Turning Points in Jewish History

Marc J. Rosenstein

• Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780827613836
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: History

"This book offers an articulate, readable, balanced introduction to Jewish history, one that could be utilized in the classroom or for individual enrichment." —Marie Nuar, Reading Religion

Examining the entire span of Jewish history by focusing on thirty pivotal moments in the Jewish people's experience from biblical times through the present—essentially the most important events in the life of the Jewish people— Turning Points in Jewish History provides "the big picture" both a broad and a deep understanding of the Jewish historical experience. Zeroing in on eight turning points in the biblical period, four in Hellenistic-Roman times, five in the Middle Ages, and thirteen in modernity, Marc J. Rosenstein elucidates each formative event with a focused history, a timeline, a primary text with commentary as an intimate window into the period, and a discussion of its legacy for subsequent generations. Along the way he candidly analyzes various controversies and schisms arising from Judaism's encounters with power, powerlessness, exile, messianism, rationalism, mysticism, catastrophe, modernity, nationalism, feminism, and more. The book's thirty distinct and logically connected events lend themselves to a full course or to customized classes on specific turning points. Discussion questions for every chapter (some in print, more online) facilitate reflection and continuing conversation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Additional Notes on Biblical Texts
• 1. Imagining the Beginning
• 2. Liberation from Slavery
• 3. The Covenant
• 4. Entering the Promised Land
• 5. Establishing a State
• 6. The Fall of Israel
• 7. The Babylonian Exile
• 8. The Second Temple
• 9. Confronting the Challenge of Hellenism
• 10. Roman Rule
• 11. Finding a Messianic Equilibrium
• 12. The Oral Law Becomes Literature
• 13. The Golden Age of Iberian Jewry
• 14. The Rise of Eastern European Jewry
• 15. Kabbalah Enters the Mainstream
• 16. The End of Iberian Jewry
• 17. The Rise and Collapse of Polish Jewry
• 18. The Rise of Hasidism
• 19. The Challenge of Emancipation
• 20. Reform and Reaction
• 21. The Rise of North American Jewry
• 22. Jewish Nationalism
• 23. The Secular Zionist Revolution
• 24. Zionist Settlement of the Land of Israel
• 25. The Destruction of European Jewry
• 26. The Jewish State
• 27. East Meets West
• 28. Benefits and Costs of Military Power
• 29. The Feminist Revolution
• 30. The Fall of the Iron Curtain
• Afterword
• Bibliography
• Index