Our Edot class began a unit of study about the earliest history of the Jewish People, as soon as we returned from winter break. I introduced the class to the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, referred to in Hebrew as "Tanach,"an acronym for Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and K'toovim (Writings). Following the order of the books, we quickly reviewed our people's earliest journeys from Ur in southern Mesopotamia to Canaan (Abraham) ,from Canaan to Egypt (Jacob), and from Egypt back to Canaan (the Exodus story). We learned that the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges give conflicting accounts of what happened in Canaan, once Joshua led the Israelites into the land. In the Book of Joshua, we are told that God commanded the Israelites to kill every man, woman, and child of the other tribes residing in the land, which order Joshua carried out. In the Book of Judges, we are presented with a Canaan in which the tribes of Israel are living amongst many other tribes. Thanks to archaeological finds, the evidence seems to point to the Book of Judges as providing more accurate information.
We learned how the Israelite tribes fought amongst each other, as well as against other tribes, and that the period of the Judges (people like Deborah, Gideon, and Samson), was not a peaceful one at all in Canaan. At this point, I introduced the students to the Philistines, one of the 5 sea peoples who were uprooted from their coastal towns along Greece and its islands when an enormous volcanic eruption caused earthquakes and tidal waves along the Mediterranean coast. We hear about them first when Moses and the Israelites are beginning their journey through the wilderness. They cannot take the short route to Canaan along the sea coast, as the Philistines are living there and would surely win in a fight against the weak Israelite slaves. The Philistines were of Greek origin, and introduced iron to the Canaanite region, easily overcoming the Israelites and other peoples who fought them when they settled in the cities of Gat, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron on the Coastal Plain of Canaan. Iron swords easily sliced through bronze shields! The word "philistine" has taken on a derogatory meaning in English, based largely upon the Biblical description of these people as warrior-like and uncultured. Contrary to this description, however, archaeologists have discovered remains of a technologically and culturally advanced people, who earned their living pressing olive oil and who created beautiful forms of art. Unfortunately, very little Philistine writing has been found, so we only know of them from the Biblical account. I shared a segment from A&E's "Mysteries of the Bible" series about the Philistines with the students, focusing on how important a written tradition is to ensuring the survival of a nation. I shared the final 3 minutes or so of "Act V" of "The Philistines," which you can view on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o0mlZPuN84&feature=related
(2:54 to the end of the act is the part I showed them)
At this point, we took some time to take a look at the Hebrew prophets - who they were and the role they played in ancient Israelite society. These were the men who were assigned by God to keep the kings of Israel true to the Covenant between God and Israel, and who cried out for social justice. The three monotheistic religions of the world owe their ethical foundations to these prophets. I showed the first two acts of the "Mysteries of the Bible" chapter about the Prophets, which you can view on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUZYMCgcyM
We learned how the Israelites approached the prophet Samuel, asking him to ask God to appoint for them a king who would unite them against their Philistine enemy. After reminding the people that God is their king, and warning them that they would rue the day they asked for a king, God appoints Saul as the first king of Israel. Saul unites the tribes, and they succeed in fighting back the Philistines. But we are told that Saul soon goes mad, and believes that others are out to take his throne from him. David, the musician, is brought in to calm him, but after the episode when David slays Goliath, a Philistine giant according to the Bible, even David has to flee when Saul believes the people love David more than him. Saul died fighting the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa, but God's initial warning against having a king is echoed through David, who defeats the Philistines and chooses Jerusalem as his capital city thus instituting the period of the United Kingdom, but who then kills Uriah the Hittite to be able to marry Bathsheba, with whom he has a son, Solomon. David has his own sons killed before dying himself. But it is during Solomon's reign, that God's warning rings loudest. I shared the following segment with the students, to give them an idea of how the Israelites suffered under King Solomon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YUFDNEVigI
(21:20-23:10 is the part I showed them)
Over the coming few weeks, I will be sharing how the United Kingdom, after Solomon's death, splits into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, consisting of 10 of the 12 tribes, and the Kingdom of Judah to the south, consisting of the largest tribe, Judah, and the smallest tribe, Benjamin (which eventually is assimilated into Judah). The Kingdom of Israel, in 722 B.C.E., is conquered by the Assyrian Empire of northern Mesopotamia, and most members of the 10 tribes are exiled, forced to live in Assyria. We never hear from them again - they become known as the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. I'll be sharing this story through the eyes of the prophet Isaiah in the following segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUZYMCgcyM
(Act IV). I will be asking the students why they believe the 10 tribes disappeared, and what they might have done to maintain their Israelite identity and survive as a nation. We will then compare the students' ideas for how the 10 tribes of Israel might have maintained their identity, to what we will learn in the next chapter of our unit of study, the Babylonian Conquest of the remaining Kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C.E., and the exile of its skilled labor and its leaders to Babylon. It is in Babylon that the first Edah - the Babylonian Jews - is born, and where modern Judaism can find its roots. I'll be showing the segment about the prophet Jeremiah from the above link to the "Prophets" chapter of "Mysteries of the Bible," which immediately follows Isaiah in Act IV, as well as a video from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program about Judean life in Babylon. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/episode2/video/video1_56k.html
This is all a lot of history being shared in very little time. It's important for the students to understand how our national memory of this history has helped us to maintain our Jewish identity, and allowed us to survive, and even thrive, in communities outside the Land of Israel. When we learn about Jewish law and the different customs of various edot, including our own American edah, the students will have a better understanding of the national memory these laws and customs have been designed to maintain and strengthen over the generations.
