Thursday, March 1, 2012

Jews

The cornerstone of the Abrahamic faiths, Jews were not always well treated on the various continents of both ancient, medieval, and even modern times. Their history was often one of being displaced from one nation to each other. This led to mass emigration to America, which in the industrial age, had more Jewish people living in it than any other nation save for Israel. (Which probably has its own story right now) There's roughly a million or so living on the continent now, mostly concentrated around the the Hudson river and its mouth; The Berkshires, Catskills and Long Island generally provide a cultural base and isolation. Manhattan is a territory of the United States of America, but is largely a port town with a fluctuating political climate. Although the USA Army makes laws that make life hard for them just like anybody else, the Jewish residents of New York City managed to make a niche by serving as ambassadors up the Hudson, bridging the political gap between the port town and the state of New York.

The Holy Land is far too distant for many Jews to make a pilgrimage to, however many try to make the far more feasible visit to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, or in Charleston. Very few modifications have been made to the Torah, but "The Book of Clouds" exists as a quasi-apocryphal tome. Because of murky history, it's very mythologized, but it recounts the dark deeds of Adolph Hitler, and they hold a festival starting on roughly the last week of July.

There are a few settlements in Florida, as well. Because most of the Jewish people who lived in Florida in the 20th century tended to be older, and thus not create a great deal of lineages, the communities could provide a safety net and source of migrations as Jews, as usual, became scapegoats and targets when things went south. These communities also serve as a port stop for the United States Empire, helping pass along the goods in the long trade route that spans the Caribbean to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

They're also a sizeable minority in the Californias. Most of them have been driven out by the Scientologists, but live as Shepherds in the California desert, although Jews will sometimes be hired (or acquired) for servant positions, due to various restrictions by the Scientology faith. Due to the large Mexican-American population in the southwest, assimilation has created a new ethnic group, known as Shimishin. There are a few that have migrated the foothills, Northern Coastal Range, where they can exist as a buffer zone between the Scientologists and the Buddhists, the latter really not tending form schisms based on religious differences.