View source for Jewry and the System


Several aspects of Judaism play large in the history of [[the System]], from its origin and throughout the centuries that followed. This has led to an inextricable linkage between the Jewish world and life sys-side.{{Protocanon}}

== History ==

=== Before the System ===
Prior to the advent of the System, the world struggled with the slow failure of the State of Israel. As skirmishes and battles drifted closer to and further away from war and accusations of genocide were levied to greater and lesser effect, many disaffected Jews, particularly of the younger generation, began to move away. This slow wave of Mizrahi Jews formed the foundation to what was later colloquially known as the Second Diaspora: a dispersing of Jews based on the idea of a Holy Land being spoiled by implementation. Two of these immigrants, Rachel Yaffe and Isaiah "Shai" Hadje, moved separately to the East Coast of the now-diminished United States and met in Pittsburgh, where they began a small family; some decades later, [[Michelle Hadje|Michelle Rachel Hadje]] was born and went on to, through her [[Cladist|up-trees]], helped guide the System into what it became as one of the largest consciousness-uploading systems available to humanity.

As the United States continued to wither and with tensions growing with the United Kingdom and France, Israel searched for new allies and found one in [[the Sino-Russian Bloc]], entering into several treaties with them.

=== The early System and the "Twelve Hours' War" ===
Post-[[Secession]], the System held true to the articles of Secession and largely stayed out of [[Phys-side and sys-side|phys-side]] politics.Their relationship with the two largest world powers, [[the Western Federation]] and the Sino-Russian Bloc, remained cordial: the S-R Block maintained a patronizing relationship, claiming the System's successes as its own, given its role in creating the System in the first place; while the Western Fed shared many values with the System's population and maintained a positive reputation with them.

In the latter half of the 22nd century, a counter-cultural movement, the New Zion Movement, began to grow in influence among the more conservative Jews, and to amass wartime materiel. After finding political success during the 2180s, the genocide that in part defined the preceding century returned in grand fashion. The Western Fed declared an unequivocal intent to stop the genocide by force if necessary, and the S-R Bloc found themselves treaty-bound to protect Israel, which led to a brief military action.

Fearing the potential for a third World War, a group sys-side, lead by [[From Whence]], [[True Name]] and [[Jonas]], organized a conference between the three parties — the Western Fed, The S-R Bloc, and Israel — which wound up drawing the military action that came to be known as the Twelve Hours' War. This sys-side group acted as mediators, despite the Articles of Secession indicating that they would not interfere politically with nations phys-side. Their successes here led to a solidifying of the System as a political player on a global stage, and a voice to be respected.

=== New Reform Judaism and the System ===
The events surrounding the Second Diaspora and the Twelve Hours' War led to the slow accumulation of voices behind a more progressive strand of Judaism that followed many of the same ideas behind Reform Judaism (as opposed to Reconstructionist or Humanist Judaism), which quickly ballooned to become the largest group, particularly sys-side. This in turn led to the formation of the Association of New Reform Congregations, which served both as an organizational entity behind these congregations and an ordination (''semikha'') organization. They were anti-Zionist, environmentalist, leaned socialist, and viewed the System as a chance to continue in their work of ''tikkun olam.'' Some viewed the System as The World to Come, but this idea never gained majority traction.

One benefit of this growth was the fact that this strand of Judaism was particularly focused on a multimodal approach, engaging with Jews both embedded and embodied. With a sizable representation sys-side and as other forms of [[infolife]], those who engaged with Judaism after uploading or as [[memorial uploads]] provided a perpetual anchor of effectively immortal membership.

=== ''On the Origins of Our World'' and Judaism ===
One of the most widely read works of writing sys-side was [[the Bălan clade]]'s ''An Expanded History of Our World'', which in turn was part of the larger work, ''[[On the Origins of Our World]]'', along with [[May Then My Name|May Then My Name Die With Me]] of [[the Ode clade]]'s ''An Expanded Mythology of Our World''. While much of the popularity may be chalked up to the Pilgrim's Progress Effect (that being a book that everyone feels obligated to own regardless of having actually read it), it remained a highly influential work.

Within the ''History'' and its chapter on Jewery in the System, the Bălans describe the situation thus:<blockquote>It is crucial that one understand that the System is an intrinsically Jewish enterprise. That is not to say that its demographics are skewed, nor that the institutions of Judaism hold particular sway over the System's development, but rather that the timeliness of the endeavor and several of those involved align and resonate with the Jewish world.</blockquote>This brought to the fore in the collective subconscious the self-reinforcing idea that there is a linkage, however loose, between the early development of the System and Jewish culture, history, and worldview. This led in turn to several papers dedicated to either confirming or refuting this idea. Regardless of the outcome of these papers, however, the conversation was cemented in place, and cropped up often on historical, cultural, and religious feeds in the Perisystem.
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[[Category:Worldbuilding]]