Judaism (340-20300 & 344-20300) |
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Judaism (340-20300 & 344-20300) |
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Jewish history can be divided into periods on the basis of external developments (i.e., the rise and fall of empires in which Jews lived) or on the basis of internal developments (religious & cultural movements, influence of spiritual or political leaders, the composition of important books). Jewish history is also marked by shifting centers of Jewish life. This timeline uses all three criteria to fix periods in Jewish history.
Biblical (all B.C.E.) (centers in Israel, Babylon)
approx. 1800 – Abraham and Sarah, nomadic period
approx. 1000 – monarchy established by King David; capital in Jerusalem; Temple built by David’s son, King Solomon. Religious leaders – hereditary male priesthood; most important form of religious worship – animal sacrifice in the Temple
586 – destruction of Temple by Babylonian Empire, exile to Babylonia.
539 – Persian king Cyrus conquers Babylonians, Jews permitted to return to Jerusalem (though not all return—beginning of Diaspora). Second Temple built 520-515.
approx. 450 – Torah completed (first five books of the Bible)
333 – Alexander the Great conquers the Middle East, dies in 323. Widening of the frontiers of the Jewish world – for example, there is a significant Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt. Torah was translated into Greek.
168-164 – Maccabean revolt against Syrian-Greek rule. Subsequently, rise of the Pharisaic movement (believed that in addition to the written Torah there were “traditions of the ancestors” that had to be followed—this movement developed into Rabbinic Judaism).
approx. 150 – Bible completed, including Torah, Nevi’im (prophetic books), and Ketuvim (holy writings)
63 – Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem
1st century B.C.E. – rabbinic sage Hillel
30 C.E. – Jesus dies at the hands of the Romans, killed as a subversive of the Roman order; his earliest followers believe he was the Messiah and Christianity becomes a religion centered around his worship.
66-73 C.E. – Jewish revolt against Roman rule; in 70 Jerusalem fell and the Temple was destroyed (never to be rebuilt).
132-135 – Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans; Simon bar Kochba was proclaimed Messiah by Rabbi Akiba. Revolt failed and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.
Jews living under Roman rule in the land of Israel and around the Mediterranean; living under Parthian and Sassanian rule in Babylonia
Rise of Rabbinic Judaism – after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., the priesthood lost its political and religious base, and the rabbis came to the fore. Rabbi= “my teacher/my master.” Rabbis studied the Bible, commented upon it, developed Jewish law beyond what was found in the Torah, judged legal cases, and were communal leaders.
Rabbinic writings:
Mishnah (digest of law and discussions upon it, edited by Rabbi Judah the Prince in approx. 200 C.E.);
Talmud (commentary upon the Mishnah, discussions of rabbis, legends, theology). There are two Talmuds, one compiled in Tiberias, Israel, about 450 C.E., the other compiled in Babylonia about 550 C.E.
Midrash – commentaries on the Bible, including expansions of biblical stories and discussions legal discussions
Marked by the coming to power of Christianity in the Roman Empire (314 – legalization of Christianity; mid-4th century Christianity becomes the official religion of the Empire). From late 4th century, increasing anti-Jewish legislation in the Empire gradually placed Jews into an inferior position. Christians & Jews often engage in religious polemics (argument) against each other.
Rise of Islam (570-632 life of Muhammed); 630 Muslims conquer Mecca
638 Muslims take Jerusalem
640 Babylonia conquered by Muslim armies
Jews and Christians both live as second-class citizens (dhimmis) under Muslim rule, tolerated but required to show signs of their inferiority
Most important fact for Jews is that they live under the rule of Christians or Muslims – members of religious traditions that grew up out of/in conflict with Judaism. Another important feature of medieval Jewish life is that Jews generally live in autonomous communities governed in part by Jewish law, which strengthened the role of rabbis in communal life.
Geonim (approx. 750-1050) |
Spain/North Africa, Sephardic culture (early 800s to 1492) |
Western, Northern, and Eastern Europe |
Baghdad becomes the center of the Islamic empire and also the center of Jewish learning; the Jewish academies (yeshivot) move to Baghdad and the heads of the academies (the Geonim) become the pre-eminent leaders of Jewish life throughout the Islamic empire, which extends from Iraq to Spain). The Geonim spread the teachings of the Babylonian Talmud and establish it as the authoritative Jewish source. |
711-1146 With the conquest of Spain by the Muslims, there is eventually created a hybrid Muslim-Jewish-Christian culture whose common language is Arabic. Flowering of Jewish philosophy, poetry (Judah ha-Levi), Bible commentary, Jewish mysticism. This period comes to an end with the Almohad conquest in 1146 – intolerant Muslim invaders from North Africa force Jews and Christians to convert to Islam. |
10th-11th centuries – rise of Jewish communities in Ashkenaz (northern France, southern Germany) – center of Biblical and Talmudic learning (Rashi – commentator on Bible and Talmud) |
8th century – Karaite revolt against Geonic and Talmudic authority (they return to the Bible and to individual interpretation of its text) |
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882-942 Sa’adya Gaon, first major Jewish philosopher of the middle ages |
1096 – First Crusade, Rhineland communities devastated by the Crusaders |
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1135-1204 Life of Moses Maimonides – author of the Mishneh Torah (code of Jewish law) and Guide of the Perplexed (greatest work of medieval Jewish philosophy) |
Eventually Jews are forced out of France, England, much of Germany and Italy – begin to move east to Poland and Lithuania, establishing large communities there. |
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approx. 1250 – Christians reconquer most of Spain; Jews become prominent in Christian kingdoms; rise of Jewish mysticism (Moses ben Nahman), composition of the Zohar by Moses de Leon. |
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1492 – final reunification of Iberian peninsula under Christian rule; expulsion of Jews from Spain The Sephardim who were forced out of Spain largely went east to the Ottoman Empire (ruled from Istanbul in Turkey). |
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After 1492 Sephardim also move west to Amsterdam, London, and the Americas (first settlers in North America – 1654 in New Amsterdam [later called New York]). |
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They settled in the Balkans, Turkey, and Palestine, as well as in North Africa. Jewish community in Safed, northern Israel, becomes the center of a new mystical movement centered around Isaac Luria. Luria’s fellow-mystic, Joseph Karo, writes the Shulchan Aruch, the great code of Jewish law that Orthodox Jews still consider binding. |
Spread of printing, the first Hebrew printed books. |
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1648 – Cossack massacres of Jews in Poland and Ukraine, Jews begin to return westward to central Europe and Germany. |
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In western Europe, particularly England and Amsterdam, beginnings of an ethic of toleration that hints towards emancipation. |
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1700s – rise of Hasidism, a fervent popular mystical movement, founded by Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, in Poland and Ukraine. |
Political emancipation in most European countries (Russia only after the Revolution) – meaning that Jews are granted equal civic rights with other citizens. Jews in the United States have equal rights with other citizens at the founding of the country, never go through a formal process of emancipation.
Philosophical Enlightenment (from mid-1700s) – valuing reason above religious faith (noted figures are Voltaire in France and Immanuel Kant in Germany). The Jewish equivalent is the Haskalah, applying modern ideas of reason to Judaism and Jewish life.
Because of political emancipation and Haskalah ideas, movements of modernist religious reform in Judaism – Reform (in Germany in the early 1800s), then an Orthodox modernist reaction (Samson Raphael Hirsch, in Germany), and a mediating force between the two, “Positive-Historical Judaism” (called Conservative in the United States). Traditionalist Jews who reject all change are especially strong in Hungary and eastern Europe.
1881-wave of pogroms (massacres) of Jews in the Russian Empire leads to mass emigration, mostly to the United States. Between 1881 and 1914 two million Jews leave Europe.
Jews in North Africa and the Middle East increasingly come under European rule because of the rise of European colonialism (especially France). The process of religious modernization is not as full of conflict as in Europe, however.
1880s – beginnings of political Zionist movement in response to rising anti-semitism in France & Germany, and pogroms in the Russian Empire
1917 – Russian Revolution, Jews of Russia finally gain political emancipation, but an eventual assault on religion takes a great toll on Jewish religious practice and identity.
1917 – British take Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, declare support for the Jewish National Home in Palestine (Balfour Declaration of 2 December 1917). Britain is given authority by the League of Nations to establish a Mandate in Palestine.
1933-1945 – Nazi rule in Germany, WWII, extermination of six million Jews (2/3 of European Jewry).
1948 – establishment of the State of Israel; emigration of most Jews of Arab lands to Israel.
1967 – Six Day War: West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights come under Israeli rule.
1973 – Yom Kippur War.
1982 – Lebanon War.
1987-1993 – First Intifada.
1993 – Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestinians, creation of Palestinian Authority.
2000 – beginning of Al Aksa Intifada.
post WWII – rise to prominence of the American Jewish community as the most powerful and prosperous in Jewish history.
Other Jewish centers: Great Britain, France, Canada, Russia, Argentina.
This page maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised January 12, 2006