View source for Jewish history

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[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 063.jpg|thumb|According to Jewish tradition, Jacob, shown [[Jacob wrestling with the angel|wrestling with the angel]] in this painting by [[Rembrandt]], was the father of the [[tribes of Israel]].]]
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar|history}}
{{history of religion}}

[[Jews]] originated from the [[Israelites]] and [[Hebrews]] of historical [[Israel and Judah]], two related kingdoms that emerged in the [[Levant]] during the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Finkelstein-2001">{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |title=The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86912-4 |edition=1st Touchstone |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="The Pitcher Is Broken">[https://books.google.com/books?id=tu02muKUVJ0C&pg=PA229 The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Ahlstrom, Steven W. Holloway, Lowell K. Handy, Continuum, 1 May 1995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160404/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu02muKUVJ0C&pg=PA229 |date=April 9, 2023 }} Quote: "For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date."</ref> The earliest mention of [[Israelites]] is inscribed on the [[Merneptah Stele]] {{circa|1213–1203 BCE}}; later religious literature tells the story of Israelites going back at least as far as {{cx|1500 BCE}}. Traditionally, the name ''Israel'' is said to originate with the Hebrew patriarch [[Jacob]], who provides a narrative [[etiology]] for the name{{snd}}after wrestling with an angel, Jacob is renamed Israel, meaning "he who struggles with God". The [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] based in [[Samaria]] fell to the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] {{cx|720 BCE}},<ref name="Broshi-2001">{{cite book |last=Broshi |first=Maguen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PAPA174 |title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-84127-201-6 |page=174}}</ref> and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] to the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 586 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Avraham |title=Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period |date=August 29, 2012 |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=978-1-58983-641-9 |pages=1 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt5vjz28}}</ref> Part of the Judean population was exiled to [[Babylonia|Babylon]]. The [[Assyrian captivity|Assyrian]] and [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian captivities]] are regarded as representing the start of the [[Jewish diaspora]].

After the [[Achaemenid Empire]] conquered the region, the exiled Jews were [[Return to Zion|allowed to return]] and [[Second Temple|rebuild the temple]]; these events mark the beginning of the [[Second Temple period]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jonathan |last1=Stökl |first2=Caroline |last2=Waerzegger |title=Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context |date=2015 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=7–11, 30, 226}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |edition=2nd |volume=3 |page=27}}</ref> After several centuries of foreign rule, the [[Maccabean Revolt]] against the [[Seleucid Empire]] led to an [[Hasmonean dynasty|independent Hasmonean kingdom]],<ref>{{cite book |first1=Peter Fibiger |last1=Bang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCj09AmtvvwC&pg=PAPA184 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean |first2=Walter |last2=Scheidel |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-518831-8 |pages=184–187}}</ref> but it was gradually incorporated into the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] imperial system.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |url={{Google books|2kSovzudhFUC|page=PA223|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |pages=223–239}}</ref> The [[Jewish–Roman wars]], a series of unsuccessful revolts against the Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, resulted in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zissu |first=Boaz |title=Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries: The Interbellum 70‒132 CE |date=2018 |isbn=978-90-04-34986-5 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill  |page=19 |chapter=Interbellum Judea 70-132 CE: An Archaeological Perspective |oclc=988856967}}</ref> and the expulsion of many Jews.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Erwin |last1=Fahlbusch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5V7oyy69zgC&pg=PAPA15 |title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity |first2=Geoffrey William |last2=Bromiley |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8028-2416-5 |page=15}}</ref> The Jewish population in [[Syria Palaestina]] gradually decreased during the following centuries, enhancing the role of the Jewish diaspora and shifting the spiritual and demographic centre from the depopulated [[Judea]] to [[Galilee]] and then to [[Asoristan|Babylon]], with smaller communities spread out across the [[Roman Empire]]. During the same period, the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Talmud]], central Jewish texts, were composed. In the following millennia, the diaspora communities [[Coalescent theory|coalesced]] into three major [[Jewish ethnic divisions|ethnic subdivisions]] according to where their ancestors settled: the [[Ashkenazim]] in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern European Jewry|Eastern Europe]], the [[Sephardim]] initially in [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews|Iberia]], and the [[Mizrahim]] in the [[History of the Jews under Muslim rule|Middle East]] and [[North Africa]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GkzdBDuhoRgC&pg=PA87 "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews; The Uses of Adversity." p. 87.] Eban, Abba Solomon. "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews." Summit Books Syracuse, New York: 1984. p. 87.</ref><ref>Dosick (2007), pp. 59–60.</ref>

The [[early Muslim conquests]] ended [[Byzantine]] control over the [[Eastern Mediterranean]], with the newly established [[Rashidun Caliphate]] taking over the [[Levant]], [[Mesopotamia]], and North Africa during the 7th century, and the [[Iberian Peninsula]] during the 8th century. [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Jewish culture enjoyed a golden age in Spain]], with Jews becoming widely accepted in society and their religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed before the arrival of the intolerant [[Almohades]]. In 1492 the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|Jews were forced to leave Spain]] and migrated in great numbers to the [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]] and [[Italian Peninsula|Italy]]. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Ashkenazi Jews experienced extreme persecution in Central Europe, which prompted their mass migration to [[History of Jews in Poland|Poland]].<ref>Mosk (2013), p. 143. "Encouraged to move out of the Holy Roman Empire as persecution of their communities intensified during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Ashkenazi community increasingly gravitated toward Poland."</ref><ref>Harshav, Benjamin (1999). ''The Meaning of Yiddish''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 6. "From the fourteenth and certainly by the sixteenth century, the centre of European Jewry had shifted to Poland, then ... comprising the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Byelorussia), Crown Poland, Galicia, the Ukraine and stretching, at times, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the approaches to Berlin to a short distance from Moscow."</ref> The 18th century saw the rise of the [[Haskalah]] intellectual movement. Also starting in the 18th century, Jews began to campaign for [[Jewish emancipation]] from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society.

In the 19th century, when Jews in [[Western Europe]] were increasingly granted equality before the law, Jews in the [[Pale of Settlement]] faced growing persecution, legal restrictions and widespread [[pogrom]]s. During the 1870s and 1880s, the Jewish population in Europe began to more actively discuss emigration to [[Ottoman Syria]] with the aim of re-establishing a Jewish polity in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. The [[Zionist movement]] was officially founded in 1897. The pogroms also triggered a mass exodus of more than two million Jews to the United States between 1881 and 1924.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lewin |first=Rhoda G. |date=1979 |title=Stereotype and reality in the Jewish immigrant experience in Minneapolis |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i07p258-273.pdf |journal=Minnesota History |volume=46 |issue=7 |page=259 |access-date=August 10, 2020 |archive-date=July 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721002023/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i07p258-273.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were [[Albert Einstein]] and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]. Many [[Nobel Prize]] winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case.<ref name="jinfo.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html |title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners |publisher=jinfo.org |access-date=October 7, 2011 |archive-date=December 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224211039/http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1933, with the rise to power of [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party]] in [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], the situation for Jews became severe. Economic crises, racial [[Antisemitism in Europe#The Holocaust|antisemitic laws]], and a fear of an upcoming war led many to flee from Europe to [[Mandatory Palestine]], to the United States and to the [[Soviet Union]]. In 1939, [[World War II]] began and until 1941 Germany [[German-occupied Europe|occupied almost all of Europe]]. In 1941, following the [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion]] of the Soviet Union, the [[Final Solution]] began, an extensive organized operation on an unprecedented scale, aimed at the annihilation of the Jewish people, and resulting in the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe and North Africa. In Poland, three million were murdered in [[gas chambers]] in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the [[Auschwitz]] camp complex alone. This [[genocide]], in which approximately six million Jews were methodically exterminated, is known as [[the Holocaust]].

Before and during the Holocaust, enormous numbers of Jews immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. On May 14, 1948, upon the termination of the British Mandate, [[David Ben-Gurion]] declared the creation of the [[State of Israel]], a [[Jewish and democratic state]] in ''[[Eretz Israel]]'' (Land of Israel). Immediately afterwards, all neighbouring Arab states invaded, yet the newly formed [[IDF]] resisted. In 1949, the war ended and Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of [[Aliyah]] from all over Europe and [[Jewish exodus from the Muslim world|Middle Eastern countries]]. {{As of|2022|post=,}} Israel is a [[parliamentary democracy]] with a population of 9.6 million people, of whom 7 million are [[Israeli Jews|Jewish]]. The largest Jewish community outside Israel is the [[American Jews|United States]], while large communities also exist in France, Canada, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, and [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]].

== Overview ==
{{see also|Modern Jewish historiography}}
Ancient Jewish history is known from the [[Bible]], extra-biblical sources, [[apocrypha]] and [[pseudepigrapha]], the writings of [[Josephus]], [[Greco-Roman]] authors and [[Church Fathers]], as well as archaeological finds, inscriptions, ancient documents (such as the [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca|Papyri from Elephantine]] and the [[Fayyum]], the [[Dead Sea scrolls]], the [[Cave of Letters|Bar Kokhba letters]], the [[Babatha]] Archives and the [[Cairo Geniza]]h documents) supplemented by [[Oral Torah|oral history]] and the collection of commentaries in the [[Midrash]] and [[Talmud]].

With the advent of the [[printing press]] in the [[early modern period]], Jewish histories and [[early editions of the Hebrew Bible]] were published which dealt with the history of the Jewish religion, and increasingly, [[Nationalization of history|national histories]] of the Jews, [[Jewish peoplehood]] and [[Jewish identity|identity]]. This was a move from a [[manuscript culture|manuscript or scribal culture]] to a [[printing culture]]. Jewish historians wrote accounts of their collective experiences, but also increasingly used history for political, cultural, and scientific or philosophical exploration. Writers drew upon a corpus of culturally inherited text in seeking to construct a logical narrative to critique or advance the state of the art. Modern Jewish historiography intertwines with intellectual movements such as the European [[Renaissance]] and the [[Age of Enlightenment]] but drew upon earlier works in the [[Late Middle Ages]] and into diverse sources in antiquity. Today, the history of the Jews and Judaism is often divided into seven periods:

# [[Ancient Israel and Judah]] (c. 1200–586 BCE)
# [[Second Temple period]] (c. 516 BCE – 70 CE)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |editor-last=Goodman |editor-first=Martin |chapter=Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period |pages=36–52 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199280322.013.0003 |isbn=0-19-928032-0}}</ref>
# [[Rabbinic period|Rabbinic or Talmudic period]] (70–640 CE)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |editor-last=Goodman |editor-first=Martin |chapter=Historiography on the Jews in the ‘Talmudic Period’ (70–640 ce) |pages=79–114 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199280322.013.0005 |isbn=0-19-928032-0}}</ref>
# [[History of European Jews in the Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] (640–1492)
# Early Modern period (1492–1750)
# Modern period (1750–20th century)
# [[History of Zionism|Zionism]], [[Timeline of the Holocaust|the Holocaust]] and the establishment of [[History of Israel|Israel]] (19th–21st centuries)
<imagemap>
File:Chronology of Israel eng.png|center|800px
default [[#Time periods in Jewish history|Jewish history]]
rect 658 156 833 176 [[Aliyah|Periods of massive immigration to Palestine]]
rect 564 156 647 175 [[Jewish diaspora|Periods in which the majority of Jews lived in exile]]
rect 460 156 554 175 [[Land of Israel|Periods in which the majority of Jews lived in the southern Levant, with full or partial independence]]
rect 314 156 452 175 [[Temple in Jerusalem|Periods in which a Jewish Temple existed]]
rect 196 156 309 175 [[#Time periods in Jewish history|Jewish history]]
rect 26 102 134 122 [[Book of Judges|Shoftim]]
rect 134 102 265 121 [[Books of Kings|Melakhim]]
rect 146 83 266 104 [[First Temple]]
rect 286 83 418 103 [[Second Temple]]
rect 341 103 392 121 [[Zugot]]
rect 393 103 453 121 [[Tannaim]]
rect 452 102 534 221 [[Amoraim]]
rect 534 102 560 121 [[Savoraim]]
rect 559 103 691 121 [[Geonim]]
rect 691 102 825 121 [[Rishonim]]
rect 825 100 940 120 [[Acharonim]]
rect 939 94 959 120 [[Aliyah|Aliyot]]
rect 957 65 975 121 [[Israel]]
rect 940 62 958 94 [[The Holocaust]]
rect 825 62 941 100 [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]]
rect 808 61 825 101 [[Alhambra decree|Expulsion from Spain]]
rect 428 62 808 103 [[Dispersion of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Roman exile]]
poly 226 82 410 82 410 92 428 92 428 61 226 62 [[Ten Lost Tribes|Assyrian Exile (Ten Lost Tribes)]]
rect 264 82 284 122 [[Babylonian captivity]]
rect 283 103 341 121 [[Second Temple of Jerusalem|Second Temple period]]
poly 26 121 17 121 17 63 225 63 226 81 145 82 145 101 26 101 [[Chronology of the Bible|Ancient Jewish History]]
rect 58 136 375 146 [[Chronology of the Bible]]
rect 356 122 373 135 [[Common Era]]
desc none
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== Ancient Israel (1500–586 BCE) ==
{{Main|Origins of Judaism}}

=== Early Israelites ===
{{Main|Israelites}}
[[File:Map Israel Judea 926 BC-fr.svg|thumb|Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in 926 BCE]]

The history of the early Jews, and their neighbours, centres on the [[Fertile Crescent]] and east coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. It begins among those people who occupied the area lying between the [[Nile]] and [[Mesopotamia]]. Surrounded by ancient seats of culture in [[Egypt]] and [[Babylonia]], by the deserts of [[Arabia]], and by the highlands of [[Asia Minor]], the land of [[Canaan]] (roughly corresponding to modern Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, and Lebanon) was a meeting place of civilizations.

The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the [[Merneptah Stele]] of [[ancient Egypt]], dated to {{cx|1200 BCE}}. According to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture branched out of the [[Canaan]]ite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct [[monolatristic]]—and later [[monotheistic]]—religion centred on the national god [[Yahweh]].<ref>Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000&nbsp;BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" (Eerdman's)</ref><ref>Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gnuse |first1=Robert Karl |title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel |date=1997 |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press Ltd |isbn=1-85075-657-0 |location=England |pages=28, 31}}</ref> They spoke an archaic form of the [[Hebrew language]], known today as [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref>Steiner, Richard C. (1997), "Ancient Hebrew", in Hetzron, Robert (ed.), ''The Semitic Languages'', Routledge, pp. 145–173, {{ISBN|978-0-415-05767-7}}</ref>

From the mid-1st millennium BCE, the understanding Jews traditionally had of their own history was centred around the narratives in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. According to this view, [[Abraham]], signifying that he is both the biological progenitor of the Jews and the father of Judaism, is the first Jew.{{sfn|Levenson|2012|p=3}} Later, [[Isaac]] was born to Abraham, and [[Jacob]] was born to Isaac. Following a [[Jacob wrestling with the angel|struggle with an angel]], Jacob was given the name [[Israel (name)|Israel]]. Following a severe drought, Jacob and his twelve sons fled to [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], where they eventually formed the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]]. The Israelites were later [[The Exodus|led out of slavery in Egypt and subsequently brought to Canaan]] by [[Moses]]; they eventually [[Book of Joshua|conquered Canaan]] under the leadership of [[Joshua]].

Modern scholars agree that the Bible does not provide an authentic account of the Israelites' origins; the consensus supports that the archaeological evidence showing largely indigenous origins of Israel in Canaan, not Egypt, is "overwhelming" and leaves "no room for an Exodus from Egypt or a 40-year pilgrimage through the Sinai wilderness".<ref name="Dever-2002">{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3}} p. 99</ref> Many archaeologists have abandoned the archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".<ref name="Dever-2002" /> However, it is accepted that this narrative does have a "historical core" to it.<ref>For more about the historicity of Jewish history as it pertains to [[Oral Torah|rabbinic]] sources, see {{cite journal |first1=Reuven Chaim |last1=Klein |date=2023 |title=Are historical sections of the Talmud actually historical? Critical tools for understanding historical claims in rabbinic literature |url=https://www.academia.edu/127965994 |journal=Journal of Philological Pedagogy |volume=12 |publisher=Chandler School of Education |pages=42–75 |doi=10.17613/rjp5a-md343}}</ref>{{sfn|Faust|2015|loc=p.476: "While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt.."}}{{sfn|Redmount|2001|p=61|ps=: "A few authorities have concluded that the core events of the Exodus saga are entirely literary fabrications. But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative."}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2001 |isbn=3-927120-37-5 |pages=98–99 |quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref> A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has arguably found no evidence that can be directly related to the Exodus narrative of an Egyptian captivity and the escape and travels through the wilderness, leading to the suggestion that [[Iron Age]] Israel—the kingdoms of Judah and Israel—has its origins in Canaan, not in Egypt:<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Finkelstein |editor-first1=Israel |editor-first2=Nadav |editor-last2=Naaman |title=From Nomadism to Monarchy: Archaeological and Historical Aspects of Early Israel |publisher=[[Israel Exploration Society]] |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-880317-20-4}}</ref><ref>Compare: {{cite book |first=Ian |last=Shaw |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&q=%22Iron+Age+Israel%22+origins+in+Canaan%2C&pg=PA313 |title=A Dictionary of Archaeology |author2=Robert Jameson |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-631-23583-5 |editor=Ian Shaw |edition=New |page=313 |quote=The Biblical account of the origins of the people of Israel (principally recounted in Numbers, Joshua and Judges) often conflicts with non-Biblical textual sources and with the archaeological evidence for the settlement of Canaan in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. [...] Israel is first textually attested as a political entity in Egyptian texts of the late 13th century BCE and the Egyptologist Donald Redford argues that the Israelites must have been emerging as a distinct group within the Canaanite culture during the century or so prior to this. It has been suggested that the early Israelites were an oppressed rural group of Canaanites who rebelled against the more urbanized coastal Canaanites (Gottwald 1979). Alternatively, it has been argued that the Israelites were survivors of the decline in the fortunes of Canaan who established themselves in the highlands at the end of the late Bronze Age (Ahlstrom 1986: 27). Redford, however, makes a good case for equating the very earliest Israelites with a semi-nomadic people in the highlands of central Palestine whom the Egyptians called Shasu (Redford 1992:2689–80; although see Stager 1985 for strong arguments against the identification with the Shasu). These Shasu were a persistent thorn in the side of the Ramessid pharaohs' empire in Syria-Palestine, well-attested in Egyptian texts, but their pastoral lifestyle has left scant traces in the archaeological record. By the end of the 13th century BCE, however, the Shasu/Israelites were beginning to establish small settlements in the uplands, the architecture of which closely resembles contemporary Canaanite villages. |author-link=Israel, Israelites |access-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160406/https://books.google.com/books?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&q=%22Iron+Age+Israel%22+origins+in+Canaan%2C&pg=PA313 |url-status=live}}</ref> The culture of the [[Israelite highland settlement|earliest Israelite settlements]] is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god [[El (deity)|El]], the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite. The almost sole marker distinguishing the "Israelite" villages from Canaanite sites is an absence of pig bones, although whether this can be taken as an ethnic marker or is due to other factors remains a matter of dispute.<ref>{{cite book |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC |title=Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel, 1300–1100 B.C.E. |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58983-097-4 |location=Atlanta |page=176 |quote=Much has been made of the scarcity of pig bones at highland sites. Since small quantities of pig bones do appear in Late Bronze Age assemblages, some archaeologists have interpreted this to indicate that the ethnic identity of the highland inhabitants was distinct from Late Bronze Age indigenous peoples (see Finkelstein 1997, 227–230). Brian Hesse and Paula Wapnish (1997) advise caution, however, since the lack of pig bones at Iron I highland settlements could be a result of other factors that have little to do with ethnicity. |access-date=August 12, 2012 |archive-date=January 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117055402/https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC |url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the [[Historicity of the Bible|Biblical narrative]], the [[Land of Israel]] was organized into a confederacy of twelve tribes ruled by a series of [[Biblical judges|Judges]] for several hundred years.

=== Ancient Israel and Judah ===
{{Main|History of ancient Israel and Judah}}
[[File:LMLK, Ezekiah seals.jpg|thumb|A stamped bulla ([[LMLK seal]]) of [[Hezekiah]], "Of Hezekiah (son of) Ahaz King of Judah", [[Israel Museum]]]]
Two Israelite kingdoms emerged during Iron Age II: [[Israel and Judah]]. The Bible portrays Israel and Judah as the successors of an earlier [[United Kingdom of Israel]], although [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)#Archaeological record|its historicity is disputed]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Zachary |date=April 22, 2016 |title=Debating the United Monarchy: Let's See How Far We've Come |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146107916639208 |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=59–69 |doi=10.1177/0146107916639208 |issn=0146-1079 |s2cid=147053561 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lipschits |first1=Oded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |title=The Jewish Study Bible |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Adele |edition=2nd |pages=2107–2119 |language=en |chapter=The history of Israel in the biblical period |quote=As this essay will show, however, the premonarchic period long ago became a literary description of the mythological roots, the early beginnings of the nation and the way to describe the right of Israel on its land. The archeological evidence also does not support the existence of a united monarchy under David and Solomon as described in the Bible, so the rubric of "united monarchy" is best abandoned, although it remains useful for discussing how the Bible views the Israelite past. [...] Although the kingdom of Judah is mentioned in some ancient inscriptions, they never suggest that it was part of a unit {{sic|comprised |hide=y|of}} Israel and Judah. There are no extrabiblical indications of a united monarchy called "Israel." |editor2-last=Brettler |editor2-first=Marc Zvi |access-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160917/https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> Historians and archaeologists agree that the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] existed from {{circa|900 BCE}}<ref name="Finkelstein-2001" />{{rp|169–195}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Jacob L. |date=July 2014 |title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel) |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164250/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |access-date=May 15, 2021 |website=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> and that the [[Kingdom of Judah]] existed from {{Abbr|ca.|circa}} 700 BCE.<ref name="The Pitcher Is Broken" /> The [[Tel Dan Stele]], discovered in 1993, shows that the kingdom, at least in some form, existed by the middle of the 9th century BCE, but it does not indicate the extent of its power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kcVmBAEo5rcC&pg=PA333 |title=Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty |date=April 28, 2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-567-25171-8 |quote=The Tel Dan inscription generated a good deal of debate and a flurry of articles when it first appeared, but it is now widely regarded (a) as genuine and (b) as referring to the Davidic dynasty and the Aramaic kingdom of Damascus. |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGzRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction |date=September 28, 2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971162-8 |quote=Today, after much further discussion in academic journals, it is accepted by most archaeologists that the inscription is not only genuine but that the reference is indeed to the House of David, thus representing the first allusion found anywhere outside the Bible to the biblical David. |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mykytiuk |first=Lawrence J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eprY1Qd0veAC&pg=PA113 |title=Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 B.C.E. |date=January 1, 2004 |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |isbn=978-1-58983-062-2 |quote=Some unfounded accusations of forgery have had little or no effect on the scholarly acceptance of this inscription as genuine.}}</ref>

Biblical tradition tells that the Israelite monarchy was established in 1037 BCE under [[Saul]], who was anointed by the prophet Samuel,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who Was the First King of Israel? |url=https://shopisrael.com/blogs/about-israel/first-king-of-israel |access-date=February 5, 2025 |website=Shop Israel |language=en}}</ref> and continued under [[David]] and his son, [[Solomon]]. David greatly expanded the kingdom's borders and [[Siege of Jebus|conquered Jerusalem]] from the [[Jebusites]], turning it into the national, political and religious capital of the kingdom. Solomon, his son, later built the [[First Temple]] on [[Moriah|Mount Moriah]] in Jerusalem. Upon his death, traditionally dated to c. 930 BCE, a civil war erupted between the ten northern Israelite tribes, and the tribes of [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]] ([[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]] was absorbed into Judah) and [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]] in the south. The kingdom then split into the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.

The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power.{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|pp=146-147|loc=Put simply, while Judah was still economically marginal and backward, Israel was booming. ... In the next chapter we will see how the northern kingdom suddenly appeared on the ancient Near Eastern stage as a major regional power}} During the days of the [[Omride Dynasty|Omride dynasty]], it controlled [[Samaria]], [[Galilee]], the upper [[Jordan Valley]], the [[Sharon plain|Sharon]] and large parts of the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Israel |last=Finkelstein |title=The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |isbn=978-1-58983-910-6 |pages=74 |oclc=949151323}}</ref> [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]], the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age palaces in the Levant.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |title=The Forgotten Kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-58983-911-3 |pages=65–66; 73; 78; 87–94 |oclc=880456140}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |date=November 1, 2011 |title=Observations on the Layout of Iron Age Samaria |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/033443511x13099584885303 |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=194–207 |doi=10.1179/033443511x13099584885303 |issn=0334-4355 |s2cid=128814117 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The kingdom of Israel was destroyed {{cx|720 BCE}}, when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].<ref name="Broshi-2001" />

The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in [[Jerusalem]], controlled the [[Judaean Mountains]], the [[Shephelah]], the [[Judaean Desert]] and parts of the [[Negev]]. After the fall of Israel, Judah became a [[client state]] of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In the 7th century BCE, the kingdom's population increased greatly, prospering under [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian]] [[Vassal state|vassalage]], despite [[Hezekiah#Assyrian invasion|Hezekiah's revolt]] against the Assyrian king [[Sennacherib]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |editor-last=Ben-Sasson |editor-first=Haim Hillel |editor-link=H. H. Ben-Sasson |page=142 |quote=Sargon's heir, Sennacherib (705–681), could not deal with Hezekiah's revolt until he gained control of Babylon in 702 BCE.}}</ref>

Large parts of the Hebrew Bible were written during this period. This includes the earliest portions of [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]],{{sfn|Kelle|2005|p=9}} [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]],{{sfn|Brettler|2010|pp=161–162}} [[Book of Amos|Amos]]{{sfn|Radine|2010|pp=71–72}} and [[Book of Micah|Micah]],{{sfn|Rogerson|2003a|p=690}} along with [[Book of Nahum|Nahum]],{{sfn|O'Brien|2002|p=14}} [[Book of Zephaniah|Zephaniah]],{{sfn|Gelston|2003c|p=715}} most of [[Deuteronomy]],{{sfn|Rogerson|2003b|p=154}} the first edition of the [[Deuteronomistic history]] (the books of [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]]/[[Book of Judges|Judges]]/[[Books of Samuel|Samuel]]/[[Books of Kings|Kings]]),{{sfn|Campbell|O'Brien|2000|p=2 and fn.6}} and [[Book of Habakkuk|Habakkuk]].{{sfn|Gelston|2003a|p=710}}

With the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 605 BCE, a power struggle emerged between [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Egypt]] and the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] for control of the [[Levant]],<ref name="Bickerman-2007">{{Citation |last=Bickerman |first=E. J. |title=Nebuchadnezzar And Jerusalem |date=January 1, 2007 |work=Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2 vols) |pages=961–974 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789047420729/Bej.9789004152946.i-1242_044.xml |access-date=July 1, 2024 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004152946.i-1242.280 |isbn=978-90-474-2072-9 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> leading to Judah's rapid decline. In 601 BCE, King [[Jehoiakim]] of Judah, who had recently submitted to Babylon, rebelled against the empire. He was soon succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin, who continued his father's policy and faced a Babylonian invasion.<ref name="Bickerman-2007" /> In March 597 BCE,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galil |first=Gershon |date=1991 |title=The Babylonian Calendar and the Chronology of the Last Kings of Judah |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42611193 |journal=Biblica |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=367–378 |jstor=42611193 |issn=0006-0887 |quote=All the scholars, without exception, establish the date of the surrender of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, as the second day of Adar, the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon (March 16, 597 BC), following the Babylonian chronicle ... This unique date is undoubtedly the most precise in Israelite history during the biblical period.}}</ref> Jehoiachin surrendered to the Babylonians and was taken captive to Babylon.<ref name="Bickerman-2007" /> This defeat is documented in the [[Babylonian Chronicles]].<ref>{{cite web |title=British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030154541/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-date=October 30, 2014 |access-date=October 30, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505195611/https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |access-date=March 26, 2020 |website=www.livius.org}}</ref> [[Zedekiah]], Jehoiachin's uncle, was then installed as king by the Babylonians.<ref name="Bickerman-2007" />

In 587 or 586 BCE, [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], responding to a second revolt in Judah, [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged and destroyed Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shalom |first1=N. |last2=Vaknin |first2=Y. |last3=Shaar |first3=R. |last4=Ben-Yosef |first4=E. |last5=Lipschits |first5=O. |last6=Shalev |first6=Y. |last7=Gadot |first7=Y. |last8=Boaretto |first8=E. |date=2023 |title=Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440323001036 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=157 |article-number=105823 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823 |bibcode=2023JArSc.157j5823S |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Bickerman-2007" /> The [[First Temple]] was razed, and its sacred vessels were seized as spoils.<ref name="Bedford-2001a">{{Citation |last=Bedford |first=Peter Ross |title=Introduction |date=2001 |work=Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah |pages=1–39 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004498051/B9789004498051_s004.xml |access-date=July 1, 2024 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004498051_004 |isbn=978-90-04-49805-1 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The destruction was followed by a mass exile: the surviving inhabitants of the city, including other segments of the population, were carried off to Mesopotamia,<ref name="Bedford-2001a" /> marking the onset of the era known in Jewish history as the "[[Babylonian Captivity]]". Zedekiah himself was captured, blinded, and transported to Babylon.<ref name="Bedford-2001a" /> Others [[History of the Jews in Egypt|fled to Egypt]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} The people of Judah lost their statehood, and, for those in exile, their homeland.<ref name="Bedford-2001b">{{Citation |last=Bedford |first=Peter Ross |title=Living Without the Jerusalem Temple—In Judah and Babylonia |date=January 1, 2001 |work=Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah |page=42 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004498051/B9789004498051_s005.xml |access-date=July 1, 2024 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004498051_005 |isbn=978-90-04-49805-1 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Following the dissolution of the monarchy, the former kingdom was annexed as a province of the Babylonian Empire.<ref name="Bickerman-2007" /><ref name="Bedford-2001a" />

=== Babylonian captivity (c. 587–538 BCE)<!--[[Exilic]] redirects directly here.--> ===
{{Main|Babylonian captivity}}
[[File:Tissot The Flight of the Prisoners.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Deportation and exile of the ancient [[Kingdom of Judah|Judeans]] to [[Babylon]] and the destruction of Jerusalem and [[Solomon's temple]]]]During the several decades between the fall of Judah and their [[return to Zion]] under Persian rule, Jewish history enters an obscure phase. Many Jews were exiled across [[Babylonia]], [[Elam]], and [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], while others remained in [[Judea]]. [[Jeremiah]] refers to communities in Egypt, including settlements in [[Migdol]], [[Tahpanhes]], [[Noph]], and [[Pathros]]. Moreover, a Jewish military colony existed at [[Elephantine]], established before the exile, where they built their own shrine.<ref name="Bedford-2001b" /> Deuteronomy was expanded and earlier scriptures were edited during the exilic period. The first edition of [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]], the [[Book of Ezekiel]], the majority of [[Book of Obadiah|Obadiah]], and what is referred to in research as "[[Book of Isaiah|Second Isaiah]]" were all written during this time period as well.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

== Second Temple period (538 BCE – 70 CE) ==
{{Main|Second Temple period|Second Temple Judaism}}

=== <span class="anchor" id="Post-exilic_period"></span>Persian period (c. 538–332 BCE)<!--"Post-exilic period", "Post-Exilic period", "Post-exilic", "Post-Exilic", Postexilic, "Pre-exilic period", "Pre-Exilic period", "Pre-Exilic" and "Pre-exilic" redirect here--> ===
{{Main|Return to Zion|Yehud (Persian province)}}
[[File:109.Ezra Reads the Law to the People.jpg|thumb|[[Ezra]] Reads the Law to the People, Gustav Dore]]
According to the Book of Ezra, Persian [[Cyrus the Great]], king of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], brought an end to the [[Babylonian exile]] in 538 BCE,<ref name="Biu.ac.il">{{cite web |title=Second Temple Period (538 BCE. to 70 CE) Persian Rule |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html |access-date=March 15, 2014 |publisher=Biu.ac.il}}</ref> a year after his conquest of Babylon.<ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103</ref> The return from exile was led by [[Zerubbabel]], a prince from the royal line of David, and Joshua the Priest, descended from former High Priests of the Temple. They oversaw the construction of the [[Second Temple]], completed between 521 and 516 BCE.<ref name="Biu.ac.il" /> As part of the [[Persian Empire]], the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah (''[[Yehud Medinata]]'')<ref>Yehud being the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew Yehuda, or "Judah", and "medinata" the word for province</ref> with different borders, covering a smaller territory.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MnE5T_0RbMC&q=gave+the+Jews+permission+to+return+to+Yehud+province+and+to+rebuild+the&pg=PA355 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud – A History of the Persian Province of Judah |volume=1 |publisher=T&T Clark |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |page=355}}</ref> Contemporary scholars point to a gradual return process that extended into the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lipschits |first=Oded |title=Judah in the Biblical Period |chapter=Between Archaeology and Text: A Reevaluation of the Development Process of Jerusalem in the Persian Period |date=March 18, 2024 |page=374 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110487442-020/html |access-date=July 1, 2024 |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110487442-020 |isbn=978-3-11-048744-2}}</ref> The population of Persian Judah was greatly reduced from that of the kingdom, archaeological surveys showing a population of around 30,000 during the 5th—4th centuries BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |title=The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-86912-8 |edition=1st Touchstone |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|308}}

The final Torah is widely seen as a product of the [[Persian period]] (539–333 BCE, probably 450–350 BCE).{{Sfn|Frei|2001|p=6}} This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives [[Ezra]], the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation.{{sfn|Romer|2008|p=2 and fn.3}}

Three prophets, considered the last in Jewish tradition, were active during this period: [[Haggai]], [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]], and [[Malachi]].<ref>[[Jerusalem Bible]] (1966), ''Haggai'', ''Zechariah'', ''Malachi'' in ''Introduction to the Prophets'', London: Darton, Longman & Todd, pp. 1138–1140</ref> After the death of the last Jewish prophet and while still under Persian rule, the leadership of the [[Jewish people]] passed into the hands of five successive generations of [[zugot]] (pairs) of leaders. They flourished first [[Yehud Medinata|under the Persians]] and then under the Greeks. As a result, the [[Pharisees]] and [[Sadducees]] were formed. Under the Persians then under the Greeks, Jewish coins were minted in Judea as [[Yehud coinage]].{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

=== Hellenistic period (c. 332–110 BCE) ===
{{Main|Hellenistic Judaism}}
[[File:Jews Byzantine Greek Alexander Manuscript (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Alexander the Great]], clad as a [[Byzantine emperor]], receives a delegation of Jewish [[rabbi]]s. Miniature from the 14th-century ''Alexander Romance'']]

In 332 BCE, [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedon]] defeated the Persians. After Alexander's death and the division of his empire among his generals, the [[Seleucid Kingdom]] was formed.

The Alexandrian conquests spread Greek culture to the Levant. During this time, currents of Judaism were influenced by [[Hellenistic philosophy]] developed from the 3rd century BCE, notably the [[Jewish diaspora]] in [[Alexandrian Jews|Alexandria]], culminating in the compilation of the [[Septuagint]]. An important advocate of the symbiosis of Jewish theology and Hellenistic thought is [[Philo]].

=== Hasmonean dynasty (110–63 BCE) ===
{{Main|Hasmonean dynasty}}
[[File:John Hyrcanus.jpg|thumb|JUDAEA, Hasmoneans. John Hyrcanus I (Yehohanan). 135–104 BCE. Æ Prutah (13mm, 2.02&nbsp;gm, 12h). "Yehohanan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews" (in Hebrew) in five lines within wreath / Double cornucopiae adorned with ribbons; pomegranate between horns; small A to lower left. Meshorer Group B, 11; Hendin 457.]]

Triggered by anti-Jewish decrees from Seleucid king [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] and tensions between Hellenized and conservative Jews, the [[Maccabean Revolt]] erupted in Judea in 167 BCE under the leadership of [[Mattathias]]. His son, [[Judas Maccabeus]], recaptured Jerusalem in 164 BCE, purifying the Second Temple and reinstating sacrificial worship.<ref name="Atkinson-2016">{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Kenneth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/949219870 |title=A History of the Hasmonean State: Josephus and Beyond |date=2016 |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-66902-5 |series=T&T Clark Jewish and Christian texts series |location=London; New York |pages=2, 23–28 |oclc=949219870}}</ref> The successful revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish state under the [[Hasmonean dynasty]], which lasted from 165 to 63 BCE.<ref>See:

* [[William David Davies]]. ''The Hellenistic Age''. Volume 2 of Cambridge History of Judaism. Cambridge University Press, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-521-21929-7}}. pp. 292–312.
* Jeff S. Anderson. ''The Internal Diversification of Second Temple Judaism: An Introduction to the Second Temple Period''. University Press of America, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-7618-2327-8}}. pp. 37–38.
* Howard N. Lupovitch. ''Jews and Judaism in World History''. Taylor & Francis. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-415-46205-1}}. pp. 26–30.</ref>

Initially governing as both political leaders and High Priests, the [[Hasmoneans]] later assumed the title of kings. They employed military campaigns and diplomacy to consolidate power.<ref name="Atkinson-2016" /> Under the rule of [[Alexander Jannaeus]] and [[Salome Alexandra]], the kingdom reached its zenith in size and influence. However, internal strife erupted between Salome Alexandra's sons, [[Hyrcanus II]] and [[Aristobulus II]], leading to civil war and appeals to Roman authorities for intervention. Responding to these appeals, Pompey led a Roman campaign of conquest and annexation, which marked the end of Hasmonean sovereignty and ushered in Roman rule over Judea.<ref>Hooker, Richard. {{cite web |title=The Hebrews: The Diaspora |url=http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/HEBREWS/HEBREWS.HTM |access-date=April 7, 2018 |archive-date=August 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829230214/http://www.wsu.edu:8000/%7Edee/HEBREWS/HEBREWS.HTM |url-status=dead}}  World Civilizations Learning Modules.  Washington State University, 1999.</ref>

=== Roman period (63 BCE – 135 CE) ===
{{Main|Herodian dynasty|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Judaea (Roman province)|Jewish–Roman wars}}
[[File:19 Shrine of the Book 005 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the [[Second Temple]], following renovations by [[Herod the Great|Herod]] in the 1st century CE]]
Judea had been an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmoneans, but it was [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BCE)|conquered and reorganized as a client state by the Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE]]. [[Roman expansion]] was going on in other areas as well, and it would continue for more than a hundred and fifty years. Later, [[Herod the Great]] was appointed "King of the Jews" by the [[Roman Senate]], supplanting the Hasmonean dynasty. Some of his offspring held various positions after him, known as the [[Herodian dynasty]]. Briefly, from 4 BCE to 6 CE, [[Herod Archelaus]] ruled the [[Tetrarchy (Judea)|tetrarchy of Judea]] as [[ethnarch]], the Romans denying him the title of King.

After the [[Census of Quirinius]] in 6 CE, the [[Roman province of Judaea]] was formed as a satellite of [[Roman Syria]] under the rule of a [[prefect]] (as was [[Roman Egypt]]) until 41 CE, then [[Procurator (Roman)|procurators]] after 44 CE. The empire was often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Jewish subjects, (see [[Anti-Judaism#Pre-Christian Roman Empire|Anti-Judaism in the pre-Christian Roman Empire]]). In 30 CE (or 33 CE), [[Jesus of Nazareth]], an itinerant [[rabbi]] from [[Galilee]], and the central figure of [[Christianity]], was put to death by [[crucifixion]] in Jerusalem under the Roman prefect of [[Judaea]], [[Pontius Pilate]].<ref>Charlesworth, James H. (2008). The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide. {{ISBN|978-1-4267-2475-6}}</ref>[[File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans]] (1850 painting by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]])]] For a short time Judea was reunited and semi-independent under [[Agrippa the Great]] who had good relations with both the Roman aristocracy and local Jewish citizens. After his death Judea was again annexed by Rome and his less popular son [[Herod Agrippa II]] was made ethnarch.<ref>Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, livre XVIII, § V, 4, (132).</ref>

Roman oppressive rule, combined with economic, religious, and ethnic tensions, eventually led to the outbreak of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], also known as the Great Revolt, in 66 CE. Future emperor [[Vespasian]] quelled the rebellion in [[Galilee]] by 67 CE, capturing key strongholds.<ref>Jensen, M. H. (2014). The Political History in Galilee from the First Century BCE to the end of the Second Century CE. ''Galilee in the late Second Temple and Mishnaic periods. Volume 1. Life, culture and society'', pp. 69-70. "According to Jewish War, Vespasian laid siege to and conquered all the major strongholds of Galilee [...] Since the entire campaign was short and lasted only for some months in the spring and summer of 67, there is no reason to believe that Galilee was entirely devastated when the Romans set their course south. However, the places that were conquered, were in a typical Roman fashion levelled more or less to the ground and many people sold of as slaves.</ref> He was succeeded by his son [[Titus]], who led the brutal [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|siege of Jerusalem]], culminating in the city's fall in 70 CE. The Romans burned Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |title=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman period: in light of archaeological research |publisher=Brill |year=2019 |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |page=3 |oclc=1170143447 |quote=The historical description is consistent with the archeological finds. Collapses of massive stones from the walls of the Temple Mount were exposed lying over the Herodian street running along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The residential buildings of the Ophel and the Upper City were destroyed by great fire. The large urban drainage channel and the Pool of Siloam in the Lower City silted up and ceased to function, and in many places the city walls collapsed. [...] Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new era began in the city's history. The Herodian city was destroyed and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion established on part of the ruins.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reich |first=Ronny |date=2009 |title=The Sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE: Flavius Josephus' Description and the Archaeological Record |script-title=he:חורבן ירושלים בשנת 70 לסה"נ: תיאורו של יוסף בן מתתיהו והממצא הארכאולוגי  |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv |script-journal=he:קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה |issue=131 |pages=25–42 |issn=0334-4657 |jstor=23407359}}</ref> The Roman victory was celebrated with a [[Roman triumph|triumph]] in Rome, showcasing Jewish artefacts like the [[Temple menorah|menorah]], which were then put on display in the new [[Temple of Peace, Rome|Temple of Peace]].<ref>Huitink, Luuk. "Between Triumph and Tragedy: Josephus, Bellum Judaicum 7.121–157." ''Reading Greek, Hellenistic and Roman spolia. Objects, appropriation and cultural change, Euhormos: Greco-Roman Studies in Anchoring Innovation. Leiden: Brill'' (2023). pp. 215–216, 234</ref> The Flavian dynasty leveraged this victory for political gain, erecting monuments in Rome and minting [[Judaea Capta coinage|Judaea Capta coins]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Overman |first1=J. Andrew |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134518326 |title=The First Jewish Revolt |last2=Overman |first2=J. Andrew |date=September 2, 2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-51832-6 |chapter=The First Revolt and Flavian politics |doi=10.4324/9780203167441}}</ref> The war concluded with the [[siege of Masada]] (73–74 CE). The Jewish population suffered widespread devastation, with displacement, enslavement, and Roman confiscation of Jewish-owned land.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herr |first=Moshe David |title=The History of Eretz Israel: The Roman Byzantine period: the Roman period from the conquest to the Ben Kozba War (63 B.C.E-135 C.E.) |publisher=Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi |year=1984 |editor-last=Shtern |editor-first=Menahem |location=Jerusalem |page=288}}</ref>

The destruction of the Second Temple marked a cataclysmic event in Jewish history, triggering far-reaching transformations within Judaism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maclean Rogers |first=Guy |title=For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-26256-8 |location=New Haven and London |pages=3–5 |oclc=1294393934}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |title=Judaism in a Time of Crisis: Four Responses to the Destruction of the Second Temple |date=November 28, 2017 |work=Neusner on Judaism |pages=399–413 |editor-last1=Hinnells |editor-first1=John |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781351152761-20 |access-date=May 22, 2022 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781351152761-20 |isbn=978-1-351-15276-1 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Karesh-2006">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |publisher=Facts On File |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-78785-171-9 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.}}</ref> With the central role of sacrificial worship obliterated, religious practices shifted towards [[Jewish prayer|prayer]], [[Torah study]], and communal gatherings in [[synagogue]]s. According to Rabbinic tradition, Yohanan ben Zakkai secured permission from the Romans to establish a center for Torah study in [[Yavne]]h, which then served as a focal point for Jewish religious and cultural life for a generation.<ref name="Stemberger-2003">{{Citation |last=Stemberger |first=Guenter |title=The Formation of Rabbinic Judaism, 70–640 CE |date=2003 |work=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism |pages=78–79 |editor-last=Neusner |editor-first=Jacob |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470758014.ch5 |access-date=July 2, 2024 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470758014.ch5 |isbn=978-1-57718-058-6 |editor2-last=Avery-Peck |editor2-first=Alan J. |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/3F4F0A32983FC0DCDB414553888DC394 |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |volume=4 |page=268 |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488 |quote=Under the leadership of R. Yohanan ben Zakkai and his circle at Yavneh, Judaism sought to reconstitute itself and find a new equilibrium in the face of the disaster of 70.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |title=Religion (Judentum: Palästinisches Judentum &#91;Forts.&#93;) |date=September 26, 2016 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-083904-3 |editor-last1=Haase |editor-first1=Wolfgang |language=de |chapter=The Formation of Rabbinic Judaism: Yavneh (Jamnia) from A.D. 70 to 100 |pages=3–42 |doi=10.1515/9783110839043-002 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110839043-002/html}}</ref> Judaism also underwent a significant shift away from its sectarian divisions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |date=1984 |title=The Significance of Yavneh: Pharisees, Rabbis, and the End of Jewish Sectarianism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23507609 |journal=Hebrew Union College Annual |volume=55 |page=29 |jstor=23507609 |issn=0360-9049 |quote=The goal was not the triumph over other sects but the elimination of the need for sectarianism itself. [...] The destruction of the temple provided the impetus for this process: it warned the Jews of the dangers of internal divisiveness and it removed one of the major focal points of Jewish sectarianism.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jodi |last=Magness |title=Was 70 CE a Watershed in Jewish History?: On Jews and Judaism before and after the Destruction of the Second Temple |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-21744-7 |editor-first=Daniel R. |editor-last=Schwartz |chapter=Sectarianism before and after 70 CE |editor-first2=Zeev |editor-last2=Weiss |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VecxAQAAQBAJ&q=diaspora+70+ce&pg=PA189}}</ref> The [[Sadducees]] and [[Essenes]], two prominent sects in the late Second Temple period, faded into obscurity,<ref name="Karesh-2006" /> while the traditions of the [[Pharisees]], including their halakhic interpretations, the centrality of the [[Oral Torah]], and [[Jewish eschatology|belief in resurrection]] became the foundation of [[Rabbinic Judaism]].<ref name="Stemberger-2003" />[[File:Arch of Titus Menorah.png|upright=1.15|thumb|The sack of Jerusalem depicted on the inside wall of the [[Arch of Titus]] in [[Rome]]]]

=== Diaspora during the Second Temple period ===
{{Main|Jewish diaspora}}
The [[Jewish diaspora]] existed well before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and had been ongoing for centuries, with the dispersal driven by both forced expulsions and voluntary migrations.<ref>[[Erich S. Gruen]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=t1IR4WtFjGUC&pg=PA3 Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans] [[Harvard University Press]], 2009 pp. 3–4, 233–234: 'Compulsory dislocation, .…cannot have accounted for more than a fraction of the diaspora. … The vast bulk of Jews who dwelled abroad in the Second Temple Period did so voluntarily.' (2)' .Diaspora did not await the fall of Jerusalem to Roman power and destructiveness. The scattering of Jews had begun long before-occasionally through forced expulsion, much more frequently through voluntary migration.'</ref><ref name="Goodman-2018">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |title=A History of Judaism |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18127-1 |location=Princeton Oxford |pages=21, 232}}</ref> In Mesopotamia, a testimony to the beginnings of the Jewish community can be found in [[Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets|Joachin's ration tablets]], listing provisions allotted to the exiled Judean king and his family by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], and further evidence are the [[Al-Yahudu Tablets|Al-Yahudu tablets]], dated to the 6th-5th centuries BCE and related to the exiles from Judea arriving after the destruction of the [[First Temple]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Luke |date=February 3, 2017 |title=Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203 |newspaper=Reuters}}</ref> though there is ample evidence for the presence of Jews in Babylonia even from 626 BCE.<ref>Zadok R. Judeans in Babylonia–Updating the Dossier. in U. Gabbay and Sh. Secunda. (eds.). ''Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians and Babylonians in Antiquity'', Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 160. Tübingen: MohrSiebeck. pp. 109–110.</ref> In Egypt, the [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca|documents from Elephantine]] reveal the trials of a community founded by a Persian Jewish garrison at two fortresses on the frontier during the 5th-4th centuries BCE, and according to [[Josephus]] the Jewish community in Alexandria existed since the founding of the city in the 4th century BCE by [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>Josephus Flavius, ''Against Appion''. 4.II</ref> By 200 BCE, there were well established Jewish communities both in Egypt and Mesopotamia ("[[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]]" in Jewish sources) and in the two centuries that followed, Jewish populations were also present in [[Asia Minor]], [[Greece]], [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]], and, beginning in the middle of the 1st century BCE, in the city of [[Rome]].<ref>{{cite book |first=E. Mary |last=Smallwood |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: The early Roman period, Volume 3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-521-24377-3 |editor1=William David Davies |chapter=The Diaspora in the Roman period before AD 70 |editor2=Louis Finkelstein |editor3=William Horbury |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW2BuWcalXIC&q=Diaspora+before+70&pg=PA168}}</ref><ref name="Goodman-2018" />

In the first centuries CE, as a result of the [[Jewish–Roman wars]],<ref name="מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת">מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת "עם ישראל – תולדות 4000 שנה – מימי האבות ועד חוזה השלום", ע"מ 95. (Translation: Mordechai Vermebrand and Betzalel S. Ruth – "The People of Israel – the history of 4000 years – from the days of the Forefathers to the Peace Treaty", 1981, p. 95)</ref> a large number of Jews were taken as captives, sold into slavery, or compelled to flee from the regions affected by the wars, contributing to the formation and expansion of Jewish communities across the [[Roman Empire]] as well as in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Jewish communities across Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and Egypt were almost entirely obliterated due to the harsh Roman response to the Diaspora Revolt.<ref name="Kerkeslager-2006" /><ref name="Zeev-2006b" />

The [[New Testament]] Book of [[Acts]], as well as other [[Pauline epistles|Pauline]] texts, make frequent reference to the large populations of [[Hellenized Jews]] in the cities of the Roman world. These Hellenized Jews were affected by the diaspora only in its spiritual sense, absorbing the feeling of loss and homelessness that became a cornerstone of the Jewish creed, much supported by persecutions in various parts of the world. Of critical importance to the reshaping of Jewish tradition from the Temple-based religion to the rabbinic traditions of the Diaspora, was the development of the interpretations of the Torah found in the [[Mishnah]] and [[Talmud]].

== Talmudic period (70–640 CE) ==
{{Main|Rabbinic period}}

=== Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE) ===
{{Main|Diaspora Revolt}}

During the [[Diaspora Revolt]] (115–117 CE), [[Jewish diaspora]] communities across several eastern provinces of the [[Roman Empire]] engaged in widespread rebellion.<ref name="Zeev-2006a">{{Citation |last=Zeev |first=Miriam Pucci Ben |title=The uprisings in the Jewish Diaspora, 116–117 |date=June 22, 2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism |pages=93–106 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139055130A007/type/book_part |access-date=September 8, 2024 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.005 |isbn=978-1-139-05513-0 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Driven by messianic fervor and hopes for the [[Gathering of Israel|ingathering of exiles]] and the [[Third Temple|reconstruction of the Temple]], these communities may have sought to spark a broader movement possibly aimed at returning to [[Judea]] and rebuilding Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smallwood |first=E. Mary |title=The Jews under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian |publisher=SBL Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-90-04-50204-8 |pages=394–397}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horbury |first=William |title=Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-139-04905-4 |pages=276}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barclay |first=John M. G. |title=Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE–117 CE) |date=1998 |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-08651-8 |edition= |location=Edinburgh |pages=241}}</ref> Ancient sources describe the revolt as extremely brutal, with cases of cannibalism and mutilation, though modern scholars often consider these accounts to be exaggerated.<ref name="Zeev-2006a" /> The Roman suppression of the revolt was marked by severe measures, including [[ethnic cleansing]], leading to the near-total destruction of Jewish diaspora communities in [[Roman Libya|Libya]], [[Roman Cyprus|Cyprus]] and [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]],<ref name="Kerkeslager-2006">{{Citation |last1=Kerkeslager |first1=Allen |title=The Diaspora from 66 to c. 235 ce |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=62–63 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/diaspora-from-66-to-c-235-ce/5AECAD54BE6CA31C7968EED92D6CA36A |access-date=September 10, 2024 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.004 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |last2=Setzer |first2=Claudia |last3=Trebilco |first3=Paul |last4=Goodblatt |first4=David}}</ref><ref name="Zeev-2006b">{{Citation |last=Zeev |first=Miriam Pucci Ben |title=The uprisings in the Jewish Diaspora, 116–117 |date=June 22, 2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism |page=98 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139055130A007/type/book_part |access-date=September 8, 2024 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.005 |isbn=978-1-139-05513-0 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> including the significant and influential community in [[Alexandria]].<ref name="Goodman-2018" /><ref name="Kerkeslager-2006" />

=== Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) ===
{{Main|Bar Kokhba revolt}}
[[File:Barkokhba-silver-tetradrachm.jpg|thumb|A tetradrachm minted during the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], featuring the former Second Temple, a ''lulav'', and the slogan 'to the freedom of Jerusalem']]
From 132 to 136 CE, Judaea was the center of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], triggered by Hadrian's decision to establish the pagan colony of [[Aelia Capitolina]] on the ruins of Jerusalem.<ref name="Eck-2015">{{Citation |last=Eck |first=Werner |editor-first1=Werner |editor-last1=Eck |title=Bar Kokhba |date=July 30, 2015 |work=Oxford Classical Dictionary |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1056 |access-date=July 2, 2024 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1056 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Early successes led to the establishment of a short-lived Jewish state in Judea under the leadership of [[Simon Bar Kokhba]], styled as ''[[Nasi (Hebrew title)|nasi]]'' or prince of Israel.<ref name="Eck-2015" /> The [[Bar Kokhba revolt coinage|rebel state's coinage]] proclaimed "Freedom of Israel" and "For the Freedom of Jerusalem", using [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|ancient Hebrew script]] for nationalistic symbolism.<ref name="Eck-1999">{{Cite journal |last=Eck |first=Werner |date=1999 |title=The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/bar-kokhba-revolt-the-roman-point-of-view/27E95F52A627562F93178F17A51D5FD4 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=89 |pages=76, 80 |doi=10.2307/300735 |jstor=300735 |issn=1753-528X |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Eck-2015" /> However, the Romans soon amassed six legions and additional auxiliaries under [[Julius Severus]], who then brutally crushed the uprising. Historical accounts report the destruction of fifty major strongholds and 985 villages, resulting in 580,000 Jewish deaths and widespread famine and disease.<ref name="Raviv-2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Raviv |first1=Dvir |last2=David |first2=Chaim Ben |date=2021 |title=Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account? |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=585–607 |doi=10.1017/S1047759421000271 |issn=1047-7594 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Archaeological research confirms the widespread destruction and depopulation of the Jewish heartland in [[Judea]] proper, where most of the Jewish population was either killed, sold into slavery, expelled, or forced to flee.<ref name="Raviv-2021" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=A. H. M. |title=The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces |publisher=Oxford |year=1971 |edition=2nd |pages=277 |quote=This provoked the last Jewish war, which seems from our meager accounts [...] to have resulted in the desolation of Judaea and the practical extermination of its Jewish population.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mor|2016|pp=483–484}}: "Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the [[Sicaricon|sikarikon laws]] were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it."</ref> The Romans also suffered heavy losses.<ref name="Eck-1999" /> Post-revolt, Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem, and Hadrian issued religious edicts,<ref>Hanan Eshel,[[iarchive:cambridgehis xxxx 1984 004 8494287/page/n1082|<!-- pg=105 --> 'The Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135,']] in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period,'' pp. 105-127, p. 105.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eshel |first=Hanan |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor-last=T. Katz |editor-first=Steven |volume=4. The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period  |pages=105–127 |chapter=4: The Bar Kochba Revolt, 132 – 135 |oclc=7672733}}</ref> including a ban on circumcision, later repealed by [[Antoninus Pius]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} The province of Judaea was renamed [[Syria Palaestina]] as a punitive act against the Jews, aimed at placating non-Jewish residents and erasing Jewish historical ties to the land.<ref name="Eck-2015" /><ref>H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|0-674-39731-2}}, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref>Ariel Lewin. ''The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine''. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." {{ISBN|0-89236-800-4}}</ref> Christians refused to participate in the revolt and from this point the Jews regarded Christianity as a separate religion.<ref>M. Avi-Yonah, ''The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule'', Jerusalem 1984 p. 143</ref> The Jewish defeat marked the termination of efforts to reestablish a Jewish state until the modern era.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |title=An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History And Religion Of The Jews In The Time Of Nehemiah, The Maccabees, Hillel, And Jesus |date=2010 |publisher=T&T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-55248-8 |location=Edinburgh |page=78 |quote=It was the total defeat and the massive destruction of the 132–35 war which put paid to any hopes of a revived Jewish state for another 1800 years.}}</ref>

A rabbi of this period, [[Simeon bar Yochai]], is regarded as the author of the [[Zohar]], the foundational text for Kabbalistic thought. However, modern scholars believe it was written in Medieval Spain.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Zohar |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=Z#406 |access-date=May 19, 2014 |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007024121/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=Z#406 |archive-date=October 7, 2011 |author2=Broydé, Isaac |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Late Roman period in the Land of Israel ===
The relations of the Jews with the Roman Empire in the region continued to be complicated. [[Constantine the Great and Judaism|Constantine I]] allowed Jews to mourn their defeat and humiliation once a year on [[Tisha B'Av]] at the [[Western Wall]]. In 351–352 CE, the Jews of Galilee launched [[Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus|yet another revolt]], provoking heavy retribution.<ref>Bernard Lazare and Robert Wistrich, Antisemitism: Its History and Causes, University of Nebraska Press, 1995, I, pp. 46–47.</ref> The Gallus revolt came during the rising influence of early Christians in the Eastern Roman Empire, under the [[Constantinian dynasty]]. In 355, however, the relations with the Roman rulers improved, upon the rise of Emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], the last of the Constantinian dynasty, who unlike his predecessors defied Christianity. In 363, not long before Julian left Antioch to launch his campaign against Sasanian Persia, in keeping with his effort to foster religions other than Christianity, he ordered the Jewish Temple rebuilt.<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'', 23.1.2–3.</ref> The failure to rebuild the Temple has mostly been ascribed to the dramatic [[Galilee earthquake of 363]] and traditionally also to the Jews' ambivalence about the project. Sabotage is a possibility, as is an accidental fire. Divine intervention was the common view among Christian historians of the time.<ref>See [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/julian-jews.html "Julian and the Jews 361–363 CE"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520080932/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/julian-jews.html |date=May 20, 2012 }} (Fordham University, The Jesuit University of New York) and [https://web.archive.org/web/20051020130904/http://www.gibsoncondo.com/~david/convert/history.html "Julian the Apostate and the Holy Temple"].</ref> Julian's support of Jews caused Jews to call him "Julian the [[Hellenes (religion)|Hellene]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Falk |first1=Avner |title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |year=1996 |pages=343 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8386-3660-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&q=julian&pg=PA343 |access-date=August 3, 2022}}</ref> Julian's fatal wound in the Persian campaign and his consequent death had put an end to Jewish aspirations, and Julian's successors embraced Christianity through the entire timeline of Byzantine rule of Jerusalem, preventing any Jewish claims.

In 438 CE, when the Empress [[Licinia Eudoxia|Eudocia]] removed the ban on Jews' praying at the [[Temple Mount|Temple site]], the heads of the Community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of the Jews" which began: "Know that the end of the exile of our people has come!" However, the Christian population of the city, who saw this as a threat to their primacy, did not allow it and a riot erupted after which they chased away the Jews from the city.<ref>Avraham Yaari, ''Igrot Eretz Yisrael'' (Tel Aviv, 1943), p. 46.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Andrew S. Jacobs |title=Remains of the Jews: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8O95ErDSZQgC&pg=PA157 |year=2004 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-4705-9 |page=157 |access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref>

During the 5th and the 6th centuries, a series of [[Samaritan Revolts|Samaritan insurrections]] broke out across the [[Palaestina Prima]] province. Especially violent were the third and the fourth revolts, which resulted in almost the entire annihilation of the Samaritan community. It is likely that the Samaritan [[Samaritan Revolts|Revolt of 556]] was joined by the Jewish community, which had also suffered a brutal suppression of Israelite religion.

In the belief of restoration to come, in the early 7th century the Jews made an [[Jewish revolt against Heraclius|alliance]] with the [[Sassanid Empire|Persians]], who invaded Palaestina Prima in 614, fought at their side, overwhelmed the [[Byzantine]] garrison in Jerusalem, and were given Jerusalem to be governed as an autonomy.<ref>{{cite book |title=Itineraria Phoenicia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&q=Opusculum+de+Persica+captivitate&pg=PA542 |author=Edward Lipiński |publisher=Peeters |pages=542–543 |year=2004 |isbn=978-90-429-1344-8 |access-date=March 11, 2014 |archive-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409161013/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&q=Opusculum+de+Persica+captivitate&pg=PA542 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, their autonomy was brief: the [[Nehemiah ben Hushiel|Jewish leader]] in Jerusalem was shortly assassinated during a Christian revolt and though Jerusalem was reconquered by Persians and Jews within 3 weeks, it fell into anarchy. With the consequent withdrawal of Persian forces, Jews surrendered to Byzantines in 625 or 628 CE, but were massacred by Christian radicals in 629 CE, with the survivors fleeing to Egypt. The Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) control of the region was finally lost to the Muslim Arab armies in 637 CE, when [[Umar ibn al-Khattab]] completed the conquest of Akko.

=== Jews of pre-Muslim Babylonia (219–638 CE) ===
{{Main|History of the Jews in Iraq}}

After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia would become the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years. The first Jewish communities in Babylonia started with the exile of the Tribe of Judah to Babylon by [[Jehoiachin]] in 597 BCE as well as after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.<ref name="מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת" /> Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] and in the centuries after.<ref name="מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת" /> Babylonia, where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the centre of Jewish life up to the 13th century. By the 1st century, Babylonia already held a speedily growing<ref name="מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת" /> population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million<ref name="Solomon Gryazel">Solomon Gryazel, ''History of the Jews: From the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE to the present Arab Israeli conflict'', p. 137.</ref> between the years 200 CE and 500 CE, both by natural growth and by immigration of more Jews from Judea, making up about 1/6 of the world Jewish population at that era.<ref name="Solomon Gryazel" /> It was there that they would write the Babylonian Talmud in the languages used by the Jews of ancient Babylonia: [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. The Jews established [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia]], also known as the Geonic Academies (from "Geonim", meaning "splendour" in Biblical Hebrew or "geniuses"), which became the centre for Jewish scholarship and the development of Jewish law in Babylonia from roughly 500 CE to 1038 CE. The two most famous academies were the [[Pumbedita Academy]] and the [[Sura Academy]]. Major yeshivot were also located at [[Nehardea]] and Mahuza.<ref>''Codex Judaica'', pp. 161–174, Kantor, Zichron Press, NY 2005.</ref> The Talmudic [[Yeshiva]] Academies became a main part of Jewish culture and education, and Jews continued establishing Yeshiva Academies in Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and in later centuries, in America and other countries around the world where Jews lived in the Diaspora. Talmudic study in Yeshiva academies, most of them located in The United States and Israel, continues today.

These Talmudic [[Yeshiva]] academies of Babylonia followed the era of the [[Amoraim]] (expounders)—the sages of the Talmud who were active (both in Judah and in Babylon) during the end of the era of the sealing of the [[Mishnah]] and until the times of the sealing of the Talmud (220–500 CE), and following the [[Savoraim]] (reasoners)—the sages of beth midrash (Torah study places) in Babylon from the end of the era of the Amoraim (5th century) and until the beginning of the era of the [[Geonim]]. The Geonim were the presidents of the two great rabbinical colleges of Sura and Pumbedita, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the worldwide Jewish community in the early medieval era, in contrast to the [[Resh Galuta]] (Exilarch) who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands. According to traditions, the [[Resh Galuta]] were descendants of Judean kings, which is why the kings of [[Parthia]] would treat them with much honour.<ref>[מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס. רותת "עם ישראל – תולדות 4000 שנה – מימי האבות ועד חוזה השלום", ע"מ 97. (Translation: Mordechai Vermebrand and Betzalel S. Ruth ''The People of Israel: The History of 4,000 Years, from the Days of the Forefathers to the Peace Treaty'', 1981, p. 97)</ref>

For the Jews of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the yeshivot of Babylonia served much the same function as the ancient [[Sanhedrin]]—that is, as a council of Jewish religious authorities. The academies were founded in pre-Islamic Babylonia under the Zoroastrian Sassanid dynasty and were located not far from the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, which at that time was the largest city in the world. After the conquest of Persia in the 7th century, the academies subsequently operated for four hundred years under the Islamic caliphate. The first gaon of Sura, according to [[Sherira Gaon]], was Mar bar Rab Chanan, who assumed office in 609. The last gaon of [[Sura]] was [[Samuel ben Hofni]], who died in 1034; the last gaon of Pumbedita was [[Hezekiah Gaon]], who was tortured to death in 1040; hence the activity of the Geonim covers a period of nearly 450 years.

One of principal seats of Babylonian Judaism was [[Nehardea]], which was then a very large city made up mostly of Jews.<ref name="מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת" /> A very ancient synagogue, built, it was believed, by King Jehoiachin, existed in Nehardea. At Huzal, near Nehardea, there was another synagogue, not far from which could be seen the ruins of Ezra's academy. In the period before Hadrian, Akiba, on his arrival at Nehardea on a mission from the Sanhedrin, entered into a discussion with a resident scholar on a point of matrimonial law (Mishnah Yeb., end). At the same time there was at Nisibis (northern [[Mesopotamia]]), an excellent Jewish college, at the head of which stood [[Judah ben Bathyra]], and in which many Judean scholars found refuge at the time of the persecutions. A certain temporary importance was also attained by a school at [[Nehar Pekod|Nehar-Pekod]], founded by the Judean immigrant Hananiah, nephew of [[Joshua ben Hananiah]], which school might have been the cause of a schism between the Jews of Babylonia and those of Judea-Israel, had not the Judean authorities promptly checked Hananiah's ambition.

=== Byzantine period (324–638 CE) ===
{{Main|History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire}}

Jews were also widespread throughout the Roman Empire, and this carried on to a lesser extent in the period of Byzantine rule in the central and eastern Mediterranean. The militant and exclusive Christianity and [[caesaropapism]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] did not treat Jews well, and the condition and influence of diaspora Jews in the Empire declined dramatically.

It was official Christian policy to convert Jews to Christianity, and the Christian leadership used the official power of Rome in their attempts. In 351 CE the Jews revolted against the added pressures of their governor, [[Constantius Gallus]]. Gallus put down the revolt and destroyed the major cities in the Galilee area where the revolt had started. Tzippori and Lydda (site of two of the major legal academies) never recovered.

In this period, the Nasi in Tiberias, [[Hillel II]], created an official calendar, which needed no monthly sightings of the moon. The months were set, and the calendar needed no further authority from Judea. At about the same time, the Jewish academy at Tiberius began to collate the combined Mishnah, [[braitot]], explanations, and interpretations developed by generations of scholars who studied after the death of [[Judah HaNasi]]. The text was organized according to the order of the Mishna: each paragraph of Mishnah was followed by a compilation of all of the interpretations, stories, and responses associated with that Mishnah. This text is called the ''[[Jerusalem Talmud]].''

The Jews of Judea received a brief respite from official persecution during the rule of the Emperor [[Julian the Apostate]]. Julian's policy was to return the Roman Empire to Hellenism, and he encouraged the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. As Julian's rule lasted only from 361 to 363, the Jews could not rebuild sufficiently before Roman Christian rule was restored over the Empire. Beginning in 398 with the consecration of [[St. John Chrysostom]] as [[Patriarch]], Christian rhetoric against Jews grew sharper; he preached sermons with titles such as "Against the Jews" and "On the Statues, Homily 17", in which John preaches against "the Jewish sickness".<ref>Wendy Mayer and [[Pauline Allen]], ''John Chrysostom: The Early Church Fathers'' (London, 2000), pp. 113, 146.</ref> Such heated language contributed to a climate of Christian distrust and hate toward the large Jewish settlements, such as those in [[Antioch]] and [[Constantinople]].

In the beginning of the 5th century, the [[Emperor Theodosius]] issued a set of decrees establishing official persecution of Jews. Jews were not allowed to own slaves, build new synagogues, hold public office or try cases between a Jew and a non-Jew. Intermarriage between Jew and non-Jew was made a capital offence, as was the conversion of Christians to Judaism. Theodosius did away with the [[Sanhedrin]] and abolished the post of [[Nasi (Hebrew title)|Nasi]]. Under the [[Emperor Justinian]], the authorities further restricted the civil rights of Jews,<ref>Cod., I., v. 12</ref> and threatened their religious privileges.<ref>Procopius, ''Historia Arcana'', 28</ref> The emperor interfered in the internal affairs of the synagogue,<ref>Nov., cxlvi., February 8, 553</ref> and forbade, for instance, the use of the Hebrew language in divine worship. Those who disobeyed the restrictions were threatened with corporal penalties, exile, and loss of property. The Jews at Borium, not far from Syrtis Major, who resisted the Byzantine general [[Belisarius]] in his campaign against the [[Vandals]], were forced to embrace Christianity, and their synagogue was converted to a church.<ref>Procopius, ''De Aedificiis'', vi. 2</ref>

Justinian and his successors had concerns outside the province of Judea, and he had insufficient troops to enforce these regulations. As a result, the 5th century was a period when a wave of new synagogues were built, many with beautiful mosaic floors. Jews adopted the rich art forms of the Byzantine culture. Jewish mosaics of the period portray people, animals, menorahs, zodiacs, and Biblical characters. Excellent examples of these synagogue floors have been found at Beit Alpha (which includes the scene of Abraham sacrificing a ram instead of his son Isaac along with a zodiac), Tiberius, Beit Shean, and Tzippori.

The precarious existence of Jews under Byzantine rule did not long endure, largely due to the explosion of the Muslim religion out of the remote Arabian peninsula (where large populations of Jews resided, see [[History of the Jews under Muslim Rule]] for more). The [[Muslim]] [[Caliphate]] ejected the Byzantines from the Holy Land (or the Levant, defined as modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) within a few years of their victory at the [[Battle of Yarmouk]] in 636. Numerous Jews fled the remaining Byzantine territories in favour of residence in the Caliphate over the subsequent centuries.

The size of the Jewish community in the Byzantine Empire was not affected by attempts by some emperors to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity, as these attempts met with very little success.<ref>[[G. Ostrogorsky]], ''History of the Byzantine State''</ref> Historians continue to research the status of the Jews in Asia Minor under Byzantine rule. (for a sample of views, see, for instance, J. Starr ''The Jews in the Byzantine Empire, 641–1204''; S. Bowman, ''The Jews of Byzantium''; R. Jenkins ''Byzantium''; Averil Cameron, "Byzantines and Jews: Recent Work on Early Byzantium", ''Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies'' 20 (1996)). No systematic persecution of the type endemic at that time in Western Europe (pogroms, the stake, mass [[Expulsions and exoduses of Jews|expulsions]], etc.) has been recorded in Byzantium.<ref>''The Oxford History of Byzantium'', C. Mango (Ed) (2002)</ref> Much of the Jewish population of Constantinople remained in place after the conquest of the city by [[Mehmet II]].{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

<gallery widths="180">
File:Roman. Mosaic of Menorah with Lulav and Ethrog, 6th century C.E.jpg|''Mosaic of Menorah with Lulav and Ethrog'', 6th century [[Brooklyn Museum]]
File:Beit Alpha.jpg|Mosaic pavement of a synagogue at [[Beit Alpha]] (5th century)
File:ZodiacMosaicTzippori.jpg|Mosaic in the [[Tzippori Synagogue]] (5th century)
File:Hammat Gader.JPG|Mosaic pavement recovered from the [[Hamat Gader]] synagogue (5th or 6th century)
</gallery>

=== Diaspora communities ===
[[File:Arrival of the Jewish pilgrims at Coachin, A.D. 68.jpg|thumb|Arrival of the Jewish pilgrims at Cochin, 68 CE]]
Cochin Jewish tradition holds that the roots of their community go back to the arrival of Jews at [[Kodungallur|Shingly]] in 72 CE, after the [[Destruction of the Second Temple]]. It also states that a Jewish kingdom, understood to mean the granting of autonomy by a local king, Cheraman Perumal, to the community, under their leader Joseph Rabban, in 379 CE. The first synagogue there was built in 1568. The legend of the founding of Indian [[Christianity in Kerala]] by [[Thomas the Apostle]] relates that on his arrival there, he encountered a local girl who understood Hebrew.<ref>Nathan Katz, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OEolDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 ''Who Are the Jews of India?,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160937/https://books.google.com/books?id=OEolDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|date=April 9, 2023}} [[University of California Press]], 2000 {{isbn|978-0-520-92072-9}} pp. 13–14, 17–18</ref>

Perhaps in the 4th century, the [[Kingdom of Semien]], a Jewish nation in modern [[Beta Israel|Ethiopia]] was established, lasting until the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exploring a Forgotten Jewish Land – Archaeology Magazine |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/498-2301/letter-from/11057-ethiopia-beta-israel |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=www.archaeology.org}}</ref>

== Medieval period ==

=== Islamic period (638–1099) ===
{{Main|History of the Jews under Muslim rule}}
[[File:Education (T-S K5.13) (cropped).jpg|right|thumb|[[Cairo Geniza]] fragment, [[Cambridge University Library]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cairo Genizah : Education |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-K-00005-00013 |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Cambridge Digital Library}}</ref>]]
In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant. The Arab [[Rashidun Caliphate|Islamic Empire]] under [[Caliph Umar]] conquered Jerusalem and the lands of [[Mesopotamia]], [[History of Syria|Syria]], Palestine and Egypt. As a political system, Islam created radically new conditions for Jewish economic, social, and intellectual development.<ref>Ehrlich, Mark. ''Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1''. ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 152.({{ISBN|978-1-85109-873-6}})</ref> Umar permitted the Jews to reestablish their presence in Jerusalem–after a lapse of 500 years.<ref name="Bashan-2007">{{cite EJ |last=Bashan |first=Eliezer |volume=15 |page=419 |title=Omar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb}}</ref> Jewish tradition regards Umar as a benevolent ruler and the Midrash (Nistarot de-Rav Shimon bar Yoḥai) refers to him as a "friend of Israel".<ref name="Bashan-2007" />

According to the Arab geographer [[al-Maqdisi]], the Jews worked as "the assayers of coins, the dyers, the tanners and the bankers in the community".<ref name="Joseph E. Katz-2001" /> During the [[Fatimid]] period, many Jewish officials served in the regime.<ref name="Joseph E. Katz-2001">{{cite web |url=http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/presence.html |title=Continuous Jewish Presence in the Holy Land |author=Joseph E. Katz |year=2001 |publisher=EretzYisroel.Org |access-date=August 12, 2012 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125175116/http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/presence.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Professor [[Moshe Gil]] believes that at the time of the Arab conquest in the 7th century, the majority of the population was Christian and Jewish.<ref>Moshe Gil, ''A History of Palestine: 634–1099'' pp. 170, 220–221.</ref>

During this time Jews lived in thriving communities all across ancient Babylonia. In the Geonic period (650–1250 CE), the Babylonian Yeshiva Academies were the chief centres of Jewish learning; the [[Geonim]] (meaning either "Splendor" or "Geniuses"), who were the heads of these schools, were recognized as the highest authorities in Jewish law.

In the 7th century, the new Muslim rulers institute the [[kharaj]] land tax, which led to mass migration of Babylonian Jews from the countryside to cities like [[Baghdad]]. This in turn led to greater wealth and international influence, as well as a more cosmopolitan outlook from Jewish thinkers such as [[Saadiah Gaon]], who now deeply engaged with Western philosophy for the first time. When the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] and the city of Baghdad declined in the 10th century, many Babylonian Jews migrated to the Mediterranean region, contributing to the spread of Babylonian Jewish customs throughout the Jewish world.<ref>[[Marina Rustow]], [http://perspectives.ajsnet.org/the-iran-iraq-issue-fall-2010/baghdad-in-the-west-migration-and-the-making-of-medieval-jewish-traditions/ Baghdad in the West: Migration and the Making of Medieval Jewish Traditions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711065105/http://perspectives.ajsnet.org/the-iran-iraq-issue-fall-2010/baghdad-in-the-west-migration-and-the-making-of-medieval-jewish-traditions/ |date=July 11, 2020 }}</ref>

=== Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain (711–1031) ===
{{Main|Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain}}
The golden age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the [[Middle Ages]] in Europe, a period of [[Al-Andalus|Muslim rule]] throughout much of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. During that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed.

A period of tolerance thus dawned for the Jews of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], whose number was considerably augmented by immigration from Africa in the wake of the Muslim conquest. Especially after 912, during the reign of [[Abd-ar-Rahman III]] and his son, [[al-Hakam II]], the Jews prospered, devoting themselves to the service of the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], to the study of the sciences, and to commerce and industry, especially to trading in silk and slaves, in this way promoting the prosperity of the country. Jewish economic expansion was unparalleled. In [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], Jews were involved in translating Arabic texts to the [[Romance languages]], as well as translating Greek and Hebrew texts into Arabic. Jews also contributed to botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy.<ref name="Sephardim Archived September 7">[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html Sephardim] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907212349/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html |date=September 7, 2012 }} by Rebecca Weiner.</ref><ref>Ahmed, M.I. Muslim-Jewish Harmony: A Politically-Contingent Reality. Religions 2022, 13, 535. {{doi|10.3390/rel13060535|doi-access=free}}</ref> According to [[Bernard Lewis]]:

{{Blockquote|Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community. Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population.<ref>Lewis, Bernard W (1984). ''The Jews of Islam''</ref>|}}

'Abd al-Rahman's court physician and minister was Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, the patron of Menahem ben Saruq, Dunash ben Labrat, and other Jewish scholars and poets. Jewish thought during this period flourished under famous figures such as Samuel Ha-Nagid, Moses ibn Ezra, Solomon ibn Gabirol [[Judah Halevi]] and [[Moses Maimonides]].<ref name="Sephardim Archived September 7" /> During 'Abd al-Rahman's term of power, the scholar [[Moses ben Enoch]] was appointed [[rabbi]] of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], and as a consequence [[al-Andalus]] became the centre of Talmudic study, and [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] the meeting-place of Jewish savants.

The Golden Age ended with the invasion of al-Andalus by the [[Almohads]], a conservative dynasty originating in North Africa, who were highly intolerant of religious minorities.

=== Jews and the Crusades (1099–1260) ===
{{Main|History of the Jews and the Crusades}}
{{See also|Siege of Jerusalem (1099)}}
[[File:1099jerusalem.jpg|thumb|left|[[Siege of Jerusalem (1099)|Capture of Jerusalem]], 1099]]
Sermonical messages to avenge the death of Jesus encouraged Christians to participate in the Crusades. The 12th-century Jewish narration from R. Solomon ben Samson records that crusaders en route to the Holy Land decided that before combating the Ishmaelites they would massacre the Jews residing in their midst to avenge the [[crucifixion of Christ]]. The massacres began at [[Rouen]] and Jewish communities in [[Rhine Valley]] were seriously affected.<ref name="Malamat-1976">{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |title=A History of the Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/413 413]}}</ref>

Crusading attacks were made upon Jews in the territory around Heidelberg. A huge loss of Jewish life took place. Many were forcibly converted to Christianity and many committed suicide to avoid baptism. A major driving factor behind the choice to commit suicide was the Jewish realisation that upon being slain their children could be taken to be raised as Christians. The Jews were living in the middle of Christian lands and felt this danger acutely.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |title=A History of the Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/416 416]}}</ref> This massacre is seen as the first in a sequence of antisemitic events which culminated in the Holocaust.<ref>{{cite book |author=David Nirenberg |editor=Gerd Althoff |others=Johannes Fried |title=Medieval Concepts of the Past: Ritual, Memory, Historiography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxS6-pQZzGsC&pg=PA279 |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-78066-7 |pages=279–}}</ref> Jewish populations felt that they had been abandoned by their Christian neighbours and rulers during the massacres and lost faith in all promises and charters.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |title=A History of the Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/419 419]}}</ref>

Many Jews chose self-defence. But their means of self-defence were limited and their casualties only increased. Most of the forced conversions proved ineffective. Many Jews reverted to their original faith later. The pope protested this but Emperor Henry IV agreed to permitting these reversions.<ref name="Malamat-1976" /> The massacres began a new epoch for Jewry in Christendom. The Jews had preserved their faith from social pressure, now they had to preserve it at sword point. The massacres during the crusades strengthened Jewry from within spiritually. The Jewish perspective was that their struggle was Israel's struggle to hallow the name of God.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |title=A History of the Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/414 414]–}}</ref>

In 1099, Jews helped the Arabs to defend Jerusalem against the [[Crusaders]]. When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered many Jews in a synagogue and set it on fire.<ref name="Malamat-1976" /> In Haifa, the Jews almost single-handedly defended the town against the Crusaders, holding out for a month, (June–July 1099).<ref name="Joseph E. Katz-2001" /> At this time there were Jewish communities scattered all over the country, including Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon, Caesarea, and [[Gaza City|Gaza]]. As Jews were not allowed to hold land during the Crusader period, they worked at trades and commerce in the coastal towns during times of quiescence. Most were artisans: glassblowers in [[Sidon]], furriers and dyers in Jerusalem.<ref name="Joseph E. Katz-2001" />

During this period, the [[Masoretes]] of Tiberias established the ''[[niqqud]]'', a system of [[diacritic]]s used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the [[Hebrew alphabet]]. Numerous [[piyutim]] and [[midrash]]im were recorded in Palestine at this time.<ref name="Joseph E. Katz-2001" />

[[Maimonides]] wrote that in 1165 he visited Jerusalem and went to the Temple Mount, where he prayed in the "great, holy house".<ref>Sefer HaCharedim Mitzvat Tshuva Chapter 3</ref> Maimonides established a yearly holiday for himself and his sons, the 6th of [[Cheshvan]], commemorating the day he went up to pray on the Temple Mount, and another, the 9th of Cheshvan, commemorating the day he merited to pray at the [[Cave of the Patriarchs]] in [[Hebron]].

In 1141 [[Yehuda Halevi]] issued a call to Jews to emigrate to Palestine and took on the long journey himself. After a stormy passage from [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]], he arrived in Egyptian [[Alexandria]], where he was enthusiastically greeted by friends and admirers. At [[Damietta]], he had to struggle against his heart, and the pleadings of his friend Ḥalfon ha-Levi, that he remain in Egypt, where he would be free from intolerant oppression. He started on the rough route overland. He was met along the way by Jews in [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] and [[Damascus]]. Jewish legend relates that as he came near Jerusalem, overpowered by the sight of the Holy City, he sang his most beautiful elegy, the celebrated "Zionide" (''Zion ha-lo Tish'ali''). At that instant, an Arab had galloped out of a gate and rode him down; he was killed in the accident.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}

=== Mamluk period (1260–1517) ===
[[Nahmanides]] is recorded as settling in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1267. He moved to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], where he was active in spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time neglected in the Holy Land. He gathered a circle of pupils around him, and people came in crowds, even from the district of the Euphrates, to hear him. [[Karaite Judaism|Karaites]] were said to have attended his lectures, among them Aaron ben Joseph the Elder. He later became one of the greatest [[Karaite (Jewish sect)|Karaite]] authorities. Shortly after Nahmanides' arrival in Jerusalem, he addressed a letter to his son Nahman, in which he described the desolation of the Holy City. At the time, it had only two Jewish inhabitants—two brothers, dyers by trade. In a later letter from Acre, Nahmanides counsels his son to cultivate humility, which he considers to be the first of virtues. In another, addressed to his second son, who occupied an official position at the [[Crown of Castile|Castilian]] court, Nahmanides recommends the recitation of the daily prayers and warns above all against immorality. Nahmanides died after reaching seventy-six, and his remains were interred at [[Haifa]], by the grave of [[Yechiel of Paris]].

Yechiel had [[aliyah|emigrated]] to Acre in 1260, along with his son and a large group of followers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/places/acco.html |title=Jewish Zionist Education |publisher=Jafi.org.il |date=May 15, 2005 |access-date=August 13, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013142810/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/places/acco.html |archive-date=October 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lookstein.org/resources/bionotes.pdf |title=Hadrat Melech |access-date=April 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502035808/http://www.lookstein.org/resources/bionotes.pdf |archive-date=May 2, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> There he established the Talmudic academy ''Midrash haGadol d'Paris''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishhistory.com/jh.php?id=AdditionalReadings&content=content/segal_ch17 |title=Section III: The Biblical Age: Chapter Seventeen: Awaiting the Messiah |author=Benjamin J. Segal |work=Returning, the Land of Israel as a Focus in Jewish History |publisher=JewishHistory.com |access-date=August 12, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227184802/http://www.jewishhistory.com/jh.php?id=AdditionalReadings&content=content%2Fsegal_ch17 |archive-date=February 27, 2012}}</ref> He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268. In 1488 [[Obadiah ben Abraham]], commentator on the [[Mishnah]], arrived in Jerusalem; this marked a new period of return for the Jewish community in the land.

==== Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East ====
{{Main|History of the Jews in Spain}}
{{See also|Islam and Judaism|Mizrahi Jew|History of the Jews under Muslim rule}}
[[File:Hebrew Bible Spain.jpg|right|thumb|Sephardic Hebrew Bible from Spain, 1300<ref>[https://lccn.loc.gov/2021667534]</ref>]]
During the Middle Ages, Jews were generally better treated by Islamic rulers than Christian ones. Despite second-class citizenship, Jews played prominent roles in Muslim courts, and experienced a Golden Age in [[Moorish Spain]] about 900–1100, though the situation deteriorated after that time. Riots resulting in the deaths of Jews did however occur in North Africa through the centuries and especially in [[Morocco]], [[Libya]] and [[Algeria]], where eventually Jews were forced to live in ghettos.<ref>Maurice Roumani, ''The Case of the Jews from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue'', 1977, pp. 26–27.</ref>

During the 11th century, Muslims in Spain conducted pogroms against the Jews; those occurred in Cordoba in 1011 and in [[1066 Granada massacre|Granada in 1066]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |title=Granada |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6855-granada |access-date=August 12, 2012 |year=1906 |archive-date=April 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412000424/https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6855-granada |url-status=live}}</ref> During the Middle Ages, the governments of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Yemen enacted decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues. At certain times, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face death in some parts of Yemen, Morocco and [[Baghdad]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_%28gen%29.html |title=The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries |author=Mitchell Bard |year=2012 |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=August 12, 2012 |archive-date=October 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007003054/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_(gen).html |url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} The [[Almohad]]s, who had taken control of much of Islamic Iberia by 1172, surpassed the [[Almoravides]] in fundamentalist outlook. They treated the ''[[dhimmi]]s'' harshly. They expelled both Jews and Christians from Morocco and Islamic Spain. Faced with the choice of death or conversion, many Jews emigrated.<ref>[http://www.theforgottenrefugees.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=39 The Forgotten Refugees] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051923/http://www.theforgottenrefugees.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=39 |date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> Some, such as the family of [[Maimonides]], fled south and east to more tolerant Muslim lands, while others went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html |title=Sephardim |author=Rebecca Weiner |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=August 12, 2012 |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907212349/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Kraemer, Joel L., "Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait," ''The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides'', pp. 16–17 (2005)</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}

=== Europe ===
{{Main|History of European Jews in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Mishnah (Ms. 3173; De Rossi 138), Palatina.jpg|right|thumb|11th century ''[[mishnah]]'' codex from Italy, [[Biblioteca Palatina, Parma]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=adkim |date=2014-02-28 |title=The Biblioteca Palatina and the National Library of Israel |url=https://primolevicenter.org/printed-matter/the-biblioteca-palatina-and-the-national-library-of-israel/ |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=Printed_Matter |language=en-US}}</ref>]]
According to [[James P. Carrol]], "Jews accounted for 10% of the total population of the Roman Empire. By that ratio, if other factors had not intervened, there would be 200 million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13 million."<ref>Carroll, James. ''[[Constantine's Sword]]'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) {{ISBN|978-0-395-77927-9}} p. 26</ref>

Jewish populations have existed in Europe, especially in the area of the former Roman Empire, from very early times. As Jewish males had emigrated, some sometimes took wives from local populations, as is shown by the various [[MtDNA]], compared to [[Y-DNA#Genetic genealogy|Y-DNA]] among Jewish populations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/14/science/in-dna-new-clues-to-jewish-roots.html |title=In DNA, New Clues to Jewish Roots |first=Nicholas |last=Wade |date=May 14, 2002 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 16, 2013 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126180104/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/14/science/in-dna-new-clues-to-jewish-roots.html |url-status=live}}</ref> These groups were joined by traders and later on by members of the diaspora.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}} Records of Jewish communities in France (see [[History of the Jews in France]]) and Germany (see [[History of the Jews in Germany]]) date from the 4th century, and substantial Jewish communities in Spain were noted even earlier.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}}

The historian [[Norman Cantor]] and other 20th-century scholars dispute the tradition that the Middle Ages was a uniformly difficult time for Jews. Before the Church became fully organized as an institution with an increasing array of rules, early medieval society was tolerant. Between 800 and 1100, an estimated 1.5 million Jews lived in Christian Europe. As they were not Christians, they were not included as a [[Estates of the realm|division]] of the feudal system of clergy, knights and serfs. This means that they did not have to satisfy the oppressive demands for labour and military conscription that Christian commoners suffered. In relations with the Christian society, the Jews were protected by kings, princes and bishops, because of the crucial services they provided in three areas: finance, administration and medicine.<ref name="Norman F" /> The lack of political strengths did leave Jews vulnerable to exploitation through extreme taxation.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ebenhard |last=Isenmann |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Bonney |title=The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c. 1200–1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U24lRLy_qT8C&pg=PA259 |date=1999 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-154220-6 |page=259}}</ref>

Christian scholars interested in the Bible consulted with Talmudic rabbis. As the Roman Catholic Church strengthened as an institution, the Franciscan and Dominican preaching orders were founded, and there was a rise of competitive middle-class, town-dwelling Christians. By 1300, the friars and local priests staged the Passion Plays during Holy Week, which depicted Jews (in contemporary dress) killing Christ, according to Gospel accounts. From this period, persecution of Jews and deportations became endemic. Around 1500, Jews found relative security and a renewal of prosperity in present-day [[Poland]].<ref name="Norman F">Norman F. Cantor, ''The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era'', Free Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-2688-2}}, pp. 28–29</ref>

After 1300, Jews suffered more discrimination and persecution in Christian Europe. Europe's Jewry was mainly urban and literate. The Christians were inclined to regard Jews as obstinate deniers of the truth because in their view the Jews were expected to know of the truth of the Christian doctrines from their knowledge of the Jewish scriptures. Jews were aware of the pressure to accept Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |first=Abraham |last=Malamat |title=A History of the Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishp00harv/page/412 412]}}</ref> As Catholics were forbidden by the church to loan money for interest, some Jews became prominent moneylenders. Christian rulers gradually saw the advantage of having such a class of people who could supply capital for their use without being liable to excommunication. As a result, the money trade of western Europe became a speciality of the Jews. But, in almost every instance when Jews acquired large amounts through banking transactions, during their lives or upon their deaths, the king would take it over.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5764-england "England"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730231726/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5764-england |date=July 30, 2020 }}, [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] (1906)</ref> Jews became imperial{{-"}}[[Servi camerae regis|''servi cameræ'']]{{-"}}, the property of the King, who might present them and their possessions to princes or cities.

Jews were frequently massacred and exiled from various European countries. The persecution hit its first peak during the [[Crusades]]. In the [[People's Crusade]] (1096) flourishing Jewish communities on the Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed. In the [[Second Crusade]] (1147) the Jews in France were subject to frequent massacres. They were also subjected to attacks by the [[Shepherds' Crusade (1251)|Shepherds' Crusades of 1251]] and [[Shepherds' Crusade (1320)|1320]]. The Crusades were followed by massive expulsions, including the [[Edict of Expulsion|expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290]];<ref>{{cite book |first=Robin R. |last=Mundill |title=England's Jewish Solution: Experiment and Expulsion, 1262–1290 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSKLfi_j110C |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52026-3}}</ref> in 1396 100,000 Jews were expelled from France; and in 1421, thousands were expelled from Austria. Over this time many Jews in Europe, either fleeing or being expelled, migrated to Poland, where they prospered into another [[History of the Jews in Poland#Early history to Golden Age: 966–1572|Golden Age]].

In Italy, Jews were allowed to live in Venice but were required to live in a [[ghetto]], and the practice spread across Italy (see [[Cum nimis absurdum]]) and was adopted in many places in Catholic Europe. Jews outside the Ghetto often had to wear a yellow star.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn539121 |title=Print of Jews forced to listen to a Christian sermon – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |website=collections.ushmm.org |access-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-date=November 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129142432/https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn539121 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>The Jewish-Christian Encounter in Medieval Preaching, Routledge 2015, edited by Jonathan Adams and Jussi Hanska chapter 13, see page 297</ref>

=== Expulsions of the Jews of Spain and Portugal ===
{{further|Expulsion of Jews from Spain|Persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of Portugal}}
[[File:Vicente Cutanda - A los pies del Salvador.jpg|thumb|250px|''At the Feet of the Saviour'', massacre of Jews in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], oil on canvas by [[Vicente Cutanda]] (1887)]]
[[File:Matanza de judíos en Barcelona - año 1391.jpg|thumb|250px|''Slaughter of Jews in Barcelona in 1391'' by [[Josep Segrelles]], {{circa|1910}}]]
[[File:A Expulsão dos Judeus (Roque Gameiro, Quadros da História de Portugal, 1917).png|250px|thumb|Expulsion of the Jews in 1497, in a 1917 watercolour by [[Alfredo Roque Gameiro]] ]]
[[File:Inquis1.jpg|thumb|250px|Burning of Crypto-Jews in Lisbon, Portugal]]
Significant repression of Spain's numerous community occurred during the 14th century, notably a [[History of the Jews in Spain#Massacres and mass conversions of 1391|major pogrom in 1391]] which resulted in the majority of Spain's 300,000 Jews converting to Catholicism. With the [[Granada War|conquest of the Muslim Kingdom of Granada]] in 1492, the Catholic monarchs issued the [[Alhambra Decree]], and Spain's remaining 100,000 Jews were forced to choose between conversion and exile. The expulsion of the Jews of Spain, is regarded by Jews as the worst catastrophe between the destruction of Jerusalem in 73 CE and the [[Holocaust]] of the 1940s.<ref>European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750 by Jonathan Israel, chapter 1 Exodus from the West (page 25)</ref>

As a result, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Jews left Spain, the remainder joining Spain's already numerous [[Converso]] community. Perhaps a quarter of a million Conversos thus were gradually absorbed by the dominant Catholic culture, although those among them who secretly practised Judaism were subject to 40 years of intense repression by the [[Spanish Inquisition]]. This was particularly the case up until 1530, after which the trials of Conversos by the Inquisition dropped to 3% of the total. Similar expulsions of Sephardic Jews occurred 1493 in [[Sicily]] (37,000 Jews) and Portugal in 1496. The expelled Spanish Jews fled mainly to the Ottoman Empire and North Africa and Portugal. A small number also settled in Holland and England.

The expulsion followed a long process of expulsions and bans from what are now England, France, Germany, Austria, and Holland. In January 1492, the [[Emirate of Granada|last Muslim state]] was defeated in Spain and six months later the Jews of Spain (the largest community in the world) were required to [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|convert or leave without their property]]. 100,000 converted with many continuing to [[Marrano|secretly practice Judaism]], for which the Catholic church's inquisition (led by [[Tomás de Torquemada]]) now mandated a sentence of death by public burning. 175,000 left Spain.<ref>The Jews of Spain by Jane Gerber, Free Press 1994 pp 138 – 144 / Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews by David Martin Gitlitz, University of New Mexico 2002, pp 75 – 81</ref>

Many [[Sephardi Jews|Spanish Jews]] moved to North Africa, [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]] and the Ottoman Empire, especially [[History of the Jews in Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki]] (now in Greece) which became the world's largest Jewish city. Some groups headed to the Middle East and Palestine, within the domains of the Ottoman Empire. About 100,000 Spanish Jews were allowed into Portugal, however five years later, their children were seized and they were given the choice of conversion or departing without them.<ref>The Jews of Spain by Jane Gerber, Free Press 1994 pp 142 – 144</ref>

== Early modern period ==
Historians who study modern Jewry have identified four different paths by which European Jews were "modernized" and thus integrated into the mainstream of European society. A common approach has been to view the process through the lens of the European [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] as Jews faced the promise and the challenges posed by political emancipation. Scholars that use this approach have focused on two social types as paradigms for the decline of Jewish tradition and as agents of the sea changes in Jewish culture that led to the collapse of the [[ghetto]]. The first of these two social types is the [[Court Jew]] who is portrayed as a forerunner of the modern Jew, having achieved integration with and participation in the proto-capitalist economy and court society of central European states such as the [[Habsburg Empire]]. In contrast to the cosmopolitan Court Jew, the second social type presented by historians of modern Jewry is the ''maskil'', (learned person), a proponent of the [[Haskalah]] (Enlightenment). This narrative sees the maskil's pursuit of secular scholarship and his rationalistic critiques of rabbinic tradition as laying a durable intellectual foundation for the secularization of Jewish society and culture. The established paradigm has been one in which Ashkenazic Jews entered modernity through a self-conscious process of westernization led by "highly atypical, Germanized Jewish intellectuals". Haskalah gave birth to the Reform and Conservative movements and planted the seeds of [[Zionism]] while at the same time encouraging cultural assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reframing Jewish History |date=May 2005 |url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10513 |access-date=May 24, 2011 |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930222143/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10513 |url-status=live}}</ref>
At around the same time that Haskalah was developing, [[Hasidic Judaism]] was spreading as a movement that preached a world view nearly opposed to the Haskalah.

In the 1990s, the concept of the "[[Port Jew]]" has been suggested as an "alternate path to modernity" that was distinct from the European [[Haskalah]]. In contrast to the focus on Ashkenazic Germanized Jews, the concept of the [[Port Jew]] focused on the Sephardi conversos who fled the Inquisition and resettled in European port towns on the coast of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Eastern seaboard of the United States.<ref name="Fry-2002">{{cite journal |title=Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Trading Centres, 1550–1950 |first=Helen P. |last=Fry |journal=European Judaism |volume=36 |publisher=Frank Cass Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7146-8286-0 |url=https://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5002650793 |quote=Port Jews were a social type, usually those who were involved in seafaring and maritime trade, who (like Court Jews) could be seen as the earliest modern Jews. Often arriving as refugees from the Inquisition, they were permitted to settle as merchants and allowed to trade openly in places such as Amsterdam, London, Trieste and Hamburg. 'Their Diaspora connections and accumulated expertise lay in exactly the areas of overseas expansion that were then of interest to mercantilist governments.' |access-date=September 1, 2017 |archive-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160935/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia?docId=5002650793 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Court Jews ===
[[Court Jew]]s were Jewish bankers or businessmen who lent money and handled the finances of some of the Christian European noble houses. Corresponding historical terms are ''Jewish bailiff'' and ''[[shtadlan]]''.

Examples of what would be later called court Jews emerged when local rulers used services of Jewish bankers for short-term loans. They lent money to nobles and in the process gained social influence. Noble patrons of court Jews employed them as financiers, suppliers, diplomats and [[trade delegate]]s. Court Jews could use their family connections, and connections between each other, to provision their sponsors with, among other things, food, arms, ammunition and precious metals. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including up to noble status for themselves, and could live outside the Jewish ghettos. Some nobles wanted to keep their bankers in their own courts. And because they were under noble protection, they were exempted from rabbinical jurisdiction.

From medieval times, court Jews could amass personal fortunes and gained political and social influence. Sometimes they were also prominent people in the local Jewish community and could use their influence to protect and influence their brethren. Sometimes they were the only Jews who could interact with the local high society and present petitions of the Jews to the ruler. However, the court Jew had social connections and influence in the Christian world mainly through his Christian patrons. Due to the precarious position of Jews, some nobles could just ignore their debts. If the sponsoring noble died, his Jewish financier could face exile or execution.{{Citation needed| date=February 2012}}

=== Port Jews ===

The [[Port Jew]] is a descriptive term for Jews who were involved in the seafaring and maritime economy of Europe, especially during the 17th and 18th centuries. Helen Fry suggests that they can be considered "the earliest modern Jews". According to Fry, Port Jews frequently arrived as "refugees from the Inquisition" and the expulsion of Jews from Iberia. They were allowed to settle in port cities because merchants granted them permission to trade in ports such as Amsterdam, London, Trieste and Hamburg. Fry notes that their connections to the [[Jewish Diaspora]] and their expertise in maritime trade made them particularly valuable to the mercantilist governments of Europe.<ref name="Fry-2002" /> Lois Dubin describes Port Jews as Jewish merchants who were "valued for their engagement in the international maritime trade upon which such cities thrived".<ref>Dubin, ''The port Jews of Habsburg Trieste: absolutist politics and enlightenment culture'', Stanford University Press, 1999, p. 47</ref> Sorkin and others have characterized the socio-cultural profile of these men as marked by a flexibility towards religion and a "reluctant cosmopolitanism that was alien to both traditional and 'enlightened' Jewish identities".

From the 16th to the 18th century, Jewish merchants dominated the chocolate and vanilla trade, exporting to Jewish centres across Europe, mainly Amsterdam, Bayonne, Bordeaux, Hamburg and Livorno.<ref>Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Gil Marks, HMH, November 17, 2010</ref>

=== Ottoman Empire ===
{{Main|History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire}}

During the Classical Ottoman period (1300–1600), the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, enjoyed a certain level of prosperity. Compared with other Ottoman subjects, they were the predominant power in commerce and trade as well in diplomacy and other high offices. In the 16th century especially, the Jews were the most prominent under the ''[[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millets']]'', the apogee of Jewish influence could arguably be the appointment of [[Joseph Nasi]] to [[Sanjak-bey]] (governor, a rank usually only held by Muslims) of the island of [[Naxos]].<ref>Charles Issawi & Dmitri Gondicas; ''Ottoman Greeks in the Age of Nationalism'', Princeton, (1999)</ref>

At the time of the [[Battle of Yarmuk]] when the Levant passed under Muslim Rule, thirty Jewish communities existed in Haifa, Sh'chem, Hebron, Ramleh, Gaza, Jerusalem, and many in the north. Safed became a spiritual centre for the Jews and the [[Shulchan Aruch]] was compiled there as well as many Kabbalistic texts. The first Hebrew printing press, and the first printing in Western Asia began in 1577.

Jews lived in the geographic area of Asia Minor (modern Turkey, but more geographically either Anatolia or Asia Minor) for more than 2,400 years. Initial prosperity in Hellenistic times had faded under Christian Byzantine rule, but recovered somewhat under the rule of the various Muslim governments that displaced and succeeded rule from Constantinople. For much of the Ottoman period, Turkey was a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, and it continues to have a small Jewish population today. The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economical prosperity at times but were widely persecuted at other times was summarised by G. E. Von Grunebaum:

<blockquote>It would not be difficult to put together the names of a very sizeable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence, to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same could be done for Christians. But it would again not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions, or pogroms.<ref>G. E. Von Grunebaum, ''Eastern Jewry Under Islam'', 1971, p. 369.</ref></blockquote>

=== Russia, Poland, and Eastern Europe ===
{{Further|History of the Jews in Poland|History of the Jews in Russia|History of the Jews in Ukraine|History of the Jews in Lithuania|History of the Jews in Romania}}
{{expand section|date=October 2025}}

In the 17th century, there were many significant Jewish populations in Western and Central Europe. The relatively tolerant Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe that dated back to the 13th century, and enjoyed relative prosperity and freedom for nearly four hundred years. However, the calm situation ended when Polish and Lithuanian Jews of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] were slaughtered in the hundreds of thousands by Ukrainian Cossacks during the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]] (1648) and by the [[Swedish wars]] (1655). Driven by these and other persecutions, some Jews moved back to Western Europe in the 17th century, notably to [[Amsterdam]]. The last ban on Jewish residency in a European nation was revoked in 1654, but periodic expulsions from individual cities still occurred, and Jews were often restricted from land ownership, or forced to live in [[ghetto]]s.

With the [[Partitions of Poland]] in the late 18th century, the Polish-Jewish population was split between the [[Russian Empire]], [[Austria-Hungary]], and German [[Prussia]], which divided Poland among themselves.

=== European Enlightenment and Haskalah (18th century) ===
[[File:Moritz Daniel Oppenheim--Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn--1856--Magnes Collection.jpg|thumb|right|[[Moses Mendelssohn]] (in red coat), Lavater (at right) and Lessing (standing), in an imaginary portrait by the Jewish artist [[Moritz Daniel Oppenheim]] (1856), [[Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life]]]]
During the period of the [[European Renaissance]] and Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community. The [[Haskalah]] movement paralleled the wider Enlightenment, as Jews in the 18th century began to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. Secular and scientific education was added to the traditional religious instruction received by students, and interest in a national Jewish identity, including a revival in the study of Jewish history and Hebrew, started to grow. Among the prominient Haskalah intellectuals were [[Moses Mendelssohn]], [[Naphtali Hirz Wessely]], [[Isaac Satanow]] and [[Isaac Euchel]].

Haskalah gave birth to the [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] movements in Judaism and planted the seeds of [[Zionism]] while at the same time encouraging cultural assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided.

At around the same time another movement was born, one preaching almost the opposite of Haskalah, [[Hasidic Judaism]]. Hasidic Judaism began in the 18th century by [[Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov]], and quickly gained a following with its more exuberant, mystical approach to religion. These two movements, and the traditional orthodox approach to Judaism from which they spring, formed the basis for the modern divisions within Jewish observance.

At the same time, the outside world was changing, and debates began over the potential emancipation of the Jews (granting them equal rights). The first country to do so was France, during the [[French Revolution]] in 1789. Even so, Jews were expected to assimilate, not continue their traditions. This ambivalence is demonstrated in the famous speech of [[Clermont-Tonnerre]] before the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] in 1789:

<blockquote>We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals. We must withdraw recognition from their judges; they should only have our judges. We must refuse legal protection to the maintenance of the so-called laws of their Judaic organization; they should not be allowed to form in the state either a political body or an order. They must be citizens individually. But, some will say to me, they do not want to be citizens. Well then! If they do not want to be citizens, they should say so, and then, we should banish them. It is repugnant to have in the state an association of non-citizens, and a nation within the nation...</blockquote>

=== Hasidic Judaism ===
{{See also|Mitnagdim}}
[[File:Maurycy Gottlieb - Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur.jpg|thumb|upright=1|right|Hasidic Jews praying in the synagogue on [[Yom Kippur]], by [[Maurycy Gottlieb]]]]

[[Hasidic Judaism]] is a branch of [[Orthodox Judaism]] that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalization of [[Jewish mysticism]] as the fundamental aspects of the [[Jewish faith]]. Hasidism comprises part of contemporary [[Ultra-Orthodox]] Judaism, alongside the previous Talmudic [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian-Yeshiva]] approach and the Oriental [[Sephardi Judaism|Sephardi]] tradition. It was founded in 18th-century Eastern Europe by Rabbi Israel [[Baal Shem Tov]] as a reaction against overly [[Talmud|legalistic]] Judaism. Opposite to this, Hasidic teachings cherished the sincerity and concealed holiness of the unlettered common folk, and their equality with the scholarly elite. The emphasis on the [[Immanent]] Divine presence in everything gave new value to prayer and deeds of kindness, alongside Rabbinic supremacy of [[Torah study|study]], and replaced historical [[Kabbalah|mystical (kabbalistic)]] and [[Musar literature|ethical (musar)]] [[Asceticism in Judaism|asceticism]] and [[Maggid|admonishment]] with optimism, encouragement, and daily [[Deveikut|fervour]]. This populist emotional revival accompanied the elite ideal of nullification to paradoxical Divine [[Panentheism]], through intellectual articulation of inner dimensions of mystical thought. The adjustment of Jewish values sought to add to required standards of ritual [[Halacha|observance]], while relaxing others where inspiration predominated. Its communal gatherings celebrate soulful [[Nigun|song]] and [[Yiddish literature#Hasidic and Haskalah literature|storytelling]] as forms of mystical devotion.{{Citation needed| date=February 2012}}

== 19th century ==
[[File:Napoleon stellt den israelitischen Kult wieder her, 30. Mai 1806.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|An 1806 French print depicts [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] emancipating the Jews.]]
Though persecution still existed, [[Jewish emancipation]] spread throughout Europe in the 19th century. [[Napoleon]] invited Jews to leave the [[Jewish ghettos in Europe]] and seek refuge in the newly created tolerant political regimes that offered equality under Napoleonic Law (see [[Napoleon and the Jews]]). Gradually all European nations established in constitutions the principle of equality under the law and abolished all restrictions for Jews.<ref name="encyclopedia.ushmm.org">[https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-the-era-of-nationalism-1800-1918 Antisemitism in History: The Era of Nationalism, 1800–1918]</ref><ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/emancipation Emancipation]</ref><ref>[https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-emancipation-in-western-europe/ Jewish Emancipation in Western Europe]</ref><ref>[https://d-nb.info/1175689041/34 Jewish Emancipation in the 18th and 19th Centuries]</ref>
[[File:Antisemiticroths.jpg|thumb|A caricature by [[Charles Lucien Léandre]] (France, 1898) showing [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] with the world in his hands]]
Jews now could own land, enter the civil servicу. The abolition of restraints on political activism and the broadening of the electoral franchise on the basis of citizenship, not religion, made Jews most visible among [[liberalism|liberal]], [[Radical politics|radical]], and [[Marxism|Marxist]] ([[Social Democracy|Social Democratic]]) political parties.<ref name="encyclopedia.ushmm.org"/>

For centuries, so-called [[court Jew]]s acted as the principal financiers for the European aristocracys. In the 1760s, one of them, [[Mayer Amschel Rothschild]], established a banking business in Germany that eventually became a vast international conglomerate and yield one of the largest family fortunes in world history. Thus the name of the [[Rothschilds]] became synonymous with Jewish financial power. Across Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, other Jews also created a number of influential banks.<ref>[https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/usury-and-moneylending-in-judaism/ Jews and Finance]</ref>

The most important branch of Jewish economic life in Eastern Europe was trade. While most remained small shopkeepers, stallholders, and peddlers, others became owners of department stores and shopping arcades. During the 19th century Jews began to move from rural regions to cities, this contributed to the decline of traditional Jewish tavernkeeping. Jews made up a considerable proportion of all craftsmen in the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] during the 19th century, but with the spread of industrialization large factories tended to squeeze out small Jewish-run workshops, and only limited numbers of Jews became employees in these modern factories. Jews were considered less desirable employees since they did not want to work on Saturdays and tended to organize into unions to demand improved working conditions, the foundation of the [[General Jewish Labour Bund|Bund]] in the Russian Empire in 1897 strengthened this process.<ref name="Economic Life">[https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/7 Economic Life]</ref>

The economic achivements of Jews in the 19th century created the impression for some that Jews were being overrepresented in such lucrative occupations as finance, banking, trade, industry, medicine, law, journalism, art, music, literature, and theater. Despite increasing integration of the Jews with secular society, a new form of [[antisemitism]] emerged, [[Racial antisemitism|based on the ideas of race and nationhood]] rather than the religious hatred of the Middle Ages. This form of antisemitism held that Jews were a separate and inferior race from the [[Aryan]] people of Western Europe, and led to the emergence of political parties in France, Germany, and [[Austria-Hungary]] that campaigned on a platform of rolling back emancipation. This form of antisemitism emerged frequently in European culture, most famously in the [[Dreyfus Trial]] in France.<ref name="encyclopedia.ushmm.org"/><ref>[https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/anti-semitism-europe-history/ Antisemitism in Europe and America in the Modern Period: Historical Perspectives]</ref><ref>[https://www.quest-cdecjournal.it/anti-jewish-prejudices-antisemitic-ideologies-open-violence-antisemitism-in-european-comparison-from-the-1870s-to-the-first-world-war-a-commentary/ Anti-Jewish Prejudices, Antisemitic Ideologies, Open Violence: Antisemitism in European Comparison from the 1870s to the First World War. A Commentary]</ref>

During this period, Jewish migration to the United States (see [[American Jews]]) created a large new community mostly freed of the restrictions of Europe. Over 2 million Jews arrived in the United States between 1890 and 1924, most from the Russian Empire and Galicia. A similar case occurred in the southern tip of the continent, specifically in the countries of [[Argentina]] and [[Uruguay]].

== 20th century ==
=== Modern Zionism ===
{{Main|Zionism|History of Zionism|Proto-Zionism}}

[[File:Herzl on a balcony 1901.jpg|thumb|Theodor Herzl, visionary of the Jewish State, in Basel, photographed during [[World Zionist Congress|Fifth Zionist Congress]] in December 1901, by [[Ephraim Moses Lilien]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Theodor Herzl Signed Photograph, Basel, Switzerland {{!}} Shapell Manuscript Foundation |url=https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/theodor-herzl-signed-photograph-basel-switzerland/ |website=Shapell |access-date=May 10, 2023}}</ref>]]

During the 1870s and 1880s, the Jewish population in Europe began to more actively discuss emigration to [[Ottoman Syria]] with the aim of re-establishing a Jewish polity in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and fulfilling the biblical prophecies related to [[Shivat Tzion]]. In 1882 the first Zionist settlement—[[Rishon LeZion]]—was founded by immigrants who belonged to the "[[Hovevei Zion]]" movement. Later on, the "[[Bilu (movement)|Bilu]]" movement established many other settlements in Palestine.

The Zionist movement was officially founded after the [[Kattowitz convention]] (1884) and the [[World Zionist Congress]] (1897), and it was [[Theodor Herzl]] who initiated the struggle to establish a state for the Jews.

After the [[First World War]], it seemed that the conditions that made it possible for the Jews to establish such a state had arrived: The United Kingdom captured [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] from the Ottoman Empire, and the Jews received the promise of a "National Home" from the British in the form of the [[Balfour Declaration]] of 1917, given to [[Chaim Weizmann]].

In 1920, the British Mandate of Palestine was established and the pro-Jewish [[Herbert Samuel]] was appointed High Commissioner of Palestine, the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] was established and several large Jewish immigration waves to Palestine occurred. The Arab inhabitants of Palestine grew hostile to increasing Jewish immigration, and as a result, they began to express their opposition to the establishment of Jewish settlements and the pro-Jewish policy of the British government.

New Jewish immigrants began to create militias and paramilitary groups such as the [[Bar-Giora]] and [[Hashomer]].

Clashes between Jews and Arabs became more frequent. After the [[1920 Nebi Musa riots]], the Jewish leadership in Palestine believed that the British had little desire to involve themselves in these clashes and maintain order. Believing that they could not rely on the British administration for protection, the Jewish leadership created the [[Haganah]] and [[Irgun]] paramilitary organizations in order to protect its community's farms and [[Kibbutz]]im.

These paramilitary organization were involved in major riots, such as the [[Jaffa riots]], [[1929 Palestine riots]] and the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]]. Arabs, Jews and Britons suffered in this violence.

Due to the increasing violence, the United Kingdom gradually started to backtrack from its original idea of supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland and it also started to speculate on a [[binational solution]] to the crisis or the establishment of an Arab state that would have a Jewish minority.

===Jews in Europe and the United States after World War I ===
[[File:Yung-teater poster 15.jpg|thumb|Bilingual [[Polish language|Polish]]-[[Yiddish]] poster for the [[Warsaw]] [[Young Theater]]'s production of ''Mississippi'' in 1935, written by [[Leib Malach]]]]
The World War I and subsequent political changes, such as the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917 and the establishment of new nation-states after 1918, led to far-reaching consequenсes for the Jews of Eastern Europe. The authorities of the [[Soviet Union]] viewed private commerce as negative and sought to bring all trade under the aegis of state enterprises. Therefore, many Jews, who had previously made their living from trade, were forced to find other occupations. In Poland, Hungary, and Romania, the authorities adopted policies aimed at ethnicizing their national economies, aiming to exclude Jews as far as possible from the marketplace.<ref name="Economic Life"/>

Nevertheless, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. In Austria in the years between the two World Wars Jews were approximately 3.5% of the population but were 27.3% of university professors. In Germany between 1918 and 1933 Jews were 0.78% of the population but were 16% of the doctors, 15% of the dentists, 25% of the lawyers, 50% of the theatre directors and occupied 80% of the leading positions in the [[Berlin stock exchange]]. In Poland in 1931 Jews were 10.2% of the population but were 56% of the doctors in private practice, 33% of the lawyers, and 24% of the pharmacists. In Russia during the period 1917–1939 Jews were approximately 1.8% of the population, while Jews were 9% of the officers in military academies, 15% of the university graduates, 11% of the doctors and 14% of the university professors.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Lynn | first1=Richard | last2=Kanazawa | first2=Satoshi | title=How to explain high Jewish achievement: The role of intelligence and values | journal=Personality and Individual Differences | date=2008 | volume=44 | issue=4 | pages=801–808 | doi=10.1016/j.paid.2007.10.019 | url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886907003674 }}</ref>

Among those Jews who were generally considered the most famous were the scientist [[Albert Einstein]] and the philosopher [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]. At that time, a disproportionate number of [[Nobel Prize]] winners were Jewish, as is still the case.<ref name="jinfo.org" />

=== The Holocaust ===
{{Main|History of the Jews during World War II|The Holocaust}}
[[File:Rows of bodies of dead inmates fill the yard of Lager Nordhausen, a Gestapo concentration camp.jpg|thumb|Bodies of inmates of the [[Mittelbau-Dora]] Nazi concentration camp who died during [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Bombing of Nordhausen in World War II|bombing raids]] on April 3 and 4, 1945]]

In 1933, with [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party]]'s rise to power in Germany, the Jewish situation became more severe. [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|Economic crises]], [[Anti-Jewish legislation in pre-war Nazi Germany|racial Anti-Jewish laws]], and fear of an upcoming war led many Jews to flee from Europe and settle in [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1939, [[World War II]] began and until 1945, [[German-occupied Europe|Germany occupied almost all of Europe]], including [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Poland]]—[[History of the Jews in Poland|where millions of Jews were living at that time]]—and [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|France]]. In 1941, following the [[invasion of the Soviet Union]], the [[Final Solution]] began, an extensive organized operation on an unprecedented scale, aimed at the annihilation of the Jewish people, and resulting in the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe, as well as Jews in European North Africa (pro-Nazi [[Vichy France|Vichy]]-[[French North Africa|North Africa]] and [[Italian Libya]]). This [[genocide]], in which approximately six million Jews were methodically murdered with horrifying cruelty, is known as [[The Holocaust]] or the ''Shoah'' (Hebrew term). In Poland, as many as one million Jews were murdered in [[gas chambers]] at the [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz camp complex]].

The massive scale of the Holocaust, and the horrors that happened during it, were only understood after the war, and they heavily affected the Jewish nation and world public opinion. Efforts were then increased to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.

=== The establishment of the State of Israel ===
{{Main|History of Israel}}
{{See also|Israel|Declaration of Independence (Israel)}}
{{History of Israel}}
In 1945 the Jewish resistance organizations in Palestine unified and established the Jewish Resistance Movement. The movement began guerrilla attacks against Arab paramilitaries and the British authorities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/resist.html |title=The Jewish Resistance Movement |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=August 12, 2012 |archive-date=September 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907162736/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/resist.html |url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} Following the [[King David Hotel bombing]], [[Chaim Weizmann]], president of the [[WZO]] appealed to the movement to cease all further military activity until a decision would be reached by the [[Jewish Agency]]. The Jewish Agency backed Weizmann's recommendation to cease activities, a decision reluctantly accepted by the Haganah, but not by the [[Irgun]] and [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]]. The JRM was dismantled and each of the founding groups continued operating according to their own policy.<ref>Horne, Edward (1982). ''A Job Well Done (Being a History of The Palestine Police Force 1920–1948)''. Anchor. {{ISBN|978-0-9508367-0-6}}. pp. 272, 299. States that Haganah withdrew on July 1, 1946. But remained permanently uncooperative.</ref>

The Jewish leadership decided to centre the struggle in the illegal immigration to Palestine and began organizing a massive number of Jewish war refugees from Europe, without the approval of the British authorities. This immigration contributed a great deal to the Jewish settlements in Israel in the world public opinion and the British authorities decided to let the United Nations decide upon the fate of Palestine.{{Citation needed| date=February 2012}}

On November 29, 1947, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted [[Resolution 181]](II) recommending partitioning Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the City of Jerusalem. The Jewish leadership accepted the decision but the Arab League and the leadership of Palestinian Arabs opposed it. Following a period of [[1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]] the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] started.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}

In the middle of the war, after the last British soldiers of the Palestine Mandate left, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed on May 14, 1948, the establishment of a [[Jewish state]] in [[Eretz Israel]] to be known as the [[State of Israel]]. The war ended in 1949 and Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world, notably [[Jewish exodus from the Muslim world|Arab countries]].

Since 1948, Israel has been involved in a series of major military conflicts, including the 1956 [[Suez Crisis]], 1967 [[Six-Day War]], 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], [[1982 Lebanon War]], and [[2006 Lebanon War]], as well as a nearly constant series of [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict|ongoing minor conflicts]].

Since 1977, an ongoing and largely unsuccessful series of diplomatic efforts have been initiated by Israel, Palestinian organizations, their neighbours, and other parties, including the United States and the European Union, to bring about a [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process|peace process]] to resolve conflicts between Israel and its neighbours, mostly over the fate of the Palestinian people.

== 21st century ==
Israel is a [[parliamentary democracy]] with a population of over 8 million people, of whom about 6 million are [[Israeli Jews|Jewish]]. The largest Jewish communities are in Israel and the [[American Jews|United States]], with major communities in France, Argentina, Russia, England, and Canada.

The [[Jewish Autonomous Oblast]], created during the [[Soviet]] period, continues to be an [[autonomous oblast]] of the Russian state.<ref>Fishkoff, Sue (October 8, 2008). [http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/041008/revival.shtml "A Jewish revival in Birobidzhan?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510142551/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/041008/revival.shtml |date=May 10, 2011 }} ''Jewish News of Greater Phoenix''. Accessed on June 8, 2008.</ref> The [[Chief Rabbi]] of [[Birobidzhan]], [[Mordechai Scheiner]], says there are 4,000 Jews in the capital city.<ref>Paxton, Robin (June 1, 2007). [http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=525676&cid=84435&NewsType=80052 "From Tractors to Torah in Russia's Jewish Land"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411050518/http://fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=525676&cid=84435&NewsType=80052 |date=April 11, 2013 }}. Federation of Jewish Communities. Accessed on June 8, 2008.</ref> [[Governor]] [[Nikolay Mikhaylovich Volkov]] has stated that he intends to, "support every valuable initiative maintained by our local Jewish organizations".<ref>[http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=221939 "Governor Voices Support for Growing Far East Jewish Community"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518042318/http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=221939 |date=May 18, 2011 }} (November 15, 2004). Federation of Jewish Communities. Accessed on June 8, 2008.</ref> The [[Birobidzhan Synagogue]] opened in 2004 on the 70th anniversary of the region's founding in 1934.<ref>[http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=166969 "Far East Community Prepares for 70th Anniversary of Jewish Autonomous Republic"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518041740/http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=166969 |date=May 18, 2011 }} (August 30, 2004). Federation of Jewish Communities. Accessed on June 8, 2008.</ref>

The number of people who identified as Jews in [[England and Wales]] rose slightly between 2001 and 2011, with the growth being attributed to the higher birth rate of the [[Haredi]] community.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7411877.stm |title=Jewish population on the increase |date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=March 18, 2020 |archive-date=May 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527215725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7411877.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> The estimated [[British Jew]]ish population in [[England]] as of 2011 was 263,346.<ref>{{cite web |title=2011 Census: KS209EW Religion, local authorities in England and Wales |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-286262 |publisher=ons.gov.uk |access-date=December 15, 2012 |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-286262 |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2021, per the [[British Census]], the Jewish population of England and Wales was 271,327.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Graham |first1=David |last2=Boyd |first2=Jonathan |title=Jews in Britain in 2021: First results from the Census of England and Wales |url=https://www.jpr.org.uk/reports/jews-britain-2021-first-results-census-england-and-wales |website=Institute for Jewish Policy Research |date=November 29, 2022 |access-date=December 13, 2023}}</ref>

On October 7, 2023, [[Hamas]], along with other [[Palestinian Joint Operations Room|Palestinian militant groups]], [[October 7 attacks|attacked Israel]] from the [[Gaza Strip]], killing 1,139 people. The day is considered the deadliest day in Israel's history, and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 11, 2023 |title=Biden calls Hamas attacks the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust as US death toll ticks up |url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-us-biden-blinken-99eb4063edabc80fa1fa198fb0bb020e |access-date=November 9, 2023 |work=AP News |language=en}}</ref> The attack escalated into a [[Gaza war|major war between Israel and Hamas]]. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced, and more than 250 hostages, including Israelis and foreign nationals, were taken by Hamas, [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]], and other Gaza-based militant groups.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Al-Mughrabi |first1=Nidal |last2=Angel |first2=Maytaal |last3=Al-Mughrabi |first3=Nidal |last4=Angel |first4=Maytaal |date=November 8, 2023 |title=Israeli, Hamas fighters in close combat in Gaza City as civilians flee |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/thousands-civilians-flee-north-gaza-israeli-troops-hamas-fighters-clash-2023-11-08/ |access-date=November 9, 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Index of Jewish history-related articles]]
* [[Lists of Jews]]
* [[Outline of Jewish history]]
* [[Timeline of Jewish history]]
* [[Jewish historiography]]
* [[Historical Jewish population]]
* [[Jewish population by country]]
* [[Traditional Jewish chronology]]
* [[History of antisemitism]]
* [[Timeline of antisemitism]]
* [[Geography of antisemitism]]
* [[Genetic studies of Jews]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
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* {{cite book |last=Faust |first=Avraham |chapter=The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: On Origins and Habitus |title=Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience |editor1=Thomas E. Levy |editor2=Thomas Schneider |editor3=William H.C. Propp |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/11906343 |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |pages=467–482 |isbn=978-3-319-04768-3}}
* {{cite book |title=The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |publisher=Simon and Schuster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lu6ywyJr0CMC |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-7432-2338-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Frei |first=Peter |title=Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch |date=2001 |publisher=SBL Press |isbn=978-1-58983-015-8 |editor-last=Watts |editor-first=James |location=Atlanta, GA |pages=6 |chapter=Persian Imperial Authorization: A Summary}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gelston |first=Anthony |chapter=Habakkuk |editor1-last=Dunn |editor1-first=James D. G. |editor2-last=Rogerson |editor2-first=John William |title=Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003a |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=Erdman+commentary+old+testament+hebrew+bible |isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gelston |first=Anthony |chapter=Zephaniah |editor1-last=Dunn |editor1-first=James D. G. |editor2-last=Rogerson |editor2-first=John William |title=Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003c |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=Erdman+commentary+old+testament+hebrew+bible |isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0}}
*{{cite book |title=Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective |first=Brad E. |last=Kelle |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit |year=2005}}
* {{cite book |last1=Levenson |first1=Jon Douglas |title=Inheriting Abraham: the legacy of the patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |date=2012 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-16355-0}}
* {{cite book |first=Menahem |last=Mor |title=The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132-136 CE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8wJDAAAQBAJ |date=May 4, 2016 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-31463-4}}
* {{cite book |surname=Neusner |given=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Neusner |title=A Short History of Judaism: Three Meals, Three Epochs |year=1992 |place=Minneapolis, Mn |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=0-8006-2552-8 |url={{Google books |id=5Z3oZVjrDcgC |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Julia M. |title=Nahum |publisher=A&C Black |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0X9BTEO7OAC&q=%22seventh+century+BCE%22Assyria+remained+a+formidable%22%22threat%22&pg=PA14 |isbn=978-1-84127-300-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Radine |first=Jason |title=The Book of Amos in Emergent Judah |year=2010 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taqfL4qnJs0C |isbn=978-3-16-150114-2}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Redmount |author-first=Carol A. |year=2001 |orig-year=1998 |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |chapter=Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA58 |editor-last=Coogan |editor-first=Michael D. |editor-link=Michael Coogan |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=58–89 |isbn=978-0-19-513937-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rogerson |first=John W. |chapter=Micah |editor1-last=Dunn |editor1-first=James D. G. |editor2-last=Rogerson |editor2-first=John William |title=Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003a |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=%22It+is+rare+for+a+prophet+to+be+mentioned%22&pg=PA703 |isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rogerson |first=John W. |chapter=Deuteronomy |editor1-last=Dunn |editor1-first=James D. G. |editor2-last=Rogerson |editor2-first=John William |title=Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003b |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=%22Deuteronomy+is+a+speech+delivered+by+Moses%22&pg=PA153 |isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Romer |first=Thomas |date=2008 |title=Moses Outside the Torah and the Construction of a Diaspora Identity |url=http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_92.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Hebrew Scriptures |volume=8, article 15 |pages=2–12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021035437/http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_92.pdf |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |access-date=September 27, 2019}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor-surname=Skolnik |editor-given=Fred |editor-link=Fred Skolnik |title=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]] |volume=1–22 |edition=2nd rev. |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |place=Farmington Hills, Mi |isbn=978-0-02-865928-2}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |surname=Adler |given=Yonatan |title=The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal |place=New Haven, Conn |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-300-25490-7 |url={{Google books |id=k8KREAAAQBAJ |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}}}}
* {{cite book |surname=Albertz |given=Rainer |title=A History of Israelite Religion. Vol. 1: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy |translator=John Bowden |edition=Reprint |place=Louisville, Kentucky |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1994 |orig-year=1992 |url={{Google books |id=GJS7BwAAQBAJ |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}} |isbn=0-664-21846-6}}
* {{cite book |surname=Albertz |first=Rainer |title=A History of Israelite Religion. Vol. 2: From the Exile to the Maccabees |translator=John Bowden |edition=Reprint |place=Louisville, Kentucky |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1994 |orig-year=1992 |url={{Google books |id=z5O7BwAAQBAJ |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}} |isbn=0-664-21847-4}}
* Allegro, John. ''The chosen people: A study of Jewish history from the time of the exile until the revolt of Bar Kocheba'' (Andrews, UK, 2015).
* Alpher, Joseph (1986). ''[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofje00lhis Encyclopedia of Jewish history: events and eras of the Jewish people].''
* [[Dan Cohn-Sherbok|Cohn-Sherbok, Dan]]. ''Atlas of Jewish history'' (Routledge, 2013).
* Fireberg, H., Glöckner, O., & Menachem Zoufalá, M., eds. (2020). Being Jewish in 21st Century Central Europe. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. {{doi|10.1515/9783110582369}}
* Friesel, Evyatar. ''Atlas of modern Jewish history'' (1990) [[iarchive:atlasofmodernjew00evya|online free to borrow]]
* Gilbert, Martin. ''Atlas of Jewish History'' (1993) [https://archive.org/details/atlasofjewishhis00mart online free to borrow]
* Kobrin, Rebecca and Adam Teller, eds. ''Purchasing Power: The Economics of Modern Jewish History''. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. viii, 355 pp. Essays by scholars focused on Europe.
* {{cite book |title=The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor1-first=Paul R. |editor1-last=Mendes-Flohr |editor1-link=Paul R. Mendes-Flohr |editor2-first=Jehuda |editor2-last=Reinharz |editor2-link=Jehuda Reinharz |year=1995 |isbn=0-19-507453-X |oclc=30026590}}
* [[Jacob Neusner|Neusner, Jacob]]; Green, William Scott, eds. (1991). ''The Origins of Judaism. Religion, History, and Literature in Late Antiquity.'' 20-volume Set. New York: Garland Press. (Reprinted scholarly essays, with introductions.)
* [[Jacob Neusner|Neusner, Jacob]] (1999). ''[{{Google books|id=5YFXIUJYgsYC
|plainurl=y|page=}} The Four Stages of Rabbinic Judaism].'' London; New York: Routledge.
* Sachar, Howard M. ''[https://archive.org/details/courseofmodernje00sach The course of modern Jewish history].'' (2nd ed. 2013).
* Schloss, Chaim. ''2000 Years of Jewish History'' (2002), Heavily illustrated popular history.
* Scheindlin, Raymond P. ''A short history of the Jewish people from legendary times to modern statehood'' (1998) [https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofje00sche online free to borrow]
* {{cite book |surname=Sweeney |given=Marvin A. |author-link=Marvin A. Sweeney |chapter=The Religious World of Ancient Israel to 586&nbsp;BCE |editor-surname=Neusner |editor-given=Jacob |editor-link=Jacob Neusner |editor2-surname=Avery-Peck |editor2-given=Alan J. |title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism |year=2003 |orig-year=2000 |edition=Reprint |pages=20–36 |publisher=Blackwell Publ. |place=Malden, Mass |chapter-url= |url={{Google books |id=bEyD_MaeqP4C |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}} |isbn=1-57718-058-5}}
* {{cite book |year=2018 |orig-year=1999 |editor-surname=Visotzky |editor-given=Burton L. |editor-link=Burton Visotzky |editor-surname2=Fishman |editor-given2=David E. |editor-link2=David Fishman |title=From Mesopotamia to Modernity: Ten Introductions to Jewish History and Literature |place=London; New York |publisher=Routledge |edition=Reprint |url={{Google books |id=x1JPDwAAQBAJ |plainurl=y |page= |keywords= |text=}} |isbn=978-0-8133-6717-0}}

=== France ===
* Benbassa, Esther. ''The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present'' (2001) [https://www.amazon.com/Jews-France-History-Antiquity-Present/dp/0691090149/  excerpt and text search]; [https://www.questia.com/library/99832821/the-jews-of-france-a-history-from-antiquity-to-the online]
* Birnbaum, Pierre, and Jane Todd. ''The Jews of the Republic: A Political History of State Jews in France from Gambetta to Vichy'' (1996).
* Birnbaum, Pierre; Kochan, Miriam. ''Anti-Semitism in France: A Political History from Léon Blum to the Present'' (1992) 317p.
* Cahm, Eric. ''The Dreyfus affair in French society and politics'' (Routledge, 2014).
* Debré, Simon. "The Jews of France." ''Jewish Quarterly Review'' 3.3 (1891): 367–435. long scholarly description. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1450008.pdf online free]
* Graetz, Michael, and Jane Todd. ''The Jews in Nineteenth-Century France: From the French Revolution to the Alliance Israelite Universelle'' (1996)
* Hyman, Paula E. ''The Jews of Modern France'' (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/Modern-France-Jewish-Communities-World/dp/0520209257/  excerpt and text search]
* Hyman, Paula. ''From Dreyfus to Vichy: The Remaking of French Jewry, 1906–1939'' (Columbia UP, 1979). [https://archive.org/details/fromdreyfustovic0000hyma online free to borrow]
* Schechter, Ronald. ''Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715–1815'' (Univ of California Press, 2003)
* Taitz, Emily. ''The Jews of Medieval France: The Community of Champagne'' (1994) [https://www.questia.com/library/3665422/the-jews-of-medieval-france-the-community-of-champagne online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130202034/https://www.questia.com/library/3665422/the-jews-of-medieval-france-the-community-of-champagne |date=November 30, 2018 }}

=== Russia and Eastern Europe ===
* [[Tobias Brinkmann|Brinkmann, Tobias]] (2024). ''Between Borders: The Great Jewish Migration from Eastern Europe''. New York: Oxford University Press.
* [[Zvi Gitelman|Gitelman, Zvi]] (2001). ''A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present''.
* [[David Fishman|Fishman, David]] (1996). ''Russia's First Modern Jews''. New York University Press.
* Polonsky, Antony. ''The Jews in Poland and Russia: A Short History'' (2013)
* {{cite book |last1=Weiner |first1=Miriam |last2=Polish State Archives (in cooperation with) |title=Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories |date=1997 |publisher=Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation |location=Secaucus, NJ |isbn=978-0-9656508-0-9 |oclc=38756480}}
* {{cite book |last1=Weiner |first1=Miriam |last2=Ukrainian State Archives (in cooperation with) |last3=Moldovan National Archives (in cooperation with) |title=Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories |date=1999 |publisher=Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation |location=Secaucus, NJ |isbn=978-0-9656508-1-6 |oclc=607423469}}

=== United States ===
* Fischel, Jack, and Sanford Pinsker, eds.''Jewish-American history and culture : an encyclopaedia'' (1992) [https://archive.org/details/jewishamericanhi00fisc online free to borrow]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Jewish history}}
* [http://jewishhistory.huji.ac.il/ The Jewish History Resource Center]. Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
* [http://jewishhistory.huji.ac.il/Internetresources/modern/israelindex.htm The State of Israel] The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
* [http://www.encyclopaediajudaica.com/ Jewish History and Culture Encyclopaedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224094628/http://www.encyclopaediajudaica.com/ |date=December 24, 2008 }} Official Site of the 22-volume Encyclopaedia Judaica
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html Internet Jewish History Sourcebook] offering homework help and online texts
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050528023003/http://www.adath-shalom.ca/israelite_religion.htm Israelite Religion to Judaism: the Evolution of the Religion of Israel].
* [https://thinktorah.org/jewish-history/ 2000 Years of Jewish History]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050629084248/http://www.adath-shalom.ca/greek_influence.htm Greek Influence on Judaism from the Hellenistic Period Through the Middle Ages c. 300 BCE–1200 CE].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050604085120/http://www.adath-shalom.ca/jewish_sects.htm Jewish Sects of the Second Temple Period].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101119075635/http://adath-shalom.ca/samaritan_origin.htm The Origin and Nature of the Samaritans and their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051118233741/http://www.adath-shalom.ca/eb2bk.htm Jewish History Tables].
* [http://www.oztorah.com/category/australian-jewry/ Articles on Australian Jewish history].
* [http://www.oztorah.com/category/british-jewry/ Articles on British Jewish history].
* Barnavi, Eli (Ed.). ''A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-679-40332-6}}
* [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Jewish_History.htm Crash Course in Jewish History]
* [http://csicso-nagy.uw.hu/fo-o-Csicso-NAGY-A/jewish-families.htm Jewish families in Csicsó – Cicov (Slovakia) until the Holocaust]
* [http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=1&ArticleID=29 "Under the Influence: Hellenism in Ancient Jewish Life"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229232302/http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/article.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=36&Issue=1&ArticleID=29 |date=February 29, 2012 }} Biblical Archaeology Society
* [http://www.jewishhistory.org/crash-course/ Summary of Jewish History] by Berel Wein
* [http://histclo.com/chron/ancient/heb/heb-hist.html Ancient Hebrew history]
* [http://jewishhistorylectures.org/ Videos of Jewish History Lectures by Henry Abramson of Touro College South]

{{Jewish history}}
{{History of religions|state=collapsed}}
{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Jewish history| ]]
[[Category:National histories]]
[[Category:Religion in classical antiquity]]
[[Category:History of Judaism]]
[[Category:Jewish ethnic groups]]