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Home » Judaism 101 » History » Crash Course
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
History repeats: The groove that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob carve will be for their descendants.
Joseph demonstrates a classic pattern: The Jew arrives impoverished, works hard, and rises to the top.
To remedy the family animosity, Joseph sets the stage for a great test.
With the Ten Plagues, the laws of nature are turned upside down to free the Jews.
The encounter between God and the Jews at Mount Sinai was a totally unique event in all of human history.
Only a tiny portion of Jews participate in worshiping the golden calf. So why blame the whole nation?
Every major disaster in Jewish history is connected to the 9th of Av. It all began with the 12 spies.
This is no typical war of conquest.
Jewish guidance came from the "judges," who were both warriors and prophets.
King Saul was a great man who committed one terrible mistake, dooming his reign from the start.
Still too young to fight in the army, David becomes Israel's champion when he slays Goliath.
King David established Jerusalem as Israel's capital over 3,000 years ago.
King Solomon, the wisest of all men, built the Temple in Jerusalem and reigned over Israel's golden age.
The 10 northern tribes secede, splitting Israel in two.
The Assyrians conquer northern Israel and vanquish the nation with exile.
The Kingdom of Judah lasts another of 134 years before it falls.
The Babylonians think God has abandoned the Jews and celebrate. But they have a surprise coming.
A feast celebrating God's abandonment of Israel puts into motion Haman's plot to annihilate the Jews.
The Holy Temple is rebuilt, but is not the same with the Ark of the Covenant missing.
Extraordinary sages define the essence of Judaism for the Jews of Israel and the Diaspora.
To the Greeks, what was beautiful was holy; to the Jews, what was holy was beautiful. These views were bound to clash.
Terror reigned -- women were killed with babies tied around their necks.
The Jewish revolt against the Greeks sets a precedent as the world's first religious war.
Jewish tradition maintains the Romans were descendants of Esau, the bloodthirsty brother of Jacob.
A madman who murdered his own family and many rabbis, Herod was also the greatest builder in Jewish history.
In a time when many things were going wrong for the Jews, the sages Hillel and Shammai defined what was going right.
In a seemingly suicidal move, the Jews take on the mighty Romans.
The Jewish nation fights to save its spiritual center.
On the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, the 9th of Av, the Temple burns to the ground.
Two thousand years of Jewish history at a glance.
Despite the disastrous results of the Great Revolt, the Jews revolt yet again.
The Romans sought to extinguish Jewish presence in Jerusalem by renaming Israel to Palestine.
In a time of chaos, the sages do the unprecedented and write down the Oral Law.
At a time of cruel oppression, splinter sects spring up in belief that the apocalypse is at hand.
Early Christianity attracted those unwilling to take on all of Judaism's precepts.
Mohammed reacted with anger when Jews refused to recognize him as the last of the prophets.
The oldest and most stable of Jewish communities was spared the ravages of holy warriors.
Spain was the Medieval golden land of opportunity for Jews.
The Crusaders came to liberate the Holy Land from the "infidels" - and woe to any Jew who stood in their way.
Christian accusations leveled against the Jews were extreme and irrational.
The Europeans didn't know what caused the bubonic plague, but had no trouble blaming the Jews.
The Inquisition sought to expose Jews who converted to Christianity but were still secretly Jewish.
King Boleslav of Poland invited the Jews, granting them unprecedented rights and privileges.
The Reformation exposed the corruption of the Church. For the Jews it meant more bad news.
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