The Jewish War is a work of Jewish history written by Josephus , a first-century Roman - Jewish historian . It has been described by the historian Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history".
156-690: Divided into seven books, it opens with a summary of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 168 BC to the first stages of the First Jewish–Roman War (Books I and II). The next five books detail the unfolding of the war, under Roman generals Vespasian and Titus , to the death of the last Sicarii . The book was written about 75 AD, originally in Josephus' "paternal tongue" – either Aramaic or Hebrew – though this version has not survived. It
312-522: A League of Nations mandate ; it is not related to the word's more commonplace usage as a synonym for "compulsory" or "necessary". Following the arrival of the British, Arab inhabitants established Muslim-Christian Associations in all of the major towns. In 1919 they joined to hold the first Palestine Arab Congress in Jerusalem. It was aimed primarily at representative government and opposition to
468-414: 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
624-554: A British civilian administration headed by a High Commissioner replaced the military administration. The first High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel , a Zionist and a recent British cabinet minister, arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920 to take up his appointment from 1 July. Samuel established his headquarters and official residence in part of the Augusta Victoria Hospital complex on Mount Scopus on what
780-458: A Jewish military colony existed at Elephantine , established before the exile, where they built their own shrine. Deuteronomy was expanded and earlier scriptures were edited during the exilic period. The first edition of Jeremiah , the Book of Ezekiel , the majority of Obadiah , and what is referred to in research as " Second Isaiah " were all written during this time period as well. According to
936-517: A ban on circumcision, later repealed by Antoninus Pius . 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. The relations of the Jews with the Roman Empire in the region continued to be complicated. Constantine I allowed Jews to mourn their defeat and humiliation once
1092-550: A civil war erupted between the ten northern Israelite tribes, and the tribes of Judah ( Simeon was absorbed into Judah) and 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. During the days of the Omride dynasty , it controlled Samaria , Galilee ,
1248-832: A civil war. The three main Jewish underground forces later united to form the Jewish Resistance Movement and carry out several attacks and bombings against the British administration. In 1946, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the southern wing of which was the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people. Following the bombing, the British Government began interning illegal Jewish immigrants in Cyprus . In 1948,
1404-540: A clandestine immigration effort called Aliya Bet was spearheaded by an organisation called Mossad LeAliyah Bet . Tens of thousands of European Jews escaped the Nazis in boats and small ships headed for Palestine. The British Royal Navy intercepted many of the vessels; others were unseaworthy and were wrecked; a Haganah bomb sunk the SS ; Patria , killing 267 people; two other ships were sunk by Soviet submarines :
1560-630: A counter to British hegemony. On the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 1943, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sent telegrams of support for the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem , Mohammad Amin al-Husseini , to read out for a radio broadcast to a rally of supporters in Berlin . On the other hand, as many as 12,000 Palestinian Arabs, with the endorsement of many prominent figures such as
1716-605: A firefight with a Palestine Police patrol hunting fruit thieves and a policeman was killed. Following the incident, British colonial police launched a search and surrounded al-Qassam in a cave near Ya'bad . In the ensuing battle, al-Qassam was killed. The death of al-Qassam on 20 November 1935 generated widespread outrage in the Arab community. Huge crowds accompanied Qassam's body to his grave in Haifa . A few months later, in April 1936,
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#17327658593141872-530: A focal point for Jewish religious and cultural life for a generation. Judaism also underwent a significant shift away from its sectarian divisions. The Sadducees and Essenes , two prominent sects in the late Second Temple period, faded into obscurity, while the traditions of the Pharisees , including their halakhic interpretations, the centrality of the Oral Torah , and belief in resurrection became
2028-697: A meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938, as well as by Chaim Weizmann. Following the London Conference in February and March 1939, the British Government published a White Paper which proposed a limit to Jewish immigration from Europe, restrictions on Jewish land purchases, and a programme for creating an independent state to replace the Mandate within ten years. This was seen by
2184-504: 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 , founded by the Judean immigrant Hananiah, nephew of Joshua ben Hananiah , which school might have been
2340-516: A policy regarding the admission of Jews to Palestine. In April, the Committee reported that its members had arrived at a unanimous decision. The Committee approved the American recommendation of the immediate acceptance of 100,000 Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. It also recommended that there be no Arab or Jewish state. The Committee stated that "in order to dispose, once and for all, of
2496-615: A relatively neutral source. Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews , their nation , religion , and culture , as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah , two related kingdoms that emerged in the Levant during the Iron Age . Although
2652-458: A second revolt in Judah, besieged and destroyed Jerusalem . The First Temple was razed, and its sacred vessels were seized as spoils. 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, marking the onset of the era known in Jewish history as the " Babylonian Captivity ". Zedekiah himself
2808-662: A series of unsuccessful revolts against the Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple , and the expulsion of many Jews. 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 Babylon , with smaller communities spread out across
2964-634: A translation of the Greek text of Josephus into Hebrew in 1863, although many rabbis continued to prefer the Yosippon version. By the 20th century, Jewish attitudes toward Josephus had softened, as Jews found parts of The Jewish War inspiring and favorable to the Jews. The last stand at Masada was seen as inspirational rather than tragic, for example. A 1938 / 1941 play, Jerusalem and Rome , was loosely based on The Jewish War , and various novels were written. These 20th century interpretations inevitably reflected
3120-531: A unified leadership. Indeed, it might be argued that they were virtually without any leadership at all." In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population would have to be transferred, and an Arab state to be attached to the Emirate of Transjordan , this emirate also being part of the wider Mandate for Palestine . The proposal was rejected outright by
3276-946: A year on Tisha B'Av at the Western Wall . In 351–352 CE, the Jews of Galilee launched yet another revolt , provoking heavy retribution. 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 , 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
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#17327658593143432-620: A year while the British sent the Peel Commission to investigate. During the first stages of the Arab Revolt, due to rivalry between the clans of al-Husseini and Nashashibi among the Palestinian Arabs, Raghib Nashashibi was forced to flee to Egypt after several assassination attempts ordered by Amin al-Husseini. After the Arab rejection of the Peel Commission recommendation, the revolt resumed in autumn 1937. Over
3588-547: Is "overwhelming" and leaves "no room for an Exodus from Egypt or a 40-year pilgrimage through the Sinai wilderness". Many archaeologists have abandoned the archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit". However, it is accepted that this narrative does have a "historical core" to it. A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has arguably found no evidence that can be directly related to
3744-662: 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,
3900-818: Is known from the Bible , extra-biblical sources, apocrypha and pseudoepigrapha , the writings of Josephus , Greco-Roman authors and church fathers , as well as archaeological finds, inscriptions, ancient documents (such as the Papyri from Elephantine and the Fayyum , the Dead Sea scrolls , the Bar Kokhba letters , the Babatha Archives and the Cairo Genizah documents ) supplemented by oral history and
4056-710: Is only granted the power to make recommendations; therefore, UNGAR 181 was not legally binding. Both the US and the Soviet Union supported the resolution. Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines changed their votes at the last moment after concerted pressure from the US and from Zionist organisations. The five members of the Arab League , who were voting members at the time, voted against the Plan. The Jewish Agency, which
4212-598: Is still the case. In 1933, with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany , the Jewish situation became severe. Economic crises, racial 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 Hitler occupied almost all of Europe . In 1941, following
4368-581: The Yishuv as betrayal of the mandatory terms, especially in light of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe. In response, Zionists organised Aliyah Bet , a programme of illegal immigration into Palestine. Lehi , a small group of extremist Zionists, staged armed attacks on British authorities in Palestine. However, the Jewish Agency , which represented the mainstream Zionist leadership and most of
4524-614: The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and the 1944–1948 Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine . The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine to divide the territory into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, was passed in November 1947. The 1948 Palestine war ended with the territory of Mandatory Palestine divided among the State of Israel , the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , which annexed territory on
4680-621: The 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 , though there is ample evidence for the presence of Jews in Babylonia even from 626 BCE. In Egypt, the 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
4836-744: The Balfour Declaration . Concurrently, the Zionist Commission formed in March 1918 and actively promoted Zionist objectives in Palestine. On 19 April 1920, elections took place for the Assembly of Representatives of the Palestinian Jewish community . In March 1920, there was an attack by Arabs on the Jewish village of Tel Hai . In April, there was another attack on Jews, this time in Jerusalem. In July 1920,
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4992-574: The Byzantine garrison in Jerusalem, and were given Jerusalem to be governed as an autonomy. However, their autonomy was brief: the 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
5148-648: The Haganah , which were to prove decisive in 1948. Secondly, it became clear that the two communities could not be reconciled, and the idea of partition was born. Thirdly, the British responded to Arab opposition with the White Paper of 1939 , which severely restricted Jewish land purchase and immigration. However, with the advent of the Second World War , even this reduced immigration quota was not reached. The White Paper policy itself radicalised segments of
5304-639: The Hasmoneans , but it was 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
5460-401: The Hebrew inscriptions on the Jewish coins minted, and Book V of Tacitus ' Histories . The text also survives in an Old Slavonic version , as well as Hebrew which contains material not found in the Greek version, and which is lacking other material found in the Greek version. Josephus was a popular writer among Christians in the fourth century and beyond as an independent historian to
5616-477: The Herodian dynasty . Briefly, from 4 BCE to 6 CE, Herod Archelaus ruled the 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 procurators after 44 CE. The empire was often callous and brutal in its treatment of its Jewish subjects, (see Anti-Judaism in
5772-406: The Levant . The United Kingdom had agreed in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence that it would honour Arab independence in case of a revolt but, in the end, the United Kingdom and France divided what had been Ottoman Syria under the Sykes–Picot Agreement —an act of betrayal in the eyes of the Arabs. Another issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised its support for
5928-497: The Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt , dated to about 1200 BCE. According to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic —and later monotheistic —religion centred on the national god Yahweh . They spoke an archaic form of the Hebrew language , known today as Biblical Hebrew . The traditional religious view of Jews and Judaism of their own history
6084-482: 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 Assyrian vassalage , despite Hezekiah's revolt against the Assyrian king Sennacherib . Large parts of the Hebrew Bible were written during this period. This includes the earliest portions of Hosea , Isaiah , Amos and Micah , along with Nahum , Zephaniah , most of Deuteronomy ,
6240-418: The Ottoman Empire and Italy . Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Ashkenazi Jews experienced extreme persecution in Central Europe, which prompted their mass migration to Poland . 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
6396-513: The Palestine Police Force withdrew from the Tel Aviv area, home to more than half the Jewish population, and turned over responsibility for the maintenance of law and order to Jewish police. As the civil war raged on, British military forces gradually withdrew from Palestine, although they occasionally intervened in favour of either side. Many of these areas became war zones. The British maintained strong presences in Jerusalem and Haifa , even as Jerusalem came under siege by Arab forces and became
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6552-422: The Persian Empire , the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah ( Yehud Medinata ) with different borders, covering a smaller territory. Contemporary scholars point to a gradual return process that extended into the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE. The population of Persian Judah was greatly reduced from that of the kingdom, archaeological surveys showing a population of around 30,000 people in
6708-454: The Roman Empire . During the same period, the Mishnah and the Talmud , central Jewish texts, were composed. In the following millennia, the diaspora communities coalesced into three major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled: the Ashkenazim ( Central and Eastern Europe ), the Sephardim (initially in the Iberian Peninsula ), and the Mizrahim ( Middle East and North Africa ). Byzantine rule over
6864-438: The Selvino children . Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade were to play a major role in the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). From the Palestine Regiment, two platoons, one Jewish, under the command of Brigadier Ernest Benjamin , and another Arab, were sent to join Allied forces on the Italian Front , having taken part in the final offensive there. Besides Jews and Arabs from Palestine, in total by mid-1944
7020-430: The Twelve Tribes of Israel . The Israelites were later led out of slavery in Egypt and subsequently brought to Canaan by Moses ; they eventually 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,
7176-424: The War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Jewish Brigade then was stationed in Tarvisio , near the border triangle of Italy, Yugoslavia , and Austria, where it played a key role in the Berihah 's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine, a role many of its members would continue after the brigade was disbanded. Among its projects was the education and care of
7332-405: The ingathering of exiles and the reconstruction of the Temple , these communities may have sought to spark a broader movement possibly aimed at returning to Judea and rebuilding Jerusalem. Ancient sources describe the revolt as extremely brutal, with cases of cannibalism and mutilation, though modern scholars often consider these accounts to be exaggerated. The Roman suppression of the revolt
7488-492: 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 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,
7644-413: The menorah , which were then put on display in the new Temple of Peace . The Flavian dynasty leveraged this victory for political gain, erecting monuments in Rome and minting Judaea Capta coins . 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. The destruction of
7800-410: 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 pogroms . 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 . The Zionist movement
7956-441: The 5th to 4th centuries BCE. The final Torah is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–333 BCE, probably 450–350 BCE). 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. Three prophets, considered the last in Jewish tradition— Haggai , Zechariah , and Malachi —were active during this period. After
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#17327658593148112-424: The Arab national general strike broke out. The strike lasted until October 1936, instigated by the Arab Higher Committee, headed by Amin al-Husseini. During the summer of that year, thousands of Jewish-farmed acres and orchards were destroyed. Jewish civilians were attacked and killed, and some Jewish communities, such as those in Beisan ( Beit She'an ) and Acre , fled to safer areas. The violence abated for about
8268-411: The Arab rebels in the lower Galilee and in the Jezreel valley" by conducting raids on Arab villages. Irgun , a Jewish militia group, used violence also against Arab civilians as "retaliatory acts", attacking marketplaces and buses . By the time the revolt concluded in March 1939, more than 5,000 Arabs, 400 Jews, and 200 British had been killed and at least 15,000 Arabs were wounded. In total, 10% of
8424-403: The Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the belligerents in the Second World War. A number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Even though Arabs were not highly regarded by Nazi racial theory , the Nazis encouraged Arab support as
8580-423: The Arabic name instead. The British authorities rejected this proposal; according to the Minutes of the Ninth Session of the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission : Colonel Symes explained that the country was described as "Palestine" by Europeans and as "Falestin" by the Arabs. The Hebrew name for the country was the designation "Land of Israel", and the Government, to meet Jewish wishes, had agreed that
8736-423: The Arabs. The two main Jewish leaders, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion , had convinced the Zionist Congress to equivocally approve the Peel recommendations as a basis for more negotiation. In a letter to his son in October 1937 , Ben-Gurion explained that partition would be a first step to "possession of the land as a whole". The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at
8892-430: The Book of Ezra, Persian Cyrus the Great , king of the Achaemenid Empire , brought an end to the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE, a year after his conquest of Babylon. 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. As part of
9048-541: The British had assembled a multiethnic force consisting of volunteer European Jewish refugees (from German-occupied countries), Yemenite Jews and Abyssinian Jews . In 1939, as a consequence of the White Paper of 1939 , the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine. The Second World War and the Holocaust started shortly thereafter and once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were interned in detention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius . Starting in 1939,
9204-409: The British maintained the ban on immigration. The Jewish Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) and Irgun (National Military Organisation) movements initiated violent uprisings against the British Mandate in the 1940s. On 6 November 1944, Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet Zuri (members of Lehi) assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo . Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East and
9360-528: The British withdrew from most of Haifa but retained an enclave in the port area to be used in the evacuation of British forces, and retained RAF Ramat David , an airbase close to Haifa, to cover their retreat, leaving behind a volunteer police force to maintain order. The city was quickly captured by the Haganah in the Battle of Haifa . After the victory, British forces in Jerusalem announced that they had no intention of overseeing any local administration but also that they would not permit actions that would hamper
9516-402: 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 six periods: 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
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#17327658593149672-399: 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: The culture of the earliest Israelite settlements is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El , the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and
9828-436: The French-ruled Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , and organised and established the Black Hand , an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organisation. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. They used bombs and firearms against Zionist settlers and vandalised settlers' orchards and British-built railway lines. In November 1935, two of his men engaged in
9984-400: 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 Alexandria , culminating in
10140-401: The Great Revolt, in 66 CE. Future emperor Vespasian quelled the rebellion in Galilee by 67 CE, capturing key strongholds. He was succeeded by his son Titus , who led the brutal siege of Jerusalem , culminating in the city's fall in 70 CE. The Romans burned Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The Roman victory was celebrated with a triumph in Rome, showcasing Jewish artifacts like
10296-439: The Homeland is illegal. It will never be recognised. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever." When the United Kingdom announced the independence of the Emirate of Transjordan as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946,
10452-414: 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
10608-429: The Jewish Temple rebuilt. 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. Julian's support of Jews caused Jews to call him "Julian the Hellene ". Julian's fatal wound in
10764-409: The Jewish community in Alexandria existed since the founding of the city in the 4th century BCE by Alexander the Great . By 200 BCE, there were well established Jewish communities both in Egypt and Mesopotamia (" Babylonia " in Jewish sources) and in the two centuries that followed, Jewish populations were also present in Asia Minor , Greece , Macedonia , Cyrene , and, beginning in the middle of
10920-436: The Jewish population, still hoped to persuade Britain to allow resumed Jewish immigration and cooperated with Britain during the Second World War . On 10 June 1940, during the Second World War , the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the British Empire and sided with Nazi Germany . Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air , bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa , inflicting multiple casualties. In 1942, there
11076-412: The Jewish population, this building, located on the 'Hill of Evil Counsel' on the ridge of Jabel Mukaber , remained in use as the headquarters and official residence of the British High Commissioners until the end of British rule in 1948. One of the first actions of the newly installed civil administration was to begin granting concessions from the Mandatory government over key economic assets. In 1921
11232-482: The Jewish population, who after the war would no longer cooperate with the British. The revolt had also a negative effect on Palestinian Arab leadership, social cohesion, and military capabilities, and it contributed to the outcome of the 1948 War because "when the Palestinians faced their most fateful challenge in 1947–49, they were still suffering from the British repression of 1936–39, and were in effect without
11388-535: 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. During the 5th and the 6th centuries, a series of Samaritan insurrections broke out across the Palaestina Prima province. Especially violent were
11544-821: The Lehi assassinated Count Bernadotte , the UN mediator, in Jerusalem. Yitzak Shamir , a future Prime Minister of Israel , was one of the conspirators. The negative publicity resulting from the situation in Palestine caused the Mandate to become widely unpopular in Britain itself and caused the United States Congress to delay granting the British vital loans for reconstruction. The British Labour Party had promised before its election in 1945 to allow mass Jewish migration into Palestine but reneged on this promise once in office. Anti-British Jewish militancy increased, and
11700-681: The Levant was lost in the 7th century as the newly established Islamic Caliphate expanded into the Eastern Mediterranean , Mesopotamia , North Africa, and later into the Iberian Peninsula . Jewish culture enjoyed a golden age in Spain , with Jews becoming widely accepted in society and their religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed. However, in 1492 the Jews were forced to leave Spain and migrated in great numbers to
11856-557: The Mandate's territory was "Palestine", in accordance with local Palestinian Arab and Ottoman usage and with European tradition. The Mandate charter stipulated that Mandatory Palestine would have three official languages: English, Arabic and Hebrew. In 1926, the British authorities formally decided to use the traditional Arabic equivalent to the English name, and its Hebrew transcription i.e. Filasţīn (فلسطين) and Pālēśtīnā (פּלשׂתינה) respectively. The Jewish leadership proposed that
12012-781: The Palestine Mandate and place the Question of Palestine before the United Nations , the successor to the League of Nations . The UN created UNSCOP (the UN Special Committee on Palestine) on 15 May 1947, with representatives from 11 countries. UNSCOP conducted hearings and made a general survey of the situation in Palestine and issued its report on 31 August. Seven members (Canada, Czechoslovakia , Guatemala, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, and Uruguay) recommended
12168-685: 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 Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site , the heads of the Community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of
12324-515: The Second Temple and reinstating sacrificial worship. The successful revolt eventually led to the formation of an independent Jewish state under the Hasmonean dynasty , which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE. 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. Under
12480-548: The Second Temple marked a cataclysmic event in Jewish history, triggering far-reaching transformations within Judaism. With the central role of sacrificial worship obliterated, religious practices shifted towards prayer , Torah study , and communal gatherings in synagogues . According to Rabbinic tradition, Yohanan ben Zakkai secured permission from the Romans to establish a center for Torah study in Yavneh , which then served as
12636-696: The West Bank of the Jordan River , and the Kingdom of Egypt , which established the " All-Palestine Protectorate " in the Gaza Strip . Mandatory Palestine was designated as a Class A Mandate , based on its social, political, and economic development. This classification was reserved for post-war mandates with the highest capacity for self-governance. All Class A mandates other than mandatory Palestine had gained independence by 1946. The name given to
12792-485: The adoption and implementation of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union as Resolution 181 (II), while making some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal. The partition plan required that the proposed states grant full civil rights to all people within their borders, regardless of race, religion or gender. The UN General Assembly
12948-420: The adult Arab male population was killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled. From 1936 to 1945, while establishing collaborative security arrangements with the Jewish Agency, the British confiscated 13,200 firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews. The attacks on the Jewish population by Arabs had three lasting effects: firstly, they led to the formation and development of Jewish underground militias, primarily
13104-647: 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. According to the Biblical narrative , the Land of Israel was organized into a confederacy of twelve tribes ruled by a series of Judges for several hundred years. Two Israelite kingdoms emerged during Iron Age II: Israel and Judah . The Bible portrays Israel and Judah as
13260-546: The area lying between the river 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
13416-607: The assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the Zionist cause. After the assassination of Lord Moyne, the Haganah kidnapped, interrogated, and turned over to the British many members of the Irgun (" The Hunting Season "), and the Jewish Agency Executive decided on a series of measures against "terrorist organisations" in Palestine. Irgun ordered its members not to resist or retaliate with violence, so as to prevent
13572-498: 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. 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
13728-734: 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. 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
13884-539: The collection of commentaries in the Midrash and Talmud . With the rise of the printing press and movable type in the early modern period , Jewish histories and early editions of the Torah/Tanakh were published which dealt with the history of the Jewish religion, and increasingly, national histories of the Jews , Jewish peoplehood and identity . This was a move from a manuscript or scribal culture to
14040-600: The compilation of the Septuagint . An important advocate of the symbiosis of Jewish theology and Hellenistic thought is Philo . 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
14196-592: The concerns of the era, unsurprisingly, such as the persecution of Jews in Russia and Nazi-era Europe, the nascent Zionist movement, and the situation of Jewish settlers in the British Mandate of Palestine . For scholars, Josephus is and remains an invaluable resource for study of the Jewish-Roman war. While he is clearly deferential toward his Flavian dynasty Roman patrons, he is generally considered
14352-465: 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
14508-479: The creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration . Three members (India, Iran, and Yugoslavia ) supported the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. Australia abstained. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly, voting 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, adopted a resolution recommending
14664-555: 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 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 . In 332 BCE, Alexander
14820-544: The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after. Babylonia, where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the centre of Jewish life all the way up to the 13th century. By the first century, Babylonia already held a speedily growing population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million between
14976-551: The distribution of the seats, arguing that as they constituted 88% of the population, having only 43% of the seats was unfair. Elections took place in February and March 1923, but due to an Arab boycott , the results were annulled and a 12-member Advisory Council was established. At the First World Congress of Jewish Women which was held in Vienna , Austria, 1923, it was decided that: "It appears, therefore, to be
15132-528: The duty of all Jews to co-operate in the social-economic reconstruction of Palestine and to assist in the settlement of Jews in that country." In October 1923, Britain provided the League of Nations with a report on the administration of Palestine for the period 1920–1922, which covered the period before the mandate. In August 1929, there were riots in which 250 people died. In 1930, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam arrived in Palestine from Syria, then part of
15288-669: The earliest mention of Israel is inscribed on the Merneptah Stele around 1213–1203 BCE, religious literature tells the story of Israelites going back at least as far as c. 1500 BCE. The Kingdom of Israel fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in around 720 BCE, and the Kingdom of Judah to the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE. Part of the Judean population was exiled to Babylon . The Assyrian and Babylonian captivities are regarded as representing
15444-528: The economic development of the country as a whole, while at the same time securing their commitment to facilitate a Jewish National Home through economic – rather than political – means. In May 1921, following a disturbance between rival Jewish left-wing protestors and then attacks by Arabs on Jews, almost 100 died in rioting in Jaffa . High Commissioner Samuel tried to establish self-governing institutions in Palestine, as required by
15600-549: The empire. He was soon succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin, who continued his father's policy and faced a Babylonian invasion. In March 597 BCE, Jehoiachin surrendered to the Babylonians and was taken captive to Babylon. This defeat is documented in the Babylonian Chronicles . Zedekiah , Jehoiachin's uncle, was then installed as king by the Babylonians. In 587 or 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II , responding to
15756-673: The end of the Second World War, especially by the Haganah, who carried mostly illegal Jewish immigrants in the period 1945-47. After the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of the U.S. President , Harry S. Truman , and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that 100,000 Jews be immediately granted entry to Palestine,
15912-408: The establishment of a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Mandatory Palestine was then established in 1920, and the British obtained a Mandate for Palestine from the League of Nations in 1922. During the Mandate, the area saw successive waves of Jewish immigration and the rise of nationalist movements in both the Jewish and Arab communities. Competing interests of the two populations led to
16068-474: The establishment of a short-lived Jewish state in Judea under the leadership of Simon Bar Kokhba , styled as nasi or prince of Israel. The rebel state's coinage proclaimed "Freedom of Israel" and "For the Freedom of Jerusalem," using ancient Hebrew script for nationalistic symbolism. However, the Romans soon amassed six legions and additional auxiliaries under Julius Severus , who then brutally crushed
16224-684: The events before, during, and after the life of Jesus of Nazareth . Josephus was always accessible in the Greek-reading Eastern Mediterranean. The Jewish War was translated into Latin ( Bellum Judaicum ) in the fourth century by Pseudo-Hegesippus in abbreviated form as well as by an unknown other in full, and both versions were widely distributed throughout the Western Roman Empire and its successor states. Christian interest in The Jewish War
16380-448: The exclusive claims of Jews and Arabs to Palestine, we regard it as essential that a clear statement of principle should be made that Jew shall not dominate Arab and Arab shall not dominate Jew in Palestine". U.S. President Harry S. Truman angered the British Government by issuing a statement supporting the 100,000 refugees but refusing to acknowledge the rest of the committee's findings. Britain had asked for U.S. assistance in implementing
16536-592: The extent of its power. Biblical tradition tells that the Israelite monarchy was established in 1037 BCE under Saul , and continued under David and his son, Solomon . David greatly expanded the kingdom's borders and 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 Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Upon his death, traditionally dated to c. 930 BCE,
16692-602: The final Assembly of the League of Nations and the General Assembly both adopted resolutions welcoming the news. The Jewish Agency objected, claiming that Transjordan was an integral part of Palestine, and that according to Article 80 of the UN Charter , the Jewish people had a secured interest in its territory. During the General Assembly deliberations on Palestine, there were suggestions that it would be desirable to incorporate part of Transjordan's territory into
16848-649: The first century BCE, in the city of Rome . In the first centuries CE, as a result of the Jewish-Roman Wars , 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
17004-545: The first edition of the Deuteronomistic history (the books of Joshua / Judges / Samuel / Kings ), and Habakkuk . With the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 605 BCE, a power struggle emerged between Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the Levant , leading to Judah's rapid decline. In 601 BCE, King Jehoiakim of Judah, who had recently submitted to Babylon, rebelled against
17160-529: The foundation of Rabbinic Judaism . 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. In Mesopotamia, a testimony to the beginnings of the Jewish community can be found in Joachin's ration tablets , listing provisions allotted to the exiled Judean king and his family by Nebuchadnezzar II , and further evidence are
17316-411: The government granted Pinhas Rutenberg – a Jewish entrepreneur – concessions for the production and distribution of electrical power. Rutenberg soon established an electric company whose shareholders were Zionist organisations, investors, and philanthropists. Palestinian-Arabs saw it as proof that the British intended to favour Zionism. The British administration claimed that electrification would enhance
17472-588: The harsh Roman response to the Diaspora Revolt. The book of Acts in the New Testament , as well as other Pauline texts, make frequent reference to the large populations of Hellenised Jews in the cities of the Roman world. These Hellenised 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
17628-434: The mandate, but the Arab leadership refused to co-operate with any institution which included Jewish participation. When Kamil al-Husayni , the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem , died in March 1921, High Commissioner Samuel appointed his half-brother, Mohammad Amin al-Husseini , to the position. Amin al-Husseini, a member of the al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem, was an Arab nationalist and Muslim leader. As Grand Mufti, as well as in
17784-497: The mayors of Nablus and Gaza and media such as "Radio Palestine" and the prominent Jaffa -based Falastin newspaper, volunteered to join and fight for the British, with many serving in units that also included Jews from Palestine. 120 Palestinian women also served as part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service . However, this history has been less studied, as Israeli sources put more focus in studying
17940-486: The most influential translations were Thomas Lodge 's 1602 translation ( The Tragic History of the Jews ), followed by William Whiston 's 1760s translation ( The Wars of the Jews ). On the Jewish side, Josephus was far more obscure, as he was perceived as a traitor. Rabbinical writings for a millennium after his death (e.g. the Mishnah ) almost never call out Josephus by name, although they sometimes tell parallel tales of
18096-630: The motor schooner Struma was torpedoed and sunk in the Black Sea by a Soviet submarine in February 1942 with the loss of nearly 800 lives. The last refugee boats to try to reach Palestine during the war were the Bulbul , Mefküre and Morina in August 1944. A Soviet submarine sank the motor schooner Mefküre by torpedo and shellfire and machine-gunned survivors in the water, killing between 300 and 400 refugees. Illegal immigration resumed after
18252-422: The next 18 months, the British lost Nablus and Hebron. British forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police, suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force. The British officer Charles Orde Wingate (who supported a Zionist revival for religious reasons ) organised Special Night Squads of British soldiers and Jewish volunteers such as Yigal Alon ; these "scored significant successes against
18408-595: The other influential positions that he held during this period, al-Husseini played a key role in violent opposition to Zionism . In 1922, al-Husseini was elected President of the Supreme Muslim Council which had been established by Samuel in December 1921. The Council controlled the Waqf funds, worth annually tens of thousands of pounds, and the orphan funds, worth annually about £50,000, as compared to
18564-583: The partition plan, but refused to enforce it, arguing it was not accepted by the Arabs. Britain also refused to share the administration of Palestine with the UN Palestine Commission during the transitional period. In September 1947, the British government announced that the Mandate for Palestine would end at midnight on 14 May 1948. Some Jewish organisations also opposed the proposal. Irgun leader Menachem Begin announced, "The partition of
18720-415: 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 . Roman oppressive rule, combined with economic, religious, and ethnic tensions, eventually led to the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War , also known as
18876-494: The proper Hebrew name should be ʾĒrēts Yiśrāʾel (ארץ ישׂראל, Land of Israel ). The final compromise was to append the initials of the Hebrew proposed name, Alef - Yod , within parenthesis (א״י) after Pālēśtīnā whenever the Mandate's name was mentioned in Hebrew in official documents. The Arab leadership saw this compromise as a violation of the mandate terms. Some Arab politicians suggested " Southern Syria " (سوريا الجنوبية) as
19032-711: The proposed Jewish state. A few days before the adoption of Resolution 181 (II) on 29 November 1947, US Secretary of State Marshall noted frequent references had been made by the Ad Hoc Committee regarding the desirability of the Jewish State having both the Negev and an "outlet to the Red Sea and the Port of Aqaba". According to John Snetsinger, Chaim Weizmann visited President Truman on 19 November 1947 and said it
19188-407: The recommendations. The US War Department had said earlier that to assist Britain in maintaining order against an Arab revolt, an open-ended US commitment of 300,000 troops would be necessary. The immediate admission of 100,000 new Jewish immigrants would almost certainly have provoked an Arab uprising. These events were the decisive factors that forced Britain to announce their desire to terminate
19344-587: The revolt had started. Tzippori and Lydda (site of two of the major legal academies) never recovered. Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine . After an Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War in 1916, British forces drove Ottoman forces out of
19500-505: The role played by Jewish soldiers. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources "were not eager to glorify the names of those who cooperated with Britain not so many years after the British put down the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, and thereby indirectly helped the Jews establish a state." On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade within the British Army , with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. On 20 September 1944, an official communiqué by
19656-507: 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. Judea had been an independent Jewish kingdom under
19812-414: The safe and orderly withdrawal of their forces; military courts would try anybody who interfered. Although by this time British authority in most of Palestine had broken down, with most of the country in the hands of Jews or Arabs, the British air and sea blockade of Palestine remained in place. Although Arab volunteers were able to cross the borders between Palestine and the surrounding Arab states to join
19968-509: The same events that Josephus narrated. An Italian Jew writing in the 10th century indirectly brought Josephus back to prominence among Jews: he authored the Yosippon , which paraphrases Pseudo-Hegesippus's Latin version of The Jewish War (among other works), and included additional historical snippets at times. Jews generally distrusted Christian translations of Josephus until the 19th century, when sufficiently "neutral" vernacular language translations were made. Kalman Schulman finally created
20124-423: 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
20280-435: The scene of fierce fighting, though the British occasionally intervened in the fighting, largely to secure their evacuation routes, including by proclaiming martial law and enforcing truces. The Palestine Police Force was largely inoperative, and government services such as social welfare, water supplies, and postal services were withdrawn. In March 1948, all British judges in Palestine were sent back to Britain. In April 1948,
20436-409: The sealing of the Talmud (220CE – 500CE), 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 (Hebrew: גאונים) were the presidents of the two great rabbinical colleges of Sura and Pumbedita, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of
20592-418: The situation required the presence of over 100,000 British troops in the country. Following the Acre Prison Break and the retaliatory hanging of British sergeants by the Irgun, the British announced their desire to terminate the mandate and to withdraw by no later than the beginning of August 1948. The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in 1946 was a joint attempt by Britain and the United States to agree on
20748-446: The start of the Jewish diaspora . After the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered the region, the exiled Jews were allowed to return and rebuild the temple ; these events mark the beginning of the Second Temple period . After several centuries of foreign rule, the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire led to an independent Hasmonean kingdom , but it was gradually incorporated into Roman rule. The Jewish-Roman wars ,
20904-426: The successors of an earlier United Kingdom of Israel , although its historicity is disputed . Historians and archaeologists agree that the northern Kingdom of Israel existed from ca. 900 BCE and that the Kingdom of Judah existed from ca. 700 BCE. 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
21060-472: 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. After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia (modern day Iraq) 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
21216-447: The third and the fourth revolts, which resulted in almost the entire annihilation of the Samaritan community. It is likely that the Samaritan 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 alliance with the Persians , who invaded Palaestina Prima in 614, fought at their side, overwhelmed
21372-416: The upper Jordan Valley , the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan . Samaria , the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age palaces in the Levant. The kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem , controlled the Judaean Mountains , the Shephelah , the Judaean Desert and parts of
21528-546: 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. 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. The Romans also suffered heavy losses. Post-revolt, Jews were prohibited from entering Jerusalem, and Hadrian issued religious edicts, including
21684-559: The war ended and Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of Aliyah from all over Europe and Middle Eastern countries . As of 2022, Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a population of 9.6 million people, of whom 7 million are Jewish . The largest Jewish community outside Israel is the United States , while large communities also exist in France, Canada, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany . For statistics related to modern Jewish demographics, see Jewish population . Ancient Jewish history
21840-401: The word "Palestine" in Hebrew characters should be followed in all official documents by the initials which stood for that designation. As a set-off to this, certain of the Arab politicians suggested that the country should be called "Southern Syria" in order to emphasise its close relation with another Arab State. The adjective " mandatory " indicates that the entity's legal status derived from
21996-406: 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
22152-447: 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 . During the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), Jewish diaspora communities across several eastern provinces of the Roman Empire engaged in widespread rebellion. Driven by messianic fervor and hopes for
22308-410: 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. For the Jews of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the yeshivot of Babylonia served much
22464-468: 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. 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 ("Geonim" meaning "splendour" in Biblical Hebrew or "geniuses"), which became
22620-484: The £600,000 in the Jewish Agency 's annual budget. In addition, he controlled the Islamic courts in Palestine. Among other functions, these courts had the power to appoint teachers and preachers. The 1922 Palestine Order in Council established a Legislative Council, which was to consist of 23 members: 12 elected, 10 appointed, and the High Commissioner. Of the 12 elected members, eight were to be Muslim Arabs, two Christian Arabs, and two Jews. Arabs protested against
22776-483: Was a period of great concern for the Yishuv , when the German forces of General Erwin Rommel advanced east across North Africa towards the Suez Canal , raising a fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the " 200 days of dread ". This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach – a highly trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (a paramilitary group composed mostly of reserves). As in most of
22932-433: Was based on the narrative of the ancient Hebrew Bible . In this view, Abraham , signifying that he is both the biological progenitor of the Jews and the father of Judaism, is the first Jew. Later, Isaac was born to Abraham, and Jacob was born to Isaac. Following a struggle with an angel , Jacob was given the name Israel . Following a severe drought, Jacob and his twelve sons fled to Egypt , where they eventually formed
23088-639: Was captured, blinded, and transported to Babylon. Others fled to Egypt . The people of Judah lost their statehood, and, for those in exile, their homeland. Following the dissolution of the monarchy, the former kingdom was annexed as a province of the Babylonian Empire. 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 Egypt , while others remained in Judea . Jeremiah refers to communities in Egypt, including settlements in Migdol , Tahpanhes , Noph , and Pathros . Moreover,
23244-456: Was imperative that the Negev and Port of Aqaba be within the Jewish state. Truman telephoned the US delegation to the UN and told them he supported Weizmann's position. However, the Trans-Jordan memorandum excluded territories of the Emirate of Transjordan from any Jewish settlement. Immediately after the UN resolution, civil war broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities, and British authority began to break down. On 16 December 1947,
23400-418: Was largely out of interest in the downfall of the Jews and the Second Temple, which was one of the sources for the antisemitic trope of divine punishment for the crime of killing Jesus . Improvements in printing technology (the Gutenberg Press ) led to the work receiving a number of new translations into the vernacular languages of Europe; the original Greek text was also published in Basel in 1544. In English,
23556-413: Was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself. Buth and Pierce wrote "the current Greek edition does not appear to be a translation, but must be considered a new edition, a complete re-working of the first writing and likely a considerable expansion." The sources of the First Jewish–Roman War are: this account of Josephus, the Talmud ( Gittin 57b), Midrash Eichah ,
23712-443: Was marked by severe measures, including ethnic cleansing , leading to the near-total destruction of Jewish diaspora communities in Libya , Cyprus and Egypt , including the significant and influential community in Alexandria . 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. Early successes led to
23868-411: 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. 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
24024-410: Was the Jewish state-in-formation, accepted the plan, and nearly all the Jews in Palestine rejoiced at the news. The partition plan was rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership and by most of the Arab population. Meeting in Cairo on November and December 1947, the Arab League then adopted a series of resolutions endorsing a military solution to the conflict. Britain announced that it would accept
24180-408: Was then a very large city made up mostly of Jews. 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
24336-459: Was then the northeastern edge of Jerusalem, a building that had been constructed for the Germans circa 1910. Damaged by an earthquake in 1927, this building served as the headquarters and official residence of the British High Commissioners until 1933. In that year, a new, purpose-built headquarters and official residence for the High Commissioner was completed on what was then the southeastern edge of Jerusalem. Referred to as Armon HaNetziv by
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