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Isaac Isaacs

Isaac Isaacs

Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs (6 August 1855 – 12 February, 1948) Australian judge and politician, was the ninth Governor-General of Australia, and the first Australian to occupy that post. Isaacs was born in Melbourne, the son of a Jewish tailor who had arrived in Victoria from Britain the previous year. His family was originally of Polish-Jewish origin. When he was four, he moved with his family to Yackandandah in northern Victoria, and then to nearby Beechworth. He went to the local state school, where he displayed his academic ability by becoming dux of his class. After finishing high school he stayed in Beechworth as a pupil-teacher. In 1875 he moved to Melbourne and found work at the Prothonotary's Office of the Law Department. In 1876, while still working full-time, he started studying law part-time at the University of Melbourne. He graduated in 1880 and became a Master of Laws in 1883. In 1888 he married Deborah Jacobs, with whom he had two daughters. In 1892 Isaacs was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a radical liberal. In 1893 he became Solicitor-General, and in 1894 Attorney-General, a position he held until 1901. In 1897 he was elected to the Convention which drafted the Australian Constitution, where he supported those arguing for a more democratic draft. Isaacs was elected to the first federal Parliament in 1901, as a critical supporter of Edmund Barton and his Protectionist government. He was one of a group of backbenchers pushing for more radical policies, and he earned the dislike of many of his colleagues through what they saw as his aloofness and rather self-righteous attitude to politics. Alfred Deakin appointed Isaacs Attorney-General in 1905, but he was a difficult colleague and in 1906 Deakin was keen to get him out of politics by appointing him to the High Court bench. Here he joined H.B. Higgins as a radical minority on the Court, in opposition to the Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Griffith. He served on the Court for 24 years, acquiring a reputation as a learned, radical, but uncollegial justice. In 1930 the Labor Prime Minister, James Scullin, appointed Isaacs, aged by this time 75, as Chief Justice. Shortly afterwards, however, Scullin decided to appoint an Australian as Governor-General, and offered the post to Isaacs. This sparked a storm of protest from the Nationalist Opposition and the conservative press. Critics of the appointment were careful to say that they had no opposition to Isaacs personally, and the fact that he was Jewish was never mentioned, but there is no doubt that currents of personal dislike of Isaacs and of anti-Semitism ran beneath the debate. Scullin had to travel to London to personally advise King George V to make the appointment, which the King reluctantly agreed to. With Australia in the depths of the Great Depression, Isaacs agreed to a reduction in salary, and conducted the office with great frugality. He gave up his official residences in Sydney and Melbourne and most official entertaining. He was the first Governor-General to live permanently at Government House, Canberra. This was well-received with the public, as was Isaacs's image of rather austere dignity. Although Isaacs was seen as a Labor appointment, the Scullin government fell at the end of 1931 and the rest of Isaacs's term was spent under the United Australia Party government of Joseph Lyons. There was some initial chill between Isaacs and the politicians who had opposed his appointment, but Lyons treated him with courtesy and he behaved with scrupulous propriety. Isaacs was 81 when his term ended in 1936, but his public life was far from over. He remained active in various causes for another decade, and wrote frequently on matters of constitutional law. In the 1940s he became embroiled in controversy with the Jewish community both in Australia and internationally through his outspoken opposition to Zionism. Isaacs was not particularly religious, but he insisted that Jewishness was a religious identity and not a national or ethnic one, and he opposed the notion of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Isaacs opposed Zionism partly because he disliked nationalism of all kinds, and saw Zionism as a form of Jewish national chauvinism, and partly because he saw the Zionist agitation in Palestine as disloyalty to the British Empire, to which he was devoted. When Zionist terrorists blew up the King David Hotel in 1946, he wrote that "the honour of Jews throughout the world demands the renunciation of political Zionism." He died in February 1948 and thus did not live to see the creation of the State of Israel.

External links


- [http://www.unimelb.edu.au/150/150people/isaacs.html University of Melbourne: Isaac Alfred Isaacs]
- [http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/2755.html National Library of Australia: Papers of Sir Isaac Issacs] Isaacs, Isaac Isaacs, Isaac Isaacs, Isaac Isaacs, Isaac Isaacs, Isaac

1855

1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - London, Ontario is incorporated as a city.
- January 23 - The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
- January 23 - The region of Wairarapa, New Zealand was hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in New Zealand, which reached Magnitude 8.1 on the Richter Scale. There were five deaths.
- January 29 - Lord Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom over the management of the Crimean War.
- February 5 - Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- February 11 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam.
- March 3 - US Congress appropriates $30,000 to create US Camel Corps
- May 15 - The Great Gold Robbery of 1855 in England
- June 29 - The Daily Telegraph begins publication
- September 3 - Last Bartholomew Fair on London, England
- September 11 - Sevastapol falls to the British troops
- Stamp duty was removed from newspapers in Britain creating mass market media in the UK.
- The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean by rail as the railroad's route across Panama is completed.

Births


- January 5 - King Camp Gillette, American inventor (d. 1932)
- January 20 - Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
- January 21 - John Moses Browning, American firearms inventor (d. 1926)
- January 28 - William Seward Burroughs, American bank clerk and inventor (d. 1898)
- March 13 - Percival Lowell, American astronomer (d. 1916)
- March 24 - Andrew Mellon, American banker and philanthropist (d. 1937)
- April 21 - Hardy Richardson, 19th century baseball player (d. 1931)
- April 27 - Caroline Rémy, French feminist (d. 1929)
- May 1 - Marie Corelli, English novelist (d. 1924)
- July 26 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (d. 1936)
- October 21 - Howard Hyde Russell, American temperance movement leader and founder of Anti-Saloon League and Lincoln-Lee Legion (d. 1946)
- November 5 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (d. 1913)
- November 6 - Ezra Seymour Gosney, American philanthropist and eugenicist (d. 1942)

Deaths


- January 6 - Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer, gaylord (b. 1779)
- January 26 - Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
- February 6 - Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1791)
- February 23 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
- March 29 - Henri Druey, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1799)
- March 31 - Charlotte Brontë, English author (b. 1816)
- May 5 - Robert Inglis, English politician (b. 1786)
- May 23 - Charles Robert Malden English explorer (b. 1797)
- June 28 - Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan, commander of British forces in the Crimean War (b. 1788)
- August 7 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (b. 1802)
- November 11 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (b. 1813)
- November 26 - Adam Mickiewicz, Lithuanian - Polish poet and writer (b. 1798)
- Metropolitan Board of Works established. Category:1855 ko:1855년 ms:1855 th:พ.ศ. 2398

1948

1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January 1 - Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. First day of the Italian republican constitution.
- January 4 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- January 5 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).
- January 17 - Truce between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java
- January 26 - Teigin poison case - Man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 out of 15 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced for the crime.
- January 30 - Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by a Hindu extremist.
- January 30 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
- February 1 - Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
- February 4 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. King George VI becomes King of Ceylon.
- February 18 - Eamon de Valera, head of government since 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach of Éire (formerly called the Irish Free State) by President O'Kelly.
- February 24 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia.

March-April


- March 8 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.
- March 10 - Czech foreign minister Jan Masaryk killed in fall from a window of his apartment in Prague. Later communist government rules it "suicide".
- March 17 - Hell's Angels founded in California
- March 20 - First elections in Singapore
- April 1 - Faroe Islands receive autonomy from Denmark
- April 3 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
- April 7 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
- April 7 - Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai - 20 monks dead
- April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).
- April 9 - The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.

May

Palestine
- May 1 - 213 communists executed in Greece.
- May 2 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.
- May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
- May 14 - Israel is declared as an independent state.
- May 14 - The murder of a three-year-old girl in Blackburn, England leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.
- May 15 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
- May 16 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
- May 18 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
- May 26 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
- May 30 - A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

June-July


- June 3 - Palomar Observatory telescope finished in California.
- June 16 - Communist guerillas kill three rubber planters in Malaya.
- June 16 - Three armed men hijack Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot. The plane crashes - one of 27 survives
- June 17 - A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
- June 18 - State of Emergency declared in Malaysia for communist insurgency - Malayan Emergency begins.
- June 21 - The Deutsche Mark becomes official currency of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- June 24 - Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
- June 28 - Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.
- July 5 - British National Health Service Act enacted.
- July 13 - The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.
- July 15 - Attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, incites number of strikes all over the country.
- July 15 - First London, England chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous
- July 20 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime draft occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt).
- July 24 - Great oil fire in the harbor of Naantali, Finland
- July 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
- July 29 - 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London.
- July 31 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

August-December


- August 1 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
- August 12 - USA recognizes the government of South Korea.
- August 19 - Soviet troops fire at German demonstrators that protest against the Berlin Blockade.
- August 23 - World Council of Churches established.
- September 4 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
- September 5 - Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.
- September 6 - Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
- September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte.
- October 11 - Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series, four games to two.
- November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the US presidency.
- November 12 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
- November 15 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's twelfth prime minister.
- November 16 - Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins.
- November 17 - Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi divorces his second wife, the former Princess Fawzia of Egypt.
- November 24 - In Venezuela, president Rómulo Betancourt is outsed by a military coup. A military junta takes over the government.
- December 7 - Gary Morris, singer and actor
- December 7 - Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
- December 10 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- December 26 - Last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
- December 28 - Member of Muslim Brotherhood assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi.
- December 30 - The play Kiss Me, Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances.
- December 31 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from Negev.

Undated


- Empire Windrush immigrant ship arrives in Britain
- Civil war in Costa Rica
- Civil war in Colombia
- Rope (film) released

Unknown date


- Porsche is founded.
- Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
- Casimir effect discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
- Tunnel of Vielha is opened in Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees.
- Fresh Kills, world's largest landfill, opens in Staten Island, New York.
- The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.
- Brandeis University is founded.
- Oakridge Transit Centre opened in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Mary Archer, British scientist
- January 2 - Deborah Watling, British actress
- January 7 - Kenny Loggins, American singer
- January 10 - Donald Fagen, American keyboardist
- January 10 - Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
- January 14 - Carl Weathers, American football player and actor
- January 14 - T-Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician
- January 15 - Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (d. 1977)
- January 16 - John Carpenter, American film director and composer
- January 17 - Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
- January 19 - Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador
- January 27 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-born dancer
- January 28 - Charles Taylor, Liberian president
- January 29 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor
- January 31 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
- February 1 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
- February 3 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- February 4 - Alice Cooper, American musician
- February 5 - Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer
- February 5 - V. Alexander Stefan, American physicist, educator, and writer
- February 14 - Teller, American magician
- February 24 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
- February 25 - Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
- February 28 - Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Mike Figgis, American director, writer, and composer
- February 28 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- February 28 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress

March-April


- March 1 - Burning Spear, Jamaican singer and musician
- March 2 - Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
- March 2 - R. T. Crowley, pioneer of electronic commerce
- March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, American singer
- March 12 - James Taylor, American musician
- March 15 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
- March 17 - William Gibson, Canadian writer
- March 20 - John de Lancie, American actor
- March 20 - Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
- March 22 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer
- March 22 - Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
- March 26 - Steven Tyler, American singer (Aerosmith)
- March 28 - Dianne Wiest, American actress
- March 31 - Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States
- March 31 - Rhea Perlman, American actress
- April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
- April 15 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
- (April 23)-
- April 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

May-July


- May 8 - Felicity Lott, English soprano
- May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
- May 12 - Steve Winwood, English singer
- May 14 - Bob Woolmer, British cricket coach
- May 15 - Brian Eno, English musician and record producer
- May 19 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
- May 21 - Leo Sayer, English musician
- May 26 - Stevie Nicks, American singer and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
- May 29 - Michael Berkeley, British composer
- May 31 - John Bonham, British drummer (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
- June 2 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and record producer
- June 13 - Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout
- June 17 - Dave Concepcion, Venezuelan baseball player
- June 19 - Phylicia Rashad, American actress
- June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
- June 21 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
- June 21 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
- July 8 - Raffi Cavoukian, Egyptian-born singer
- July 16 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
- July 18 - Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 21 - Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
- July 21 - Cat Stevens, English musician
- July 21 - Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
- July 25 - Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
- July 28 - Sally Struthers, American actress
- July 30 - Jean Reno, French actor

August-December


- August 2 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
- August 3 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France
- August 13 - Kathleen Battle, American soprano
- August 15 - Uschi Digard, American erotic actress and figure model
- August 20 - Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)
- August 30 - Lewis Black, American comedian
- September 4 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
- September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
- September 10 - Bob Lanier, American basketball player
- September 10 - Margaret Trudeau, First Lady of Canada
- September 13 - Nell Carter, American singer and actress (d. 2003)
- September 17 - John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)
- September 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician
- September 24 - Heinz Chur, German composer
- September 27 - Michele Dotrice, English actor
- September 29 - Bryant Gumbel, American television broadcaster
- October 1 - Sir Sir Peter Blake New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)
- October 2 - Avery Brooks, American television actor
- October 2 - Chris LeDoux, American singer and rodeo star (d. 2005)
- October 8 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (d. 2004)
- October 9 - Jackson Browne, American musician
- October 13 - Ted Poe, American politician
- October 17 - George Wendt, American television actor
- November 1 - Jim Steinman, American songwriter and producer
- November 5 - William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 10 - Vincent Schiavelli, American actor
- November 14 - Charles, Prince of Wales
- November 16 - Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer
- November 17 - Howard Dean, American politician
- November 20 - John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the UN
- November 20 - Barbara Hendricks, American-born soprano
- December 3 - Ozzy Osbourne, British singer
- December 6 - JoBeth Williams, American actress
- December 10 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
- December 21 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
- December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor

Unknown date


- Maurizio Gucci Italian business man and murder victim (d. 1995)
- Edward Rutherfurd, British novelist

Deaths


- January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
- January 30 - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader (assassinated) (b. 1869)
- January 30 - Orville Wright, American co-inventor of the airplane (b. 1871)
- February 2 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)
- February 11 - Sergy Eisenstein, Russian film director (b. 1898)
- February 23 - John Robert Gregg, Irish-born inventor of shorthand (b. 1866)
- March 6 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (suicide) (b. 1914)
- March 10 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1886)
- March 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)
- April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903)
- April 17 - Suzuki Kantaro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)
- May 15 - Father Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-born priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
- May 28 - Unity Mitford, British friend of Hitler (b. 1914)
- June 25 - William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
- July 5 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
- July 15 - John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
- July 23 - David Wark Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)
- August 12 - Harry Brearley, English inventor of stainless steel (b. 1871)
- August 16 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)
- September 2 - Sylvanus G. Morley, American scholar and World War I spy (b. 1883)
- September 11 - Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan (b. 1876)
- October 24 - Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (b. 1870)
- November 28 - D.D. Sheehan, Irish politician (b. 1873)
- December 23 - Japanese war leaders (hanged):
  - Kenji Doihara, spy (b. 1883)
  - Koki Hirota, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
  - Iwane Matsui, general (b. 1878)
  - Itagaki Seishiro, military officer (b. 1885)
  - Hideki Tojo, general (b. 1884)
- December 31 - Sir Malcolm Campbell, English land and water racer (b. 1885)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett
- Chemistry - Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius
- Medicine - Paul Hermann Müller
- Literature - T. S. Eliot
- Peace - not awarded Category:1948 als:1948 ko:1948년 ms:1948 ja:1948年 simple:1948 th:พ.ศ. 2491

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of Australia is the representative in Australia of Australia's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, who lives in the United Kingdom. The function and role of the Governor-General is similar to that of the Queen in the United Kingdom and includes appointing ministers and judges, dissolving Parliament, giving Royal Assent to legislation, issuing writs for elections and bestowing honours. The Governor-General is President of the Executive Council and nominally Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces. All these things are done and all these posts are held under the authority of the Australian Constitution and carried out in the name of the Queen. The Constitution provides that a "Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth . . ." The Constitution grants the Governor-General a wide range of powers, but in practice he or she follows the conventions of the Westminster system and (with occasional and rare exceptions) acts only on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia or other ministers. Even in the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Governor-General rarely exercises any discretion, usually appointing the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. Beyond constitutional functions, the Governor-General has an important ceremonial role. He or she travels widely throughout Australia to open conferences, attend services and commemorations and generally "provide encouragement to individuals and groups who are contributing to their communities." [http://www.gg.gov.au/textonly/role.html] When travelling abroad, the Governor-General is seen as the representative of Australia (not of the Queen of Australia), and is treated as a head of state. The main official residence of the Governor-General is Government House, Canberra, commonly known as Yarralumla. There is a second official residence, Admiralty House in Sydney. When visiting the other states, the Governor-General is usually a guest at the Government Houses in the state capitals.

Method of Appointment

The selection of a Governor-General is a matter for the Prime Minister of Australia, who may or may not consult privately with staff or colleagues. A decision is usually announced several months in advance of the commission's commencement. During these months, the person is referred to as a Governor-General-designate. The Prime Minister, in making the selection, attempts to find a person who can broadly command the respect of the Australian people. Although they may have a public profile, the person is expected to be silent on political issues and if applicable, resign any party membership. The actual appointment is made by the Queen, however this is a formality. In 1930, James Scullin established the right of the Australian Prime Minister to advise the monarch directly and the Queen is obliged to act upon such advice. After receiving his or her Commission, the Governor-General makes an Oath of Allegiance and an Oath of Office to the Queen and issues a Proclamation assuming office.

Titles and Backgrounds of Governors-General

Oath of Office The British Governors-General (from 1901 to 1965) were either peers or knights. Of the Australian occupants (from 1931 to 1988), Casey was a peer and all the others were knights (although William McKell's knighthood was granted during his term of office). All Governors-General down to Stephen (from 1901 to 1989) were members of the British Privy Council and thus had the additional title "Right Honourable." Bill Hayden was the only Governor-General to have no title at any time. Of the nine Australians appointed since 1965 Casey, Hasluck and Hayden were former federal parliamentarians; Kerr was the Chief Justice of New South Wales; Stephen and Deane were appointed from the bench of the High Court; Cowen was a vice-chancellor and constitutional lawyer; Hollingworth was an Anglican Archbishop and Jeffery is a retired military officer. Unlike Canada and New Zealand, all Australian Governors-General have been male. None has had an indigenous background, however Sir Isaac Isaacs, the first Australian-born Governor-General, was Jewish.

Tenure

The constitution does not set a term of office, so a Governor-General may continue to hold office for any agreed length of time, however a typical term of office is five years. At the end of this period, a commission is occasionally extended by a short period. The salary of Governor-General is regulated by the Constitution, fixing an annual amount of 10,000 pounds, unless the parliament decides otherwise. The constitution states that the salary of the Governor-General may not be increased during his or her term of office. From 1974 each new commission has resulted in a pay increase. Today, the law ensures the salary is higher than that for the Chief Justice of the High Court, over a five year period. The annual salary during Michael Jeffery's term is $365,000. Three Governors-General have resigned their commission. The first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, asked to be recalled to Britain in 1903 over a dispute about funding for the post. John Kerr, resigned in 1977 after being offered a United Nations post, which he did not take up. In 2003, Peter Hollingworth stood aside temporarily while certain allegations against him were resolved, and the letters patent of the office were amended to take account of this circumstance. He later resigned to "protect the vice-regal office from persistent controversy." In 1961, Lord Dunrossil became the first and only Governor-General to die in office. A Governor-General may be recalled or dismissed by the Queen before their term is complete. By convention, this may only be advised by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has the option of naming an immediate replacement or letting the vacancy provisions take effect. As no Australian Governor-General has ever been dismissed, it is unclear how quickly the Queen would act on such advice. The constitutional crisis of 1975 prominently raised the possibility of the Prime Minister and Governor-General attempting to dismiss each other at the same time. A vacancy will occur on the resignation, death, incapacity or absence from Australian territory of the Governor-General. In some cases the vacancy is temporary, as occurred when Peter Hollingworth stood aside. Section 4 of the constitution allows the Queen to appoint an Administrator to carry out the role of Governor-General. By convention, the longest serving state governor holds a dormant commission, allowing an assumption of office to commence whenever a vacancy occurs.

Constitutional role and functions

Administrator Sections 61 and 68 of the Constitution provide that the Governor-General exercises certain powers as the Queen's representative. The limited form of this representation was explained in a 1988 Constitutional Commission report which concluded "the Governor-General is in no sense a delegate of the Queen. The independence of the office is highlighted by changes which have been made in recent years to the Royal instruments relating to it".[http://www.samuelgriffith.org.au/papers/html/volume8/v8chap8.htm] Although the Governor-General and the Queen occasionally observe certain formalities, in practice the Governor-General carries out his constitutional responsibilities without reference to the Queen. In 1975, the Queen, through her Private Secretary, wrote that she "has no part in the decisions which the Governor-General must take in accordance with the Constitution." [http://www.aph.gov.au/house/pubs/PRACTICE/4Ch01.pdf] During the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, the Queen refused to intervene, on the basis that it would constitute an interference with Australian sovereignty. In 2004, Governor General Michael Jeffery said "her Majesty is Australia's head of state but I am her representative and to all intents and purposes I carry out the full role." [http://www.theage.com.au/news/Gerard-Henderson/Queen-Camilla-of-Australia/2005/02/14/1108229927463.html]

Role in Parliament

The Constitution describes the Parliament of the Commonwealth as consisting of the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Section 5 states that "the Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of the Parliament ... prorogue the Parliament [and] dissolve the House of Representatives." These provisions make it clear that the Queen's role in the parliament is in name only and the actual responsibility belongs the Governor-General. Such decisions are usually taken on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Governor-General has a ceremonial role in swearing in and accepting the resignations of Members of Parliament. He or she appoints a deputy, to whom members make an oath of allegiance before they take their seats. On the day parliament opens, the Governor-General makes a speech, entirely written by the government, explaining the government's proposed legislative program. The most important power is found in section 58: "When a proposed law passed by both Houses of Parliament is presented to the Governor-General for the Queen's assent, he shall declare ... that he assents in the Queen's name." This makes any proposed law effective. Sections 58 to 60 allow the Governor-General to withhold assent, suggest changes, refer to the Queen or proclaim that the Queen has annulled the legislation. Convention prevents the Governor-General from using these powers in all realistic circumstances. (see Reserve Powers below). However on occasion, when the Queen has been scheduled to visit Australia, the Governor-General has as a courtesy withheld Royal Assent to an Act so that the Queen might personally sign it into law.

Role in Executive Government

At the start of Chapter 2 on executive government, the Constitution says "The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercisable by the Governor-General as the Queen's representative". The Governor-General presides over an Federal Executive Council. The Prime Minister is appointed to this Council and advises as to which parliamentarians shall become ministers and parliamentary secretaries. In the constitution, the words "Governor-General-in-council" mean the Governor-General acting with the advice of the Council. Powers exercised in council, which are not reserve powers, include:
- establishing government departments
- appointing federal judges, and
- appointing ambassadors and high commissioners. All such actions are taken on the advice of ministers. Section 68, says "command-in-chief of naval and military forces ... is vested in the Governor-General as the Queen's representative". In practice, this role is ceremonial, with actual authority in the hands of the Defence Minister and the Chief of the Defence Force ([http://www.defence.gov.au/cdf/role.cfm CDF]). In an administrative sense, the office of Governor-General is regulated by the [http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/0/284/top.htm Governor-General Act 1974].

Reserve powers

parliamentary secretaries In the United Kingdom, the reserve powers of the Crown are not explicitly stated in constitutional enactments and are the province of convention, but in Australia, the powers are explicitly given to the Governor-General in the Constitution but it is their use that is the subject of convention. The reserve powers are:
- The power to dissolve (or refuse to dissolve) the House of Representatives. (Section 5 of the Constitution)
- The power to dissolve Parliament on the occasion of a deadlock. (Section 57)
- The power to withhold assent to Bills. (Section 58)
- The power to appoint (or dismiss) Ministers. (Section 64) These powers are generally and routinely exercised on Ministerial advice, but the Governor-General retains the ability to act independently in certain circumstances, as governed by convention. It is generally held that the Governor-General may use his powers without ministerial advice in the following situations:
- if an election results in a Parliament in which no party has a majority, the Governor-General may select the Prime Minister.
- if a Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Representatives, the Governor-General may appoint a new Prime Minister.
- if a Prime Minister advises a dissolution of the House of Representatives, the Governor-General may refuse that request, or request further reasons why it should be granted. It is worth noting that convention does not give the Governor-General the ability to dissolve either the House of Representatives or the Senate without advice. The use of the reserve powers may arise in the following circumstances:
- if a Prime Minister advises a dissolution of Parliament on the occasion of a deadlock between the Houses, the Governor-General may refuse that request.
- if the Governor-General is not satisfied with a legislative Bill presented to him, he or she may refuse assent.
- if a Prime Minister resigns after losing a vote of confidence, the Governor-General may select a new replacement contrary to the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister.
- if a Prime Minister is unable to obtain supply and refuses to resign or advise a dissolution, the Governor-General may dismiss him or her and appoint a new Prime Minister. The above is not an exhaustive list, and new situations may arise. The most notable use of the reserve powers occurred in November 1975. On this occasion Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the government of Gough Whitlam when the Senate withheld supply to the government, even though Whitlam retained the confidence of the House of Representatives. Kerr determined that he had both the right and the duty to dismiss the government and commission a new government that would recommend a dissolution of the Parliament. Despite the apparent endorsement of his action by the electorate at the 1975 elections, the events surrounding the dismissal remain extremely controversial.

Ceremonial role

As well as the formal constitutional role, the Governor-General has a ceremonial role, though the extent and nature of this role has depended on the expectations of the time, the individual in office at the time and their reputation in the wider community. Governors-general generally become patrons of various charitable institutions, present honours and awards, host functions for various groups of people including ambassadors to and from other countries, and travel widely throughout Australia - replicating the actions of the monarch in the United Kingdom, or those of a ceremonial head of state. Sir William Deane described one of his functions as being "Chief Mourner" at prominent funerals. This role can become controversial, however, if the Governor-General becomes unpopular with sections of the community. The public role adopted by Sir John Kerr was curtailed somewhat after the constitutional crisis of 1975; Sir William Deane's public statements on political issues produced some hostility towards him among conservatives; and some charities disassociated themselves from Dr Hollingworth after the issue of his management of sex abuse cases during his time as Archbishop of Brisbane became a matter of controversy.

History

The office of Australian Governor-General was conceived during the debates and conventions leading up to federation. The first Governor-General was a previous Victorian Governor, John Hope, the Earl of Hopetoun. He was appointed in July 1900, returning to Australia shortly before the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. His first act was to appoint the inaugural Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, since the first federal elections were not held until April. Edmund Barton Early Governors-General were British and were appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Colonial Office. The Australian government was merely asked, as a matter of courtesy, whether they approved of the choice or not. Governors-General were expected to exercise a supervisory role over the Australian Government in the manner of a colonial Governor. In a very real sense, they represented not only the monarch but also the British Government. They had the right to "reserve" legislation passed by the Parliament of Australia: in other words, to ask the Colonial Office in London for an opinion before giving the Royal Assent. This power was used several times. During the 1920s the importance of the position declined. As a result of decisions made at the Imperial Conference of 1926, the tenure of a Governor-General was dependent only on advice from the Australian Prime Minister. The Governor-General ceased to be the diplomatic representative of the British Government and the British right of supervision over Australian affairs was abolished. In 1931, this transformation was concluded with the appointment of the first British High Commissioner and the first Australian Governor-General, Sir Isaac Isaacs. The latter appointment was advised by the Labor Prime Minister, James Scullin, despite the misgivings of King George V. The appointment was denounced by the opposition Nationalist Party of Australia as being "practically republican". After Scullin's defeat in 1931, non-Labor governments continued to appoint British Governors-General. In 1947 Labor appointed a second Australian Governor-General, Sir William McKell. In 1965, the conservative Menzies government appointed an Australian, Lord Casey, and the position has since been held only by Australians. Suggestions during the early 1980s that the Prince of Wales might become the Governor-General came to nothing.

List of Governors-General

Related articles


- :Category:Governors-General of Australia
- History of Australia
- Constitutional history of Australia
- Governors of the Australian states
- British Empire
- Governor-General (links to other countries which have Governors-General)

Further reading


- Christopher Cunneen, Kings' Men: Australia's Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs, Allen and Unwin, 1983
- Bill Hayden, Hayden: An Autobiography, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1996 (pp515, 519, 548)

External links


- [http://www.gg.gov.au The Office of the Governor-General]
- [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1997-98/98rn25.htm The use of the reserve powers] Australia, Governor-General
- Category:Westminster System

Jew

The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways, but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. This article discusses the term as describing an ethnic group; for a consideration of Jewish religion, please refer to Judaism. Most Jews regard themselves as a people, members of a nation, descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion at various times and places. The Hebrew name Yehudi (plural Yehudim) came into being when the Kingdom of Israel was split between the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. The term originally referred to the people of the southern kingdom, although the term Bnei Yisrael (Israelites) was still used for both groups. After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom leaving the southern kingdom as the only Israelite state, the word Yehudim gradually came to refer to people of the Jewish faith as a whole, rather than those specifically from Judah. The English word Jew is ultimately derived from Yehudi (see Etymology). Its first use in the Bible to refer to the Jewish people as a whole is in the Book of Esther. In modern usage, Jews include both those Jews actively practicing Judaism, and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jews by virtue of their family's Jewish heritage and their own cultural identification. Usage note: The word "Jew" is a noun. Its use as an adjective (e.g. "Jew lawyer") is widely considered offensive; "Jewish" is strongly preferred. Its use as a verb (e.g. "to jew someone") is also considered offensive. However, some sources, such as the American Heritage Dictionary, suggest that phrases like "Jewish person" may be offensive if pointedly used to avoid the word "Jew".

Etymology

There are different views as to the origin of the English language word Jew. The most common view is that the Middle English word Jew is from the Old French giu, earlier juieu, from the Latin iudeus from the Greek Ioudaios (Ιουδαίος). The Latin simply means Judaean, from the land of Judaea. The Hebrew for Jew, יהודי , is pronounced ye-hoo-DEE. The Hebrew letter Yodh (or Yud), י, used as a 'y' in the Hebrew language (as in the word ye-hoo-DEE), becomes a 'j' in languages using the Latin-based alphabet when the Yodh is used as a consonant rather than as a vowel. Therefore, a rough transliteration of יהודי in English would be Jew. The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., "Jude" in German, "jøde," in Norwegian, etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" is also in use to describe a Jewish person, e.g., in Italian (Ebrei) and , (Yevrey). (See Names of the Jewish people for a full overview.)

Who is a Jew?

Names of the Jewish people. (1878 painting by Maurice Gottlieb)]] Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used. For discussions of the religious views on who is a Jew and how these views differ from each other, please see Who is a Jew?. Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who practice Judaism and have a Jewish ethnic background (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), people without Jewish parents who have converted to Judaism; and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jewish by virtue of their family's Jewish descent and their own cultural and historical identification with the Jewish people. Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on Halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halachic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the oral traditon into the Babylonian Talmud. Biblical interpertations of sections in the Tanach, such as Deuteronomy 7:1-5, by learned Jewish sages, is used as a warning against intermarriage between of Jews and non Jews because "[the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man to be "of the community of Israel.", which contrasts with Ezra 10:2-3, where Israelites returning from Egypt, vowed to put aside their gentile wives and their children. Since the Haskalah, these halakhic interpertations of Jewish identity have been challenged.

Jewish culture

Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not only a religion, but also a "way of life," which has made drawing a clear distinction between Judaism, Jewish culture, and Jewish nationality rather difficult. In many times and places, such as in the ancient Hellenic world, in Europe before and after the Enlightenment (see Haskalah), and in contemporary United States and Israel, cultural phenomena have developed that are in some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism, others from the interaction of Jews with others around them, others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to religion itself.

Ethnic divisions

The most commonly used terms to describe ethnic divisions among Jews currently are: Ashkenazi (meaning "German" in Hebrew, denoting the Central European base of Jewry); and Sephardi (meaning "Spanish" or "Iberia" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish, Portuguese and North African location). They refer to both religious and ethnic divisions. Other Jewish ethnic groups include Mizrahi Jews (a term overlapping Sephardi, but emphasizing North African and Middle Eastern rather than Spanish history, and including the Maghrebim); Teimanim (Yemenite and Omani Jews); and such smaller groups as the Gruzim and Juhurim from the Caucasus, the Bene Israel, Bnei Menashe, Cochin and Telugu Jews of India, the Romaniotes of Greece, the Italkim (Bené Roma) of Italy, various African Jews (most notably the Beta Israel or Ethiopian Jews), the Bukharan Jews of Central Asia, and the Persian Jews of Iran.

Population

Prior to World War II the world population of Jews was approximately 18 million. The Holocaust reduced this number to approximately 12 million. Today, there are an estimated 13 million to 14.6 million Jews worldwide in over 134 countries.

Significant geographic populations

Please note that these populations represent low-end estimates of the worldwide Jewish population, accounting for around 0.2% of the world's population. Higher estimates place the worldwide Jewish population at over 14.5 million.

State of Israel

world's population (Shown standing between the two banners)]] Israel, the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens, although the United States has a larger number of Jews. It was established as an independent democratic state on May 14, 1948. Of the 120 members in its parliament, the Knesset, 9 members are Israeli Arabs and 2 are Israeli Druses. At the time of its independence, approximately 600,000 Jews lived in Israel. Since then, the country's Jewish population has increased by about one million over each decade as more immigrants arrived and more Israelis were born, resulting in one of the most significant global Jewish population shifts in over 2,000 years. All the Arab Israeli Wars have not slowed Israel's growth. Israel opened its doors to the Holocaust survivors. It has absorbed a majority of the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews from the Islamic countries. It has taken in hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former USSR, and has airlifted tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jewsto Israel. In the past decade nearly a million immigrants came to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Many Jews who emigrated to Israel have moved elsewhere, known as yerida ("descent" [from the Holy Land]), due to its economic problems or due to disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Diaspora (outside Israel)

The waves of immigration to the United States at the turn of the 19th century, massacre of European Jewry during the Holocaust, and the foundation of the state of Israel (and subsequent Jewish exodus from Arab lands) all resulted in substantial shifts in the population centers of world Jewry during the 20th century. Jewish exodus from Arab lands of the Russian Empire to the safety of the US from 1881-1924.]] Currently, the largest Jewish community in the world is located in the United States, with around 5.6 million Jews. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in Canada and Argentina, and smaller populations in Brazil, Mexico , Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, and several other countries (see History of the Jews in Latin America). Western Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in France, home to 600,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (or their descendants). There are over 265,000 Jews in the United Kingdom. In Eastern Europe, there are anywhere from 500,000 to over two million Jews living in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus and the other areas once dominated by the Soviet Union, but exact figures are difficult to establish. The fastest-growing Jewish community in the world, outside Israel, is the one in Germany, especially in Berlin, its capital. Tens of thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc have settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Arab countries of North Africa and the Middle East were home to around 900,000 Jews in 1945. Systematic persecution after the founding of Israel caused almost all of these Jews to flee to Israel, North America, and Europe in the 1950s. Today, around 8,000 Jews remain in Arab nations. Iran is home to around 25,000 Jews, down from a population of 100,000 Jews before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution some of the Iranian Jews emigrated to Israel or Europe but most of them emigrated (with their non-Jewish Iranian compatriots) to the United States (especially Los Angeles). Outside Europe, Asia and the Americas, significant Jewish populations exist in Australia and South Africa.

Population changes: Assimilation

Since at least the time of the ancient Greeks, a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their Jewish identity. Some Jewish communities, for example the Kaifeng Jews of China, have disappeared entirely, but assimilation has remained relatively low over much of the past millenium, as Jews were often not allowed to integrate with the wider communities in which they lived. The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment (see Haskalah) of the 1700s and the subsequent emancipation of the Jewish populations of Europe and America in the 1800s, changed the situation, allowing Jews to increasingly participate in, and become part of, secular society. The result has been a growing trend of assimilation, as Jews marry non-Jewish spouses and stop participating in the Jewish community. Rates of interreligious marriage vary widely: In the United States they are just under 50%, in the United Kingdom around 50%, and in Australia and Mexico as low as 10%, and in France they may be as high as 75%. In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate themselves with Jewish practice. Additionally, since non-religious Jews generally tend to marry later and have fewer children than the general population, the Jewish community in many countries is aging. The result is that most countries in the Diaspora have steady or slightly declining Jewish populations as Jews continue to assimilate into the countries in which they live.

Population changes: Wars against the Jews

Diaspora Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations, or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed have ranged from expulsion to outright genocide; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. Some examples in the history of anti-Semitism are: the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire; the First Crusade which resulted in the massacre of Jews; the Spanish Inquisition led by Torquamada and the Auto de fe against the Marrano Jews; the Bohdan Chmielnicki Cossack massacres in Ukraine; the Pogroms backed by the Russian Tsars; as well as expulsions from Spain, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled. The persecution culminated in Adolf Hitler's Final Solution which led to the Holocaust, and the slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews from 1939 to 1945.

Population changes: Growth

Israel is the only country with a consistently growing Jewish population due to natural population increase, though the Jewish populations of other countries in Europe and North America have recently increased due to immigration. In the Diaspora, in almost every country the Jewish population in general is either declining or steady, but Orthodox and Haredi Jewish communities, whose members often shun birth control for religious reasons, have experienced rapid population growth, with rates near 4% per year for Haredi Jews in Israel, and similar rates in other countries. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism discourage proselytization to non-Jews, but many Jewish groups have tried to reach out to the assimilated Jewish communities of the Diaspora in order to increase the number of Jews. Additionally, while in principle Reform Judaism favors seeking new members for the faith, this position has not translated into active proselytism, instead taking the form of an effort to reach out to non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples. There is also a trend of Orthodox movements pursuing secular Jews in order to give them a stronger Jewish identity so there is less chance of intermarriage. As a result of the efforts by these and other Jewish groups over the past twenty-five years, there has been a trend of secular Jews becoming more religiously observant, known as the Baal Teshuva movement, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown. Additionally, there is also a growing movement of Jews by Choice by gentiles who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.

Jewish languages

Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism (termed lashon ha-kodesh, "the holy tongue"), and is the language of the State of Israel. It was revived by Eliezer ben Yehuda, who arrived in Palestine in 1881 at a time when no one spoke the Hebrew language. Diaspora Jews (outside Israel) today speak the local languages of their respective countries. Yiddish is the historic language of many Ashkenazi Jews, and Ladino of many Sephardic Jews.

History of the Jews

:See also: Historical Schisms among the Jews

Jews and migrations

Historical Schisms among the Jews Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their original homeland, and the areas in which they have resided. This experience as both immigrants and emigrants (see: Jewish refugees) have shaped Jewish identity and religious practice in many ways. An incomplete list of such migrations includes:
- The patriarch Abraham was a migrant to the land of Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees.
- The Children of Israel experienced the Exodus (meaning "departure" or "going forth" in Greek) from ancient Egypt, as recorded in the Book of Exodus.
- The Kingdom of Israel was sent into permanent exile and scattered all over the world by Assyria.
- The Kingdom of Judah was exiled first by Babylonia and then by Rome.
- The 2,000 year dispersion of the Jewish diaspora beginning under the Roman Empire, as Jews were spread throughout the Roman world and, driven from land to land, and settled wherever they could live freely enough to practice their religion. Over the course of the diaspora the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Spain to Poland to United States and to Israel.
- Many expulsions during the Middle Ages and Enlightenment in Europe, including: 1290, 16,000 Jews were expelled from England; in 1396, 100,000 from France; in 1421 thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of these Jews settled in Eastern Europe, especially Poland.
- Following the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, the Spanish population of around 200,000 Sephardic Jews were expelled by the Spanish crown and Catholic church, followed by expulsions in 1493 in Sicily (37,000 Jews) and Portugal in 1496. The expelled Jews fled mainly to the Ottoman Empire, the Netherlands, and North Africa, others migrating to Southern Europe and the Middle East.
- During the 19th century, France's policies of equal citizenship regardless of religion led to the immigration of Jews (especially from Eastern and Central Europe), which was encouraged by Napoleon Bonaparte.
- The arrival of millions of Jews in the New World, including immigration of over 1,000,000 Eastern European Jews to the United States from 1890-1925, see History of the Jews in the United States.
- The Pogroms in Eastern Europe, the rise of modern Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and the rise of Arab nationalism all served to fuel the movements and migrations of huge segments of Jewry from land to land and continent to continent, until they have now arrived back in large numbers at their original historical homeland in Israel.
- The Islamic Revolution of Iran, forced many Iranian Jews to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly Los Angeles, CA) and Israel. Smaller communities of Persian Jews exist in Canada and Western Europe.

Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

Persian Jews)]] Jews descend mostly from the ancient Israelites (also known as Hebrews), who settled in the Land of Israel. The Israelites traced their common lineage to the biblical patriarch Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. A kingdom was established under Saul and continued under King David and Solomon. King David conquered Jerusalem (first a Canaanite, then a Jebusite town) and made it his capital. After Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel (in the north) and the Kingdom of Judah (in the south). The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V in the 8th century BC and spread all over the Assyrian empire, where they were assimilated into other cultures and become known as the Ten Lost Tribes. The Kingdom of Judah continued as an independent state until it was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BC, destroying the First Temple that was at the centre of Jewish worship. The Judean elite was exiled to Babylonia, but later at least a part of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians seventy years later, a period known as the Babylonian Captivity. A new Second Temple was constructed, and old religious practices were resumed.

Persian, Greek, and Roman rule

:See related article Jewish-Roman wars. The Seleucid Kingdom, which arose after the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, sought to introduce Greek culture into the Persian world. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, supported by Hellenized Jews (those who had adopted Greek culture), attempted to convert the Jewish Temple to a temple of Zeus, the non-Hellenized Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees and rededicated the Temple to the Jewish God (hence the origins of Hanukkah) and created an independent Jewish kingdom known as the Hasmonaean Kingdom which lasted from 165 BCE to