A General Introduction to Jewish History
History contains the connections between memory and meaning. While each era of Jewish history described below is defined by certain events and personalities, several themes recur throughout Jewish history. Following is an introduction to these themes, as context for understanding JewishHistory.com's unique collection of artifacts and other historical content.
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Overview: Ancient Jewish History I (2500-539 B.C.E.)
From the Historical Genesis of the Jewish People through the Reigns of King David, Saul, and Solomon to the Babylonian Destruction and Exile
What do we know about the "genesis" of the Jewish people and how do we know it? How does a historian view the Bible differently from a rabbi? Ancient Jewish history from 2500-539 B.C.E. addresses these questions as it contains the basic political history of ancient Israel from the first Israelite monarchy (c. 1020 B.C.E.) through the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 B.C.E.) and its restoration (539 B.C.E.). This formative period in Israelite history includes the reigns of Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, during which the twelve tribes united and Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, emerged as a major power in the region.
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Overview Ancient Jewish History II (539 B.C.E.-622 C.E.)
Jerusalem under Persian, Greek, Roman, and Muslim Rule
Between 539 B.C.E and 622 C.E., ancient Jews built a new Temple, and after its destruction, a new, rabbinically-based Judaism. Jews continued to establish new Diaspora communities and thrive in older ones from Rome to Babylon. In both the Diaspora and Israel (now called Palestine), Jews were no longer lonely monotheists as Christianity and then Islam were established and gained adherents at a swift pace. The outline for Jewish history during this period reviews these developments as well as the political scene in Palestine, where Jews came under the rule of several empires, including Persia, Greece, and Rome. In the midst of these shifting political and religious tides, we find one of the most beloved stories of Jewish history, the story of the Maccabee family, whose dedication and fortitude are commemorated each year at Hanukkah.
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Overview: Medieval Jewish History (622-1666)
From the Golden Age in Spain through the Crusades and Expulsions
The medieval period (or the Middle Ages) in Jewish history is the period between the Muslim-Arab conquests in the early seventh century and the appearance of modern ideas regarding the economy, religious identity, and social interaction, sometime around the mid-seventeenth century. This period saw the development of two great cultural sub-communities of Jews: Ashkenazim (Jews who can trace their family roots to the German lands) and Sephardim (Jews who can trace their family roots to the Iberian peninsula); the Golden Age of religious synergy among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Spain (10th and 11th centuries); the crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land from Islam, which commenced in 1095 and lasted for three hundred years, during which marauding crusaders devastated Jewish communities in Europe as they made their way to Palestine; and, between 1300 and 1520, a series of Jewish expulsions, the most infamous being the 1492 expulsion from Spain.
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Overview: Early Modern Jewish History (1666-1700)
The rise of Court Jews, Hasidism, and the Jewish enlightenment (Haskalah)
It is impossible to assign a specific date or address to the beginning of modern Jewish history. Modernity came to the Jews as a process, over time, often at different times in different places (France before Yemen, for example). Recently, historians have created a space for this transition process in their periodization of Jewish history. This space is deemed the "early modern period." (According to previous periodization schema, Jews presumably went to sleep in the Middle Ages and woke up in modernity!) The early modern historical overview evaluates the economic, social, intellectual, and political changes that signal the transition from one age to another.
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Overview: Modern Jewish History I (1700-1914)
The arrival of great Jewish movements including Jewish Socialism, Zionism, and emigration (Haskalah)
Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! These were the lofty goals of the modern age. To what extent did these goals apply to the Jews? Jewish political and social integration proceeded at a pace determined by the political, economic, and social make-up of individual states, so that the road to emancipation was short in France, long and bumpy in Germany, and brutal and never-ending in Russia. Russia was home to the largest Jewish community of the time. When faced with the rapid industrialization, state-sponsored anti-Jewish violence, and no immediate promise of emancipation, this community fueled two major Jewish movements of the period: Zionism and Jewish socialism. Russian Jews also played a significant role in a third popular Jewish "movement" emigration. Millions of Jews changed their addresses during this period, moving to places where they might be more likely to meet liberty, equality, and fraternity. The two most popular destinations for Jewish immigrants were America and Palestine.
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Overview: Modern Jewish History II (1914-1948)
Palestine went to the British, Russia became Communist, and the Nazis won Germany
The period from 1914 to 1945 was one of significant transition and tragedy for world Jewry. Russian Jews endured years of brutal conflict and starvation during World War I, followed by more of the same during years of civil war, followed by repressive communist rule. The Zionists entered this period on a high note, celebrating the victory of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, when Great Britain pledged its support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It soon became apparent, however, that Great Britain had also offered reassurances and support to Arabs in the region. Thus began a period of increasingly tense relationships among the British, Arabs, and Jews, all of whom felt they had a right to the same land. Meanwhile, in Germany, the rise to power of Adolph Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) party meant an end to German democracy and the beginning of state-sponsored anti-Semitism that evolved into the Holocaust--the mass murder of European Jewry.
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Overview: Modern Jewish History III (1948-1980)
Introducing the State of Israel, the Exodus of Soviet Jewry, and the Upward Mobility of American Jews
Postwar Jewry occupied two main stages: America and Israel. Mobility was a key feature of the postwar experience for American Jews as they moved up the economic ladder and out of cities toward the suburbs and the sunbelt. Political and cultural movements, like feminism and the civil rights movement, were also attractive to postwar American Jews. Zionism, the Jewish nationalist movement, scored a tremendous victory in 1947 when the United Nations voted in favor of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. After a year-long transitional period, Israel proclaimed its independence in 1948. The new Jewish state faced immediate challenges, including the absorption of millions of Jewish immigrants and armed conflict with its Arab neighbors.
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