How We Got Involved With Gaza: The 133 Year Time Span Causing The Bloody Gazan War: 1, 891 Years Earlier

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

       2nd Temple of Solomon or Herod's Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem, in use between c. 516 BCE and its destruction in 70 CE, in use over 586 years !  

Rome had discovered Judah in about 63 BCE and established themselves there by occupation, taking over from the Greeks who had overwhelmed them earlier.  General Pompey of Rome held a siege of Jerusalem in 63 BCE and had entered the area called the HOLY OF HOLIES, of the 2nd Temple of Solomon. The Romans ruled Judea as a vassal kingdom and a province until the First Jewish–Roman War in 66–73 CE.  They occupied the land for 133 years before destroying it with fire in 70 CE.  

The Holy of Holies, (Kodesh haKedoshim), is the most sanctified place in the Mikdash. It housed the Ark of the Covenant and the Two Tablets of the law. Only the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was permitted to enter here, and only on Yom Kippur.  

The Purpose of the Holy of Holies :

• The Holy of Holies was the dwelling-place of the "name" of God 
• The Ark of the Covenant represented the throne of the Lord 
•                                                             
  
  John Hyrcanus II (died 30 bc, Jerusalem) was the high priest of Judaea from 76 to 40 bcE, and, with his brother Aristobulus II, last of the Maccabean (Hasmonean) dynastic rulers.             
  

• Pompey had entered the temple:  a sacriIege,  but left the treasure. Hyrcanus II was appointed High Priest and Antipater the Idumaean is appointed governor by the Romans.  When his father, Alexander Jannaeus, died in 76,BCE Hyrcanus was appointed high priest, and on his mother’s death in 67 BCE he assumed the rulership of Judaea. After a troubled reign of three months, his warlike brother Aristobulus drove him from power.
• Antipater (died 43 bcE) was the Idumaean founder of the Herodian dynasty in Judaea.  Antipater gained power in Judaea by making himself useful to the Romans.  In return for Antipater’s support, Caesar appointed him procurator of Judaea. Although Antipater was assassinated by a political rival, his son, Herod I the Great, was later made king of Judaea by the Romans.
• 
  
• 57–55 BCE: Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, split the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts of legal and religious councils known as sanhedrin based at Jerusalem, Sepphoris (Galilee), Jericho, Amathus (Perea) and Gadara.                                    
  
  
  
• During the Roman period in Judea, the Sanhedrin primarily functioned in Jerusalem within the Temple Mount complex, although after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the Sanhedrin is documented to have relocated to the city of Yavne where they were allowed to continue their judicial activities under Roman oversight; this was facilitated by Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai who negotiated with the Roman emperor,  Vespasian, to establish the Sanhedrin in Yavne. 
• Function: The Sanhedrin served as the highest Jewish court, responsible for interpreting Jewish law and adjudicating legal disputes. 
• Roman oversight: While the Sanhedrin had autonomy in Jewish legal matters, their activities were ultimately subject to Roman authority.                                
  
• 
  

Gaza was was besieged and taken by the Hasmoneans in 96 BCE.

Gaza was rebuilt by Roman General Pompey Magnus, and granted to Herod the Great thirty years later in 66 BCE. Throughout the Roman period, Gaza maintained its prosperity, receiving grants from several different emperors. A diverse, 500-member senate governed the city during this time.

Gaza was granted to Herod the Great by Roman emperor Augustus in 30 BCE, where it formed a separate unit within his kingdom; and Cosgabar, the governor of Idumea, was in charge of the city's affairs. On the division of Herod's kingdom, it was placed under the proconsul of Syria.

 After Herod's death in 4 BCE, Augustus annexed it to the Province of Syria. In 66 CE/AD, Gaza was burned down by Jews during their rebellion against the Romans. However, it remained an important city; even more so after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus the following year. Titus passed through Gaza on his march toward to Jerusalem, and again in his return. Following Jerusalem's fall, captives were sold into slavery in Gaza.

 Conversion to Christianity in the city was spearheaded and completed under Saint Porphyrius, who destroyed its eight pagan temples between 396 and 420 CE/AD. Gaza was conquered by the Muslim general Amr ibn al-'As in 637 CE/AD and most Gazans adopted Islam during early Muslim rule. 

Throughout the Roman period, Gaza was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors. It was governed by a diverse 500-member senate. Gaza's mint stamped out coins adorned with the busts of gods and emperors, including Gordian III. During his visit in 130 CE, Emperor Hadrian, who favored Gaza, personally inaugurated wrestling, boxing and oratorical competitions in Gaza's new stadium. The city was adorned with many pagan temples, the main cult being that of Marnas. Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, and Tyche. With the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), Jewish captives were sold as slaves in Gaza.

History shows that Gaza was never a good place for Jews between the Philistines and the Romans.  Look at who had lived there and how they were ruled.  

Over half of the Palestinian Arab population fled or urged to leave by their leadership. Jordan and Egypt controlled the rest of the territory assigned by resolution 181 to the Arab State. In the 1967 war, Israel occupied these territories (Gaza Strip and the West Bank) including East Jerusalem, which was subsequently annexed by Israel.  1967 Six Day War was when Israel was attacked by all Arabs, but won.  They later held the famous meeting of No, No, No in Kartoum, Africa, refusing any peace accords with Israel.

 In 2005, Israel withdrew its settlers and troops from Gaza while retaining control over its borders, seashore and airspace. Following Palestinian legislative elections of 2006, the Quartet conditioned assistance to the PA on its commitment to nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. Gaza remained a fighting terrorizing group of masked killers from Arafat till October 7th, 2004 and continue.  

After an armed takeover of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, Israel imposed a blockade. The Annapolis process of 2007-2008 failed to yield a permanent status agreement. Escalating rocket fire and air strikes in late 2008 culminated in Israeli ground operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza. The UN Security Council adopted resolution 1860. Violations of international law during the Gaza conflict were investigated by the UN (“Goldstone report“).

Resource:

https://www.un.org/unispal/history/#:~:text=Over%20half%20of%20the%20Palestinian,was%20subsequently%20annexed%20by%20Israel.

OTHERS Who Were Included in the Freeing of Israelite Slaves By Moses

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Moses learned that he, a Prince of Egypt, was really a son of the Israelite slaves of his country.  When he finally confronted a new pharaoh, one that he didn't know, didn't grow up with, he said he wanted to free all the Israelite slaves.  He finally got them, and the group included Others besides the Israelites.  Who were the others that were also slaves?  

On blocks of stone found on the Sinai peninsula, we can see carvings that resemble the Hebrew script - they are quite different to the hieroglyphs of the Egyptians. The writing provides evidence of an independent culture, and several historians believe that the images carved in the stone prove that these people were the slaves of the Egyptians. And this is also the story that the Bible tells.  

Because the slaves were an invaluable work force, it was in the state's best interests to keep them alive. But they were made very much aware who wielded the power. 

                         Moses, captured here by the 17th-century Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera, is an icon of leadership, piety, and liberation throughout western culture.  He died at the age of 120.  

During the Islamic history of Egypt, slavery were mainly focused on three categories: male slaves used for soldiers and bureaucrats, female slaves used for sexual slavery as concubines, and female slaves and eunuchs used for domestic service in harems and private households.  

At the end of the period, there were a growing agricultural slavery. The people enslaved in Egypt during Islamic times mostly came from Europe and Caucasus (which where referred to as "white"), or from the Sudan and Africa South of the Sahara through the Trans-Saharan slave trade (which where referred to as "black"). Could this had been true of the biblical days as well?                                     

Our Others, most likely, were also Semites like the Israelites.  Some of these Semites came to Egypt as traders and immigrants. Others were prisoners of war, and yet others were sold into slavery by their own people. A papyrus mentions a wealthy Egyptian lord whose 77 slaves included 48 of Semitic origin.In fact, by the late Middle Kingdom era, around 3700 years ago, Canaanites had actually achieved absolute power, in the form of a line of Canaanite pharaohs ruling the Lower Kingdom, coexisting with the Egyptian-ruled Upper Kingdom. (These Canaanite pharaohs included the mysterious "Yaqub," whose existence is attested by 27 scarabs found in Egypt, Canaan and Nubia and a famous one found at Shikmona, by Haifa.) The biblical tradition of the patriarch Jacob settling in Egypt could well derive from this time. Abraham, Jacob's grandfather, was born about 1948 BCE which was 3,971 years ago.  The Middle Kingdom era of 3700 years ago would be just right.  

Conscription of prisoners of war into the military continued into the Middle Kingdom, in which Nubian and Levantine troops were conscripted in order to accompany Egyptian troops on quarrying expeditions as armed support. Women and children were also captured and enslaved en masse: 

As we know from the Torah, our Israelite slaves were used to build the storage cities of  Pithom and Ramses.  The pyramids had already been built.  The storage cities Pithom and Rameses, built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, were located in the northeastern part of the Egyptian delta, not far from Goshen, the district in which the Hebrews lived. Goshen is the Nile Delta.                                       

The Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew.The Hebrew Letter Bet (ב).  The letter Bet is the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the first letter of the Hebrew Bible. This letter is actually the source of the Greek letter Beta .  An ancient B in Hebrew:

Beyt

b, bh

Hebrew Today

https://hebrewtoday.com › The Hebrew Alphabet

 Its Greek translation, with all its errors in translation,  with Beta 

 Symbol in Greek Alphabet

Β β

 the Septuagint,   (c. 300 BCE–c. 300 CE) and provided a language for the New Testament and for the Christian liturgy and theology of the first three centuries CE. The Bible in Latin, the Vulgate, shaped the thought and life of Western people for a thousand years. Bible translation led to the study and literary development of many languages.

In Egypt at a later date, the slave concubines in the harems of rich Egyptian men were often Circiassian women, while the concubines of middle class Egyptians were often Abyssinians; while the male and female domestic slaves of almost all classes of Egyptian society often consisted of Black Africans. After all, Egypt is on the continent of Africa.  

In time, the Canaanite leaders were themselves ousted by the Hyksos, a mysterious group who settled in Egypt some time before 1650 BCE, and who came to rule the Lower Kingdom from the city of Avaris. Controversy remains, but it is increasingly agreed that the Hyksos originated from northern Levant - Lebanon or Syria.

The Roman-era Jewish historian, Josephus for one, identifies the Hyksos with the Israelites.  He cites the 3rd-century Egyptian scribe and priest, Manetho, who wrote that after their expulsion. Some scholars suspect that Exodus is based on distant Semitic memories of the expulsion of the Hyksos.  Others are dubious about Manethos' history, which was penned centuries after the actual event.  But we know that the Torah was written by Moses himself and kept by his descendants.  Our culture glorifies this with our practice of Passover, practiced ever since the event had happened.  So we have the written proof of our history and the physical tradition of our remembrance with Passover.  

                A Passover Seder in early 1900s

 According to historical evidence and modern-day practice, the festival was originally celebrated on the 14th of Nissan which in our year of 2023 fell on April 5th which was Erev Pesach (the night before Passover).  It's the night that we have our seder (teaching  the story from our textbook (Haggadah) which includes a huge meal with certain foods standing in for certain memories like eating matzoh which stands for the unleavened bread made in a hurry with no time to rise as Moses would be saying to start the walk, and the mixture of haroset (the stuff used to glue bricks together.) The night at the table starts with ?We were slaves....In this way, we re-hash the Exodus every year of our lives and so on to our children.  No, we haven't forgotten.                                         

   

Whether we were Hyksos or not or even if our ancestors knew who they were besides being Israelites, it doesn't matter.  After 400 years of being brainwashed by the Egyptians and building and building, they needed the next 40 years to be conditioned into another people, Moses's people, and glorifying the beliefs they already had from Abraham by adding to them from Moses.  The OTHERS were with us and included in the expectations.  

Now, in the day of DNA, a day in the future in which our ancestors could not even imagine, we can tell our individual history of where our ancestor started from by a DNA test of the Y haplogroup for men.  This tells us that Moses' brother Aaron, who we know had sons, and was the high priest of our people, have the Y haplogroup called J1.  It is the haplogroup of Abraham.  Many Arabs also have this haplogroup as they also came from Abraham.  (This is why we have today the Abraham Accords) trying to unify our relatives together and be at peace with each other.)  

    High Priest Aaron, brother of Moses, a J1, with Moses and Pharaoh 

This haplogroup of J1 is found to have arisen 10,000 to 15,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, and Abraham was born only about 4,000 years ago. He is mentioned in Genesis, living in about the 2nd millennium BCE. His father was Terah and was unhappy with his life in Ur in about 2,000 BCE. and left Ur, which was part of the Sumerian civilization. Besides Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Kurds are found in this haplogroup. Interestingly, Kurds are still living in Iraq, even though Saddam Hussein gassed many of them. Kurds have the closest dna to most Jewish men. The highest frequencies are in Iran and Iraq. It was carried by traders into Europe, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan. Most likely traders could have been Jews, who became involved in such endeavors.

There is a J1c3 which seems to be the oldest found.  It used to be called J1e,   In the website-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victar/Haplogroup_J1c3_(Y

-DNA), they said that 30% of Yemenite Jews have the 

haplogroup of J1c3 or P58, as it is also called. As I see it, J1c3 

was the original or oldest, going back 9,000 to 10,000 

years J1c3d is a subgroup of it.  The J1 SNP of L859 tells if you 

are an Arab Hashimite.

We find we also have a few other representations of the Jewish men with the Y haplogroup of E.  Many Jews have this, and Arabs too. 

E, (E1b1b1) whose name was then changed to E-M35.  Another line on the same level was E-M35.1 which is now being called E-L117, and  E-M84 of Berber origins.   E1b1b1-m35 is now Z830 cluster B or E-Z830-B.  This is the haplogroup of Albert Einstein whose ancestor was Naphtali Hirsh Einstein b: 1733-d: 1799. 
E1b1b1c1a is now called M84.  About 4% of Jews are of M84.  E3b, mentioned by Harry Ostrer in Legacy,  
Update 6/27/17
 Originally from Africa 50,000 years ago it was thought, now more likely the Middle East, shares common ancestry with haplogroup D.  It has groups in Africa and the Middle East.  Some clades are also found in Europe among those living near the Mediterranean, believe to represent the ancient genetic influence from the Middle East to Europe.20% of Ashkenazi Jews are E1b1b.

Haplogroup E1b1b1 is a very Jewish line.  (from Albert Benhamou)  added 5/2/2012 Albert  Einstein  belonged to haplogroup E1b1b1b2* E-Z830, with a sample taken from a paternal descendants of Naphtali Hirsch Einstein.   Also,  According to a genetic study in December 2012, Ramesses III, second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty and considered to be the last great New Kingdom king to wield any substantial authority over Egypt, belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup E1b1a, mainly found in sub-saharan Africa.  He of course was not Jewish but Jews lived in Egypt for 400 years as slaves.  Added 2/15/13.  

E-M35.1 now called  (E-L117) is the 2nd most frequent  haplogroup found in Jewish families.  This is the same as  E1b1b1 that Einstein had. It's just been given a newer title.  18% to 20% of Ashkenazi Jews carry this and 8.6 % to 30% of Sephardi Jews carry it. It is the 2nd highest haplogroup found in Jewish men after J1.   "The E1b1b1 men claiming to be Levites may have existed in Israel before the Diaspora of 70 CE.  

This does not mean that E men were part of the "OTHERS".  There are other ways that it could have taken place.  Sons are not always produced in a marriage, so daughters with their husbands could have taken the position. The difference would have been that OTHERS did not have the additional upbringing  of their ancestors on Abraham's teaching of there being only one G-d.  However, after living with Israelites possibly for the past 400 years, they would have learned, I bet.  

There are a few other Y haplogroups found within the Jewish family.  R, G, Q, perhaps I.  

Our Others may have been descendants of African slaves who had built the pyramids.  Most likely Jacob and his family from the North looked a little different as they were not born in Africa but were descendants of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees on the Euphrates River of the Middle East.  The Hyksos could have been Middle Easterners as well, from Ur, from Babylonia.  Any unlucky person could have been captured and used as a slave in Egypt in Biblical days.  All the people who wanted to leave this position followed Moses and left.  

Resource:

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-haplogroup-we-be.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Egypt#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%20the,to%20as%20%22black%22).

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-03-25/ty-article/were-hebrews-ever-slaves-in-ancient-egypt-yes/0000017f-f6ea-d47e-a37f-fffeebef0000

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-c998-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99#:~:text=Egypt%3A%20Israelites%20build%20cities%20of,slays%20Egyptian%20%2D%20NYPL%20Digital%20Collections

https://www.britannica.com/video/179508/Israelites-Overview-Moses-slavery  (left out errors)

https://ancient-hebrew.org/learn/learn-the-ancient-pictographic-hebrew-script.htm

Beer, That Staple of Ancient IRAQ, Egypt and the Middle East

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

           Mesopotamian Beer Rations  Tablet 

Cultural Revolution (c. 10,000 BCE), as fermentation was an accidental by-product of the gathering of wild grain.

The first beer in the world was brewed by the ancient Chinese around the year 7000 BCE (known as kui).

 In the west, however, the process now recognized as beer brewing began in Mesopotamia at the Godin Tepe settlement now in modern-day Iran between 3500 - 3100 BCE.  Sites excavated in Sumer suggest an even earlier date based on ceramics considered the remains of beer jugs and residue found in other ancient containers. Even so, the date of c. 4000 BCE is usually given for the creation of beer.

The Egyptians did not invent beer. Rather they had learned the art of brewing from the world's first known brewers, the Sumerians, Babylonian, and Assyrians further to the east in what is now Iraq. 

The Egyptians, however, left us with the best documentation of ancient brewing practices. Most of the many depictions of Egyptian brewing that have come down to us are murals in vaults, pyramids, and sacrificial chambers. These attest to the importance and high esteem in which the art of beer-making was held in Egyptian society. Yet the find in Meketre's tomb probably ranks among the best preserved and most instructive.

                  Beer brewing in ancient Egypt

 It's said that beer was not invented but discovered, yet the manufacturing of beer was an active choice and the ancient Egyptians produced and consumed it in huge volumes. The craft of beer brewing traveled to Egypt through trade and the Egyptians improved upon the original process, creating a lighter product that enjoyed great popularity. 

At first, around the time of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, 

beer was brewed by mixing cooked loaves of bread 

in water and placing the mixture in heated jars 

to ferment. The use of hops was unknown to the 

Egyptians as was the process of carbonation.

Barley growing in field

                    

    Emmer, ancient wheat

By the time of the New Kingdom barley and emmer (wheat) were used which were mixed with water to create a mash which was then poured into vats and heated to ferment. Compared to modern wheat cultivars, ancient grains such as emmer are lower in gluten and higher in micronutrients like minerals and antioxidants. That said, they do contain gluten, as do all ancient and heirloom wheat. Gluten is a composite of different proteins found in grain.

This mixture was then strained and different herbs and fruits added for the flavoring of the various types of beer. According to Strudwick, "fermentation of everyday beer took a few days, producing a mixture fairly low in alcohol" and "the outcome was a thick, brothy liquid that had to be filtered through a basket before being drunk".  Once strained, the beer was sealed in ceramic jugs and stored, often underground in a process similar to later lagering.

In the New Kingdom, when emmer and barley were used, the use of dates and honey decreased in the production of common beer and were only used for higher quality brews for special occasions. Beer with a high alcohol content was favored for banquets and festivals and, in fact, a party was rated a success depending on the level of the participants' intoxication and the amount of beer consumed. The highest quality beer, of course, was brewed for the king and the nobility and flavored with honey which was associated with the gods. The beer found in the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, for example, was honey beer similar to the later European mead.

From the Middle Kingdom onwards, beer was increasingly a state-run industry, although people still brewed their own in their homes. This beer continued to be amber in color but not as thick; as shown by residue found in the bottom of vats and also through the beer found in Tutankhamun's tomb and others. Just as beer was considered a staple for Egyptians in life, so was it considered a necessary offering for the dead; beer, therefore, became one of the most common grave goods placed in tombs for those who could afford to part with it. Since beer was was a common form of payment, including jars of the brew in a tomb would be comparable to burying one's paycheck with the deceased.

Egyptians used beer as a currency to pay slaves, tradesmen, priests, and public officials alike, which means that every Egyptian was entitled to a certain amount of daily beer. This quantity was strictly regulated, even at the highest level. A queen was entitled to 10 loaves of bread and two crocks of beer a day.                             

Beer was served to guests from pitchers and poured into ceramic cups from which guests drank without the use of straws or strainers. Strudwick notes that "the quality of beer depended on both the skill of the brewer and the sugar content: the more sugar that was added to the fermentation, the stronger the beer." The beer served at funerals would have been higher in alcohol content than a regular brew. The same beer enjoyed by the guests would have earlier been placed in the tomb of the departed.

Emmer was a nutritious daily staple of the ancient Egyptians for thousands of years. It originated thousands of years ago and found its way into Italy where it is still cultivated. Emmer is rich in fiber, protein, magnesium, and other vitamins. It is a complete protein source when combined with legumes, which makes it an excellent addition to a vegetarian diet or for anyone looking for a plant-based high-protein food source.

Although beer was known afterwards to the Greeks and Romans, it never gained the same kind of following as those cultures preferred wine and thought of beer as a "barbarian" drink. One of the many peoples they regarded as "barbarians" - the Germans - perfected the art of brewing and created what is recognized today as beer.

People are the same today, thinking beer is for the laborer enjoying sports and the rich drink white wine.  

The people who do not enjoy beer today are those of the Middle East;  Iran, Iraq, Egypt, as Islam has outlawed alcohol.  Most likely it had become a problem, noticed and taken care of.  

Resource:

Read more at Gardening Know How: What Is Emmer Wheat: Information About Emmer Wheat Plants https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/wheatgrass/emmer-wheat-plants.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/wheatgrass/emmer-wheat-plants.htm#:~:text=Compared%20to%20modern%20wheat%20cultivars,different%20proteins%20found%20in%20grain.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/archived-articles/629/#:~:text=Egyptians%20used%20beer%20as%20a,crocks%20of%20beer%20a%20day.

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1033/beer-in-ancient-egypt/