The following excerpts from several articles provide only a very small part of a much, much bigger picture of Jewish history. Open the embedded links for the cited articles to read them in their entirety.
In the year 1741 BCE, Abraham began his long journey from Haran to Canaan - a journey which would change the history of the world and have a profound effect on the development of most major religions.
(This website provides Year by Year History of the Jewish people
with many embedded page links to read more information and
also includes links to indices of names, entries, and places.)
The people of Israel (also called the "Jewish People") trace their origin to Abraham, who established the belief that there is only one God, the creator of the universe (see Torah). Abraham, his son Yitshak (Isaac), and grandson Jacob (Israel), are referred to as the patriarchs of the Israelites. All three patriarchs lived in the Land of Canaan, that later came to be known as the Land of Israel. They and their wives are buried in the Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in Hebron (Genesis Chapter 23).
The concept of segregating Jews involuntarily behind walls was developed in ancient times, but it was not actually implemented as a policy until 1462 in Frankfurt, Germany......At one time or another, all Jews were expelled from England (1290), France (1306 and 1394), Austria (1420), and Spain (1492). There were local expulsions throughout Europe including those in Germany.
The extremely long history of Jewish people (who have long been in the "minority" of peoples throughout the world) is one of many
trials,
tribulations,
turbulence,
perseverance, and survival against many obstacles that include prejudice, discrimination,
xenophobia all hiding under the guise of protecting non-Jewish people from those "dirty Jews" as they have been called by the "majority" who profess they are only acting to protect themselves.
Oh, gentle reader, you are probably wondering where the Syrian Refugees, Muslims, and Donald Trump part of the title of this Roland Hansen Commentary comes in. It's really quite simple.
People have been fleeing Syria by the millions to escape the horrors of the violent
Syrian civil war and from the terrorist organization called the
Islamic State. In their life or death flight, these men, women, and children have sought refuge throughout Europe and North America, including the United States of America.
However, many countries have refused to accept the Syrian refugees, some countries have limited their numbers; some countries have required the refugees to reside within a certain specified geographical area; and many people are calling for the refugees to be clearly identified, cataloged, and tracked.
There is an unfathomable number of people who have a firmly held opinion that all Syrian refugees are Muslims and/or that there are many Muslim terrorists in disguise of refugees. These politically conservative people are of the opinion that the Syrian refugees should be treated as the Jewish people have been treated throughout much of history. -- Keep them isolated, keep them away; keep them out of the country --- all for "our" own protection (of course) because "they" are murderous heathens who only want to kill Christians and Jews and take over the world. Oh, the horror!
(Oh, the shades of thoughts of the Crusades waged by Christians, the Inquisitions conducted by Christians, and the Holocaust executed by Nazi German Christians.)
Well, I got news for those Conservative-minded self-avowed
saviors of
Western society, aka Western culture, aka Western culture. Not all these refugees are Muslim, certainly many are Muslim but not all. More news: Just as there are many denominations of Christianity and just as there are many denominations of Judaism, there are various denominations of Islam, aka Muslims. Yes, there are many terrorists who are Muslim but when examined as a percentage of the millions of Muslims in the world the terrorists are in no way close to be a large percentage of the entire Muslim population. There are many
terrorists who call themselves Christian, but there is no movement in the Western world to ban or limit Christians.
I could go on and on, but I also realize those persons who are anti-Syrian Refugee and/or anti-Muslim will just come up with their own arguments to point out what they perceive to be the
fallacy of my perspective, just as I perceive the fallacy of their perspective.
Now,
Donald Trump! Tell you what -- rather than me writing about him on this topic, I suggest you just read these articles to which I have placed an embedded link:
Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, "By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
Germany's Catholics were proud as peacocks to count their Fuerher as one of their own ... it was extremely important in a country where 98% of the population viewed themselves as Christian, that Hitler persuade the masses that he was one of them, i.e. Christian
The population of Germany in 1933 was around 60 million. Almost all Germans were Christian, belonging either to the Roman Catholic (ca. 20 million members) or the Protestant (ca. 40 million members) churches. The Jewish community in Germany in 1933 was less than 1% of the total population of the country.How did Christians and their churches in Germany respond to the Nazi regime and its laws, particularly to the persecution of the Jews? The racialized anti-Jewish Nazi ideology converged with antisemitism that was historically widespread throughout Europe at the time and had deep roots in Christian history. For all too many Christians, traditional interpretations of religious scriptures seemed to support these prejudices.
Is it any wonder that on January 21, 2016, I posted the Roland Hansen Commentary:
Is Donald Trump the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler?
