History of The Jews in The Land of Israel - Etymology

Etymology

The term Jews in its original meaning refer to the people of the tribe of Judah or the people of the kingdom of Judah. The name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. Originally, the Hebrew term Jews Yehudi referred only to members of the tribe of Judah. Later, after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, the term Jews was applied for the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, as well as scattered settlements from other tribes. The Land of Israel, which is considered by Jews to be the promised land, was the place where Jewish identity was formed, although this identity was formed gradually reaching many of its current form in the Exilic and post-Exilic period. By the Hellenistic period (after 332 BCE) the Jews had become a self-consciously separate community based in Jerusalem. For a time in the 2nd century BCE the Jews succeeded in creating a nominally independent kingdom (the Hasmonean Kingdom) covering much of the biblical "Land of Israel", but by the end of the 1st century BCE this was absorbed into the Roman empire. A series of revolts against the Romans led to the forced dispersal of much of the Jewish population from Jerusalem and Judea, Jerusalem being renamed Aelia Capitolina and Judea province renamed Syria Palestina, and it was not until the 19th century and the growth of the Jewish Zionist movement that large-scale migration began the return of large numbers of Jews. This movement culminated in the 20th century with the creation of the present State of Israel, largely within the borders of the biblical "Land of Israel", although the original core areas, the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, are often considered outside the core of present-day Israel.