S_WH7+Heroes

Will Hughes Heroes (Home)
Later in life he got married and had one daughter who was born in 1902 and died in 1903. Later he had two sons and then got divorced. Soon after that he got remarried and raised two children from his second wife's previous marriage. In 1922 Albert Einstein won the noble prize of physics for is great accomplishments. To get this prize he developed the theory of relativity. Also one of the most well known scientists in the world. He was unsure about if god really existed. He thought that people should not be devoted to religious leaders. He was more leaning toward the secular point of view because there is no scientific evidence that there really is a god. ||
 * **Hero\Heroine** || **Short Description** || **Long** **Description** ||
 * Albert Einstein || A brilliant scientist who invented the theory of relativity. || Albert Einstein was a great scientist and was devoted to it. He was not the best in school though. He failed most of his classes and dropped out.
 * King Josiah || King of Judah during 640 and 609 BCE. || King Josiah was put into kingship at the age of 8. He reigned for 31 years and fought the Egyptians for most of his years in power. He destroyed all clay deities or deities made out of any other materials. He enforced the Jewish religion on all of the people, in doing so it increased his own power. ||
 * Bar Kokhba || Powerful ruler who was thought to be the messiah for leading the second Jewish revolt for freedom from the Romens. || Bar Kokhba was a very powerful ruler of Jews who started the revolt in Rome. He commanded the army and the economics of the Jews and commanded his new state for 3 years and only 1 year of peace. He ruled harshly and had the title of Nasi (prince or President). With that he had the power of a king and could almost do anything. Other than all of the power he also obeyed the rules of the Jewish people such as the sabbath. ||
 * Hillel || The leader of the Jews during 40 BCE-10 CE. || Hillel became the leader of the Jewish people due to his Wisdom and Intelligence. The most important thing that he did was create the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow". His other ideas were to "repair the world" by taking care of your body by knowing what you are putting into it, and to do the same for the natural environment/community. By repairing the community he means to help the poor, work to reduce conflict, and help your neighbors. He also felt strongly about spreading peace in the world. Another thing that he is known for is inventing the __//**Sandwich**//__. He created it out of Matzoh which back then was like soft bread, he created it out of lamb and lettuce on the inside and lavash making sort of like a burrito. ||
 * Moses De Leon || A Jewish mystic that is thought to be the author of the Zohar || Moses De Leon was believed to be the author of the Zohar, Moses in his writings said that God can not be fully understood by man and is ultimately hidden from us. Moses De Leon believed that it is possible to understand some aspects of God by focusing and incredible amount of time and effort on reading the Torah because Moses De Leon believes that every word in the Torah contains a hidden symbol/meaning about divine wisdom, how god wants us to behave to show our devotion to him. Moses De Leon taught that if you studied each word of the Torah long enough or hard enough we can figure out what that word meant. ||
 * Sabbatai Zevi || Believed in the Zohar and believed that he was the Jewish Messiah. || Sabbatai Zevi was a Jewish follower of the Kabbalah, and was a mystic. He was living in the 1600 when Jews in Europe were repressed and desperate to improve their lives, and that is why they began to look for a savior, and also that is why they became believers in mysticism. At first Zevi believed strongly in the Kabbalah and later thought himself to be the Messiah of the Jewish people. His belief was that he had to save the Jews thoughout the world by the year 1648. Later he became a Muslim. ||
 * Ba'al shem Tov || Rabbi Ba'al shem Tov started a new form of mystic Judaism called Hasidim. || Ba'al Shem Tov created a new form of mystic Jewish beliefs called Hasidim. This belief was that everything in the world is part of God and should be treated such. For example: treat animals like they were God, treat other people as if they were God, treat items as if they were some how connected to God, and everything you do should show your respect for God like eating, dressing, showering, thinking, the books you read, and interacting with others. He was a resident of Poland and Russia and his ideas grew very popular and the ideas became so popular they are still practiced today. ||
 * Elisha ben Abuya || Elisha ben Abuya is one of the rabbis who wrote part of the Mishnah, but he did not agree with most of the other rabbis. || Elisha ben Abuya was born before 70 ACE (after common era) and had most of his important writing made in around 100 ACE. Elisha Ben Abuya believed that it was not necessary to be as strict about the mishnah laws as the other rabbis would like. He loved the Greek language and wrote every piece of writing in Greek. Elisha ben Abuya was believed to be a Sadduccee (a group of jews who embraced the greek lifestyle and language). Elisha helped the Roman Emperor after the Jews were defeated. He later relized that prayer did not impact real life and then abandoned Judaism. Before he abandoned Judaism his puple Rabbi Meir became a very influentual scholar. ||
 * Saadia Gaon || Rabbi that believed in the Jewish laws and lived in 900 ACE. || Saddia Gaon was a Jewish rabbi who was part of the Sura (a council of wise scholars) and defended the new Jewish laws and hated the Mystics and the Karaites for not obeying them and saying that they were not valid; and only the laws of the Torah are. He wrote durring the 900 ACE by translating Jewish laws and the Torah into aribic; there by promoting aribic culture into Jewish culture. ||
 * Moses Maimonides || Moses Maimonides was a Jewish scholar and a well known philosopher, he was also thought to be the best physician of the century eleven hundreds. || Moses Maimonides was most well known for his outstanding position as a physician; he treated everybody -- Jews, non-Jews, Christians, and Muslims. He spent most of his day practicing medicine and helping all in need of medical attention. Modes Maimonides had a huge influence on Jewish religion. His ideas was that there are two levels of understanding knowledge, Man's level of understanding and God's level of understanding. He thinks that it is impossible to understand God's level, but we should still try. In that case Moses Maimonides believed that miracles don't actually happen but they are symbols of God's messages to us. He also had a very high position as a chief adviser to many Muslim rulers in Spain while he remained a Jewish adviser to the top Jewish religious scholars. ||
 * [|Moses Mendelssohn] || A Jewish Philosopher that believed Jews and Christians could get along well. || Moses Mendelssohn was a Jewish Philosopher that believed that the Jews and Christians were much alike and that they could accept each other without converting. However he did think that Christians should make their ideas more rational. He was a keen supporter of the Jewish Enlightenment or the Haskalah. Moses Mendelssohn fought very hard during the 1700's (when the separation from church to state started; when religion started to become less important) to keep religious beliefs to practicing at home. He thought that Jews and Christians should be able to deal with each other in peace in public. He argued against anti-Semitic laws in public and in favor of religious tolerance between Jews and Christians. Moses Mendelssohn believed strongly in rational thought, but still believed in God. He thought that he could use rational thought to make Jews and Christians accept each other. ||
 * Abraham Geiger || A Jewish scholar that wrote books about the Jewish reform movement and about Islam. || Abraham Geiger was a Jewish scholar who wrote books about Jewish history and contrasted it with the divine history. Not only that but he compared the Mishnah legal style laws to the Talmudic and Biblical laws. Abraham Geiger started to write his first book at age 17 and wrote four all together. He was forced to be Rabbi because no universities would accept Jews as a professor. He believed that both Christians' and Muslims' ideas of one God were base on Judaism. He was different from all other Rabbi because he studied the Muslim texts and found how similar they are to the Rabbinical writings. His goal was to change Judaism from within and make the Jewish religion more based on scientific reason and less divine. ||
 * Achad Ha'am || Achad Ha'am thought that the Jews should start to spread culture to Palestine, but the Jews were not yet ready for their own country. || Achad Ha'am was born in Russia and taught himself the Russian language. The home he grew up in was with a Hasidic family; he grew to like the moral values of Judaism, but thought that the religous laws were too strict. He wanted to slowly introduce Jewish culture to Palestine and later; when the Jews were ready and had a stronge **//__culture__//** all around the world; then we would be ready to have our own home land. Achad Ha'am also wanted to revive the Hebrew language. ||
 * Simon Dubnow || A Jewish historian that thought that the Jews should stay where they are and not try to return to Israel. || Simon Dubnow was a Jewish historian and was secular. He was almost the exact opposite of Zionism, he thought it was fine for the Jews to stay where they are and that there was no need to return to Israel. He was most famous for his thought of Jewish Autonomy; which is the belief that Jews have their own self-ruling comunities within larger nations instead of being all centered in one nation (Israel). ||
 * Chaim Zhitlovsky || One of the founders of the Jewish Folkshul in New York. || Chaim Zhitlovsky was devoted to spreading the Yiddish language and secular culture in both Europe and New York. He also taught Jewish culture and History in New York of several years too. He believed in Socialism and that the Jews could make a Socialist movement so no people could be oppressed and especially workers. ||
 * Mordechai Kaplan || He was a Jew who was a founder of the concept of the Jewish Community Center. || Mordechai Kaplan was a Jew who believed in God, but thought that the miracles that God supposedly preformed were not real and not possible. Mordechai accepted the behavural laws, but did not believe that God came to earth to talk to specific people. Further more he believed that the stories in the bible are not real, but were written down to teach the Jews morals. Once he died after a long 102 years his son started the reconstuctionist Judaism movement based on his father theories. Reconstructionist Judaism got rabbi Kaplan condemed by the Orthadox because he concitered the Jews a civilization more than a religion. ||
 * Uriah P. Levy || The first Jewish Commodore who served in the navy during the war of 1812. || Uriah P. Levy faced many anti-Semitic people as he rose the ranks. He was court martialed six times and was demoted once. He was also dismissed twice and restated both times. Became very wealthy after investing in New York real estate and later bought Tomas Jefferson's rundown mansion. He was also one of the reasons for the No flogging law which he had humanitarian values from his Jewish background. They later named a battleship after him (USS Levy) and he buried in Brooklyn ||
 * Louis Dreyfus ||  ||   ||
 * Rose Pesotta || A union labor organizer in New York for the ladies garment worker's union. || Rose Pesotta was born in the Ukraine and her father was killed in a riot of anti-Semitic attackers. In New York she helped to organize women workers into unions around the US and Canada. She also tried to get leader to put women in positions of power within the unions. She became an anarchist (against all forms of national government). Later in her life she became a secular Zoinist (or help recreate Israel). ||
 * Theodore Hertzl || One of the early creators of Zionism (idea that the Jews should have their own country. || Theodore Hertzl lobbied many people into making a country for the Jews in or around the Palestine area. He wanted this country to be made up of not just Jews; but the rest of the world so many different ethnic groups could come and share their culture. He never thought that Hebrew would be the main language and instead have many different languages spoken. Another key point is that he thought that women should have equal rights. Lastly he thought that the economy would not only support workers but businesses too. ||
 * David Ben Gurion || Became one of the greatest activist about the creation of Israel and became the first Prime Minister of Israel. || 1930s and 1940s is when David B. Gurion started to lead the Jewish people into the Palestine Area as illegal immigrants. He helped the Jews move due to the oppression in Europe. He smuggled Jews into the Palestine Area even when Britain declared it would be illegal for them to move. The British started to physically stop them from entering this region by sending them back and putting them into camps (not as bad as the Nazi's camps). Soon enough the Jews started to fight back with guns and other wepons. In the year 1948 the UN finally let the Jews have their own country and they elected David Gurion as their Prime Minister. ||
 * Golda Meir || The first woman to become the Prime Minister of Israel, she was the fourth Prime Minister altogether. || Golda Meir was born in Russia and saw many anti-Semitic acts making it seem like Jews are never safe without their own country. Then her family moved to Wisconsin and attended a Jew folkshul that taught her socialistic ideas and secular ideas (just like me!!!!!). Golda Meir took the ideas of Zionism from being in Russia and the Socialistic and Secular ideas from the Folkshul and became a Secular, Socialistic, Zionistic Jew. In the 1930s she joined a kebbutzs and later became politically active in the campain for Israel. After Israel was created she served in the government as a spokes man to other countries/diplomat. While she was Prime Minister there was a war between syria and Egypt agenst Isreal. First the Arab army was winning and she was critizised and later came back and won the war ||
 * Rabbi Sherwin Wine || Created the modern humanistic secular Jewish movement in the United States. || Rabbi Sherwin Wine wrote many books and created many groups to spred the ideas and culter of Secular Judaism. He believes the importance of equality to all ethnic groups, races, and religions and stressed how important it is for them all to be treated with respect. He also believes that the Jews was no more special/favored than any other culture and should not only respect other Jews, but all people. His philosophy was based on the history and culture of the Jews and not the religion. He also wanted a Universal value of peace around the world for all people. ||
 * Mecachem Schneerson || The creator of Lubavitcher Chasidic Movement. || The Chasidic Movement started out with very few people and grew rapidly through his teachings to an extremely large religion that has now spread to over 100 countries! His movement stresses that God created everything on Earth from People to animals to plants to everything alive and inanimate objects are all God's doing. The center of his movement is based in Brooklyn. Schneerson himself has never been to Israel (almost never leaves Brooklyn) for religious reasons. Mecachem is beloved by his followers and is respected by the religious world of Jews. ||
 * Judah Touro || A wealthy businessman from Holland that built a synagogue and donated $40,000 to a Jewish Cemetery. || He was born in 1775 in Holland and raised in Boston. His mother and father died when he was very young and he was raised by his uncle who worked in the first bank of Boston. Later in life he moved to New Orleans and opened a shop. After that he joined Andrew Jackson's army in the war of 1812 and carried ammo. In 1815 he was once so physically wounded that he was left for dead. He was then nursed back to health and was a military man for the rest of his life. Touro made a small fortune in real-estate and spending his life in a small apartment. He used the money he made to donate $40,000 to a Jewish cemetery, $20,000 to Jewish hospitals, and $500,000 to different organizations to help people (today that would be 9 million dollars!!!!!)! Judah Touro died in 1854. ||
 * Philo || A Jewish Philosopher in Alexandrea, Egypt during the Roman Empire in 20 BCE. || Philo was born in 20 BCE. There is no evidence that he was a religious man, but his beliefs seem to be more of rational thought. He did believe in god, but stressed that believing in god was not the main point of Judaism. He wanted to fuze Greek Philosophy with Judaism. His works and ideas gave the Romans more respect for the Jews. Many educated Romans admired him because he was able to discuss Judaism so that it was understandable to every, and many Greeks and Romans converted to Judaism. One of Philo's main inspirers was Plato, Philo fused Plato's ideas to Jewish culture. Philo was fluent in Greek, and did not know any Hebrew; making him more likable to Romans. Philo also talked about social responsibility; meaning that we should help each other out. He wrote that everyone should protect against evil and try to stop it. ||
 * Elie Wiesel || An Orthodox Jew that survived the concentration camps; he also was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. || Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 and is still alive today. He was born into an Orthodox family with two older sisters. When he was only three years old he learned Hebrew, Torah, and later the Talmud. In 1944 they were taken to Aushwitz (concentration camp where most Jews died). There his sisters and his mother were taken to the gas chambers. He was stripped of his identity and was now known as A-7713. He then, with his father, and 19,998 other Jews were sent on a death march and there his father died of dysentery, starvation and exhaustion; only 6,000 of the 20,000 people survived the march. Wiesel was later freed and waited 10 years before writing about the torture and murder in the concentration camps. After waiting 10 years he wrote 13 books about his terrible experiences at Aushwitz; his most famous book //Night//. He then earned a Nobel Peace Prize by being a "Messenger of mankind". ||
 * Andrew Stern || Andrew Stern is a secular Jew that is the leader of the Service Employee International Union. || Andrew Stern is the President of the second largest union in the AFL-CIO. He organized a strike called Justice to Janitors; this is when he and many other Janitors (and other people) marched in the street carrying brooms to show their support so Janitors have more rights, saleries, and benifits. Later they left the AFL-CIO along with the teamsters to form the Change to Win Federation. The Change to Win Federation tries to get more people into unions and to get unions to be more democradic. This is an example of a secular Jew in the labor movment that have gotten a great deal of respect. ||
 * Stanley Turkel || Stan Turkel is an 83 year old secular Jew who has is an political activist in New York City. || Stan Turkel has made a political impact in New York City in two ways. First he has spent 50 years as being active in the civil rights movement, anti-war demonstrations, and as a historian and collector of African American History. He is the aurthor of a book called //Heroes of Reconstuction//. He owns hundreds of documents and evedence of slavery from the civil war time and befor the civil war. He was also chairmen of the CITY CULB OF NEW YORK which meant that he spent three decades leading the main organization that critizized New York City officials. As a progressive secular Jew, he has also bee a member of SANE, and as a hotel manager became known for trying to get the hotels more racially integrated. He is also my Step-Grandfather!!!!!!!!! ||
 * ><> || FISH!!!!!!!!! || FISH! ||