3000 Years of Judaism & Jerusalem

First Temple Period

Once Jerusalem was a small, isolated, mountain city that was under Egyptian control. Then
the Jebusites took over the city and called it Jebus. The Jebusites were a quiet, independent
people that did not mix with other people living in Canaan, including the Israelites that
controlled much of the land around the city of Jebus. Jebus, inhabited by a couple of
thousand people, was well protected by deep valleys on three sides, a fortress on the fourth
side, and a strong wall all around. Thus, the Jebusites were greatly surprised when a small
force of Israelite soldiers, led by David, entered the city through underground water tunnels
and conquered it.

c. 1000 BCE David conquers Jerusalem

c. 967 BCE Solomon's begins his reign
c. 963 BCE Solomon builds Temple
927 BCE Kingdom splits, Northern tribes succeed
722 BCE Northern Kingdom (Israel) falls
586 BCE Southern Kingdom (Judah) falls

Immense change took place in Jerusalem during the 400 years following David's conquest of
the city. Soon after the conquest, David brought the Ark of the Covenant, which held the
Tablets of the Law, from the village of Kiryat Ye'arim to Jerusalem. David made the city the
Israelite's national capital. Thus, David made the city both a religious and political center of
his kingdom.

Massive construction followed. Most notably, Solomon built the Temple. After Solomon's
death, the northern Israelite tribes wanted to set up their own state. While Jerusalem then
became the capital of a smaller nation, it still continued to grow. A regular procession of
kings - some good and some bad - reigned over the city. The city's population grew
to approximately 30,000 people. When the Assyrians threatened the city, fortifications and
water systems were added. However, none of this helped once the Babylonians arrived. The
Babylonians destroyed the city and the first Temple.

Second Temple Period

After their conquest, the Babylonians left Jerusalem in piles of rubble and led thousands and
thousands of Judeans back to Babylonia. In Babylonia, the Jews, with the help of leaders
and prophets, acquired a strengthened faith and national determination. A few thousand
Jews, after about 50 years in exile, came back to Jerusalem, began to clear the debris and
rebuild the Temple.

c. 536 BCE Jews return to Judea from Babylonian exile

 c. 515 BCE Second Temple is built
c. 444 BCE Nehemiah rebuilds walls of Jerusalem
332 BCE Alexander the Great conquers Jerusalem
320 BCE Ptolemies conquer Jerusalem
200 BCE Seleucids conquer Jerusalem
c. 164 BCE Judah Maccabee retakes Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple
c. 63 BCE Romans gain control of Jerusalem
c. 33 CE Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem
70 CE Romans conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Second Temple
132-35 CE Bar Kochba revolt

During this 600 year period (530 BCE-130 CE), different empires took control of Jerusalem:
Persians, Macedonian Greeks (Alexander the Great), Egyptian Greeks, Syrian Greeks,
Hasmoneans (nature Judeans) and Romans.

Under the Romans, Herod came into power; he ruled from 37-4 BCE. While Herod was
considered a cruel ruler, he was a brilliant builder. Herod built palaces, fortresses and
monuments, but his crowning achievement was the reconstruction of the Temple. Herod's
building campaign and Roman technology made Jerusalem a beautiful city. The rabbis of the
period wrote, "Ten measures of beauty descended on the world; nine of them were allotted
to Jerusalem."

Despite the city's beauty, relations between the city's Jewish residents and the Roman
troops deteriorated over time. In Herod's time, the population of Jerusalem grew to 60,000
people. The city's Jews were greatly disturbed by much religious insensitivity, such as the
Roman edict to decorate the city with statues of the Roman emperor. Over time, Jewish
discontent led to revolt which eventually led to a bloodbath. The Romans destroyed the city,
including the Second Temple, and banished the Jews.

One City, Many Conquerors (135-1860)

After their conquest of Jerusalem (which they renamed Aelia Capitolina), the Romans erased
all traces of the Jews who used to live there. Then they rebuilt the city as a pagan city, full
of statues of Roman emperors and gods.

324 Constantine becomes emperor in Byzantium

614 Persians conquer Jerusalem
638 Muslims conquer Jerusalem
1099 Crusaders conquer Jerusalem
1167 Saladin conquers Jerusalem
1260 Mamelukes conquer Jerusalem
1517 Ottomans conquer Jerusalem
 1838 Britain opens consulate in Jerusalem

During this 1700 year period, Jews never regained control over Jerusalem, but they were
continuously present as a minority. In the midst of grand mosques for the Muslims and
churches for the Christians, small synagogues existed for the city's Jews.

An Expanding City (1860-1948)

Jerusalem underwent a period of improvement as the Ottomon's rebuilt the city's walls,
reinstated the markets, and refurbished the mosques. At some point, however, the Ottomon
empire lost interest in Jerusalem, and then anarchy, poverty, disease and crime overtook
the city.

Partly due to the city's deteriorating conditions, Jerusalem residents began to build homes
outside the walls of the city in the mid-19th century. Also at this time, for the first time in
1,800 years, Jew became the dominant group in their ancient capital, making up more than
half of the city's 18,000 residents.

The growth of the Jewish population and their migration outside the city's walls was
supported by Jewish philanthropists from abroad, such as Sir Moses Montefiore. Montefiore,
a highly successful British merchant, rebuilt the Hurvah syngagoue, established a printing
press, a soup kitchen, housing for the poor, a girl's school, the city's first Jewish hospital,
and the first Jewish neighborhood outside the city's walls called Mishkenot Sha'ananim (the
Tranquil Abode).

1860 Mishkenot Sha'ananim built

1917 Balfour Declaration
1917 Ottomon rule in Jerusalem ends. British rule begins.
1936-39 Arab Revolt in Palestine
1939 British issue the White Paper
1946 Irgun bombs the King David hotel
1947 United Nations votes on the partition of Palestine
1948 State of Israel gains independence

Building outside the city's walls continued at feverish pace. The Germans, Russians, French
and British built churches, hospitals, consulates, orphanages, schools, hotels, and more. In
less than a hundred years (1860-1948), the population of Jerusalem grew almost tenfold,
from 18,000 to over 160,000 (including 100,000 Jews).

Once the Turks left Palestine at the end of World War I, the British took over. The
burgeonling Arab and Jewish nationalist movements challenged the British rule, which
consequently only lasted for thirty years.
Capital of the Jewish State (1948-today)

The UN vote to partition Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State and the end of
British rule led to joyful celebrations for the Jews. The celebrations were very short-lived,
however, because almost immediately the fledgling country was at war on all fronts. In
additions to the attacks from local Arabs, now five armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq
and Transjordan invaded the new State.

While Israel was victorious against great odds, some 6,000 Jews (about 1% of the total
Jewish population) died in the War of Independence. At the end of the war, the ceasefire
lines drawn became the borders for Israel during the first decades of her existence. A
ceasefire line, running north to south, divided Jerusalem so that the western part of the city
was under Israeli rule and the eastern part, including the Old City, were under Jordanian
control.

1948 State of Israel is founded

1948-49 War of Independence
1949-52 Waves of immigration
1967 Six Day War and Reunification of Jerusalem
1973 Yom Kippur War
1977 Sadat visits Jerusalem
1982 Lebanon War
1987 First Intifada
1989-1992 Mass immigration from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia
1991 Gulf War
1994 Peace with Jordan
2000-2004 Second Intifada

During the 1967 Six Day War, Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem, giving Jews access
to their holy sites such as the Western Wall of the Temple. Throughout the rest of the 20th
century and into the 21st century, the city and country continued to suffer from the tension
of having two people, Jews and Arabs, both claiming their right to the land.
The UN has suggested making Jerusalem an international city, but both Arabs and Jews
have rejected this idea.

While many peace initiatives have been pursued, peace will only come once ideas and
attitudes are changed. Until there is a psychological, emotional change among the people,
tension will continue to reign in Jerusalem.