Jewish Community in Palestine During

¶ … Jewish Community in Palestine During the British Mandate

During the time of the British Mandate, the Jewish community in Palestine grew from around one-sixth of the population to more than one-third of the population. The main reason for this was immigration which took place between 1920 and 1945. Most of that immigration was legal, but some Jewish people found their way there illegally, as well. The majority of the immigrants also came from Germany and surrounding areas, generally during the Nazi time period. With that being the case, most of the Jewish people who arrived there had been through similar experiences or knew of others who had, so they had much that they could talk about with one another.

This helped to foster a strong sense of community from the Jewish people who congregated in Palestine. When looking at the Jewish Community in Palestine during the time of the British Mandate, it is important to address what Judaism is, what happened to the Jews that caused them to flee other areas (like Germany) and what the Jewish people have done to help them foster a better sense of community, both then and now.

Judaism is the religion that Christianity originally came from. Jesus Christ was Jewish. Judaism believes that there is no need for an intermediary between man and God, and that everyone should be treated equally. Some people say that Judaism is not really a religion, but it is. It is a set of ideas and beliefs about how life should be lived, and it is taught to children in Hebrew schools. Being Jewish is a religion, but the Supreme Court has also ruled that 'Jewish' is a race, just like Italian, German, or African-American. Many Jewish people are very offended by this since 'race' is a genetic distinction, not one based on religion. They are also upset by it because it brings about unpleasant thoughts of Nazi Germany and a time when Jews were declared an 'inferior race' that must be wiped off the face of the Earth.

Jewish people today do not see themselves as a race, a religion, or a class of people, specifically. Rather, they see themselves as belonging to the Jewish Nation, which is a great group of people. Jewish people are very family and community oriented, as is evidenced by most of their holidays. Many of their beliefs are very similar to Christianity, but they do not believe in the Messiah in the same way Christians do.

The Jews of today were originally called Hebrews. Now they are almost always called Jewish. Even if someone does not practice the religion and never has, if their mother is Jewish, they are considered Jewish. The religion of their father is irrelevant. They will always be Jewish in the eyes of other Jewish people. People who are not born Jewish can also convert to Judaism, but they must go through the conversion process correctly. They cannot just attend all of the services and observe all of the holidays and be considered Jewish by other Jewish people. It is a very close-knit group of people who share many things in common, and it has been this way always. It is part of what helped the Jewish people make it through some very trying times in their history and stay together as a collective unit.

The British Mandate

This was created by the League of Nations when the First World War was over (Shindler, 2008). The Mandate was designed to help the Ottoman Empire, but because of the problems with Germany and other countries, Jewish people started flocking to Palestine (Shindler, 2008). Originally, the Jewish people moving into Palestine was not a problem, but so many of them began immigrating there that there were quotas put on how many could come into the country (Sachar, 1990).

Because Anti-Semitism was growing up rapidly throughout much of Europe it started to spread to other areas and the Arabs in Palestine began to have similar feelings and opinions (Sachar, 1990). They did not persecute the Jewish people like Germany did, but they did want to keep them from coming in any more (Roshweald, 2006). The quotas were thought to be good for some and bad for others, but both the Arabs and the Jewish people liked them, for completely different reasons (Shindler, 2008).

There were several massacres of the Jewish people by the Arab people, and the Jewish people retaliated by massacring some of the Arabs (Roshweald, 2006). With this being the case, both sides had groups that were declared to be terrorist organizations (Roshweald, 2006). It seemed that, resilient as the Jewish people were and still are today in many ways, there was really nowhere that they could reside during that time where they were not subjected to at least some degree and type of persecution (Sachar, 1990). With this in mind, however, it is important to look at the history of the Jewish people and where they came from before they made their way to Palestine.

Where the Jewish People Came From Judaism is one of the oldest religions known to man. It has been through four distinct periods in history. In 586 B.C.E., the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians (Momigliano, 1987). Many of the writings that were created after the destruction of the Temple will be familiar not only to Jewish individuals but also to Christians. These writings were Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Momigliano, 1987). There were also important prophetic works written at this time. The destruction of this Temple marks the official beginning of Judaism as a religion (Momigliano, 1987). A second Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. By the Romans (Momigliano, 1987). Jewish individuals were back in Jerusalem at this time because Babylonia had fallen to Persia, and the Persians allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. When the Romans took over, they destroyed the temple a second time. They stopped a Jewish rebellion, and this destruction of the temple was much more final than the first one (Momigliano, 1987).

Naturally, these were not things to joke about, although many comedians have been Jewish, so they found common ground in laughter in later years. The dangers of persecution and the destruction of their property were painful and terrible from the standpoint of individual lives and from the standpoint of their society. However, they got something from that. They were 'picked on' and mistreated, and after it had passed from immediate pain into something that was more of a distant historical memory, those who liked to make jokes found reasons to joke about it (Telushkin, 1998). From that point forward, Jews became not only a religious group but a political and social entity as well, because they had more common ground that they could use to pull together, and their shared jokes made them feel as though they belonged somewhere (Momigliano, 1987).

Not all of them stayed in one place, and many of them lived within the lands that were controlled by Christianity or Islam (Telushkin, 1998). Some Jews were treated very well, and others were treated poorly, but they all had their shared beliefs and their shared community - that sense of self - that they could use to draw strength from (Momigliano, 1987). They could joke with other Jews, because they knew that they could not spend their entire lives being angry for what had happened to them in the past. Instead, they had to find something good from their misery. They had gotten back to being a cohesive and mostly happy people as a whole, just as much as any other group was (Telushkin, 1998). The past was behind them and they were looking ahead with humor in their hearts - and then something else happened.

The Holocaust

The Weimar Republic was doomed from its inception, although this was not realized until several years into it (Peukert, 1993). Those who originally created the Republic had high hopes for a democratic government that was recognized by the people as being what they wanted to keep for their country throughout time (Kolb, 2004). There were constitutional, political, economic, and cultural obstacles that it faced, however, and that it did not confront satisfactorily. Had it done so, it may have been better equipped to survive Unfortunately, the Weimar Republic was created rapidly, and there was not enough thought put into it to ensure that it would hold up under scrutiny (Peukert, 1993). Culturally, the German people distrusted it, constitutionally, there were arguments as to its legitimacy, politically, it did not offer the kind of democracy that was hoped for, and economically, it damaged the material base to the point that the people of the country had difficulties financially (Kolb, 2004).

The Weimar Republic was basically born from the national defeat in WWI, and occurred in 1918 (Peukert, 1993). During the time period that it was active (until 1933), however, it was not called the Weimar Republic by those who were involved with it. That was a term that was used only later by historians and others that talked about that particular period of time in German history (Kolb, 2004). Those who were involved with the Republic called it the German Reich (Peukert, 1993). From the point of creation of the Republic, Germany was launched into an experiment in modernity that did not turn out the way that they hoped it would.

Part of the reason for this was that the experiment did not take place under circumstances that would ensure the success of the Weimar Republic (Kolb, 2004). The idea behind the Republic was to create a democracy that Germany could then survive under, thus assuring freedom and peace for all of its citizens (Peukert, 1993). While this was an admirable goal, the reality of what was created and how well it actually worked was much different from the desired plan.

Unfortunately, the political compromises that should have been made were in fact not made, and this shrinking away from compromise stopped the government from appearing legitimate in the eyes of the German people (Kolb, 2004). Germany has traditionally had problems with governmental structure, and this has caused a general distrust. Now the country operates much more efficiently, but it struggled for some time. The government that was operating during the time of the Weimar republic was not as democratic as it was designed to be, and had difficulties in communicating with the governments of other countries, as well as with the people of Germany.

In addition, the economic and material bases were also shrinking, causing problems with the liberal government and the welfare structure it created (Peukert, 1993). Too many people found themselves out of jobs, and they had no choice but to turn to the government for help, even though many of them were angry at the government for initially causing the problem. While they felt that the government should take care of them in their time of need, they also retained much hostility toward it, because they believed that more could have been done to protect their jobs and the way of life that they were used to.

Essentially, the Weimar Republic was a tour of all of the fateful choices that were seen to be possible in the modern world (Peukert, 1993). It moved from one problem to another without actually solving any of the problems that it was facing. Instead, it seemed only as though political difficulties gave way to economic difficulties, etc. One difficulty was temporarily forgotten with the beginning of a new one, but when the old one did not disappear, individuals were quickly reminded of it again. The only way to correct the problems was to make sweeping changes and create new leadership. Eventually, Adolf Hitler would take that role.

Nearly 6 million Jewish people went to their deaths from 1939 to 1945, during World War II. In 1947, the United Nations created a Jewish state in Palestine, which in 1948 became Israel (Baron, 1986). Jewish history is somewhat hard to tie together because there were so many Jewish individuals living all over the world during this time. Not everyone treated those who believed in Judaism the same way that the Germans did (Goffman, 1968). Many people were much more understanding of those who had different faiths, and they did not treat the Jewish people as though they were wrong because they believed something that was slightly different (Baron, 1986).

Some of this may have been because many Jewish individuals lived near Christians, and even though Christianity and Judaism are not the same they do share many common threads and worship the same version of God (Baron, 1986). However, this is not to say that the Jewish people were not persecuted by Christians in some areas of the world (Goffman, 1968). They even found ways to turn this into a joke, but it took a long time for that to take place. Some things just are not immediately funny, and some things never become funny. Jewish people even now do not joke about the holocaust very much, but some of them do, and it appears to be a way of healing (Telushkin, 1998).

Jewish people are normally tight-knit groups, and their religious leaders are their Rabbis. While they see the world in terms of believers and nonbelievers they are not violent about it as the Germans were (Baron, 1986). They do not see other races as being inferior simply because they choose to believe something different, and many Jewish people alive today still have a difficult time when Germany is mentioned because of the persecution that their ancestors had to endure (Goffman, 1968). That does not mean that there are no violent people who believe in Judaism. There are violent people in any society or religion if one looks hard enough. In general, however, Jewish people are tolerant people who believe what they believe and put a great deal of faith and love and work into their families and their religion.

How Humor Fostered Community

Instead of picking on and harming others, they find an outlet for any upset that they have over themselves or others by making jokes (Berger, 1997). Many of these are very self-deprecating, but they are also often very funny. It appears that this appeals to people so easily because all people have things about themselves or their societal groups that they feel uncomfortable about. They might think that these are taboo or should not be talked about, but everything should be talked out (Berger, 1997). Talking things through is how people come to a better understanding of themselves and of others. Without this, people do not evolve - not individually, and not as groups. It is unfortunate, but there are so many people who are stuck.

They find nothing funny because they cannot laugh at themselves and they do not understand that they have to learn to let go of the past so that they can enjoy the future. Jewish comedians and many other Jewish people get that. They have moved on from the destruction of temples and the holocaust, and they will continue to move on from any other persecution that they face. (Berger, 1997).

As times have evolved, some of the modern areas have blended in with some of the more traditional areas of Judaism. Social change becomes a problem for religion quite often because many of the holy books of any religion were written so long ago that many of the things that happen today were not addressed (Baron, 1986). Jokes were probably not addressed, either, but these are worked seamlessly into the lives of many Jewish people and they are able to reconcile this with their beliefs. Basically, there are several different categories that fall into the Jewish religion.

There are the individuals who believe in rabbinic Judaism, which is the traditional form of Judaism. There are also reform, integrationist-Orthodox, and conservative forms of Judaism (Baron, 1986). The Zionist movement also came about through the trials and tribulations of social change, and it was this movement that pointed out to the others in Judaism how unreliable and strange the world actually it is. Most Jewish comedians fall into this more 'relaxed' form of Judaism (Berger, 1997).

Changes to Judaism

Zionism changed Judaism as it had been formerly known, and took the signs, symbols, and language of an ancient religion and turned it into something that can be applied to modern times without losing the purpose and intent that belonged to the Torah (Baron, 1986). Traditional Judaism believes that the Torah was written by Moses, but religious scholars have determined that it is actually a collection of works written by several different people during that time (Baron, 1986).

Not all of the stories were written in the exact same time period, and many of the stories were blended together to make one. If the holy book that a person has believed in throughout history suddenly turns out to be something other than what one thought it was, what is one to do? There are only so many ways to handle this. Despair is certainly one way to address the issue, but it will solve nothing (Berger, 1997). Joking and enjoying life is much easier. Just because things are not what a person thought they were certainly does not mean that those things are bad.

Many Jews who had been living in Western Europe and had been somewhat restricted to closed and impoverished communities were eventually given the rest of the rights that normal citizens had (Baron, 1986). This was good in many ways, but it also threatened the existence of many of the close-knit Jewish communities. They began to intermarry with Gentiles and work and live beside them (Baron, 1986).