Yom Kippur – Important Holidays for the Jewish

Yom Kippur is a timefor people to seek forgiveness from others.Yom Kippur is important because itcomes just before the Jewish new year so that people can have a fresh start forthe new year.Yom Kippur also gives people a chance to look back on the pastyear and plan for the upcoming year.

Yom Kippur dates back to biblical times when animals were used totransfer sins to.The first animal that was used was a goat, but soon roostersfor males and hens for females were used.The sins were transferred from peopleto the animals by tying a rope to the fowl’s legs and then spinning around thehead of the person who was transferring their sins.While the fowl was beingspun the person who was transferring their sins would begin chanting.When theceremony was finished the animal would be sent away into the dessert.YomKippur is practiced very differently today.Instead of transferring their sinsto animals people donate money to charities and throw stones into ponds.

On the night before Yom Kippur, people prepare for the following day’sfast by eating an enourmous meal.Following the meal candles are lit and theShehecheyanu is recited to bless the candles.The following day is spent at thesynogauge where services are conducted all day long.The most important part ofthe services is when the rabbi asks everyone to take time to seek forgiveness ofanyone whom they may have hurt in some way in the past year.People must seekforgiveness because the Jewish feel that forgiveness is not something that maybe given, it is something that must be sought after.Not wanting to start thenew year with any grudges, the entire congregation gets up and begins seekingforgiveness.

At sundown the fast is over. The congregation leaves the synagouge andgoes home.When they get home the break the fast by eating a huge meal.Thismeal marks the end of Yom Kippur.

Timeline of The Hebrews:

• 922 B.C.Isreal breaks up after the death of Solomon. Splits into anorthern and southern kingdom with Shechm the capital of the northern half andJerusalem as the capital of the southern half.
• 876 B.C.King Omri makes Samariai new capital.
• 842 B.C.Queen Jezebel imposes the cult of Baal.The people revolt and theAramaeans take advantage of this oppertunity and captures some land from Isreal.
• 786 B.C.-746 B.C.Renaissance of Isreal under Jerobam II.
• 783 B.C.-742 B.C. Renaissance of Judah under Uzziah.
• 750 B.C.The prophets Amos and Hosea speak out against the exploitation of thepoor by the rich.
• 738 B.C.The Assyrians force Isreal to pay a large tribute.
• 721 B.C.The Assyrians manage to capture Isreal and deport the Jews.Judahbecomes a vassal state of Assyria.
• 715 B.C.Hezekiah becomes King of Judah and rids the religion of Assyrianinfluence.
• 687 B.C.Assyrians attack Jereusalem.
• 640 B.C.-609 B.C.King Josiah of Judah wins back some land from the Assyrians.
• 597 B.C.The Babylonians capture Jerusalem and deport King Jehoiadin causingthe end of the Kingdom of Judah.
• 587 B.C.-539 B.C.The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and cause the collapse ofthe Kingdom of Judah.587 marks the begining of the Babylonian exile whichended through the Edict of Liberation of Cyrus the Persian538 B.C.-400 B.C.The Jews return to the Holy Land.Joshua and Zerubbabel arethe religious heads of Judea.Haggai adn Zechariah are the prophets in Judea.
• 332 B.C.Alexander the Great conquers Jerusalem.
• 167 B.C.-164 B.C.The Jews are persecuted and the cult of Zeus is establishedin their temples.
• 104 B.C.-37 B.C.Hasmoneans rule Judea.
• 63 B.C.Pompey captures Jerusalem stretching the Roman power to the Holy Land.
• 26 A.D.-36 A.D.Pontius Pilate is the govenor of Judea.
• 66 A.D.-73 A.D.The Jews revolt for the first time against Rome.
• 70 A.D.Romans destroy the temple.
• 132 A.D.-135 A.D.The second Jewish revolt against Rome.Also known as BarKokhba.The Jews ar…..e destroyed in battle and the Jews are dispersed.
• 351 A.D.The Revolt of Patricius takes place.
• 637 A.D.The Arabs capture the city of Jerusalem.
• 1095 A.D.-1270 A.D.Crusades occour in a Christian attemptto regain the holylond which was also sacred to them.
• 1492 A.D.The Jews are expulted from Spain and Ghettos are formed.
• 1917 A.D.Pogroms begin occouring in Russia.The rise of antisemitism.
• 1936 A.D.Hitler commands Nazis to destroy Jewish towns and blames it onhoodlums.
• 1939 A.D.-1945World War II.
• 1948 A.D.Isreal becomes a country.

The Hebrews viewed war as a holy act.War was thought of in this waybecause they believed that it was God’s will that they fight and that they wouldwin if he wanted them to.

In their early days the Hebrews had no permanent army and relied on allHebrew men over 20 to fight whenever there was a threat to the Hebrews. Military service was viewed as a religious obligation so men would always bewilling to serve in the army. Before they established a full time army theHebrews also relied on mercenaries and bandits to help them fight.

When Saul became king he saw that it was necessary to set up a full timearmy.He gathered all of the men he could find into an unorganized group. Later, Solomon turned the army into a large highly organized group.Solomonalso set up a recruiting office so that in times of danger temporary help couldbe gotten in addition to the regular army.However, by 700 B.C. the citizensarmy had replaced the regular army because there was no need for a regular armywith the tremendous amount of volunteers.

The Hebrew’s army consisted mainly of their infantry which served as thebackbone of the army.The infantry was equipped with only bronze helmets andcoats of mail also made of bronze.Bronze was the metal that was chiefly usedin the Hebrew’s armor even though iron was discovered to be much stronger.Theinfantry was equipped with either swords, or lances for hand to hand combat,with lances being the weapon of choice.Either bows, slings or spears were usedfor artillery with bows being used much more than slings or spears.

A second important part of the Hebrew army were the chariots they used. Solomon was the first to realize the important role that chariots could play inwar and implemented them into the Hebrew army.The chariots could dominate abattle taking place on flat land, but on the other hand were rendered useless onhills and mountains.

Because the Hebrews believed that war was a holy act the Hebrews had toprepare for the battle spiritually as well as physically.Before every battlesacrifices were made accompanied by prayers.Before any campaign was started apriest would be consulted on the precise time for which the campaign would bestarted.The priest would also be brought along on the campaign so he cold beconsulted at crucial points during the campaign.All of these were done to gainGod’s will and determine his wishes.

The main form of battle the Hebrews engaged in was siege warfare.Theyfirst would attempt to capture the city’s water supply.Once they controlledthe water they would cut of the supply of food from outside the city.Once theyhad accomplished these the would wait for months and sometimes years.Thiswould cause the city to resort to it’s stored food.Once the stored food ranout, people either died of malnutrition, paid high prices for food on the blackmarket, or resorted to cannibalism.This method of battle proved to be highlyeffective for the Hebrews.

The reason for much of the Hebrews success was their attitude toward war. Because of their belief that war was holy they got an enormous amount ofsupport from their people.Also, believing that the result of the wars theywere fighting was determined by what their God wanted had to have given theHebrews some hope even when they were losing.Without their attitude towardswas the Hebrews would have been a much weaker opponent.