Religion then and now

Create a 5 pages page paper that discusses religion then and now: judaism. Modern Judaism vest less authority on a centralized unit and it believe in decentralization of religious authority through different interpretations of their sacred text by Rabbis or priests. Besides, more than half of the Jews are living around the world and this helped the Jews to reform their religion. Here is an attempt to investigate the past and present conditions of Judaism, and compare/contrast between the foretold conditions.
The ancient Hebrew people were a semi-nomadic race in Mesopotamia. Under gods command, Abraham decided to migrate to Canaan, their promised land, in Israel. But the migration was not easy and the people were destined to wander in the desert for long 40 years. From this information, it is evident that the history of Judaism and the Hebrew people is interwoven with that of the history of Israel. Earlier, the Hebrews had to fight with their neighboring societies to maintain supremacy over their homeland. But for a short period, they were able to maintain a unified state in Jerusalem, Israel. The Assyrian and Babylonian attack of Jerusalem in 722 BC and 586BC aimed at the destruction of Jews and their religion. Besides, Antiochus IV Epiphanes -the Syrian king, tried to suppress Judaism and this created an atmosphere of rebellion under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus. In 167 BC, the Jews established an independent Jewish nation. Todays celebration of Hanukkah is to commemorate the victory in establishing the Jewish nation.
But in 70 AD, the Roman Army conquered and destroyed Jerusalem, and the Jews were forced to migrate to Europe and other remote regions of the world. This mass migration is known as Diaspora. In Europe, the Jews had to face poverty and discrimination and they were forced to migrate to the United States. Today, a good number of Jews live in the United States and regularly visit their homeland. In 1917, the Jews tries to re-establish their homeland but failed. At the time of World War II, the Jews were forced to face the holocaust and that was the worst time in the History of Jews and their religion.