Timeline of Jewish history: Encyclopedia II - Timeline of Jewish history - Post Biblical-history

Timeline of Jewish history - Post Biblical-history

Timeline of Jewish history - 200 BCE to 700 CE

200 BCE–100 CE Throughout this era the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is gradually canonized. Jewish religious works that were written after the time of Ezra were not canonized, although many became popular among many groups of Jews. Those works that made it into the Greek translation of the Bible (the Septuagint) became known as the deuterocanonical books.

30–100 CE Christianity emerges as a movement, and then splits from Judaism.

66–70 CE The Great Jewish Revolt ended with destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem.

70–200 CE Period of the tannaim, rabbis who organized and debated the Jewish oral law. The decisions of the tannaim are contained in the Mishnah, Beraita, Tosefta, and various Midrash compilations. (see Torah (at Shamash))

73 CE The fall of Masada.

131 CE The Roman emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem into Aelia Capitolina and forbade Jews to set foot there.

132–135 CE Bar Kokhba (Bar Kosiba) leads a doomed Jewish revolt against Rome in response to Hadrian's actions. In the aftermath of the revolt, Hadrian renamed the province of Judea as Syria Palaestina.

200 CE The Mishnah, the standardization of the Jewish oral law as it stands today, is redacted by Judah haNasi.

220–500 CE Period of the amoraim, the rabbis of the Talmud.

450 Redaction of Talmud Yerushalmi (Talmud of the land of Israel)

550 The main redaction of Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) is completed under Rabbis Ravina and Ashi. To a lesser degree, the text continues to be modifed for the next 200 years.

550–700 Period the savoraim, the sages in Persia who put the Talmud in its final form. Jews at this time in Israel were living under the oppressive rule of the Byzantines under whom there were two more Jewish revolts and three Samaritan revolts.

600 CE In the 7th century C.E. the Khazars (a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia whose King and members of the upper class adopted Judaism) founded the independent Khazar kingdom in the southeastern part of today's Europe.

Timeline of Jewish history - 701 to 1500

700–1250 Period of the Gaonim (the Gaonic era). Jews in southern Europe and Asia Minor lived under the often intolerant rule of Christian Kings and clerics. Most Jews lived in the Muslim Arab realm (Andalusia, North Africa, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen). Despite sporadic periods of persecution, Jewish communal and cultural life flowered in this period. The universally recognized centers of Jewish life were in Jerusalem and Tiberias (Syria), Sura and Pumbeditha (Iraq). The heads of these law schools were the Gaonim, who were consulted on matters of law by Jews throughout the world.

711 Muslim armies invade and occupy most of Spain (At this time Jews made up about 8% of Spain's population). Under Christian rule, Jews had been subject to frequent and intense persecution, but this was alleviated under Muslim rule. Some mark this as the beginning of the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.

760 The Karaites reject the authority of the oral law, and split off from rabbinic Judaism.

871 An incomplete marriage contract dated to October 6 of this year is the earliest dated document found in the papers of the Cairo Geniza.

900–1090 The Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. Abd-ar-Rahman III becomes Caliph of Spain in 912, ushering in the height of tolerance. Muslims granted Jews and Christians exemptions from military service, the right to their own courts of law, and a guarantee of safety of their property. Jewish poets, scholars, scientists, statesmen and philosophers flourished in and were an integral part of the extensive Arab civilization. This ended with the invasion of Almoravides in 1090.

940 In Iraq, Saadia Gaon compiles his siddur (Jewish prayer book.)

1013–1073 Rabbi Yitchaki Alfassi (from Morocco, later Spain) writes the Rif, an important work of Jewish law.

1040–1105 Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (Rashi) writes important commentaries on almost the entire Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Talmud.

1095–1291 Christian Crusades begin, sparking warfare with Islam in Palestine. Crusaders temporarily capture Jerusalem in 1099. Tens of thousands of Jews are killed by European crusaders throughout Europe and in the Middle East.

1100–1275 Time of the tosafot, Talmudic commentators who carried on Rashi's work. They include some of his descendants.

1107 Moroccan Almoravid ruler Yoseph Ibn Tashfin expells Moroccan Jews who do not convert.

1135–1204 Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, aka Maimonides is the leading rabbi of Sephardic Jewry. Among his many accomplishments, he writes an influential code of law (The Mishneh Torah) as well as, in Arabic, the most influential philosophical work (Guide for the Perplexed) in Jewish history.

1239 Pope Gregory IX orders Christian kings to destroy Hebrew Books.

1250–1300 The life of Moses de Leon, of Spain. He authors the Zohar (Book of Splendor) which contains mystical interpretations of the Torah. This begins the modern form of Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism).

1250–1550 Period of the Rishonim, the medieval rabbinic sages. Most Jews at this time lived in lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea or in Western Europe under feudal systems. With the decline of Muslim and Jewish centers of power in Iraq, there was no single place in the world which was a recognized authority for deciding matters of Jewish law and practice. Consequently, the rabbis recognized the need for writing commentaries on the Torah and Talmud and for writing law codes that would allow Jews anywhere in the world to be able to continue living in the Jewish tradition.

1270–1343 Rabbi Jacob ben Asher of Spain writes the Arba'ah Turim (Four Rows of Jewish Law).

1290 Jews are expelled from England by Edward I by the Statute of Jewry.

1300 Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, aka Gersonides. A 14th century French Jewish philosopher best known for his Sefer Milhamot Adonai ("The Book of the Wars of the Lord") as well as for his philosophical commentaries.

1306–1394 Jews are repeatedly expelled from France and readmitted, for a price.

1343 Persecuted in Western Europe, Jews are invited to Poland by Casimir the Great.

1486 First Jewish prayer book published in Italy.

1488–1575 Rabbi Yosef Karo spends 20 years compiling the Beit Yosef, an enormous guide to Jewish law. He then writes a more concise guide, the Shulkhan Arukh, that becomes the standard law guide for the next 400 years.

1492 Approximately 200,000 Jews are expelled from Spain, in 1496 from Portugal and from many German cities. The expelled Jews relocate to the Netherlands, Turkey, Arab lands, and Judea; some eventually go to South and Central America. However, most emigrate to Poland. In later centuries, more than 50% of Jewish world population lived in Poland.

1493 Jews expelled from Sicily. As many as 137,000 exiled.

Timeline of Jewish history - 1501 to 1800

1501 King Alexander of Poland readmitts Jews to Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1516 Ghetto of Venice established, the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. Many others follow.

1525–1572 Rabbi Moshe Isserles (The Rama) of Cracow writes an extensive gloss to the Shulkhan Arukh called the Mappah, extending its application to Ashkenazi Jewry.

1534 King Sigismund I of Poland abolishes the law that required Jews to wear special clothes.

1534 First Yiddish book published, in Poland.

1534–1572 Issac Luria develops the modern form of esoteric Jewish mysticism AKA Kabbalah.

1547 First Hebrew Jewish printing house in Lublin.1580-1764.

1567 First Jewish university Jeshiva found in Poland.

1580–1764 First session of the Council of Four Lands (Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) in Lublin, Poland. 70 delegates from local Jewish kehillot meet to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community.

1623 First time separate (Va'ad) Jewish Sejm for Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1626–1676 False Messiah Sabbatai Zevi.

1633 Jews of Poznan granted a privilege of forbidding Christians to enter into their city.

1648 Jewish population of Poland reached 450,000 or 4.5% whole population. Bohemia 40,000 and Moravia 25,000. Worldwide population of Jewry is estmated at 750,000.

1648–1655 The Ukrainian Cossack Bohdan Chmielnicki leads a massacre of Polish gentry and Jewry that leaves an estimated 65,000 Jews dead and a similar number of gentry. The total decrease in the number of Jews is estmated at 100,000. [1]

1655 Jews readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell.

1700–1760 Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Ba'al Shem Tov, founds Hasidic Judaism, a way to approach God through meditation and fervent joy. He and his disciples attract many followers, and establish numerous Hassidic sects. The European Jewish opponents of Hassidim (known as Mitnagdim) argue that one should follow a more scholarly approach to Judaism. Some of the more well known Hassidic sects include Breslover, Lubavitch (Chabad), Satmar, Gerer, and Bobover Hasidim.

1720–1797 Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, the Vilna Gaon.

1729–1786 Moses Mendelssohn, and the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement. He strove to bring an end to the isolation of the Jews so that they would be able to embrace the culture of the Western world, and in turn be embraced by gentiles as equals. The Haskalah opened the door for the development of all the modern Jewish denominations and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, but it also paved the way for many who, wishing to be fully accepeted into Christian society, converted to Christianity or chose to assimilate to emulate it.

1750 Jewish population of Poland reaches 750,000 or 8.0% of total. The worldwide Jewish population is estimated at 1,200,000.

1759 Followers of Jacob Frank joined ranks of Polish szlachta (gentry) of Jewish origins.

1772–1795 Partitions of Poland between Russia, Kingdom of Prussia and Austria. Main bulk of World Jewry lives now in those 3 countries. Old privileges of Jewish communities are denounced.

1775–1781 American Revolution; religious Freedom guaranteed. [2] [3]

1789 The French revolution. In 1791 France grants full right to Jews and allows them to become citizens, under certain conditions. [4]

1790 In the USA, President George Washington sends a letter to the Jewish community in Rhode Island. He writes that he envisions a country "which gives bigotry no sanction...persecution no assistance". Despite the fact, that initially US are predominantly protestant country, theoretically Jews are given full rights. In addition, their mentality shaped by the role of merchants they played in Eastern Europe, had prepared them well to compete in the American society. So far, their number is limited.

1791 Russia creates the Pale of Settlement, that includes area taken over from Poland, with huge Jewish population and Crimea. The Jewish population of the Pale was 750,000. 450,000 Jews lived in the Prussian and Austrian parts of Poland. [5]

1799 When the French troops were in Palestine, and besieging the city of Acre, Napoleon had prepared a Proclamation making Palestine an independent Jewish state, but his unsuccessful attempt to capture Acre prevented it from being issued.

Timeline of Jewish history - 1801 to 1900

1800–1900 The Golden Age of Yiddish literature, the revivial of Hebrew as a spoken language, and the revival of Hebrew literature. [6]

1820–1860 The development of Orthodox Judaism, a set of traditionalist movements that resisted the influences of modernization that arose in response to the European emancipation and Enlightenment movements; characterized by continued strict adherence to Halakha.

1830 Greece grants citizenship to Jews.

1831 Jewish militias take part in the defence of Warsaw against Russians.

1837 Moses Haim Montefiore is knighted by Queen Victoria, the first Jew to receive an English Knighthood.

1838–1933 Rabbi Yisroel Meir ha-Kohen (Chofetz Chaim) opens an important yeshiva. He writes an authoritative Halakhic work, Mishnah Berurah.

Mid 1800s: Beginning of the rise of classical Reform Judaism.

Mid-1800s Rabbi Israel Salanter develops the Mussar Movement. While teaching that Jewish law is binding, he dismisses current philosophical debate and advocates the ethical teachings as the essence of Judaism.

Mid-1800s Positive-Historical Judaism, later known as Conservative Judaism, is developed.

1841 David Levy Yulee of Florida is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first Jew elected to Congress.

1851 Norway allows Jews to enter the country. They are not emancipated until 1891.

1858 Jews emancipated in England.

1860 Alliance Israelite Universelle, an international Jewish organization is founded in Paris with the goal to protect Jewish rights as citizens.

1860–1864 Jews are taking intensive part in Polish national movement, that was followed by January rising.

1860–1943 Henrietta Szold. Educator, author, social worker and founder of Hadassah.

1861 The Zion Society is formed in Frankfurt, Germany.

1862 Jews are given equal rights in Poland. The privileges of some towns regarding prohibition of Jewish settlement are revoked.

1867 Jews emancipated in Hungary.

1868 Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister of England. Though converted to Christianity as a child, he is the first person of Jewish descent to become a head of state in Europe.

1870–1890 Russian Zionist group Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) and Bilu (est. 1882) set up a series of Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel, financially aided by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild. In Rishon LeZion Eliezer ben Yehuda revives Hebrew as spoken modern language.

1870 Jews emancipated in Italy.

1871 Jews emancipated in Germany.

1875 Reform Judaism's Hebrew Union College is founded in Cincinnati. Its founder was Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the architect of American Reform Judaism. Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion

1877 New Hampshire becomes the last state to give Jews equal political rights.

1880 World Jewish population around 7.7 million, 90% in Europe, mostly Eastern Europe; around 3.5 million in the former Polish provinces.

1881–1884, 1903–1906, 1918–1920 Three major waves of pogroms kill tens of thousands of Jews in Russia and Ukraine. More than two million Jews emigrate in the period 1881–1920.

1882–1903 The First Aliyah; the first major wave of Jewish immigrants to build a homeland in Palestine. Aliyah

1886 Rabbi Sabato Morais and Alexander Kohut begin to champion the Conservative Jewish reaction to American Reform, and establish The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as a school of 'enlightened Orthodoxy'.

1890 The term "Zionism" is coined by an Austrian Jewish publicist Nathan Birnbaum in his journal Self Emancipation and was defined as the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. The book Protocols of the Elders Of Zion written in Russia falsely depicting Jewish atrocities. Proven false, yet still printed and cited today by anti zionist groups. Initially accepted as true by both Hitler and Henry Ford.

1891 14,000 Jewish families expelled from Moscow by Grand Duke Segai, those who refuse to convert or become prostitutes are exiled to the Pale of Settlement.

1897 In response to the Dreyfus affair, Theodore Herzl writes Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), advocating the creation of a free and independent Jewish state in Israel.

1897 The Bund is formed in Russia.

1897 First Russian census: 5,200,000 of Jews, 4,900,000 in the Pale. The Kingdom of Poland has 1,300,000 Jews or 14% of population.

Timeline of Jewish history - 1901 to 1945

1902 Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schechter reorganizes the Jewish Theological Seminary and makes it into the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism.

1907–1972 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most significant Jewish theologian of the twentieth century.

1915 Yeshiva College (later University) and its Rabbi Issac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary is established in New York for training in a Modern Orthodox milieu.

1917 The British defeat the Turks and gain control of the land of Israel. The British issue the Balfour Declaration 1917 which gives official British support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Many Jews interpret this to mean that all of Palestine was to become a Jewish controlled state.

1917 Feb. The Pale of Settlement is abolished, and Jews get equal rights.

1918–1945 The period between the two World Wars is often referred to as the "golden age" of hazzanut (cantors). Some of the great Jewish cantors of this era include Abraham Davis, Moshe Koussevitzky, Zavel Kwartin (1874-1953), Jan Peerce, Joseph Yossele Rosenblatt (1880–1933), Gershon Sirota (1874–1943), and Laibale Waldman.

1920 At the San Remo conference Britain receives the League of Nations' British Mandate of Palestine.

1921 British military administration of the Mandate is replaced by civilian rule.

1921 Britain proclaims that all of Palestine east of the Jordan River is forever closed to Jewish settlement, but not to Arab settlement.

1921 Polish-Soviet peace treaty in Riga. Citizens of both sides are given rights to choose the country. Hundred thousands of Jews, especially small businesses forbidden in the Soviets, move to Poland.

1922 Reform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise established the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. (It merged with Hebrew Union College in 1950.)

1923 Britain gives the Golan Heights to the French Mandate of Syria. Arab immigration is allowed; Jewish immigration is not.

1924 2,989,000 Jews according to religion poll in Poland (10,5% of total). Jewish youth consisted 23% of students of high schools and 26% of students of universities.

1930 World Jewry: 15,000,000. Main countries USA(4,000,000), Poland (3,500,000 11% of total), Soviet Union (2,700,000 2% of total), Romania (1,000,000 6% of total). Palestine 175,000 or 17% of total 1,036,000.

1937 Adin Steinsaltz born, author of the first comprehensive Babylonian Talmud commentary since Rashi in the 11th century.

1939 The British government issues the 'White Paper' and reverses their support of the Balfour Declaration. They announce an absolute limit of only 75,000 on future Jewish immigration to Palestine.

1938–1945 The Holocaust (Ha Shoah).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Post Biblical-history", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki