The Exodus From Egypt
The Exodus from Egypt is the story of how the jews left Egypt after being slaves there for 430 years in the year 1280 BCE and is widely disputed whether or not it actually took place. After being slaves in egypt for a very long time, an israelite named Moshe who was the Princess of Egypt’s adopted son, spoke to G-d and was to to convince pharaoh to let the israelites leave egypt. Pharaoh refused so G-d sent the plague of blood, then pharaoh said fine and G-d took away the plague. Immediately after, pharaoh refused to let the israelites go so G-d sent another plague ad the same thing happened. This happened 8 more times and finally on the 10th time, pharaoh gave up. The exodus itself took place overnight because the israelites left in the middle of the night. After the jews left pharaoh changed his mind again and sent his army after them. The army caught up to the jews at the Red Sea and G-d split the sea so that the jews could cross, and closed it when the egyptian army was attempting to cross.
Rashi is Born
Rashi was born on February 22, 1040 in France. Rashi is a short name for Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki. Rashi wrote commentaries in Jewish exegesis on the Old Testament and the Talmud and his commentaries are still important in Jewish life today.
David Becomes King of Israel
David was born in the 1000 B.C.E, he was the eighth son and the youngest son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah. David was offered the crown by the elders of Israel. After Jonathan and Saul were killed in a battle, David was anointed king over Judah.
The 1st Temple is Destroyed
The first temple was built in the 10th century B.C.E in Jerusalem by king Solomon. The land on which Solomon built the temple had been acquired by king David. Solomon’s father who dreamed of building a grand temple himself, but g-d rejected David’s ambition because of David’s sins and the job passed to his son Solomon. The temple stood around 410 years. On the ninth day of Av, Nebuchadnezzar the king of babylonian began the destruction of Jerusalem. The walls of the city were torn down and other structures in the city were set on fire.
The Victory of Judah Maccabee
Judah was a jewish kohen and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. After the greek empire took over the temple. Maccabee and his army fought the greeks and won. Than people were looking for oil to light the menorah, but they only found one jar of it and they thought that the oil will last for only one day. But than they were surprised to find out that the oil lasted for 8 days.
The 2nd Temple is Destroyed
The second temple was built in 349 BCE and was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans. Queen Shlomit Alexander ruled Israel for 10 years and died in 66 BCE. She had two sons one was Hyrkanus and the other was Aristoblus. Hyrkanus, after a civil war to decide who took the throne, was chosen by the Roman general Pompey to receive the throne. Pompey had intended for israel to become another country for the Roman empire but the Jews who supported Aristoblus rose up against him. The Roman troops stormed jerusalem and killed all the rebels. In the end, the 2nd temple was destroyed in retaliation of the rebellion by the jews.
The Babylonian Talmud is Completed
The Babylonian talmud, not to be confused with its predecessor the Jerusalem Talmud, was completed in the year 500 CE. The Babylonian Talmud is comprised of six orders: Zeraim (Seeds), Moed (Festival), Nashim (Women), Nezikin (Damages), Kodashim (Holies), and Tohorot (Purities). The Babylonian Talmud also contains Baraitas, Gemarot, Halachic and Aggadic statements, and finally Minor Tracates. It is hundreds of pages long and is a very important collection of books to the Jewish religion.
The State of Israel is Established
The State of Israel was established on May 14th, 1948 at the Tel Aviv Museum, now known as Independence Hall. 37 people signed the declaration including future prime ministers David Ben Gurion (1st and 3rd PM), Moshe Sharett (2nd PM), and Golda Meir (5th PM). Other signatories included one future president and 14 future cabinet ministers. The ceremony included singing Hatikvah… twice, reading the declaration, and signing the declaration.
The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty is Signed
The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed in 1979 following the Camp-David accords from 1978. The treaty was signed at the White House (Washington D.C.) by Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, and Jimmy Carter, the President of the USA. The treaty’s main purposes were: to obliterate the post 1948 Arab-Israeli War violence, to have the Israelis remove their troops from the Sinai Peninsula and have it demilitarized, mutual recognition, and free passage for the Israeli ships traveling through the Suez Canal.
Tal Poleschuk’s Jewish History
I was born in Israel to a jewish family and went to a jewish school called Gvanim, than I moved to Canada and went to another jewish school called Gray Academy. I had my Bat Mitzvah on September 16/2017.
Sydney Kay’s Jewish History
I was born in Winnipeg to a Jewish family that is from lots of places in Europe. My brother and I are 4th generation Canadians. I go to Herzlia Adas Yeshurun every Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. I had my Bat mitzvah on November 18th, 2017 ant the Sha’aray Tzedek. My parsha was toldot. I went to Or HaTorah up until Kindergarten and then moved to Gray Academy of Jewish Education.