A Timeline of Jewish History

(586 BCE)

Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem and eventually breached the walls of the city. The Temple, the central hub of Israelite life, was destroyed. Thousands were killed, while many of the survivors were taken to Babylonia, beginning the exile from the Land of Israel. Jews, as they would come to be known, had to learn to be Jewish without the Temple. The Diaspora had begun and would go on to produce great centers of Jewish learning and a thriving Jewish community, even as the Jewish people longed to return to their homeland.

(168 - 164 BCE)

The Syrian Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes IV conquered Israel in 168 BCE, forbidding the Jews to practice their religion and vandalizing the Temple. Mattathias, a Jewish priest, refused to submit to the enemy decrees. His five sons, led by Judah, fought a guerilla war and in 164, the Maccabees, as they came to be known, overthrew Antiochus' armies. They rededicated the Temple (an event Jews celebrate every Hanukkah). Though the Maccabees are sometimes criticized for excessive zealotry, Jews who have faced anti-Semitism or assimilation often gain inspiration from this story of the small underdog defeating the oppressive majority.

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(135 CE)

The Roman invasion of Israel in 66 CE-and the Empire's subsequent rule--sparked a series of Jewish revolts. The last of these was led by Simon Bar Kosiba, known as Bar Kokhba (literally "Son of a Star"). The rabbinic leadership of the time was divided, some supporting his rebellion, others not. Some of those who supported him believed he was the messiah. The Talmud records that Rabbi Akiva sent thousands of his students to fight alongside Bar Kokhba against the Roman occupiers. While ultimately unsuccessful, Bar Kokhba and his revolt later became a symbol of militaristic assertiveness for the early Zionist movement.

(1096 CE)

Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to liberate the Holy Land from the ruling Muslims. About 30,000 men marched from France to capture Jerusalem, massacring tens of thousands of Jews and Muslims along the way. More Crusades were launched over the next 300 years. These Crusades often resulted in a large Jewish death toll, temporarily debilitating intellectual and social activity of Ashkenazic Jewry. Jews at the time were accustomed to persecution, but the Crusades served to further divide medieval Jewish and Christian communities.

(1348 - 1350 CE)

The Black Death, probably bubonic plague, devastated Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. It killed off 40% of the population of Europe. Often, the plague was blamed on minorities, frequently Jews.

In both Poland and Germany, Jews were accused of poisoning the wells and causing the plague. This scapegoating led to numerous pogroms and anti-Semitic incidents. A number of Jewish communities were also expelled from their homes. Jewish refugees drifted to other parts of Europe, and eventually also to the New World, shifting the demographics of the Jewish Diaspora.

(1648 - 1649 CE)

Cossak bands led by military leader Bogdan Chmielnicki brutally attacked Jewish communities in Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine. Historians debate the exact death toll, but it was likely tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands.

The massacres were so widespread and so deadly that they shocked and scared the entire European Jewish world. They also spread a widely-held belief that the Messiah was coming imminently, setting the stage for the false messianism of Shabbetai Tzvi.

(March 21, 1911 CE)

On a Saturday morning, a gigantic fire engulfed the 10-story Triangle Shirtwaist Company building in New York City, where 800 people--mostly young Jewish women--were at work. The fire was caused by a discarded cigarette. Due to unsanitary conditions, it quickly spread. The owners escaped, leaving the heavy iron exit doors locked, and the workers trapped inside.

All afternoon, workers jumped from the factory's windows. 147 women and 21 men died, and hundreds more were injured. This event served as the catalyst for unions and workers' rights organizations to form, efforts that often had Jewish workers at the forefront.

(December 9-10, 1938)

Throughout Germany and Austria, where the Nazi party was already in power, German police, soldiers, and civilians rampaged through Jewish neighborhoods, burning more than 1000 synagogues, and destroying Jewish-owned businesses. 91 Jews were killed.

Since Hitler's rise to power in 1933, German Jews had been targeted with legal discrimination and low-level violence. But Kristallnacht was the first instance of mass violence against Jews, coordinated by the highest echelons of the Nazi party. It received much press coverage in Germany and abroad, but Germany received little censure. In this climate, the Holocaust was possible. Over the next seven years, the Nazis murdered six million Jews.

(June 5-10, 1967)

With troops from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan gathering along its borders, Israel declared war. Its victory was swift and decisive. The Israeli army took control of the Egyptian Sinai, the Syrian Golan, the Jordanian West Bank, and Jerusalem. Prior to the war, the Zionist enterprise had been seriously threatened. Now Israel's physical existence seemed assured, and the military victory inspired a wave of aliyah and worldwide Jewish pride. But Israel's occupation of the captured lands added even more complications to an already difficult political and diplomatic environment.

(December 9, 1987 CE)

In November 1987, a series of Palestinian riots spread throughout Israel and its territories, evolving into a mass intifada, or "awakening." The First Intifada, as it came to be known, lasted until 1993. Televised heavily, its central image was of Palestinian youth armed with rocks facing the sophisticated weapons of the Israeli Army.

For the previous 2000 years, Jews had lived under the sovereignty of others. Now the situation was reverse, and the political, moral, and religious challenges of Jewish power were highlighted and played out on a global stage.