The assimilation of the Hebrew
In the modern world we think of the Judaism as a religion. The Jews however, are also a nationality. When Twain spoke of the Jews he should have spoken of the Hebrews as a whole and not just the tribe of Judah. What Twain failed to realize was that there are many more Hebrews than just the tribe of Judah. The rest of the tribes were dispersed throughout Europe and the Middle East. Nevertheless the tribe of Judah was the only tribe to retain the Hebrew faith. In the book of Genesis, Jacob, who was the grandson of Abraham, was renamed Israel. He had twelve sons who make up the beginnings of the twelve tribes of Israel. After Solomon died the tribes separated due to religious differences. Those who wanted to keep the faith of their fathers lived in the south, while those who wanted to practice their own form of religion lived in the north. The people who lived in the south were primarily of the house of Judah and the others eventually became assimilated into the house of Judah. This southern kingdom makes up the Jewish nation, which is where we get today's Jews. However it makes up less than one tenth of the Hebrew nation. Consider that the Jewish people have been persecuted and killed throughout history, yet there are
One might wonder what became of the rest of the Hebrews. In the Bible it tells of how the ten tribes in the northern kingdom were invaded and became "lost." It has been said that only the important people of the northern kingdom were taken into captivity, however I believe that a large majority if not all of the people of the ten tribes were scattered about the area. Since they started out in Israel they could not have gotten too far, so most of Asia and Africa are out of the question. So that leaves the Middle East and Europe. Over time they were most likely spread out evenly throughout the region. If we assume that there were a lot less people on the earth at that time, and that there would be a larger percentage of people in the area that are Hebrew after every generation, then the Hebrew bloodline would become a major part of Eurasian people. If these assumptions are true, many of the present day European and Middle Eastern groups are of Hebrew descent, defiantly not a "pure-bred" Hebrew, but with Hebrew bloodlines. When thinking of Hebrews one must contemplate whether or not he himself is one. It is not a matter of religion or physical appearance, but of lineage. Even the smallest amount of Hebrew blood in a person still makes them a descendent of the Hebrew people. Since the majority of the Hebrews were lost to history and become part of other cultures it is impossible to accurately tell if some
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 958
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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