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185-635: The municipality lies roughly 25 km north of Kaiserslautern , 15 km east of Kusel and 4 km west of Wolfstein at the foot of the Königsberg, a mountain in the North Palatine Uplands . Eßweiler sits at an elevation of 260 to 280 m above sea level , and has also given the dale in which it lies its name, the Eßweiler Tal . In the village itself, the two streams, the Breitenbach and

370-600: A Roman Catholic church, whilst the highest structure in all Kaiserslautern is the television tower in the suburb of Dansenberg, southwest of the city centre. Kaiserslautern's large botanical gardens feature a Japanese-style garden. Another unusual feature is the Waschmühle (also known as "Wesch"), an enormous 160-metre (520 ft) public swimming pool that is the largest in Europe. There are several pedestrian-only shopping zones with numerous and varied restaurants and bars located in

555-469: A U.S. Air Force F-86 fighter jet crashed into the district office in the Burgstrasse / Maxstrasse area. In addition to the pilot, two civilians were killed, and numerous wounded. With the incorporation of the previously independent communities of Dansenberg, Erfenbach, Erlenbach, Hohenecken, Mölschbach, Morlautern and Siegelbach on 7 June 1969, Kaiserslautern became a city. The University of Kaiserslautern

740-512: A bend sinister wavy azure between a castle and a tower both embattled gules masoned sable and a hammer and pick per saltire of the last. The three charges in the arms are a castle , which represents the Sprengelburg or Springeburg, a “bend sinister wavy”, which represents the Talbach, which begins in the village with the merging of two other streams, and a crossed hammer and pick , which represent

925-498: A document from the Counts of Zweibrücken , which mentions the village of Esewilr . The area had been, however, settled earlier than that, as the Stone Age to Roman times section, above, details. The Roman silver spoon found in 1904, mentioned above, is reckoned to bear witness to early Christianization , for the doves pecking at grapes with which the spoon is decorated were described in

1110-536: A few months before the Kristallnacht . A memorial archway was constructed at the site in 2002. Between 1950 and 1955, Kaiserslautern developed into the largest US military community outside of the United States. For this reason Kaiserslautern is also referred to as "K-town"; a term coined by the early American military population who had difficulty pronouncing the name. The Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC)

1295-570: A few villages passed back to the Waldgraves in 1755. The wars of the 17th and 18th centuries wrought great destruction and losses to the population. In the Thirty Years' War , there was no great amount of fighting, but many times various armies marched through the area, plundering and destroying; one mill in Eßweiler fell victim to their destructive ways (it was restored in 1661). Between 1635 and 1638,

1480-540: A further building development, “Auf Herrmannsmauer”, began in 1980 on the road leading out of the village towards Oberweiler im Tal, above Landesstraße 372. Currently, the municipality is putting its efforts into yet another new building development in the field known as “Rödwies” on Rothenweg. According to the 1987 census , Eßweiler has 161 residential buildings with 195 dwellings. Somewhat more than one third of these buildings date from before 1900. On Eßweiler's outskirts, two Aussiedlerhöfe (outlying farming settlements),

1665-501: A multilingual group to a monolingual one (or nearly so), speaking French in Algeria , Morocco , and the city of Tunis , while most North Africans continue to use Arabic or Berber as their mother tongue. There is no single governing body for the Jewish community, nor a single authority with responsibility for religious doctrine. Instead, a variety of secular and religious institutions at

1850-702: A people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele , which dates to around 1200 BCE. The majority of scholars agree that this text refers to the Israelites , a group that inhabited the central highlands of Canaan , where archaeological evidence shows that hundreds of small settlements were constructed between the 12th and 10th centuries BCE. The Israelites differentiated themselves from neighboring peoples through various distinct characteristics including religious practices , prohibition on intermarriage , and an emphasis on genealogy and family history. In

2035-721: A place of refuge for the Jews of Syria Palaestina . A number of significant Talmudic academies , such as the Nehardea , Pumbedita , and Sura academies, were established in Mesopotamia, and many important Amoraim were active there. The Babylonian Talmud , a centerpiece of Jewish religious law, was compiled in Babylonia in the 3rd to 6th centuries. Jewish diaspora communities are generally described to have coalesced into three major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled:

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2220-534: A religious interpretation of the traditions and early history of the Jews, established the first of the Abrahamic religions , which are now practiced by 54 percent of the world. 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 identity rather difficult. Throughout history, in eras and places as diverse as

2405-482: A religious or national approach to identity is used. Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent ), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of

2590-588: A result, Ashkenazi Jews were gradually pushed eastwards to Poland , Lithuania and Russia . During the same period, Jewish communities in the Middle East thrived under Islamic rule, especially in cities like Baghdad , Cairo , and Damascus . In Babylonia, from the 7th to 11th centuries the Pumbedita and Sura academies led the Arab and to an extant the entire Jewish world. The deans and students of said academies defined

2775-618: A result, around 200,000 Jews were expelled from Spain , seeking refuge in places such as the Ottoman Empire , North Africa , Italy , the Netherlands and India . A similar fate awaited the Jews of Portugal a few years later. Some Jews chose to remain, and pretended to practice Catholicism . These Jews would form the members of Crypto-Judaism . In the 19th century, when Jews in Western Europe were increasingly granted equality before

2960-671: A significant population growth. This prosperity continued until the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib devastated the region of Judah in response to a rebellion in the area, ultimately halting at Jerusalem . Later in the same century, the Assyrians were defeated by the rising Neo-Babylonian Empire , and Judah became its vassal. In 587 BCE, following a revolt in Judah , the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and

3145-553: A significant role in the development of Western culture . The term "Jew" is derived from the Hebrew word יְהוּדִי Yehudi , with the plural יְהוּדִים Yehudim . Endonyms in other Jewish languages include the Ladino ג׳ודיו Djudio (plural ג׳ודיוס , Djudios ) and the Yiddish ייִד Yid (plural ייִדן Yidn ). Originally, in ancient times, Yehudi (Jew)

3330-590: A territorial unit comprising not only Eßweiler but also Oberweiler im Tal , Hinzweiler , Nerzweiler , Hundheim , Aschbach , Horschbach , Elzweiler and Hachenbach , all of which today lie within the Kusel district. A cleared area that included the greater part of the Eßweiler Tal was donated to Prüm Abbey in Prüm in the Eifel between 868 and 870. The lordly seat was Hirsau, whose ancient church bears witness to this time. Later,

3515-418: A training centre for ecological farming fell through, the two buildings served as a way station for Aussiedler from East European countries. The CJD has also meanwhile housed trainees. Within both Eßweiler's and Rothselberg ’s municipal limits, several Stone Age finds have been brought to light. Later, Celts settled here. They were forced out by Germanic tribes, who were in turn pushed out, over to

3700-496: A variety of fields, making an impact on their communities' economy and societies. In Francia , for example, figures like Isaac Judaeus and Armentarius occupied prominent social and economic positions. However, Jews were frequently the subjects of discriminatory laws, segregation , blood libels and pogroms , which culminated in events like the Rhineland Massacres (1066) and the expulsion of Jews from England (1290). As

3885-405: A warning against intermarriage between Jews and gentiles. Leviticus 24:10 says that the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man is "of the community of Israel." This is complemented by Ezra 10:2–3 , where Israelites returning from Babylon vow to put aside their gentile wives and their children. A popular theory is that the rape of Jewish women in captivity brought about

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4070-401: A while tended by Eßweiler. In 1746, Eßweiler passed back to the parish of Bosenbach. This was not changed again until 1971, when Eßweiler passed to the parish of Rothselberg, to which it still belongs now, along with Rothselberg and Kreimbach-Kaulbach . From 1758 to 1763, Johann Julius Printz was the pastor in Eßweiler, and from 1810 to 1817 it was Johann Heinrich Bauer. The Catholics’ share of

4255-479: A workers’ settlement for those who worked the quarries, built in 1923, may be described as an industrial monument. In 1988, the Kusel district began using the old quarries as the district dump . Just beyond the junction where the road branches off to the Schneeweiderhof, a new building development sprang up along Krämelstraße in the 1950s, which pushed the village's built-up area outwards towards Jettenbach. Work on

4440-513: A “bridge” – now bears little sign of its former shape. Branching off from Krämelstraße is a Kreisstraße that leads to the outlying centre of the Schneeweiderhof some 3 km away on the summit of the Bornberg. This road was expanded as Kreisstraße 31 in 1959 and renovated in 1994 and 1995. Until 1970, diorite was quarried at the Schneeweiderhof. The former quarry lands together with the Kolonie ,

4625-473: A “thorpe”) stretching along Hauptstraße (also known today as Landesstraße 372). In the village core, where the Breitenbach and Jettenbach meet to form the Talbach, another road, Krämelstraße, branches off as Landesstraße 369 to Jettenbach and on towards Landstuhl . Also in the village core stands the Protestant church , built in 1865. Next to it were the old school building and the old village hall, which

4810-491: Is twinned with: Kaiserslautern also has friendly relations with: Jew The Jews ( Hebrew : יְהוּדִים ‎ , ISO 259-2 : Yehudim , Israeli pronunciation : [jehuˈdim] ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites of the historical kingdoms of Israel and Judah , and whose traditional religion is Judaism . Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism

4995-530: Is a football stadium that accommodates 48,500 fans. In June 2006, after renovation, the stadium was one of 12 to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup . It is also home to 1. FC Kaiserslautern , which won the Bundesliga four times and the wheelchair basketball team FCK Rolling Devils . Kaiserslautern Zoo The Kaiserslautern Zoo was founded in 1968 and is located in Kaiserslautern's Siegelbach neighbourhood. It

5180-463: Is a combined community consisting of Army and Air Force components. The KMC consists of Army facilities at Kleber 32nd Air Defense HQ and Signal Corps, Panzer, Dänner-Kaserne, Landstuhl , Miesau , Einsiedlerhof, Pirmasens , Sembach , Baumholder, Rhine Ordnance Barracks and Pulaski Barracks along with Air Force facilities located at Ramstein Air Base , Vogelweh, and Kapaun Air Station . Kaiserslautern

5365-650: Is a wide dispersion of Jewish communities across the world that have maintained their sense of Jewish history , identity and culture . In the following millennia, Jewish diaspora communities coalesced into three major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled: the Ashkenazim ( Central and Eastern Europe ), the Sephardim ( Iberian Peninsula ), and the Mizrahim ( Middle East and North Africa ). While these three major divisions account for most of

5550-585: Is an ethnic religion , but not all ethnic Jews practice Judaism. Despite this, religious Jews regard individuals who have formally converted to Judaism as Jews. The Israelites emerged from within the Canaanite population to establish the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Judaism emerged from the Israelite religion of Yahwism by the late 6th century BCE, with a theology considered by religious Jews to be

5735-496: Is classified as a " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate ) by the Köppen Climate Classification system. On 16 September 2020 the temperature reached 38,2 ° and reached the highest temperature since 1901. Modern-day Kaiserslautern is a centre of information and communications technology, home to a well-known university , a technical college and many international research institutes located throughout

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5920-523: Is considered the father of political Zionism, offered his vision of a future Jewish state in his 1896 book Der Judenstaat ( The Jewish State ); a year later, he presided over the First Zionist Congress . The antisemitism that inflicted Jewish communities in Europe also triggered a mass exodus of more than two million Jews to the United States between 1881 and 1924. The Jews of Europe and

6105-856: Is far less used today following the Holocaust and the adoption of Modern Hebrew by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel . In some places, the mother language of the Jewish community differs from that of the general population or the dominant group. For example, in Quebec , the Ashkenazic majority has adopted English, while the Sephardic minority uses French as its primary language. Similarly, South African Jews adopted English rather than Afrikaans . Due to both Czarist and Soviet policies, Russian has superseded Yiddish as

6290-631: Is further disagreement about the earliest existence of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their extent and power. Historians agree that a Kingdom of Israel existed by c.  900 BCE , there is a consensus that a Kingdom of Judah existed by c. 700 BCE at least, and recent excavations in Khirbet Qeiyafa have provided strong evidence for dating the Kingdom of Judah to the 10th century BCE. In 587 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II , King of

6475-439: Is home to about 100,000 people. Additionally, approximately 45,000 NATO military personnel are based in the city and its surrounding district ( Landkreis Kaiserslautern ). Prehistoric settlement in the area of what is now Kaiserslautern has been traced to at least 800 BC. Some 2,500-year-old Celtic tombs were uncovered at Miesau , a town about 29 kilometres (18 miles) west of Kaiserslautern. The recovered relics are now in

6660-472: Is home to many different animals including some nearly extinct regional species. Other places of interest in Kaiserslautern, and the surrounding area, are: Kaiserslautern has a broad-based commercial economy. Among the big companies located in the city are: The largest church is St. Mary's ( Marienkirche ), a Roman Catholic church. There is also the historic Protestant Church of the Apostle ( Apostelkirche ). At

6845-522: Is now well under 500. At 31 May 2009, 431 persons in Eßweiler had their main residence in the municipality, 207 (48.03%) of whom were male and 224 (51.97%) of whom were female. Foreigners were 1.62% of the population, and 46 had their secondary residence in Eßweiler. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Eßweiler, with some figures broken down by religious denomination: The following age breakdown can be deduced from Eßweiler's 31 May 2009 population figures: At 31 May 2009,

7030-705: Is the Judaeo-Spanish language developed by Sephardic Jews who migrated to the Iberian peninsula . Due to many factors, including the impact of the Holocaust on European Jewry, the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries , and widespread emigration from other Jewish communities around the world, ancient and distinct Jewish languages of several communities, including Judaeo-Georgian , Judaeo-Arabic , Judaeo-Berber , Krymchak , Judaeo-Malayalam and many others, have largely fallen out of use. For over sixteen centuries Hebrew

7215-417: Is used for residential and transport purposes. Another 46.1% of the municipal area is wooded, and 0.5% is open water. Eßweiler borders in the north on the municipality of Oberweiler im Tal , in the northeast on the municipality of Aschbach , in the east on the municipality of Rutsweiler an der Lauter , in the southeast on the municipality of Rothselberg , in the south on the municipality of Jettenbach , in

7400-436: Is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun Jew , in phrases such as Jew lawyer or Jew ethics , is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as There are now several Jews on

7585-632: The Ashkenazim (initially in the Rhineland and France), the Sephardim (initially in the Iberian Peninsula ), and the Mizrahim ( Middle East and North Africa ). Romaniote Jews , Tunisian Jews , Yemenite Jews , Egyptian Jews , Ethiopian Jews , Bukharan Jews , Mountain Jews , and other groups also predated the arrival of the Sephardic diaspora. Despite experiencing repeated waves of persecution, Ashkenazi Jews in Western Europe worked in

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7770-803: The Archbishop of Trier ; but the attack was unsuccessful, and they retreated to Nanstein. Nanstein was then besieged by cannon -armed German Catholic princes. Sickingen died after the castle surrendered, and the Protestant nobility of the Electoral Palatinate were subdued by the Catholic princes. Count of the Electoral Palatinate Johann Casimir , came to Kaiserslautern during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Spanish occupation in 1621–1632 ended when Protestant Swedish armies liberated

7955-505: The Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatristic —and later monotheistic —religion of Yahwism centered on Yahweh , one of the gods of the Canaanite pantheon. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of cultic practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group , setting them apart from other Canaanites. According to Dever , modern archaeologists have largely discarded

8140-418: The Eßweiler Tal . In the years that followed, many inhabitants emigrated to North and South America or Eastern Europe . Building work on a church began in Eßweiler in 1733. By 1745, there were once again two mills in the village (both of which still stand, and one of which was even still being run until the 1970s). In 1750, a fire wrought great damage to the village. Of the many settlements that arose in

8325-706: The First Temple , putting an end to the kingdom. The majority of Jerusalem's residents, including the kingdom's elite, were exiled to Babylon . According to the Book of Ezra , the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE, the year after he captured Babylon. The exile ended with the return under Zerubbabel the Prince (so called because he was a descendant of

8510-586: The First World War ended, Eßweiler belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria . Thereafter and until the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded in 1947, it belonged to the Free State of Bavaria. In the early 19th century, the inhabitants fed themselves mainly by agriculture , but the population was rising markedly, which made poverty in Eßweiler all the more acute as there was a dearth of employment opportunities in

8695-511: The First World War , but nothing is known about any destruction or civilian losses in the village itself. From the end of the Great War until 1946, Eßweiler belonged to the Free State of Bavaria (as opposed to the now defunct Kingdom). On Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), the two last Eßweiler Jewish families’ houses were both invaded and thoroughly vandalized . Shortly thereafter, the village’s three remaining Jewish residents were taken away to

8880-732: The French Revolution brought yet more war along with it. After Napoleon had conquered the area, Eßweiler belonged to France beginning in 1797, finding itself in the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German ), or more locally, Eßweiler was the seat of a mairie (“mayoralty”) in the Canton of Wolfstein and the Arrondissement of Kaiserslautern. From 1816, after the Congress of Vienna , until

9065-679: The Geonic period in Jewish history. Following this period were the Rishonim who lived from the 11th to 15th centuries. Like their European counterparts, Jews in the Middle East and North Africa also faced periods of persecution and discriminatory policies, with the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa and Iberia issuing forced conversion decrees, causing Jews such as Maimonides to seek safety in other regions. Initially, under Visigoth rule , Jews in

9250-437: The Herodian dynasty as vassal kings . However, Judea eventually came directly under Roman control and was incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Judaea . The Jewish–Roman wars , a series of unsuccessful revolts against Roman rule during the first and second centuries CE, had significant and disastrous consequences for the Jewish population of Judaea . The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE) culminated in

9435-428: The Kolonie , out of basalt stones. The complex is still fairly well preserved. Owing to the great number of schoolchildren (all together 25 of them in seven grades in 1952), a school was set up at the Kolonie in 1952 in a purpose-built building, thus sparing the children the daily walk to the village and back. The school was, however, dissolved in 1965 owing to school reform. Since the quarries were closed in 1970,

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9620-436: The Neo-Babylonian Empire , besieged Jerusalem , destroyed the First Temple and deported parts of the Judahite population. Scholars disagree regarding the extent to which the Bible should be accepted as a historical source for early Israelite history. Rendsburg states that there are two approximately equal groups of scholars who debate the historicity of the biblical narrative , the minimalists who largely reject it, and

9805-426: The Rathaus (city hall). A second castle, Nanstein Castle , was built at Landstuhl to guard the western approach to the city. Barbarossa's influence on Kaiserslautern remains today, in its nickname as a " Barbarossa city ". Local legends claim in 1497, a nearly 6 m long pike was caught in a lake, the Kaiserwoog, with a ring saying it was placed by Emperor Frederick II , personally in 1230, later finding its way onto

9990-407: The Rhine ’s right bank, by the Romans . By the time the Gallic Wars ended locally, in 51 BC, the whole of the Rhine’s left bank was part of Roman Gaul . Unearthed in 1904, and bearing witness to Roman-Gaulish times, was a silver spoon decorated with doves, grapes and grapeleaves and inscribed “Lucilianae vivas” . Its origin is Roman, from about the 4th century. The spoon is now to be found at

10175-399: The Tanakh . Some modern scholars disagree with the conflation, based on the works of Josephus , Philo and Apostle Paul . The English word "Jew" is a derivation of Middle English Gyw, Iewe . The latter was loaned from the Old French giu , which itself evolved from the earlier juieu , which in turn derived from judieu/iudieu which through elision had dropped

10360-406: The Tannaim may have been influenced by Roman law , which dictated that when a parent could not contract a legal marriage, offspring would follow the mother . Rabbi Rivon Krygier follows a similar reasoning, arguing that Jewish descent had formerly passed through the patrilineal descent and the law of matrilineal descent had its roots in the Roman legal system. The prehistory and ethnogenesis of

10545-443: The United States . It was in the 1830s that the Westpfälzer Wandermusikantentum , a musical movement that saw local Musikanten – literally “minstrels” – travel all over the world, began. Its heyday fell between 1850 and the First World War. Eßweiler was one of the main centres of what is now known as the Musikantenland , seemingly contributing a disproportionate share of these musicians. Some 300 musicians spread out from here in

10730-485: The destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple . The severely reduced Jewish population of Judaea was denied any kind of political self-government. A few generations later, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) erupted, and its brutal suppression by the Romans led to the depopulation of Judea . Following the revolt, Jews were forbidden from residing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and the Jewish demographic center in Judaea shifted to Galilee . Similar upheavals impacted

10915-533: The religion of Judaism are strongly interrelated. Converts to Judaism typically have a status within the Jewish ethnos equal to those born into it. However, several converts to Judaism, as well as ex-Jews, have claimed that converts are treated as second-class Jews by many born Jews. Conversion is not encouraged by mainstream Judaism, and it is considered a difficult task. A significant portion of conversions are undertaken by children of mixed marriages, or would-be or current spouses of Jews. The Hebrew Bible ,

11100-472: The 'Dino Park' because of its lifesize dinosaur models, the Gartenschau is open from April through October and is popular with families. Having begun as a series of botanical displays and enjoying success at the first State Garden Exhibition of Rhineland-Palatinate in Kaiserslautern in 2000, this 54-acre (220,000 m ) park has been transformed into one of the most multi-dimensional cultural centres in Germany. Fritz-Walter-Stadion The Fritz-Walter-Stadion

11285-436: The 10th century BCE, two neighboring Israelite kingdoms—the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah —emerged. Since their inception, they shared ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious characteristics despite a complicated relationship. Israel, with its capital mostly in Samaria , was larger and wealthier, and soon developed into a regional power. In contrast, Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem ,

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11470-425: The 1697 Treaty of Ryswick , all villages in the Eßweiler Tal were parochially merged with Eßweiler. The Lutheran faith had not vanished utterly: In 1709, when the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken lay under Swedish rule, the Lutheran Church established its own parish for the Eßweiler Tal villages to which, in fact, more than twenty villages belonged. The small Lutheran communities in Wolfstein and Roßbach were for

11655-471: The 16th century, 14 vassals held sway in the villages. The highest landlords and vassals at this time were the Junkers of Scharfenstein. They, too, were vassals of the Waldgraves and they maintained a common administration and jurisdiction. In 1595, the whole Eßweiler Tal passed to the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken , to which Eßweiler belonged until 1797, when the lands on the Rhine ’s left bank were overrun and conquered by Napoleon ’s forces, while

11840-400: The 1980s after an American academic, Professor Thomas Higel from the University of Maryland , had unearthed some remnants in the 1970s that had lain under a heap of rubble. The castle lies on Landesstraße 372; the Eßweiler-Oberweiler municipal limit passes right through the castle grounds. It is still known today as the Altes Schloss , or “Old Castle”. It stands on a spur that juts out of

12025-520: The 19th century and reached 614 by 1838. Despite emigration and people moving away, the figures kept rising, reaching 683 by 1939. After the Second World War , in 1950, the population even reached as high as 724, not least of all because of refugees from central Germany and ethnic Germans driven out of Germany's former eastern territories . In the time that followed, the population figures steadily dropped. While Eßweiler still had 687 inhabitants in 1961, this had fallen to 582 by 30 June 1997. The population

12210-414: The 19th century and went throughout the world, mostly to North and South America , but also to Australia , China and Africa . Unlike the more permanent emigrants, most of these “wandering minstrels” eventually came back, even though for some, the journey could last several years. Well known musicians from Eßweiler include: Another income source came into play when hard rock deposits were discovered at

12395-404: The 431 people whose primary residence was in Eßweiler adhered to the following faiths: The village's name, Eßweiler, has the common German placename ending —weiler , which as a standalone word means “ hamlet ” (originally “homestead”), to which is prefixed a syllable believed by writer Ernst Christmann to have arisen from an old German man's name, Ezzo (or Ezo , Azzo or Azzio ), and thus

12580-612: The Babylonians. Genetic studies on Jews show that most Jews worldwide bear a common genetic heritage which originates in the Middle East , and that they share certain genetic traits with other Gentile peoples of the Fertile Crescent . The genetic composition of different Jewish groups shows that Jews share a common gene pool dating back four millennia, as a marker of their common ancestral origin. Despite their long-term separation, Jewish communities maintained their unique commonalities, propensities, and sensibilities in culture, tradition, and language. The earliest recorded evidence of

12765-490: The Historical Museum of the Palatinate ( Historisches Museum der Pfalz ) in Speyer , and is also early evidence of Christianity in the Palatinate (see Religion below). On the Trautmannsberg in 2002 and 2003, workers with the Office for Archaeological Monument Care ( Amt für archäologische Denkmalpflege ) undertook diggings to observe and preserve a Roman estate. Right next to the site, they unearthed ceramics and storage pits from pre-Celtic times (about 800 BC). Moreover, in

12950-443: The Holocaust and later lived in the United States. There was a synagogue in the village, known popularly as the Judenschule . It was mentioned as early as 1789. The street on which it stood is to this day popularly known as the Judengasse (“Jews’ Lane”). The synagogue was let out as a dwelling in 1902 and then auctioned in 1907. The building is still standing, but it is now a house, and bears no sign of its original function. In

13135-403: The Iberian Peninsula faced persecutions, but their circumstances changed dramatically under Islamic rule . During this period, they thrived in a golden age , marked by significant intellectual and cultural contributions in fields such as philosophy, medicine, and literature by figures such as Samuel ibn Naghrillah , Judah Halevi and Solomon ibn Gabirol . However, in the 12th to 15th centuries,

13320-713: The Iberian Peninsula witnessed a rise in antisemitism, leading to persecutions, anti-Jewish laws, massacres and forced conversions ( peaking in 1391 ), and the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition that same year. After the completion of the Reconquista and the issuance of the Alhambra Decree by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, the Jews of Spain were forced to choose: convert to Christianity or be expelled. As

13505-854: The Jettenbach, flow together to form the Talbach, which is fed by the Steinbach about 100 m beyond the municipal limit, thereafter flowing down to Offenbach-Hundheim , where it empties into the Glan . Found around Eßweiler are some of the district's highest mountains: the Königsberg (568 m), the Selberg (546 m), the Potschberg (498 m), the Bornberg (520 m) and the Herrmannsberg (536 m). Eßweiler has 431 inhabitants and an area of 8.1 km. Land under agricultural use amounts to 39.5%, while 13.9%

13690-859: The Jewish communities in the empire's eastern provinces during the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), leading to the near-total destruction of Jewish diaspora communities in Libya , Cyprus and Egypt , including the highly influential community in Alexandria . The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE brought profound changes to Judaism. With the Temple's central place in Jewish worship gone, religious practices shifted towards prayer , Torah study (including Oral Torah ), and communal gatherings in synagogues . Judaism also lost much of its sectarian nature. Two of

13875-401: The Jewish identity of Biblical characters such as Jesus . Daniel R. Schwartz distinguishes "Judean" and "Jew". Here, "Judean" refers to the inhabitants of Judea, which encompassed southern Palestine . Meanwhile, "Jew" refers to the descendants of Israelites that adhere to Judaism . Converts are included in the definition. But Shaye J.D. Cohen argues that "Judean" should include believers of

14060-401: The Jews are closely intertwined with archaeology, biology, historical textual records, mythology, and religious literature. The ethnic stock to which Jews originally trace their ancestry was a confederation of Iron Age Semitic -speaking tribes known as the Israelites that inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods . Modern Jews are named after and also descended from

14245-991: The Judean God and allies of the Judean state. Troy W. Martin similarly argues that biblical Jewishness is not dependent on ancestry but instead, is based on adherence to 'covenantal circumcision' ( Genesis 17:9–14 ). The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., يَهُودِيّ yahūdī (sg.), al-yahūd (pl.), in Arabic , "Jude" in German , "judeu" in Portuguese , "Juif" (m.)/"Juive" (f.) in French , "jøde" in Danish and Norwegian , "judío/a" in Spanish , "jood" in Dutch , "żyd" in Polish etc., but derivations of

14430-399: The Königsberg, and the land drops off sharply to the brook that flows by through the dale. The lordly builders built their castle at the dale’s narrowest spot, which may have been done so that they could control the road that once ran through the dale. archaeological digs brought to light a rectangular arrangement of outer walls (roughly 15 × 20 m) with a round tower standing in

14615-648: The Königsbergerhof (below the Königsberg) and the Lindenhof (on the road leading out of the village towards Jettenbach). Near the Lindenhof, in the part of the municipal area called “Altbach”, the municipality wants to open a commercial area. In the late 1980s, the Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands (CJD) acquired a sizeable property in the village core. After the original idea of running

14800-509: The Museum for Palatinate History at Speyer . Kaiserslautern received its name from the favourite hunting retreat of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa who ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1155 until 1190. The small river Lauter made the old section of Kaiserslautern an island in medieval times. Ruins of Frederick's original castle, built 1152 –1160, can still be seen in front of

14985-473: The Palatinate into a battleground. Although the end of the politically and religiously motivated wars after 1700 soothed tensions somewhat, the land itself remained poor. Famines drove a great deal of the inhabitants to migrate to Habsburg -ruled Eastern Europe, Prussian Brandenburg, Pomerania and eventually overseas to North America . Many families from Eßweiler were among the emigrants . The outbreak of

15170-512: The Plague swept across the land during the Thirty Years' War leaving most villages all but depopulated. Time and again, as arranged by the lords who held the land, newcomers were brought in to settle the land again; from France , Switzerland and even the Tyrol they came, but the 1648 Peace of Westphalia failed to bring any calm to the land as French King Louis XIV waged his wars of conquest, turning

15355-566: The Schneeweiderhof. About 1840, a few villagers began making paving stones on the Kiefernkopf. The diorite out of which these were being made was distinguished by its ability to bear up against stresses, which led to the local paving stones becoming a sought-after product, much favoured by many cities and towns. In the beginning, the stone deposit was worked by many small quarrying businesses, until 1914, when they were all taken over by Basalt AG from Linz am Rhein , who proceeded to further expand

15540-525: The United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were Albert Einstein and Ludwig Wittgenstein . Many Nobel Prize winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the situation for Jews deteriorated rapidly. Many Jews fled from Europe to Mandatory Palestine ,

15725-597: The United States, and the Soviet Union as a result of racial anti-Semitic laws, economic difficulties, and the fear of an impending war. World War II started in 1939, and by 1941, Hitler occupied almost all of Europe. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the Final Solution —an extensive, organized effort with an unprecedented scope intended to annihilate the Jewish people—began, and resulted in

15910-704: The Waldgraves converted to Lutheranism . In 1595, the Dale passed to the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken , which required, under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio , that everyone convert to the Reformed faith. It was in this time that the parish of Hinzweiler, which was also responsible for Eßweiler, was headed by a pastor from Austria named Pantaleon Weiß (he called himself Candidus). He had studied in Wittenberg under Philipp Melanchthon and harboured Reformed ideas. Originally,

16095-426: The Waldgraves, although little else is known about the castle’s history. Only in a 1595 description of the Eßweiler Tal written by state scrivener and geometer Johannes Hofmann on behalf of John I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken , can anything be read about the Sprengelburg and its eventual destruction by merchants from Strasbourg . Today, only a ruin is left standing. It was restored by the municipality of Eßweiler in

16280-596: The ancient Hellenic world, in Europe before and after The Age of Enlightenment (see Haskalah ), in Islamic Spain and Portugal , in North Africa and the Middle East , India , China , or the 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

16465-475: The area was under French administration. As French power declined after 1815, Kaiserslautern and the Palatinate became a Bavarian province and remained so until 1918. After World War I , French troops again occupied the Palatinate for several years. In World War II , Allied bombing destroyed more than 85% of Kaiserslautern. Today 25 % of Kaiserslautern is made up by buildings from before 1945. The railway and several main roads were primary targets, with

16650-469: The area, residing in Kaiserslautern in 1686–1697. Nevertheless, after the treaty of Utrecht it was restored to be part of the Palatinate. During the unquiet episodes in the 18th century, the Palatinate was the scene of fighting between French and German troops of different states. In 1713, the French destroyed Barbarossa's castle and the city's wall towers. From 1793 until Napoleon 's defeat at Waterloo in 1815,

16835-640: The area. The city would fall to invading forces again in an especially violent incident in 1635. Croatian troops within the Austrian emperor's army plundered the city, killing 3,000 of its 3,200 residents. It would not be repopulated for about another 160 years. Conflict did not end with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Elector of the Pfalz had difficulty with many of his subjects and ordered all castles, including Nanstein, destroyed. The French repeatedly invaded and occupied

17020-560: The arts in Germany are significantly subsidized by the government, its ticket prices are reasonably low. Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern hosts the Else-Lasker-Schüler-Preis awards for German literature. The Kammgarn The Kammgarn is classified as a historical site. It served as a spinning factory before being transformed into the cultural heart of Kaiserslautern. This renovation has preserved its historical character while incorporating

17205-667: The camps (see also below ). The village came through the Second World War more or less unscathed; only one building was damaged by an American tank . Nevertheless, according to memorial inscriptions, 51 soldiers from Eßweiler fell in the war. Particularly tragic was an accident that happened in February 1945, when some children and youths found a Panzerfaust left behind by retreating German soldiers and began playing with it. It exploded, killing five children. Several others were wounded, some seriously. Since 1946, Eßweiler has been part of

17390-653: The castle’s history. Perhaps, it was thought, the answer might lie in Johannes Hofmann’s old description, which contains, among other things, a detailed report about the castle’s destruction. The “Springeburg”, as Hofmann called it, met its fate in neither the Thirty Years' War nor the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg , or War of the Palatine Succession), but rather it

17575-572: The chance to sample dishes from across the world. Kaiserslautern is located in one of the largest contiguous forested areas in Central Europe, the Palatinate Forest , which offers numerous hiking trails and lakes to visitors. Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern Local theatre Pfalztheater employs more than 300 people and features plays, operas, ballets, concerts, and musicals. The first German performance of West Side Story took place there. As

17760-554: The church. By 1375, the city of Kaiserslautern was pledged to Electoral Palatinate and therefore became subsequently part of the Wittelsbach inheritance. In 1519, Franz von Sickingen became the owner of Nanstein Castle. He became a Protestant , and in 1522 Nanstein was a stronghold for local nobles favouring the Reformation . Sickingen and the local nobles began their battle against

17945-507: The cities. On 24 January 1906, the Eßweiler Jewish worship community was dissolved. The remaining Jewish inhabitants, the two families of Isidor and his brother Sigmund (or Siegmund) Rothschild, joined the Kusel worship community. On Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), Brownshirts from Altenglan and Theisbergstegen , reinforced by a few NSDAP followers from Jettenbach and Brownshirts from Kusel who happened to be going about in

18130-501: The city centre surrounding the old city ( Altstadt ). In the Altstadt you will find the "Kaiserbrunnen", a large ornamental fountain with symbols of the city's history such as a sewing machine, as produced by the Pfaff company in the city, a football representing the city's football club and various animals that children can climb. Kaiserslautern has a diverse culinary sector, offering visitors

18315-506: The city in the 4th century BCE by Alexander the Great . By 200 BCE, there were well established Jewish communities both in Egypt and Mesopotamia (" Babylonia " in Jewish sources) and in the two centuries that followed, Jewish populations were also present in Asia Minor , Greece , Macedonia , Cyrene , and, beginning in the middle of the first century BCE, in the city of Rome . Later, in

18500-399: The city's coat of arms. The Stiftkirche , Kaiserslautern's oldest church, was constructed in 1250–1350. As the population of Kaiserslautern grew, King Rudolf von Habsburg chartered the town an imperial city in 1276. St. Martin 's Church was built in the 14th century, originally as a Franciscan monastery church. Today a section of the original city wall still stands in the courtyard of

18685-407: The city. Kaiserslautern is a popular destination for tourists, offering a range of attractions, and sites for tourists to visit. Town Hall Kaiserslautern is one of the tallest buildings and is located in the city centre. The bar and coffee shop on the top floor provides a panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside. The tallest building in the centre of Kaiserslautern is St. Mary's,

18870-457: The comital line of Veldenz . In 1393, the Dale passed as a Wittum (widow’s estate) to Margarete von Nassau, Count of Veldenz Friedrich III’s wife. Between Eßweiler and Oberweiler im Tal, the Sprengelburg (or Springeburg – a castle ) was built about 1300. It was not standing very long before it was destroyed. The castle lords at the time were the Knights of Mülenstein (or Mühlenstein), vassals of

19055-612: The confines of the Roman Empire, became an important center of Jewish study as Judea's Jewish population declined. Estimates often place the Babylonian Jewish community of the 3rd to 7th centuries at around one million, making it the largest Jewish diaspora community of that period. Under the political leadership of the exilarch , who was regarded as a royal heir of the House of David, this community had an autonomous status and served as

19240-429: The council , which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like Jewish people or persons of Jewish background may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun. 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

19425-479: The desert and settled on the central mountain range of the land of Canaan, in simple semi-nomadic settlements in which pig bones are notably absent. This population gradually shifted from a tribal lifestyle to a monarchy. While the archaeological record of the ninth century BCE provides evidence for two monarchies, one in the south under a dynasty founded by a figure named David with its capital in Jerusalem , and one in

19610-460: The destruction of the First Temple , though there is ample evidence for the presence of Jews in Babylonia even from 626 BCE. In Egypt, the documents from Elephantine reveal the trials of a community founded by a Persian Jewish garrison at two fortresses on the frontier during the 5th–4th centuries BCE, and according to Josephus the Jewish community in Alexandria existed since the founding of

19795-505: The development and growth of human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including in science and technology , philosophy , ethics , literature , governance , business , art , music , comedy , theatre , cinema , architecture , food , medicine , and religion . Jews wrote the Bible , founded Christianity , and had an indirect but profound influence on Islam . In these ways, Jews have also played

19980-523: The dispersal driven by both forced expulsions and voluntary migrations. In Mesopotamia, a testimony to the beginnings of the Jewish community can be found in Joachin's ration tablets , listing provisions allotted to the exiled Judean king and his family by Nebuchadnezzar II , and further evidence are the Al-Yahudu tablets , dated to the 6th–5th centuries BCE and related to the exiles from Judea arriving after

20165-452: The district destroying Jewish property, thronged into these two men's houses and laid them waste. Shortly thereafter, the village's three remaining Jewish residents, the widower Isidor Rothschild, his brother Sigmund and Sigmund's wife Blondine were taken away to the camps . The last two named are believed to have died at Theresienstadt . Two of their four daughters, too, were murdered in the camps. The other two, and also Isidor's son, survived

20350-634: The early 20th century on the Potschberg, the building remnants of a Roman mountain sanctuary were found. The Romans withdrew from the region about AD 400, and the Alemanni who settled after them were eventually driven out by the Franks under King Clovis I (466-511). The whole region was part of the Reichsland , which was at the king’s own disposal, giving rise to the name Königsland , still used today. Eßweiler most likely arose sometime between 600 and 800, which

20535-478: The entire world. A number of modern scholars of nationalism support the existence of Jewish national identity in antiquity. One of them is David Goodblatt, who generally believes in the existence of nationalism before the modern period. In his view, the Bible, the parabiblical literature and the Jewish national history provide the base for a Jewish collective identity. Although many of the ancient Jews were illiterate (as were their neighbors), their national narrative

20720-573: The estates in Aschbach, Hachenbach and Hirsau were donated to the Offenbach Monastery by Reinfried von Rüdesheim as a provost’s realm of Saint Vincent’s Abbey in Metz ; the Archbishop of Mainz confirmed this donation in 1289. Hirsau was until the 16th century a parish covering the whole Dale. In the 12th century, the Eßweiler Tal passed to Count Emich von Schmidtburg, who is said to be the one who endowed

20905-500: The expansions between 600 and 1200, more than half have not survived. As early as shortly after 1400, a few villages in the Eßweiler Tal were destroyed by “ Armagnacs ”. The inhabitants furthermore had to suffer under the great epidemics of the time. In 1564, the Plague supposedly claimed 200 victims of the 800 people then living in the Eßweiler Tal . In 1575, Eßweiler itself apparently had only 24 inhabitants left. In 1622, another wave of

21090-624: The expression of a covenant with God established with the Israelites, their ancestors. The Babylonian captivity of Judahites following their kingdom's destruction, the movement of Jewish groups around the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period , and subsequent periods of conflict and violent dispersion, such as the Jewish–Roman wars , gave rise to the Jewish diaspora . The Jewish diaspora

21275-506: The extra-biblical record, the Israelites become visible as a people between 1200 and 1000 BCE. There is well accepted archeological evidence referring to "Israel" in the Merneptah Stele , which dates to about 1200 BCE, and in the Mesha stele from 840 BCE. It is debated whether a period like that of the Biblical judges occurred and if there ever was a United Monarchy . There

21460-541: The fall of their empire in c. 333 BCE to Alexander the Great . After several centuries under foreign imperial rule, the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire resulted in an independent Hasmonean kingdom , under which the Jews once again enjoyed political independence for a period spanning from 110 to 63 BCE. Under Hasmonean rule the boundaries of their kingdom were expanded to include not only

21645-420: The few Catholics in the Eßweiler Tal before then belonged to Lauterecken, where there was a simultaneous church as early as 1725. Important in Eßweiler at one time was the rather great share of the population represented by Jews . Jewish families are known to have lived in Eßweiler in 1680, 1698, 1746, 1776 and 1780. In 1688, there were four Jewish families living in Eßweiler. Their numbers grew steadily over

21830-714: The first centuries CE, as a result of the Jewish-Roman Wars , a large number of Jews were taken as captives, sold into slavery, or compelled to flee from the regions affected by the wars, contributing to the formation and expansion of Jewish communities across the Roman Empire as well as in Arabia and Mesopotamia. After the Bar Kokhba revolt , the Jewish population in Judaea , now significantly reduced in size, made efforts to recover from

22015-492: The first watermain was laid, bringing water from a spring at the Trautmannsberg. This remained in service until the 1980s. Eßweiler, along with the Schneeweiderhof, was then hooked up to the long-distance water supply system. Eßweiler was connected to the electrical grid beginning in 1924. In both world wars, Eßweiler lost many people. The inscription on the Eßweiler war memorial names 13 fallen and 2 missing soldiers from

22200-458: The former and current village core is the street “Im Läppchen”, the part of which on the Talbach's right bank is known even today as the Judengasse (“ Jews ’ Lane”), a reference to the once important Jewish sector of the population in Eßweiler. Since the 1950s, the bridges leading across the brooks have been turned into culverts so that the crossing between the two highways – still known locally as

22385-431: The former residents of the Kingdom of Judah) were the only Israelites that had kept their distinct identity as the ten tribes from the northern Kingdom of Israel had been scattered and assimilated into other populations. The gradual ethnonymic shift from " Israelites " to "Jews", regardless of their descent from Judah, although not contained in the Torah , is made explicit in the Book of Esther (4th century BCE) of

22570-402: The heart of the city is the large and old Stiftskirche (also Protestant). All three have large pipe organs and occasionally host concerts. In Kaiserslautern there is an Islamic Centre for the Muslim communities situated in the centre of the city. The Ditib Fatih Camii is a Turkish mosque in Kaiserslautern. There is also a university prayer room at the University of Kaiserslautern. The city

22755-405: The heaviest attacks occurring on 7 January 11 August, and 28 September 1944. On 20 March 1945, as the last of the 1st Army crossed the Rhine at Remagen , the U.S. 80th Division , 319th Infantry, part of the 3rd US Army , seized Kaiserslautern without resistance. The city became part of the French occupation zone after the Second World War. The establishment of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate

22940-441: The ideal type of the nation [...] than perhaps anywhere else in the ancient world." He adds that this observation "must make us wary of pronouncing too readily against the possibility of the nation, and even a form of religious nationalism , before the onset of modernity." Agreeing with Smith, Goodblatt suggests omitting the qualifier "religious" from Smith's definition of ancient Jewish nationalism, noting that, according to Smith,

23125-400: The interaction of Jews or specific communities of Jews with their surroundings, and still others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to from the religion itself. This phenomenon has led to considerably different Jewish cultures unique to their own communities. Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism (termed lashon ha-kodesh , "the holy tongue"),

23310-409: The land of the historical kingdom of Judah , but also the Galilee and Transjordan . In the beginning of this process the Idumeans , who had infiltrated southern Judea after the destruction of the First Temple , were converted en masse. In 63 BCE, Judea was conquered by the Romans. From 37 BCE to 6 CE, the Romans allowed the Jews to maintain some degree of independence by installing

23495-441: The language in which most of the Hebrew scriptures ( Tanakh ) were composed, and the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries. By the 5th century BCE, Aramaic , a closely related tongue, joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea . By the 3rd century BCE, some Jews of the diaspora were speaking Greek . Others, such as in the Jewish communities of Asoristan , known to Jews as Babylonia, were speaking Hebrew and Aramaic ,

23680-417: The language of Russian Jews , but these policies have also affected neighboring communities. Today, Russian is the first language for many Jewish communities in a number of Post-Soviet states , such as Ukraine and Uzbekistan , as well as for Ashkenazic Jews in Azerbaijan , Georgia, and Tajikistan . Although communities in North Africa today are small and dwindling, Jews there had shifted from

23865-453: The languages of the Babylonian Talmud . Dialects of these same languages were also used by the Jews of Syria Palaestina at that time. For centuries, Jews worldwide have spoken the local or dominant languages of the regions they migrated to, often developing distinctive dialectal forms or branches that became independent languages. Yiddish is the Judaeo-German language developed by Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Central Europe . Ladino

24050-418: The latest sound and lighting technologies. The Kammgarn stands among the top venues in Germany and serves as a first-call club for rising groups and performers as well as established jazz, rock, blues and pop artists in Europe. Performances have included international stars B.B. King , Manfred Mann's Earth Band , Pat Metheny , Uriah Heep and Jan Garbarek. Gartenschau (garden exhibition) Better known as

24235-531: The law , Jews in the Pale of Settlement faced growing persecution, legal restrictions and widespread pogroms . Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as a national revival movement, aiming to re-establish a Jewish polity in the Land of Israel, an endeavor to restore the Jewish people back to their ancestral homeland in order to stop the exoduses and persecutions that have plagued their history. This led to waves of Jewish migration to Ottoman-controlled Palestine . Theodor Herzl , who

24420-542: The law of Jewish identity being inherited through the maternal line, although scholars challenge this theory citing the Talmudic establishment of the law from the pre-exile period. Another argument is that the rabbis changed the law of patrilineal descent to matrilineal descent due to the widespread rape of Jewish women by Roman soldiers. Since the anti-religious Haskalah movement of the late 18th and 19th centuries, halakhic interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged. According to historian Shaye J. D. Cohen ,

24605-501: The letter "d" from the Medieval Latin Iudaeus , which, like the New Testament Greek term Ioudaios , meant both "Jew" and " Judean " / "of Judea ". The Greek term was a loan from Aramaic *yahūdāy , corresponding to Hebrew יְהוּדִי Yehudi . Some scholars prefer translating Ioudaios as "Judean" in the Bible since it is more precise, denotes the community's origins and prevents readers from engaging in antisemitic eisegesis . Others disagree, believing that it erases

24790-401: The literature about the find as a typically Christian emblem. It shows at least there was contact with Christianity at that time. In an ecclesiastical sense as well as a political one, the Eßweiler Tal was a unit. Until the Reformation , the Catholic faith predominated. The ecclesiastical hub was Hirsau. The parish church was the Hirsauer Kirche , a 12th-century church near Hundheim, and

24975-427: The local, national, and international levels lead various parts of the Jewish community on a variety of issues. Today, many countries have a Chief Rabbi who serves as a representative of that country's Jewry. Although many Hasidic Jews follow a certain hereditary Hasidic dynasty , there is no one commonly accepted leader of all Hasidic Jews. Many Jews believe that the Messiah will act a unifying leader for Jews and

25160-406: The maximalists who largely accept it, with the minimalists being the more vocal of the two. Some of the leading minimalists reframe the biblical account as constituting the Israelites ' inspiring national myth narrative, suggesting that according to the modern archaeological and historical account, the Israelites and their culture did not overtake the region by force, but instead branched out of

25345-430: The mediation of Samuel became subject to a king, Saul , who was succeeded by David and then Solomon , after whom the United Monarchy ended and was split into a separate Kingdom of Israel and a Kingdom of Judah . The Kingdom of Judah is described as comprising the tribes of Judah , Benjamin , partially Levi , and later adding remnants of other tribes who migrated there from the northern Kingdom of Israel. In

25530-429: The middle with a diameter of 8 m. This suggests that the complex was not a castle as such, but rather a well-developed watchtower. No special finds were unearthed in the course of digs. Only at the foot of the hill were potsherds found, although in the summer of 1978, Professor Higel’s team stumbled on a young woman’s skeleton ; she might have died in the castle’s destruction. This find aroused much greater interest in

25715-466: The name would originally have meant “Ezzo’s Homestead”, meaning that Eßweiler owes its modern name to one of its oldest settlers. Given the other forms of Ezzo's name, Eßweiler may have been named Aßweiler at one time, but there is no historical record to confirm this. In the beginning, the village lay on the cadastral area now called “Kirchwiese”, where once wall remnants were also found. In 1296, Eßweiler had its thus far earliest known documentary mention in

25900-754: The national language of the Jewish people, knowledge of the language is not commonly possessed by Jews worldwide and English has emerged as the lingua franca of the Jewish diaspora. Although many Jews once had sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and Jewish languages like Yiddish and Ladino were commonly used as recently as the early 20th century, most Jews lack such knowledge today and English has by and large superseded most Jewish vernaculars. The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are Hebrew, English, and Russian . Some Romance languages , particularly French and Spanish , are also widely used. Yiddish has been spoken by more Jews in history than any other language, but it

26085-457: The neighbouring building, renovation work in the 1960s unearthed the remains of a mikveh . Jewish family names represented in the village were, among others, Rothschild, Loeb, Hermann, Wolf, Dreifuß, Lazarus, Herz and Ehrlich. The Jews had their own graveyard in Hinzweiler, which was transferred to the Eßweiler community's ownership in 1904, but later, they also buried their dead in Kaiserslautern . Eßweiler has belonged since 1 January 1972 to

26270-409: The north under a dynasty founded by a figure named Omri with its capital in Samaria . It also points to an early monarchic period in which these regions shared material culture and religion, suggesting a common origin. Archaeological finds also provide evidence for the later cooperation of these two kingdoms in their coalition against Aram , and for their destructions by the Assyrians and later by

26455-573: The old quarries in the outlying centre of the Schneeweiderhof. Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern ( German pronunciation: [ˌkaɪzɐsˈlaʊtɐn] ; Palatinate German : Lautre ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is 459 kilometres (285 miles) from Paris, 117 km (73 miles) from Frankfurt am Main , 666 kilometers (414 miles) from Berlin , and 159 km (99 miles) from Luxembourg . Kaiserslautern

26640-438: The persecution and murder of Jews in Europe and North Africa . In Poland, three million were murdered in gas chambers in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the Auschwitz camp complex alone. The Holocaust is the name given to this genocide, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered. Before and during the Holocaust, enormous numbers of Jews immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. On 14 May 1948, upon

26825-405: The population figure on the Schneeweiderhof has been steadily shrinking; more and more flats are now unoccupied. On the other hand, the Schneeweiderhof is popular among hikers and daytrippers from the local area, if only to make a stop at the local inn . Eßweiler owes its current shape mainly to the time that followed the Thirty Years' War . It was built as a linear village (by some definitions,

27010-436: The population has slowly risen again, and as of 2021 , was estimated to be at 15.2 million by the demographer Sergio Della Pergola or less than 0.2% of the total world population in 2012. Today, over 85% of Jews live in Israel or the United States . Israel, whose population is 73.9% Jewish, is the only country where Jews comprise more than 2.5% of the population. Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to

27195-474: The population was quite small in Eßweiler. In 1836 and 1837, Eßweiler had 614 inhabitants, of whom 28 were Catholic, 525 were Protestant and 61 were Jewish . As early as 1821, the Eßweiler parish church became a branch of Bosenbach. One of the best known pastors was Christian Böhmer (1823-1877). Born in Kusel, he came to Bosenbach in 1872 and earned himself some measure of fame through his literary endeavours. The Catholics were at this time tended by Wolfstein, while

27380-405: The quarries, but by the late 1960s, this had dwindled to only 68, although productivity had nevertheless grown considerably as a result of rationalization . Nevertheless, the operation was shut down for good in 1970, not least of all because of the unfavourable transport conditions. The Wandermusikantentum and hard-stone quarrying were crucial for development in the early 20th century. In 1907,

27565-405: The quarrying operations. In 1919, a ropeway conveyor to Altenglan was built to ensure efficient transport of the product. In 1923, the Kolonie was built, a workers’ settlement with roughly 50 dwelling units. In 1928, the operation had 567 employees. By the time of the outbreak of the Second World War , the workforce had shrunk to 320. By the early 1950s, there were still 190 workers employed at

27750-475: The region. In 1803 there were 464 inhabitants, but by 1836 that number had risen to 614 (28 Catholics , 525 Protestants and 61 Jews ), and by 1867 to 716 (14 Catholics, 617 Protestants and 85 Jews). Economic need and repeated famines, though, led in both the 18th and 19th centuries to several waves of emigration , which lasted into the 1920s. From Eßweiler, several branches of the family Gilcher (the current mayor’s surname), among others, emigrated to Brazil and

27935-671: The religion. Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions. These definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the Oral Torah into the Babylonian Talmud , around 200  CE . Interpretations by Jewish sages of sections of the Tanakh – such as Deuteronomy 7:1–5 , which forbade intermarriage between their Israelite ancestors and seven non-Israelite nations: "for that [i.e. giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,] would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods" – are used as

28120-404: The revolt's devastating effects, but never fully regained its previous strength. In the second to fourth centuries CE, the region of Galilee emerged as the new center of Jewish life in Syria Palaestina , experiencing a cultural and demographic flourishing. It was in this period that two central rabbinic texts, the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud , were composed. However, as the Roman Empire

28305-403: The royal line of David ) and Joshua the Priest (a descendant of the line of the former High Priests of the Temple ) and their construction of the Second Temple circa 521–516 BCE. As part of the Persian Empire , the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah ( Yehud Medinata ), with a smaller territory and a reduced population. Judea was under control of the Achaemenids until

28490-408: The search for evidence of the biblical narrative surrounding the patriarchs and the exodus. According to the maximalist position, the modern archaeological record independently points to a narrative which largely agrees with the biblical account. This narrative provides a testimony of the Israelites as a nomadic people known to the Egyptians as belonging to the Shasu . Over time these nomads left

28675-507: The southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah . Gary A. Rendsburg links the early Canaanite nomadic pastoralists confederation to the Shasu known to the Egyptians around the 15th century BCE. According to the Hebrew Bible narrative, Jewish ancestry is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs such as Abraham , his son Isaac , Isaac's son Jacob , and the Biblical matriarchs Sarah , Rebecca , Leah , and Rachel , who lived in Canaan . The Twelve Tribes are described as descending from

28860-407: The southwest on the municipality of Bosenbach , in the west on the municipality of Elzweiler and in the northwest on the municipality of Horschbach . Eßweiler also meets the town of Wolfstein at a single point in the northeast. Eßweiler has only one outlying centre, called the Schneeweiderhof ( Hof means “estate” in German , and the name takes the definite article ), lying some 3 km from

29045-438: The status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined patrilineally in the Bible. He brings two likely explanations for the change in Mishnaic times: first, the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures ( Kil'ayim ). Thus, a mixed marriage is forbidden as is the union of a horse and a donkey , and in both unions the offspring are judged matrilineally. Second,

29230-403: The termination of the mandate, David Ben-Gurion declared the creation of the State of Israel , a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel. Immediately afterwards, all neighboring Arab states invaded, yet the newly formed IDF resisted. In 1949, the war ended and Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of Aliyah from all over the world. The Jewish people and

29415-556: The then newly formed Verbandsgemeinde of Wolfstein . The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. Eßweiler's mayor is Peter Gilcher, elected in 2019. The German blazon reads: In Gold ein blauer Schräglinkswellenbalken, oben rechts eine rote schwebende Zinnenburg mit rotem Zinnenturm, links unten zwei gekreuzte schwarze Steinabbauhämmer. The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Or

29600-461: The then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate . With the establishment of the Verbandsgemeinde of Wolfstein on 1 January 1972, the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Eßweiler, which was also responsible for the neighbouring municipality of Oberweiler im Tal, was dissolved. Today, Eßweiler is purely a residential community. The greater part of the roughly 450 inhabitants work in the surrounding towns. Eßweiler's population figures rose during

29785-446: The three main sects that flourished during the late Second Temple period, namely the Sadducees and Essenes , eventually disappeared, while Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis of Rabbinic Judaism , which emerged as the prevailing form of Judaism since late antiquity. The Jewish diaspora existed well before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and had been ongoing for centuries, with

29970-403: The twelve sons of Jacob. Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacob's son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs' descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses , after which the Israelites conquered Canaan under Moses' successor Joshua , went through the period of the Biblical judges after the death of Joshua, then through

30155-410: The verb yada , meaning "praise", scholars generally agree that "Judah" most likely derives from the name of a Levantine geographic region dominated by gorges and ravines. In ancient times, Jewish people as a whole were called Hebrews or Israelites until the Babylonian Exile . After the Exile, the term Yehudi (Jew) was used for all followers of Judaism because the survivors of the Exile (who were

30340-442: The village at an elevation of about 500 m above sea level on the Bornberg. Its history is tightly bound with the stone quarries that were established there beginning in the 1870s. Between 1922 and 1924, the then owners of the quarries, Basalt-Actien-Gesellschaft (a company that is still in business today, based then, as now, in Linz am Rhein and known as Basalt AG for short), built a workers’ settlement for quarry employees,

30525-470: The villagers also had the Plague to deal with, which had cropped up sporadically before this. Subsequent wars, too, brought their own miseries as the region once again became a military route. In both the Franco-Dutch War and the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg , or War of the Palatine Succession), the region was occupied by French forces. There was repeated plundering and destroying. By 1768, only 141 families lived in

30710-424: The whole Eßweiler Tal had only one graveyard, in Hirsau. Eßweiler, however, had its own graveyard by 1590. It can be assumed that Protestantism was quite widespread at the time, as it was the lords’ belief. In 1601, Eßweiler passed to the parish of Bosenbach , which after the Thirty Years' War was united with the parish of Hinzweiler. Thereafter, the local ecclesiastical seat was once again Hinzweiler. According to

30895-422: The whole Eßweiler Tal was its parish. This unity was lost in the Reformation, for in 1544, the villages of Eßweiler, Hinzweiler and Oberweiler im Tal were split away from the old parish and made into a new parish of their own based at Hinzweiler; the church in that village became the parish church, and that was also where the parish priest lived. This separation came along with the spread of Protestantism once

31080-424: The whole Dale was ruled by the Counts of Veldenz , who had split away from the Waldgraves . Their administrative seat was at first Nerzweiler; sometime between 1443 and 1477, it was moved to Hundheim. The Offenbach Monastery and the old Hirsau Church ( Hirsauer Kirche , the ancient church mentioned above) give a clue that the Eßweiler Tal was originally a monastic Vogtei region. The record shows that in 1150,

31265-445: The word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g., in Italian ( Ebreo ), in Persian ("Ebri/Ebrani" ( Persian : عبری/عبرانی )) and Russian ( Еврей, Yevrey ). The German word "Jude" is pronounced [ˈjuːdə] , the corresponding adjective "jüdisch" [ˈjyːdɪʃ] (Jewish) is the origin of the word "Yiddish". According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , fourth edition (2000), It

31450-423: The world's Jews, there are other smaller Jewish groups outside of the three. Prior to World War II , the global Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million, representing around 0.7% of the world's population at that time. During World War II, approximately 6 million Jews throughout Europe were systematically murdered by Nazi Germany in a genocide known as the Holocaust . Since then,

31635-408: The years until in the 1860s, Eßweiler had one of the biggest Jewish communities in the Kusel district. In 1789, a synagogue in the village was mentioned. The synagogue, locally known as the Judenschule , stood on the Judengasse (“Jews’ Lane”); the building is still standing. In 1867, the Jewish population numbered 85. The number fell steadily over the years that followed as many inhabitants moved to

31820-432: Was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire , which came to dominate the ancient Near East. Under the Assyrian resettlement policy , a significant portion of the northern Israelite population was exiled to Mesopotamia and replaced by immigrants from the same region. During the same period, and throughout the 7th century BCE, the Kingdom of Judah, now under Assyrian vassalage , experienced a period of prosperity and witnessed

32005-440: Was destroyed, supposedly sometime between 1350 and 1400, in the course of retaliatory measures – the Mülensteins were notorious as robber knights – undertaken by some Strasbourg merchants. Hofmann specifically mentioned a death in the incident, although it was a man, a Junker of Mühlenstein; presumably, though, others might have died with him. Over the years, the political unity of the Eßweiler Tal broke ever further down, until in

32190-404: Was found, buried deeply and reportedly covered by water pipe, during a construction project in the downtown area of the city. On 5 September 2013, another WWII bomb was found during construction near the train station in Enkenbach-Alsenborn. In the late 1940s, Kaiserslautern area became the largest U.S. garrison outside the United States ( Kaiserslautern Military Community ). On 14 November 1956,

32375-407: Was founded in 1970. Industry flourished around the time of the first oil crisis (1973). In the 1970s, many industrial companies went through a crisis. In 1981, the spinning mill went bankrupt; Pfaff and Opel fired employees. The downsizing of the American garrison and the withdrawal of the French garrison cost more jobs. Kaiserslautern has a moderate climate with adequate rainfall year-round. It

32560-399: Was less prosperous and covered a smaller, mostly mountainous territory. However, while in Israel the royal succession was often decided by a military coup d'état, resulting in several dynasty changes, political stability in Judah was much greater, as it was ruled by the House of David for the whole four centuries of its existence. Around 720 BCE, Kingdom of Israel was destroyed when it

32745-454: Was once the site of the magnificent Moorish Revival Kaiserslautern synagogue. Built in 1886, the synagogue's great dome could be seen from across the city skyline. The Nazi government forcibly demolished the synagogue on 31 August 1938. The reason provided for the synagogue's demolition was to create a route for a Nazi parade, but the event served as an example of the Nazis' underlying intentions including ethnic cleansing in The Holocaust , even

32930-544: Was ordered on 30 August 1946 as the last state in the western occupation zones by ordinance No. 57 of the French military government under General Marie-Pierre Kœnig . Little reconstruction took place until the currency reform of 1948. The pace of the economy remained slow until 1952, when construction for newly established garrisons of American troops brought economic growth to the area. Unexploded ordnance from WWII continues to be discovered in and around Kaiserslautern. In May 2012 an unexploded 250-pound (110 kg) Allied bomb

33115-425: Was reinforced through public readings. The Hebrew language also constructed and preserved national identity. Although it was not widely spoken after the 5th century BCE, Goodblatt states: the mere presence of the language in spoken or written form could invoke the concept of a Jewish national identity. Even if one knew no Hebrew or was illiterate, one could recognize that a group of signs was in Hebrew script. ... It

33300-415: Was renovated and expanded in the 1960s. As early as 1935, the former alte Schul (“old school”) was supplemented with a new school building on the road leading out of the village towards Oberweiler im Tal . The village core was given a makeover in the 1980s when a new village square was laid out. Eventually, in the years 1994–1997, a village community centre was built right on this square. Leading out of both

33485-429: Was replaced by the Christianized Byzantine Empire under Constantine , Jews came to be persecuted by the church and the authorities, and many immigrated to communities in the diaspora. In the fourth century CE, Jews are believed to have lost their position as the majority in Syria Palaestina . The long-established Jewish community of Mesopotamia, which had been living under Parthian and later Sasanian rule, beyond

33670-455: Was the language of the Israelite ancestors, the national literature, and the national religion. As such it was inseparable from the national identity. Indeed its mere presence in visual or aural medium could invoke that identity. Anthony D. Smith , an historical sociologist considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies , wrote that the Jews of the late Second Temple period provide "a closer approximation to

33855-454: Was the time when villages with names ending in —weiler came into being. In 1250 and 1296, Eßweiler had its first documentary mentions as Esewilre . Originally, the village lay not in the dale, but rather at the foot of the Königsberg, in what is now the field known as Kirchwiese. In earlier days, wall remnants were found. In the Middle Ages and Early Modern times, Eßweiler belonged to the Eßweiler Tal complex ( Tal means “dale” or “valley”),

34040-444: Was used almost exclusively as a liturgical language, and as the language in which most books had been written on Judaism, with a few speaking only Hebrew on the Sabbath . Hebrew was revived as a spoken language by Eliezer ben Yehuda , who arrived in Palestine in 1881. It had not been used as a mother tongue since Tannaic times. Modern Hebrew is designated as the "State language" of Israel. Despite efforts to revive Hebrew as

34225-447: Was used to describe the inhabitants of the Israelite kingdom of Judah . It is also used to distinguish their descendants from the gentiles and the Samaritans . According to the Hebrew Bible , these inhabitants predominately descend from the tribe of Judah from Judah , the fourth son of Jacob . Together the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin made up the Kingdom of Judah. Though Genesis 29:35 and 49:8 connect "Judah" with

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