1.
President of Israel
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The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely a figurehead role, with executive power effectively being exercised by the prime minister. The current president is Reuven Rivlin, who took office on 24 July 2014, presidents are elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term and are limited to a single term. The president is elected by an majority in the Knesset. If no candidate has received a majority of votes by the first round of voting. When electing the president, Knesset members vote by secret ballot, the president is elected to a term of seven years, and cannot be re-elected. Until 2000, the president was elected for a five-year term, any Israeli citizen who is a resident of the State is eligible to run for president. The office falls vacant upon completion of a term, resignation, presidential tenure is not keyed to that of the Knesset in order to assure continuity in government and the nonpartisan character of the office. There is no vice president in the Israeli governmental system, if the president is temporarily incapacitated or leaves office, the speaker of the Knesset becomes acting president. The first presidential election took place on 16 February 1949, the second took place in 1951, as at the time presidential terms were linked to the length of the Knesset term. Another election took place the year after Weizmanns death. Since then, elections have been held in 1957,1962,1963,1968,1973,1978,1983,1988,1993,1998,2000,2007 and 2014, six elections have taken place with no opposition candidate, although a vote was still held. The Basic Law, The Government also includes sections on the powers of the president with reference to the government, the president signs every law and international or bilateral treaties approved by the Knesset. Presidential powers are usually exercised based on the recommendation of appropriate government ministers, the presidents most important role, in practice, is to help lead the process of forming a government. The president awards the Israel Prize on Yom Haatzmaut and the Wolf Prize, the president also serves as the main speaker at the opening ceremonies of the half-yearly Knesset conference, as well as at the annual official ceremonies for Yom Hazikaron and Yom HaShoah. Most Israeli presidents were involved in politics or Zionist activities before taking office. The first Israeli presidents were born in the former Russian Empire, the first native-born president, as well as the first with a Sephardi background, was Yitzhak Navon. The first president with a Western European background was Chaim Herzog, the first president with a Mizrahi background was Moshe Katsav, who was born in Iran
2.
David Ben-Gurion
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David Ben-Gurion was the primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurions passion for Zionism, which early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader. On 14 May 1948, he proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Ben-Gurion led Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces, subsequently, he became known as Israels founding father. Following the war, Ben-Gurion served as Israels first Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, as Prime Minister, he helped build the state institutions, presiding over various national projects aimed at the development of the country. He also oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world, a centerpiece of his foreign policy was improving relationships with the West Germans. He worked very well with Konrad Adenauers government in Bonn, in 1954 he resigned as both Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, although he remained a member of the Knesset. However, he returned as Minister of Defense in 1955 after the Lavon Affair resulted in the resignation of Pinhas Lavon, later in the year he became Prime Minister again, following the 1955 elections. He stepped down from office in 1963, and retired from life in 1970. He then moved to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, posthumously, Ben-Gurion was named one of Time magazines 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. David Ben-Gurion was born in Płońsk in Congress Poland – then part of the Russian Empire and his father, Avigdor Grün, was a lawyer and a leader in the Hovevei Zion movement. His mother, Scheindel, died when he was 11 years old, Ben-Gurions birth certificate, when rediscovered in Poland in 2003, indicated that he had a twin brother who died shortly after birth. At the age of 14 he and two formed a youth club, Ezra, promoting Hebrew studies and emigration to the Holy Land. In 1905, as a student at the University of Warsaw and he was arrested twice during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Ben-Gurion discussed his hometown in his memoirs, saying, For many of us, I personally never suffered anti-Semitic persecution. Płońsk was remarkably free of it, nevertheless, and I think this very significant, it was Płońsk that sent the highest proportion of Jews to Eretz Israel from any town in Poland of comparable size. We emigrated not for reasons of escape but for the positive purpose of rebuilding a homeland. Life in Płońsk was peaceful enough, there were three main communities, Russians, Jews and Poles
3.
Moshe Sharett
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Moshe Sharett was the second Prime Minister of Israel, serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurions two terms. He continued as Foreign Minister in the Mapai government, Sharett steered the government through a turbulent period, was an experienced diplomat, with a liberal policy, a conciliatory approach, and a modernising attitude to the West. The renewed war with the Arabs split the socialist Left commencing another period of instability, born in Kherson in the Russian Empire, Sharett emigrated to Ottoman Palestine as a child in 1906. In 1910 his family moved to Jaffa, then one of the founding families of Tel Aviv. He graduated from the first class of the Herzliya Hebrew High School and he then went off to Constantinople to study law at Istanbul University, the same university at which Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and David Ben-Gurion studied. However, his time there was cut due to the outbreak of World War I. He served a commission as First Lieutenant in the Ottoman Army, after the war, he worked as an Arab affairs and land purchase agent for the Assembly of Representatives of the Yishuv. He also became a member of Ahdut HaAvoda, and later of Mapai, in 1922 he went to the London School of Economics, and while there he actively edited the Workers of Zion. One of the people he met while in London was Chaim Weizmann and he then worked on the Davar newspaper from 1925 until 1931. In 1931, after returning to Mandatory Palestine, he became the secretary of the Jewish Agencys political department, after the assassination of Haim Arlosoroff in 1933 he became its head. During the war via his wife Zipporah, Sharett became embroiled in the question of emigration of refugee Jews stranded in Europe, some Polish refugees, children with and without parents were deported to Tehran with the Soviets agreement. The Tehran Children became a cause celebre in the Yishuv, Sharett flew to Tehran to negotiate their return to Palestine. The success of negotiations and others was a hallmark of Sharetts more cerebral approach to practical problems. He met with Tel Aviv bound Hungarian Jewish refugee representative Joel Brand, Yishuv leadership mistrusted Brand, and the British thought him a criminal. Sharetts response was to hand the self-appointed liberator over to the British authorities, like Weizmann, whom he admired, Sharett was a principled Zionist, an implacable opponent of fascism, but a practical realist prepared to co-operate fully with the Mandate. Sharett, as Ben-Gurions ally, denounced Irguns assassination squads on December 13,1947, atrocities escalated, mainly upon Jews, but with reciprocal revenge killings, by the end of the war 6000 Palestinian Jews, 1% of the population, had died. Sharett held the foreign policy post under the Agency until the formation of Israel in 1948, the main culprits on the Jewish side were Palmach, whose brigade, with help from the Haganah patrolled the Negev, saving it for Israel. Sharett was one of the signatories of Israels Declaration of Independence, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he was Foreign Minister for the Provisional Government of Israel
4.
Chaim Weizmann
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Chaim Azriel Weizmann D. Sc, Sc. D, LL. D was a Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as President of the Zionist Organization and later as the first President of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952, Weizmann convinced the United States government to recognize the newly formed state of Israel. Weizmann was also a biochemist who developed the fermentation process. His acetone production method was of importance for the British war industry during World War I. He founded the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Weizmann was born in the village of Motal near Pinsk in Belarus. He was the third of 15 children born to Oizer and Rachel Czermerinsky Weizmann and his father was a timber merchant. Until the age of 11, he attended a traditional cheder, at the age of 11, he entered high school in Pinsk. In 1892, Weizmann left for Germany to study chemistry and he began his studies at the Polytechnic Institute of Darmstadt. In 1894, he moved to Berlin to study at the Technische Hochschule Berlin, in 1897, he moved to Switzerland to complete his studies at the University of Fribourg. In 1899, he was awarded a PhD in organic chemistry, in 1901, he was appointed assistant lecturer at the University of Geneva and, in 1904, senior lecturer at the University of Manchester. In 1910, he became a British citizen, and held his British nationality until 1948, when he renounced it to assume his position as President of Israel. Chaim Weizmann and his family lived in Manchester for about 30 years in 1904, senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, while in Britain, he was known by many as Charles Weizmann, a name under which he registered about 100 research patents. Of Chaim Weizmanns fourteen siblings, twelve survived to adulthood, the majority of his family emigrated to Palestine, and two were also chemists, Dr. Anna Weizmann worked in his Daniel Sieff Research Institute lab, registering several patents in her name. His brother, Prof. Moshe Weizmann, was the head of the Chemistry Faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, however, two siblings remained in the Soviet Union following the Russian Revolution, a brother, Shmuel, and sister, Maria. Shmuel Weizmann was a dedicated Communist and member of the anti-Zionist Bund movement, during the Stalinist Great Purge, he was arrested for alleged espionage and Zionist activity, and executed in 1939. His fate only became known to his wife and children in 1955, another sister, Maria, was a physician who fell victim to Stalins fabricated Doctors plot in 1952 and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in Siberia. She was released following Stalins death in 1953, and was permitted to emigrate to Israel along with her husband in 1956, Weizmann was married to Dr. Vera Khatzmann. The younger one, Flight Lieutenant Michael Oser Weizmann, fought in the Royal Air Force during World War II, while serving as a pilot in No.502 Squadron RAF, he was killed when his plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay in February 1942
5.
Zalman Shazar
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Zalman Shazar was an Israeli politician, author and poet. Shazar served as the third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973, shneur Zalman Rubashov was born to a Hasidic family of the Chabad-Lubavitch denomination in Mir, near Minsk, in the Russian Empire, he received a religious education as a youth. He later carried on a correspondence with the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. In his teenage years he became involved in the Poale Zion Movement, Shazar immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1924, and became a member of the secretariat of the Histadrut. Shazar died on October 5,1974 and he is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Shazar served as the editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Davar from 1944 to 1949 and he was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 as a member of Mapai, and was appointed Minister of Education in David Ben-Gurions first government. He was not a member of Ben-Gurions second cabinet, but retained his seat in the 1951 and 1955 elections and he also became a member of the Jewish Agency Executive in 1952. He resigned from the Knesset in 1956, and from 1956 to 1960 was acting chairman of the Jewish Agencys Jerusalem Executive, Shazar was elected president by the Knesset in 1963. That same year, he attended the Funeral of John F. Kennedy after his assassination in Dallas. In 1964, when Pope Paul VI visited Israel, Shazar read to him the verse in Micah stating that other nations might follow other gods. He was re-elected for a term in 1968. In 1969, Shazar sent one of 73 Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages to NASA for the historic first lunar landing, the message still rests on the lunar surface today. It states, From the President of Israel in Jerusalem with hope for abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth, in 1973 he was succeeded by Ephraim Katzir. Morning Stars, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia,1967, translated from the Hebrew, Kochvei boker by Shulamith Schwartz Nardi. Library of Congress Card Catalog Number, 66-17828, in 1966, Shazar was the co-recipient of the Bialik Prize for literature. Shazars portrait appears on 200 shekel bills, Zalman Shazar Junior High School in Kfar Saba is named after him. List of Bialik Prize recipients The Zalman Shazar Center Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem site, Zalman Shazar on the Knesset website
6.
Poltava
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Poltava is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the city of the Poltava Oblast and of the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltavas estimated population is 294,962 as of 2015 and it is still unknown when Poltava was founded, although the town was not attested before 1174. However, for unknown, municipal authorities chose to celebrate the citys 1100th anniversary in 1999. The settlement is indeed an old one, as archeologists unearthed a Paleolithic dwelling as well as Scythian remains within the city limits, the present name of the city is traditionally connected to the settlement Ltava which is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1174. With the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1238-39 many cities of the middle Dnieper region were destroyed, in the mid 14th century the region was part of the Duchy of Kiev that was a vassal of the Algirdas Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to the Russian historian Aleksandr Shennikov, the region around modern Poltava was a Cuman Duchy of Mansur who was a son of Mamai. Shennikov also claims that the Mansur Duchy joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a state rather than a vassal state. In 1399 the army of Mansur assisted the army of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in battle of the Vorskla River, the city for the first time is mentioned under the name of Poltava no later than 1430. Supposedly in 1430 the Lithuanian duke Vytautas gave the city along with Glinsk, in 1430 Murza Olexa was baptized as Alexander Glinsky who was a progenitor of the Glinsky family. In 1482 Poltava was razed by the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray, in 1537 Ografena Vasylivna Glinska passed Poltava to her son-in-law Mykhailo Ivanovych Hrybunov-Baibuza. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the territory around Poltava was passed to the Crown of Poland, in 1630 Poltava was passed to a Polish magnate Bartholomew Obalkowski. In 1641 it changed its owner again who was Alexander Koniecpolski, in 1646 Poltava became part of Wiśniowiecki Ordynatsia governed by the Ruthenian-Polish magnate Jeremi Wiśniowiecki. In 1648 Poltava was the base of a regiment of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In 1658 Poltava became a center of anti-government revolt led by the local leader Martyn Pushkar who contested legitimacy of Ivan Vyhovskys election to the post of Hetman of Zaporizhian Host, the uprising was extinguished with help of Crimean Tatars. On the issue boyar Vasily Borisovich Sheremetev wrote to Alexei Mikhailovich on 8 June 1658, and if the Great Sovereign allows to place a voivode in the city and rebuilt the city until the fall that in Plotava Circassians and residents built their houses and stock-piled their food. With the signing of the 1667 truce of Andrusovo, the city part of the Tsardom of Muscovy. The city suffered from the Great Turkish War when in 1695 Petro Ivanenko led anti-Muscovite uprising with help of Crimean Tatars who ravaged the local monastery, the same year the Poltava Regiment actively participated in the Azov campaigns which resulted in taking the Turkish fortress Kyzy-Kermen
7.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
8.
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
9.
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
10.
Mapai
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The party was founded on 5 January 1930 by the merger of the Hapoel Hatzair founded by A. D. Gordon and the original Ahdut HaAvoda. It was also responsible for the founding of Hashomer and Haganah, by the early 1930s, David Ben-Gurion had taken over the party, and had become de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine. It was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1930 and 1940, Ben-Gurion became Prime Minister and formed a coalition with the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth. A notable piece of legislation enacted during Mapais first term in office was a law in 1949 which introduced compulsory schooling for all children between the ages of 5 to 14. In the second elections in 1951 Mapai increased its vote to 37. 3% despite the economic problems. However, he shocked the nation by resigning on 6 December 1953 in order to settle in the small Negev kibbutz of Sde Boker, the 1955 elections saw a drop in the partys support to 32. 2%, though still well ahead of the second-placed Herut. Later the Progressive Party was also added, in contrast to the previous one, the 1959 election saw a surge in support, as the party recorded its best electoral performance, taking 38. 2% of the vote and 47 seats. Firstly, Ben-Gurion resigned as head of the party citing personal reasons and he set up a new party, Rafi, taking with him seven other Mapai members. Secondly, the two major right-wing opposition parties, Herut and the Liberal Party had merged into Gahal and this meant by the end of the Knesset session, Mapai had only 34 seats to Gahals 27. The partys response to the strength of the opposition was to seek support from other parties with similar ideologies. The result was an alliance with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Labor Alignment before the 1965 election, the new party won 36. 7% of the vote and 45 seats, and comfortably beat Gahal. On 23 January 1968 Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi merged into the Israeli Labor Party, 1930-1953 – David Ben-Gurion 1953-1955 – Moshe Sharett 1955-1963 – David Ben-Gurion 1963-1968 – Levi Eshkol Workers Party of Eretz Yisrael Knesset website
11.
Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi
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Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi was an Israeli author and educator, and a leading Labor Zionist. Ben-Zvi was the wife of the second President of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Ben-Zvi was born in 1886 in the town of Malin, Russian Empire, under the name Golda Lishansky. She was active in a leftist Zionist party, Poale Zion, in 1908, she emigrated to Palestine, which then was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. She became a leader among the Jewish workers of the Second Aliyah and she was active in organizing labor and organizing the Jewish watchman force, Hashomer. In 1918, she married Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, another activist in Poale Zion, after World War I, Ben-Zvi founded The Educational Farm in Jerusalem, a farm that provided agricultural education for women. She was among the founders of The Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem and she was also active in the Haganah paramilitary organization and organized the clandestine aliyah of immigrants through Syria and Lebanon. Her son, Eli, died in March 1948 at Beit Keshet during the war in Mandatory Palestine. After the founding of the State of Israel, she was active in the absorption of immigrants from Arab countries, in 1952, her husband was appointed as the president of Israel. As the first lady of Israel, she opened the house to people from all the strata of Israeli society. During that time, she wrote about education and defense and wrote an autobiography called We are Olim, in 1978, Ben-Zvi was awarded the Israel Prize for her special contribution to society and the State of Israel. She died on 16 November 1979, list of Israel Prize recipients Biography in Hebrew Rachel Yanait Ben-zvi Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
12.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
13.
Istanbul University
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Istanbul University is a prominent Turkish university located in Istanbul. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square in Fatih, the district of the province. Istanbul University was established in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, education in a number of sciences and fields became available, and, until the 19th century, they were instrumental in educating the ruling cadres of the Ottoman society. An institution of higher education named the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî was created in 1863 and its first rector was Hasan Tahsini, regarded as one of the most important Ottoman scholars of the 19th century. In 1874 the Imperial University started classes in law in French, the Imperial University, now known as Darülfünûn-u Şahâne was refounded in 1900, with the departments of theology, arts, mathematics, science and philology. In 1924, the faculties of law, medicine, arts and sciences were established in Istanbul University, islamic theology was added in 1925, but in 1933 the university was reorganized without the latter. Starting from 1874, some classes of Literature, Law and Applied Sciences were given at the building of Galatasaray High School, on 1 September 1900, the school was renamed and reorganized as the Darülfünûn-u Şahâne with courses on Mathematics, Literature and Theology. On 1 August 1933, İstanbul Darülfünûnu was reorganized as İstanbul Üniversitesi following the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Classes officially began on 1 November 1933, the main campus building with its landmark gate was previously used as the headquarters of the Harbiye Nezareti by the Ottoman government. Located on the grounds is the Beyazıt Tower, a 85 m tall fire-watch tower, the grounds were previously the location of the Ottoman era Eski Saray. Some Roman and Byzantine ruins are visible on the grounds. The university has a staff of 2,000 professors and associates and 4,000 assistants. More than 60,000 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students follow the courses offered by Istanbul University every year, the main gate was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1971–1984
14.
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
15.
Labor Zionism
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Labor Zionism or Socialist Zionism is the left wing of the Zionist movement. It was, for years, the most significant tendency among Zionists. It saw itself as the Zionist sector of the historic Jewish labor movements of Eastern and Central Europe, Moses Hesss 1862 work Rome and Jerusalem. The Last National Question argued for the Jews to settle in Palestine as a means of settling the national question, ber Borochov, continuing from the work of Moses Hess, proposed the creation of a socialist society that would correct the inverted pyramid of Jewish society. Jewish society, he argued, would not be healthy until the pyramid was righted. This, he held, could only be accomplished by Jews in their own country, another Zionist thinker, A. D. Gordon, was influenced by the völkisch ideas of European romantic nationalism, and proposed establishing a society of Jewish peasants. Gordon made a religion of work and these two figures, and others like them, motivated the establishment of the first Jewish collective settlement, or kibbutz, Degania, on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in 1909. Joseph Trumpeldor is also considered to be one of the icons of the Labor Zionist movement in Palestine. When discussing what it is to be a Jewish pioneer, Trumpeldor stated What is a pioneer, the pioneers should be workers but that is not all. We shall need people who will be everything – everything that the land of Israel needs, a worker has his labor interests, a soldier his esprit de corps, a doctor and an engineer, their special inclinations. A generation of iron-men, iron from which you can forge everything the national machinery needs, a nail, a screw, a block. You need a man to till the soil, policeman, doctor, lawyer, artist, teacher, water carrier. I have no feeling, no name. Ready to do everything, not bound to do anything, I have only one aim – creation. Trumpeldor, a Socialist Zionist, gave his life in 1920 defending the community of Tel Hai in the Upper Galilee, trumpeldors heroic death made him not only a martyr for Zionists Left but also for the Revisionist Zionist movement who named its youth movement Betar after the fallen hero. Albert Einstein was a prominent supporter of both Labor Zionism and efforts to encourage Jewish–Arab cooperation, instead, he preferred a bi-national state with continuously functioning, mixed, administrative, economic, and social organizations. However Ami Isseroff in his article Was Einstein a Zionist argues that Einstein was not opposed to the state of Israel given that Einstein declared it the fulfillment of our dreams. Perceiving its vulnerability after independence, he set aside his pacifism in the name of human preservation
16.
Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
17.
Zionism
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Zionism is the national movement of the Jewish people that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel. Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as a revival movement, in reaction to anti-Semitic. Soon after this, most leaders of the movement associated the main goal with creating the state in Palestine. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism continues primarily to advocate on behalf of Israel and to threats to its continued existence. A variety of Zionism, called cultural Zionism, founded and represented most prominently by Ahad Haam, unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ahad Haam strived for Israel to be a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews. Advocates of Zionism view it as a liberation movement for the repatriation of a persecuted people residing as minorities in a variety of nations to their ancestral homeland. The term Zionism is derived from the word Zion, referring to Jerusalem and these groups were collectively called the Lovers of Zion and were seen to encounter a growing Jewish movement toward assimilation. The first use of the term is attributed to the Austrian Nathan Birnbaum, founder of a nationalist Jewish students movement Kadimah, the common denominator among all Zionists is the claim to Eretz Israel as the national homeland of the Jews and as the legitimate focus for Jewish national self-determination. It is based on ties and religious traditions linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. Zionism does not have an ideology, but has evolved in a dialogue among a plethora of ideologies, General Zionism, Religious Zionism, Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism, Green Zionism. The political movement was established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897 following the publication of his book Der Judenstaat. At that time, the movement sought to encourage Jewish migration to Ottoman Palestine, although initially one of several Jewish political movements offering alternative responses to assimilation and antisemitism, Zionism expanded rapidly. In its early stages, supporters considered setting up a Jewish state in the territory of Palestine. After World War II and the destruction of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe where these alternative movements were rooted, the alliance with Britain was strained as the latter realized the implications of the Jewish movement for Arabs in Palestine but the Zionists persisted. The movement was successful in establishing Israel on May 14,1948. The proportion of the worlds Jews living in Israel has steadily grown since the movement emerged, by the early 21st century, more than 40% of the worlds Jews live in Israel, more than in any other country. These two outcomes represent the success of Zionism, and are unmatched by any other Jewish political movement in the past 2,000 years. In some academic studies, Zionism has been analyzed both within the context of diaspora politics and as an example of modern national liberation movements
18.
Zionist Congress
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The World Zionist Congress established by Theodor Herzl, is the supreme organ of the World Zionist Organization and its legislative authority. It elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO, the first World Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Any Jew over age 18 who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote, 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora. In addition there are about 100 delegates which are appointed by International Organizations affiliated with WZO, after the First Zionist Congress in 1897, the Zionist Congress met every year until 1901, then every second year from 1903 to 1913 and 1921 to 1939. Until 1946, the Congress was held two years in various European cities, save for interruptions during the two World Wars. Their goal was to build an infrastructure to further the cause of Jewish settlement in Palestine, since the Second World War, meetings have been held approximately every four years. Also, since the creation of the State of Israel, the Congress has met every four or five years in Jerusalem, at the 34th World Zionist Congress in 2002, the Green Zionist Alliance became the first environmental organization to ever hold a seat at the World Zionist Congress. The 36th Congress was held in June 2010 in Jerusalem and Avraham Duvdevani from the modern-Orthodox “Mizrahi” camp was elected as Chair, natan Sharansky was elected as head of the Jewish Agency for Israel which was separated again from the position of WZO Chair. The upcoming 38th World Zionist Congress will take place in 2020, the World Zionist Congress includes representatives of Zionist World Unions, Womens Zionist Organizations with Special Status and International Jewish Organizations. Zionist participants in the World Zionist Congress are free to form Brit Olamit or Zionist World Unions, however, as aliyah has brought Jews to Israel from other countries, Israeli representation in the legislature has increased at the expense of non-Israeli Jewish diaspora representation. A Brit Olamit must have representation in at least five countries to send a delegation to the Congress, hadassah – received special status by virtue of a decision of the Zionist General Council, in 1994. These bodies have limited voting rights - they do not vote on matters of candidature, observers with no speaking or voting rights can be invited by the Zionist Executive or the Congress Presidium. The Zionist Congress is conducted by the Congress Presidium, election of the new Executive, according to the proposal of the Congress Standing Committee. Reports of the committees and voting on the resolutions presented by them. The report of the Standing Committee and voting on its proposals for members of the Zionist General Council, the Comptroller, the United States will send 145 delegates to the 2015 Congress with 11 slates competing in elections held during January 13 through April 30,2015. Total number of seats won are shown in parenthesis after the list name and description, First Zionist Congress - Basle, Switzerland Theodor Herzl acted as chairperson. The Congress was attended by some 200 participants who formulated the Zionist platform, known as the Basel programme, and established the Zionist Organization. Herzl wrote in his diary, Were I to sum up the Basle Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly - it would be this, At Basle I founded the Jewish State
19.
Knesset
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The Knesset is the unicameral national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister, approves the cabinet, in addition, the Knesset elects the State Comptroller. The Prime Minister may also dissolve the Knesset, however, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset is located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem, as the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government through its committees. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, the Knesset is presided over by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. The Knesset is divided into committees, which amend bills on the appropriate subjects, Committee chairpersons are chosen by their members, on recommendation of the House Committee, and their factional composition represents that of the Knesset itself. Committees may elect sub-committees and delegate powers to them, or establish joint committees for issues concerning more than one committee, to further their deliberations, they invite government ministers, senior officials, and experts in the matter being discussed. There are four types of committees in the Knesset, permanent committees amend proposed legislation dealing with their area of expertise, and may initiate legislation. However, such legislation may only deal with Basic Laws and laws dealing with the Knesset, elections to the Knesset, Knesset members, or the State Comptroller. Special committees function in a manner to permanent committees, but are appointed to deal with particular manners at hand. Parliamentary inquiry committees are appointed by the plenum to deal with issues viewed as having national importance. The Ethics Committee is responsible for jurisdiction over Knesset members who violate the rules of ethics of the Knesset, within the framework of responsibility, the Ethics Committee may place various sanctions on a member, but is not allowed to restrict a members right to vote. The Knesset numbers 120 members, a subject which has often been a cause for proposed reforms and this proposed law has also been favoured by other politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu. The 120 members of the Knesset are popularly elected from a single electoral district to concurrent four-year terms. All Israeli citizens 18 years or older may vote in legislative elections, Knesset seats are allocated among the various parties using the DHondt method of party list proportional representation. A party or electoral alliance must pass the threshold of 3. 25% of the overall vote to be allocated a Knesset seat. Parties select their candidates using a closed list, thus, voters select the party of their choice, not any specific candidate. The electoral threshold was set at 1% from 1949 to 1992, then 1. 5% from 1992 to 2003
20.
Pogrom
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A pogrom is a violent riot aimed at the massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group, particularly one aimed at Jews. The term originally entered the English language in order to describe 19th and 20th century attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire, similar attacks against Jews at other times and places also became retrospectively known as pogroms. The word is now sometimes used to describe publicly sanctioned purgative attacks against non-Jewish ethnic or religious groups. First recorded in 1882, the Russian word pogrom is a derived from the verb gromit meaning to destroy, to wreak havoc. Its literal translation is to harm, the noun pogrom, which has a relatively short history, is used in English and many other languages as a loanword, possibly borrowed via Yiddish. Its widespread circulation in todays world began with the excesses in the Russian Empire in 1881–1883. Anti-Jewish riots took place in Europe already in the Middle Ages, some 510 Jewish communities were destroyed in this period, extending further to the Brussels massacre of 1370. The first atrocities against Jewish civilians, on a scale of destruction, were committed during the Khmelnytsky Pogroms of 1648–1657 in present-day Ukraine. The precise number of dead is not known, although it is estimated that about 20 percent of Jews of the region were killed. Modern historians give estimates of the scale of the murders by Khmelnytskys Cossacks ranging between 40,000 and 100,000 men, women and children, or perhaps many more. In conquered territories, a new entity called Pale of Settlement was formed in 1791 by Catherine the Great. Most Jewish people from the former Commonwealth were only allowed to reside within the Pale, including families expelled by decree from St. Petersburg, Moscow. The 1821 Odessa pogroms marked the beginning of the 19th century pogroms in Tsarist Russia, Jewish self-governing Kehilla was abolished by Tsar Nicholas I in 1844. The first, in the 20th century Russia, was the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 in which 47 Jews were killed and it was followed by the Kiev pogrom of October 1905, resulting in a massacre of approximately 100 Jews. However, at about the time, the Jewish Labour Bund began organizing armed self-defence units ready to shoot. According to professor Colin Tatz, between 1881 and 1920, there were 1,326 pogroms in Ukraine which took the lives of 70,000 to 250,000 civilian Jews, leaving half a million homeless. Large-scale pogroms, which began in the Russian Empire several decades earlier, intensified during the period of the Russian Civil War and the Revolution of 1917. Professor Zvi Gitelman estimated that only in 1918–1919 over 1,200 pogroms took place in Ukraine thus amounting to a greatest slaughter of Jews in Eastern Europe since 1648
21.
Poale Zion
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Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the early 20th century. A branch of Poale Zion came into existence in New York City in 1903, branches were formed in London and Leeds in 1903/04 and 1905 respectively. In November 1905 the Poale Zion Party was founded in Palestine, in March 1906 the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party was created in Russia. In 1906 a formal Poale Zion party was formed in Poltava, Ukraine, under the leadership of Ber Borochov, and other groups were formed elsewhere in Europe, including in Poland, Austria. A Jewish proletariat would come into being in the land of Israel, according to Poale Zion and these views were set out in Borochovs Our Platform, published in 1906. A World Union of Poale Zion was formed, the first World Congress took place in August 1907 in The Hague. Its second congress in 1909 in Kraków emphasised practical socialist projects in Palestine, further congresses followed in Vienna, in Ottoman Palestine, Poale Zion founded the Hashomer guard organization that guarded settlements of the Yishuv, and took up the ideology of conquest of labor and Avoda Ivrit. Poale Zion set up employment offices, kitchens and health services for members and these eventually evolved into the institutions of labor Zionism in Israel. During World War I, Poale Zion was instrumental in recruiting members to the Jewish Legion, after the split the two Benim continued to control and direct Poale Zion Right in Palestine, eventually merging it with other movements to form larger constituencies. The left wing faction of Poale Zion did not consider the Second International radical enough, Poale Zion Left opposed the decision by Poale Zion to rejoin the Zionist Organization, viewing it as essentially bourgeois in character, and viewed the Histadrut as reformist and non-socialist. Poale Zion Left, which supported the Bolshevik revolution, continued to be sympathetic to Marxism and Communism and their attempts were unsuccessful, as the Soviets were suspicious of Zionism nationalism and some party leaders held personal grudges against the groups members. Poale Zion in Palestine split into right and left wings at its February 1919 conference, the former retained its links to Poale Zion left. These two factions reunited as the Palestine Communist Party in 1923 and become a section of the Communist International. Another faction of Poale Zion Left, aligned with the kibbutz movement Hashomer Hatzair, founded in Europe in 1919, Poale Zion Right under Ben Gurions leadership formed Ahdut HaAvoda in March 1919. In January 1930 it merged with another party to become Mapai, Poale Zion Left in Russia participated in the Bolshevik Revolution and organized a brigade of Poale Zion activists nicknamed the Borochov Brigade to fight in the Red Army. The party remained legal until 1928 when it was liquidated by the NKVD, most other Zionist organizations had been closed down in 1919, but Poale Zion Left remained untouched because it was recognized as a Communist party. In 1919, the Communists of Poale Zion Left split to form the Jewish Communist Party which ultimately joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the left faction enjoyed popularity in Britain and Poland until World War II. The World Union of Poalei Zion was a member of the Labour, the general secretary of the World Union of Poalei Zion at the time was B
22.
Palestine (region)
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Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is sometimes considered to include adjoining territories, the name was used by Ancient Greek writers, and was later used for the Roman province Syria Palaestina, the Byzantine Palaestina Prima, and the Islamic provincial district of Jund Filastin. The region comprises most of the claimed for the biblical regions known as the Land of Israel. Historically, it has known as the southern portion of wider regional designations such as Canaan, Syria, ash-Sham. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, today, the region comprises the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories in which the State of Palestine was declared. Modern archaeology has identified 12 ancient inscriptions from Egyptian and Assyrian records recording likely cognates of Hebrew Pelesheth, the term Peleset is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people or land starting from c.1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term, approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition for the region in Meteorology, in which he included the Dead Sea. The term is accepted to be a translation of the Biblical name Peleshet. The term is used in the Septuagint, who used a transliteration Land of Phylistieim different from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē. Following the Muslim conquest, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic, Modern archaeologists and historians of the region refer to their field of study as Levantine archaeology. The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities, during the Bronze Age, independent Canaanite city-states were established, and were influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Between 1550–1400 BCE, the Canaanite cities became vassals to the Egyptian New Kingdom who held power until the 1178 BCE Battle of Djahy during the wider Bronze Age collapse. The region became part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from c.740 BCE, in 539 BCE, the Babylonian empire was replaced by the Achaemenid Empire. In the 330s BCE, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the region and it ultimately fell to the Seleucid Empire between 219–200 BCE. In 116 BCE, a Seleucid civil war resulted in the independence of certain regions including the Hasmonean principality in the Judaean Mountains, from 110 BCE, the Hasmoneans extended their authority over much of Palestine, creating a Judaean–Samaritan–Idumaean–Ituraean–Galilean alliance. The Judaean control over the region resulted in it also becoming known as Judaea. Between 73–63 BCE, the Roman Republic extended its influence into the region in the Third Mithridatic War, conquering Judea in 63 BCE, and splitting the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts. The three-year Ministry of Jesus, culminating in his crucifixion, is estimated to have occurred from 28–30 CE, in 70 CE, Titus sacked Jerusalem, resulting in the dispersal of the citys Jews and Christians to Yavne and Pella
23.
Jaffa
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Jaffa or Yafo, is the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the stories of Jonah, Solomon and Saint Peter as well as the mythological story of Andromeda. The town was mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna letters as Yapu, mythology says that it is named for Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, the one who built it after the Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to Iopeia, or Cassiopeia, an outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Iopa, daughter of Aeolus, the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi referred to it as Yaffa. The tell of Jaffa rises to a height of 40 metres, with a view of the coastline. The accumulation of debris and landfill over the centuries made the even higher. Archaeological evidence shows that Jaffa was inhabited roughly 7500 BCE, the natural harbour of Jaffa has been in use since the Bronze Age. The city is mentioned in the Amarna letters under its Egyptian name Ya-Pho. The city was under Egyptian rule until around 800 BCE, Jaffa is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as the territorial border of the Tribe of Dan, hence the modern term Gush Dan for the center of the coastal plain. The tribe of Dan did not manage to dislocate the Philistines from Jaffa, in the Song of Deborah the prophetess asks, דן למה יגור אוניות, Why doth Dan dwell in ships. After Canaanite and Philistine dominion, King David and his son King Solomon conquered Jaffa, the city remained in Israelite hands even after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BCE, in the days of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, after a period of Babylonian occupation, under Persian rule, Jaffa was governed by Phoenicians from Tyre. Alexander the Greats troops were stationed in Jaffa and it later became a port of the Seleucid Empire until it was taken over by the Maccabees and ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty. During the First Jewish–Roman War, Jaffa was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus writes that 8,400 inhabitants were massacred. Pirates operating from the rebuilt port incurred the wrath of Vespasian, the New Testament account of Saint Peter bringing back to life the widow Dorcas (recorded in Acts of the Apostles,9, 36–42, takes place in Jaffa, then called in Greek Ἰόππη. Peter retells the story of his vision in Acts 11, 4-17, in Midrash Tannaim in its chapter Deuteronomy 33,19, reference is made to Jose ben Halafta traveling through Jaffa. Jaffa seems to have attracted serious Jewish scholars in the 4th and 5th century, the Jerusalem Talmud in Moed Ketan references Rav Acha of Jaffa, and in Pesachim chapter 1 refers to Rav Phineas of Jaffa
24.
Hashomer
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Hashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920, the purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence upon foreign consulates and Arab watchmen for their security. It was headed by a committee of three—Israel Shochat, Israel Giladi, Bar-Giora was founded in September 1907 by Israel Shochat, Alexander Zeid and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, among others. Less than two years later, on April 12,1909 the Bar-Giora leadership decided at a meeting in Mesha to disband their organization and create a larger one, the Hashomer. While earlier settlers had undertaken to defend their lands and communities, a serious obstacle was the lack of funds with which to buy arms. On Yehoshua Hankins advice, they asked Eliahu Krause, the manager at Sejera, the first guns were bought, several of the members refusing to part from them even for a moment. They adopted local dress, and many of the customs of the Bedouins, Druze and they also drew inspiration from the history of the Cossacks. The first few Shomrim, worked on foot, but soon acquired horses, Mendel Portugali laid down the rules of engagement. You do not seek an encounter with the thief, you chase him off, after all, he is out to steal a bag of grain, not to murder you, so dont murder him, drive him off. If you hear footsteps, fire into the distance, if you feel he is a few steps away and you can fire without him falling upon you, fire into the distance. Only if your life is in danger—fire, guns used were the same as the locals, which included the jift, a single, or double-barrelled shotgun, the yunani and osmanli single-shot muskets, various rifles and Mauser pistols. Modern rifles, known as Abu-Hamsa, were the most prestigious, the shibriyeh and nabut were carried by all. Ammunition was expensive and hard to come by, so primitive production centers were set up, some of the older settlers were also worried that Hashomer might upset the status-quo with the local population. During World War I many of its members were exiled to Anatolia by the Ottoman government because they were enemy nationals, when the Turks caught Yosef Lishanski of the Nili group, he told all he knew, implicating twelve members of Hashomer. In 1920 it was decided to organize the Haganah, a much broader-based group, to cope with new defense challenges and needs of the growing Jewish community in Palestine. Many members of Hashomer joined the Jewish Legion, while others joined the mounted police, in June 1920 HaShomer ceased to exist as a separate body. Its members, however, maintained contact and made an important contribution to the Yishuvs defense, the Haganah itself became the core of the Israel Defense Forces. In addition to their role as watchmen of the Jewish settlements in the country, members of Hashomer established a number of settlements of their own, including Tel Adash, Tel Hai, Israel Shochat—One of the founders and leaders of the movement
25.
Gymnasia Rehavia
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Gymnasia Rehavia is a high school in the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. Gymnasia Rehavia was Jerusalems first and the second modern Jewish high school or gymnasium. The school was first established in Jerusalems Bukharan Quarter in 1909, the building on Keren Kayemet Street in the Rehavia neighborhood was built in 1928. Among its early teachers were Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, later the president of Israel. In July 2009, the school celebrated its centennial at an event attended by generations of alumni. Yehoshua, novelist, essayist and playwright Rehavam Zeevi Gideon Schocken, major general, former head of the Manpower Directorate
26.
Bukharim quarter
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The Bukharan Quarter, known in vernacular Heblish as Bukharim Quarter, is a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. Many of the residents today are Haredi Jews, the quarter borders Tel Arza on the west, the Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood on the north, Arzei HaBira on the east and Geula on the south. The first immigrants of Bukharan Jews from Russian Turkestan settled in Jerusalem in the 1870s and 1880s and they bought land and employed architect Conrad Schick to design a neighborhood for them. In 1890, seven members of the Bukharan Jewish community formed the Hovevei Zion Association of the Jewish communities of Bukhara, Samarkand, in 1891, the association drew up a charter stating that the new quarter would be built in the style of Europes major cities. The streets were three times wider than other streets in Jerusalem at the time, and spacious mansions were built with large courtyards, the homes were designed with neo-Gothic windows, European tiled roofs, neo-Moorish arches and Italian marble. Facades were decorated with Jewish motifs such as the Star of David, in 1905-1908, a dairy was opened and cotton fields were planted on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Construction of the quarter continued into the early 1950s, a total of 200 houses were built. During World War I, the Turkish army occupied several buildings, in 1920, a factory for weaving Persian carpets opened, providing employment for 80 women. Between 1905–1914 Bukharan merchant Elisha Yehudayoff and his son-in-law, Yisrael Haim Hefetz, built the Armon using local limestone, the Armon hosted many of the leading figures of the time. During World War I, the Turkish army had its headquarters there, when the British conquered Jerusalem in 1917, a celebratory reception was held in the Armon. 200 Jewish soldiers serving in the British army attended a Passover Seder there, in 1921, the founding convention of the Chief Rabbinate took place at the Armon, at which Rabbis Abraham Isaac Kook and Jacob Meir were elected. At the end of the British Mandate the Armon served as a place for the Irgun. The Davidoff House, built in 1906, now serves as the community center, shlomo Moussaieff Dorrit Moussaieff Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Moshe Sharett History of Jerusalem
27.
Yosef Haim Brenner
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Yosef Haim Brenner was a Russian-born Hebrew-language author and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Brenner was born to a poor Jewish family in Novi Mlini and he studied at a yeshiva in Pochep, and published his first story, Pat Lechem in HaMelitz, a Hebrew language newspaper, in 1900, followed by a collection of short stories in 1901. In 1902, Brenner was drafted into the Russian army, two years later, when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, he deserted. He was initially captured, but escaped to London with the help of the General Jewish Labor Bund, in 1905, he met the Yiddish writer Lamed Shapiro. Brenner lived in an apartment in Whitechapel, which doubled as an office for HaMeorer, in 1922, Asher Beilin published Brenner in London about this period in Brenners life. Brenner married Chaya, with whom he had a son, Uri, Brenner immigrated to Palestine in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist ideology into practice, unlike A. D. Gordon, however, he could not take the strain of manual labor, and soon left to devote himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. According to biographer Anita Shapira, he suffered depression and problems of sexual identity. He was murdered in Jaffa on May 1921 during the Jaffa riots, in his writing, Brenner praised the Zionist endeavor, but also contradicted himself, contending that the Land of Israel was just another diaspora and no different from other diasporas. Brenner was very much an experimental writer, both in his use of language and in literary form, with Modern Hebrew still in its infancy, Brenner improvised with an intriguing mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, English and Arabic. In his attempt to portray life realistically, his work is full of emotive punctuation, Brenner wants the brutally depressing facts to speak for themselves, without any authorial intervention or literary heightening. This was Alters preface to Brenners story, The Way Out, published in 1919, the site of his murder is now marked by Brenner House, a center for Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, the youth organization of the Histadrut. Kibbutz Givat Brenner was also named for him, while kibbutz Revivim was named in honour of his magazine, the Brenner Prize, one of Israels top literary awards, is named for him. It was published in Warsaw 1900, English, Colorado, Westview Press,1992 Around the Point Yiddish, Berlin, Yiddisher Literarisher Ferlag,1923 In the Winter Yiddish, Warsaw, Literarisher Bleter,1936 Shapira, Anita. Yosef Haim Brenner, A Biography, Anita Shapira, Am Oved Yosef Haim Brenner, Background, David Patterson, Ariel, A Quarterly Review of Arts and Letters in Israel, vol
28.
Ya'akov Zerubavel
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Yaakov Zerubavel was a Jewish Zionist activist, writer, publisher, and one of the leaders of the Poale Zion movement. Zerubavel was born in Poltava in the Russian Empire in 1886, like many Jewish boys, he studied in a heder during his youth. As a young man, he joined the Poale Zion movement, Zerubavel was a central member of the party in Vilna, and a member of the central committee of the party in Russia. After helping fellow Zionist Ber Borochov publish a newspaper, Zerubavel moved to Vilna. He spent 18 months in prison in Vilna before moving to Lvov, in 1910, Zerubavel immigrated to Palestine, where he became one of the leaders of the Poale Zion movement in Israel along with David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. Zerubavel was sentenced to prison by Ottoman authorities during World War I, Zerubavel returned to Russia following the October Revolution in 1917, becoming a member of the National Jewish Council of the Ukraine. He returned to Poland in 1918, where he served as a leader of the Poale Zion, in 1935, Zerubavel was allowed by British Mandatory authorities to return to Palestine. There he published Yiddish books and journals, and served on the committee of the Histadrut. In 1949, he became a member of the Palestine Zionist Executive, and helped found the Mapam party
29.
Galatasaray High School
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Galatasaray High School is one of the most influential high schools in modern Turkey. Established in 1481, it is the oldest high school in Turkey, being an Anatolian High School, access to the school is open to students with a high Nationwide High School Entrance score. Education consists of a blend of Turkish and French curricula and is provided in both languages, the association football club Galatasaray S. K. was formed by and named after the institution. The footballers consisted entirely of students of the school during the formative years. Galatasaray High School is the progenitor of Galatasaray Community, which includes the club, its parent Galatasaray Sports Club. The history of Galatasaray High School dates back to 1481, the high school was first built in Beyoğlu and called Galata Sarayı Enderun-u Hümayunu. Bayezid II founded the Galata Sarayı Enderun-u Hümayunu in 1481, known as the peaceful Sultan, he revived the city of Istanbul after the conquest of 1453. Bayezid II often roamed the city, disguised as an ordinary citizen, legend has it that on one of these rambles, he found a garden near Galata filled with beautiful red and yellow roses. In this garden, he met Gül Baba, the Sultan asked the wise man about how to improve the Empire and the city as they filled with a range of immigrants. He told the Sultan he would be proud to serve as a teacher in school in order to create a generation of valuable subjects to the Empire. Gül Baba became the first headmaster of Galatasaray and administered the school for many years and he died during the Ottoman raid to Hungary and his tomb is located near Budapest. When the Ottoman army went to war, dervishes and minstrels accompanied it to provide religious prayers, dervishes and minstrels also armed themselves and joined the fighting whenever necessary. Gül Baba was one of these dervishes, janissaries were fond of the dervishes of the Bektashi Order, since they regarded Haji Bektash as their convents chief. German historian Theodor Menzel suggests that Gül Babas name was a nickname, Galata Palace Imperial School remained open until the 1830s, when the movement of reform and reorganization abolished the Ottoman Empires old establishment. Sultan Mahmud II replaced the Imperial School with the Ottoman Medical School, the Medical School was based at the Galata Palace buildings for some thirty years. Sultan Abdülaziz was the first Ottoman sultan to travel to Europe, invited by Napoleon III, in June–July 1867 he attended the World Exhibition in Paris. He then visited Queen Victoria in London, Wilhelm I in Prussia, in September 1868, influenced by the French Lycée model, a school was established under the name Lycée Impérial Ottoman de Galata-Sérai. French was the language of instruction, and many teachers were European
30.
Istanbul
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Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
31.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
32.
Yiddish
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Yiddish is the historical language of the Ashkenazi Jews. Yiddish is written with a fully vocalized alphabet based on the Hebrew script, the earliest surviving references date from the 12th century and call the language לשון־אַשכּנז or טײַטש, a variant of tiutsch, the contemporary name for Middle High German. Colloquially, the language is sometimes called מאַמע־לשון, distinguishing it from לשון־קדש, the term Yiddish, short for Yiddish-Teitsch, did not become the most frequently used designation in the literature until the 18th century. In the late 19th and into the 20th century the language was commonly called Jewish, especially in non-Jewish contexts. Modern Yiddish has two major forms, Eastern Yiddish is far more common today. It includes Southeastern, Mideastern, and Northeastern dialects, Eastern Yiddish differs from Western both by its far greater size and by the extensive inclusion of words of Slavic origin. Western Yiddish is divided into Southwestern, Midwestern, and Northwestern dialects, the term Yiddish is also used in the adjectival sense, synonymously with Jewish, to designate attributes of Ashkenazi culture. Prior to the Holocaust, there were over 10 million speakers of Yiddish, 85% of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were Yiddish speakers, assimilation following World War II further decreased the use of Yiddish both among survivors and Yiddish-speakers from other countries. However, the number of speakers is increasing in global Hasidic communities, the established view is that, as with other Jewish languages, Jews speaking distinct languages learned new co-territorial vernaculars, which they then Judaized. Exactly what German base lies behind the earliest form of Yiddish is disputed, both Weinreich and Solomon Birnbaum developed this model further in the mid-1950s. In Weinreichs view, this Old Yiddish substrate later bifurcated into two versions of the language, Western and Eastern Yiddish. They retained the Semitic vocabulary needed for religious purposes and created a Judeo-German form of speech, recent linguistic research has finessed, contested, or challenged the Weinreich model, providing alternative approaches to the origins of Yiddish. Some theorists argue that the fusion occurred with a Bavarian dialect base, the two main candidates for the germinal matrix of Yiddish, the Rhineland and Bavaria, are not necessarily incompatible. There may have been developments in the two regions, seeding the Western and Eastern dialects of Modern Yiddish. Dovid Katz proposes that Yiddish emerged from contact between speakers of High German and Aramaic-speaking Jews from the Middle East, wexlers model has met with little academic support, and strong critical challenges, especially among historical linguists. Alternative theories recognize the extent of Yiddishs Germanic vocabulary. Ashkenaz was centered on the Rhineland and the Palatinate, in what is now the westernmost part of Germany and its geographic extent did not coincide with the German principalities of the time, and it included northern France. Ashkenaz bordered on the inhabited by another distinctive Jewish cultural group, the Sephardim or Spanish Jews
33.
Kibbutz
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A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania, today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism, in recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle. A member of a kibbutz is called a kibbutznik, in 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel. Their factories and farms account for 9% of Israels industrial output, worth US$8 billion, some Kibbutzim had also developed substantial high-tech and military industries. For example, in 2010, Kibbutz Sasa, containing some 200 members, the kibbutzim were founded by members of the Bilu movement who emigrated to Palestine. The first kibbutz was Degania Alef, founded in 1909, joseph Baratz, one of the pioneers of the kibbutz movement, wrote a book about his experiences. We were happy enough working on the land, but we knew more and more certainly that the ways of the old settlements were not for us. This was not the way we hoped to settle the old way with Jews on top and Arabs working for them, anyway, we thought that there shouldnt be employers. There must be a better way, though Baratz and others wanted to farm the land themselves, becoming independent farmers was not a realistic option in 1909. Ottoman Palestine was a harsh environment, the Galilee was swampy, the Judaean Mountains rocky, and the south of the country, the Negev, was a desert. To make things more challenging, most of the settlers had no farming experience. The sanitary conditions were also poor, malaria, typhus and cholera were rampant. Bedouins would raid farms and settled areas, sabotage of irrigation canals and burning of crops were also common. Living collectively was simply the most logical way to be secure in an unwelcoming land, finally, the land had been purchased by the greater Jewish community. From around the world, Jews dropped coins into Jewish National Fund Blue Boxes for land purchases in Palestine, in 1909, Baratz, nine other men, and two women established themselves at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee near the Arab village of Umm Juni/Juniya. These teenagers had hitherto worked as day laborers converting wetlands for human development, as masons and their dream was now to work for themselves, building up the land. They called their community Kvutzat Degania, now Degania Alef, the founders of Degania endured backbreaking labor, The body is crushed, the legs fail, the head hurts, the sun burns and weakens, wrote one of the pioneers
34.
Beit Keshet
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Beit Keshet is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the east of Nazareth, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council, in 2015 its population was 591. The name Beit Keshet is derived from 2 Samuel 1,18 in the Bible. teach the children of Judah the use of the bow, a reference to the battles of Deborah, who is said to have lived in the area. Beit Keshet was established in 1944 by HaNoar HaOved youth, who were trained at the Kfar Tavor agricultural school. During the founding of the kibbutz, a group of immigrants who were a part of the Youth movement HaMahanot HaOlim, according to the Jewish National Fund, more than half of the original group had served with the Jewish forces during the Second World War. By 1947, Beit Keshet had a population of over 100, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war Lebanese and Syrian troops attempted to capture Beit Keshet and nearby Sejera in fighting the Jewish National Fund refers to as fierce. On 16 March 1948 seven members of the kibbutz were killed during the battle of Beit Keshet, among them was Eli, the son of Rachel Yanait and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the future second president of Israel. The story of the founding of the kibbutz and the battle is depicted in the theatre play An Israeli Love Story by Pnina Gary
35.
King David Hotel
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The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri. It is located on King David Street in the centre of Jerusalem, overlooking the Old City and Mount Zion. The hotel has played an important role in the Israeli history of Jerusalem, from the struggle for statehood, through Independence War, division of Jerusalem, the hotel is currently owned and operated by the Dan Hotels group. In 1929, Palestine Hotels Ltd. purchased 4.5 acres on Jerusalems Julian’s Way, today King David Street. Half the construction costs were paid by Ezra Mosseri, an affluent Egyptian Jewish banker and director of the National Bank of Egypt, the approximately 4% remaining was paid by the National Bank, which purchased 693 shares of the company between 1934 and 1943. During the British Mandate, the wing of the hotel was turned into a British administrative. On July 22,1946, the corner of the hotel was bombed during an attack led by the Zionist paramilitary group Irgun. 91 people died and 45 people were injured, an earlier attempt by the Irgun to attack the hotel was foiled when the Haganah learned of it and warned the British authorities. On May 4,1948, when the British flag was lowered, at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the hotel found itself overlooking no-man’s land on the armistice line that divided Jerusalem into Israeli and Jordanian territory. It was purchased by the Dan Hotels chain in 1958, multiple scenes in the 1960 film Exodus were shot at the hotel, both outside and inside, in the main lobby and on the terrace. When East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War, the design for the hotel was commissioned from a Swiss Architect, Emile Vogt, with the actual construction supervised by Jerusalem architect Benjamin Chaiken. The public rooms were decorated by G. G, hufschmid in motifs taken from Assyrian, Hittite, Phoenician and Muslim buildings in an effort to evoke a Biblical style. Hufschmid, also Swiss, stated that his intention was to evoke by reminiscence the ancient Semitic style and the ambiance of the glorious period of King David. Today, the King David Hotel is part of the Dan Hotel Chain, and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World and continues to accommodate foreign heads of state and diplomats visiting Israel
36.
Haim Arlosoroff
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Haim Arlosoroff was a Zionist leader of the Yishuv during the British Mandate for Palestine, prior to the establishment of Israel, and head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. In 1933, Arlosoroff was assassinated while walking on the beach in Tel Aviv, Haim Arlosoroff was born in Romny, Ukraine on February 23,1899. In Ukraine, he was known as Vitaly, the Russian equivalent of Haim, when living in Germany, he was known as Viktor. Arlosoroffs paternal grandfather was Rabbi Eliezer Arlosoroff of Romny, an author of commentaries on the Talmud. At the age of six, Arlosoroff encountered anti-Semitism for the first time, in 1905, the Arlosoroff family home in Romny was attacked during a violent pogrom. The family fled across the German border to East Prussia, seven years later the family settled in Königsberg, Germany. Arlosoroff thus became fluent in German, in addition to studying Hebrew with a tutor, when World War I began in 1914, the family did not have German citizenship and were threatened with deportation. The family eventually obtained permission to move to Berlin, when his father, Saul, returned to Ukraine on business, he was barred from returning and died there of cholera. Arlosoroff studied economics at the University of Berlin and obtained a doctorate in that subject, during his studies, he wrote articles on Zionist affairs. In Germany, he became a key leader of Ha-Poel ha-Tzair, as a result of his party affiliation, Arlosoroff was appointed editor of Die Arbeit, a journal in which his writings were first published. In 1919, Arlosoroff published the treatise Jewish Peoples Socialism, his first major written contribution relating to a hope for the Jewish people in Eretz Israel. In his treatise, Arlosoroff distanced himself from traditional Marxist beliefs by advocating a new brand of socialism that embraced a national consciousness, Arlosoroffs contention was that the Jewish people would only be able to preserve and revive their unique cultural identities within a Jewish national homeland. Arlosoroff further professed, that through the establishment of Jewish Peoples Socialism, Arlosoroffs treatise accurately predicted a powerful resurgence of the Hebrew language would accompany the return of Jewish people to Eretz Israel. Arlosoroff first visited the Holy Land in the Spring of 1921, shortly after his arrival, the Jaffa riots broke out. In the midst of Arab rioting, Arlosoroff stood in defense of Neve Shalom and these events helped draw Arlosoroffs focus to the need for better relations between Jews and Arabs. Following the riots, Arlosoroff called upon the Zionist establishment to no longer deny the reality of an Arab national movement existing in Eretz Israel, however, Arlosoroffs plea was not widely accepted, and he received criticism from within the ranks of his own party, Hapoel Hatzair. Arlosoroff would ultimately come to the position that strength-based compromise with neighboring Arabs would not weaken or undermine efforts to establish a Jewish national homeland, in the 1923 Zionist Congress, Arlosoroff was elected to the Zionist Action Committee. He was only 24 years old at the time, turning down a university position, he left Germany for the British Mandate of Palestine in 1924
37.
Tel Hai
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It is currently part of kibbutz Kfar Giladi. In retrospect, it can be regarded as the first military engagement between the Zionists and the Arabs, though at the time itself combatants on either side did not regard it in such terms. Tel Hai was first settled as a courtyard for six workers from a northern colony Metulla in 1907. The land for the outpost was purchased by Haim Kalvarisky, a clerk of the Jewish Colonization Association, later, it was a border outpost in 1918, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. The area was subject to intermittent border adjustments among the British. In 1919, the British relinquished the northern section of Upper Galilee containing Tel Hai, Metulla, Hamrah, therefore, the few isolated settlements in this territory assumed a strategic value from the Zionist point of view. These territories included the Arabian peninsula, Syria, and Iraq as purely Arab areas, however, as newcomers to the area recently arrived from Europe, they were suspected of being pro-French, which ultimately led to armed clashes. In one notable exchange, on March 1,1920, Shiite Arabs from Jabal Amil in southern Lebanon sought to search Tel Hai, joseph Trumpeldor and ten men attempted to drive the Shiites militias away. At the end of a dispute, an armed confrontation did break out, in which six of the Tel Hai Jews were killed. The total number of killed was 13, the British and the French, at the behest of the Zionists, ultimately agreed this area of Upper Galilee was to be included in Mandatory Palestine. It was thus possible for Tel Hai to be resettled in 1921, though it did not become an independent community. The resolute actions of Trumpeldor and his colleagues against a much larger Arab force inspired the Jews of Jerusalem, the memorial is known for a statue of a defiant lion representing Trumpeldor and his comrades. The city of Kiryat Shemona, literally Town of the Eight was named after them, killing of Moshe Barsky Riots in Palestine of 1920 Sykes-Picot Agreement Tel-Hai Academic College Wasserstein, Bernard. The British in Palestine, The Mandatory Government and the Arab-Jewish Conflict 1917-1929, the Politics of Interpretation, Tel Hai in Israeli Collective Memory, AJS Review 16, 133-160. Tel Hai Academic College Tel-Hai Industrial Park Detailed account of the battle in Hebrew
38.
Jewish Legion
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The British commander General Maxwell met a delegation, led by Jabotinsky, on 15 March. The General said he was unable, under the Army Act, to enlist foreign nationals as fighting troops, the British Army formed 650 of them into the Zion Mule Corps, of which 562 served in the Gallipoli Campaign. Its Commanding Officer was Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, DSO, an Irish Protestant, the Zion Mule Corps landed at Cape Helles from 27–28 April, four weeks after being raised, having been stranded at Mudros when its ship ran aground. The corps was embarked in the ship as the Indian 9th Mule Corps bound for Gaba Tepe. The Zion Mule Corps was disembarked under fire from the Asiatic shore, with help of volunteers from the 9th Mule Corps. Trumpeldor was shot through the shoulder but refused to leave the battlefield, the men returned to Alexandria on 10 January 1916. The Zion Mule Corps were disbanded on 26 May 1916, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 13 members of the Zion Mule Corps as fatalities. Finally, in August 1917, the formation of a Jewish battalion was officially announced, the unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and included British volunteers, as well as members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. In April 1918, it was joined by the 39th Battalion, raised at Fort Edward, Nova Scotia, thousands of Palestinian Jews also applied to join the Legion and in 1918, more than 1,000 were enlisted. Ninety-two Ottoman Jews who had captured in the fighting earlier were also permitted to enlist. This group was organized as the 40th Battalion, the 41st and 42nd Battalions were depot battalions stationed in Plymouth, England. The soldiers of the 38th, 39th and later the 40th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers served in the Jordan Valley, in June 1918, the volunteers of the 38th Battalion began engaging the Ottomans some twenty miles north of Jerusalem. In the fighting in the Jordan Valley, more than twenty Legionnaires were killed, wounded, or captured, the rest came down with malaria, the Legion then came under the command of Major-General Edward Chaytor, who commanded the ANZAC Mounted Division. Besides various skirmishes, the Legion also participated in the Battle of Megiddo in mid-September,1918, widely considered to have one of the final. The Legions mission was to cross the Jordan River, later, he was decorated and Chaytor told the Jewish troops, By forcing the Jordan fords, you helped in no small measure to win the great victory gained at Damascus. Almost all the members of the Jewish regiments were discharged immediately after the end of World War I in November 1918, some of them returned to their respective countries, others settled in Palestine to realize their Zionist aspirations. In late 1919, the Jewish Legion was reduced to one battalion titled First Judaeans, and awarded a cap badge. Former members of the Legion took part in the defence of Jewish communities during the Riots in Palestine of 1920, two former members of the Legion were killed with Trumpeldor at Tel Hai
39.
Haganah
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Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in the British Mandate of Palestine, which became the core of the Israel Defense Forces. The evolution went step by step from Bar-Giora, to Hashomer, to Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organisations in the New Yishuv started with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it consisted of a small group of Jewish immigrants who guarded settlements for an annual fee. At no time did Bar-Giora have more than 100 members and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, at the beginning of the ensuing 1948-49 full-scale conventional war against regular Arab armies, the Haganah was reorganised to become the core of the new Israel Defense Forces. Believing that they could not rely on the British administration for protection from these gangs, in addition to guarding Jewish communities, the role of the Haganah was to warn the residents of and repel attacks by Palestinian Arabs. In the period between 1920–1929, the Haganah lacked a central authority or coordination. Haganah units were very localized and poorly armed, they consisted mainly of Jewish farmers who took turns guarding their farms or their kibbutzim, following the 1929 Palestine riots, the Haganahs role changed dramatically. It became a larger organization encompassing nearly all the youth and adults in the Jewish settlements. It also acquired foreign arms and began to develop workshops to create hand grenades and simple military equipment, many Haganah fighters objected to the official policy of havlagah that Jewish political leaders had imposed on the militia. Fighters had been instructed to defend communities and not initiate counterattacks against Arab gangs or their communities. This policy appeared defeatist to many who believed that the best defense is a good offense, in 1931, the more militant elements of the Haganah splintered off and formed the Irgun Tsvai-Leumi, better known as Irgun. During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Haganah worked to protect British interests and to quell Arab rebellion using the FOSH, at that time, the Haganah fielded 10,000 mobilized men along with 40,000 reservists. The battle experience gained during the training was useful in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, by 1939, the British had issued the White Paper, which severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine, deeply angering the Zionist leadership. In reaction to the White Paper, the Haganah built up the Palmach as the Haganahs elite strike force, approximately 100,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in over one hundred ships during the final decade of what became known as Aliyah Bet. The Haganah also organized demonstrations against British immigration quotas, in 1940 the Haganah sabotaged the Patria, an ocean liner being used by the British to deport 1,800 Jews to Mauritius, with a bomb intended to cripple the ship
40.
Avraham Tehomi
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Avraham Tehomi, also spelled Avraham Thomi, was a noted Jewish militant who served as a Haganah commander, and was one of the founders and first commander of the Irgun. He is best known for being the assassin of Jacob Israël de Haan, zilberg was born in 1903 in Odessa in the Russian Empire. He emigrated to Palestine as a pioneer, adopting the name Avraham Thomi and he became a member of the Haganah, completed his Haganah courses with honors, and served as a commander in Jerusalem. As a Haganah officer, he served under the leadership of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, on June 30,1924, the Dutch Jewish poet, novelist and diplomat Jacob Israel de Haan, who was living in Jerusalem as a journalist, was shot and killed. Tehomi was allegedly responsible for the assassination, de Haan had come to Palestine as an ardent Zionist, but he had become increasingly critical of the Zionist organizations as he favored a negotiated solution to the struggle between Jews and Arabs. The murder shocked Palestine and Europe, and the British authorities offered a reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the assassin, in an interview for Israeli television 60 years later, Tehomi confessed to killing de Haan to Israeli journalists Shlomo Nakdimon and Shaul Mayzlish. He openly stated, I have done what the Haganah decided had to be done, and nothing was done without the order of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. I have no regrets because he wanted to destroy our whole idea of Zionism, in 1925, Tehomi was appointed deputy commander of the Jerusalem District Haganah and served as District Commander from 1929 to 1931. The 1929 Palestine riots caused unrest in the Haganah ranks because the organization was not ready, Tehomi later tried to reunite the two organizations and in 1937 returned to the Haganah in order to take up a senior position. However, approximately half of the 3,000 fighters of the Irgun followed Tehomi back into the Haganah. The other half retained the Irgun as a fighting, engaging in conflict with both British and Arabs in Palestine. Several years later he retired from all activity, in 1945, Tehomi immigrated to the United States with his wife, where they entered the international trade in precious stones. He remained there until 1968, when he returned to Israel, in the final years of his life, he lived in Hong Kong, where he died in 1990. Http, //www. etzel. org. il/english/people/tehomi. htm Irgun bio page on Avaraham Tehomi
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Israeli presidential election, 1952
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An election to choose the second President of Israel was held in the Knesset on 8 December 1952 following the death of the Israels first president, Chaim Weizmann on 9 November. Between Weizmanns death and the winner of the election, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, taking office on 16 December, peretz Bernstein, A member of the Knesset for the General Zionists and also a signatory of the countrys declaration of independence. Yitzhak Gruenbaum, A signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence, a minister in the provisional government, mordechai Nurock, A member of the Knesset for Mizrachi and Minister of Postal Services in the government at the time. Before the election, Albert Einstein was spoken to by Abba Eban about the possibility of becoming President and he declined, explaining, I have neither the natural ability nor the experience to deal with human beings. Three rounds of voting were required after no candidate gained an outright majority, peretz Bernstein dropped out after the second round, with Yitzhak Ben-Zvi elected in the third round
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Rehavia
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Rehavia is an upscale Jerusalem neighborhood located between the city center and Talbiya. Rehavia was established on a plot of land purchased in 1921 from the Greek Orthodox Church by the Palestine Land Development Company. It was named after Moses’ grandson, “Rehavia”, the area was known at the time as Ginzaria, a native Jerusalem plant. The Jewish National Fund bought the land and commissioned the German-Jewish architect Richard Kaufmann to design a garden neighborhood, the land was transferred back to the PLDC in exchange for lands in the Jezreel Valley, but the JNF retained some real-estate in the neighborhood. The Gymnasia Rehavia high school, Yeshurun Synagogue, and the Jewish Agency building were built on this land, Rehavia was modeled after the garden cities of Europe, with an emphasis on the International Style popular at the time. The first phase, called Rehavia Aleph, was bordered by King George Street to the east, Ramban Street to the south, Ussishkin Street to the west, and Keren Kayemet Street to the north. To preserve the character, the neighborhood association allowed commercial businesses only on the two main roads at the neighborhoods edges. The roads open to traffic were deliberately built narrow, to keep them less busy, the main, tree-lined boulevard which bisected the neighborhood was open to pedestrian traffic only. Later expansion was primarily to the south, in the direction of Gaza Street, the Prime Ministers Official Residence is the Aghion House, at the corner of Balfour and Smolenskin streets. When the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was exiled from Ethiopia in 1936, Rehavia became known as a neighborhood of upper-class Ashkenazi Jews, home to professors and intellectuals, particularly émigrés from Germany. Among the government ministers who made their home in Rehavia were Dov Yosef and Yosef Burg, landmark buildings in Rehavia include the headquarters of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the windmill on Ramban Street, and the Ratisbonne Monastery. Gymnasia Rehavia, the second modern high school was built on Keren Kayemet Street in 1928. Yitzhak Ben Zvi, who was to become the president of Israel. In the center of historic Rehavia is Yad Ben-Zvi, an institute established by Ben-Zvi. Jasons Tomb was discovered during work on Alfasi Street. Most of Rehavias streets are named after Jewish scholars and poets from the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain, among them are Abravanel, Ben Maimon, Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, and Radak. A glaring omission is the name of Yehuda Halevy, celebrated physician, poet, and philosopher. A garden in the neighborhood is named for Yehuda HaLevis work of philosophy, the Kuzari, there are occasional efforts to restore Ussishkin Street to its original name
43.
Samaritans
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The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant originating from the Israelites of the Ancient Near East. Samaritans used to include descendants who ascribed to the Benjamin tribe, in the Talmud, a central post-exilic religious text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Samaritans are called Cutheans, referring to the ancient city of Kutha, geographically located in what is today Iraq. In the Biblical account, however, Kuthah was one of cities from which people were brought to Samaria. Genetically, modern Samaritan populations are found to have greater affinity genetically to Jews than to neighbouring Palestinian Arabs. This suggests that the Samaritans remained an isolated population. The Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, a closely related to Judaism. The Samaritans believe that Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of Israel from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan, once a large community, the Samaritan population appears to have shrunk significantly in the wake of the bloody suppression of the Samaritan Revolts against the Byzantine Empire. Conversion to Christianity under the Byzantines also reduced their numbers, conversions to Islam took place as well, and by the mid Middle Ages Benjamin of Tudela estimated only around 1,900 Samaritans remained in Palestine and Syria. As of January 1,2015, the population was 777, most Samaritans in Holon and Qiryat Luza today speak Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew and later Aramaic were languages in use by the Jewish, Samaritans have a standalone religious status in Israel, and there are occasional conversions from Judaism to Samaritanism and vice-versa due to marriages. One example is Israeli TV personality Sofi Tsedaka, who converted to Rabbinic Judaism at the age of 18. Samaritans with Israeli citizenship are obligated to undertake service in the Israel Defense Forces. There is conflict over the etymology of the name for the Samaritans in Hebrew and this has accompanied controversy over whether the Samaritans are named after the geographic area of Samaria, or whether the area received its name from the group. This distinction is controversial in part because different interpretations can be used to justify or deny claims of ancestry over this region, Biblical Hebrew Šomerim ) Guardians comes from the Hebrew Semitic root שמר, which means to watch, guard. Historically, Samaria was the key geographical concentration of the Samaritan community, thus, it may suggest the region of Samaria is named after the Samaritans, rather than the Samaritans being named after the region. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim, which would appear to mean inhabitants of Samaria. This is a politically sensitive distinction, according to Samaritan tradition, Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of the Israelites from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan and the tribes of Israel settled the land. The two mountains were used to symbolize the significance of the commandments and serve as a warning to whoever disobeyed them
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Karaite (Jewish sect)
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Karaite Judaism or Karaism, is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in Halakha and theology. It is distinct from mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, as codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding the written collections of the tradition in the Midrash or Talmud. By contrast, Rabbinic Judaism relies on the rulings of the Sanhedrin as they are codified in the Midrash, Talmud. Karaites may consider arguments made in the Talmud and other works without exalting them above other viewpoints, According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud, in his Sefer HaQabbalah, the Karaite movement crystallized in Baghdad in the Gaonic period under the Abbasid Caliphate in what is present-day Iraq. This is the universally accepted among Rabbinic Jews. It was said to have been stamped by the palm of Amr ibn al-As, the first Islamic governor of Egypt, and was reportedly dated 20 AH. Karaites have always maintained that, while there are similarities to the Sadducees, due to the rejection of Rabbinical authority. The ancestors of the Karaites were a group called Benei Ṣedeq during the Second Temple period, Karaites at one time made up a significant proportion of the Jewish population. Estimates of the Karaite population are difficult to make because they believe on the basis of Genesis 32 that counting Jews is forbidden, some 30–50,000 are thought to reside in the 21st century in Israel, with smaller communities in Turkey, Europe and the United States. Another estimate holds that, of the 50,000 world-wide, more than 40,000 descend from those who made aliyah from Egypt, arguments among Jewish sects regarding the validity of the Oral Law can be dated back to the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. Accordingly, some trace the origin of Karaism to those who rejected the Talmudic tradition as an innovation. Shētaḥ, with the friends of both, at this period arose the doctrine of the Karaites in consequence of an incident between the Sages and King Jannai who was a priest. His mother was under suspicion of being a profane woman, one of the Sages alluded to this, saying to him, Be satisfied, O king Jannai, with the royal crown, but leave the priestly crown to the seed of Aaron. His friends prejudiced him against the Sages, advising him to browbeat, expel and he replied, If I destroy the Sages what will become of our Law. There is the law, they replied, whoever wishes to study it may come and do so. He followed their advice and expelled the Sages and among them Simon b, rabbinism was laid low for some time. The other party tried to establish a law built on their own conception, shētaḥ returned with his disciples from Alexandria, and restored tradition to its former condition
