, controlled by the Palestinian Authority and H2, roughly 20% of the city, administered by Israel. All security arrangements and travel permits for local residents are coordinated between the Palestinian Authority and Israel via military administration of the West Bank, the settlers are governed by their own municipal body, the Committee of the Jewish Community of Hebron. In Judaism it is considered the second-holiest city after Jerusalem, while Islam regards it as one of the four holy cities. Hebron is a hub of West Bank trade, responsible for roughly a third of the areas gross domestic product. It is locally known for its grapes, figs, limestone, pottery workshops and glassblowing factories. The old city of Hebron is characterized by narrow, winding streets, flat-roofed stone houses, the city is home to Hebron University and the Palestine Polytechnic University. Hebron is attached to cities of ad-Dhahiriya, Dura, Yatta, Hebron Governorate is the largest Palestinian governorate with its population of 600,364. The name Hebron traces back to two Semitic roots, which coalesce in the form ḥbr, having reflexes in Hebrew and Amorite and denoting a range of meanings from colleague, in the proper name Hebron, the original sense may have been alliance. The Arabic term derives from the Quranic epithet for Abraham, Khalil al-Rahman Beloved of the Merciful or Friend of God, Arabic Al-Khalil thus precisely translates the ancient Hebrew toponym Ḥebron, understood as ḥaber. Archaeological excavations reveal traces of strong fortifications dated to the Early Bronze Age, the city flourished in the 17th–18th centuries BCE before being destroyed by fire, and was resettled in the late Middle Bronze Age. This older Hebron was originally a Canaanite royal city, abrahamic legend associates the city with the Hittites. In Biblical lore they are represented as descendants of the Nephilim, in settling here, Abraham is described as making his first covenant, an alliance with two local Amorite clans who became his ba’alei brit or masters of the covenant. The Hebron of the Bible was centered on what is now known as Tel Rumeida, Later, the biblical narrative has King David reign from Hebron for some seven years. It is there that the elders of Israel come to him to make a covenant before Elohim and it was in Hebron again that Absalom has himself declared king and then raises a revolt against his father David. It became one of the centers of the Tribe of Judah and was classified as one of the six traditional Cities of Refuge. It remained administratively and politically dependent on Jerusalem for this period, Jews also appear to have lived there after the return from the Babylonian exile. During the Maccabean revolt, Hebron was burnt and plundered by Judah Maccabee who fought against the Edomites in 167 BCE, the city appears to have long resisted Hasmonean dominance, however, and indeed as late as the First Jewish–Roman War was still considered Idumean
20.
5 Broken Cameras
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5 Broken Cameras is a 94-minute documentary film co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi. It was shown at festivals in 2011 and placed in general release by Kino Lorber in 2012. 5 Broken Cameras is an account of protests in Bilin. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, in 2009 Israeli co-director Guy Davidi joined the project. Structured around the destruction of Burnats cameras, the filmmakers collaboration follows one familys evolution over five years of turmoil, there are five cameras — each with its own story. When his fourth son, Gibreel, is born in 2005, self-taught cameraman Emad Burnat, at the same time in his village of Bil’in, the Israelis begin bulldozing village olive groves to build a barrier to separate Bilin from the Jewish Settlement Modiin Illit. The barriers route cuts off 60% of Bilin farmland and the villagers resist this seizure of more of their land by the settlers. During the next year, Burnat films this struggle, which is led by two of his best friends including his brother Iyad, while at the time recording the growth of his son. Very soon, these begin to affect his family and his own life. Emad films the Army and Police beating and arresting villagers and activists who come to support them, settlers destroy Palestinian olive trees and attack Burnat when he tries to film them. The Army raids the village in the middle of the night to arrest children and he, his friends, and brothers are arrested or shot, some are killed. Each camera used to document these events is shot or smashed, eventually, in 2009, Burnat approaches Guy Davidi – an Israeli filmmaker and together, from these five broken cameras and the stories that they represent, these two filmmakers create the film. Israel began construction of an Israeli West Bank barrier in the West Bank village of Bil’in, discovering that the wall would cut through their agricultural land, confiscating half of it, the villagers initiated popular protests and were joined by Israeli and international activists. At that point Burnat received a camera to document the movement, in 2007 the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the barrier rerouted, and four years later, after village access to some of the land was restored, the demonstrations were called off. A case against Canada, for failing to prevent Canadian corporations from being complicit in the building of the settlements, is pending before the UN Human Rights Committee. The first year, Burnat filmed mainly to serve the purposes of activists and his footage was introduced as evidence in Israeli court and posted on YouTube to spread awareness of the growing movement. As media interest in Bil’in grew, Burnats footage gained international recognition and was used by local and international news agencies and he started working as a freelance photographer for Reuters and provided footage documenting the villagers fight to professional filmmakers. This footage was used in notable films as Shai Carmeli Pollac’s Bil’in, My Love and Guy Davidi’s
21.
Israel Meir Kagan
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Israel Meir Kagan, known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, was an influential rabbi of the Musar movement, a Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Jewish life. Kagan was born in Dzyatlava, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire, on January 26,1839 and his surname, Poupko, is not widely known. His home town, Dzyatlava, was once named Zdzięcioł when it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the time of the partitions of Poland, when Kagan was ten years old, his father died. His mother moved the family to Vilnius in order to continue her sons education, while in Vilnius, Kagan became a student of Rabbi Jacob Barit. Kagans mother later remarried and moved to Radin, at 17, he married the daughter of his stepfather, and settled in Radin. He served as the rabbi of Radin for a short period. He then resigned from position to establish the yeshiva in the city. By all accounts he was a modest and humble man, for a while he had a shop selling household provisions, which his wife managed. However, the business was not successful and he turned to teaching in order to support himself, from 1864 to 1869 he taught Talmud in Minsk and Washilishok. In 1869, he formed a Yeshiva in Radin, the Yeshiva was a success and grew to prominence, later becoming known as Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim of Radin. In addition to spreading Torah through his yeshiva, Kagan, who known as the Chofetz Chaim, was very active in Jewish causes. He traveled extensively to encourage the keeping of the Mitzvot amongst Jews, when his views became known, he cautioned his students about joining the Zionists and declared its political aims as being contrary to the Torah. He nevertheless cherished the Holy Land and in 1925 it was announced that he would be leaving Warsaw with his daughter and son-in-law to permanently settle in Petach Tikvah, Palestine. Upon discovering his plans, prominent rabbis and yeshiva deans persuaded him to remain in Radun, many other Jewish religious institutions throughout the world also bear his name. An Orthodox kibbutz in Israel was named in his honor, the house of the Chofetz Chaim in Radin, was disassembled, moved to Lithuania, and later transported to the USA. This fact became the ground for a case which is as of December 2012 in court in Belarus. During his lifetime he was venerated by Jews and non-Jews alike, Orthodox Jews across the world viewed him as one of the 36 saints and Polish farmers were said to have lured him into their fields believing his feet would bring blessing to their crops. Chafetz Chayim, his first book, deals with the Biblical laws of gossip, view the online edition in Hebrew here Shmirat HaLashon, is a comprehensive discussion of the philosophy behind the Jewish concepts of power of speech and guarding ones speech
22.
Yechezkel Landau
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Yechezkel ben Yehuda Landau was an influential authority in halakha. He is best known for the work Noda Biyhudah, by which title he is also known, Landau was born in Opatów, Poland, to a family that traced its lineage back to Rashi, and attended yeshiva at Ludmir and Brody. In Brody, he was appointed dayan in 1734, and in 1745 he became rabbi of Yampol, while in Yampol, he attempted to mediate between Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eybeschütz in a debate—The Emden-Eybeschütz Controversy—that had disrupted Jewish communal life for many years. His role in the controversy is described as tactful and brought him to the attention of the community of Prague—where, in 1755 and he also established a Yeshiva there, Avraham Danzig, author of Chayei Adam, is amongst his best known students. Landau was highly esteemed not only by the community, but also by others, thus, in addition to his rabbinical tasks, he was able to intercede with the government on various occasions when anti-Semitic measures had been introduced. Though not opposed to knowledge, he objected to that culture which came from Berlin, in particular Moses Mendelssohns translation of the Pentateuch. His son, Samuel Landau, was chief dayyan of Prague and he had a controversy on this subject with Baruch Jeiteles, who, under the title of Ha-Oreb, published Landaus letter to him and his own rejoinder. Landau published his responsa under the title of Shibat Ẓiyyon and he edited his fathers Ahabat Ẓiyyon and Doresh le-Ẓiyyon, adding to the former work four homilies of his own, and to the latter a number of halakic discourses. His main work of responsa, titled Noda Biyhudah, is one of the sources of Jewish law of his age. Famous decisions include those limiting autopsy to prevent a clear and present danger in known others, other works include Dagul Mervavah on the Shulkhan Arukh and Tziyun le-Nefesh Chayah on the Talmud. Ezekiel ben Judah Landau, jewishencyclopedia. com Yechezkel Landau — The Nodah Biyehudah, jewishvirtuallibrary. org Rabbi Ezkiel Landau, chabad. org Archive of www. nodabyehuda
23.
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk
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Meir Simcha of Dvinsk was a rabbi and prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. He was a kohen, and is often referred to as Meir Simcha ha-Kohen. He is known for his writings on Maimonides Mishneh Torah, which he titled Ohr Somayach, as well as his novellae on the Torah, Meir Simcha was born in Butrimonys, Lithuania, to Samson Kalonymus, a local wealthy merchant. According to family tradition, his success in Torah study was attributed to two blessings his parents had received from local rabbis before his birth. He received his education locally, and managed to evade the regular roundups of Jewish boys that were being held as a result of the Cantonist decrees that had been in effect since 1827. After marrying in 1860, at age 17, he settled in Białystok, Poland, where he was supported by his wife, while, he continuing his Talmudic studies. After 23 years there he finally, after turning down offers, accepted the rabbinate of the mitnagdim in the Latvian town of Dvinsk. He served in that position for 39 years until his death, in Dvinsk, his counterpart was the Hasidic Rabbi Yosef Rosen, known as the Rogatchover Gaon or by his work Tzofnath Paneach. The two had a respect for each other, despite Rosens legendary fiery temper, and on occasions referred questions in Jewish law to each other. They also shared a love for the works of Maimonides, in 1906, a certain Shlomo Friedlander claimed to have discovered, and then published two tractates of the Jerusalem Talmud that had been considered to have been lost for hundreds of years. Rabbi Meir Simcha was one of the prominent rabbis who discovered that the work was a clever forgery. In Dvinsk, he received visitors from the region, and was frequently consulted on issues affecting the community at large, including Poland. He reputedly turned down offers for the rabbinate in various cities, including Jerusalem, New York City. He died in a hotel in Riga while seeking medical treatment and he had one daughter, who predeceased him before her marriage. Ohr Somayach on Maimonides Mishneh Torah, Ohr Somayach on Talmudic tractates Bava Kama and Bava Metzia. Ohr Somayach novellae on the Talmud, Ohr Somayach responsa addressing many practical issues of halacha. Various treatises on parts of the Jerusalem Talmud, comments and insights on the Sefer haChinuch. His political ideas were decidedly anti-Zionist, although he has reported as welcoming the Balfour Declaration
24.
Avrohom Bornsztain
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Avrohom Bornsztain, also spelled Avraham Borenstein or Bernstein, was a leading posek in late-nineteenth-century Europe and founder and first Rebbe of the Sochatchover Hasidic dynasty. He is known as the Avnei Nezer after the title of his set of Torah responsa. His only son, Shmuel, author of Shem Mishmuel, succeeded him as Rebbe, born in Bendin, Poland on 14 October 1838, Bornsztain was a descendant of the Ramah and the Shach. The latter opined that Zev Nachum merited such a son due to his immersion in Torah study on Purim, in his youth, Bornsztain was recognized as an outstanding student with a phenomenal memory. Under the tutelage of his father, who taught him the ways of pilpul, Bornsztains health was weak and frail from his childhood. He especially suffered from lung problems, once when he fell dangerously ill, the doctors forbade him from exerting his mind in Torah study. But the Kotzker Rebbe gave him a blessing for longevity, which was fulfilled in the fact that Bornsztain died at the age of 71, in his teens, Bornsztain became a close talmid of the Kotzker Rebbe, who chose him as his son-in-law. Bornsztain married the Rebbes daughter, Sara Tzina, in 1853, Bornsztain and his wife resided in Kotzk for seven years, until the Kotzker Rebbes death in 1859. During that time, Bornsztain was known to only two hours each day and dedicate the rest of his waking hours to Torah learning. His only son, Shmuel, was born in Kotzk in 1857, after the Kotzker Rebbes death, Bornsztain became a Hasid of his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, the Chidushei HaRim of Ger. Following the latters death in 1866, he became a hasid of Rabbi Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander, in 1863, Bornsztain accepted his first rabbinical post as Rav of Parczew. In 1867, he left the city due to persecution by those who opposed him, Bornsztain displayed tremendous devotion to his students, with whom he learned for eight hours each day, delivering several shiurim during the course of each day. In his introduction to his book, Eglei Tal, he noted that he dedicated all his energies to teaching Torah to his students, leaving the publication of his chiddushim to his old age. When Rabbi Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander died in 1870, Bornsztain agreed to serve as a rebbe — with one condition, his regular shiurim and he also insisted that only those who were well-versed in Torah scholarship should visit him at his court. After a while, his Hasidim noticed that while he answered each petitioner concisely, in 1876 Bornsztain moved to the city of Nasielsk after the death of that citys rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Shinover, author of Romosayim Tzofim. Yet here, too, he encountered opposition from those who wanted him to ease his insistence on following long-standing traditions, when the community of Sochatchov approached him to be their Rav and Rebbe, he gladly accepted. He moved to Sochatchov in 1883 and served as its Av Beit Din until his death, thereafter, the hasidut which he founded became known by the name of Sochatchov, and he was called the Sochatchover Rebbe. While Bornsztain wanted nothing more than to continue his schedule of Torah learning and teaching in Sochatchov
25.
Chaim Hezekiah Medini
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Chaim Hezekiah Medini, also known by the title of his chief halakhic work, Sdei Chemed- was a rabbinical scholar during the nineteenth century. His name was originally Hezekiah, Chaim, life, was added during a period of serious illness and this led to his initials spelling Chacham, appropriately a play on words that also means a sage, although spelled differently it was pronounced similarly. His parents were Jerusalem Rabbi Raphael Asher Eliyahu Medini and his wife Kalu Vida and he married his first wife Rivka at the age of eighteen, and studied Torah under the Rishon L’Tzion Yitzchak Kubo and Rabbi Joseph Nissim Burla, the head of the Jerusalem rabbinical court. He received his ordination at the age of nineteen and his fathers sudden death in 1853 compelled Rabbi Haim Hezekiah to move to Constantinople where he and his family were supported by wealthy cousins, happy to have the great scholar amongst them. Although recognized as a scholar and offered a position on the rabbinical court, he refused, preferring to devote his time to study. It was in Constantinople that he published his first work, Michtav LChizkiyahu in 1865 and his recognition spread and eventually took its toll. He longed for peace and quiet to study and write and he had one son and three daughters. His only son died in 1868 and Chaim Chizkiyahu wrote a sefer in memory of his son and called it Or Li and it contains responsa and Talmudic interpretations. He also wrote a work entitled Pakuot Sadeh and Sefer Bakashot containing piyutim which Oriental Jewish communities included in their services on Shabbat. The latter was republished in an edition under the name Neim Zemirot He is also the author of several collections of responsa which appeared in various books by other authors. During his 33 years in KaraSubazar he wrote the part of his chief work. In 1899 Medini returned to Palestine, staying at first in Jerusalem for two years, upon hearing that he was suggested as Rishon Letzion, Sephardi Chief Rabbi, he moved to Hebron in 1891, hoping to be allowed to study in peace. However, shortly after his arrival Hebrons two major Torah scholars, Eliyahu Mani and Yosef Franco, died and a search for a new rabbi of Hebron had begun. At first, Medini rejected all offers but eventually relented and served as chief rabbi there until his death in 1904, miktav le-Hizkiyahu – Talmudic studies and responsa, Part 1, Part 2. Sede Chemed – his chief work, a 9 volume encyclopedic collection of laws, Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol.3, Vol.4, Vol.5, Vol.6, Vol.7, Vol.8, Vol.9. Piot Hasadeh and Shiyurei Hapayah are the authors glosses on Sdei Chemed and are included in that work, sedar Birchat Hachamah and the authors living will were also published in Sdei Chemed Bibliography in Sefer ha-Shanah, by Nahum Sokolov, Warsaw,1900. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Singer, Isidore. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Company
26.
Modi'in
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Modiin-Maccabim-Reut is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about 35 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv and 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In 2015 the population was 88,749, the name Modiin derives from the village Modiim of the high priest Mattathias and his five sons, which was located in the same area as the modern city. The name Maccabim is Hebrew for the Maccabees and is a nickname given to Mattathias. In Ancient Israel, a town named Modiin existed in the area the modern city is located in. It was the place of origin of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty that ruled Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE, Ancient Jewish artifacts believed to date to the Hasmonean and First Temple periods have been found in the area. Modern Modiin is located near the site of the ancient Modiin described in the Talmud, possibilities are Suba, Umm el-Umdan near Route 20 to Canada Park and Latrun, al-Midya, and Khirbet el-Burj. The towns were united into Maccabim-Reut in 1990, the cornerstone of Modiin was laid in 1993. It was built as a planned city with high standards of urban planning. Environmental issues and future growth were taken into consideration from the design stages. Large greenspaces were incorporated into the layout and comprise 50% of the area within the city limits. The city was opened for residency in 1996, in 2003, the Israeli Interior Ministry unified the Modiin and Maccabim-Reut into a single city. Modiin has become a magnet for Jerusalem residents displeased with the capitals growing Haredi character, thousands of residents of Rosh HaAyin, Lod, and Ramla have also relocated to Modiin. In 2008, it was decided to cap the growth of Modiin to allow for the development of Lod, the city was planned by the well-known architect Moshe Safdie. Modiin has attracted a community of Olim from English speaking countries. The original city of Modiin is laid out around a central hub, each side of the artery is a one-way street, and in between is a wide green space, with linear parks, playgrounds, schools, and some small commercial centers. Short lateral stubs fed by continuous-flow intersection turn lanes allow drivers to traverse the green spaces and these stubs also serve as the entranceways for the schools and mini-malls, preventing parking traffic from blocking the high-speed, left lanes of the arteries. The right shoulders of most arteries do, however, allow parking, except in the pullouts for bus stops, next to fire hydrants, the city center is a large traffic circle punctuated by traffic lights. The traffic circle straddles a major northeast-southwest artery, HaHashmonaim Blvd and this keeps most of the commercial traffic out of the city proper, so that the two arteries between the city and its industrial zone carry primarily commuters rather than trucks
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Green Line (Israel)
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It served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel from 1949 until the Six-Day War in 1967. The name comes from the ink used to draw the line on the map while the armistice talks were going on. After the Six-Day War, the territories captured by Israel beyond the Green Line came to be designated as East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and these territories are often referred to as Israeli-occupied territories. The Green Line was intended as a line rather than a permanent border. The 1949 Armistice Agreements were clear that they were not creating permanent borders, similar provisions are contained in the Armistice Agreements with Jordan and Syria. The Green Line refers to the lines, rather than permanent borders. All movement across the lines was banned and monitored by the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. Most commonly, the term was applied to the boundary between Jordan-controlled Jerusalem and the West Bank and Israel, the Palestinian and Arab leaders had repeatedly rejected any permanent partition of Mandatory Palestine. Although Israel has always argued that the Green Line has no legal significance. The territories beyond the Green Line were administered by the Israeli military or later also by the Palestinian Authority, citizenship by residence, for example, was determined with reference to the Green Line, as well as a persons refugee status. The extension of the municipality boundary of Jerusalem in 1980 was an exception to this position and this claim has not been recognised by any country or by the United Nations Security Council. A notional Green Line continues to divide Jerusalem at the boundary of East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights are another exception, having been informally incorporated by Israel with the 1981 Golan Heights Law. The UN Security Council declared this to be null and without any legal effect. Israeli settlements in these areas are subject to the laws of Israel rather than those of the Palestinian Authority. The sections of the Green Line that delineate the boundaries between Israel, the West Bank and Gaza run through heavily populated regions, consequently, the Green Line underwent various slight adjustments, and special arrangements were made for limited movement in certain areas. Jerusalem was divided in half, into East and West Jerusalem, the village of Bartaa, partially due to errors on the map, was left with one third of its area on the Israeli side and two thirds outside of it. Kibbutz Ramat Rachel was left almost entirely outside the Israeli side of the Green Line, the green line was redrawn in blue ink on the southern map to give the impression that a movement in the green line had been made. During the war in 1947-48, Jews residing east of the Line, all but a few of the Gush Etzion defenders were massacred
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Route 443 (Israel)
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Route 443 is also known as Maale Beit Horon, following the ancient east-west trade route connecting the Via Maris and the Way of the Patriarchs. It is the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Gush Dan with Jerusalem via Modiin. Route 443 begins as a street near downtown Lod. It then continues through the West Bank in the Matte Binyamin Regional Council, upon passing Givat Zeev Junction, its official designation becomes Highway 45 which continues directly to Jerusalems Highway 50. A spur, Route 436, also links it with Jerusalem through Givat Zeev, the road was used during many battles in antiquity due to its unique geography. It is mentioned in ancient writings. In Joshua, it is the location of a battle during the conquest of the Land of Canaan, in 1 Samuel, the road is used during a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines. It is also mentioned in 1 Maccabees describing the Battle of Beth Horon between the Macabees and the Seleucid Empire, later, it is the location of a battle with the Romans as described by Josephus in Wars of the Jews. Several access roads connecting Palestinian villages with this section of Route 443 were closed in September 2000 due to the outbreak of the Second Intifada, frequent fire bomb attacks and fatal shootings on Israeli traffic saw the erection of anti-sniper barricades on parts of the highway adjacent to Palestinian-populated areas
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Judaean Mountains
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The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills, is a mountain range in Israel and the West Bank where Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located. The mountains reach a height of 1,026 metres, the Judean Mountains can be separated to a number of sub-regions, including the Mount Hebron ridge, the Jerusalem ridge and the Judean slopes. These mountains formed the heartland of the Kingdom of Judah, where the earliest Jewish settlements emerged, the range runs in a north south direction from Galilee to the Negev with an average height of 900 metres. The Judaean mountains encompass Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah, the range forms a natural division between the Shephelah coastal plains to the west and the Jordan Rift Valley to the east. The northern section, in the Ramallah area, is known as Samarian Hills. The Judaean Mountains were heavily forested in antiquity, the range is mostly composed of terra rossa soils over hard limestones. The Judaean Mountains are the expression of a series of monoclinic folds which trend north-northwest through Israel. The folding is the expression of the Syrian Arc belt of anticlinal folding that began in the Late Cretaceous Period in northeast Africa. The Syrian Arc extends east-northeast across the Sinai, turns north-northeast through Israel, the Israeli segment parallels the Dead Sea Transform which lies just to the east. In prehistoric times, animals no longer found in the Levant region were found here, including elephants, rhinoceri, giraffes, in ancient times the Judean mountains were the allotment of the Tribe of Judah and the heartland of the former Kingdom of Judah. An Israel Railways line runs from Beit Shemesh along the Brook of Sorek, media related to Judaean Mountains at Wikimedia Commons Pictures Judaean Mountains & Jerusalem Symbolism and Landscape, The Etzion Bloc in the Judaean Mountains, Yossi Katz and John C
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Moshav
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Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second wave of aliyah. A resident or a member of a moshav can be called a moshavnik, the moshavim are similar to kibbutzim with an emphasis on community labour. Workers produced crops and goods on their properties through individual and/or pooled labour and resources and used profit, moshavim are governed by an elected council. Community projects and facilities were financed by a special tax, there are several variants, of which the most common are, Moshav ovdim, a workers cooperative settlement. This is the more numerous type and relies on cooperative purchasing of supplies and marketing of produce, the family or household is, however, Moshav shitufi, a collective smallholders settlement that combines the economic features of a kibbutz with the social features of a moshav. Farming is done collectively and profits are shared equally and this form is closer to the collectivity of the kibbutz, although consumption is family- or household-based, production and marketing are collective. Unlike the moshav ovdim, land is not allotted to households or individuals, the first moshav, Nahalal, was established in the Jezreel Valley on September 11,1921. By 1986 about 156,700 Israelis lived and worked on 448 moshavim, for this reason, the moshav became largely a Mizrahi institution, whereas the kibbutz movement remained basically an Ashkenazi institution. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, both moshavim and kibbutzim have relied increasingly on outside—particularly Palestinian—labour, financial instabilities in the early 1980s hit many moshavim hard, as did their high birth rate and the problem of absorbing all the children who might wish to remain in the community. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
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Hashmonaim
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Hashmonaim is an Israeli settlement located in the western section of the West Bank, off Route 443. Hashmonaim is located two kilometers east of Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and is under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council of Israel, in 2015 it had a population of 2,762. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, construction of the first homes began in December 1983. A dedication ceremony on June 12,1984, was attended by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the first families moved in on August 1987. The name derives from the location of Hashmonaim in a region where the Hasmoneans lived in antiquity, Hashmonaim originally consisted of two neighborhoods, Ramat Modiin was established in 1983 and Ganei Modiin in 1985. In 1996, Ganei Modiin became part of Modiin Illit, in May 2010, three homes in Hashmonaim were demolished by Israeli security forces. The buildings were deemed to be violating a 10-month construction freeze in the West Bank, in 2010, there were 545 families living in Hashmonaim. Around 50% of the residents are native English speakers, most are members of the religious Zionist community. Many residents commute to jobs in the United States or work for American companies, Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice, there are ten synagogues in Hashmonaim, four Ashkenazi, three Sephardi, two Yemenite and one Chabad. Hashmonaim has five kindergartens, an elementary school, and a high-school yeshiva. The community also has a clubhouse for young people, a separate Bnei Akiva branch, the drive from Hashmoniam to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva and Ariel, is approximately thirty minutes by car. The Hashmonaim Titans are a baseball team, part of the annual league run by the Israel Association of Baseball
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Second Temple period
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Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian conquest and continued on a larger scale with the Babylonian conquest. Jews were also widespread throughout the Roman Empire, and this carried on to an extent in the period of Byzantine rule in the central. In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant, the Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, during that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed. During the Classical Ottoman period, the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, in the 17th century, there were many significant Jewish populations in Western Europe. During the period of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community, Jews began in the 18th century to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. During the 1870s and 1880s the Jewish population in Europe began to actively discuss immigration back to Israel. The Zionist movement was founded officially in 1884, meanwhile, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were scientist Albert Einstein, a large number of Nobel Prize winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case. In 1933, with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, economic crises, racial anti-Semitic laws, and a fear of an upcoming war led many Jews to flee from Europe to Palestine, to the United States and to the Soviet Union. In 1939 World War II began and until 1941 Hitler occupied almost all of Europe and this genocide, in which approximately six million Jews were methodically exterminated, is known as The Holocaust or Shoah. In Poland, three million Jews were killed in gas chambers in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the Auschwitz concentration camp alone, in 1945 the Jewish resistance organizations in Palestine unified and established the Jewish Resistance Movement. The movement began attacking the British authority, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed on May 14,1948, the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel to be known as the State of Israel. Immediately afterwards all neighbouring Arab states attacked, yet the newly formed IDF resisted, in 1949 the war ended and the state of Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world. Today, Israel is a democracy with a population of over 8 million people. The largest Jewish communities are in Israel and the United States, with communities in France, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada. For statistics related to modern Jewish demographics see Jewish population, ‹See Tfd› The history of the early Jews, and their neighbors, centers on the Fertile Crescent and east coast of the Mediterranean Sea
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Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
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The CBS is headquartered in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem, with another branch in Tel Aviv. It is headed by a Government Statistician, who is appointed on the recommendation of the prime minister, professor Emeritus Shlomo Yitzhaki of Hebrew University has served in that position and as Director of the CBS since 2002. The bureaus annual budget in 2011 was NIS237 million, the work of the CBS follows internationally accepted standards which enable comparison of statistical information with other countries. The CBS also conducts a Census of Population and Housing every ten years, as well as periodic, the work of CBS is overseen by the Public Commission of Statistics. The data is disseminated in a variety of publications, among them the Statistical Abstract of Israel. Current and updated information is brought to the publics attention through daily press releases. Government ministries use the data collected by CBS for policymaking, planning and tracking development, the data is also made available to academic research institutions and the general public. CBSs end of 2009 and provisional end of 2008 Israeli city and town populations
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Ashkenazi Jews
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The traditional diaspora language of Ashkenazi Jews is Yiddish, with Hebrew used only as a sacred language until relatively recently. Throughout their time in Europe, Ashkenazim have made important contributions to philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music. Ashkenazim originate from the Jews who settled along the Rhine River, in Western Germany, there they became a distinct diaspora community with a unique way of life that adapted traditions from Babylon, The Land of Israel, and the Western Mediterranean to their new environment. The Ashkenazi religious rite developed in such as Mainz, Worms. The eminent French Rishon Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki would have a significant impact on the Jewish religion, in the late Middle Ages, the majority of the Ashkenazi population shifted steadily eastward, moving out of the Holy Roman Empire into the Pale of Settlement. The genocidal impact of the Holocaust devastated the Ashkenazim and their culture, immediately prior to the Holocaust, the number of Jews in the world stood at approximately 16.7 million. Statistical figures vary for the demography of Ashkenazi Jews, oscillating between 10 million and 11.2 million. Sergio DellaPergola in a calculation of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. Other estimates place Ashkenazi Jews as making up about 75% of Jews worldwide, genetic studies on Ashkenazim—researching both their paternal and maternal lineages—suggest a significant proportion of Middle Eastern ancestry. Ashkenazi Jews are popularly contrasted with Sephardi Jews, who are descendants of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, there are some differences in how the two groups pronounce certain Hebrew letters, and in points of ritual. The name Ashkenazi derives from the figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer, son of Khaphet, son of Noah. The name of Gomer has often been linked to the ethnonym Cimmerians, the intrusive n in the Biblical name is likely due to a scribal error confusing a waw ו with a nun נ. In Jeremiah 51,27, Ashkenaz figures as one of three kingdoms in the far north, the others being Minni and Ararat, perhaps corresponding to Urartu, called on by God to resist Babylon. Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia, viewed as the cradle of Germanic tribes and his contemporary Saadia Gaon identified Ashkenaz with the Saquliba or Slavic territories, and such usage covered also the lands of tribes neighboring the Slavs, and Eastern and Central Europe. In modern times, Samuel Krauss identified the Biblical Ashkenaz with Khazaria, sometime in the early medieval period, the Jews of central and eastern Europe came to be called by this term. In conformity with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was denominated Sefarad, France was called Tsarefat, Rashi uses leshon Ashkenaz to describe German speech, and Byzantium and Syrian Jewish letters referred to the Crusaders as Ashkenazim. Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France and Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to both the Jews of medieval Germany and France. Outside of their origins in ancient Israel, the history of Ashkenazim is shrouded in mystery, the most well-supported theory is the one that details a Jewish migration from Israel through what is now Italy and other parts of southern Europe
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Sephardi Jews
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They established communities throughout Spain and Portugal, where they traditionally resided, evolving what would become their distinctive characteristics and diasporic identity. Spoken by Sephardim in the Eastern Mediterranean, Haketia, an Arabic influenced Judaeo-Spanish variety also derived from Old Spanish, with numerous Hebrew and Aramaic terms. Taken with them in the 15th century after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Early Modern Spanish and Early Modern Portuguese, including in a mixture of the two. Traditionally spoken or used liturgically by the ex-converso Western Sephardim, taken with them during their later migration out of Iberia in the 16th to 18th centuries as conversos, after which they reverted to Judaism. In most cases these varieties have incorporated loanwords from the languages of the Americas introduced following the Spanish conquest. This article deals with Sephardim within the narrower ethnic definition, the name Sephardi means Spanish or Hispanic, derived from Sepharad, a Biblical location. The location of the biblical Sepharad is disputed, but Sepharad was identified by later Jews as Hispania, that is, Sepharad still means Spain in modern Hebrew. In its most basic form, this broad definition of a Sephardi refers to any Jew, of any ethnic background. The term Sephardi in the sense, thus describes the nusach used by Sephardi Jews in their Siddur. A nusach is defined by a liturgical traditions choice of prayers, order of prayers, text of prayers, Sephardim traditionally pray using Minhag Sefarad. Additionally, Ethiopian Jews, whose branch of practiced Judaism is known as Haymanot, have come under the umbrella of Israels already broad Sephardic Chief Rabbinate. The divisions among Sephardim and their descendants today is largely a result of the consequences of the Royal edicts of expulsion. In the case of the Alhambra Decree of 1492, the purpose was to eliminate their influence on Spains large converso population. Indeed, a number of those Jews who had not yet joined the converso community finally chose to convert. While the stipulations were similar in the Portuguese decree, King Manuel then largely prevented Portugals Jews from leaving, by blocking Portugals ports of exit. This failure to leave Portugal was then reasoned by the king to signify a default acceptance of Catholicism by the Jews, actual physical forced conversions, however, were also experienced throughout Portugal. Sephardi Jews, therefore, encompass Jews descended from those Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula as Jews by the expiration of the respective decreed deadlines. This group is divided between those who fled south to North Africa, as opposed to those who fled eastwards to the Balkans, West Asia
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Yeshiva
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Yeshiva is a Jewish institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in pairs called ḥavrutas. Ḥavruta-style learning is one of the features of the yeshiva. In the United States and Israel, the different levels of education have different names. In Israel, elementary-school students are enrolled in a Talmud Torah or cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a yeshiva ketana, a kollel is a yeshiva for married men. It is common for a kollel to pay a stipend to its students. Students of Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshiva gedolas usually learn in yeshiva until they get married, historically, yeshivas were attended by males only. Today, all non-Orthodox and a few Modern Orthodox yeshivas are open to females, although there are separate schools for Orthodox women and girls, yeshivas for women do not follow the same structure or curriculum as the traditional yeshiva for boys and men. Alternate spellings and names include yeshivah (/jəˈʃiːvɑː/, Hebrew, ישיבה, sitting, metivta and mesivta, Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy, the word yeshiva, lit. sitting, is applied to the activity of learning in class, and hence to a learning session. The Mishnah tractate Megillah mentions the law that a town can only be called a city if it supports ten men to make up the required quorum for communal prayers. Likewise, every beth din was attended by a number of pupils up to three times the size of the court and these might be indications of the historicity of the classical yeshiva. As indicated by the Talmud, adults generally took off two months a year, Elul and Adar, the preceding the pilgrimage festivals of Sukkot and Pesach. The rest of the year they worked, the Geonic period takes its name from Gaon, the title bestowed on the heads of the three yeshivas in existence from the third to the thirteenth century. The Geonim acted as the principals of their individual yeshivot, and as spiritual leaders, the yeshiva conducted all official business in the name of its Gaon, and all correspondence to or from the yeshiva was addressed directly to the Gaon. Throughout the Geonic Period there were three yeshivot, there was however, no requirement for this, and each community could choose to associate with any of the yeshivot. The yeshiva served as the highest educational institution for the Rabbis of this period, in addition to this, the yeshiva wielded immense power as the principal body for interpreting Jewish law. In this regard, the community saw the Gaon of a yeshiva as the highest judge on all matters of Jewish law, each yeshiva ruled differently on matters of ritual and law, the other yeshivot accepted these divisions, and all three ranked as equally orthodox. The yeshiva also served as an authority, in conjunction with local communities
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Mir Yeshiva (Jerusalem)
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The Mir Yeshiva, known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. With over 8,500 single and married students, it is the largest yeshiva in Israel and one of the largest in the world. Most students are from the United States and Israel, with many from other part of the such as UK, Belgium, France, Mexico, Switzerland, Argentina, Australia. The yeshiva was founded in the small Russian town of Mir, after his death, his oldest son Rabbi Avraham Tiktinsky was appointed Rosh Yeshiva. After a number of years, Rabbi Avraham died and his younger brother Rabbi Chaim Leib Tiktinsky succeeded him, Rabbi Chaim Leib would remain as Rosh Yeshiva for many decades. He was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Avrohom Tiktinsky, who brought Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Kamai into the yeshiva, in 1903, Rabbi Kamais daughter married Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, son of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who in time became the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir. The yeshiva remained in that location until 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, the yeshiva moved to Poltava, Ukraine. In 1921, the yeshiva moved back to its facilities in Mir. In 1944, Rabbi Finkel opened a branch of the yeshiva in Jerusalem with ten students, among them Rabbi Yudel Shapiro, Rabbi Chaim Brim, and Rabbi Chaim Greineman. As the Nazi armies continued to push to the east, the students fled to Shanghai, China. After the war, most of the Jewish refugees from the Shanghai ghetto left for Palestine, among them were survivors from the Mir Yeshiva, many of whom rejoined the yeshiva in Jerusalem. When Rabbi Finkel died on July 19,1965, his son, Rabbi Beinish Finkel and his brother-in-law, Reb Chaim was considered the main Rosh Yeshiva and when he died, his son-in-law, Rabbi Nachum Partzovitz, replaced him. Rabbi Beinish Finkel became Rosh Yeshiva after Reb Nachum died, with Rabbi Beinish Finkels death in 1990, the reins were taken over by Rabbi Beinish Finkels sons-in-law, with the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, at the helm. After Nosson Tzvi Finkels sudden death on November 8,2011, his eldest son, under Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the yeshivas enrollment grew into the thousands. The large enrollment was divided into chaburas, or learning groups, each chabura consists of the same type of student – e. g. American, European, Israeli, Hasidic, and non-Hasidic. These chaburas sit in designated areas in the Mirs various study halls, each chabura is subdivided by shiur, with one maggid shiur teaching an average of 40 to 60 students. The largest shiur in the yeshiva is that of Rabbi Asher Arieli, the yeshiva has a branch in Modiin Illit primarily for Israelis, which also includes a kollel. Mir Brachfeld was headed by Rabbi Aryeh Finkel until his passing on Aug.9,2016 and his oldest son, Rabbi Binyomin Finkel, took over as Rosh Yeshiva
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Outsourcing
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In business, outsourcing involves the contracting out of a business process and operational, and/or non-core functions to another party. The concept outsourcing came from the American Glossary outside resourcing and it dates back to at least 1981, Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another, but not always. Outsourcing is also the practice of handing control of public services to private enterprise. Outsourcing includes both foreign and domestic contracting, and sometimes includes offshoring or nearshoring, many people confuse outsourcing and offshoring – however they are different. A company can outsource and not offshore to a distant country, for example, in 2003 Procter and Gamble outsourced their facilities management support, but it did not involve offshoring. Financial savings from lower international labor rates can provide a major motivation for outsourcing or offshoring, there can be tremendous savings from lower international labor rates when offshoring. The opposite of outsourcing, insourcing, entails bringing processes handled by third-party firms in-house, however, a business can provide a contract service to another organization without necessarily insourcing that business process. Two organizations may enter into an agreement involving an exchange of services, expertise. Outsourcing is said to help firms to perform well in their core competencies, fuel innovation, in the early 21st century, businesses increasingly outsourced to suppliers outside their own country, sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing. and Vested outsourcing. Outsourcing can offer greater flexibility and control. Outsourcing allows organizations to pay for the services and business functions they need and it also reduces the need to hire and train specialized staff, brings in fresh engineering expertise, and can reduce capital and operating expenses and risk. Do what you do best and outsource the rest has become an internationally recognized business tagline first coined and developed in the 1990s by the management consultant Peter Drucker. The slogan was used to advocate outsourcing as a viable business strategy. It has been said that Mr. Drucker began explaining the concept of Outsourcing as early as 1989 in his Wall Street Journal article entitled Sell the Mailroom, from Druckers perspective, a company should only seek to subcontract in those areas in which it demonstrated no special ability. In 2009 by way of recognition, Peter Drucker posthumously received a significant honor, recently, innovative business models have been developed to help reduce the cost for outsourcing. In particular, these models may leverage on group bargaining power by aggregating similar outsourcing demands from various organizations when negotiating with external contractors. The incentive to outsource may be greater for U. S. companies due to unusually high taxes and mandated benefits, like social security, Medicare. At the same time, it appears U. S. companies do not outsource to reduce executive or managerial costs, for instance, executive pay in the United States in 2007 was more than 400 times more than average workers—a gap 20 times bigger than it was in 1965
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Synagogue
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A synagogue, also spelled synagog, is a Jewish house of prayer. Synagogues have a hall for prayer, and may also have smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall. Some have a room for Torah study, called the beith midrash beis medrash —בית מדרש. Synagogues are consecrated spaces used for the purpose of prayer, Tanakh reading, study and assembly, halakha holds that communal Jewish worship can be carried out wherever ten Jews assemble. Worship can also be carried out alone or with fewer than ten people assembled together, however, halakha considers certain prayers as communal prayers and therefore they may be recited only by a minyan. The synagogue does not replace the long-since destroyed Temple in Jerusalem, israelis use the Hebrew term beyt knesset. Jews of Ashkenazi descent have traditionally used the Yiddish term shul in everyday speech, Sephardi Jews and Romaniote Jews generally use the term kal. Spanish Jews call the synagogue a sinagoga and Portuguese Jews call it an esnoga, persian Jews and some Karaite Jews also use the non-Hebrew term kenesa, which is derived from Aramaic, and some Arab Jews use kenis. Reform and some Conservative Jews use the word temple, the Greek word synagogue is used in English, to cover the preceding possibilities. The all-day Yom Kippur service, in fact, was an event in which the congregation both observed the movements of the kohen gadol as he offered the days sacrifices and prayed for his success. During the Babylonian captivity the Men of the Great Assembly formalized and standardized the language of the Jewish prayers, prior to that people prayed as they saw fit, with each individual praying in his or her own way, and there were no standard prayers that were recited. Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, one of the leaders at the end of the Second Temple era and this contributed to the continuity of the Jewish people by maintaining a unique identity and a portable way of worship despite the destruction of the Temple, according to many historians. A synagogue dating from between 75 and 50 BCE has been uncovered at a Hasmonean-era winter palace near Jericho, more than a dozen Second Temple era synagogues have been identified by archaeologists. Any Jew or group of Jews can build a synagogue, there is no set blueprint for synagogues and the architectural shapes and interior designs of synagogues vary greatly. In fact, the influence from local religious buildings can often be seen in synagogue arches, domes. Historically, synagogues were built in the architectural style of their time. Thus, the synagogue in Kaifeng, China looked very like Chinese temples of that region and era, with its outer wall, the styles of the earliest synagogues resembled the temples of other sects of the eastern Roman Empire. The surviving synagogues of medieval Spain are embellished with mudéjar plasterwork, the surviving medieval synagogues in Budapest and Prague are typical Gothic structures
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Local council (Israel)
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There are 265 local councils in Israel. Local councils should not be confused with local committees, which are lower-level administrative entities, Local council status is determined by passing a minimum threshold, enough to justify operations as independent municipal units, although not large enough to be declared a city. In general this applies to all settlements of over 2,000 people, the Israeli Interior Minister has the authority of deciding whether a locality is fit to become a municipal council. Local councils also have an important role in town planning, the Union of Local Authorities in Israel is the umbrella organization of local councils in Israel. The union represents the local councils vis a vis the national government, ULAI was established in 1938, under the British Mandate, as the League of Local Councils. Regional council City council List of cities in Israel Local Government in Israel
