Jewish History Timeline

1792 BCE Abraham migrates from Haran to Canaan.
1500 BCE Egyptian bondage of Israelites.
1340 BCE Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and receives the Ten Commandments.
1300 BCE Israelites conquer Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, disciple of Moses.
1030 BCE Reign of King Saul ca. 1030 BCE - 1010 BCE; first Israelite King.
1000 BCE David anointed King ca. 1000 BCE; Jerusalem is capital.
950 BCE King Solomon builds Temple in Jerusalem.
925 BCE Kingdom of Israel divided:  Israel in north, Judah in south.
883 BCE Time of prophets Elijah and Elisha.
853 BCE King Ahab of Israel leads coalition to defeat Assyrians at Karkar.
740 BCE Prophet Isaiah active ca. 740 BCE - 700 BCE.
722 BCE Northern kingdom falls to Assyrians.
701 BCE Assyrian emperor Sennacherib fails to conquer Jerusalem.
600 BCE Time of prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
586 BCE Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, Temple destroyed.  First exile of the Jews.
538 BCE Some Jews return from exile.
515 BCE Second Temple built in Jerusalem.
449 BCE Jewish mercenaries at Elphantine, Egypt 5th and 6th centuries.
445 BCE Ezra and Nehemiah lead many Jews back to Judah.
400 BCE
Second Temple period in Jerusalem.
Knesset Hagedolah provide religious leadership.
332 BCE Alexander the Great invades Israel.
201 BCE
Antiochus III of Syria captures Israel from the Egyptians. 
Bible translated into Greek, Septuagint.
169 BCE
Dead Sea sect living in Qumran region.
Antiochus IV of Syria defiles the Temple of Jerusalem.
165 BCE
Successful revolt (168 BCE - 164 BCE) against the Syrians led by Hasmoneans.
First Hanukkah.
142 BCE Simon the Hasmonean restores independence of Judea.
63 BCE Pompei annexes Judea to Roman Empire.
37 BCE Herod, ruler of Jews under Rome.
19 BCE Herod rebuilds the Temple in Jerusalem.
37 CE Flavius Josephus, soldier and historian, born in Jerusalem.
70 CE
Romans conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Temple.
Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zaccai founded school of Yavneh.
72 CE Fall of fortress of Massada.
135 CE
Emporer Hadrian persecutes the Jews.
Simon Bar Kochba leads Jewish revolt against the Romans, (132 CE - 135 CE).
200 CE Redaction of the Mishnah.
220 CE Great Talmud scholars in Babylonia and Judea.
359 CE Hillel the Younger establishes mathematical rules for setting the Jewish calender.
500 CE Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud.
570 CE Yusuf Dhu Nawas rules Hamyar in Arabia.
622 CE Mohammad expels some Jews:  others remain or convert.
690 CE Geonim head Babylonian Academies - foremost Jewish religious authority (c. 690 CE - c. 11th century).
711 CE Spanish Jews help Muslim invasion of Spain.
800 CE Jewish King of Khazars.
940 CE Ibn Shaprut (915 CE - 970 CE) holds high office at the Court of the Muslim Caliph of Spain.
942 CE R. Saadia Gaon, Talmudist and philosopher dies in Sura.
1006 CE R. Sherira Gaon dies in Babylonia.
1013 CE R. Isaac Alfasi, Talmudist, teacher in Lucena, born.
1020 CE Solomon Ibn Gabirol, poet and philosopher, born in Spain
1040 CE
Rashi, Talmudic commentator born in Frqance.
R.Gershom founder of Talmudic studies in France and Germany, dies in France.
1056 CE Samuel Hanagid Vizier of Granada dies.
1086 CE Judah Ha-Levy, poet, born in Spain.
1089 CE Abraham Ibn Ezra, poet and scholar, born in Spain.
1096 CE Christian Crusaders massacre European Jews.
1101 CE R. Nathan of Rome writes Arukh.
1135 CE Maimonides ("Rambam"), great scholar and philosopher, born in Spain.
1141 CE R. Joseph Ibn Migash, head of Lucena school, dies in Lucena, Spain.
1144 CE First blood libel accusation in England.
1162 CE Benjamin of Tudela, traveler (c. 1162 CE - 1172 CE).
1163 CE Jews build a synagogue in Kai-Feng, China.
1171 CE Destruction of the Jewish community of Blois.
1187 CE Saladin invites Jews to return to Jerusalem for first time since 1099.
1189 CE Massacres of Jews in England.
1200 CE R. Judah Hahasid writes Sefer Hasidim in Germany.
1204 CE Maimonides dies.
1215 CE
Lateran council decrees that Jews should wear distinguishing badges in Christian Europe.
300 Rabbis migrate from England and France to Israel.
1240 CE Talmud burned in Paris.
1263 CE Barcelona Disputation; Jewish scholar Nahmanides defends Judaism.
1286 CE Zohar - mystical commentary of Old Testament.
1288 CE Jews burned in Troyes.
1290 CE Jews expelled from England.
1293 CE R. Meir of Rothenburg, Tosafist codifier and poet, dies in Germany.
1298 CE Rindfleisch Persecutions of Jewish communities in Germany.
1306 CE Jews expelled from France.
1326 CE R. Isaac Ben Sheshet, Talmudic authority, born in Spain.
1347 CE Thousands of Jews massacred in Europe - blamed for the Black Death.
1364 CE Jews settling in Poland.
1391 CE Massacres and forced conversion to Christianity of Jews in Spain.
1415 CE Pope issues edict banning the Talmud.
1437 CE Don Isaac Abarbanel, statesman and biblical commentator born in Portugal.
1469 CE First Hebrew printing presses.
1480 CE "Conversos" massacred in Cordoba.
1492 CE Expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal (1492 CE - 1497 CE).
1510 CE Jewish ghetto established in Venice.
1525 CE Maharal (R. Judah Loew) in Prague (to 1609 CE).
1532 CE Solomon Molcho burned by the Inquisition.
1564 CE Shulhan Arukh (code of conduct for Jews) published.
1569 CE R. Yitzhak Luria, mystic, born in Safed.
1579 CE
Joseph Nasi, statesman and financier, dies in Constatinople.
R. Yom-Tov Heller, Talmudic scholar born in Bavaria.
1581 CE Council of Four Lands founded in Poland.
1630 CE
Jewish community developing in Brazil.
Severe persecution of Jews in Germany.
1632 CE Baruch Spinoza, philosopher, born in 1632 CE, Holland.
1648 CE Cossacks, under Chmielnicki, massacre Jews in Ukraine.
1654 CE First Jews settle in North America - New Amsterdam (New York City).
1656 CE Oliver Cromwell allows Jews to return to England.
1665 CE "False Messiah" Shabbetai Zevi (1626 CE - 1676 CE).
1730 CE First synagogue in New York City.
1739 CE Hasidism founded by Baal Shem Tov.
1760 CE Dov Baer of Meziritsch, Hasidic leader (1760 CE - 1772 CE).
1768 CE Haidamack massacres in Ukraine.
1777 CE Hasidim of Vitebsk settle in Israel.
1781 CE Hapsburg Emperor, Joseph II, issues edict of tolerance.
1783 CE Moses Mendelssohn publishes his translation of Torah into German.
1784 CE Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749 CE - 1838 CE) librettist of Mozart.
1790 CE Emancipation of Jews in France (1790 CE - 1791 CE).
1791 CE "Pale of Settlement" in Russia.
1797 CE Vilna Gaon dies in Vilna.
1800 CE Shneur Zalman (1745 CE - 1813 CE) founds Lubavitch Hassidism.
1802 CE R. Chaim founds Yeshiva in Volozhin.
1806 CE Assembly of Jewish notables in Paris.
1812 CE Jews in Prussia granted limited civil and political rights.
1818 CE
Leopold Zunz and beginning of Wissenschaft, science of Judaism.
Hamburg Reform Temple.
1819 CE Anti-Semitic "Hep Hep" riots in Germany.
1829 CE Nicholas I of Russia persecutes Jews.
1840 CE Damascus blood libel.
1844 CE Reform Rabbinical Conference held in Brunswick, Germany.
1845 CE David Levy Yulee (1811 CE - 1886 CE) United States Senator from Florida.
1846 CE Uriah Levy (1792 CE - 1862 CE) Admiral in United States Navy.
1848 CE R. Israel Salanter (1810 CE - 1883 CE) founds Musar movement.
1854 CE Frankel open Juedisch - Theologisches seminar, Breslau, Germany.
1857 CE Lionel De Rothschild (1806 CE - 1879 CE) becomes first Jewish member of Parliament in Britain.
1859 CE Mortara Case - kidnapping and forced conversion of Jewish baby in Italy.
1861 CE Moses Hess publishes Rome and Jerusalem calling for Jewish homeland.
1862 CE Judah P. Benjamin (1811 CE - 1884 CE) Confederate Secretary of State (1862 CE - 1865 CE).
1864 CE Leopold Karpeles awarded Medal of Honor in Battle of Wilderness.
1874 CE Benjamin Disraeli (1804 CE - 1881 CE) Prime Minister of Britain (1874 CE - 1880 CE).
1875 CE Isaac Mayer Wise opens Hebrew Union College.
1876 CE
First recorded use of term "anti-Semitism".
Heinrich Graetz completes History of the Jews.
1881 CE Assassination of Czar Alexander II results in pogroms against Jews in Russia.
1882 CE
First "Aliyah" (migration to Israel).
"Hibbat Zion" founded.
1887 CE Jewish Theological Seminary opens in New York City.
1888 CE
Jewish Publication Society founded.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Rabbi of Frankfurt dies.
1891 CE Expulsion of Jews from Moscow.
1892 CE Judah Leib Gordon, Hebrew poet, dies.
1894 CE Anti-Semitic Dreyfus affair in France.
1897 CE
First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.
Yeshivah University opens.
Zola writes J'Accuse in defense of Dreyfus.
1898 CE Socialist "Bund" founded in Vilna, Poland.
1903 CE
Second wave of pogroms in Russia and Poland.
Kishinev pogrom.
Second Aliyah.
1905 CE
Einstein proposes Theory of Relativity.
Labor Zionist Organization of America founded.
1906 CE Captain Alfred Dreyfus proclaimed innocent and reinstated in French Army.
1909 CE Deganya founded.
1910 CE Luigi Luzzatti Prime Minister of Italy (1910 CE - 1911 CE).
1911 CE Mendel Bellis falsely accused of murdering a child in Kiev and jailed for two years.
1912 CE
Young Israel Movement founded.
Henrietta Szold founds Hadassah.
Agudat Yisrael founded.
1913 CE Publication of Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust.
1914 CE American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee founded.
1916 CE
Louis D. Brandeis (1856 CE - 1941 CE) is appointed to United States Supreme Court.
Sholom Aleichem, Yiddish writer, dies.
1917 CE Russian Revolution results in repeal of anti-Jewish laws and abolition of Pale of Settlement.
1918 CE Third Aliyah.
1922 CE
Mordecai Kaplan founds Reconstructionist Judaism.
British given control of Palestine.
The Julius Rosenwald Fund builds schools for poor children in South.
Harvard and other universities set quotas on Jewish students.
1923 CE R. Meir Shapiro initiates Daf Yomi.
1926 CE Foundation of World Union for Progressive Judaism.
1927 CE
Benny Friedman and Harry Newman all-American quarterbacks for University of Michigan (1927 CE -1933 CE).
Abe Saperstein starts Harlem Globetrotters.
1929 CE Al Jolson stars in first talking movie The Jazz Singer.
1930 CE Start of Stalin's purges in Soviet Union and dismantling of Jewish culture.
1933 CE Emigration from Germany.
1934 CE Hank Greenberg leads Detroit Tigers to four World Series.
1935 CE Imposition of Nuremberg Laws against the Jews in Nazi Germany.
1936 CE Palestine Orchestra founded.
1938 CE
Evian Conference offers little help to Jewish refugees.
November 1938:  "Kristallnacht", Nazis in Germany and Austria attack Jews and Jewish property.
1939 CE Holocaust, 1939 CE - 1945 CE; more than 6 million Jews will perish.
1940 CE Sid Luckman first "T" formation quarterback Chicago Bears.
1942 CE R. Aaron Kotler founds BEth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey.

Nazis formulate the "Final Solution" - extermination of Jews at Wansee Conference..
1943 CE
Bermuda Conference fails to help Jews.
Jews in Warsaw ghetto revolt.
1944 CE United States War Refugee Board created.
1945 CE Ray Zussman of Detroit awarded Medal of Honor.
1947 CE United Nations vote to partition Land of Israel into Jewish and Arab states.
1948 CE
State of Israel proclaimed.
Ben Gurion first Prime Minister of Israel.
Arab countries attack; Israel War of Independence.
Brandeis University founded.
1952 CE Jonas Salk introduces Polio Vaccine.
1954 CE Admiral Hyman Rickover develops nuclear submarine.
1955 CE Sandy Koufax pitches for Dodgers.
1956 CE Israel occupies Sinai Peninsula in war against Egypt.
1961 CE Nazi Adolf Eichman tried and sentenced to death for h8is crimes during the Holocaust.
1962 CE Many Arab terrorist attacks on Jews.
1963 CE Betty Friedan writes The Feminine Mystique.
1967 CE
Egypt blockades Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba to all ships traveling to Israel.
Six Day War - Israel occupies Sinai Peninsula, West Bank, Golan Heights.
Jerusalem united under Israeli rule.
1968 CE Jews in Poland flee anti-Semitic outbreaks.
1972 CE Sally Priesand first woman rabbi.
1973 CE Yom Kippur War.
1976 CE Entebbe raid.
1977 CE Israeli Premier Begin and President Saddat of Egypt meet in Jerusalem.
1979 CE
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews migrate to Israel.
After Camp David meeting with President Carter, Israel and Egypt sign peace treaty.
1981 CE Israel bombs nuclear reactor in Iraq.
1982 CE Israel invades Lebanon in response to terrorist attacks.
1986 CE
Palestinian "intifada".
Natan Sharansky, Soviet refusenik, allowed to go to Israel.
1988 CE Thousands of Ethiopian Jews migrate to Israel.
1990 CE Glasnost in Soviet Union - mass exodus of Jews from Russia to Israel and United States.
1991 CE
Joseph Brodsky American Poet Laureate.
Saddam Hussein launches SCUD rockets against Israel.
1993 CE Oslo Agreement between Israel's Rabin and PLO's Arafat.
1994 CE
Peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.
Exchange of diplomatic relations between Israel and Vatican.
1995 CE Israel Prime Minister Rabin assassinated.
1998 CE 50th Anniversary of State of Israel.
2001 CE Second intifada suicide bomb attacks in Israel kill hundreds.