Where and when Judaism began, and what its followers believe and practice

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Exile, return and scattering (cards A to E; summaries in our words). Card A, Babylon: in 586 BCE (some historians give 587) the king of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple, the First Temple, and took many people to Babylon. A large Jewish community lived in Babylon for centuries. Card B, the Cyrus Cylinder, 539 BCE: a clay cylinder made in Babylon after Persia's king Cyrus took the city. It says he sent peoples home to their own cities and returned their sanctuaries, and it presents Cyrus as chosen by Babylon's chief god. It does not name Jerusalem or the Jews. Card C, the Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible, the tradition's own account written down later: it says Cyrus allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, finished about 516 BCE (the Second Temple). Card D, the Arch of Titus in Rome, built by Romans after 81 CE: a stone relief shows soldiers carrying a menorah and other objects from the Temple in Jerusalem, which Rome's army destroyed in 70 CE. Afterward no Temple stood in Jerusalem, and Jewish worship centered more on prayer and study in synagogues. Card E, Josephus, a Jewish leader from Judea who joined the Romans and wrote a history of the war in Greek about 75 CE. He describes a victory procession in Rome in which Temple objects, including a lampstand, were carried.

2. 1.

   Cards B and C both say Cyrus let displaced people go home. What does card C name that card B does not, Ari asks?

   • The year 539 BCE, when Cyrus took the city, which card B leaves out
   • Peoples sent home in general, while card B names Jerusalem and its Temple
   • The Jews as the one people Cyrus sent home, which card B leaves out
   • The exiles returning to Jerusalem and the Temple they would rebuild there
3. 2.

   Card B praises Cyrus and was made to win over the people of Babylon. How should a historian use its claims, Bo asks?

   • As a later summary of what Cyrus's enemies thought about him
   • As a complete and neutral list of everything Cyrus did after he took Babylon
   • As evidence of how Cyrus wanted to be seen, drawn from other sources
   • As worthless, since a text that praises its king cannot show anything true
4. 3.

   Card A dates the Temple's fall to 586 BCE and card C the Second Temple to about 516 BCE. How many years passed, Esme asks?

   • About 70 years, since 586 minus 516 is 70
   • About 47 years, the gap from 586 BCE to 539 BCE
   • About 1,100 years, found by adding 586 and 516
   • About 7 years, since the hundreds cancel and leave 7
5. 4.

   Which chain best explains why Jewish communities lived outside the land of Israel after 586 BCE, using cards A and C, Jun asks?

   • Cyrus took people from Jerusalem to Persia, then Babylon let the exiles go home to rebuild
   • Babylon took many people away; some returned after Cyrus, but a large community stayed in Babylon
   • Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 CE, which is why a community lived in Babylon in 586 BCE
   • Those taken to Babylon returned to Jerusalem once Cyrus allowed it, so no community stayed
6. 5.

   Josephus was Jewish but wrote with Rome's support. Why do historians not treat his account as simply "the Jewish side", Milo asks?

   • His view mixes a Jewish background with a Roman patron, so each claim is weighed
   • Jewish writers of the time agreed with one another, so one writer speaks for the group
   • A person who joined the Romans cannot be trusted on anything he wrote about the war
   • He wrote in Greek, which makes his account the same as a Roman general's
7. 6.

   Cards D and E were made by different people. What do both support, Noah asks?

   • Temple objects, including a lampstand, were carried in a victory procession in Rome
   • Jewish leaders carried the Temple objects to Rome to protect them
   • The Temple fell on the same day that Titus was crowned emperor, and a procession followed
   • Rome's army destroyed each captured city in the same way
8. 7.

   A student says, "After Cyrus, every Jew returned from Babylon to Jerusalem." How does card A challenge that, Pia asks?

   • It shows the Book of Ezra is wrong about Cyrus, since the two disagree about who stayed
   • It says a large Jewish community lived in Babylon for centuries, so many stayed
   • It says Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 539 BCE, so no one could return
   • It lists the Temple objects that Cyrus returned from Babylon in 539 BCE
9. 8.

   Card C says Cyrus allowed the return to Jerusalem. Which new find would best test the Ezra account, Ren asks?

   • A modern book that retells the Book of Ezra in new words for students
   • A Persian-era record that names Jerusalem and the rebuilding of its Temple
   • A second copy of the Book of Ezra, since the Bible cannot be checked
   • A Roman relief from after 81 CE showing soldiers carrying Temple objects
10. 9.

    The Second Temple was finished about 516 BCE and destroyed in 70 CE. About how long did it stand, Tala asks?

    • About 5,900 years, from reading 586 as 5,860
    • About 450 years, found by taking 70 away from 516
    • About 2,500 years, counted from 516 BCE up to the present day
    • A little under 600 years, found by adding 516 and 70
11. 10.

    To learn what Cyrus's officials told the people of Babylon in 539 BCE, which source is better, Zee asks?

    • The Arch of Titus, which shows Rome's later view of Jerusalem
    • The Book of Ezra, written down later and about exiles in Jerusalem
    • The Cyrus Cylinder, made in Babylon at the time
    • Josephus, who wrote about 600 years later and knew the whole story