Re: Exams
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 5:12 pm
Haha.
Doug's condensed presentation (presented in, and meant to be taken in, a light-hearted fashion. I am also not claiming historical accuracy):
Way back in time, when the world was divided into hundreds of micro-kingdoms, there was this group of sheep herders that believed in one god above all others. This was pretty bizarre for the time, and they were pretty well tolerated, but didn't really have a place of their own. After all, they were sheep herders, and they were nomadic. Eventually after wandering around a lot, they started calling themselves Hebrews and founded their own kingdom, probably pissing off a lot of other people in the process. Eventually, powerful rulers emerged out of some of these small micro-kingdoms, and they raised armies to gobble up their neighbors. Thus rose the grand imperial age. The Hebrews were gobbled up with the rest, and were generally picked on a lot by their conquerors. Except, they didn't take being conquered in good humor, because their god said that their land was there's by divine right. So, they caused a lot of problems for their conquerors. Over time they regained and lost their independence, and their conquerors got really mad and tore their big temple down a few times to make a point. After this, the Hebrews lost their national label and instead became labeled by their religious beliefs (i.e. Jew). (Sidebar - the Hebrew National label was resurrected in the 20th century by a hot dog).
Over the next few thousand years, the Jews wandered the world, trying to fit in as best they could in the alien cultures that surrounded them. Sometimes, like in Spain under the Moors, life was really good, but most times, life was s**t (and when the Christians threw out the Moors, they threw out the Jews too - they just can't catch a break). You see, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth came to outnumber the Jews, and they never forgot that it was the Jews that turned Jesus over to be executed. Since persecution and hate was in vogue during these times, the Jews often ranked right up there with witches in the category of fun things to poke with pointed sticks. With life sucking this bad, Jews started trickling into Palestine, their "promised land," over hundreds of years, looking for a better life.
Then the 20th century happened. The British, who were in the business of trying to control as much of the world as possible, gobbled up Palestine. Once again, the Jewish promised land was under the control of a foreign power. Then Hitler and Stalin happened, and Jews started moving to Palestine in droves. With Britain distracted, they were unable to adequately crush the spirits of the large numbers of Jews in Palestine, and in 1948, unwilling to put up with them any longer, they decided to leave them alone, and the British pulled out of Palestine. The Jews then promptly declared their independence, pissing off the Arab world for all eternity.
Because of global sympathies, and because no white people gave a crap about the Arabs yet, their new nation was recognized in the UN, and they've been toughing it out ever since.
You should be able to get 20 slides out of that.
Edited: Added another sidebar
Doug's condensed presentation (presented in, and meant to be taken in, a light-hearted fashion. I am also not claiming historical accuracy):
Way back in time, when the world was divided into hundreds of micro-kingdoms, there was this group of sheep herders that believed in one god above all others. This was pretty bizarre for the time, and they were pretty well tolerated, but didn't really have a place of their own. After all, they were sheep herders, and they were nomadic. Eventually after wandering around a lot, they started calling themselves Hebrews and founded their own kingdom, probably pissing off a lot of other people in the process. Eventually, powerful rulers emerged out of some of these small micro-kingdoms, and they raised armies to gobble up their neighbors. Thus rose the grand imperial age. The Hebrews were gobbled up with the rest, and were generally picked on a lot by their conquerors. Except, they didn't take being conquered in good humor, because their god said that their land was there's by divine right. So, they caused a lot of problems for their conquerors. Over time they regained and lost their independence, and their conquerors got really mad and tore their big temple down a few times to make a point. After this, the Hebrews lost their national label and instead became labeled by their religious beliefs (i.e. Jew). (Sidebar - the Hebrew National label was resurrected in the 20th century by a hot dog).
Over the next few thousand years, the Jews wandered the world, trying to fit in as best they could in the alien cultures that surrounded them. Sometimes, like in Spain under the Moors, life was really good, but most times, life was s**t (and when the Christians threw out the Moors, they threw out the Jews too - they just can't catch a break). You see, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth came to outnumber the Jews, and they never forgot that it was the Jews that turned Jesus over to be executed. Since persecution and hate was in vogue during these times, the Jews often ranked right up there with witches in the category of fun things to poke with pointed sticks. With life sucking this bad, Jews started trickling into Palestine, their "promised land," over hundreds of years, looking for a better life.
Then the 20th century happened. The British, who were in the business of trying to control as much of the world as possible, gobbled up Palestine. Once again, the Jewish promised land was under the control of a foreign power. Then Hitler and Stalin happened, and Jews started moving to Palestine in droves. With Britain distracted, they were unable to adequately crush the spirits of the large numbers of Jews in Palestine, and in 1948, unwilling to put up with them any longer, they decided to leave them alone, and the British pulled out of Palestine. The Jews then promptly declared their independence, pissing off the Arab world for all eternity.
Because of global sympathies, and because no white people gave a crap about the Arabs yet, their new nation was recognized in the UN, and they've been toughing it out ever since.
You should be able to get 20 slides out of that.
Edited: Added another sidebar
Why didn't you come right to source? I could have answered all your questions, and even tossed in a dreidel or two... 