The Jews believe that their ancestors, Isaac and Jacob, son and grandson of the prophet Abraham, are the main leaders of the Israelites. The twelve sons of Jacob formed the twelve tribes of the Jewish nation today. The Jews got their name from Yehuda, also known as Judah, one of Jacob's sons. Jacob's twelve sons were Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ahser, Yisachar, Zeyulun, Yusuf and binyamin.

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The Jews originally came from Mesopotamia, or what today are Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. They all lived in Canaan, which is modern day Israel and Lebanon, to get more food, money and jobs. The Romans came and drove all the Jews out of Canaan. The Jews then migrated to Egypt. The Egyptian pharaohs claimed to be gods and tortured anyone that believed in any other god. The Jews became slaves for the Egyptian pharaohs. Moses then led the Jews out of Egypt. According to the Hebrew Bible Moses is a main prophet to the Jews. It was believed that they got back to the land of Canaan 400 years later. After going back to Canaan, the land was divided and given to the twelve tribes of Israel. For centuries the land of Canaan was ordered into a union of twelve tribes led by a series of holy judges. 

Years later, they started the Israelite kingdom. The first king was King Saul, then King David, then his son Solomon. King David made the holy city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The tribes though were breaking apart. After King Solomon’s death, a civil war occurred between the Israelite tribes. Israel then split into two kingdoms. The ruler Tiglath-Pileser III later on ruled Israel. Centuries later they were ruled by the Babylonians.