Jewish History Crash Course #1 - Why Study History

    By: Rabbi Ken Spiro

    This series is designed as a basic overview of all the Jewish history -- all 4,000 years of it.

    Usually when one mentions the word "history" most people break out in a cold sweat. They remember back to junior high school and
    they associate history with the memorization of names, dates, places and events necessary only for exams and then forgotten
    afterwards. This is probably why Mark Twain said, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education."

    So before we actually begin talking about Jewish history, let's talk a little bit about why we need to learn history in the first place. What
    is history? What isn't history? What benefit does learning history serve?

    History is, first of all, the testing ground of ideas. We can talk in theory about ideas, but the passage of time clearly shows us which
    ideas are right or wrong. So, for instance, a hundred years ago a Communist and a Capitalist could debate which system would dominate
    the world, but recent history has shown us that Communism has failed and Capitalism is sailing along.

    There's a tremendous amount of lessons that can be learned from history. As the Spanish-American philosopher, George Santayana
    said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

    So the basic reason to learn history in general is that people, more or less, are the same. Technology might change, the geopolitical
    realities of the world might change, but people tend to do the same stupid things over and over again. And unless we learn from the past
    and remember it, and apply those lessons for the future, we're destined to get stuck in the same rut and repeat the same mistakes over
    and over.

    SPECIAL THEME

    In Jewish history this is the theme without a doubt. As the Torah, in the Book of Deuteronomy teaches:

         Remember world history; study the generational epochs. Ask your father and he will relate to you, your elders and they
         will tell you. (Deut. 32:7)

    But Judaism does more than these words imply. Judaism introduces an idea into human history which is incredibly revolutionary in all
    aspects, but particularly in the aspect of morality and certainly in the aspect of history -- the idea of a God who acts in history. It's a
    revolutionary idea and one of the fundamental Jewish beliefs.

    We believe in a God who is the Creator, Sustainer and Supervisor, which means, not a God who created the world and then went to
    Miami, but an Infinite Being who is actively involved in creation.

    Everything in the universe is under God's control. Therefore, history is a controlled process leading to a destination.

    This means we not only do we want to learn history to avoid the mistakes we've made in the past, but because we have a place to get to.
    There's a goal. That's an incredibly empowering idea in human history -- that we're going somewhere, we have a destination, there's a
    finish line.

    This is another reason not to make the same mistakes -- we want to get to that destination as quuickly and as painlessly as possible.
    History is the map to get us there.

    So therefore, in this series, we are not going to focus so much on is not the names, dates, places -- although it's very important to know
    that -- but on the patterns.

    The history we have learned when we were in school is the history of power. The big battles, the big empires. The bottom line is that the
    people who make the noise get the attention. But Jewish history is not the history of power. It's the history of ideas. It's subtle history,
    below the surface, behind the events.

    So when we look at the history from the viewpoint of ideas, we see things in a totally different way. It doesn't change the events, it only
    changes how we understand the events. It's very important to keep this in mind throughout this series. What we're talking about really is
    the ultimate cause and effect scenario that's behind the scenes.

    JEWISH TIME

    Jewish time begins with the creation of Adam who is seen as the physical and spiritual pinnacle in terms of the creation of the world.

    As the Book of Genesis relates it, Adam was created on the sixth day in the process of creation, or 5760 years ago. (The year 2000 in the
    Gregorian calendar, which begins count from the time of Jesus, is 5760 in the Hebrew calendar which begins count from the time of
    Adam.) But even though we say that Jewish time begins then, we have no problem in saying the days of creation previous to Adam
    lasted 15 billion years.

    The concept of the universe being extremely old is not a problem in the way Judaism understands the Bible. This is because the Bible's
    discussion of how the world was created clearly indicates an advancing evolutionary process -- from nothing to something, from energy
    to matter, to physical matter, to aquatic life, to fish, to birds, etc. This is an evolutionary process going from simple to complex to the
    most complex thing -- the human being.

    One problem with Darwin's theory of evolution is the idea of chance. Judaism believes the world is evolving, but that it's a guided
    evolution. Chance is antithetical to the Jewish conception of how the universe runs, and it it runs contrary to our the Jewish notion of
    history.

    Nothing is happening by chance, whether it's the evolution of the entire universe or all the affairs of the Planet Earth. As insignificant as
    we may be, we are on a guided journey.

    Judaism says that Jewish time begins with Adam, but there's no problem with saying from the Jewish perspective that there were
    forerunners of Adam -- hominids that physically looked like human beings, Cro-Magnon man, Neanderthal, etc. Cro-Magnon, actually
    had a larger cranium than the Homo-sapiens (which is what the descendants of Adam are), but Cro-Magnon didn't do too much over a
    very long period of time.

    Homo-sapiens on the other hand have been amazing. If you think of what human beings have done in the few thousands -- from simple
    tools to use of metals, to the space shuttle and nuclear power and computers, it's amazing how quickly we've advanced.

    Adam is unique among the other creatures previously inhabiting the earth not just because he gives rise to such an amazingly
    innovative group of descendants, but because Adam is created b'tzellem Elohim, "in the image of God." This means he has a soul -- a
    neshama -- a higher, spiritual, intellectual essence. This Divine spark is the God-like thing we human beings all have.

    Once Adam is completed, then God, so to speak, takes off his cosmic watch, hands it to Adam and says: "Now we switch to earth time."
    A day becomes a revolution of the earth on its axis, a year is the earth going round the sun once, etc. We say that God took off his
    watch 5760 years ago. That's Jewish chronology.

    The appearance of Adam corresponds more or less to the beginning of civilization. Historians and anthropologists basically say that
    civilization begins about 5,500 years ago, which is about when Judaism says Adam was created.

    What we know about Adam and his immediate descendants --the most important one of whom is Abrahamm, the first Jew -- we learn from
    the Bible. But how trustworthy is the Bible as a history book? We shall take up that subject in the next installment.

    NEXT: THE BIBLE AS HISTORY