The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1113 page)

 
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Israel
.

1. Name given to the
patriarch
Jacob
after he wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32. 28–9).
2. Name used for the descendants of Jacob, and so for all the Jewish people, in full:
bene Israel
, sons of Israel.
3. The Northern Kingdom of the Jews. With the division of the kingdom during the reign of Rehoboam (
c.
930 BCE), the Southern Kingdom, which remained faithful to the House of
David
, was known as
Judah
, while the Northern Kingdom was called Israel. It included the territory of all the tribes except Judah and
Benjamin
. It was eventually captured by the Assyrians in 721 BCE, and its people were scattered.
4. The Jewish homeland established in 1948

.

 
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Israel ben Eliezer, Baal Shem Tov
,
or Besht

(1700–60).
Founder of E. European
asidism
. Many legends are circulated about the life of Israel Ben Eliezer. On his thirty-sixth birthday, he is said to have revealed himself as a new charismatic leader. He worked as a teacher and a healer, travelling round the Jewish communities of E. Europe, attracting many followers by his charm and magnetism. His teachings were partly derived from the
Kabbalah
, but his main emphasis was on individual salvation through which the world would be redeemed. He maintained that ‘every Jew is a limb of the
Shekhinah
’, but some individuals have superior spiritual qualities (the
Zaddik
). Not only should the Zaddik teach his people to worship God, he should help the sinner to repent and, through special acts, restore the souls of sinners who have died.

 
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(
c.
855–955).
Jewish philosopher. Israeli was court physician in Kairouan, the capital of the Maghreb. He was the author of
Kit
b al-Hud
d
(The Book of Definitions) which attempts to define such concepts as the soul, wisdom, the intellect, and nature.

 
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Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant
.

A new movement in Peru, founded by Ezequiel Ataucuzi Gamonal. As a result of what he claims were divine revelations, Ezequiel considers himself called to lead God's chosen people to a new obedience to the Mosaic law. By the early 1960s, a group of followers were meeting in Lima, and after legal recognition in 1969, the movement spread rapidly throughout Peru.

 
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