JEWS 257 JEWS country. The Board was represented in 149 camps, cantonments, forts and hos- pitals, and 44 naval stations, navy yards, submarine bases, and arsenals — a total of 193 places. The Welfare Worker was known as the Star of David Man. Meade, Upton, and Pelham Bay had Jewish Welfare Buildings, and others followed in rapid succession, fifty-one buildings being authorized, and thirty-five com- pleted, 220,000 prayer books, 185,000 Bibles, 12,000,000 letter heads, 6,000,000 envelopes, and other literature were dis- tributed. JEWS, HEBREWS, or ISRAELITES, a people whose ancestors appear very early in the written history of mankind on the banks of the Euphrates, Jordan, and Nile, and whose fragments are now to be seen, in large or small numbers, in almost all the cities of the world; and though thinly scattered, both among the rudest and most civilized nations, pre- serving through thousands of ages com- mon features, habits, religion, literature, and the same langiiage — a phenomenon unparalleled in history. Descended from Abraham, the Jews were at first called Hebrews, from the alleged ancestor of that patriarch, Heber. After the time of Jacob, their first appellation was re- placed by the word Israelites, from Israel, a surname of Jacob. The term Jew, derived from Judasus, dates from the captivity in Babylon. The Jewish people assign their origin to Abraham, whom they designate the father of their race. After Abraham, Isaac, his son, became their chief; then Jacob, or Israel, the son of Isaac. Jacob had 12 sons, among them Judah, the ancestor of David and of Jesus Christ. The de- scendants of Jacob multiplj'ing very rapidly, they were eventually divided into 12 tribes, each of which was re- garded as having been founded by one of the children of Jacob. In the closing years of his life Jacob settled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. His posterity, powerful at first, were afterward en- slaved and persecuted by the Pharaohs. Moses delivered them from their bond- age in Egypt, and put himself at their head to conduct them into the land of Canaan. Under his leadership, the Jews miraculously passed the Red Sea, when Pharaoh and all his host were drowned. After wandering for 40 years in the desert, where Moses died, they reached the Land of Promise, their leader being Joshua, who had succeeded Moses. Joshua established the Jews in the Land of Promise and, dividing: the country into 12 parts, gave a portion to each of the 12 tribes. After Joshua, the govern- ment was confided to a council of elders, then to judges; subsequently it became monarchial. Saul was the first king of the Jews; David succeeded him, and was followed by Solomon. These three kings established the dominion of the Jews throughout the ancient land of Canaan, and, for a short period, the kingdom extended to the Euphrates and the Red Sea, on which Solomon possessed the port of Elath. But on the death of the last king, the 12 tribes were divided, and from that schism sprang two king- doms. The kingdom of Judah remained faithful to the lineal descendants of David, and offered allegiance to Reho- boam, son of Solomon; the kingdom of Israel elected for its sovereign Jeroboam. These two kingdoms, weakened by per- petual warfare and discord, were in the end enslaved. The kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, and the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, who first carried cap- tive to Babylon a great part of the in- habitants, and afterward took Jerusalem by assault, destroyed the temple, and re- duced to slavery the whole of the people. After a captivity of 70 years, the Jews obtained from Cyrus permission to re- establish themselves in Jerusalem, where they were governed by high priests. After the fall of the Persian empire, the Jews passed successively under the do- minion of Alexander; of Ptolemy, King of Eg3rpt; of Seleucus Nicator, King of Syria; and after once more falling under the sway of the kings of Egypt, were subsequently enslaved by the Syr- ians. Against these the Jews rose, un- der the leadership of Maccabaeus, and threw off^ their yoke. The Maccabees became the hereditary sovereigns. Sub- sequently, the Romans interfered in the internal affairs of the Jewish kingdom and placed Herod I. on the throne of the Maccabees, 37 B. c. It was under the reign of Herod that our SaWour was born. After the death of King Herod, Palestine was distributed among his sons, and divided into four portions, called tetrarchies (Judaea, Galilee, Abilene, Itu- raea) ; but in a few years the Romans sent into the country a pro-consul, who governed in their name, and shortly aft- erward Rome was sole master of the whole kingdom. The Jews, impatiently supporting the Roman sway, revolted many times. The Emperor Titus took Jerusalem in the year 70, after a fearful _ siege of five months, as was prophesied. The city was again taken, under Adrian, in the year 135: the Jews were in great part exterminated; those who survived being driven forever from Jerusalem. From this period the Jews, ceasing to form an independent nation, have been scattered
