A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
i) Name bestowed on the *patriarch *Jacob after he wrestled with a stranger near the Ford of Jabbok (*Genesis 32:28–29)
ii) As ‘Israelite’, name bestowed on all the descendants of Jacob—thus on all the Jewish people particularly in *Biblical times.
iii) The *Northern Kingdom of the Jews. The ten northern tribes rebelled against the Davidic monarchy in 930 BCE and set up their own kingdom known as Israel, *Samaria or sometimes *Ephraim.
It was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BCE and the tribes were scattered. (See *NORTHERN KINGDOM, *TEN LOST TRIBES)
iv) The modern state founded in 1948. The state of Israel was the culmination of the *Zionist hope and was created by a resolution of the United Nations. Under the *Law of Return, it provides a homeland for any *diaspora Jew. (See also *EREZ ISRAEL, *HOLOCAUST, *ZIONISM).
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