Jewish History Final- Key Terms

First World War Jewish wartime refugees and poor

- Eastern Europe had hundreds of close-knit Jewish communities were destroyed, and many Jews had no food jobs and shelter.

-Many Jews in Russia and Poland were severely impoverished and were kept alive by donations from Diaspora Jews, especially those in America.

-Jews were also scapegoated

Zionism

The belief that Jews needed a refuge and a place where they could defend themselves from attacks.

HAD to be in land of Israel

Ze'ev Jabotinsky

• Leader of Revisionist Zionism, favoring a strong military defense.

• Advocated for immediate Jewish statehood and mass immigration to Palestine.

• Founded the Irgun (a more militant Zionist paramilitary group).

Louis D. Brandeis

• First Jewish U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

• Key figure in American Zionism, linking it to democracy and justice.

• Helped gain U.S. Jewish support for a Jewish homeland.

Chaim Weizmann

• A leading British Zionist who played a key role in securing the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which expressed British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• Later became the first President of the State of Israel.

• Believed that realizing the Zionist vision required both building practical infrastructure in Palestine and conducting diplomatic efforts with major world powers.

1917 Balfour Declaration

- Statement showing British government's support of Zionism

-Britain officially supported the establishment of the State of Israel

-A turning point in international Zionist legitimacy.

British Mandate of Palestine

• Britain governed Palestine (1920–1948) after WWI.

• Tensions rose between Jews and Arabs under British rule.

• Britain limited Jewish immigration, and promised both Arabs and Jews an independent state, setting up future conflicts

The Haganah

• Main Jewish defense force in British Mandate Palestine.

• Originally defensive, later more active during conflicts.

• Became the core of the IDF

The Yishuv

• Jewish community in Palestine before Israel’s founding.

• Built towns, institutions, and underground defense groups.

• Politically and socially diverse, included many ideologies.

1920 Arab-Jewish violence: Tel Hai, Jerusalem riots

• First major outbreak of Arab-Jewish violence in British Mandated Palestine.

• In March 1920, Arabs attacked the northern Jewish settlement of Tel Hai, believing Jews were helping the French; several Jews were killed.

• Zionist hero Joseph Trumpeldor died defending the settlement.

• A month later, anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jerusalem with mobs attacking Jews using clubs, stones, and knives.

1929 Arab riots

• Major Arab attacks on Jews, especially in Hebron and Safed.

• Hundreds killed; many Jewish communities destroyed.

• Shocked the Yishuv and led to stronger self-defense efforts.

1930s - increased American Jewish support for Zionism

- Many felt indebted to FDR and the democrats because he opened up jobs for Jews and had Jewish advisors in his inner circle, although they couldn't convince him to ease quotas on immigration from Europe

- American Jews responded by supporting the development of the Jewish homeland and resettlement of refugees in Palestine

- Membership in Zionist organizations began to grow rapidly in the mid- 1930s

1936-1939 The Arab Revolt, the Arab general strike

-Hitler's rise to power caused another wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine

-Jews made up almost one third of the population in Palestine

- The Arabs greatly feared this and as a result in April 1936, an organized Arab revolt began, aimed at stopping the Zionist nation building project and ending British rule

- They declared a general strike

-Shops were closed and many Arabs refused to pay taxes- shiver me timbers

1936 Peel Commission

-British commision created to determine the cause of the revolt and recommend a solution.

- concluded that Jews and Arabs would never live peacefully together and that the only solution would be to divide Palestine into two states.

-The proposed map only gave Jews one-fifth, but the Yishuv accepted. The Arabs rejected this plan, seeing the only solution as an independent Arab-majority state.

1939 White Paper

-The 1939 White Paper was Britain’s official policy stating that Palestine would become an independent state allied with Britain and that Jewish immigration would be limited to 75,000 people per year.

-This was a major setback for Zionism because it severely restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases

-Radicalized Zionist groups like the Irgun and Lehi.

Irgun Tz'vei Leumi or the Irgun

• Extreme Militant Zionist group founded by Jabotinsky followers.

• Used force against British and Arabs.

• Played key role in fight for Israeli independence.

Mordecai Kaplan

- American Jewish leader who established the Reconstructionist Movement

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s concept of G-d: a force or power for good, not a supernatural being who can alter the laws of nature and make miracles.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s concept of the Torah: sacred, but not a literal record of words from G-d to Moses.

Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan’s concept of Jewish civilization: In America, Jews had two civilizations, one reflecting American traditionsand ways of life, and one reflecting Jewish traditions and ways of life.

Brandeis University

- Brandeis was established by the American Jewish community in 1948

- Made because other universities had quotas on how many Jewish students could attend them

Hadassah

-Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organzation of America,

• sent American-trained nurses, and later entire medical units to Palestine

• Focused on health care and social services in Palestine/Israel.

• Funded hospitals, schools, and youth programs.

American Reform Judaism

- More and more Eastern European Jews found a home in the Reform Movement

-Reform rabbis adopted a platform that supported Zionism

-This platform also supported the reintroduction of more traditional Jewish rituals and ceremonies

American Modern Orthodox Judaism

-Some adapted Orthodox Judaism into American life.

-America's Modern Orthodox Jews were likely to discuss sports scores and the latest movies as well as the Parsha.

-Only the strictest Orthodox Jews resisted American culture

-A network of Orthodox schools was established to carry on traditional learning and Old World values.

Yeshiva College (Yeshiva University)

• Leading center of Modern Orthodox Judaism in the U.S.

• Combines traditional Torah study with secular academics.

• Trains Modern Orthodox rabbis and professionals.

American Conservative Judaism

- middle ground between Orthodox and Reform Judaism.

-Conservative Jews maintained traditional Jewish practices while also adapting to modern American life.

-In the early 20th century, Conservative synagogues began incorporating more English into services and allowing more flexibility in Jewish law.

Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)

• Main seminary for Conservative rabbis.

• Founded in 1886 in New York.

Reconstructionist Judaism

-Reconstructionism was Kaplan’s system of ideas and beliefs.

- It remained in Conservative Judaism until after WWII when it became a separate movement.

-First movement to bat mitzvah girls (Judith Kaplan).

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

-Reconstructionism remained within Conservative Judaism until after World War II, when it became a separate movement

-In becoming a seperate movement, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College was founded in 1968

Shoah

-Hebrew term for the Holocaust, meaning "catastrophe"

-1939-1945

The "Jewish Problem"

- According to many Europeans who disliked Jews, they could never become true citizens of their nation

And they would forever be distinguished by religious and racial differences. (race theory)

-European Jews developed four responses to this antisemitism:

1) Remain Separate,

2) Integrate,

3) Return to Palestine,

4) Support the Socialist and Communist Revolutions

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

- Hitler's autobiography, meaning "My Struggle"

- Spelled out his plan to seize power and rid Germany of Jews

- Adolf hitler epressed outrage towards those who he believed caused Germany to lose World War I

- He blamed Communists and Jews, calling the Jews "a non-German, alien race"

1935 the Nuremberg Laws

-Nuremberg Laws officially stripped Jews of their basic rights, including German citizenship

- Critical part of the Nazi regimes' persecution of Jews

The "Final Solution"

-To eliminate all Eastern European Jews.

-They created extermination death camps like Auschwitz that were made to mass murder

-Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in a matter of months.

Righteous Gentiles

- Heroic Non-Jews who risked their lives to save the lives of Jews

- Tens of thousands of children, known as the hidden children, were saved by Righteous Gentiles

- Showed great courage and humanity

1938 Kristallnacht

-Known as "The Night of Broken Glass", Kristallnacht was a government- supported pogrom in Germany where synagogues and homes were destroyed, stores were robbed, and thousands of Jews were taken and sent away to concentration camps.

Displaced persons (DPs)

- At the end of the war, millions of people had been displaced

-UNRRA helped them return to their origin countries

-Many refused to go home- their loved ones were dead or they didn't have a community

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee ("The Joint")

-Money pooled from relief organizations such as ones formed by American-born Reform Jews, Orthodox Jews, and by trade union leaders and Socialists was distributed through a committee known as The Joint

- Example of Jews from different backgrounds pooling their resources together to achieve greater success

1947 United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), report

-The UNSCOP (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) was composed of representatives of eleven neutral countries to handle the problems in Palestine.

-Its task was to investigate the situation and report it back to the UN General Assembly.

The Exodus 1947

The Exodus of 1947 was an American passenger ship that the Haganah had acquired and renamed.

-British destroyers rammed it, came on board, and killed a couple of Jews, injuring 30

-Newspapers referred to this as a “floating Auschwitz.” This was historically significant because this incident helped sway world opinion in favor of Zionists.

1947 UN General Assembly partition plan vote

- After UNSCOP recommended the relegation of the British Mandate, a majority of committee members backed the partition of Palestine into separate states- one Jewish and one Arab

- Arabs were outraged and threatened war, and Jews believed they had been promised a larger territory

- The UN General Assembly voted on the partition plan, and it passed

- The British would leave Palestine in May 1948

The Soviet Union and the Jews of Silence

-Before World War II, Joseph Stalin had begun to persecute Soviet Jews and after the war, his rules became a lot more strict. He ordered thousands of Jews, especially writers, artists, and intellectuals, to be killed.

-After he died, his successor Nikita Khrushchev was very critical of some of his policies, but not his antisemitism. He was less violent but still denied Jews the right to practice their own faith, learn about their heritage, or get access to top universities or government positions.

-Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said that the Russian Jews had become the Jews of Silence.

Iran: 1941-1979 Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi vs the 1979 Islamic revolution

-The Jews prospered in Iran under the favorable rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

-However, this all changed after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. They came under the control of the Islamic Establishment, and persecution of Jews increased, as did anti-Israel ideas.

-Some Persian Jews were accused of spying for Israel, and many Persian Jews left.

Judith Kaplan, Bat Mitzvah

- R' Kaplan wanted to advance the religious equality of women, starting with conducting a bat mitzvah ceremony for his daughter in NYC, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism

- Took place when Jews were trying hard to Americanize while holding on to their Jewish identity

- The first public American Bat Mitzvah was Judith Kaplan’s

-Judith and her father helped Jewish women take a step towards religious equality in 1922 with this act