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Saturday, March 31, 2012

HISTORY OF JERUSALEM:




history of Jerusalem exists in two different religious and governmental and religious I recommend San if you decide to read the Bible more was to know more but the common size is the size that today every citizen of this world will know it as the grasp come to continue.

Jerusalem has emerged as a major point of contention in Israel's negotiations with its Arab neighbors, particularly the Palestinians. Claims of historic, religious and legal rights to the city have been asserted by the various parties to the conflict and, accordingly, these three aspects should be reviewed:

In discussing Jerusalem, history matters. In weighing ostensibly competing claims to the city, it must be recalled that the Jewish people bases its claim to Jerusalem on a link which dates back millennia. Indeed, Jerusalem has served as the capital of independent Jewish states several times over the past 3,000 years, including since 1948; it has never served any Arab state -- at anytime in history -- in such a capacity, and a Palestinian claim to Jerusalem was not articulated prior to 1967.
The observation that, "Jerusalem is holy to three religions," tends to mislead, since Jerusalem is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians in fundamentally different ways. Jerusalem contains sites holy to Muslims and Christians, and is one of many locations of religious significance to them. To Jews, however, it is the city itself which is uniquely holy; only Jews have a religious prescription to live there, to make pilgrimages there and to pray in its direction.
Israel has advanced a coherent case, based upon the precepts of international law, for sovereignty over Jerusalem. The Palestinians, for their part, have failed to offer any legal grounds in support of their claim to the city. Their claim seems to be based solely on their desire to possess it.



HISTORY
Jewish Continuity in Jerusalem
Throughout history, the Jewish People has maintained a presence in Jerusalem, ever since King David established the city as his capital nearly 3,000 years ago. Except for a very few periods, when they were forcibly barred from living in the city by foreign conquerors, Jews have always lived in Jerusalem. It is for this reason that Jews regard the city as their national center. Indeed, it is the centrality of the connection with Jerusalem -- Zion -- which led the modern Jewish movement for national liberation to be called Zionism. Throughout millennia, and in the face of conquest, forced exile, violence and discrimination, Jews have maintained their direct link to Jerusalem, returning to live in their city again and again.
The Jewish national and religious tie to Jerusalem was first established by King David and Solomon, his son, who built the first Temple there. This First Commonwealth lasted over 400 years, until the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and exiled the Jewish inhabitants of the city. Immediately following the Persian defeat of the Babylonians, the Jews returned to Jerusalem less than 100 years later, rebuilt their Temple and reestablished the Jewish character of the city.
For the next 500 years, the Jews further strengthened their presence in Jerusalem, surviving various attempts by foreign empires to destroy their national and religious identity. Greeks, Seleucids and Romans took turns in conquering the city, forbidding Jewish religious practices and encouraging the Jews to assimilate into the dominant culture. Several times, the Jews were forced to take up arms in order to preserve their liberty and heritage.
Only after the Second Temple was destroyed by Rome in 70 AD, and a subsequent Jewish revolt was crushed in 135 AD, was the Jewish presence in the city temporarily suspended, following the killing or enslavement of the Jewish population by the Romans.
By the 4th century, some Jews had managed to make their way back to the city. In the 5th century, under early Christian rule, Jews were, at various times, either more or less free to practice their religion. At this time, few non-Christian communities remained in the country, apart from the Jews. Theodosius II (408-450) deprived the Jews of their relative autonomy and their right to hold public positions. Jewish courts were forbidden to sit on mixed Jewish-Christian cases and the construction of new synagogues was prohibited. Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem except on one day a year, to mourn the destruction of the Temple.

At the beginning of the 7th century, the Jews looked to the Persians for salvation. Hoping to be permitted to worship freely once the Byzantine oppression had been removed, the Jews encouraged the Persians' conquest of Acre and Jerusalem, and a Jewish community was subsequently allowed to settle and worship in Jerusalem (614-17), though it was later expelled. Under early Arab rule, a Jewish community was reestablished in Jerusalem and flourished in the 8th century. Jews were even among those who guarded the walls of the Dome of the Rock. In return, they were absolved from paying the poll-tax imposed on all non-Muslims. In the 10th and 11th centuries, however, harsh measures were imposed against the Jews by the Fatimids, who seized power in 969. Though the Jewish academy (Yeshiva) of Jerusalem was compelled by Caliph Al-Hakim to reestablish itself in Ramle, entry to Jerusalem was revived by the "Mourners of Zion", Diaspora Jews who did not cease to lament the destruction of the Temple. This movement, which held that "aliyah" -- ascent to the Land -- would hasten the resurrection of Israel, was at its peak in the 9th-11th centuries. Many Jews came from Byzantium and Iraq and established communities.
The Crusader period in the 12th century brought terrible massacres of Jews by Christians, and the prohibition against living in Jerusalem. After the conquest of the country by Saladin late in the century, the Jewish community in Jerusalem again grew considerably.
In 1211, three hundred rabbis from France and England immigrated as a group, many settling in Jerusalem. After the Mamluks took power in 1250, the famous Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman (Nahmanides), traveled from Spain and settled in Jerusalem.
Jewish communities existed in Jerusalem throughout the Middle Ages, though under economic stress, and religious and social discrimination. During this period, the Jews in the city were supported in large measure by the tourist trade, commerce and contributions from Jews abroad (Europe, the Mediterranean countries and North Africa), who did what they could to help maintain the center of the Jewish People. The Expulsion from Spain and Portugal, in the late 15th century, led to an influx of Jews into the Land, including Jerusalem.

The 16th and 17th centuries were times of economic hardship for the Jews, during which the population of Jerusalem was somewhat reduced. By the end of the 17th century, however, Jerusalem again emerged as the largest central community of the Jews in the Land. Large numbers of Jews immigrated in the 18th century as a result of the messianic-Shabbatean movement, many coming from Eastern and Central Europe, Italy, and other places. Even so, the majority of Jews in the Land in the 17th and 18th centuries were Sephardic Jews, descendants of those expelled from Spain, and immigrants from Turkey and the Balkan countries.
During the 19th century, immigration increased and the establishment of the modern Zionist movement revitalized the Jewish community throughout Israel. Jerusalem, which in 1800 numbered about 2,000 Jews (out of a total population of 8,750), grew to 11,000 by 1870 (out of 22,000), and 40,000 (out of 60,000) by 1905. It is the political, cultural and religious center of the State of Israel and of the Jewish People around the world.
The Biblical Era
While various origins have been proposed for its Semitic name, Yerushalem -- often translated as "the city of Shalem" -- the Bible recounts in Genesis that Abraham visited King Malchizedek of Shalem, which the commentators equate with Jerusalem. Interestingly, "shalem" is also related grammatically to "shalom," or peace; thus the city's appellation: "City of Peace." The Hebrew root "shalem" also means "wholeness." The first archeological evidence of Jerusalem's history dates back to the Early Bronze Age (c. 3000 BC). 

When David was anointed King of Israel (c. 1000 BC), and subsequently united the tribes of Israel, he captured the city -- which he perceived as an ideal site for the capital of his new kingdom. Then, with the King and the Ark of the Covenant in residence in the city, Jerusalem was transformed into both the political capital and the religious center of Israel. King David's son and successor, Solomon, consolidated Jerusalem's eternal religious significance for all Jews by building the First Temple.
Later, in the early 6th century BC, Judah's rulers fought and were defeated by the Babylonians. In 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon occupied the city, destroyed the Temple and exiled Jerusalem's population to Babylon. Then, when the Persians defeated Babylon in 536 BC, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jewish exiles to return home. The Second Temple was dedicated soon after and, under Nehemiah, who was appointed governor by the Persians in 445 BC, the Jews rebuilt the walls of the Temple and strengthened its fortifications. At the same time, reforms initiated by Ezra restored the authority of Jerusalem as the spiritual capital of Judaism.
Hellenistic Rule and the Maccabees
Alexander the Great's conquest of Jerusalem in 333 BC led to the establishment of the Hellenistic monarchies, and the first new rulers -- the Ptolemies of Egypt -- retained the existing Jewish religious and political leadership. Under their reign, Jerusalem prospered. This continued even after 198 BC, when the Seleucid king of Syria, Antiochus III, captured Jerusalem from the Egyptians. His son, Antiochus IV, however, sought to intensify the influence of Hellenism. It was his intention to transform Jerusalem into a Greek metropolis and his desecration of the Temple that provoked a Jewish insurrection; the ensuing revolt, headed by the Hasmonaeans and led by Judah Maccabee, succeeded in liberating Jerusalem. In 165 BC, Chanukah ("dedication") was first celebrated, with Jews again being permitted to worship at the Temple.
Roman Rule