S_SH7+Heroes

HEROES Main Accomplishments Main Beliefs Main Skills Steven Speilberg Created the Indiana Jones Series and Jurassic Park. He is also considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all times. Kosher, he believes that Jews should be proud of their heritage, and tries to fight anti-semitism through his films. Filmmaker Albert Einstein He had several theories about relativity that were proven correct in future years (E=MC2). He also urged the president to develop the atomic bomb before Germany did. The president and him exchanged letters. Then the president funded the Manhattan Project. He was a person who enjoyed peace. He was also a zionest (Someone who wanted Israel to be created as a Jewish country) He also that Israel should a country of Humanism and Peace. Scientist Baruch Spinoza - (short description) - Baruch Spinoza was a Jewish philosopher who was expelled from his Yesheva because he had different ideas than everybody else. He was a loner who became interested - although he never converted - in other religions. He argued for Democracy, he argued that the reason for democracy is that you believe what you want and there is no religious laws from which you have to agree to. By knowing this, we can regard him as an early Secularist. Baruch Spinoza (taken from Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy by Steven M. Cahn, 2002) o Wrote several major philosophical books, the most famous of which was called "Theologico-Political Treatise". He argued that the bible was fiction intended to control the Jewish people. He wanted politics to be based on human reason and individual liberty instead of religious ruled. o For this reason he believed in democracy because democracy lets people have their own beliefs and not religious laws. o Spinoza believed in freedom of speech and tolerance because tolerance encourages individual growth and personal freedom. He believed that personal freedom will allow us to develop many friendships and to appreciate art and music as a modern Jew who rejected religion and believed in personal freedom. We can regard him as an early secular Jewish thinker. o Lived 44 years (1632-1677). o Came from a family of Portuguese Jews. o His family fled the Spanish Inquisition to Holland. o He studied in a Jewish Yeshiva throughout his youth. o He was expelled from the Yeshiva at age 24 because he had different ideas about religion that disagreed with the traditional religious teachings. o As an adult he was a loner who didn't like to be around people. He became interested in learning about different religions. o He then became a philosopher, one of the most respected thinkers of the late 1600's. o He always remained Jewish but rejected all traditional religious ideas. o The fact that he had been thrown out of the Yeshiva affected him a lot and caused him to highly value personal freedom and freedom of thought. SHERWIN WINE - He is the founder of the SHJ (society of humanistic Jews) in 1965 and formed the first secular Jewish temple. He was a humanistic Jew who had all secular values. ElISHA BEN ABUYA - He was a Pharisee Jew who lived in the year of 70 CE, the time of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, and became a Saducee. Elisha ben Abuya was a Pharisee Jew who lived in the time of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, in 70 CE. He became a Saducee, a group that broke off of the Pharisee sect. They were considered more of a political group than that of a religious sect because they did not totally reject the Pharisee beliefs, just the rabbinic teachings of the sect. SAADIA GAON - He was a Jewish rabbi that lived at the time of 882 or 892 - 942, and tried to integrate Jewish philosophy with Greek physiology. (Gaon - genious) Saadia Gaon was a Jewish rabbi that was born either in the year of 882 or 892 to 842. The was a philosophical rabbi that was the first to try to integrate Jewish and Greek philosophy. He was an active supporter to rabbinic Judaism and was the first foreigner to be the Gaon of the Jewish academy. MAIMONIDES - He was a Jewish rabbi and philosofer who lived from 1135-1204 and was a cornerstone in Jewish thinking at the time. Maimonides was a Jewish rabbi philosofer and physician who lived in the Middle ages, 1135 to 2104 CE. He is thought of as the greatest philosofer of the period and worked largely in the areas of Egypt and Morocco, Africa. He thought of God through negative attributes. This was called negative theology. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, RAMBAM!

ABRAHAM GEIGER - A Jewish Rabbi/Scholar who was a major role in the foundations of reformed Judaism. As a child, he doubted traditional Jewish beliefs because what he was learning in his school contradicted the Torah and religious books. Abraham Geiger, Samuel Holdheim, Israel Jacobson, and Leopold Zunz became the founders of Reformed Judaism, each leading their own movement.

ACHAD HA'AM (Asher Ginsberg) - Asher Ginsberg was one of the first pre - Israel Zionist thinkers. Zionism is supporting that the Jews should have a homeland. He tried to get the idea supported in this early era. He lived from the years 1856-1927.

SIMON DUBNOW - He was a Jew born into a poor large Russian family. He went to school to learn the Russian language, but was not able to continue. He decided to teach himself to pursue his interests in history, philosophy, and linguistics (language?). He moved to Moscow, and was a major journalist for the major Jewish magazine in Russia//Voskhod//. However, during the Jewish expulsion from the capital, he wa forced to leave. He continued to publish. He was killed during the Holocaust in 1941.

CHAIM ZHITLOWSKY - He was also a Jew born in Russia at about the same time as Simon Dubnow. He was a Jewosh philosopher, social and political thinker, socialist and a literary critic. He studied to become a rabbi, but instead preferred to become a merchant. He was also a wide supporter of socialism in Russia.

MORDECAI KAPLAN - A Jewish rabbi and founder of Reconstuctionist Judaism. He joined a conservative temple, but thought about quitting the 50 years of working there. He then made his own movement, called reconstructionism.

Uriah P. Levy - The first Jewish commodore in the US navy and veteran in the war of 1812.

The first Jewish commodore in the US navy and veteran in the war of 1812. He fought to stop the whipping of naval officers and other inhuman punishments.

Rose Pessota - A Jewish immigrant and a Union president. She developed an anarchist view point and moved to New York. She was a garment worker and vice-president of the company union.