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171-434: The surviving manuscripts of Greek translations appear to contain several historical anachronisms , which is why some Protestant scholars now consider the book ahistorical. Instead, the book is classified as a parable , theological novel , or even the first historical novel . The Roman Catholic Church has historically maintained the book's historicity , assigning its events to the reign of King Manasseh of Judah and that

342-568: A Peshitta (Syriac version) of Judith in support of his rendering of Deuteronomy 21:14. Although early Christians , such as Clement of Rome , Tertullian , and Clement of Alexandria , read and used the Book of Judith, some of the oldest Christian canons, including the Bryennios List (1st/2nd century), that of Melito of Sardis (2nd century), and Origen (3rd century), do not include it. Jerome , when he produced his Latin translation of

513-511: A juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type of anachronism is an object misplaced in time, but it may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a plant or animal, a custom, or anything else associated with a particular period that is placed outside its proper temporal domain. An anachronism may be either intentional or unintentional. Intentional anachronisms may be introduced into

684-652: A menorah depiction found in Augusta Raurica ( Kaiseraugst , Switzerland ) in 2001 attests to Jewish presence in Germania Superior . Evidence in towns north of the Loire or in southern Gaul date to the 5th century and 6th centuries. By late antiquity, Jewish communities were found in modern-day France and Germany. In the Taman Peninsula , modern day Russia , Jewish presence dates back to

855-644: A "heaven for the Jews". According to some sources, about three-quarters of all the Jews in Europe lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century. In the middle of the 16th century, Poland welcomed Jewish newcomers from Italy and Turkey , mostly of Sephardi origin; while some of the immigrants from the Ottoman Empire claimed to be Mizrahim . Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. In 1503,

1026-590: A Jewish state for the Jewish nation. In that way, he argued, the Jews could become a people like all other peoples, and antisemitism would cease to exist. Herzl infused political Zionism with a new and practical urgency. He brought the World Zionist Organization into being and, together with Nathan Birnbaum, planned its First Congress at Basel in 1897. For the first four years, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) met every year, then, up to

1197-547: A book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Judean countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the Assyrian general, Holofernes , with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on

1368-460: A burgeoning world economy. Culturally, there were changes seen in the way that Jews were depicted in art, particularly in the 17th century. Pejorative tropes of Jews in the Medieval period did not entirely disappear, but there were now straightforward scenes of Jewish religious worship and everyday life, indicating more tolerant attitudes by larger Western European society. At the close of period,

1539-521: A decision challenged as "rash" by Judith. Chapter 9 constitutes Judith's "extended prayer", "loudly proclaimed" in advance of her actions in the following chapters. This runs to 14 verses in English versions, 19 verses in the Vulgate. Today, it is generally accepted that the Book of Judith's historicity is refuted. The fictional nature "is evident from its blending of history and fiction, beginning in

1710-466: A god". Holofernes is ordered to take revenge on those who refused to ally themselves with Nebuchadnezzar. Achior , an Ammonite leader at Nebuchadnezzar's court; in chapter 5 he summarises the history of Israel and warns the king of Assyria of the power of their God, the "God of heaven", but is mocked. He is protected by the people of Bethulia and is Judaized , and circumcised on hearing what Judith has accomplished. Bagoas , or Vagao (Vulgate),

1881-580: A later copyist or translator, who lived centuries later. Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin argues the possibility that the book of Judith is a roman à clef , a historical record with different names for people and places. Ashurbanipal is never referenced by name in the Bible, except perhaps for the corrupt form " Asenappar " in 2 Chronicles and Ezra 4:10 or the anonymous title "The King of Assyria" in 2 Chronicles ( 33:11 ), which means his name might have never been recorded by Jewish historians, which could explain

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2052-472: A literary or artistic work to help a contemporary audience engage more readily with a historical period. Anachronism can also be used intentionally for purposes of rhetoric, propaganda, comedy, or shock. Unintentional anachronisms may occur when a writer, artist, or performer is unaware of differences in technology, terminology and language, customs and attitudes, or even fashions between different historical periods and eras. The metachronism-prochronism contrast

2223-458: A new fervent brand of Judaism based on Kabbalah known as Hasidism . The rise of Hasidic Judaism within Poland's borders and beyond had a great influence on the rise of Haredi Judaism all over the world, with a continuous influence through its many Hasidic dynasties including those of Chabad-Lubavitch , Aleksander , Bobov , Ger , and Nadvorna . More recent rebbes of Polish origin include Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (1880–1950),

2394-492: A particular time period as to seem strange when encountered in a later era. They may be objects or ideas that were once common but are now considered rare or inappropriate. They can take the form of obsolete technology or outdated fashion or idioms. A prochronism (from the Greek πρό , "before", and χρόνος , "time") predates. It is an impossible anachronism which occurs when an object or idea has not yet been invented when

2565-641: A period of history during the Muslim rule of Iberia in which Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural and economic life blossomed. This "Golden Age" is variously dated from the 8th to 12th centuries. Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during the Middle Ages , producing important scholars and one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities. A number of famous Jewish philosophers and scholars flourished during this time, most notably Maimonides . The Early Modern period

2736-517: A place in Jewish and Christian lore, art, poetry and drama. The etymology of her name meaning "woman of Judea ", suggests that she represents the heroic spirit of the Jewish people , and that same spirit, as well as her chastity , have endeared her to Christianity . Owing to her unwavering religious devotion, she is able to step outside of her widow's role, and dress and act in a sexually provocative manner while clearly remaining true to her ideals in

2907-500: A plausible explanation for the origin of the Greek name "Saosduchin". However, while Nebuchadnezzar and Ashurbanipal's campaigns show clear and direct parallels, the main incident of Judith's intervention has not been found in any record aside from this book. An additional difficulty with this theory is that the reasons for the name changes are difficult to understand, unless the text was transmitted without character names before they were by

3078-756: A renowned Talmudic and legal scholar , Isserles was also learned in Kabbalah , and studied history, astronomy, and philosophy. The culture and intellectual output of the Jewish community in Poland had a profound impact on Judaism as a whole. Some Jewish historians have recounted that the word Poland is pronounced as Polania or Polin in Hebrew , and as transliterated into Hebrew. These names for Poland were interpreted as "good omens" because Polania can be broken down into three Hebrew words: po ("here"), lan ("dwells"), ya (" God "), and Polin into two words of: po ("here") lin ("[you should] dwell"). The "message"

3249-458: A result of the dispersal of Judean Jews after the revolts of CE 66–70 and 132–135, but it is reasonable to conjecture that many, such as the settlement in Pozzuoli attested in 4 BCE, went back to the late republic or early empire and originated in voluntary emigration and the lure of trade and commerce." Many Jews migrated to Rome from Alexandria as a result of the close trade relations between

3420-409: A small community in the 18th century, to a prosperous one in the first two-thirds of the 19th century. In the late 19th century up to the outbreak of World War I, English-born Jews, who had integrated well were now, had waves of poorer, more religious Eastern European Jews settle in great numbers. The Netherlands had already experienced migration of Eastern European Jews, mainly from Germany, starting in

3591-470: A tendency to destroy the temples of other religions. Both women were widows whose strategical and diplomatic skills helped in the defeat of the invader. Both stories seem to be set at a time when the temple had recently been rededicated, which is the case after Judas Maccabee killed Nicanor and defeated the Seleucids . The territory of Judean occupation includes the territory of Samaria , something which

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3762-593: A thriving community in Amsterdam, which became known as the "Dutch Jerusalem" Three Sephardic congregations merged and built a huge synagogue, the Portuguese Synagogue , opening in 1675. Prosperous Jewish merchants built opulent houses among successful non-Jewish merchants, since there was no restriction of Jews to particular residential quarters. The Iberian Jews strongly identified both as Jews and as ethnically Portuguese, calling themselves "Hebrews of

3933-460: A widespread Jewish migration to the much more tolerant Poland. Indeed, with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain , Poland became the recognized haven for exiles from the rest of Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks of Polish Jewry made it a cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people in Europe. The most prosperous period for Polish Jews began following this new influx of Jews with

4104-453: Is a few hours south of Geba . The Jewish Encyclopedia subscribes to the theory, suggesting that it was called by a pseudonym because of the historical animosity between the Jews and Samaritans. The Jewish Encyclopedia claims that Shechem is the only location that meets all the requirements for Bethulia's location, further stating: "The identity of Bethulia with Shechem is thus beyond all question". The Catholic Encyclopedia writes: "The city

4275-531: Is estimated to have been close to 9 million, or 57% of the world's Jewish population. Around 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust , which was followed by the emigration of much of the surviving population . The Jewish population of Europe in 2010 was estimated to be approximately 1.4 million (0.2% of the European population), or 10% of the world's Jewish population. In the 21st century, France has

4446-532: Is generally assumed that the book takes place after Manasseh's return from captivity in Assyria and his subsequent repentance. Nicolaus Serarius, Giovanni Menochio and Thomas Worthington speculated that Manasseh was busy fortifying Jerusalem at the time (which also fits with 2 Chronicles 33) and left the matters of the rest of the Israelites to the high priest. Others, such as Houbigant and Haydock, speculate that

4617-423: Is located, and there are several possible candidates of ancient towns in that area that are now ruins. It has widely been speculated that, based on location descriptions in the book, that the most plausible historical site for Bethulia is Shechem . Shechem is a large city in the hill-country of Samaria, on the direct road from Jezreel to Jerusalem, lying in the path of the enemy, at the head of an important pass and

4788-486: Is nearly synonymous with parachronism-anachronism, and involves postdating-predating respectively. A parachronism (from the Greek παρά , "on the side", and χρόνος , "time") postdates. It is anything that appears in a time period in which it is not normally found (though not sufficiently out of place as to be impossible). This may be an object, idiomatic expression, technology, philosophical idea, musical style, material, custom, or anything else so closely bound to

4959-465: Is not otherwise known. Theologians Antoine Augustin Calmet , Wilhelm Gesenius and Franz Karl Movers all worked to explain bizarre geographical locations in the book as copyist or translation mistakes. For instance, Movers explained χαλλαίων ("challaion") as referring to χαλδαίων, or "Chaldean". A few more of these disputed locations include: The character of Judith is larger than life, and she has won

5130-572: Is only since the beginning of the 19th century that anachronistic deviations from historical reality have jarred on a general audience. C. S. Lewis wrote: All medieval narratives about the past are ... lacking in a sense of period.... It was known that Adam went naked till he fell. After that, [medieval people] pictured the whole past in terms of their own age. So indeed did the Elizabethans . So did Milton ; he never doubted that " capon and white broth" would have been as familiar to Christ and

5301-442: Is sometimes described as presentism . Empiricist historians , working in the traditions established by Leopold von Ranke in the 19th century, regard this as a great error, and a trap to be avoided. Arthur Marwick has argued that "a grasp of the fact that past societies are very different from our own, and ... very difficult to get to know" is an essential and fundamental skill of the professional historian; and that "anachronism

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5472-579: Is still one of the most obvious faults when the unqualified (those expert in other disciplines, perhaps) attempt to do history". The ability to identify anachronisms may be employed as a critical and forensic tool to demonstrate the fraudulence of a document or artifact purporting to be from an earlier time. Anthony Grafton discusses, for example, the work of the 3rd-century philosopher Porphyry , of Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614), and of Richard Reitzenstein (1861–1931), all of whom succeeded in exposing literary forgeries and plagiarisms, such as those included in

5643-442: Is the use of older cultural artifacts in modern settings which may seem inappropriate. For example, it could be considered metachronistic for a modern-day person to be depicted wearing a top hat or writing with a quill . Works of art and literature promoting a political, nationalist or revolutionary cause may use anachronism to depict an institution or custom as being more ancient than it actually is, or otherwise intentionally blur

5814-597: The Shulkhan Arukh to meet the needs of the Ashkenazi community. His contemporary and correspondent Solomon Luria (1510–1573) of Lublin also enjoyed widespread popularity among his co-religionists; and the authority of both was recognized by the Jews throughout Europe. Heated religious disputations were common, and Jewish scholars participated in them. At the same time, the Kabbalah had become entrenched under

5985-632: The Babylonian captivity ) might refer to the chaos that resulted in people fleeing Jerusalem after Manasseh was taken captive by the Assyrians. The reinforcement of the cities as described in Judith 4:5 matches up with the reinforcement that happened in response to the Assyrians under Manasseh. Judith 4:6 claims that the High Priest of Israel was in charge of the country at the time. However, it

6156-796: The Canaanite commander Sisera before hammering a tent-peg into his forehead. There are also thematic connections to the revenge of Simeon and Levi on Shechem after the rape of Dinah in Genesis 34 . In the Christian West from the patristic period on, Judith was invoked in a wide variety of texts as a multi-faceted allegorical figure. As a " Mulier sancta ", she personified the Church and many virtues – Humility , Justice , Fortitude , Chastity (the opposite of Holofernes' vices Pride , Tyranny , Decadence , Lust ) – and she was, like

6327-733: The Diocese of Uzes (France, 561 CE). European Jews were at first concentrated largely in southern Europe. During the High and Late Middle Ages , they migrated north. There is historical evidence of Jewish communities north of the Alps and Pyrenees in the 8th and 9th centuries. By the 11th century, Jewish settlers from southern Europe, Jewish immigrants from Babylon and Persia , and Maghrebi Jewish traders from North Africa were settling in western and central Europe, particularly in France and along

6498-647: The French Revolution abolished restrictions against Jews and made them full citizens. The fall of Kingdom of Granada the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia in 1492 to the conquering Catholic Monarchs initiated period of religious change in Spain. There had already been considerable pressure for Jews to convert to Christianity and to monitor that their conversions were sincere and orthodox, the Holy Office of

6669-856: The Middle Ages . The two surviving Hebrew manuscripts of Judith are translated from the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. The Hebrew versions name important figures directly, such as the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes , and place the events during the Hellenistic period when the Maccabees battled the Seleucid monarchs. However, because the Hebrew manuscripts mention kingdoms that had not existed for hundreds of years by

6840-555: The Nowell Codex ). "The opening of the poem is lost (scholars estimate that 100 lines were lost) but the remainder of the poem, as can be seen, the poet reshaped the biblical source and set the poem's narrative to an Anglo–Saxon audience." At the same time she is the subject of a homily by the Anglo-Saxon abbot Ælfric . The two conceptual poles represented by these works will inform much of Judith's subsequent history. In

7011-526: The Ottoman Empire , where they could continue under Muslim authority and with particular rights that they had exercised in Muslim Iberia. Many more Spanish Jews left for the adjoining Kingdom of Portugal , where there was also a large resident Jewish population. However, in 1496–97, Jews in Portugal were forced to convert to Christianity, but unlike Spain, there was no Portuguese Inquisition and one

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7182-545: The Papal States , which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called ghettos . Until the 1840s, they were required to regularly attend sermons urging their conversion to Christianity. Only Jews were taxed to support state boarding schools for Jewish converts to Christianity. It was illegal to convert from Christianity to Judaism. Sometimes Jews were baptized involuntarily, and, even when such baptisms were illegal, forced to practice

7353-688: The Rhine River . This Jewish migration was motivated by economic opportunities and often at the invitation of local Christian rulers, who perceived the Jews as having the know-how and capacity to jump-start the economy, improve revenue, and enlarge trade. Persecution of Jews in Europe increased in the High Middle Ages in the context of the Christian Crusades . In the First Crusade (1096), flourishing communities on

7524-556: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo , multiple persecutions (633, 653, 693 CE) and stake burnings of Jews (638 CE) occurred; the Kingdom of Toledo followed up on this tradition in 1368, 1391, 1449, and 1486–1490 CE, including forced conversions and mass murder, and there was rioting and a blood bath against the Jews of Toledo in 1212 CE. Jewish pogroms occurred in the Diocese of Clement (France, 554 CE) and in

7695-739: The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 by Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain Catholic orthodoxy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabel II . The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal, had jurisdiction only over baptized Christians . Christian converts ( conversos or Marranos ) came under scrutiny. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 forced Jews to decide whether to stay and be baptized Christians or to leave immediately, often forfeited considerable economic resources along with severing connections to their relatives who stayed. Some left for

7866-765: The World Trade Center in New York City , can become out of place once they disappear, with some works having been edited to remove the World Trade Center to avoid this situation. Futuristic technology may appear alongside technology which would be obsolete by the time in which the story is set. For example, in the stories of Robert A. Heinlein , interplanetary space travel coexists with calculation using slide rules . Language anachronisms in novels and films are quite common, both intentional and unintentional. Intentional anachronisms inform

8037-522: The eunuch who had charge over Holofernes' personal affairs. His name is Persian for a eunuch. He brought in Judith to recline with Holofernes and was the first one who discovered his beheading. Uzziah or Oziah , governor of Bethulia; together with Cabri and Carmi , he rules over Judith's city. When the city is besieged by the Assyrians and the water supply dries up, he agrees to the people's call to surrender if God has not rescued them within five days,

8208-438: The king of Media , until Israel also becomes a target of his military campaign. Judith's courage and charm occasion his death. Nebuchadnezzar , the king of Nineveh and Assyria. He is so proud that he wants to affirm his strength as a sort of divine power, although Holofernes, his Turtan (commanding general), goes beyond the king's orders when he calls on the western nations to "worship only Nebuchadnezzar, and ... invoke him as

8379-459: The people of Israel . Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians , having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life. The Book of Judith can be split into two parts or "acts" of approximately equal length. Chapters 1–7 describe

8550-529: The " Hermetic Corpus ", through – among other techniques – the recognition of anachronisms. The detection of anachronisms is an important element within the scholarly discipline of diplomatics , the critical analysis of the forms and language of documents, developed by the Maurist scholar Jean Mabillon (1632–1707) and his successors René-Prosper Tassin (1697–1777) and Charles-François Toustain (1700–1754). The philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham wrote at

8721-631: The "Commentaire littéral sur tous les livres de l'ancien et du nouveau testament". Calmet listed all of "the main objections that can be made against the truth of Judith's Story" and spent the rest of his commentary on the book addressing them, stating: "But all this did not bother Catholic writers. There were a large number of them who answered it expertly, and who undertook to show that there is nothing incompatible in this history, neither with Scripture, nor even with profane (secular) history". There were other Catholic writers who held this view as well, such as Fulcran Vigouroux , who went even farther, identifying

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8892-576: The "Elymeans" ( Elamites ), called "Arioch", is referenced in Judith 1:6. If the twelfth year of "Nebuchadnezzar" is to be identified as the twelfth year of Ashurbanipal, this Arioch would be identified as Teumman , who rebelled against Ashurbanipal on many occasions, eventually being killed at the Battle of the Ulai in 653 BC, around the time Catholic theologians place "Nebuchadnezzar's" western campaign. The identification of "Nebuchadnezzar" with Ashurbanipal

9063-548: The 17th c. were the English receptive to the idea of Jewish resettlement. Those who migrated to England were from the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam, where they lived openly as Jews in the religiously tolerant Dutch Republic , where merchants prospered in as international trade of the Atlantic world . The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, as well as expulsion from Austria , Hungary and Germany , stimulated

9234-482: The 17th century. While the Portuguese-speaking Jews had been economically and culturally dominant in the 17th century, they declined in numbers and economic clout when the poorer Asheknazic population was increasing and remained numerically dominant going forward. In Hungary the early 19th century, in the reform age the progressive nobility set many goals of innovation, such as the emancipation of

9405-543: The 2nd century BCE, the Jewish author of the third book of the Oracula Sibyllina , addressing the " chosen people ", says: "Every land is full of thee and every sea." The most diverse witnesses, such as Strabo , Philo , Seneca , Cicero , and Josephus , all mention Jewish populations in the cities of the Mediterranean Basin . Most Jewish population centers of this period were, however, still in

9576-542: The 6th century AD, shows a settlement named "Betylion" (Greek Β[ΗΤ]ΥΛΙΟΝ). Many believe this to be Bethulia, but this is unlikely because it is located much farther south. It instead is located on the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip, in modern-day Sheikh Zuweid . Whilst a number of the places referred to are familiar biblical or modern place names, there are others which are considered fictional or whose location

9747-669: The 8th-century frescoes in Santa Maria Antigua in Rome through innumerable later bible miniatures. Gothic cathedrals often featured Judith, most impressively in the series of 40 stained glass panels at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1240s). Anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek ἀνά ana , 'against' and χρόνος khronos , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially

9918-618: The Affair was an Austro-Hungarian (born in Budapest , lived in Vienna ) Jewish journalist, Theodor Herzl , who published his pamphlet Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish State") in 1896 and Altneuland ("The Old New Land") in 1897. He described the Affair as a personal turning point, Before the Affair, Herzl had been anti-Zionist ; afterwards he became ardently pro-Zionist. In line with the ideas of 19th-century German nationalism Herzl believed in

10089-642: The Ashkenazi Jews' numbers continued to rise and have dominated the Netherlands ever since. England expelled its small Jewish population (ca. 2,000) in 1290, but in the seventeenth century, prominent Portuguese Jewish rabbi Menasseh ben Israel petition Oliver Cromwell to permit Jews to live and work in England. The modern Jewish presence in England dates from 1656. In the 16th century some merchants were New Christians (converted Jews), but only in

10260-401: The Assyrians from retaking Egypt, which gained independence from Assyria around 655 BC. Numerous theologians, including Antoine Augustin Calmet , suspect that the ultimate goal of the western campaign was for the Assyrians to sack Egypt, because Holofernes appeared to be heading directly towards Egypt on his campaign through the west. If Calmet and others are correct in suspecting that Holofernes

10431-425: The Assyrians. Judith's maid, not named in the story, remains with her throughout the narrative and is given her freedom as the story ends. Holofernes , the antagonist of the book. He is a dedicated soldier of his king, general-in-chief of his army, whom he wants to see exalted in all lands. He is given the task of destroying the rebels who did not support the king of Nineveh in his resistance against Cheleud and

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10602-421: The Bible and in secular historical records. The Assyrian army that besieged Jerusalem in 2 Kings 19 was said to have been 185,000 strong, a number several tens of thousands larger than the Assyrian army described in the book of Judith. Also, the Greek historian Herodotus described the walls of Babylon to have been similar in size and extravagance to the walls of Ecbatana in the book of Judith. Herodotus's account

10773-524: The British if another rebellion broke out in India, Vereshchagin depicted the British soldiers conducting the executions in late 19th-century uniforms. Anachronism is used especially in works of imagination that rest on a historical basis. Anachronisms may be introduced in many ways: for example, in the disregard of the different modes of life and thought that characterize different periods, or in ignorance of

10944-428: The Canons of Nicaea, and it is uncertain whether Jerome was referring to the book's use during the council's discussion or spurious canons attributed to that council. Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin speculates that Jerome was correct about the Council of Nicea establishing a canon and that the documents about this have been lost to time. Regardless of Judith's status at Nicaea, the book was also accepted as scripture by

11115-399: The Christian religion. In many such cases the state separated them from their families. See Edgardo Mortara for an account of one of the most widely publicized instances of acrimony between Catholics and Jews in the Papal States in the second half of the 19th century. Starting in the 19th century after Jewish emancipation, European Jews left the continent in huge numbers, especially for

11286-591: The Crusaders, Jews gradually migrated to Central and Eastern Europe, settling in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, where they found greater security and a renewal of prosperity. In the Late Middle Ages , in the mid-14th century, the Black Death epidemics devastated Europe, annihilating 30–50 percent of the population. It is an oft-told myth that due to better nutrition and greater cleanliness, Jews were not infected in similar numbers; Jews were indeed infected in numbers similar to their non-Jewish neighbors Yet they were still made scapegoats . Rumors spread that Jews caused

11457-482: The Dohány Street. The main status quo temple, the nearby Rumbach Street Synagogue was constructed in 1872. The Budapest orthodox synagogue is located on Kazinczy Street, along with the orthodox community's headquarters and mikveh . In May 1923, in the presence of President Michael Hainisch , the First World Congress of Jewish Women was inaugurated at the Hofburg in Vienna , Austria. Jewish population in interwar Europe, approximately as of 1933: The Holocaust of

11628-417: The Great (140–56 BC), a powerful King of Armenia who, according to Josephus and Strabo , conquered all of the lands identified by the Biblical author in Judith. Under this theory, the story, although fictional, would be set in the time of Queen Salome Alexandra , the only Jewish regnant queen, who reigned over Judea from 76 to 67 BC. Like Judith, the Queen had to face the menace of a foreign king who had

11799-407: The Greek isles in the Aegean and Crete ) as early as the beginning of the 3rd century BCE . The first recorded mention of Judaism in Greece dates from 300 to 250 BCE, on the island of Rhodes . In the wake of Alexander the Great 's conquests, Jews migrated from the Middle East to Greek settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean, spurred on by the opportunities they expected. As early as the middle of

11970-400: The Hebrew Bible, the Vulgate , counted it among the apocrypha, (though he later changed his mind, quoted it as scripture, and said he merely expressed the views of the Jews), as did Athanasius , Cyril of Jerusalem , and Epiphanius of Salamis . Many influential fathers and doctors of the Church, including Augustine , Basil of Caesarea , Tertullian , John Chrysostom , Ambrose , Bede

12141-406: The Hungarian Jewry. Hungarian Jews were able to play a part in the economy by assuming an important role in industrial and trading development. For example, Izsák Lőwy (1793–1847) founded his leather factory on a previously purchased piece of land in 1835, and created a new, modern town, with independent authority, religious equality and industrial freedom independent from the guilds. The town, which

12312-638: The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus also frequently differ from the Biblical record regarding the names of the high priests of Israel . Elsewhere in the Bible there are also names of rulers that are unknown to history, such as Darius the Mede from the Book of Daniel , or Ahasuerus from the Book of Esther . The large size of the Assyrian army and the large size of Median walls in the book have also been criticized, but both of these have been attested to elsewhere in

12483-488: The Jewish people (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστον ( holókauston ): holos , "completely" and kaustos , "burnt"), also known as Ha-Shoah ( Hebrew : השואה ), or Churben ( Yiddish : חורבן ), as described in June 2013 at Auschwitz by Avner Shalev (Director of Yad Vashem ) is the term generally used to describe the murder of approximately 6,000,000 Jews during World War II , as part of a program of deliberate attempt to annihilate

12654-645: The Jewish people, executed by the Nazi regime in Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler and its accomplices; the result of the Shoah or the Holocaust of the Jewish people was the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities in continental Europe—two out of three Jews of Europe were murdered. The Jewish population of Europe in 2010 was estimated to be approximately 1.4 million (0.2% of the European population) or 10% of

12825-585: The Jews of Poland was reduced. The Talmudic learning which up to that period had been the common possession of the majority of the people became accessible to a limited number of students only. What religious study there was became overly formalized, some rabbis busied themselves with quibbles concerning religious laws; others wrote commentaries on different parts of the Talmud in which hair-splitting arguments were raised and discussed; and at times these arguments dealt with matters which were of no practical importance. At

12996-562: The Levant, and Alexandria in Egypt was by far the most important of the Jewish communities, with the Jews in Philo 's time inhabiting two of the five sections of the city. Nevertheless, a Jewish community is recorded to have existed in Rome at least since the 1st century BCE, although there may even have been an established community there as early as the second century BCE, for in the year 139 BCE,

13167-603: The Netherlands and re-judaized, starting in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In the religiously tolerant , Protestant Dutch Republic Amsterdam prospered economically and as a center of Jewish cultural life, the "Dutch Jerusalem" . Ashkenazi Jews lived in communities under continuous rabbinic authority. In Europe Jewish communities were largely self-governing autonomous under Christian rulers, usually with restrictions on residence and economic activities. In Poland, from 1264 (from 1569 also in Lithuania as part of

13338-813: The New Testament , but also as a matter of historical fact. Anti-Jewish pogroms occurred not only in Jerusalem (325 CE), Persia (351 CE), Carthage (250 CE), Alexandria (415), but also in Italy (224 CE), Milan (379 CE) and Menorca (418 CE), Antioch (489), Daphne-Antioch (506), Ravenna (519), amongst other places. Hostility between Christians and Jews grew over the generations under Roman sovereignty and beyond; eventually forced conversion , confiscation of propertly, burning of synagogues, expulsion, stake burning , enslavement and outlawing of Jews—even whole Jewish communities—occurred countless times in

13509-608: The Old Testament only those books that are found in the Jewish canon. Martin Luther viewed the book as an allegory, but listed it as the first of the eight writings in his Apocrypha. In Anglicanism , it has the intermediate authority of the Apocrypha of the Old Testament and is regarded as useful or edifying, but is not to be taken as a basis for establishing doctrine. Judith is also referred to in chapter 28 of 1 Meqabyan ,

13680-843: The Polish monarchy appointed Rabbi Jacob Polak, the official Rabbi of Poland, marking the emergence of the Chief Rabbinate. Around 1550, many Sephardi Jews travelled across Europe to find a haven in Poland. Therefore, the Polish Jews are said to be of many ethnic origins including Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Mizrahi. During the 16th and 17th century Poland had the largest Jewish population in the whole of Europe. By 1551, Polish Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Other powers were shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted

13851-952: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), under the Statute of Kalisz until the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Jews were guaranteed legal rights and privileges. The law in Poland after 1264 (in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in consequence) toward Jews was one of the most inclusive in Europe. The French Revolution removed legal restrictions on Jews, making them full citizens. Napoleon implemented Jewish emancipation as his armies conquered much of Europe. Emancipation often brought more opportunities for Jews and many integrated into larger European society and became more secular rather than remaining in cohesive Jewish communities. The pre- World War II Jewish population of Europe

14022-665: The Portuguese Nation". Amsterdam's Portuguese Jewish merchants created a huge trade network in the Americas, with Portuguese Jews emigrating to the Caribbean and to Brazil. Ashkenazi Jews settled in Amsterdam as well but were generally poorer than the Sephardim and dependent of their charity. However, Amsterdam's prosperity faltered in the late seventeenth century, as did the fortunes and number of Sephardic Jews, while

14193-629: The Rabbinate to grow in power and used it for tax collection purposes. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate went to the Jewish communities. The rest went to the Crown for protection. In this period Poland-Lithuania became the main center for Ashkenazi Jewry, and its yeshivot achieved fame from the early 16th century. Moses Isserles (1520–1572), an eminent Talmudist of the 16th century, established his yeshiva in Kraków . In addition to being

14364-911: The Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed; see German Crusade, 1096 . In the Second Crusade , (1147) the Jews in France were subject to frequent massacres. The Jews were also subjected to attacks by the Shepherds' Crusades of 1251 and 1320 . The Crusades were followed by expulsions, including in 1290 the banishing of all Jews from the Kingdom of England by King Edward I with the Edict of Expulsion . In 1394, 100,000 Jews were expelled from France . Thousands more were deported from Austria in 1421. Many of

14535-524: The Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now and are an immense multitude." According to E. Mary Smallwood , the appearance of Jewish settlements in southern Europe during the Roman era was probably mostly a result of migration due to commercial opportunities, writing that "no date or origin can be assigned to the numerous settlements eventually known in the west, and some may have been founded as

14706-542: The Second World War, they gathered every second year. Since the war, the Congress has met every four years. In 1868/69, three major Jewish organizations were founded: the largest group were the more modern congressional or neolog Jews, the very traditional minded joined the orthodox movement, and the conservatives formed the status quo organization. The neolog Grand Synagogue had been built earlier, in 1859, in

14877-450: The Talmud interpreted Deut. 29:9, "your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel" and "Although I have appointed for you heads, elders, and officers, you are all equal before me" (Tanhuma) to stress political shared power. Shared power entailed responsibilities: "you are all responsible for one another. If there be only one righteous man among you, you will all profit from his merits, and not you alone, but

15048-521: The United States and some other countries, to pursue better opportunity and to escape religious persecution, including pogroms , and to flee violence. Jews coming to the U.S. in the early to mid-19th century were mostly from central Europe, especially Bavaria , Western Prussia , and Posen . They were not the poorest of the poor and a significant number came as families (husband, wife, children). Non-Jewish Germans also immigrated in great numbers at

15219-690: The Venerable and Hilary of Poitiers , considered the book sacred scripture both before and after councils that formally declared it part of the biblical canon. In a 405 letter, Pope Innocent I declared it part of the Christian canon . In Jerome's Prologue to Judith , he claims that the Book of Judith was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures". No such declaration has been found in

15390-619: The age of a writing, and lead to legitimate suspicions of forgery. ... The use of words not used till after the date of the writing; – second indication of forgery. Examples are: History of the Jews in Europe The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Jews , a Semitic people descending from the Judeans of Judea in the Southern Levant , began migrating to Europe just before

15561-409: The antiquaries seem to have unconsciously projected the fashion back into an era in which they were rare. In historical writing, the most common type of anachronism is the adoption of the political, social or cultural concerns and assumptions of one era to interpret or evaluate the events and actions of another. The anachronistic application of present-day perspectives to comment on the historical past

15732-581: The audience more readily about a film set in the past. In this regard, language and pronunciation change so fast that most modern people (even many scholars) would find it difficult, or even impossible, to understand a film with dialogue in 15th-century English; thus, audiences willingly accept characters speaking an updated language, and modern slang and figures of speech are often used in these films. Unintentional anachronisms may occur even in what are intended as wholly objective and accurate records or representations of historic artifacts and artworks, because

15903-546: The basis of the minor Jewish tradition to eat dairy products during Hanukkah. In that respect, the Jewry of Europe during the Middle Ages appear to have viewed Judith as the Maccabean - Hasmonean counterpart to Queen Esther , the heroine of the holiday of Purim . The textual reliability of the Book of Judith was also taken for granted, to the extent that biblical commentator Nachmanides (Ramban) quoted several passages from

16074-505: The battle between "Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians" and "Arphaxad, the king of the Medes" as the battle that occurred between Ashurbanipal and Phraortes . This battle occurred during the seventeenth year of Ashurbanipal's reign, and the book of Judith states that this battle occurred in the seventeenth year of "Nebuchadnezzar's" reign. Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet expressed a similar view regarding this. The scholars used specific examples from

16245-438: The beginning of the 19th century: The falsehood of a writing will often be detected, by its making direct mention of, or allusions more or less indirect to, some fact posterior to the date which it bears. ... The mention of posterior facts; – first indication of forgery. In a living language there are always variations in words, in the meaning of words, in the construction of phrases, in the manner of spelling, which may detect

16416-550: The belief that Roman legionaries wore leather armor. Comedy fiction set in the past may use anachronism for humorous effect. Comedic anachronism can be used to make serious points about both historical and modern society, such as drawing parallels to political or social conventions. Even with careful research, science fiction writers risk anachronism as their works age because they cannot predict all political, social, and technological change. For example, many books, television shows, radio productions and films nominally set in

16587-439: The book dates to the reign of Manasseh corresponds to Ashurbanipal's reign, and Ashurbanipal's records name Manasseh as one of a number of vassals who assisted his campaign against Egypt. The profanation of the temple described in Judith 4:3 might have been that under king Hezekiah (see 2 Chronicles 33 :18–19), who reigned between c. 715 and 686 BC. And in that same verse, the return from the dispersion (often assumed to refer to

16758-508: The book, introduced in chapter 8 as a God-fearing woman, she is the daughter of Merari, a Simeonite , and widow of a certain Manasseh or Manasses, a wealthy farmer. She sends her maid or "waitingwoman" to Uzziah to challenge his decision to capitulate to the Assyrians if God has not rescued the people of Bethulia within five days, and she uses her charm to become an intimate friend of Holofernes, but beheads him allowing Israel to counter-attack

16929-547: The characters and events in the Book as either an allegorical representation of actual events, or a historical document that had been altered or translated improperly. The practice of changing names has been observed in documents from the Second Temple period , such as the Damascus Document , which apparently contains references to an uncertain location referred to by the pseudonym of "Damascus". The writings of

17100-579: The councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393), Carthage (397), and Florence (1442) and eventually dogmatically defined as canonical by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 in the Council of Trent . The Eastern Orthodox Church also accepts Judith as inspired scripture; this was confirmed in the Synod of Jerusalem in 1672 . The canonicity of Judith is typically rejected by Protestants, who accept as

17271-782: The destruction of Jewish communities yielded the funds for many Pilgrimage churches or chapels throughout the Middle Ages (e.g. Saint Werner's Chapels of Bacharach, Oberwesel, Womrath; Deggendorfer Gnad in Bavaria ). Jewish survival in the face of external pressures from the Roman Catholic empire and the Persian Zoroastrian empire is seen as 'enigmatic' by historians. Salo Wittmayer Baron credits Jewish survival to eight factors: Outside hostility only helped cement Jewish unity and internal strength and commitment. The Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain refers to

17442-651: The disciples as to himself. It is doubtful whether the sense of period is much older than the Waverley novels . It is hardly present in Gibbon . Walpole 's Otranto , which would not now deceive schoolchildren, could hope, not quite vainly, to deceive the public of 1765. Where even the most obvious and superficial distinctions between one century (or millennium) and another were ignored, the profounder differences of temper and mental climate were naturally not dreamed of.... [In Chaucer 's Troilus and Criseyde ], [t]he manners,

17613-502: The disease by deliberately poisoning wells . Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence. Although Pope Clement VI tried to protect them with his 6 July 1348 papal bull and another papal bull in 1348, several months later, 900 Jews were burnt alive in Strasbourg , where the plague had not yet reached the city. Christian accusations of host desecration and blood libels were made against Jews. Pogroms followed, and

17784-509: The distinctions between past and present. For example, the 19th-century Romanian painter Constantin Lecca depicts the peace agreement between Ioan Bogdan Voievod and Radu Voievod —two leaders in Romania's 16th-century history—with the flags of Moldavia (blue-red) and of Wallachia (yellow-blue) seen in the background. These flags date only from the 1830s: anachronism promotes legitimacy for

17955-465: The eighteenth year of Ashurbanipal's reign. The book of Judith states that "Nebuchadnezzar" ravaged the western part of the empire in the eighteenth year of his reign. If the events of this book did occur during Ashurbanipal's reign, it is possible that Assyrians did not record it because they were preoccupied with Šamaš-šuma-ukin's revolt, which was not crushed for years to come. Ashurbanipal's successful crushing of Šamaš-šuma-ukin's civil war also prevented

18126-758: The entire world...But if one of you sins, the whole generation will suffer." In the Early Middle Ages , persecution of Jews also continued in the lands of Latin Christendom . After the Visigoths converted from more tolerant non-trinitarian Arianism to the stricter trinitarian Nicene Christianity of Rome, in 612 CE and again in 642 CE, expulsions of all Jews were decreed in the Visigoth Empire. The Catholic Merovingian dynasty decreed forced conversion for Jews in 582 and 629 CE. Under

18297-644: The epic, she is the brave warrior, forceful and active; in the homily she is an exemplar of pious chastity for cloistered nuns. In both cases, her narrative gained relevance from the Norse Viking invasions of the period. Within the next three centuries Judith would be treated by such major figures as Heinrich Frauenlob , Dante , and Geoffrey Chaucer . In medieval Christian art, the predominance of church patronage assured that Judith's patristic valences as "Mulier Sancta" and Virgin Mary prototype would prevail: from

18468-435: The events in the book of Judith, this theory has largely been abandoned. Modern scholars argue in favor of a 2nd–1st century context for the Book of Judith, understanding it as a sort of roman à clef, i.e. a literary fiction whose characters stand for some real historical figure, generally contemporary to the author. In the case of the Book of Judith, Biblical scholar Gabriele Boccaccini, identified Nebuchadnezzar with Tigranes

18639-456: The events of the book occurred while Manasseh was still captive in Babylon . Whatever the case, it was a typical policy of the time for the Israelites to follow the high priest if the king could not or would not lead. Manasseh is thought by most scholars to have joined a widespread rebellion against Ashurbanipal that was led by his brother, Šamaš-šuma-ukin . Contemporary sources make reference to

18810-475: The expelled Jews fled to Poland. Many Jews were also expelled from Spain after the Alhambra Decree in 1492. In relations with Christian society, they were protected by kings, princes and bishops, because of the crucial services they provided in three areas: finance, administration, and medicine. Christian scholars interested in the Bible would consult with Talmudic rabbis. All of this changed with

18981-615: The fall of the Roman Empire, including Italy , Spain , Portugal , France , the Netherlands , Germany , Poland , and Russia . In Spain and Portugal in the late fifteenth century, the monarchies forced Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave and they established offices of the Inquisition to enforce Catholic orthodoxy of converted Jews. These actions shattered Jewish life in Iberia and saw mass migration of Sephardic Jews to escape religious persecution. Many resettled in

19152-501: The fighting, the religious services, the very traffic-regulations of his Trojans, are fourteenth-century. Anachronisms abound in the works of Raphael and Shakespeare , as well as in those of less celebrated painters and playwrights of earlier times. Carol Meyers says that anachronisms in ancient texts can be used to better understand the stories by asking what the anachronism represents. Repeated anachronisms and historical errors can become an accepted part of popular culture, such as

19323-463: The first century. Evidence of Jewish presence in Phanagoria includes tombstones with carved images of the menorah and inscriptions with references to the synagogue. Persecution of Jews in Europe begins with the presence of Jews in regions that later became known as the lands of Latin Christendom (c. 8th century CE) and modern Europe. Not only were Jewish Christians persecuted according to

19494-490: The first quarter of the 16th century. In 1530, a Hebrew Pentateuch ( Torah ) was printed in Kraków; and at the end of the 16th century the Jewish printing houses of that city and Lublin issued a large number of Jewish books, mainly of a religious character. The growth of Talmudic scholarship in Poland was coincident with the greater prosperity of the Polish Jews; and because of their communal autonomy educational development

19665-481: The form of a historical fiction , or a propaganda literary work from the days of the Seleucid oppression . It has also been called "an example of the ancient Jewish novel in the Greco-Roman period". Other scholars note that Judith fits within and even incorporates the genre of "salvation traditions" from the Old Testament, particularly the story of Deborah and Jael ( Judges 4–5), who seduced and inebriated

19836-578: The heroine, liturgical poems, commentaries on the Talmud, and passages in Jewish legal codes." Although the text does not mention Hanukkah , it became customary for a Hebrew midrashic variant of the Judith story to be read on the Shabbat of Hanukkah as the story of Hanukkah takes place during the time of the Hasmonean dynasty. That midrash, whose heroine is portrayed as gorging the antagonist on cheese and wine before cutting off his head, may have formed

20007-604: The lack of his name in the book of Judith. The identity of Nebuchadnezzar was unknown to the Church Fathers , but some of them attempted an improbable identification with Artaxerxes III Ochus (359–338 BC), not on the basis of the character of the two rulers, but due to the presence of a "Holofernes" and a "Bagoas" in Ochus' army. This view also gained currency with scholarship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, due to discrepancies between Artaxerxes's reign and

20178-569: The lands of Latin Christendom. The early medieval period was a time of flourishing Jewish culture. Jewish and Christian life evolved in 'diametrically opposite directions' during the final centuries of Roman empire. Jewish life became autonomous, decentralized, community-centered. Christian life became a hierarchical system under the supreme authority of the Pope and the Roman Emperor. Jewish life can be characterized as democratic. Rabbis in

20349-692: The largest Jewish population in Europe, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Prior to the Holocaust, Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe, as a percentage of its population. This was followed by Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia and Romania. Hellenistic Judaism , originating from Alexandria , was present throughout the Roman Empire even before the Jewish–Roman wars . Large numbers of Jews lived in Greece (including

20520-546: The late 19th century. In 1883, Nathan Birnbaum founded Kadimah , the first Jewish student association in Vienna. In 1884, the first issue of Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation ) appeared, printed by Birnbaum himself. The Dreyfus Affair , which erupted in France in 1894, profoundly shocked emancipated Jews. The depth of antisemitism in a country thought of as the home of enlightenment and liberty led many to question their future security in Europe. Among those who witnessed

20691-399: The manners as well as the language of the age we live in." However, as fashions, conventions and technologies move on, such attempts to use anachronisms to engage an audience may have quite the reverse effect, as the details in question are increasingly recognized as belonging neither to the historical era being represented, nor to the present, but to the intervening period in which the artwork

20862-464: The many allies of Chaldea (governed by Šamaš-šuma-ukin), including the Kingdom of Judah , which were subjects of Assyria and are mentioned in the Book of Judith as victims of Ashurbanipal's Western campaign. The Encyclopædia Britannica identified "Judah" as one of the vassal kingdoms in Šamaš-šuma-ukin's rebel coalition against Ashurbanipal. The Cambridge Ancient History also confirms that "several princes of Palestine " supported Šamaš-šuma-ukin in

21033-591: The mid-21st century or later refer to the Soviet Union , to Saint Petersburg in Russia as Leningrad , to the continuing struggle between the Eastern and Western Blocs and to divided Germany and divided Berlin . Star Trek has suffered from future anachronisms; instead of " retconning " these errors, the 2009 film retained them for consistency with older franchises. Buildings or natural features, such as

21204-583: The most generally accepted view within the Catholic Church is that the book of Judith occurs during the reign of Ashurbanipal , a notoriously cruel and brutal Assyrian king whose reign was marked by various military campaigns and invasions. Ashurbanipal ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire from Nineveh in 668 to 627 BC. The Challoner Douay-Rheims Bible states that the events of the book begin in A.M. 3347, or Ante C. 657, which would be during

21375-424: The names were changed in later centuries for an unknown reason. The Jewish Encyclopedia identifies Shechem (modern day Nablus ) as "Bethulia", and argues that the name was changed because of the feud between the Jews and Samaritans . If this is the case, it would explain why other names seem anachronistic as well. It is not clear whether the Book of Judith was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, as

21546-615: The oldest existing version is from the Septuagint , a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. However, due to the large number of Hebraisms in the text, it is generally agreed that the book was written in a Semitic language , probably Hebrew or Aramaic , rather than Koine Greek . When Jerome did his Latin Vulgate translation, he asserted his belief that the book was written "in Chaldean (Aramaic) words". Jerome's Latin translation

21717-411: The other heroic women of the Hebrew scriptural tradition, made into a typological prefiguration of the Virgin Mary . Her gender made her a natural example of the biblical paradox of "strength in weakness"; she is thus paired with David and her beheading of Holofernes paralleled with that of Goliath – both deeds saved the Covenant People from a militarily superior enemy. Judith , the protagonist of

21888-656: The people want to surrender (7:6–32) Part II (8:1–16:25) A. Introduction of Judith (8:1–8) A'. Conclusion about Judith (16.1–25) Similarly, parallels within Part II are noted in comments within the New American Bible Revised Edition : Judith summons a town meeting in Judith 8:10 in advance of her expedition and is acclaimed by such a meeting in Judith 13:12–13; Uzziah blesses Judith in advance in Judith 8:5 and afterwards in Judith 13:18–20. Most contemporary exegetes , such as Biblical scholar Gianfranco Ravasi , generally tend to ascribe Judith to one of several contemporaneous literary genres, reading it as an extended parable in

22059-423: The perspectives of historical recorders are conditioned by the assumptions and practices of their own times, in a form of cultural bias . One example is the attribution of historically inaccurate beards to various medieval tomb effigies and figures in stained glass in records made by English antiquaries of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Working in an age in which beards were in fashion and widespread,

22230-423: The pioneers of Talmudic learning in Poland. He lived and died in Lublin , where he was the head of the yeshivah which produced the rabbinical celebrities of the following century. Shachna's son Israel became rabbi of Lublin on the death of his father, and Shachna's pupil Moses Isserles (known as the ReMA ) (1520–1572) achieved an international reputation among the Jews as the author of the Mappah , which adapted

22401-436: The possibility of bettering their lot elsewhere triggered Jewish migration to Western Europe, particularly where Jews were already living in conditions of religious toleration , such as the Netherlands and England, where there were also more economic opportunities for impoverished Eastern European Jews. In England, the original Sephardic Jewish community of bankers and brokers after England re-opened settlement to Jews, went from

22572-529: The praetor Hispanus issued a decree expelling all Jews who were not Roman citizens. At the commencement of the reign of Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE, there were over 7,000 Jews in Rome : this is the number that escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition of Archelaus . The Jewish historian Josephus confirms that as early as 90 CE there were two Israelite tribes living in Europe, Judah and Benjamin. Thus, he writes in his Antiquities : " ...there are but two tribes in Asia Minor and Europe subject to

22743-445: The progress of the arts and sciences and other facts of history. They vary from glaring inconsistencies to scarcely perceptible misrepresentation. Anachronisms may be the unintentional result of ignorance, or may be a deliberate aesthetic choice. Sir Walter Scott justified the use of anachronism in historical literature: "It is necessary, for exciting interest of any kind, that the subject assumed should be, as it were, translated into

22914-480: The protection of Rabbinism ; and such scholars as Mordecai Jaffe and Yoel Sirkis devoted themselves to its study. This period of great Rabbinical scholarship was interrupted by the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Swedish Deluge . The decade from the Cossacks' uprising until after the Deluge period (1648–1658) left a deep and lasting impression not only on the social life of the Polish-Lithuanian Jews, but on their spiritual life as well. The intellectual output of

23085-453: The reader's mind, and her seduction and beheading of the wicked Holofernes while playing this role has been rich fodder for artists of various genres. The first extant commentary on The Book of Judith is by Hrabanus Maurus (9th century). Thenceforth her presence in Medieval literature is robust: in homilies, biblical paraphrases, histories and poetry. An Old English poetic version is found together with Beowulf (their epics appear both in

23256-456: The reforms and strengthening of the Roman Catholic Church and the rise of competitive middle-class, town dwelling Christians. By 1300, the friars and local priests were using the Passion Plays at Easter time, which depicted Jews, in contemporary dress, killing Christ, to teach the general populace to hate and murder Jews. It was at this point that persecution and exile became endemic. As a result of persecution, expulsions and massacres carried out by

23427-416: The reign of Sigismund I the Old (r. 1506–1548), who protected the Jews in his realm. His son, Sigismund II Augustus (r. 1548–1572), mainly followed the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration, laying the foundation for the power of the Qahal , or autonomous Jewish community. This period led to the creation of a proverb about Poland being

23598-416: The reign of Ashurbanipal. This would be the twelfth year of Ashurbanipal's reign, which lines up with the book of Judith beginning in the twelfth year of "Nebuchadnezzar". If the rest of the book occurs in the seventeenth and eighteenth years of Ashurbanipal, the years would be 653 and 652 BC, years that correspond to revolts and military campaigns across Ashurbanipal's empire. The traditional Catholic view that

23769-426: The revolt against Ashurbanipal, which seemingly confirms Manasseh's involvement in the revolt. This would explain the reinforcement of the cities described in this book and why the Israelites and other western kingdoms rejected "Nebuchadnezzar's" order for conscription, because many of the vassal rulers of the west supported Šamaš-šuma-ukin. It is of further interest that Šamaš-šuma-ukin's civil war broke out in 652 BC,

23940-411: The rise of the Roman Empire (27 BC). Although Alexandrian Jews had already migrated to Rome , and with few Gentiles undergone Judaization in few occasions. A notable early event in the history of the Jews in the Roman Empire was the 63 BCE siege of Jerusalem , where Pompey had interfered in the Hasmonean civil war . Jews have had a significant presence in European cities and countries since

24111-523: The rise of the threat to Israel, led by king Nebuchadnezzar and his sycophantic general Holofernes, and is concluded as Holofernes' worldwide campaign has converged at the mountain pass where Judith's village, Bethulia , is located. Chapters 8–16 then introduce Judith and depict her heroic actions to save her people. The first part, although at times tedious in its description of the military developments, develops important themes by alternating battles with reflections and rousing action with rest. In contrast,

24282-423: The same as the Belamon of Judith 8:3 , and thence to Kyamon, or Chelmon , "which lies over against Esdrelon" ( Judith 7:3 ). These data point to a site on the heights west of Jenin (Engannim), between the plains of Esdrelon and Dothan, where Haraiq el-Mallah, Khirbet Sheikh Shibel and el-Bârid lie close together. Such a site best fulfills all requirements for the location of Bethulia. The Madaba Map mosaic from

24453-461: The same time, because of conditions in Europe and the lure of better conditions in the U.S. Although the non-Jewish Germans then began to come in lower numbers, Jewish immigration continued to be robust into the twentieth century, an estimated 250,000. Some Jews emigrated to Palestine controlled by European powers, and, following World War II, the European Jews emigrated to the newly established State of Israel . The movement of Zionism originates in

24624-467: The same time, many miracle workers made their appearance among the Jews of Poland, culminating in a series of false "Messianic" movements, most famously Sabbateanism and Frankism . Into this time of mysticism and overly formal rabbinism came the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer , known as the Baal Shem Tov , or BeShT , (1698–1760), which had a profound effect on the Jews of Central Europe and Poland in particular. His disciples taught and encouraged

24795-420: The second half is devoted mainly to Judith's strength of character and the beheading scene. The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha identifies a clear chiastic pattern in both "acts", in which the order of events is reversed at a central moment in the narrative (i.e., abcc'b'a'). Part I (1:1–7:23) A. Campaign against disobedient nations; the people surrender (1:1–2:13) A'. Campaign against Bethulia;

24966-410: The situation takes place, and therefore could not have possibly existed at the time. A prochronism may be an object not yet developed, a verbal expression that had not yet been coined, a philosophy not yet formulated, a breed of animal not yet evolved or bred, or use of a technology that had not yet been created. A metachronism (from the Greek μετά , "after", and χρόνος , "time") postdates. It

25137-586: The sixth head of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, who lived in Warsaw until 1940 when he moved Lubavitch from Warsaw to the United States . As part of the egalitarian principles of the French Revolution , Jews became full citizens without restrictions. Napoleon expanded the egalitarian principles in the places his armies conquered. Even in the Netherlands, which had a well-established tradition of religious tolerance, when it came under French sway, Jewish religious leaders no longer could exercise authority in an autonomous community. The so-called Jewish question

25308-405: The spirit of Talmudic and rabbinical literature, whose influence was felt in the home, in school, and in the synagogue. In the first half of the 16th century the seeds of Talmudic learning had been transplanted to Poland from Bohemia , particularly from the school of Jacob Pollak , the creator of Pilpul ("sharp reasoning"). Shalom Shachna (c. 1500 – 1558), a pupil of Pollak, is counted among

25479-413: The suppression of a minor Jewish revolt in 53 BCE, and some were probably taken to southern Europe. After the enslaved Jews gained their freedom, they permanently settled in Rome on the right bank of the Tiber as traders, and some immigrated north later. The Roman Empire period presence of Jews in modern-day Croatia dates to the 2nd century, in Pannonia to the 3rd to 4th century. A finger ring with

25650-424: The text that line up with Manasseh's reign. As argued by Vigouroux, the two battles mentioned in the Septuagint version of the Book of Judith are a reference to the clash of the two empires in 658–657 and to Phraortes' death in battle in 653, after which Ashurbanipal continued his military actions with a large campaign starting with the Battle of the Ulai River (653 BC) in the eighteenth year of his reign. The King of

25821-408: The time of the Seleucids, it is unlikely that these were the original names in the text. Jeremy Corley argued that Judith was originally composed in Greek that was carefully modeled after Hebrew and pointed out "Septuagintalisms" in the vocabulary and phrasing of the Greek text. While the author was likely Jewish, there is no evidence aside from its inclusion in the Septuagint that the Book of Judith

25992-534: The total Jewish population of Russia was 5.1 million people, which was 4.13% of the total population. Of this total, the vast majority lived within the Pale of Settlement . Jews faced widespread discrimination and oppression. As the Czarist monarchy was openly antisemitic ; various pogroms , which were large-scale violent protests directed at Jews, took place across the western part of the vast empire since late 19th century, leading to several deaths and waves of emigration. Difficult conditions in Eastern Europe and

26163-416: The two cities. When the Roman Empire captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thousands of Jewish prisoners of war were brought from Judea to Rome, where they were sold into slavery. Following the capture of Jerusalem by the forces of Herod the Great with assistance from Roman forces in 37 BCE, it is likely that Jews were again taken to Rome as slaves. It is known that Jewish war captives were sold into slavery after

26334-441: The unification of Moldavia and Wallachia into the Kingdom of Romania at the time the painting was made. The Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin , in his painting Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English ( c.  1884 ), depicts the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , when mutineers were executed by being blown from guns . In order to make the argument that the method of execution would again be utilized by

26505-505: The very first verse, and is too prevalent thereafter to be considered as the result of mere historical mistakes." The names of people are either unknown to history or appear to be anachronistic, and many of the place names are also unknown. The Catholic Church has always considered the book to be a historical document, and it is included with the other historical books in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles. For this reason, there have been various attempts by both scholars and clergy to understand

26676-489: Was active exploration of a potentially new vision of the Jews' place in European states. The Jewish Enlightentment produced an important body of knowledge and speculation on a range of questions regarding Jewish identity. A leading figure was German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn . By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia was the European country with the largest Jewish population, following annexation of Poland . In 1897, according to Russian census of 1897 ,

26847-495: Was based on an Aramaic manuscript and was shorter because he omitted passages that he could not read or understand in the Aramaic that otherwise existed in the Septuagint. The Aramaic manuscript used by Jerome has long since been lost . Carey A. Moore argued that the Greek text of Judith was a translation from a Hebrew original, and used many examples of conjectured translation errors, Hebraic idioms, and Hebraic syntax. The extant Hebrew manuscripts are very late and only date back to

27018-435: Was corroborated by similar accounts of the scale of the walls of Babylon by the historians Strabo , Ctesias and Cleitarchus . The identity of the "Nebuchadnezzar" in the book has been debated for thousands of years and various rulers have been proposed by scholars, including Ashurbanipal , Artaxerxes III , Tigranes the Great , Antiochus IV Epiphanes , Cambyses II , Xerxes and Darius the Great . For hundreds of years,

27189-417: Was created. "Nothing becomes obsolete like a period vision of an older period", writes Anthony Grafton ; "Hearing a mother in a historical movie of the 1940s call out 'Ludwig! Ludwig van Beethoven ! Come in and practice your piano now!' we are jerked from our suspension of disbelief by what was intended as a means of reinforcing it, and plunged directly into the American bourgeois world of the filmmaker." It

27360-411: Was ever considered authoritative or a candidate for canonicity by any Jewish group. The Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible does not contain it; it is not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls or any early Rabbinic literature. Speculated reasons for its exclusion include the possible lateness of its composition, possible Greek origin, apparent support of the Hasmonean dynasty (to which the early rabbinate

27531-443: Was given the name Újpest (New Pest), soon became a very important settlement. Its first synagogue was built in 1839. (Újpest, the current capital's 4th district is in the northern part of Budapest. During the time of the Holocaust 20,000 Jews were deported from here.) Mór Fischer Farkasházi (1800–1880) founded his world-famous porcelain factory in Herend in 1839, its fine porcelains decorated, among others, Queen Victoria 's table. In

27702-660: Was intending to sack Egypt, this would give further evidence to the theory that the book is set during the reign of Ashurbanipal, who had previously sacked Thebes in 663 BC. The view that the book of Judith was written during the reigns of Manasseh and Ashurbanipal was held by a great number of Catholic scholars, including Calmet, George Leo Haydock , Thomas Worthington , Richard Challoner , Giovanni Stefano Menochio , Sixtus of Siena , Robert Bellarmine , Charles François Houbigant , Nicolaus Serarius , Pierre Daniel Huet and Bernard de Montfaucon . Many of these theologians are cited and quoted by Calmet in his own commentary on Judith,

27873-468: Was not established until 1536. When the Protestant Dutch Republic revolted against Catholic Spain in what became the Eighty Years' War , Portuguese and Spanish Jews forced to convert to Catholicism ( conversos or Marranos ) began migrating to the northern provinces of the Netherlands. Religious tolerance , the freedom of conscience to practice one's religion without impediment, was a core Dutch Protestant value. These Sephardic migrants established

28044-522: Was one of considerable transition in European Jewry, with forced expulsions and religious persecution in many Christian kingdoms, but there were significant political and cultural changes that saw more favorable conditions for Jewish populations. One in particular, the Protestant Dutch Republic was founded with religious tolerance as a core value, such that Jews could practice their religion openly and generally without restriction and there were opportunities for Jewish merchants to compete on an equal basis in

28215-417: Was opposed), and perhaps the brash and seductive character of Judith herself. After disappearing from circulation among Jews for over a millennium, however, references to the Book of Judith and the figure of Judith herself resurfaced in the religious literature of crypto-Jews who escaped Christian persecution after the capitulation of the Caliphate of Córdoba . The renewed interest took the form of "tales of

28386-399: Was possible in Maccabean times only after John Hyrcanus reconquered those territories. Thus, the presumed Sadducee author of Judith would desire to honor the great (Pharisee) Queen who tried to keep both Sadducees and Pharisees united against the common menace. Although there is no historically recorded "Bethulia", the book of Judith gives an extremely precise location for where the city

28557-405: Was situated on a mountain overlooking the plain of Jezrael , or Esdrelon , and commanding narrow passes to the south ( Judith 4:6–7; 6:11–13 ); at the foot of the mountain there was an important spring, and other springs were in the neighborhood ( Judith 6:11; 7:3, 7, 12 ). Moreover, it lay within investing lines which ran through Dothain , or Dothan, now Tell Dothân, to Belthem, or Belma, no doubt

28728-400: Was so widespread that it was the only identification in English Catholic Bibles for several hundred years. The 1738 Challoner revision of the Douay Rheims Bible and the Haydock Biblical Commentary specifically declare that "Nabuchodonosor" was "known as 'Saosduchin' to profane historians and succeeded 'Asarhaddan' in the kingdom of the Assyrians". This could only have been Ashurbanipal, as he

28899-508: Was that Poland was meant to be a good place for the Jews. During the time from the rule of Sigismund I the Old until the Holocaust , Poland would be at the center of Jewish religious life. Yeshivot were established, under the direction of the rabbis, in the more prominent communities. Such schools were officially known as gymnasiums , and their rabbi principals as rectors . Important yeshivot existed in Kraków, Poznań, and other cities. Jewish printing establishments came into existence in

29070-478: Was the successor of Esarhaddon, his father. It is unclear where the name "Saosduchin" came from, although it is possible that it was derived from the Canon of Kings by the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy , who wrote in Greek that " Saosdouchinos " followed " Asaradinos " as the king of Assyria. While influential, Ptolemy's record is not perfect, and Ptolemy likely got Ashurbanipal confused with his brother, Šamaš-šuma-ukin, who ruled over Babylon, not Assyria. This would be

29241-451: Was wholly one-sided and along Talmudic lines. Exceptions are recorded, however, where Jewish youth sought secular instruction in the European universities. The learned rabbis became not merely expounders of the Law, but also spiritual advisers, teachers, judges, and legislators; and their authority compelled the communal leaders to make themselves familiar with the abstruse questions of Jewish law . Polish Jewry found its views of life shaped by

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