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1765 BCE
tower of babel
As mankind tried to “reach the sky“ God scattered it abroad upon the face of all the earth. The place where this took place in was named “Babel,“ meaning “confusion” in Hebrew, since there God confounded the language of the earth. -
1676 BCE
binding or isaac
The greatest trial of the patriarch's life came when God bade him offer up his only son as a burnt offering. Eventually, an angel of the Lord restrained him, once more delivering the prophecy that the patriarch's seed should be “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore,“ and that in them all the nations of the earth should be blessed. -
1523 BCE
journey to Egypt
When the famine grew severe in Canaan, Jacob sent his sons into Egypt to buy corn, Later he went to Egypt with his eleven sons and their children, numbering altogether sixty-six, Joseph meeting him in Goshen. -
1313 BCE
exodus from Egypt
The departure, under the leadership of Moses, of the Israelites from the land of Egypt. The Torah was given shortly after at Mount Sinai, by God revealing to all the Israelites, and not to a single prophet, as the case usually is in other religions. -
596 BCE
destruction of the first temple by Babylon
Babylonian conquest brings terrible devastation, destruction and exile. Those who remain are poor and incompetent. The day the Temple was burned, Tisha B'Av, was set to be a fast day -
515 BCE
second temple built
The Jews that returned to Zion finally succeeded in building the 2nd Temple on the ruins of the previous one. In the process they had to overcome many difficulties including violent opposition from the neighboring tribes. -
70
destruction of the second temple by Rome
Roman army led by Titus to suppress the Jewish Big Revolt did so brutally. The suffering in Jerusalem was terrible. According to Josephus, even before the siege was ended, 600,000 bodies had been thrown out of the gates. On the 17th of Tamuz the Romans entered Jerusalem. On the 9th of Av they destroyed the Temple. Both days were set to be fast days ever since. Many of the inhabitants were killed or carried off and sold as slaves in the Roman markets. -
800
khazar converts to Judaism
The Chazars' King felt that God appeared to him in a dream and promised him might and glory. The King questioned the Mohammedans, the Christians and the Jews about their religions. Following his research he decided to adopt Judaism. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi uses this story as a platform to explain the Jewish Philosophy in his book the “Kuzari”. -
1364
Poland grants rights to Jews
Casimir The Great, King of Poland grants rights to the Jews. Poland therefore attracts Jewish immigration from Germany and Russia and as a result becomes the most important Jewish center of Europe. -
the holocaust
The Nazi criminals and their collaborators murdered 6 million Jews systematically and cold blooded, as they intended to perish the existence of Israel. In memory of the Holocaust victims, the State of Israel set a national memorial day on the 27th of Nisan.