Judaism: They've Had it Tough

It's not something that I think about a lot but, the Jews have had a tough time. The most obvious thing is the Holocaust in WWII but they've been picked on from the beginning. Their first three generations were okay, but everyone around them thought they were weak and weird because they only had one god. Then all of the Israelites had to move to Egypt because that was the only place for them to find food in the famine and eventually they became slaves.

God finally gets them out of Egypt but then they have to wander around in the wilderness for forty years (because they were complaining). Eventually they get back to where they are supposed to be and they have to fight off everyone who's moved onto the land. Several years of ups and downs later, Babylonia completely takes over, destroys the temple, and forces them to move. It isn't until Persia conquers Babylon that they can go back to their promised land, but they still have to serve the Persians. They go through Greek and Roman rule before they are completely kicked out and spread all over Europe. Many are still trying to find a way to get back and those who have are caught up in a dispute with others in the area about who has the right to live there.

I don't know about you, but I think that the Jewish people have had to take a lot of getting pushed around and beating down. Yet it is the Jewish religion that monotheism started. Try to imagine what the Western world would be like if monotheism hadn't lasted. I have no idea exactly how life would be but it would definitely be quite a bit different from what we're used to.