Jewish history timeline
The whole arc, from Abraham and Sarah to October 7th and after. Pick an era, or click any moment to open it.
c. 1800–1000 BCE
Biblical beginnings
The stories the tradition tells about its own origins: the ancestors, slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, Sinai, and settling the land.
c. 1000–586 BCE
Kingdoms and Temples
A united monarchy, the First Temple in Jerusalem, the split into Israel and Judah, prophecy, and finally destruction and exile.
538 BCE–70 CE
Return and Second Temple
Rebuilding in Jerusalem, Greek rule and the Maccabean revolt, Roman occupation, and the Temple's destruction in 70 CE.
70–650 CE
The rabbinic age
Judaism reorganizes around study, prayer and the home. The Mishnah and the Talmud become the tradition's central texts.
650–1500
Medieval world
Flourishing centers in Babylonia, Spain, North Africa, France and Germany — alongside crusades, blood libels and expulsions.
1500–1800
Early modern
Safed mysticism, Eastern European communities, Hasidism and its rationalist critics, and the first stirrings of emancipation.
1800–1939
Modernity and movements
Emancipation, Reform, Orthodoxy and Conservative Judaism, mass migration to America, pogroms, and the rise of Zionism.
1933–1945
The Shoah
Nazi persecution, ghettos, resistance and the murder of six million Jews — remembered each year on Yom HaShoah.
1948–2000
State of Israel
Independence, wars, mass immigration from Europe, the Arab world and Ethiopia, and repeated attempts at peace.
2000–today
Contemporary
A globally diverse Jewish world, a strong and innovative Israel, rising antisemitism, the October 7th massacre and Israel's fight for its people.