'The exile is like a human being. Just as human beings return to life, so Israel will return from exile' |
| Published: January 28, 2008, 8:37 am |
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It struck me when preparing the last in a series I'm teaching on Judaism and the Meaning of Life that the book we're using, The Elements of Judaism http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Judaism/dp/1852304022 states that there are three major events defining Judaism today and that these parallel the three major events of 1492. In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain, in the year that the New World was discovered, and at about the same time as the first Hebrew book was printed (1475). The expelled Spanish Jews found a relatively secure period of residence under the Ottomans in the Land of Israel, especially in Sfat, Galillee, where Jewish mysticism was developed in new and exciting ways. The author of Elements of Judaism (first published 1993) sees a contemporary 20th-21st century parallel to all four factors:The cataclysm of Spain has been re-enacted, in yet more powerful form, in the Holocaust. The transition to a 'golden period' of Ottoman rule [from 1517-1917] is a pale [ Full article ] |
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