Hellenistic Judaism
Hellenistic Judaism is what we call the way Jewish people lived and believed during a time when they were influenced by the Greeks. This time period was called the Hellenistic period, and it happened after Alexander the Great conquered the land where the Jews lived.
The Greeks had their own language, art, and ways of thinking about things. They also believed in gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus.
The Jewish people believed in one God who had given them special rules to follow, called the Torah. But during the Hellenistic period, some Jewish people started to embrace ideas from Greek culture. They began to speak and write in Greek, and they wanted to fit in with the Greeks.
But not all Jewish people liked these changes. Some believed that they should stick to the traditional Jewish way of life and not give in to Greek ideas. They thought that the Greek ideas might lead them away from God.
So, Hellenistic Judaism was a kind of mix between traditional Jewish beliefs and the new ideas that came from Greek culture. Some Jewish people blended these two together, while others didn't want anything to do with Greek culture.
Today, we can still see some of the influence of Hellenistic Judaism in the way Jewish people celebrate their holidays and in the types of books they read.
The Greeks had their own language, art, and ways of thinking about things. They also believed in gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus.
The Jewish people believed in one God who had given them special rules to follow, called the Torah. But during the Hellenistic period, some Jewish people started to embrace ideas from Greek culture. They began to speak and write in Greek, and they wanted to fit in with the Greeks.
But not all Jewish people liked these changes. Some believed that they should stick to the traditional Jewish way of life and not give in to Greek ideas. They thought that the Greek ideas might lead them away from God.
So, Hellenistic Judaism was a kind of mix between traditional Jewish beliefs and the new ideas that came from Greek culture. Some Jewish people blended these two together, while others didn't want anything to do with Greek culture.
Today, we can still see some of the influence of Hellenistic Judaism in the way Jewish people celebrate their holidays and in the types of books they read.