istoryworld
Events relating to judaism
Jews and Christians, sharing with Muslims the status of 'people of the book', are promised religious tolerance in the Qur'an
Karaism, relying on scripture rather than rabbinical commentary, develops among the Jewish community in Babylon
The Jews prosper in the Muslim and Carolingian empires, forming strong communities in Spain and in Germany
The Jewish calendar, deriving originally from the example of Babylon, is given its lasting form
Saadiah Gaon writes a seminal work of Jewish philosophy in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions
The Jews, barred from any work which Christians want to do, find profitable employment as money-lenders
The German crusade begins with a massacre of Jews in many of the region's cities
Crusaders capture the holy city of Jerusalem and massacre the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants
In Cairo the Jewish philosoper Moses Maimonides writes, in Arabic, a much translated text with the endearing title Guide to the Perplexed
The new Christian doctrine of Transubstantiation prompts rumours that the Jews desecrate the consecrated Host
The classical work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, is almost certainly the work of the Spanish Kabbalist Moses de Leon
The Jews in England are driven out of the country, soon to be followed by those in France
Massacres of Jews, rumoured to have caused the Black Death by poisoning wells, begin in southern France and spread through much of Europe
Tomas de Torquemada, from a family of converted Jews, is appointed Spain's first Grand Inquisitor
Torquemada persuades Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from Spain all Jews (about 160,000) who will not convert to Christianity
Bayazid II, the Turkish sultan, makes a special point of welcoming in Istanbul the Jews expelled from Spain
The original ghetto is established as a district to which the Jews of Venice are confined
Discussion of Henry VIII's proposed divorce hinges on rival verses from the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy and Leviticus
Jews return to England after Cromwell repeals the law of 1290 forbidding their residence in the country
A charismatic leader, Baal Shem Tov, develops Hasidism in Poland as an influential revivalist movement within Judaism
In developing the Haskalah, the German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn reconciles Judaism and the Enlightenment
The first Reform congregation within Judaism is established in Germany, in the Hamburg Temple
Samson Raphael Hirsch becomes rabbi of a synagogue in Frankfurt, where he develops the theme of neo-Orthodoxy
Richard Wagner writes an anti-semitic tract, Jewishness in Music
Lionel Nathan Rothschild becomes the first Jew to sit in Britain's House of Commons, taking his oath on the Old Testament
