Mis-Translations: VIRGIN: Muslims and Christians

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

Middle Eastern Belly Dancer

On Fareed Zakaria's Sunday morning program of GPS (GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE)  this morning,  Fareed had a Muslim woman on who was skilled in Arabic.  She has brought out something most people haven't realized.  The translation of virgin has been incorrect.  The word,  which is a gift for good behavior for Muslims in the after-life,  is not Virgins, but Raisins.  Virgin= عذراء;   Raisins=زبيب  
Now, Fareed Zakaria was born in  Mumbai, India, and may be a Muslim.  Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-born American journalist and author. He is the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post.  He's Harvard educated.  He didn't mention what he thought of the outcome of his guest's analyzing the word, Virgin, but his father was an Islamic scholar, so I believe he must be a Muslim and was not offended.   

Being curious, I looked up the word Virgin in our Hebrew Dictionary, and it is betooliah or batool,

                                                                                 

Young Israeli girl did blessing over Shabbat candles
and has taken off her scarf now.  

Our Hebrew word for "Young Lady" is bakhoorah, which is very similar to Virgin. גברת צעירה, and this Hebrew is saying young lady using Geveret instead of Bakhoorah.  So there are at least 2 words for lady.
Only in my dictionary , young lady it start with a B (Bet) .  This is the google translator.
Virgin in Hebrew is בתולה  betooliah or batool.  

The pronunciation of betoolia and bakhoorah  are slightly similar.  Look at (young lady) and if it started with a B as it does in my dictionary, not geveret-the ending is the same as Virgin.
                                                                           

Almost all girls now serve in the IDF at age 18. 

Israeli girls are known for their beauty.  The religious girls
do not bathe in the sun on a mixed beach, though.  

It makes you wonder how competent the translators were and what they were depending on.  Jewish commentators have said for many years that the word, Virgin, really was young lady in Hebrew.

Fareed's guest was quite emphatic that there were no 72 virgins awaiting people who die for the cause and need rewarding.  Perhaps that should slow down ISIS, hmmm?

It would take a lady to argue against 72 virgins.  We'd much rather the reward be 72 raisins any day.  Anyway, in these days, they should have  run out of 72 virgins per man quickly.  They'll have to resort to 72 raisins.

When translating from one language to another, it really is important to be an Anthropologist as well as a Linguist.  I marvel at people who are bi-lingual or even tri-lingual or more.  I had a teacher in Israel who knew 26 languages.  How deeply or at what grade level that would be, I do not know.  It could be just to say hello in 23 languages or it could be to read literature in 23 languages.  Some languages are related to each other.  That makes the transition easier, like Spanish and Italian.  Some people can barely handle one language-English.

Reading Hebrew is difficult even though it only has 22 letters, and English has 26.  Hebrew only as vowels that are the Aleph, Ayin, and Vuv  which becomes an oo or an oh sound.  You just have to KNOW the word to read it.  Sight reading is more important that sounding it out many a time.

Arabic and Hebrew have many similarities.  They should find the transition from one to another quite a bit easier than us who are not native readers.  Arabic and Hebrew are both taught in Israel's school system.  The lucky students do help each other in their homework.  I never had a friend who could help me with my Latin studies, and my husband and I both floundered with out Hebrew homework assignments as we were new Olim, and I had quit learning after the primer book in 1st grade!  We had to hire a tutor for our 10 months 6 days a week school in Haifa as middle-aged adults.  My husband could read prayers, but forget the newspaper!

I've come to the conclusion that you either have a talent for languages or you don't.  Obviously, there have been some un-talented translators in the past.

Reference: Fareed Zakariah, May 22, 2016 program
google translator 

What Happened to Jews of Vienna, Austria, "capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire"

Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

Vienna, Austria  to Athens, Greece

The Eastern Roman Empire had its capital in Constantinople, Turkey, an empire which extended far and wide by the year 637, including Palestine.  Justinian (527-65) had elaborate anti-Jewish laws in his Code, issued a decree in 553 which interfered with the conduct of the synagogue services!  Heracleius in 614 issued an edict ordering the conversion of the Jews.  Then the practice of Judaism was forbidden by the next emperors; Leo in 723, Basil 1 in 873-874; by Romanus Lucapenus in 932-6, and this last decree finds Jews living in Vienna.  The fledgling Christians were so quick to come down on the heads of the Jews, but slow to turn Europe onto their religion.  It's been about 900 years since Jesus had died and the religion was just catching on and even then contained many pagan elements.

Before Vienna had embraced Christianity and accepted Jews into their land as well, religion was pagan.  "A raid made in the Lower Danube region in the  830s is the earliest event which can unequivocally be connected to the Hungarians.   Muslim sources described the Hungarians as star- and fire-worshipers.   Vessels holding food and drink found in thousands of pre-Christian burials evidence the Hungarians' traditional belief in afterlife.   Prohibitions incorporated in Christian regulation also suggest that pagan Hungarians made sacrifices at groves and springs.  What went on in Hungary most likely was true of Vienna.  

Jews were living in Vienna in the early 900s even though  at the same time, Christianity was being introduced into the land of Hungary and Austria by  Byzantine Christianity.   Steps towards the adoption of the new faith were taken by Géza, the head of the Hungarian tribal federation (c. 972–997) who supported Western missionaries. The reception of Christianity was enforced by legislationing the reign of Géza's son, Stephen I (997–1038). Some tenets of pagan belief were incorporated into the Christian vocabulary of the Hungarian language.  Hungary and Vienna were neighbors.  "Stephen  was crowned the first King of Hungary in 1000 or 1001 after he had defeated his pagan opponent, Koppány, the oldest member of the Árpád dynasty. 

 Even so, Jews received a special dwelling quarter near the ducal palace and were permitted to live in houses elsewhere in the city early on.  This was even before some Jews became helpers of the court.  
                                                                         

Rabbi Samson Wertheimer, my DNA relativeRabbi Wertheimer (1658-1724) was a court Jew, born in Worms, Rhineland/Germany,  and court Jews were especially prominent in the Vienna court. Rabbi Wertheimer had gone to Vienna in 1684 to join the bank of his uncle, Samuel Oppenheimer, and soon became a court banker.  His uncle Samuel Oppenheimer was a banker and he lived with him.  Even Court Jews were not allowed to live in Vienna.  Jews were exclused from all classic trades and handicrafts to make a living.  This forced them to deal with money lending.  

After all, Jews had a special place in Vienna, being court Jews in the 1600-1700s  who had loaned money to the Emperors to keep in business.  "Court Jews enjoyed special privileges;  were exempted from wearing the Jewish badge and could live anywhere, maintaining the necessary Jewish religious functionaries in their place of residence."   To think that ALL Jews except these who loaned money to the emperors, had to wear a badge is disgusting.  That's the position, that of a 2nd or 3rd class citizen, Jews were in.  The court Jews used their position to try to help their brethren.  The contribution of industrial production and commerce to the Austrian economy led to the decision to allow Jews to acquire property.  

By the 1200s, the Jewish position had worsened under pressure from the burghers, and a ghetto was instituted.  by 1406, the Jewish quarter was burnt, and in 1421 Jews were killed or expelled as the result of a ritual Murder accusation.  However, some Jews did live here in the 1500s.  

Along came the 1600s, that had some familiarity to the USAs 2001.  "Sept. 11 + 12 1683 spelt the victory of Western Christendom at the gates of Vienna against an overwhelming Islamic Ottoman Empire. "It pitted the Islamic nemesis led by Kara Mustafa, the Vizier of Sultan Mehmet IV, and the Ottoman forces consisting of Jannisaires and Tartars totalling 120,000, including some traitorous Protestant and Calvinistic allies from Europe, against the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire led by Count Ernst Rudiger Von Staremberg of Austria along with Charles V (Duke of Lorraine) and Leopold I (Holy Roman Emperor) and with Polish king, Jan Sobieski III, spearheading the final attack.  

This was also the era of the Court Jews of which I have found to have had relatives who were a part of it.  Jews in this period who maintained trade connections with Poland, Italy and Turkey, but found themselves in hot water again and were banished  in 1670!  After 1675 they dared to return again, this time with a special license after 1675, but no synagogue could be established until 1826.  
                                                                 

Vienna's Ringstrasse 

Jews participated in the 1848 revolution and finally received equal rights in 1867.  Before, Jews who wanted to live in Vienna had to pay a "tolerance tax" and had no rights whatsoever.                                                                     

Born: August 18, 1830 in Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died November 21, 1916 at age 86 in same place as birth

                                   

Franz Joseph I  was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
He ruled from December 2, 1848 to November 21, 1916. 

 Lots went on sale in May 1860 but by February Franz Josef issued a decree permitting Jews to purchase and own land and homes for the 1st time.  Why?  He needed cash to finance the project of building!  Affluent Jews bought lots and invested fortunes in erecting palaces , thinking this was the beginning of a new era for cooperation between Jews and Christians.  Now they could even be like the nobility from the inner city.  55% of the Ringstrasse lots were sold to 44% of the Jews. Until then, only rich Jews could afford to live in Vienna who had no real-estate holdings.  
                                                                     

Ringstrasse, where wealthy Jews were able to build luxurious homes.  

Young Emperor Franz Josef I  dreamed up building the Ringstrassse, which  was a building constructed in 1872 on a wide, ring-shaped boulevard because the emperor wanted to connect the inner city with the outer districts of Vienna.  He demolished the medieval walls and fortifications to build on the cleared land.  

 Many became prominent in political, economic, cultural and scholastic life of the city in the 19th and 20th centuries.  In 1866, Austria was defeated by the Prussian army  in the 7 Weeks' War which led to the weakening of the monarchy but brought about the liberal constitution of 1867 that granted freedom and abolished legal discrimination against Jews.  "Austria’s defeat was a telling blow to Habsburg rule; the Empire was transformed via the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in the following year.  Additionally,  Austria was also excluded from Germany."                                                                                   

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) born in Budapest, Hungary,
studied in Vienna (1878-1884), founder of Political Zionism.  1891-1895
was a Paris reporter and Dryfus trial caused him to realize position of Jews;
wrote book, THE JEWISH STATE. Der Judenstaat.  

ANTI-SEMITISM was spread from the 1880s under Karl Lueger (1844-1910). He was an  Austrian politician, mayor of Vienna, and leader and founder of the Austrian Christian Social Party.  He is credited with the transformation of the city of Vienna into a modern city.   At the same time, this is when Jews from Russia were returning to Palestine with the new proponent by Theodor Herzl of Vienna of Zionism.  

In February 1908, Hitler moved to Vienna  with the goal of attending the art academy and becoming a great artist.   Sixty years before him, Hitler's father also came to Vienna seeking opportunity. At that time the Hapsburg Empire was ruled by Emperor Franz Josef. When Adolf Hitler arrived, it was still ruled by him, although he was now senile and under the influence of corrupt ministers.  His empire, which had ruled Austria and surrounding countries for centuries, was now in great decline.  Vienna, however, remained a city of opportunity and attracted a multicultural population from all over the empire.

WWI of 1914-1918 found Jewish  refugees from Galicia, Hungary and Bukovina coming into Vienna.  At this time there were 17 synagogues in Vienna with one being Sephardic.  

The flourishing Jewish chapter in Vienna’s history has found a sinister ending,  with the annexation in 1938 when there were 180,000 Jews living in the capital.  Germany, led by Hitler and his Nazis, had invaded Austria.  A ferocious persecution of Jews began immediately.  About 1/3 of the Jews managed to emigrate, but almost all the rest were being deported to extermination camps.    Of Vienna’s 94 synagogues and temples,  only the Jewish City Temple survived entirely.  After WWII, survivors from Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia went to Vienna.  Nowadays the Jewish Community has about 7000 members in Vienna and has found its home in the second district.   The Central Synagogue is situated in Seitenstettengasse in the First District. "  The Jewish population in 1991 was 6,000 in Vienna.  
                                                                                       

Jewish victims from Hungary; 6 million altogether
who perished in the Holocaust

" Vienna remained  the capitol of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries." Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism,  is still the predominant religion in Austria and has a long and intense tradition." 
                                                                             

Pope Pius XI (1922–1939). Warsaw, Poland forced his departure as Nuncio. Two years later, he was pope. He signed concordats with numerous countries, including Lithuania and Poland. On March 12, 1938, Germany annexed Austria and Hitler had marched in with his Nazis. Austrian crowds cheered them.   From about 1929 to 1939, Germans were outwardly anti-Semitic towards Jews.  Did he not see it coming?  Warsaw in 1939 had 360,000 Jews. It was in October 1940 that the occupying Germans established a crowded ghetto for Polish Jews, reaching 1/2 million in the ghetto.   

 Pope Pius XI, born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from 6 February 1922 to his death in 1939. He was in Poland,  a state newly restored to existence, but still under effective German and Austro-Hungarian control, before becoming the Pope.   He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929.                                                                             

Pope Pius XII seated in the Sedia Gestatoria in 1939 the year my Jewish uncle finally 
got out of Germany in May
 and sailed to the USA, one of the last to be able to leave.

 Pope Pius XII (Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli,  reigned as Pope from 2 March 1939 to his death in 1958.   The German/Soviet invasion of Catholic Poland  began during his term.  Hitler appointed a new Nazi government, and on March 13 the Anschluss was proclaimed.  Austria existed as a federal state of Germany until the end of World War II.  Pius XII reiterated Church teaching on the "principle of equality"—with specific reference to Jews: "there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision".   The forgetting of solidarity "imposed by our common origin and by the equality of rational nature in all men" was called "pernicious error".  Catholics everywhere were called upon to offer "compassion and help" to the victims of the war. The Pope declared determination to work to hasten the return of peace and trust in prayers for justice, love and mercy, to prevail against the scourge of war.  The letter also decried the deaths of noncombatants. 

Some Jews had tried to escape after May  to go south and hope to cross the Black Sea by 

ship to Palestine.  On December 30, 1939, a river boat, Uranus, had 1,210 Jews who had left 

Vienna and Prague  in November..  The Danube began to freeze over, and Yugoslav government 

did not allow boats to proceed to get to Palestine.  They were held in Yugoslavia for 9 months.  

There, early in 1940, 207 teenagers were saved by receiving Palestine certificates and were

allowed to proceed by train, but the remaining 1,003 were massacred at Sabac in October 1941,

within 6 months of the German conquest of Yugoslavia.  (made into a film) (‘The Darien Dilemma’ - a film by Erez & Nahum Laufer)
 
Just think.  Equal rights came in 1867, but anti-Semitism began in 1880; giving Jews 13 years supposedly of normality.  Then from 1918 to 1938 they suffered from unrest with anti-Semitism building up in the 20s and 30s till 1938 came.  The Jews never had a chance.  "At the 2001 census, 73.6% of the country's population was Roman Catholic."

Resource:  http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2016/01/jews-from-austria.html
http://goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com/2015/07/were-from-court-jews-of-vienna.html
The Jerusalem Report, August 24, 2015, Waltzing on ringstrasse by Michal Levertov, p. 40-43
The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia, Vienna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Austria
https://www.virtualvienna.net/living-in-vienna/religion/
http://shoebat.com/2015/10/10/the-battle-of-vienna-what-every-christian-needs-to-know/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity_in_Hungary
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/homeless.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Prussian_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Joseph_I_of_Austria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Lueger
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-annexes-austria
The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert, page 107
http://www.palyam.org/English/Darien_e about Uranus
http://www.npr.org/2015/06/23/416518188/immortalized-as-the-woman-in-gold-how-a-young-jew-became-a-secular-icon; painting and movie about it (Woman in Gold). Jews of Austria.

The Jewish Connection With North Africa

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Ptolemy VI Philometor, Pharaoh-
Egypt under the control of Ptolemy VIII 164 BCE–163 BCE; Ptolemy VI restored 163 BCE

Our Jewish history connects to Africa since biblical days. "By the time of the last pharaoh, the well-known Cleopatra VII Philopator of the Ptolemaic Dynasty  no longer held the power it once did.   Fewer monuments were erected and, with her death in 30 BCE, Egypt became a Roman province and the glory and might of the pharaohs of old faded into memory. She was a pharaoh.
                                                                           

Cleopatra

Cleopatra, portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor. 

There probably were Jews serving in the military of the last Pharaohs.  At the time of the destruction of the First Temple of Solomon in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, many Jewish  fugitives went back to Egypt seeking refuge.                                                      

586 BCE, Destruction by Babylonians of the Temple

 Many records illustrate the life of the Jewish military colony at Yeb in the 5th century BCE.  This was probably not a unique situation.
                                                                           

Alexander the Great (336-323 BCE) -statue in Istanbul
Young king of Macedonia, made a deep impression on the Jews.  

Then Egypt was conquered by the Greeks, and the Jewish element increased quickly.  Alexander the Great and his successors introduced Jewish settlers into their new cities.  This is how Alexandria became a set of Jewish life and its civilization.
                                                                               

From Egypt, Jewish settlements spread west along the Mediterranean Sea.  By the 2nd century BCE, there was an important colony in Cyrene.  They have found many inscriptions and literary monuments that shows Jews lived there during the Roman period nearly as far west as the Straits of Gibraltar. Egyptian Jews were so strong that they were able to revolt after 70 CE when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans.  The Jews of Cyrene took control of the whole province in 115.

As Christianity grew in Egypt, the rivalry between Christian and Jew developed.  The Patriarch Cyril led many persecutions against Jews in the 4th century.  This was the cause of the end of Alexandrian Jewry.

Farther west, the Vandal invaders introduced a kinder policy towards Jews in the 5th century. Then the Christian Byzantine reconquered the land under Belisarius 100 years later who undid the horrible anti Jewish policies.
                                                                   

Ethiopian Jewish IDF soldier

A tradition developed at this time of the presence of many independent or semi-independent tribes saying that they were Jews.  The Jews of Ethiopia belong to this group.  Their story is that they came from the Queen of Sheba and her union with King Solomon when she went to visit him.

In the 7th century, North Africa experienced a great revival  after the Moslem invasion.   The Jewish communities became completely Arabicized in the language of Arabic, customs and social habits.  Egypt had a new city, Cairo, and it against became the seat of an important settlement.
                                                                           

Tunisia-between Algeria and Libya on the sea.
When under Spanish rule (1535-1574), many Jews were killed or were sold into slavery.  
When under French protection in 1881, Jews were permitted French citizenship in 1910.  By 1990, only 2,500 Jews left. Many Jews had emigrated to France and Israel.    

Farther West was the city of Kairouan, which was near Tunis-between Algeria and Libya.  Jews settled here after its foundation in the 7th century which became a great center of Jewish learning. The community decayed after the 12th century and until the late 19th century, no Jew was allowed to live in the city.  None lives there now.   Eldad Ha-Dani had appeared in about 883. He was a late 9th century traveler whose origins and personality still remain a riddle.  He claimed to belong to the tribe of Dan.  In 880-5, he visited Jewish communities in N. Africa and Spain and told them fantastic accounts of the 10 Tribes. He was living as a nomad.    We believe there were Jewish tribes found inland.

In the middle of the 12th century, the Almohades censored open practice of Judaism in Morocco and in neighboring territories.  This was persecution and caused the migration of Jews to go east back to Egypt.  Finally, the almohades lost their power and Jewish life in North Africa revived.
                                                                         

Jews of Morocco

In 1391, there was a persecution program going on against the Jews and this led to an emigration across the Straits and introduced a new Jewish element of a higher talmudic culture.  Then in 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the Spanish King said Jews had to convert to Catholicism or leave the country.  They faced death if they did not.  This was strictly enforced everywhere, but especially in Morocco we see it was handled a little differently.  .  There the Jews were confined to their own quarter (Melelah), compelled to wear black clothing, made to pay heavy taxes, and treated very badly with swearing and other acts showing they were more like 3rd class citizens; trash.  They were excluded from several Holy Cities like Kairouan, and often gangs tried to massacre Jews.  Generally, they were just tolerated.

Finally, during the 19th century arrived and nothing had changed in the treatment of Jews.  Now the lot of Jews in Ethiopia had deteriorated.  So relations between them and the Jews of Europe opened up.  This brought security and emancipation for the time being, until the Fascist regime came to power.  This led to serious acts in Tripoli even before Italy officially adopted anti-Semitism in 1938 under Hitler's power.  Later, they adopted a policy of systematic discrimination.  Territories under the French imitated this policy after the Franco-German armistice of 1940 when any thought of previous emancipation for Jews was then nullified.
                                                                               

After the German armies occupied North Africa in 1941-1943, there was the persecution against Jews as it was happening in Germany itself.  Persecutions, forced levies, outbreaks of violence were happening everywhere from Tripoli westward.  When the Germans were defeated, the anti-Semitism slackened.  Jews and Moslems were now not getting along.
               
After 1948, the Jews of North Africa left in large numbers, mostly for Israel or France with some going to Canada.  Few Jews remained in Algeria since 1962, while the Libyan community had been liquidated since the Six-Day War of 1967, and very few stayed in Egypt.  Almost all the Ethiopian Jews were taken to Israel in the 1980s and early 1990s.  I was living in Safed at the time and saw the Ethiopian situated there.  We all lived in high-rise apartment buildings.  Safed was cold in the winter, hot in the summer.  At another period, Russian Jews were relocated on the desert.  It was too bad that the two groups could not change places, but it all depended on what housing was available at that time.
                                                                                 

Miss Israel 2014; An 18-year-old resident of Beersheva, Mor Maman, Moroccan. 

By 1990, only 13,500 Jews lived in North Africa and 10,000 of them were in Morocco, where they spoke French.  I was teaching English in the junior high in Safed from 1981-to the end of 19185.  The beautiful lady in charge of our English Department was from Morocco.  She also taught French, so was tri-lingual.  

Update: 3/13/16, 9:41 am Pacific Time:  Israel is coming back to Africa, and Africa is returning to Israel.  Prime Minister Netanyahu said this on February 23rd in welcoming visiting Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who arrived for a 3-day state visits, the first by a Kenyan president since 1994. ( from  magazine-The Jerusalem Report, March 21, 2016 issue page 3). 

Resource: The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/alexander-the-great

Jews of Israel Among the World's Religions and Countries

Nadene Goldfoot                                                        

Catholic Church, St. Peters in Missouri
First Christian religion 1st Century AD (CE) 

As of 2013, there were 7.125 billion people in the world.

China had 1.357 billion people.  .

The USA had 316.5 million people.

The UK had 64.1 million people. 

                                                                         

LDS-Latter Day Saints Mormon Temple, Bismark, North Dakota
Protestant Christian, started in 1820 in New York with Joseph Smith
a religion that has spread all over the world.  

Did you know that Christianity is the largest world religion with 2 billion people?  It's found in:
1. 49 Roman Catholic countries
2. 20 Protestant countries
3. 12 Eastern orthodox countries.
Total countries: 81
                                                                   

Mosque (Islamic Center) in Detroit, Michigan- began in 610 AD (CE)

  Islam is the 2nd largest in the world with 1.6 billion people.  It's found in:
56 Islamic countries.  As of 2011, I had found 48 Muslim majority countries.  Palestine would be the next one if it is created-which would be in land originally ancient Israel.  

The West Bank is Judea and Samaria.  Judea was the southern part of Israel when it divided in 920 BCE after King Solomon died.  Samaria was the land in Israel of the city and surrounding land of their capital.  95-98% of the Palestinian population lives on 40% of the Judea-Samariaan land, leaving 60% almost unpopulated.  Nablus, the largest Palestinian city in Judea-Samaria is surrounded by undeveloped land.  Most Palestinians in Judea-Samaria live in built-up cities and towns  like Nablus and Tulkarm.  Ramallah, another Palestinian city, is the political and economic center of the Palestinian Authority.  
                                                           

Hindu Temple, New Delhi, India started between 500 BCE-300 CE

              
Hinduism is the 3rd largest world religion with 1 billion people.  It's found in 4 Hindu countries. 
                                                                                 

Buddhist Temple-statue or image  of Buddha in every temple 

Buddhism is the 4th largest world religion with 376 million people. It started in 6th century BCE
                                                                       

Neveh Shalom Synagogue in Portland, Oregon with 10 Commandments on building
Judaism started in about 2000 -1500 BCE

Judaism is the smallest and the oldest active world religion, with 14 million people and only 1 country- Israel.

 Between 5-6 million Jews make up 2% of the USA population, and 6 million make up Israel who also have 1.7 million Arabs living with them.  In 1948, there were 160,000 Palestinian Arabs who stayed inside Israel's small borders and because they stayed and did not leave, they became citizens of Israel.  Hebrew and Arabic are Israel's 2 official languages.

2 million other Jews are scattered throughout the world, such as France, Great Britain,  South Africa and others.  Jews make up 0.02% of the world population.

Israel is smaller than New Jersey, one of the USA's smallest states, which is 8,729 square miles.  Israel is only made up of 8,019 square miles.  Israel is so small that it can fit into the state of California 19 times.
                                                                     

Deborah, leader and Judge

Before Israel had kings, they had judges.  Deborah was one of them.  King Saul was Israel's first king in the 11th century BCE.  .  King David was the next king and was born about 1010 BCE and died in 970 BCE.  Jews came to the Promised land before they were even Jews.  It was with Abraham and Sarah who lived in the 2nd millennium BCE or about 1948 BCE..  They in turn had the son Isaac and he was the father of Jacob.  After traveling to Egypt during a famine, they stayed longer than expected and wound up as slaves for 400 years.  They returned to their homeland with Moses.  So they have been natives of Israel for over 3,000 years, and this is proven by archaeological and historical evidence as well as the biblical text.
                                                                   

One find of art work from the Byzantine Period of the 6th century CE was a mosaic showing King David playing the lyre.  This was found in the ancient synagogue in GAZA.  The Israel Museum reported about this.  David was said to be a gingy (red-headed).  This mosaic shows this.

There is reported to be 4,200 religions in the world today.  Some of them are: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Slavic neopaganism, Celtic polytheism, Heathenism (German paganism), Semitic neopaganism, Wicca, Kemetism (Egyptian paganism), Hellenism, Italo-Roman neopaganism.

Resource:  Israel Pocket Facts produced by StandWithUs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Catholic_Church
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Buddhism
http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=37&Issue=1&ArticleID=15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions
https://www.google.com/search?noj=1&q=how+many+people+in+the+world%3F&oq=how+many+people+in+the+world%3F&gs_l=serp.3..0l6.3671.9221.0.10191.29.15.0.13.13.0.286.1856.2j10j1.13.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..3.26.2011.Yy269M-HHB4