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Showing posts with label Nebuchadnezzar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nebuchadnezzar. Show all posts

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Could Iraqis Have Jewish Roots?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

The Assyrians took Samaria, the capital of Israel, in 721 BCE.  27,290 Israelites were taken to Assyria and Media, and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.

Jews have been taken away in several exiles to Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia from 605 to 562 BCE, had a victory over the Assyrian-Egyptian alliance in 605 BCE at Carchemish.  He had conquered all the lands from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian frontier, including Judah, the Jewish state.

8 years later, in 597 BCE, after Judah revolted, he sent contingents of soldiers who captured Jerusalem.  They replaced the young King Jehoiachin (597 BCE at age 18, reigned for 3 months and 10 days  before he was removed).  with Nebuchadnezzar's choice, Zedekiah (597-586 BCE who became king at age 21, swearing allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar) , and then exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon.  Zedekiah's real name was Mattaniah and took the name of Zedekiah when he was appointed King.  He was the son of King Josiah who had been king of Judah from 637-608 BCE when his father, King Amon (638-637 BCE) , was murdered.
                                                                         
Nebuchadnezzar's account of these events is preserved in the British Museum.  8 years later, Zedekiah rebelled against them.  11 years later, Nebuchadnezzar's forces, led by Nebuz-Aradan, invaded Judah again and re-captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE.  This time they destroyed the Temple and the cities were laid wasted.  Then they exiled masses of the population.  Since so many were already exiled Jews, they probably were again moved somewhere else, maybe farther away .  Young king Jehoiachin was taken to Riblah, in Babylonia where Nebuchadnezzar had him killed.  Jehoiachin was the son of King Jehoiakim.

The Lost 10 tribes of Israel had been also taken to Babylon in the Assyrian Empire attack in 721 BCE.  Now descendants must have mingled with the new exiles, even after Cyrus permitted them to return to Israel.  Towns in Babylon that had entire Jewish populations were Nehardea, Nisibis and Mahoza.  The Babylonian Jews remained in touch with the Jerusalem Jews and even supplied some of their leaders such as Hillel, who was born in Babylon.  He was one who moved to Judah.  He wrote "The Golden Rule in its negative form:  Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you."   

During the Roman occupation, the Babylonian Jews rose against the emperor, Trajan.  The Jews of Babylon were under both the Persian and Parthian rule.  They had a certain amount of their own internal autonomy and were led by an exilarch of Davidic descent who was the king's representative.  The community was governed by a council of elders.  The Babylonian Talmud came out of this era and show that the population was into agriculture and crafts.  They were schooled in Jewish studies and had produced Ezekiel, Daniel, and Tobit (a book of the Apocrypha telling of  the blind Tobit, an exile from the tribe of Naphtali, who sent his son , Tobias to Persia to collect a debt.  On the way he met Sarah who he marries and is cured of his blindness-written in 2nd to 1st centuries BCE.

  Babylon was the center in the 3rd Century CE of rabbinic studies.  There were persecutions in the 5th century which led to the Jewish revolt under Mar Zutra II but was finally captured and  killed after 7 years.  The Jews were under difficult conditions until the 7th century Arab conquest in 637 CE.  The Jews helped the Arabs take over because they had been treated so badly by the Sassanid persecutions.  After the Arabs took over, Jews expelled from Arabia settled in Kufa.  For centuries, Iraq was the center of Jewish life.  .  .

Babylon or Babylonia, formerly called Mesopotamia,  was an ancient state of western Asia, known in the Bible as the land of Shinar or of the Kasdim (Chaldees).  It is written in Genesis that it was the cradle of humanity and where the Tower of Babel took place.  Babylonian literature contains a story of the Flood.  Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, but he moved to Eretz Yisrael where he later had to fight it out with Amraphel, King of Shinar (Gen. 14)  The prophets considered Babylon as a symbol of insolent pagan tyranny, a symbolism that continued to be used by later writers of the Apocalypse and the New Testament.  It seems to me that Iraq has gone from bad to worse these days.

Could the Babylonians of today have Jewish roots?  Possibly, some could, but I believe that they stayed away from the main population when they were taken there.  Being there have been several cities of entire populations being Jewish makes me think that they didn't mix in the general population and the general population left them alone. However, they were taken to Babylon in two time periods.  The 1st wave was 2,735 years ago.  The 2nd wave came 2,611 years ago and the 3rd wave was 2,600 years ago.  That was a very long time ago and a mixing of the 2 cultures must have taken place over time.   Only DNA testing can tell us more about their roots.  The Y haplogroups (male line) found in Iraq today have been E (10.8%), F, G, I, J (58.3%), K (8.6%) and R (2nd largest group).  J1 is the haplogroup of many Arabs and also one branch of it is called the Cohen gene, found in Jewish people of which most are also Cohens in the synagogues.  
" J-12f2 is the most represented in the Iraqi Y chromosomes."  "It has been found that Y-DNA Haplogroup J2 originated in northern Iraq (AncientAssyria)  There are Jews who also have J2.  

Psalm 137 tells the history of the Jews in exile in Babylon the first time ..  "The psalm is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The rivers of Babylon are the Euphrates river, its tributaries, and the Tigris river (possibly the river Habor, the Chaboras, or modern Khabur, which joins the Euphrates at Circesium

By the rivers of  Babylon, there we sat and also wept when we remembered Zion.  On the willows within it we hung our lyres.  For there our captors requested words of song from us, with our lyres [playing]joyous music, sing for us from Zion's song!  How can we sing the song of Hashem upon the alien's soil?  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.  Let my tongue adhere to my palate, if I fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Jerusalem above my foremost joy.  Remember, Hashem, for the offspring of Edom, the day of Jerusalem;  for those who say, Destroy!  Destroy!  to its very foundation.  O violated daughter of Babylon, praiseworthy is he who repays you in accordance with the manner that you treated us.  Praiseworthy is he who will clutch and dash your infants against the rock.  

We are taught that the memory of Jerusalem must come first, no matter what the occasion of personal joy is.   This is where the custom of a groom at his wedding steps on a glass after the ceremony in memory of Jerusalem.  Is it no wonder, then, that Jerusalem means so much to us?    


Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach, The Stone Edition (The Torah/prophets/writings, 24 books of the Bible)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_137
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTnspbSjKVc
http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/Al_Zahery.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeogenetics_of_the_Near_East


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Armenian Jews: Where They Came From-Where They Went

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Armenian historians have written that Jews came to Armenia right after the destruction of the 1st Temple of Solomon.  This would have Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE who destroyed it.  Armenia is a part of Western Asia and is east of the Caspian Sea. Yerevan, Armenia is 779 miles away from Jerusalem, Israel.  If it is 9:26pm in Jerusalem, it is 11:26pm in Yerevan.  One could drive from Portland, Oregon to Cottonwood Heights, Utah and also cover 779 miles.  It would have made quite a camel caravan of traveling.  Traders would have made the trip before and possibly led people there.  
                                                                               
The Temple was rebuilt from 538 to 515 BCE and then was called the 2nd Temple.  It took 71 years to regain this 2nd Temple.  Of course, ties existed between the Jews who stayed in Armenia and the Jews of Judah during the 2nd Temple days.  Judah had been a section of Israel that split off when King Solomon died in 933 BCE.  The state of Judah lasted with kings till Zedekiah was the last king from 597 to 586 BCE when they were attacked.  

The Romans had taken over Jerusalem making Herod a King of Judea.  He lived from 73 BCE to 4 BCE.  He was the son of Antipater, the Idumean  and  had a Nabatean mother, Cypros.  Antipater had helped the Romans take over Jerusalem.  He had at one time been the ruler of Idumea (Edom).  This was a country in SE Eretz Israel, also called Mount Seir. Edomites were traditional enemies of the Israelites.  They had fought against the first Jewish King Saul and King David.  In the 8th century the Edomites were vassels of Assyria.  It was John Hyrcanus who forced them to convert to Judaism.   Edom  was a mountainous country and was south of the Dead Sea and bordered on the Red Sea at Elath. They were Semites, traditionally descendants of Esau and were hunters.   Herod  was a cruel ruler and a murderer.  He had ordered the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem.  

 One of his grandsons, Aristobulus, was made king of Little Armenia by Nero.  Two other grandsons ruled Greater Armenia.While young, Herod had been appointed Governor of the Galilee of Judah by his father.  He showed no problem coming on very strong with the population and executed any who disagreed with him.  For this the Sanhedrin wanted to give him the penalty of death for killing, but Hyrcanus and Sextus Caesar, governor of Syria, intervened with higher powers.  

The Romans also allied with  King Tigranes II the Great of Armenia. Armenia became the strongest state in the Roman republic.   He lived from 140 to 55 BCE.  Tigranes brought with him 10,000 Jewish captives to Armenia when he left Judah because of the Roman attack on Armenia in 69 CE.  He also became king of Syria as well.  Like Armenia, Tigranes was a pagan.  

Many Jews settled in Armenia during these next generations.  The Talmud mentions a Rabbi Jacob of Armenia and a school at Nisibis.  

From the 4th century on, the Jewish population started to shrink  because of exile and emigration.  Medieval travelers found many small Jewish communities at Nisibis and other places.  

Armenian Christians lived in Jerusalem since the 5th century and there is an Armenian quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem.  

The longest river in Europe is the Volga River.  It flows through Central Russia and along this river lived a Turkic people, including the: "AzerbaijanisChuvashesKazakhsTatarsKyrgyzTurkmensUyghurs,UzbeksBashkirsQashqaiGagauzYakutsCrimean Karaites,KrymchaksKarakalpaksKarachaysBalkarsNogais and as well as past civilizations such as the GöktürksKumansKipchaksAvarsBulgars,TurgeshesKhazarsSeljuk TurksOttoman TurksMamluksTimurids,Khiljis, and possibly Huns and the Xiongnu".  

Since Turkey bordered Armenia, it is good to know that there came to be many  varieties of people in the area.  However, Khazaria did not come about to its fullest till the 8th to 10th centuries CE.  They were made up of either Turkish or Finnish tribes  and their capital was Itil in the Volga delta and were called the White Ugrians. 
 "The Khazars probably belonged to the West Turkish Empire (from 552 C.E.), and they may have marched with Sinjibū (Istämi), the first khāqān of the West Turks, against the Sassanid (Persian) fortress of Ṣul or Darband"

 Hungarians were called Black Ugrians.  The Khazar royal house intermarried with the Byzantiums.  Their king Bulan and supposedly 4,000 of his royal household converted to Judaism in the 8th Century CE.  Their Prince Obadiah saw to it that they were converted properly.  The original Khazars came from the east. 

We have some Jews leaving Armenia in the 300's and their neighbors, Turkey and Russia, having Khazaria appearing in their lands by the late 700's.  Whether any Jews had drifted into Khazaria is not known.  That is a long span of time.  Being Christians from Armenia went to Jerusalem in the 5th century tells me that Jews from Armenia must have gone back, also.  As proof of this, Jews have been praying every day to return to Jerusalem lest they should lose their right arm if they forget it.  This remembering and returning is very important.  

Then from 360 to 370 there was an increase in Jewish Hellenistic immigration into Armenia.  Many Armenian towns became mostly Jewish.  By the same token, the Persian Shapur II began deporting thousands of Jews to Persia (today's Iran).  

Hellenism made an impact in Armenia so studies did not grow here.  During the Medieval days, most of the Jews left, thought to become part of the Kurdish Jewry.  A cemetery lies in Vayots Dzor in the city of Eghegis SW of Yerevan with more than 40 tombstones that date to the 13th century and 16 with Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions.  

Much later in the 19th century, Jews entered Armenia from Persia and Poland, so then they had a mixture of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews.  From 1840 they had communities in Yerevan.  Hundreds of displaced Jews moved to Soviet Armenia.  Then there were at least 10,000 Jews living there.  Another wave came in between 1965 and 1972 made up of the intelligentsia, military and engineers.  They were attracted to a more liberal society.  

The Ottoman Empire learned a lot from the Germans who were their allies in WWI.  Muslim leaders were visiting with Hitler during WWII who were against the Jews.  The empire committed Armenian genocide and slaughtered from 1 million to 1 1/2 million Armenians.  They massacred the males and forced the women and children in marches in the Syrian desert.  Other ethnic groups were to be next.  Today of course there is still this divide between the Armenians and the Turks because of this needless slaughter that took place in 1915.  .  

Today there are less than 1,000 Jews in Armenia because of  emigration and assimilation.  Between 1992 and 1994, more than 6,000 Jews  immigrated to Israel because of economic and political reasons hurting Jews.  However, in 1995, Chabad House was established in Yerevan.  They offered classes about Judaism, Hebrew, Jewish traditions and free meals.  

Resource:  The new Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_people
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/khazars.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/armenia.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigranes_the_Great
http://www.ldolphin.org/chron.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Babylonians (Iraq) Couldn't Get Enough of Jews: Wanted More and More

Nadene Goldfoot 
 King Solomon was the son of King David of the tribe of Judah  and King of Israel about 961-920 BCE.  He and the Temple made news, probably causing other up and coming Kingdoms to covet their land and property.  The Queen of Sheba came to visit and was most  impressed.    This Queen of Ethiopia claimed to have returned home pregnant by Solomon.  Many Ethiopians have immigrated to Israel today, claiming descent.  They were practicing Judaism of the ancient days.  
Tiglath-Pileser III-Assyrians Take The Jews First
Ten of the 12 tribes of Israel were taken by the Assyrians a century before the Babylonians decided to take Judah and Jerusalem and almost all of the Jews that lived there.  We had 12 sons of Jacob that made up 12 tribes; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph and Benjamin.  The tribe of Judah, the largest, was not taken.  Most of the others were deported in 732 BCE and then again in 720 BCE.  They were taken for needed manpower to service their expanding realm.  They were exploited people.  Then the Assyrian kings wanted them to assimilate and enforced mingling of the populations and their Assyrianization.  They managed to empty conquered areas of their original population and replace them with deportees from elsewhere.  This was also done in Samaria after the Israelites were uprooted.  

Today we are confronted with Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India's large Pashtun group  who claim to be from  the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.  They are claimants who have converted to Islam but many continue to show traces of Judaism in some ways.  
Nebuchadnezzar  Continually Takes Jews
Babylonia conquered Jerusalem in 634 BCE which was a part of the Kingdom of Judah and took many of the Jews.   597-598 BCE saw deportation of 3,023 Jews to Babylon.  Babylonia is today's Iraq.  Ezekiel, the prophet was a captive with the others.  They were hoping for a speedy return to their homes and were from the leading families.  In 586 BCE Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple built by King Solomon in the kingdom of Judah and again more Jews were deported to Babylon.  Then the deportees had to follow the words of Jeremiah and figure that they were in exile for a long time.    821 inhabitants of Jerusalem were deported.  Nebuchadnezzar ordered another deportation of 745 Jews in 582-581 BCE.  That makes 4,600 Jews in all had been deported to Babylonia.  King Jehoiakim (reigned 608-598 BCE)  had renounced his allegiance to Babylonia, which was a bad move.  His son was King Jehoichin (reigned 598-597 BCE ) , who was only 18 and had been a king for only 3 months when he was taken captive to Babylonia.

Nebuchadnezzar took the best treasures of the Temple and palace and sent them to Babylonia.  Along with Jehoichin as captives were his wives, 5 sons, mother, servants, eunuchs and thousands of the chief men of the land.  This was recorded when he was only 23 years old.  This young royal was treated quite well according to the cuneiform tablets found in Babylon around the fabled "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" area.  He was able to retain his royal title while there.  It sounds like what royalty who  have lost their country do so today as well.

Judah fell in the 2nd exile in 586 and Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) , another son of Josiah (637-608 BCE) , though swearing fealty to Nebuchadnezzar, planned an insurrection, bringing about a siege that lasted for 1 1/2 years.  Nebuchadnezzar tried to starve the inhabitants of Jerusalem by circling it with a wall.  Zedekiah and his companions were caught.  They forced the king Zedekiah to watch them kill his sons, and then they put out his eyes.  He was taken to Babylon.  On August 7 the Temple, royal palace and all the homes in the cityof Jerusalem were set on fire.  The survivors were taken to Babylon as captives.  70 or 80 distinguished Jews including the high priest Seraiah were sent to Riblah and put to death.

Another 3rd deportation of Jews occurred after the 13 year siege of Tyre.  (585-573 BCE).  Nebuchadnezzar kept a standing army in Syria.  Judah's Jewish governor, Gedaliah, had been murdered.  By 582-581 BCE another partial deportation to Babylon took place.

In total, more than 36,00-48,000 Jews were taken in exile then.  The total population of the Kingdom of Judah was figured to be about 120,000 or higher.  About 1/4 of the population or less were led captive into Babylonia.

Started in 538,  a 2nd Temple was finally built by 515 BCE by the Jews which included today's Western Wall, which is a remnant of it. This is because the Persians' Cyrus II in 537 BCE had sent 40,000 Jews back to Eretz Yisrael.  In other words, he freed them.  Cyrus had conquered Nebuchadnezzar.   The exiles had returned by 519 BCE after being in another exile of 50 years by Babylonia.
Cyrus of Persia Sends Jews Back Home
The Persian Empire was so big in those days that Jews lived in 127 provinces of the Persian Empire.  Many stayed right in Shusha (Shushan) and were living there with Queen Esther who was married to Ahashueros (King Xerses).  Her son was Darius, the Persian.  He's the one who authorized the Temple's completion.

The Babylonians resettled many nations in their land, not just Jews.  Of those who took up the offer of going back home to Zion organized themselves.  Those whose families were connected to the Temple in Jerusalem were able to identify themselves as priests, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants in planning the rebuilding of the Temple.  Others organized themselves in towns of origin of their families.

Those that remained in Babylonia were the only group to preserve their identity and way of life.  They survived for 2,500 years and were a spiritual center for Judaism.  It's where the Babylonian Talmud was written.  Many people of Judah moved eastward during the Roman period to escape severe drought and famine and wound back up in Babylon as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes

Reference: Tanach, Stone Edition
Jewish Encyclopedia: The Babylonian Captivity http://www.bible-history.com/map_babylonian_captivity"map_of the _
Jerusalem Post article Monday, July 20, 2009:  Whatever happened to the Jews exiled to Babylon?  http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2009/07/whatever-happened-to-jews-exiled-to.html

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

JEWISH YEAR OF 5772-5773: Our History Back There With Persia (Iran)

Nadene Goldfoot                                                              

Update:
I wrote this article in 2012 for our Jewish New Year, and the leading problem then for Israel was IRAN.  Today, June 7, 2018, it is still the same problem, only this time Iran is in control of Syria and the Hamas terrorists of Gaza causing rockets to be fired into the Golan and the fields of Israel to be burned by kites on fire floating across the fence between Gaza and Israel.  

Ahmadinejad is no Cyrus the Great.  He's the big bully in the schoolyard that pokes fun at the little kid with glasses, calls him every name under the sun including throwing rocks at him, then runs home to Mama to say that the skinny little kid started it all.

In 2005 Ahmadinejad called Israel a tumor and a cancer, and now a vampire, just three of hundreds of derogatory names.  He has threatened Israel verbally and physically with an atomic wipe-out by building  secretive atomic facilities  and the threats to go with it like-"we'll wipe you out". He supplies the very people who attack Israel with weapons.   On Yom Kippur he told the whole General Assembly how bad Israel was and how they deserve such an end, which will come very soon.  It's as plain as day; Iran has been threatening Israel with total destruction while all along continues to build atomic facilities to manufacture such weapons.  He is using the UN to "spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel"
                                                                           
Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur
During the synagogue service and at the end of this Day of Atonement
At least the USA had the good sense to not attend and listen today, on Yom Kippur, the most  solemn holy day for Jews when they ask G-d for forgiveness of their sins and are repenting. The USA didn't listen to his rhetoric along with Israel.  Others walked out on him.  Most of Europe sat and listened to Mr. A say that Israel would soon be eliminated.
                                                                               
Netanyahu reminded people that history shows that those who wanted to wipe us off the map failed and that the Jewish people overcame all obstacles.  Israel's goal is to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weaponry.  Netanyahu's role is not to let the Holocaust happen again and have the 6 million Jews of Israel incinerated a second time.  You see, we've been burned once, and are not about to stick our finger into the fire again.  We know what can happen.  

Ahmadinejad, a man who just might have a few segments of Jewish genes himself, seems to know very little history of his own country, thinking it's been around since the mammoths 10,000 years ago.  Jews have been in existence right along with them since it was Abraham, (2nd millinium BCE)  a citizen of Ur "Iraq"  who created monotheism and is father of the Jewish people. Yet Mr. A tells his people that Jews have only been in the Middle East for the past 60 years.  We're like the swallows of Capistrano, Mr. A.  We're returned home to those who never left.  I doubt if history books are allowed in Iran, so it's possible his people wind up swallowing his lies.
                     
David
                                                             
Solomon
We'll skip to about a thousand years later to the Jewish King Solomon (961-920 BCE)  who built the first Temple in Jerusalem. His father was King David who developed Jerusalem.

Along Came the Assyrians


Hoshea of Israel in 726 BCE, last ruler of Israel,  tried to throw off the yoke  that led  to Assyria's King Shalmaneser V's siege of Samaria and his imprisonment and its capture in 721 BCE by his successor, Sargon, king of Assyria (721-712 BCE).  .  Sargon annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media who cooperated with the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  Manasseh of Judah was exiled to Assyria in 652 BCE.  Then Assyria declined quickly and was succeeded by Babylon.  Sargon was assassinated.  Sennacherib took over.
                                                                           
Then Came the Babylonians

  Nebuchadnezzar (634-562 BCE) exiled the Jews of the ancient kingdom of Judah to Babylon in the 6th century BCE.  The first time was in 597 BCE when they sacked the Temple and took many of the leading men.  Babylon was dependent on Assyria.  Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Egypt in 601 BCE which led to rebellions, including Judah and that's how he captured Jerusalem and kicked out King Jehoiakim, afterwards destroying the city and temple and deporting not only the best of the men but other prominent citizens and parts of the Jewish population of Judea to Babylon.
                                                                     
Persians in the Act                

Cyrus II of Persia (Iran) lived around 600 BCE to 530 BCE and was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, creating the largest empire the world had yet seen.  He only reigned for 29 to 31 years, but respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered.  He set the model for centralized administration and a working government to the advantage and profit of its subjects.  The Jews called him the "anointed of the lord" or the Messiah".

He is remembered for his achievements in human rights, politics, military strategy, and his influence on both Eastern and Western civilizations.  He came from Persis, which would be the modern day Iranian province of Fars.  His influence even went as far as to Athens, where they enjoyed a reciprocal cultural exchange.

Cyrus overthrew Babylonia in 537 BCE.  He allowed the Jews to return to their native land.  More than 40,000 returned.  Previous Assyrian and Babylonian rulers had not allowed the monotheistic Judaism to exist, but he did.  He even ordered the rebuilding of the 2nd Temple in the same place as the first, but died before it was finished.  Darius the Great, his replacement, saw that it was finished.  It was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than 20 years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.
                                                                               
We know from the book of Esther that Haman, the forerunner of Hitler and Ahmadinejad,  was an Agagite noble and vizier under the Persian King Ahassurerus, known to the general public as Xerxes the Great (son of Darius the Great) in the 6th century BCE.  Haman and his wife, Zeresh, instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of Persia, and it was a huge empire then.  They might have well said the whole world.  The plan was stopped by the beautiful Queen Esther, who was married to the king. She and her uncle Mordecai were Benjamites.   Haman and his 10 sons were hung as a result.  Jews have celebrated every year since then with their happy holiday of Purim.  At that time, there were lots of Jews living right in the capital of Shushan.

But today there are very few left.  Many have immigrated to Israel, the USA and abroad.  About 30 some years ago a group of Jewish lads escaped out of the country on camels.  A few were shot.  It had become irrepressible to be a Jew and live in freedom in Iran.  In 1989 there were only 20,000 remaining there.

Ahmadinejad seems to love to stick it to Israel as to what horrors will happen to them, definitely mental cruelty.    He should be told about what happened in Queen Esther's day.  He wants to be the big shot and get rid of all the Jews and Israel so that Israel can become a totally  Islamic land.  Then he'll be the big savior to all the Middle Eastern Muslims and have the Western powers at his knees as dhminnis states.  They just might be next on his list.  Well, Haman probably had the same scheme.  He didn't get very far. Since Israel has combated his threats with warnings of taking out their atomic plant, he is sure yelling about it, just like the bully on the playground in the UN today.
                                                                               
Queen Esther and her son, King Darius
It's interesting that the 50-60 million Pashtuns of Afghanistan,  Pakistan and India claim descent from the tribe of Benjamin, Queen Esther's tribe and the other lost 10 tribes,  and that their respected countries are very close to Iran.  In fact, the Pashtun language has some Persian qualities in it as it belongs to an eastern Iranian language group from Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian group, maybe from Queen Esther's day.    Their people are  fair-skinned and the men are outstanding fighters known for their good looks and height.  It could be that they were right there in the city of Shushan right along with Queen Esther and Mordecai, but had become  the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel later.

Book:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebuchadnezzar_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_great
httP://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-promises-tough-response-ahmadinejad-181532401.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ahmadinejad-tells-un-uncivilized-zionists-are-threat-to-iran-us-boycotts-address/2012/09/26/738d12a6-0800-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashto_language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhaUVmYBXD0  Netanyahu's speech today at General Assembly



Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Our Temple in Jerusalem-Destroyed by Babylonia's Nebuchadnezzar

Nadene Goldfoot
In 422 BCE, Jerusalem was placed under siege by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar (modern day Iraq).  Interestingly, Abraham had come from Ur, which would be the area of Iraq. 

This resulted in the destruction of our First Temple 3 weeks later built by the Jewish King Solomon, who built it in 832 BCE. It stood on top of Mt. Moriah where Abraham had followed G-d's command concerning his son to be used as a sacrifice.  Building this temple had taken 7 years and had put tens of thousands of men to work.  The Ark of the Covenant was brought there.   It had stood for 410 years.

The USA is only 236 years old, born in 1776.  It's no wonder that we remember this calamity concerning our Temple with a fast day on Thursday, January 5th,  which was when Jerusalem came under seige.   Jews really teach their history to their children and themselves by remembering so many events such as this by connecting events to food.  This particular fast begins at 6:15am and ends at 5:18pm. 

The siege shouldn't have come as a surprise, for in 463 BCE the prophet Jeremiah kept warning his people to shape up and do right.  Jews had depended on having the Temple and felt G-d was with them and the Temple was that reminder.  It is said that many miracle happened constantly during this period.  Then Jews were taken into exile to Babylonia.  When Babylonians  attacked, they took away 10,000 of the best and brightest of men. 

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalms 137:1-6)

Resource: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144569/jewish/The-First-Temple.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon's_Temple
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/Jewish_History/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138323