I have just listened to your discussion with Tom Holland about Christianity. As usual, on Honesty and within the Free Press it was nuanced, intelligent and informative. It is the reason I am a subscriber. Such outlets as the Free Press and the Dispatch give me hope that there can be discussions about the worl…
I have just listened to your discussion with Tom Holland about Christianity. As usual, on Honesty and within the Free Press it was nuanced, intelligent and informative. It is the reason I am a subscriber. Such outlets as the Free Press and the Dispatch give me hope that there can be discussions about the world that are not driven totally by some agenda.
However, as an orthodox Jew living in Israel, I was surprised to hear Tom Holland refer to the Jews around Jesus’ time and afterwards as ‘Judaeans’, and secondly, to hear him say that the world and the Jews, themselves only began to use the word Jew, to describe themselves a number of years after the destruction of the Temple and that, furthermore, it was derived from a Greek word. Last and perhaps most disturbing was his assertion we Jews only began to look upon ourselves as being one people when we no longer were connected to the land of Judaea implying that before that, we were only citizens of a certain particular place. Yes, Paul was most certainly a Jew though he came from Tarsus which was located north of Israel which now is a part of Turkey.
It is true that in the Bible the word Jew is derived from יהודה, Judah, or Yehuda, the fourth son of Leah and Jacob and whose tribe and land ascribed to it, along with that of Benjamin were the only two tribes remaining in Israel after the exile of the ten tribes of Israel. The land of those ten tribes was called Israel. The land of Judah and Benjamin was called Judah. So that the word, Yehuda, referred mostly to the land of Yehuda or Judah.
However, in Esther we read: אִ֣ישׁ יְהוּדִ֔י הָיָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מׇרְדֳּכַ֗י בֶּ֣ן יָאִ֧יר בֶּן־שִׁמְעִ֛י בֶּן־קִ֖ישׁ אִ֥ישׁ יְמִינִֽי׃. –
"There was a Jewish man in Shushan, the capital, and his name was Mordechai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son or Kish, a Benjamite.
So we see the word being used in the Bible. I’m not sure why Mr. Holland says the word to describe the Jewish people some time after the destruction of the Temple and the second exile of the Jewish people and that it has a Greek derivation.
Indeed, after the destruction of the first Temple most of the Jews were exiled to Babylonia. Even after they were allowed to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple many Jews remained in Babylonia. In fact, by a century or more before the times of Jesus, there were Jews in many places in the ancient world. Needless to say, they did not call them selves Judaeans. In fact, because most were descended from the tribe of Judah, the word, Jew gradually was transformed from a description of a place to a more ethnic description of a people. Coins have been found along with a wedding contract which use the word Jew to describe us as a people.
I can assure you that the Jews living in Babylon at the time of the Second Temple and even those living in Israel did not refer to themselves as Judaeans, i.e. to refer to place or to a country. A great number of Jews did not live in Israel. And there were Jews in the north: the Galil, or Galilee. When the Greeks and the Roman attacked, they defended themselves as all members of the same Jewish people. At that time, the word Yisroel, (Israel) was more frequently used to describe the Jewish people.
Last, it is true that the Torah has many mitzvohs spanning all aspects of life and that maintaining our own laws, lifestyle and identity as a people was of primary importance so that, in many ways we were different from the cultures in which we lived. However, in spite of whatever Paul and Christians theologians throughout the centuries have asserted, our conception of spirituality and of G-d was not narrow at all and indeed, was very universal. Jonah, when asked to name his country and his people says:
Especially since October 7 and clearly for years prior to that (as we have come to see) there has been a concerted effort ( clearly funded by Qatar and other Moslem groups) to delegitimize our connection as Jews to the land of Israel. But of course this is nothing new. The Romes changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolia and changed the name of Israel to Palestine for that very reason. And before that the Seleucid Greeks did their best to severe our connection with the Torah.
I have no doubt that Mr. Holland has the best and most scholarly of intentions. But in this use of one single word to describe a people who have maintained their identity and their belief for centuries and in every kind of country, and in the most difficult of conditions I have to say that he has made a mistake. And it is a mistake that was disturbing to me because, on the surface and to a not very particular listener it would seem that even in Roman and Greek times, our identity as Jews and the very name, itself, is now also in question.
I hope you get my letter and are able to read it. I didn’t think it would be read by you or by anyone if it got buried in the comments section. I don’t have Facebook or X or Instagram so I could not used those mediums either.
I hope that you can address this issue. I only that Rabbi Jonathan Sachs were still with us because I know he’d address in the most respectful and informative way. If you can think of another course, perhaps Rabbi Soleveitchik who can address it, I think it would be very beneficial.
Dear Bari and the Free Press,
I have just listened to your discussion with Tom Holland about Christianity. As usual, on Honesty and within the Free Press it was nuanced, intelligent and informative. It is the reason I am a subscriber. Such outlets as the Free Press and the Dispatch give me hope that there can be discussions about the world that are not driven totally by some agenda.
However, as an orthodox Jew living in Israel, I was surprised to hear Tom Holland refer to the Jews around Jesus’ time and afterwards as ‘Judaeans’, and secondly, to hear him say that the world and the Jews, themselves only began to use the word Jew, to describe themselves a number of years after the destruction of the Temple and that, furthermore, it was derived from a Greek word. Last and perhaps most disturbing was his assertion we Jews only began to look upon ourselves as being one people when we no longer were connected to the land of Judaea implying that before that, we were only citizens of a certain particular place. Yes, Paul was most certainly a Jew though he came from Tarsus which was located north of Israel which now is a part of Turkey.
It is true that in the Bible the word Jew is derived from יהודה, Judah, or Yehuda, the fourth son of Leah and Jacob and whose tribe and land ascribed to it, along with that of Benjamin were the only two tribes remaining in Israel after the exile of the ten tribes of Israel. The land of those ten tribes was called Israel. The land of Judah and Benjamin was called Judah. So that the word, Yehuda, referred mostly to the land of Yehuda or Judah.
However, in Esther we read: אִ֣ישׁ יְהוּדִ֔י הָיָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מׇרְדֳּכַ֗י בֶּ֣ן יָאִ֧יר בֶּן־שִׁמְעִ֛י בֶּן־קִ֖ישׁ אִ֥ישׁ יְמִינִֽי׃. –
"There was a Jewish man in Shushan, the capital, and his name was Mordechai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son or Kish, a Benjamite.
So we see the word being used in the Bible. I’m not sure why Mr. Holland says the word to describe the Jewish people some time after the destruction of the Temple and the second exile of the Jewish people and that it has a Greek derivation.
Indeed, after the destruction of the first Temple most of the Jews were exiled to Babylonia. Even after they were allowed to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple many Jews remained in Babylonia. In fact, by a century or more before the times of Jesus, there were Jews in many places in the ancient world. Needless to say, they did not call them selves Judaeans. In fact, because most were descended from the tribe of Judah, the word, Jew gradually was transformed from a description of a place to a more ethnic description of a people. Coins have been found along with a wedding contract which use the word Jew to describe us as a people.
I can assure you that the Jews living in Babylon at the time of the Second Temple and even those living in Israel did not refer to themselves as Judaeans, i.e. to refer to place or to a country. A great number of Jews did not live in Israel. And there were Jews in the north: the Galil, or Galilee. When the Greeks and the Roman attacked, they defended themselves as all members of the same Jewish people. At that time, the word Yisroel, (Israel) was more frequently used to describe the Jewish people.
Last, it is true that the Torah has many mitzvohs spanning all aspects of life and that maintaining our own laws, lifestyle and identity as a people was of primary importance so that, in many ways we were different from the cultures in which we lived. However, in spite of whatever Paul and Christians theologians throughout the centuries have asserted, our conception of spirituality and of G-d was not narrow at all and indeed, was very universal. Jonah, when asked to name his country and his people says:
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם עִבְרִ֣י אָנֹ֑כִי וְאֶת־יְהֹוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֲנִ֣י יָרֵ֔א אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה אֶת־הַיָּ֖ם וְאֶת־הַיַּבָּשָֽׁה׃
“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the ETERNAL, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.”
Our conception of G-d has never been a narrow one. He has never been our G-d but the G-d of the Heavens and the Earth.
This is a link to an article from the Shalom Hartman institute that gives an excellent overview of how the word Jew came into use.
https://www.hartman.org.il/how-did-the-word-jew-become-identified-with-the-jewish-people/
Especially since October 7 and clearly for years prior to that (as we have come to see) there has been a concerted effort ( clearly funded by Qatar and other Moslem groups) to delegitimize our connection as Jews to the land of Israel. But of course this is nothing new. The Romes changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolia and changed the name of Israel to Palestine for that very reason. And before that the Seleucid Greeks did their best to severe our connection with the Torah.
I have no doubt that Mr. Holland has the best and most scholarly of intentions. But in this use of one single word to describe a people who have maintained their identity and their belief for centuries and in every kind of country, and in the most difficult of conditions I have to say that he has made a mistake. And it is a mistake that was disturbing to me because, on the surface and to a not very particular listener it would seem that even in Roman and Greek times, our identity as Jews and the very name, itself, is now also in question.
I hope you get my letter and are able to read it. I didn’t think it would be read by you or by anyone if it got buried in the comments section. I don’t have Facebook or X or Instagram so I could not used those mediums either.
I hope that you can address this issue. I only that Rabbi Jonathan Sachs were still with us because I know he’d address in the most respectful and informative way. If you can think of another course, perhaps Rabbi Soleveitchik who can address it, I think it would be very beneficial.
Please keep up the good work.
All the best and Happy Chanukah.
Yeshaya Zimmerman
Beitar Ilit
Israel