Hebrew

[Orleander]

ok. Is this a racial purity thing???

[Fraggle Rocker]

ok. Is this a racial purity thing???

I'm not sure what his problem is, other than being a bit too young to be housebroken. The Jews have never had an issue with "racial purity." They've always had formal procedures for accepting outsiders into the tribe. De facto works too: during their darkest times, rape by the more powerful tribes was always as big an issue as it was everywhere else. You don't even have to know who your father was. If your mother is a member of the tribe, you're Jewish.

[Orleander]

ah, I always wondered why it was a maternalistic religion.

How many groups did the ancient Hebrews divide into?

[Fraggle Rocker]

ah, I always wondered why it was a maternalistic religion.

They never come out and say that, but I have a feeling that played a big part in it. It's kind of ironic since women don't play a major formal role in religious training. Your mom will raise you to be a decent human being, but it's your dad who teaches you how to be Jewish. On the other hand, that's probably why it works; they've got their priorities straight.

How many groups did the ancient Hebrews divide into?

You're getting out of my field of expertise. You can probably rely on the information on the bible for that since much of the Old Testament is a history of the Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people. But as far as I know, despite all the hokum about "lost tribes," the only real splinter group is the Falashas of Ethiopia. They missed many of the key events in Jewish history by being off in a different land, maybe even since before the Exodus but certainly before a lot of the internecine wars, the spoonful of lamp oil that lasted a week and generated Hannnukah, etc. So they didn't practice a lot of the holidays and other rituals. When the modern state of Israel was formed they had a major problem deciding what to do about Falashas who wanted to immigrate. I think they came up with a practical solution and just said, "OK, guys, you're Jews."

[Orleander]

are these Falashas the ones that are supposed to be descended from Solomon and Sheba?

[Fraggle Rocker]

are these Falashas the ones that are supposed to be descended from Solomon and Sheba?

That is one of the legends. Read the Wikipedia article on "Beta Israel" for a pretty complete treatment of all the facts and legends. Apparently two of their problems are that there is no verified historical record of these people until the 14th century CE, and that at least some of them converted to Christianity and became part of the Christian community in Ethiopia, which is identified with the Coptic people, who are one of the surviving branches of descendants of the Ancient Egyptians.