Jewishcoman independent reference guide to the history, ideas and texts of the Jewish tradition

An independent educational reference on the history and ideas of the Jewish tradition. This is not the website of the Moscow Jewish Religious Community, the Moscow Choral Synagogue or any other religious organization; we do not give religious advice.

People

People

Behind many texts and ideas of the tradition stand real people: commentators, philosophers, legal scholars and founders of movements. This section presents four historical figures whose names appear most often in the literature. We give their dates and the main facts known about them from encyclopedic sources, without legends or unverifiable quotations.

A great commentator's name is often better known than his writings. Start with a single one of his interpretations, and the name will take on meaning.

— Editor's note

How this section works: it includes only historical figures from the past about whom encyclopedic works provide reliable information. We do not write about living people.

Commentators and legal scholars

Medieval authors without whom it is hard to imagine reading the Torah and the Talmud.

Rashi (1040–1105)

Commentator on the Torah and the Talmud. His interpretations became one of the best-known companions to reading these texts.

Texts and sources

Maimonides (Rambam, 1138–1204)

Philosopher and legal scholar, author of the Guide for the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah. His works brought together philosophy and the legal tradition.

Key ideas

Thinkers of the modern era

Two 18th-century figures associated with two different paths in the development of the tradition.

The Baal Shem Tov (about 1700–1760)

Founder of Hasidism, a religious movement that spread widely across Eastern Europe.

Key ideas

Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786)

A philosopher whose name is associated with the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment.

Historical context

How to read biographies

  • Distinguish documented facts from tradition: legends often grow up around famous names
  • Watch for the word "about" in dates: for many historical figures the exact year of birth is unknown
  • Consider the era in which a person lived and the texts available to them: this explains a great deal about their work
  • Do not take unsourced quotations on trust: sayings attributed to famous figures often turn out to be later inventions
  • Compare information across several encyclopedic works, especially where they disagree
  • Historical context

    Six eras of Jewish history, from antiquity to the 20th century, summarised from encyclopedic sources.

  • Texts and sources

    The body of texts (Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, commentaries) and how to work with a source.

  • Timeline

    A timeline of key dates, from the destruction of the Second Temple to 1948.

Sources

  • Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia (EJE)
  • Encyclopaedia Judaica
  • YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
  • Great Russian Encyclopedia

This guide draws on encyclopedic reference works. Dates for ancient and medieval events are often approximate, and scholars do not always agree; where that is the case, we say so in the text.