- History of the Jews in the Land of Israel
The History of the Jews in the Land of Israel begins with the ancient Israelites (also known as
Hebrews ), who settled in theland of Israel . The Israelites traced their common lineage to the biblical patriarchAbraham throughIsaac andJacob . Jewish tradition holds that the Israelites were the descendants of Jacob's twelve sons (one of which was named Judah), who settled in Egypt. Their direct descendants respectively divided into twelve tribes, who were enslaved under the rule of an Egyptianpharaoh . In the Jewish faith, the emigration of the Israelites fromEgypt toCanaan (theExodus ), led by the prophetMoses , marks the formation of the Israelites as a people.Throughout the centuries, in spite of oppression, banishment, and slaughter, there was an uninterrupted continuity of Jewish life in the country. The Jewish community in the land of Israel has always played a unique role in Jewish history.
This article refers to the history in the Land of Israel in the boundaries defined by
Canaan or as the region was later also known by its Roman name in _la. Palaestina.Early times
According to Biblical tradition the Jews originated with the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob received the name "Israel" and the land of the Jewish people was named after him. Following a draught, the descendants of Jacob settled in Goshen bordering Egypt and were later enslaved by the Egyptians. After escaping slavery under the leadership of Moses and forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites returned to the region of Canaan which was conquered under the command of
Joshua and divided together with the region of Gilead amongst the twelve tribes. For a period of time, the united twelve tribes were led by a series of rulers known as Judges. After this period, an Israelite monarchy was established under Saul, and continued under KingDavid andSolomon . King David conqueredJerusalem and made it his capital. AfterSolomon 's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, the northern on retaining the nameIsrael , consisting of ten tribes (nine tribes and the two divisons of Manasseh), and Judah, consisting of the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin (in the south) as well as Levites and Aaronite priests. Israel was conquered by theAssyria n ruler Shalmaneser V in the8th century BCE with the elite being exiled toAram-Naharaim ,Assyria and Media. Subsequent loss of knowledge of ancestral lines amongst the Jews of the northern kingdom led to the myth of theTen Lost Tribes of Israel .Fall of the Kingdom of Judah
When the kingdom of Judah was conquered by a
Babylon ian army in the early6th century BCE , the Judahite elite was exiled to Babylon. After the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by thePersians , some of the exiles returned to their homeland, led by prophetsEzra andNehemiah . JewsWho|date=August 2008 were allowed to return with the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had taken.Fact|date=August 2008 Construction of theSecond Temple was completed under the leadership of the ProphetsHaggai ,Zechariah andMalachi with Persian approval.Persian and Greek rule
After the last three Jewish Prophets
Haggai ,Zechariah andMalachi died still under Persian rule, the leadership of theJewish people was in the hands of five successive generations ofzugot ("pairs") of leaders. They flourished first under the Persians then under the Greeks. As a result thePharisees andSadduccees were formed. Under the Persians then under the Greeks, Jewish coins were minted in Judea asYehud coinage The Hasmonean Kingdom and Roman rule
After: the Persians were defeated by
Alexander the Great ; his demise; and the division of Alexander's empire among his generals, theSeleucid Kingdom was formed. A deterioration of relations between Hellenized Jews and religious Jews led the Seleucid kingAntiochus IV Epiphanes to impose decrees banning certain Jewish religious rites and traditions. Consequently, the orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of theHasmonean family, (also known as theMaccabees ). This revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish kingdom, known as theHasmonaean Dynasty , which lasted from165 BCE to63 BCE . The Maccabees purified theJewish Temple in Jerusalem, an event that to this day is celebrated on by Jews onChanukkah . The Hasmonean Dynasty eventually disintegrated as a result of civil war between the sons ofSalome Alexandra ,Hyrcanus II andAristobulus II . The people, who did not want to be governed by a king but by theocratic clergy, made appeals in this spirit to the Roman authorities. A Roman campaign of conquest and annexation, led byPompey , soon followed.Judea under Roman rule was at first an independent Jewish kingdom, but gradually the rule over Judea became less and less Jewish, until it became under the direct rule of Roman administration (and renamed the "
Iudaea Province "), which was often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Judean subjects. In 66 CE, Judeans began to revolt against the Roman rulers of Judea. The revolt was defeated by the Roman emperorsVespasian andTitus . The Romans destroyed much of theTemple in Jerusalem and, according to some accounts, stole artifacts from the temple, such as the Menorah. Altogether, 1,100,000 Jews perished during the revolt and another 97,000 were taken captive.Major battles were in
Masada and inGamla . Gamla was the district capital of theGolan Heights first established by the last king of the Hasmonean dynasty. Gamla's citizens saw their battle as directly connected to Jerusalem and fiercely defended their stronghold. Eventually, all of the 9000 city's residents were killed. Both historical sites of Masada and Gamla have been excavated and are frequently visited in the modernState of Israel .Judeans continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion, until the
2nd century when Julius Severus ravaged Judea while putting down theBar Kokhba revolt . 985 villages were destroyed. Banished from Jerusalem, the Jewish population now centred on Galilee.This was also the time of . Many Christians considered the new religion to supersede Judaism. See also
Council of Jamnia .Late Roman period
In this period the "
tannaim " and "amora im" were active,rabbi s who organized and debated the Jewishoral law . The decisions of the "tannaim" are contained in theMishnah ,Beraita ,Tosefta , and variousMidrash compilations. TheMishnah was completed shortly after 200, probably byJudah haNasi . The commentaries of the "amoraim" upon the Mishnah are compiled in theJerusalem Talmud , which was completed around 400 CE, probably inTiberias .In 351 CE, the Jewish population in
Sepphoris Roman laws started a revolt under the leadership of Patricius against the rule ofConstantius Gallus . The revolt was eventually subdued byUrsicinus .According to tradition, in 359 CE
Hillel II created theHebrew calendar based on thelunar year. Until then, The entire Jewish community outside the land of Israel depended on the calendar sanctioned by theSanhedrin ; this was necessary for the proper observance of the Jewish holy days. However, danger threatened the participants in that sanction and the messengers who communicated their decisions to distant congregations. As the religious persecutions continued, Hillel determined to provide an authorized calendar for all time to come.The last pagan Roman Emperor, Julian, allowed the Jews to return to "holy Jerusalem which you have for many years longed to see rebuilt" and to rebuild the Temple. However, the Temple was not rebuilt.
Byzantine period
Jews at this time in Israel were living under the oppressive rule of the
Byzantines under whom there were two more Jewish revolts and threeSamaritan revolts. Under the oppression, Jews still lived in at least forty-three Jewish communities in Israel: twelve towns on the coast, in the Negev, and east of the Jordan, and thirty-one villages in Galilee and in the Jordan valley.In 438, The Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site and the heads of the Community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of the Jews": "Know that the end of the exile of our people has come"!
In about 450, the
Jerusalem Talmud is completed.In 613, a Jewish revolt against the
Byzantine Empire coming into aid of the Persian invaders erupted. The Jews gained autonomy in Jerusalem for 5 years but were frustrated with its limitations. At that time the Persians betrayed the agreements with the Jews and Jews were again expelled from Jerusalem. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius then managed to overcome the Persian forces with the aid of Jewish leaderBenjamin of Tiberias . Nevertheless, he betrayed the Jews too and put thousands of Jewish refugees to flight from Israel to Egypt.Islamic and Crusader periods
In 638 CE, the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Mideast. The Arab
Islamic Empire underCaliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands ofMesopotamia , Syria, Palaestina, and Egypt. Under the various rules, Jews suffered and moved from driven from villages, to towns to coastal towns being reduced in numbers due to massacres. Nevertheless, the Jews still controlled much of the commerce in Israel. The Jews worked as assayers of coins, dyers, tanners and bankers in the community.Professor
Moshe Gil [Moshe Gil, "A History of Palestine: 634-1099"] documents that at the time of the Arab conquest in 7th century CE, the majority of the population was Jewish.The
niqqud was invented in Tiberias. The Jews defended Jerusalem and Haifa against the Crusaders in 1099. At the time, there were Jewish communities throughout the country which included Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon, Caesarea, and Gaza.Yehuda Halevi famously makes his trip to Jerusalem.The Jews almost single-handedly defended
Haifa against the Crusaders, holding out in the besieged town for a whole month (June-July 1099). At this time, there were Jewish communities all over the country. 50 of them are known by name and include Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon, Caesarea, and Gaza. Along with the Arabs and the Turks, the Jews vigorously defended Jerusalem. When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered the Jews in a synagogue and burned them.Jews were not allowed to hold land in the Crusader period but concentrated their efforts on the commerce in the coastal towns during times of quiescence. Most of them were artisans: glassblowers in
Sidon , furriers and dyers in Jerusalem.The Hebrew
orthography Niqqud, the system ofdiacritic al vowel points in theHebrew alphabet was created at this time by theMasoretes of Tiberias (seeMasoretic Text ,Tiberian Hebrew ). A large volume ofpiyutim andmidrashim had their origin in Palestine in those days.During
Maimonides ' residence inJerusalem , asynagogue stood on theTemple Mount alongside other structures; Maimonides prayed there. He wrote that in 1165 he visited Jerusalem and went up on to the Temple Mount and prayed in the "great, holy house". [Sefer HaCharedim Mitzvat Tshuva Chapter 3] Maimonides established a yearly holiday for himself and his sons, the 6th ofCheshvan , 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 theCave of the Patriarchs inHebron .In
1141 Yehuda Halevi issued a call to the Jews to emigrate to the land of Israel and took on the long journey himself. After a stormy passage from Córdoba, he arrived in EgyptianAlexandria , where he was enthusiastically greeted by friends and admirers. AtDamietta , he had to struggle against the promptings of his own heart, and the pleadings of his friend Ḥalfon ha-Levi, that he remain inEgypt ; and free from intolerant oppression. He, however resisted the temptation to remain there, and started on the tedious land route, trodden of old by the Israelite wanderers in the desert. Again he is met with, worn-out, with broken heart and whitened hair, in Tyre andDamascus . Jewish legend relates that as he came near Jerusalem, over-powered by the sight of the Holy City, he sang his most beautiful elegy, the celebrated "Zionide," "Zion ha-lo Tish'ali." At that instant, he was ridden down and killed by anArab , who dashed forth from a gate.Mamluk period
In the years 1260-1516, Palestine was part of the Empire of the
Mamluks who ruled first fromTurkey , then from Egypt. War and uprisings, bloodshed and destruction followed. Jews suffered persecution and humiliation but the surviving records cite at least 30 Jewish urban and rural communities at the opening of the 16th century.A notable event during the period was the settlement of
Nachmanides in the Old City of Jerusalem in1267 which since then a continuous Jewish presence existed in Jerusalem until modern day occupation ofJordan in 1948. Nahmanides then settled at Acre, where he was very active in spreading Jewish learning, which was at that time very much 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. Karaites were said to have attended his lectures, among them being Aaron ben Joseph the Elder, who later became one of the greatestKaraite authorities. Shortly after his arrival in Jerusalem he addressed a letter to his son Nahman, in which he described the desolation of the Holy City, where there were at that time only two Jewish inhabitants — two brothers, dyers by trade. In a later letter from Acre he 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 Castilian court, Nahmanides recommends the recitation of the daily prayers and warns above all against immorality. Nahmanides died after having passed the age of seventy-six, and his remains were interred atHaifa , by the grave ofYechiel of Paris . Yechiel emigrated to Acre in1260 , along with his son and a large group of followers [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/places/acco.html] [http://www.lookstein.org/resources/bionotes.pdf] There he established the Tamudic academy "Midrash haGadol d'Paris". [http://www.jewishhistory.com/jh.php?id=AdditionalReadings&content=content/segal_ch17] He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268.In
1488 Obadiah ben Abraham , commentator on theMishnah , arrived in Jerusalem and marked a new epoch for the Jewish community in The Land.Ottoman period
"The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa" estimates the Jewish population of the Palestine region at "approximately 10,000 during the first half-century of Ottoman rule. Bold development projects for reviving the Holy Land were conceived by Jewish courtiers in Constantinople, such as Don Garcia Mendes and Don Joseph Nasi. Jerusalem, Tiberias and above all, Safad, became centres of Jewish spiritual and commercial activity... Many of the gains achieved by Islamic Jewry during the 16th century were lost over the next 200 years ... as Ottoman rule became more inefficient, corrupt and religiously conservative." ["The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa". Trevor Mostyn, Albert Hourani (editors) Cambridge University Press, 1988. p.186]
Thirty Jewish communities exist at the time in Haifa, Sh’chem, Hebron, Ramleh, Jaffa, Gaza, Jerusalem, and many in the north.
Tzfat/
Safed became a spiritual centre.Kabbalah flourished amongSefardic Jews in Safed even before the arrival ofIsaac Luria (known as "the Ari"), its most famous resident. The greatYosef Karo , author of the "Shulchan Arukh" was part of the Tzfat school of Kabbalah.Shlomo Alkabetz , author of the famous L'cha Dodi, taught there. His discipleMoses ben Jacob Cordovero authored "Sefer Pardes Rimonim", an organized, exhaustive compilation of kabbalistic teachings on a variety of subjects up to that point. Rabbi Cordovero headed the Academy of Tzfat until his death, when Isaac Luria, also known as the Ari, rose to prominence. Rabbi Moshe's discipleEliyahu di Vidas authored the classic work,Reshit Chochmah , combining kabbalistic and mussar teachings.Chaim Vital also studied under Rabbi Cordovero, but with the arrival of Rabbi Luria became his main disciple. Vital claimed to be the only one authorized to transmit the Ari's teachings, though other disciples also published books presenting Luria's teachings.In Safed, the Jews developed a number of branches of trade, especially in grain, spices, and cloth. They specialised once again in the dyeing trade. Lying halfway between
Damascus and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast, Safed gained special importance in the commercial relations in the area. The 8,000 or 10,000 Jews in Safed in 1555 grew to 20,000 or 30,000 by the end of the century.In
1569 , theRadbaz moved to Jerusalem, but did not stay there long, because of the burdensome taxes that the Turkish government had imposed upon Jews. He settled in Safed, where he became an active member of thebeth din presided over by Yosef Karo, who held him in great esteem.In
1577 , A Hebrewprinting press is established in Safed. It's the first press in Palestine and the first in Asia.In
1660 , the Jews of Safed and Jerusalem were massacred by the Arabs at the behest of the Turks. Safed was emptied of inhabitants and only one Jew escaped from Jerusalem. These events surround the episode of the false Messiah Shabatai Tsevi.In
1759 , a massive earthquake destroys much of Safed killing 2000 people with 190 Jews among the dead.The disciples of the
Vilna Gaon settled in the land of Israel almost a decade after the arrival of two of his pupils, R. Hayim of Vilna and R.Israel ben Samuel of Shklov . In all there were three groups of the Gaon's students which emigrated to the land of Israel. They formed the basis of theAshkenazi communities of Jerusalem and Safed, setting up what was known as the KollelPerushim . Their arrival encouraged anAshkenazi revival in Jerusalem, whose Jewish community until this time was mostly Sephardi. Many of the descendents of the disciples became leading figures in modernIsraeli society. The Gaon himself also set forth with his pupils to the Land, but for an unknown reason he turned back and returned to Vilna where he died soon after.During the siege of Acre in 1799,
Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring aJewish state inIsrael , though he did not issue it. The siege was lost to the British, however, and the plan was never carried out.The connection of the Jewish people to the land was kept strongly. In 1888, Professor Sir
John William Dawson wrote::"Until today (1888), no people has succeeded in establishing national dominion in the Land of Israel. No national unity, in the spirit of nationalism, has acquired any hold there. The mixed multitude of itinerant tribes that managed o settle there did so on lease, as temporary residents. It seems that they await the return of the permanent residents of the land." [Modern Science in Bible Lands, page 450]In
1821 the brothers of murdered Jewish adviser and finance minister to the rulers of the Galilee, Haim Farkhi formed an army with Ottoman permission, marched south and conquered the Galilee. They were held up at Akko which they besieged for 14 months after which they gave up and retreated to Damascus.Modern times
British Mandate
Between 1882 and 1948, a series of Jewish migrations to what is the modern nation of Israel, known as
Aliyah s commenced. These migrations preceded the Zionist period.:"For full article, seeAliyah ."In 1917, at the end of World War I, Israel (known at the time as Palestine) changed hands from the defeated Ottoman Empire to the occupying British forces. The
United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by theVersailles Peace Conference which established theLeague of Nations in 1919 and appointed Herbert Samuel, a former Postmaster General in the British cabinet, who was instrumental in drafting the Balfour Declaration, as its firstHigh Commissioner in Palestine. During World War I the British had made two promises regarding territory in the Middle East. Britain had promised the localArab s, throughLawrence of Arabia , independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British; and Britain had promised to create and foster aJewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917.:"For full article, seeBritish Mandate of Palestine ."War of Independence
In 1947 Britain announced its intention to withdraw from Palestine, and on 29 November the
United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into an Arab state and aJewish state (with Jerusalem becoming an international enclave). The Jewish Agency accepted the plan, while the Arabs of Palestine and the neighboring countries rejected it and commenced to use force to abort the establishment of a Jewish state in the area allotted to it by the UN.Having developed since the 18th century, the political movement to establish an autonomous Jewish state in Israel, known as
Zionism , reached its pinnacle onMay 14 ,1948 , when the leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine led by prime minister Ben-Gurion, made a declaration of independence, and the state of Israel was established.:"For full article, seeZionism ."Modern nation of Israel
Since 1948, Israel has been involved in a series of major military conflicts, including the
1956 Suez War , 1967Six-Day War , 1973Yom Kippur War ,1982 Lebanon War , and2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict , as well as a nearly constant series of ongoing minor conflicts to preserve its national interests.Since 1977, an ongoing and largely unsuccessful series of diplomatic efforts have been initiated by Israel, its neighbors, and other parties, including the United States and the European Union, to bring about a peace process to resolve conflicts between Israel and its neighbors, mostly over the fate of the Palestinian people.
Present day
Despite the constant security threats, Israel has thrived economically. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s there were numerous liberalization measures: in monetary policy, in domestic capital markets, and in various instruments of governmental interference in economic activity. The role of government in the economy was considerably decreased. On the other hand, some governmental economic functions were increased: a national health insurance system was introduced, though private health providers continued to provide health services within the national system. Social welfare payments, such as unemployment benefits, child allowances, old age pensions and minimum income support, were expanded continuously, until they formed a major budgetary expenditure. These transfer payments compensated, to a large extent, for the continuous growth of income inequality, which had moved Israel from among the developed countries with the least income inequality to those with the most.
Today, Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a population of over 7.1 million people, of which about 5.8 million are Jewish.
:"For the history of the modern State of Israel, from its Independence Proclamation in 1948 until the present, see
History of Israel ."ee also
*
Old Yishuv Notes
External links
* [http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1527&subject=28 Yearning for Zion]
* [http://www.alsadiqin.org/history/The%20Persian%20conquest%20of%20Jerusalem%20in%20614CE%20compared%20with%20Islamic%20conquest%20of%20638CE.pdf The conquests of Jerusalem in 614CE and 638CE within the context of attempts at Jewish restoration]
* [http://www.jewishhistory.com/jh.php?id=Timeline&content=Timeline Timeline of the History of the Jews and the Land of Israel Based on "A Historical Survey of the Jewish Population in Palestine Presented to the United Nations in 1947]References
* [http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/ Jewish History]
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Jewish Encyclopedia]
* "The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged New Updated Edition" Translated byWilliam Whiston , A.M., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1987. ISBN 1565631676
* Katz, Shmuel (1973) "" Shapolsky Pub; ISBN 978-0-933503-03-8
*E.W.G.Masterman (1903): " [http://www.sephardiccouncil.org/palestine.pdf The Jews in Modern Palestine] "
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