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.

Timeline

Timeline

This page gathers the key dates mentioned in the guide into a single sequence, from the destruction of the Second Temple to the mid-20th century. The timeline does not aim to be complete: it includes the events and lifespans most often needed to understand the texts and ideas of the tradition. For ancient and medieval events, watch for the word "about" and references to centuries.

Dates are the framework. Meaning appears when you notice that centuries sometimes lie between two neighbouring lines.

— Editor's note

Key dates

  1. 70 CE

    Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

  2. About 200 CE

    The Mishnah is compiled; its redaction is associated with Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.

  3. 5th–6th c. CE

    By roughly this time the Babylonian Talmud has taken shape.

  4. 1040–1105

    Lifespan of Rashi, commentator on the Torah and the Talmud.

  5. 1138–1204

    Lifespan of Maimonides (Rambam), philosopher and legal scholar, author of the Guide for the Perplexed and the Mishneh Torah.

  6. 1492

    Expulsion of the Jews from Spain.

  7. About 1700–1760

    Lifespan of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism.

  8. 1729–1786

    Lifespan of Moses Mendelssohn, the philosopher associated with the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment).

  9. 1791–1917

    The Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire.

  10. 1906

    In June the Moscow Choral Synagogue officially opens.

  11. 1939–1945

    The Holocaust: the murder of about 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

  12. 1948

    On 14 May the State of Israel is proclaimed.

Sources

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

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.