A Millennium Of Jewry
The 18 most significant Jewish personalitzes and episodes of the past 1, 000 years.
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ropeanChristian crusaders conquer
Jerusalem for the first time, pillaging
Jewish coinmunities along the way. In
erusalem they gather the city's Jews and
burn them alive in a synagogue.
1105
Death of Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, or
Rashi, known as the greatest Torah and
Talmud commentator and teacher ever.
1204
Death of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon,
Maimonides or the RamBam, the towering
Jewish intellectual and rationalist Jewish
philosopher who wrote the Mishnah Torah
and Guide for the Perplexed.
1492
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
expel Spain s 200,000 Jews, effectively
ending hundredsof years of rich
community life. Some stay in Spain and
become "Marannos," or secret Jews.
al 1516
Venice, Italy, is the site of the first Jewish
ghetto, or enclosed neighborhood
whose gates are locked at night.
1567
1655
The completion of the Shulcan Aruch,
compiled by Rabbi Joseph Karo.
It remains the principal source,
particularly for Orthodox Jews,
on questions of Jewish law.
11110
Dutch West India Company
rejects Peter Stuyvesant's request to expel 23
Jews who arrived in New Amsterdam (later
New York) the previous year and began the
first Jewish community in North America.
1665
Shabbtai Zvi, after convincinc, many Jews that
he was the messiah who wourdlead the Jews
back to Israel, converts to Islam when the
Turkish Sultan offers a choice of that or death.
1736
Israel Baal Shena Tov, the founder of Hasidism,
reveals himself as a healer and leader. His
movement, emphasizing Jewish emotion,
becomes a major force in Eastern Europe.
1819
Formation in Germany of the Society for the
Culture and Science of the Jews by Eduard
Gans, Moses Moser and Leopold Zunz, the
intellectual leaders of early Reform Judaism.
188 1
Beginning of massive emigration
of eastern European Jews to the
United States, which would number \414-'
more than 2 million L
by the time
the gates essentially clOsed in 1924.
1897
First Zionist Congress, headed by Theodor
Herzl, is held in Basel, Switzerland.
The notion of selecting the most
significant Jewish events in a millennium
sounds absurd. Can one balance the start of
Reform Jewry with the beginning of the
Conservative movement, each of which has
had powerful impact on the Jewish world?
Did the life of the revered Rabbi Joseph
Soloveitchik say as much as that of the great
Hebrew poet Chayim Nachman Bialik,
neither of wham made the list? And are the
crusades weightier than the start of the
Ottoman Empire, which brought a tenuous
calm to the Land of Israel for centuries?
In making selections, we poured through
textbooks, Web sites and consulted scholars.
Some will dispute what's included and what's
left out. We believe the dates and events
represented here best capture the 18 most
historical episodes and figures of the past
1,000 years. The number 18, of course,
represents Echaim, the Hebrew wordfor life.
We encourage readers to find out more about
the people and events we choose, for that
will create a journey down the
path of Jewish learning.
1933
1948
Adolph Hitler is elected chancellor of
Germany and begins legal discrimination
against Jews, the first steps of the Holocaust.
I OW— At 4 pm on May 14th,
David Ben-Gurion declares
the creation oldie State of Israel, the
Third Jewish Commonwealth.
— 1967
1986
The Six-Day War between Israel and
Arab neighbors results in a stunning
Israeli Military victory, the capture of
the Biblical heartland and and Jerusalem's
reunification. It arouses phenomenal
passions throughout the Jewish world.
As we contemplate the start of a new
millennium these coming months, we hope
that the Jewish world's future has more to say
about lives such as that of Maimonides than
of those such as Yigal Amir or Shabbtai Zvi.
Neil Rubin
First of two major airlifts that will bring
more than 50,000 Ethiopean Jews to
Israel, the first time in history that Blacks
are taken from Africa to freedom.
11111
1995
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is
assassinated by Yigal Amir, a modern
Orthodox nationalist, plunging the Jewish
world into an ongoing debate about the limits
of Jewish unity and self-criticism..
1994
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the
Chabad-Lubavitcher Rebbe who turned his
movement into an aggressive outreach force,
dies after prolonged ifiness.
9/10
1999
Detroit Jewish News
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