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  • Period
    • Prehistory3000000 BCE - 5001 BCE
    • Antiquity5000 BCE - 399 CE
    • Middle Ages400 CE - 1500 CE
    • Age of Reason1500 CE - 1879 CE
    • Modern Times1880 CE - 1980 CE
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  • he
  • Login
  • Register
  • Period
    • Prehistory3000000 BCE - 5001 BCE
    • Antiquity5000 BCE - 399 CE
    • Middle Ages400 CE - 1500 CE
    • Age of Reason1500 CE - 1879 CE
    • Modern Times1880 CE - 1980 CE
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
    • English subscription
  • News
  • Past Issues
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
  • Holidays Archive
    • Holidays Archive
    • Festivals of Tishrei
    • Hanukkah
    • Tu BiShvat
    • Purim
    • Pesach
    • Holocaust
    • Independence Day
    • Lag baOmer
    • Jerusalem Day
    • Shavuot
    • Tisha B’Av
  • en
  • he
  • -3000000
  • -2900000
  • -2800000
  • -2700000
  • -2600000
  • -2500000
  • -2400000
  • -2300000
  • -2200000
  • -2100000
  • -2000000
Prehistory
  • -1900000
  • -1800000
  • -1700000
  • -1600000
  • -1500000
  • -1400000
  • -1300000
  • -1200000
  • -1100000
  • -1000000
  • -900000
Prehistory
  • -800000
  • -700000
  • -600000
    • 500000 BCE :

      Flints Galore
  • -500000
    • 500000 BCE :

      Flints Galore
  • -400000
  • -300000
  • -200000
  • -100000
    • 60000 BCE :

      Not Just Cave Dwellers
    • 20000 BCE :

      Rhinos in Samaria
    • 7000 BCE :

      Masking Death Prehistoric City
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
    • 1150 BCE :

      Where did the Philistines come from?
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
    • 750 BCE :

      Which Isaiah? How many clerks ?
    • 650 BCE :

      Temple Off the Mount
    • 590 BCE :

      Stamped by the Mayor
    • 586 BCE :

      Signs of Destruction
    • 516 BCE :

      Who are You, Samaritans?
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
    • 167 BCE :

      A Brief History of the Hasmoneans
    • 164 BCE :

      Pools and Palaces
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
    • 150 BCE :

      Telltale Tremor
    • 141 BCE :

      Cast a Giant Shadow
    • 110 BCE :

      A Dig Full of Holes
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
    • 18 BCE :

      Paving the Past
    • 0 BCE :

      Nabateans in the Bible Lords of the Desert Pilgrim City
  • 0
  • 100000
  • 200000
Prehistory
  • -5000
  • -4980
  • -4960
  • -4940
  • -4920
  • -4900
  • -4880
  • -4860
  • -4840
  • -4820
  • -4800
Antiquity
  • -4780
  • -4760
  • -4740
  • -4720
  • -4700
  • -4680
  • -4660
  • -4640
  • -4620
  • -4600
  • -4580
Antiquity
  • -4560
  • -4540
  • -4520
  • -4500
  • -4480
  • -4460
  • -4440
  • -4420
  • -4400
  • -4380
  • -4360
Antiquity
  • -4340
  • -4320
  • -4300
  • -4280
  • -4260
  • -4240
  • -4220
  • -4200
  • -4180
  • -4160
  • -4140
Antiquity
  • -4120
  • -4100
  • -4080
  • -4060
  • -4040
  • -4020
  • -4000
  • -3980
  • -3960
  • -3940
  • -3920
Antiquity
  • -3900
  • -3880
  • -3860
  • -3840
  • -3820
  • -3800
  • -3780
  • -3760
  • -3740
  • -3720
  • -3700
Antiquity
  • -3680
  • -3660
  • -3640
  • -3620
  • -3600
  • -3580
  • -3560
  • -3540
  • -3520
  • -3500
  • -3480
Antiquity
  • -3460
  • -3440
  • -3420
  • -3400
  • -3380
  • -3360
  • -3340
  • -3320
  • -3300
  • -3280
  • -3260
Antiquity
  • -3240
  • -3220
  • -3200
  • -3180
  • -3160
  • -3140
  • -3120
  • -3100
  • -3080
  • -3060
  • -3040
Antiquity
  • -3020
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
  • -3000
    • 3000 BCE :

      What would you like, Egyptian or Philistine ?
  • -2980
  • -2960
  • -2940
  • -2920
  • -2900
  • -2880
  • -2860
  • -2840
  • -2820
Antiquity
  • -2800
  • -2780
  • -2760
  • -2740
  • -2720
  • -2700
  • -2680
  • -2660
  • -2640
  • -2620
  • -2600
Antiquity
  • -2580
  • -2560
  • -2540
  • -2520
  • -2500
  • -2480
  • -2460
  • -2440
  • -2420
  • -2400
  • -2380
Antiquity
  • -2360
  • -2340
  • -2320
  • -2300
  • -2280
  • -2260
  • -2240
  • -2220
  • -2200
  • -2180
  • -2160
Antiquity
  • -2140
  • -2120
  • -2100
  • -2080
  • -2060
  • -2040
  • -2020
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
  • -2000
    • 2000 BCE :

      4,000 Year Old Jerusalem Tomb: a Treasure Trove of Decapitated Toads
  • -1980
  • -1960
  • -1940
Antiquity
  • -1920
  • -1900
  • -1880
  • -1860
  • -1840
  • -1820
  • -1800
  • -1780
  • -1760
  • -1740
  • -1720
Antiquity
  • -1700
  • -1680
  • -1660
  • -1640
  • -1620
  • -1600
  • -1580
  • -1560
  • -1540
  • -1520
  • -1500
Antiquity
  • -1480
  • -1460
  • -1440
  • -1420
  • -1400
  • -1380
  • -1360
  • -1340
  • -1320
  • -1300
  • -1280
Antiquity
  • -1260
  • -1240
  • -1220
  • -1200
  • -1180
  • -1160
    • 1150 BCE :

      Where did the Philistines come from?
  • -1140
  • -1120
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
  • -1100
    • 1100 BCE :

      Is This Ziklag?
  • -1080
  • -1060
Antiquity
  • -1040
  • -1020
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
  • -1000
    • 1000 BCE :

      Babylonian Deluge
  • -980
  • -960
  • -940
  • -920
  • -900
  • -880
  • -860
  • -840
Antiquity
  • -820
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
  • -800
    • 800 BCE :

      Horses in the rain Ruin of Samaria!
  • -780
  • -760
    • 750 BCE :

      Which Isaiah? How many clerks ?
  • -740
  • -720
  • -700
  • -680
  • -660
    • 650 BCE :

      Temple Off the Mount
  • -640
  • -620
Antiquity
  • -600
    • 590 BCE :

      Stamped by the Mayor
    • 586 BCE :

      Signs of Destruction
  • -580
  • -560
  • -540
  • -520
    • 516 BCE :

      Who are You, Samaritans?
  • -500
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
  • -480
    • 480 BCE :

      Esther – the Persian Version
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
  • -460
    • 460 BCE :

      Nehemiah on the Wall
  • -440
  • -420
  • -400
Antiquity
  • -380
  • -360
  • -340
  • -320
  • -300
  • -280
  • -260
  • -240
  • -220
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
  • -200
    • 200 BCE :

      Forgotten Archive
  • -180
    • 167 BCE :

      A Brief History of the Hasmoneans
    • 164 BCE :

      Pools and Palaces
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
Antiquity
  • -160
    • 160 BCE :

      Fighting for Heart and Soul The Youngest Maccabee
    • 150 BCE :

      Telltale Tremor
    • 141 BCE :

      Cast a Giant Shadow
  • -140
  • -120
    • 110 BCE :

      A Dig Full of Holes
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
  • -100
    • 100 BCE :

      אוצר ממצולות ים Anonymous Hasmonean
  • -80
  • -60
  • -40
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
  • -20
    • 20 BCE :

      Mystery of Caesarea’s Disappearing Port Jerusalem Potters
    • 18 BCE :

      Paving the Past
    • 0 BCE :

      Nabateans in the Bible Lords of the Desert Pilgrim City
  • 0
  • 20
    • 40 CE :

      Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale Golden Nostalgia
  • 40
    • 40 CE :

      Wanton Destruction on a Calamitous Scale Golden Nostalgia
    • 44 CE :

      King’s Canopy in Shilo
Antiquity
  • 60
    • 62 CE :

      The Pilgrims’ Progress
    • 66 CE :

      Don’t Call Me Joseph Dead Sea DNA
    • 67 CE :

      Romans on the Roofs of Gamla
  • 80
  • 100
  • 120
    • 130 CE :

      Backs to the Western Wall
    • 132 CE :

      Bar Kokhba in Jerusalem
  • 140
  • 160
  • 180
    • 200 CE :

      Bathing Rabbis
  • 200
    • 200 CE :

      Bathing Rabbis
  • 220
  • 240
    • 250 CE :

      Trio in Togas
  • 260
Antiquity
  • 280
    • 300 CE :

      Washed Out by the Rain
  • 300
    • 300 CE :

      Washed Out by the Rain
  • 320
  • 340
    • 350 CE :

      זה השער
  • 360
  • 380
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 400
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 420
  • 440
  • 460
  • 480
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
Antiquity
  • 400
    • 400 CE :

      Blessed Wine
  • 410
  • 420
  • 430
  • 440
  • 450
  • 460
  • 470
  • 480
  • 490
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
  • 500
    • 500 CE :

      Shofar – Blasting Away Pilgrims’ Riches Playing with Water? Byzantine Cistern in Jerusalem Playground
Middle Ages
  • 510
  • 520
  • 530
    • 539 CE :

      Georgians in Ashdod
  • 540
  • 550
  • 560
  • 570
  • 580
  • 590
  • 600
  • 610
Middle Ages
  • 620
    • 630 CE :

      The Fire of Faith
  • 630
    • 630 CE :

      The Fire of Faith
  • 640
  • 650
  • 660
  • 670
  • 680
  • 690
  • 700
  • 710
    • 717 CE :

      What’s a Jewish Menorah doing on early Islamic coins and vessels ?
  • 720
Middle Ages
  • 730
  • 740
  • 750
  • 760
  • 770
  • 780
  • 790
    • 800 CE :

      Whose Head is it Anyway? Potter’s Treasure
  • 800
    • 800 CE :

      Whose Head is it Anyway? Potter’s Treasure
  • 810
  • 820
  • 830
Middle Ages
  • 840
  • 850
  • 860
  • 870
  • 880
  • 890
  • 900
  • 910
  • 920
  • 930
  • 940
    • 950 CE :

      Cave of Revenge
Middle Ages
  • 950
    • 950 CE :

      Cave of Revenge
  • 960
  • 970
  • 980
  • 990
  • 1000
  • 1010
  • 1020
  • 1030
  • 1040
  • 1050
Middle Ages
  • 1060
  • 1070
  • 1080
  • 1090
    • 1096 CE :

      Heroes on the Walls of Haifa
    • 1099 CE :

      Heroes on the Walls of Haifa
  • 1100
  • 1110
  • 1120
  • 1130
  • 1140
  • 1150
  • 1160
Middle Ages
  • 1170
  • 1180
    • 1187 CE :

      Locking Horns at the Battle of Hattin
  • 1190
  • 1200
  • 1210
  • 1220
  • 1230
  • 1240
  • 1250
  • 1260
  • 1270
    • 1280 CE :

      Z-rated: For Forties Plus
Middle Ages
  • 1280
    • 1280 CE :

      Z-rated: For Forties Plus
    • 1286 CE :

      Mystery of the Zohar Zohar Unzipped
  • 1290
    • 1300 CE :

      Ancient Ring in the Flowerbed
  • 1300
    • 1300 CE :

      Ancient Ring in the Flowerbed
  • 1310
  • 1320
  • 1330
  • 1340
  • 1350
    • 1354 CE :

      Ready for Elijah
  • 1360
  • 1370
  • 1380
    • 1390 CE :

      Divinely Plagued
Middle Ages
  • 1390
    • 1390 CE :

      Divinely Plagued
  • 1400
  • 1410
  • 1420
  • 1430
  • 1440
  • 1450
  • 1460
  • 1470
    • 1475 CE :

      A Widow in Print
  • 1480
  • 1490
    • 1496 CE :

      Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Portuguese Jewry
Middle Ages
  • 1500
    • 1501 CE :

      Portuguese Messiah at the Stake
  • 1510
    • 1520 CE :

      Salonika’s Mystic Quartet
  • 1520
    • 1520 CE :

      Salonika’s Mystic Quartet
    • 1526 CE :

      Who Was David Ha-Reuveni?
  • 1530
    • 1533 CE :

      Kabbalists in Salonika
  • 1540
  • 1550
  • 1560
  • 1570
  • 1580
  • 1590
  • 1600
Age of Reason
  • 1610
  • 1620
    • 1630 CE :

      The Price of Dissent
  • 1630
    • 1630 CE :

      The Price of Dissent
  • 1640
  • 1650
  • 1660
    • 1667 CE :

      Was ‘The Jewish Bride’ Really Jewish? Messianic Mania
  • 1670
    • 1675 CE :

      Topsy Turvy
  • 1680
  • 1690
    • 1700 CE :

      Newton’s Fourth Law In the Service of the Czar Haman’s Pockets Trying to Belong
  • 1700
    • 1700 CE :

      Newton’s Fourth Law In the Service of the Czar Haman’s Pockets Trying to Belong
  • 1710
Age of Reason
  • 1720
  • 1730
  • 1740
  • 1750
  • 1760
  • 1770
  • 1780
    • 1790 CE :

      Groping for Truth
  • 1790
    • 1790 CE :

      Groping for Truth
  • 1800
    • 1806 CE :

      Napoleon’s Jewish Court
  • 1810
    • 1812 CE :

      Red Rose of Petra
  • 1820
    • 1827 CE :

      A Soul Divided
Age of Reason
  • 1830
    • 1832 CE :

      Blackface Minstrel Shows
    • 1840 CE :

      With Thanks from Damascus
  • 1840
    • 1840 CE :

      With Thanks from Damascus
    • 1842 CE :

      Charlotte Rothschild – First Jewish Female Artist
    • 1845 CE :

      The Angry Convert
    • 1848 CE :

      Jewish? French? Italian!
    • 1850 CE :

      Matza – More Than Just Crumbs
  • 1850
    • 1850 CE :

      Matza – More Than Just Crumbs
    • 1852 CE :

      Mum’s the Word Mum’s the Word
    • 1860 CE :

      Written Off
  • 1860
    • 1860 CE :

      Written Off
    • 1868 CE :

      Hungarian Schism
    • 1870 CE :

      A Man unto Himself The Kaiser’s Cap
  • 1870
    • 1870 CE :

      A Man unto Himself The Kaiser’s Cap
    • 1873 CE :

      Boy Wonders
    • 1875 CE :

      The Many Faces of Maurycy Gottlieb Shtreimel Variations: The History of a Hat
    • 1877 CE :

      Off the Boat
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
  • 1880
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
    • 1881 CE :

      The Jewish Girl who Set the Wild West Ablaze
    • 1882 CE :

      When Etrogim Briefly Grew on Trees
    • 1883 CE :

      Kafka – Too Short A Story
    • 1884 CE :

      The Original Zionist Congress
    • 1886 CE :

      Place in the Sun
    • 1887 CE :

      Marc Chagall – the Surrealist Jew
    • 1889 CE :

      New York – A Community in Flux
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
  • 1890
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
    • 1892 CE :

      When Shakespeare Spoke Yiddish
    • 1894 CE :

      Herzl’s Psychodrama Egypt’s Jewish Molière The Too Jewish Missionary
    • 1895 CE :

      Zionist with Cello
    • 1897 CE :

      The Jewish Father of French Impressionism The Congress that Founded the Jewish State The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
  • 1900
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
    • 1906 CE :

      The Saga of a Budapest Family Sukka
    • 1908 CE :

      The Jewish American Secret Police
    • 1909 CE :

      black wedding
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
  • 1910
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
    • 1913 CE :

      Planting Seedlings Mark Gertler – Nothing but Art
    • 1914 CE :

      Did Jew Know? Tomorrow’s War Ticket to Riches
    • 1915 CE :

      Albert Einstein’s Quantum Leap Forgotten Jews of Bisan
    • 1916 CE :

      Amedeo Modigliani – Jewish Expressionism
    • 1917 CE :

      The Gateway The Viscount of Megiddo Return of the Spies Guard Down Long Before Balfour
    • 1918 CE :

      Luboml City Post Dying in Vain
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
  • 1920
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
    • 1921 CE :

      Make Art, Not War
    • 1924 CE :

      God Save the Dutch Queen It Takes a (Hasidic) Village
    • 1927 CE :

      Painter of Jerusalem Breaking the Sound Barrier No Business Like Show Business
    • 1929 CE :

      Painting Propaganda
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
  • 1930
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
    • 1933 CE :

      Haifa and Salonika – the Jewish Ports
    • 1935 CE :

      Gefilte Jazz
    • 1936 CE :

      Megilla with a Secular Twist
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
Age of Reason
  • 1880
    • 1880 CE :

      Fastest Jew in the West
    • 1881 CE :

      The Jewish Girl who Set the Wild West Ablaze
    • 1882 CE :

      When Etrogim Briefly Grew on Trees
    • 1883 CE :

      Kafka – Too Short A Story
    • 1884 CE :

      The Original Zionist Congress
    • 1886 CE :

      Place in the Sun
    • 1887 CE :

      Marc Chagall – the Surrealist Jew
    • 1889 CE :

      New York – A Community in Flux
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
  • 1890
    • 1890 CE :

      PIONEER POET
    • 1892 CE :

      When Shakespeare Spoke Yiddish
    • 1894 CE :

      Herzl’s Psychodrama Egypt’s Jewish Molière The Too Jewish Missionary
    • 1895 CE :

      Zionist with Cello
    • 1897 CE :

      The Jewish Father of French Impressionism The Congress that Founded the Jewish State The Pied Piper of Yom Kippur
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
  • 1900
    • 1900 CE :

      Healing Minds with Sigmund Freud
    • 1906 CE :

      The Saga of a Budapest Family Sukka
    • 1908 CE :

      The Jewish American Secret Police
    • 1909 CE :

      black wedding
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
  • 1910
    • 1910 CE :

      One Hundred Good Years
    • 1913 CE :

      Planting Seedlings Mark Gertler – Nothing but Art
    • 1914 CE :

      Did Jew Know? Tomorrow’s War Ticket to Riches
    • 1915 CE :

      Albert Einstein’s Quantum Leap Forgotten Jews of Bisan
    • 1916 CE :

      Amedeo Modigliani – Jewish Expressionism
    • 1917 CE :

      The Gateway The Viscount of Megiddo Return of the Spies Guard Down Long Before Balfour
    • 1918 CE :

      Luboml City Post Dying in Vain
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
  • 1920
    • 1920 CE :

      Isidor Kaufmann – Jewish Ritual Beauty My Son, the Gangster The Fourth Commandment and the Eighteenth Amendment
    • 1921 CE :

      Make Art, Not War
    • 1924 CE :

      God Save the Dutch Queen It Takes a (Hasidic) Village
    • 1927 CE :

      Painter of Jerusalem Breaking the Sound Barrier No Business Like Show Business
    • 1929 CE :

      Painting Propaganda
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
  • 1930
    • 1930 CE :

      The Wedding That Wasn’t
    • 1933 CE :

      Haifa and Salonika – the Jewish Ports
    • 1935 CE :

      Gefilte Jazz
    • 1936 CE :

      Megilla with a Secular Twist
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
  • 1940
    • 1940 CE :

      A Beautiful Mind 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Hedy Lamarr
    • 1942 CE :

      Flowing But Not Forgotten All-American Rebbe
    • 1943 CE :

      Fight for the Spirit Spark of Rebellion Drawing for Dear Life
    • 1945 CE :

      Damned If You Do Lights, Camera, Zionism!
    • 1946 CE :

      Escape Room
    • 1947 CE :

      United Nations Vote – 29 November 1947
    • 1948 CE :

      Posting Independence The Battle on the Hill Sky-Heist Scent of Freedom The Best Defense Cable Car to Jerusalem
    • 1949 CE :

      Shmuel Zanwil Kahane and the Legend of the Holy Ashes
    • 1950 CE :

      Lost in Eilat Eilat’s Treasures Strength in Numbers The Shrine on the Mountain Voice Behind the Iron Curtain
  • 1950
    • 1950 CE :

      Lost in Eilat Eilat’s Treasures Strength in Numbers The Shrine on the Mountain Voice Behind the Iron Curtain
    • 1951 CE :

      Curator or Creator
    • 1952 CE :

      The Night of the Murdered Poets
    • 1955 CE :

      The Hitchhikers’ Guide to Jew York
    • 1957 CE :

      Shmuel Zanwil Kahane’s Map of Holy Sites
    • 1960 CE :

      Jewish as Can Be
  • 1960
    • 1960 CE :

      Jewish as Can Be
    • 1967 CE :

      1967 Declassified Comments Through Lions’ Gate De-Classified Comments New Life in Jerusalem’s Old City
  • 1970
    • 1973 CE :

      Faith Under Fire
  • 1980
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Long Before Balfour

Two Famous Declarations
Tax Haven
Presidents and Precedents
The German Connection
By: רן ישי

While the Balfour Declaration is famous as the first major step toward creating a modern Jewish homeland in the land of Israel, the groundwork was laid centuries earlier, gaining momentum with the approach of World War I // Ran Ichay

Two Famous Declarations

Almost two and a half millennia separate the two famous declarations that restored the exiled Jewish people to its homeland of Zion – the Cyrus Declaration of 538 BCE and the Balfour Declaration of November 1917 (17 Marheshvan 5678), exactly a century ago. Both documents reflected shrewd political considerations and genuine sympathy for the idea of a return to Zion.

Cyrus was apparently attempting to cast himself as benevolent ruler, extending his magnanimity to the nations he’d conquered in order to stabilize his southern border with the Egyptian empire. Persian polytheism tolerated other religions, including Judaism, and therefore respected the Jews’ wish to reclaim their homeland and rebuild the Temple. (Theirs was not the only such temple reconstruction permit granted by Cyrus.)

So far, this is all familiar territory. Between the two declarations, however, and particularly around the time the Zionist movement was established, several lesser-known pro-Zionist statements – or at least pro-Jewish ones – were issued by various sovereign states. Some of these writs served as a fig leaf – or even a precedent – for the Balfour Declaration, and they certainly boosted the solitary diplomatic efforts of a daring young journalist named Theodor Herzl.

Illustrated version of the Balfour Declaration, from a printing block (metal on wood) used by the Hebrew Publishing Co. of New York City on the cover of a copy book named for Herzl in the 1920sFrom the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow, Toronto

Illustrated version of the Balfour Declaration, from a printing block (metal on wood) used by the Hebrew Publishing Co. of New York City on the cover of a copy book named for Herzl in the 1920s

Tax Haven

The earliest and best-known document of this kind was a firman, or charter, presented by Suleiman the Magnificent to Donna Gracia Mendes Nasi – then probably one of the world’s richest individuals and certainly its most famous Jewess – and her nephew and son-in-law, Don Joseph Nasi, in 1561.

Donna Gracia and Don Joseph Nasi in an etching by Arthur Szyk. Is the town climbing up the hill in the background a reference to the Nasis’ lease on Tiberias?-

Donna Gracia and Don Joseph Nasi in an etching by Arthur Szyk. Is the town climbing up the hill in the background a reference to the Nasis’ lease on Tiberias?

When Donna Gracia’s firman was issued, European Jewry was suffering severe Christian persecution following the Spanish expulsion and the forced conversion of Portugal’s Jews. (She herself had escaped Portugal, first to Italy, then settling in Ottoman Constantinople in 1553.) The Spanish refugees found little and often only temporary shelter elsewhere in Europe. Most telling was the fate of conversos in the port city of Ancona, in central Italy. Invited there by Pope Paul III in the 1540s, with due assurances of safety, the Jews found themselves trapped after the ascent of Paul IV to the papacy in 1555. Violating all previous agreements, he imprisoned twenty-four conversos who’d reverted to Judaism, then burned them at the stake. One was a senior employee of Donna Gracia’s, but all her efforts to save them – including a devastating but short-lived boycott of Ancona by Jewish shippers – failed. As a result, she was determined to find a solution for her persecuted brethren.

First Donna Gracia sought to acquire part of the archipelago making up the Venetian Republic, hoping Jews could settle there freely and openly practice their religion. But once Venice’s economy improved, its doges were less inclined to grant concessions that troubled their Catholic consciences. In addition, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, then also ruler of Spain and the source of much anti-Semitic policy throughout the continent, vehemently opposed Gracia’s bid.

The Mendes family then explored the Ottoman Empire. Utilizing Joseph Nasi’s influence at the Sublime Port (as Suleiman’s court was known), Donna Gracia acquired a license to collect taxes in Tiberias and seven surrounding villages, perhaps aiming to create a refuge in the Holy Land for wandering conversos.

These economic and diplomatic initiatives drew harsh criticism from several statesmen. Boniface of Ragusa, the pope’s representative in the province, complained to the grand vizier, Rustam Pasha, while de Petremol, the French ambassador in Constantinople, bitterly reported to his monarch that Don Joseph had declared himself “king of the Jews” and was demanding payment of the immense debt owed him by the French crown. De Petremol referred to the “Jewish tricks” Don Joseph had employed to secure the charter from the sultan, typifying the derogatory language used by European Christians to describe Jews.

Donna Gracia’s interest in Tiberias could well have been economic as much as proto-Zionist. It could easily have ranked among her many philanthropic activities on behalf of Jewish refugees. Clearly, however, it was her initiative rather than her nephew’s. After her death, he lost interest in settling Jews within a semi-autonomous feudal system in the Galilee. Sultan Selim offered him a different feudal estate – an island near Greece – and even a title: duke of Naxos. Promises of large annual tributes pouring into the spendthrift sultan’s coffers almost won Don Joseph the throne of Cyprus as well.

Almost 350 years after Donna Gracia’s death, Herzl tried settling Jews once again in their ancient home. He turned to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman emperor and ruler of the province of Syria Palaestina. The two met twice, in 1899 and 1901, and their correspondence in Turkish is documented in the Topkapi Palace archives in Istanbul.

Theodor Herzl discussed the Nasis’ political negotiations not only with Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II but with Victor Emanuelle II of Savoy, king of Italy, whose ancestor made a bid for kingship of Cyprus together with Joseph Nasi-

Theodor Herzl discussed the Nasis’ political negotiations not only with Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II but with Victor Emanuelle II of Savoy, king of Italy, whose ancestor made a bid for kingship of Cyprus together with Joseph Nasi

Herzl asked that the sultan renew the firman Suleiman the Magnificent had granted Donna Gracia Nasi. Abdul Hamid acknowledged the document’s existence but felt no obligation to uphold his heretical predecessor’s decrees. Nonetheless, Donna Gracia’s firman was and remains part of the international legal foundation for Herzl’s diplomatic efforts on the Ottoman front.

Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II-

Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II

Presidents and Precedents

Before Herzl ever dreamed of Zionism, at least two American presidents had already championed the Jewish people’s return to Zion. In 1819, almost twenty years after leaving office, second U.S. president John Adams wrote a letter of support to Mordecai Manuel Noah, an American Jewish diplomat and journalist actively promoting the establishment of an independent Jewish homeland in Judea. Adams’ son, sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams, corresponded with Noah as well, communicating the same message.

Public expression of these sentiments emerged in 1891, when American evangelist and proto-Zionist William Eugene Blackstone presented a petition to U.S. president Benjamin Harrison and secretary of state James Blaine, requesting that they

use their good offices and influence […] to secure the holding at an early date, of an international conference to consider the condition of the Israelites and their claims to Palestine as their ancient home […]. (Blackstone Memorial [Wikitext])

The petition was signed by four hundred leading Americans, including Chief Justice Melville Fuller, the governor of Massachusetts, the mayors of New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, journalists and religious figures, millionaires such as J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, and Congressman William McKinley of Ohio, who six years later became president of the United States.

McKinley was assassinated in 1901, at the beginning of his second term, but his replacement, Theodore Roosevelt, was no less of a “Zionist.” Roosevelt had visited the Middle East with his family as a youngster, in 1872–73, and his diary of the voyage includes his impressions of what was then known as the Wailing Wall.

In addition to Roosevelt’s political achievements, his illustrious career as an author, explorer, soldier, and naturalist won him a Nobel Prize in 1906. He wrote that same year that he considered it completely appropriate to establish a Zionist state in the area of Jerusalem.

Subsequent presidents also publicly endorsed the Zionist idea. In response to the Balfour Declaration, Woodrow Wilson commented that the Holy Land should be restored to the Jewish people. Wilson’s replacement, Warren G. Harding, deemed it impossible to read the Scriptures without recognizing that the Jews were destined to return to their homeland. His vice president and successor, Calvin Coolidge, also expressed support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

President Herbert Hoover even issued an official proclamation. Unlike Balfour, who sent his declaration to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild to forward to the World Zionist Organization, Hoover wrote directly to the Zionist Organization of America. He did so in 1929, after the massacre of Jews (mostly in Hebron and Jerusalem) during a week of Arab riots. Hoover characterized the land of Israel as desolate and neglected for centuries, angering the Syrian-Palestinian Congress in Cairo. Yet he was confident that from “these tragic events […] the steady rehabilitation of Palestine as a true homeland will be even more assured” (Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=21905).

In 1931, to mark the founding dinner of the American Palestine Committee, Hoover reiterated his support for a Jewish home in the land of Israel. He maintained this position despite rising violence in Mandate Palestine, international disagreement regarding its future, constant turnabouts in British policy, and overwhelming Arab opposition.

No less of a Zionist: Theodore Roosevelt LOC

No less of a Zionist: Theodore Roosevelt

A World at War

The Balfour Declaration is generally linked to British gratitude to Zionist Chaim Weizmann for discovering synthesized acetone, which significantly enhanced Britain’s explosives-manufacturing capabilities in World War One. In fact, however, like other European powers, Britain went out of its way to win popular support in areas it sought to conquer – including the Holy Land. Balfour’s letter to Rothschild, and its subsequent publication, can be seen as part of this attempt. Yet its object was not only to create a fifth column behind Turkish lines, but to engage Jewish opinion everywhere, particularly in America. As it turned out, he was not alone.

In March 1917, eight months before the Balfour Declaration, General Archibald Murray, commander of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force fighting in Gaza, issued a much clearer, more resolute declaration than Balfour’s, describing Britain’s intentions upon conquering Ottoman Palestine:

What should we do with Palestine […]? There can be little doubt that we should revive the Jewish Palestine of old, and allow the Jews to realize their dreams of Zion in their homeland. […] The Jews would at least have a homeland and a nationality of their own. The national dream that has sustained them for a score of centuries and more will have been fulfilled. (“Objects of Advance into Holy Land,” New York Times, April 15, 1917)

Of course, other British leaders promoted opposing policies. Thomas Edward (T. E.) Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, pushed for Arab independence in the Middle East. (Though only a colonel, Lawrence exerted increasing influence on the British war effort as he grew closer to Saudi emir Faisal.) Henry McMahon, British high commissioner of Egypt, likewise wrote to Sharif Hussein bin Ali, great-great-grandfather of Abdullah, the present king of Jordan, promising him control of much of Greater Syria.

The British tried to befriend the Holy Land’s Arabs as well as its Jews. Winston Churchill with Abdullah, emir of Jordan, 1921Library of Congress collection

The British tried to befriend the Holy Land’s Arabs as well as its Jews. Winston Churchill with Abdullah, emir of Jordan, 1921

In fact, the British lived up to none of these commitments. Once the Ottomans were defeated, the British divided up the Middle East between themselves and the French in the Sykes-Picot Agreement and declared their support for a national Jewish home in Palestine.

Their French allies had preceded them. On June 4, 1917, five months before the Balfour Declaration, Jules Cambon, the French foreign office’s general secretary, wrote to Nahum Sokolov, who was leading the international Zionist campaign alongside Weizmann:

You kindly explained to me the project in which all your efforts are engaged, whose aim is to develop the Jewish settlement of Palestine.

You estimate that should circumstances allow, it would be just and fitting compensation if – together with a promise to protect the independence of the holy sites – the Allies were to support the revival of the Jewish nation on this territory, from which the Israelites were driven so long ago.

The French government, which decided to enter this war to protect a nation that had been attacked without cause, and which continues its struggle to bring about a victory of right over might, cannot fail to express its support for your endeavor, whose success is linked to an Allied victory.

I am honored to confirm as much to you in this letter. (free trans.)

Like Hoover’s letters, and in contrast to Balfour’s, Cambon’s communication was sent directly to an official Zionist representative rather than to a private individual. Though France had as much of a vested interest in the Middle East as Great Britain, the French felt no need for a go-between when dealing with Zionist organizations. Yet the letter made few waves, and today it’s virtually unknown.

Going native. British liaison officer T. E. Lawrence helped Arab rebels in Transjordan systematically sabotage the Hejaz railway linking Egypt with the rest of the Ottoman Empire, thus diverting Turkish resources from the main war effort against the AlliesPeter Newark military pictures

Going native. British liaison officer T. E. Lawrence helped Arab rebels in Transjordan systematically sabotage the Hejaz railway linking Egypt with the rest of the Ottoman Empire, thus diverting Turkish resources from the main war effort against the Allies

The German Connection

At least part of the impetus for the French declaration was concern that Germany would preempt it with its own initiative. The Allies knew Germany was working on some kind of statement, aided or encouraged by German Jews. The resulting “proclamation race” between the Central and Allied powers hastened things along, though fears of a German declaration ultimately proved only partially justified.

Despite Germany’s treaty with the Ottoman Empire (which in itself reduced the likelihood of a pro-Zionist declaration of intent), the country focused on the European military theater. In 1917, the Eastern Front was ablaze, and Germany concentrated on subduing Russia. A German proclamation was produced, but it was directed toward the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, then suffering a wave of pogroms. The document mainly informed them of how much better off they’d be after a German conquest. The bait offered was equal rights and opportunities, and assimilation into European society, rather than the vague hope of relocating to the Holy Land. This very different agenda eliminated competition between the Central and Allied powers’ declarations.

Erich Ludendorff was much younger than Paul von Hindenburg, who came out of retirement to lead the war effort and therefore let his deputy effectively run the showPhoto: E. Bieber

Erich Ludendorff was much younger than Paul von Hindenburg, who came out of retirement to lead the war effort and therefore let his deputy effectively run the show

Erich Ludendorff, Supreme Commander Paul von Hindenburg’s deputy and chief of staff, masterminded the German declaration (and effectively ran the German war effort). To all intents and purposes, these two men controlled Germany as World War I eclipsed all other concerns. Thus, Ludendorff’s message to the Jews of Russia and Poland amounted to official German Imperial policy. It offered nothing more than German Jewry already enjoyed, but for the Polish Jews cooped up in the Russian Pale of Settlement – who’d once benefited from similar rights – the document must have resonated strongly:

To the Jews of Poland:

The victorious armies of the kingdoms of the Middle European Pact, Germany and Austria-Hungary, are encamped within the borders of Poland.

[…] We extend to you the flags of justice and freedom: complete equality of civil rights, freedom of religion and tradition, [and the] emancipation and liberty to create and work in any profession that suits you within our economy and culture.

You have suffered too long under the weight of Moscow’s iron yoke; now we come to you as friends. The cruel foreign rule has been broken; for Poland, a new era will begin. We will exert all our might to protect you, and we will be a fortress of redemption for all inhabitants of the land. Jewish emancipation will be firmly established.

Remember the terrible expulsions and exile of multitudes of your brethren!

Remember Kishinev, Gomel, Białystok, Siedlce, and hundreds of other bloody pogroms!

Remember the Beilis trial […] and blood libel […].

Turn with hearts full of trust to the commanders of our approaching forces!

[Signed,] The Supreme Command of the United Armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary. (The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Israel Klausner Archive, P034 [Hebrew])

The declaration emphasized the difficulty of Jewish life under the czar at the turn of the 20th century, contrasting it with life in Germany, where there were no pogroms, blood libels, or Pale of Settlement, and Jews could pursue whatever profession they wished.

Jewish life in Germany was incomparably better than under the czar. German poster calling on Poland’s Jews to support their aspiring German conquerors-

Jewish life in Germany was incomparably better than under the czar. German poster calling on Poland’s Jews to support their aspiring German conquerors

The exact timing of the proclamation is unclear. It was produced as a leaflet, printed in Hebrew and Yiddish, and presumably translated from the original German by Jews working closely with Ludendorff, possibly even Jewish army officers.

The leaflet was evidently distributed at the beginning of 1917, before the riots that ousted Nikolai II peaked. The last time the czar had been deposed, in 1905, he’d published a declaration promising emancipation and freedom of religion, and the German statement made similar promises, to be fulfilled after the German conquest of Poland.

Ludendorff’s declaration – intended to exploit Russia’s fragility in order to create internal turmoil, bring down the czar, and end the war on the Eastern Front – made no mention of Zionist ambitions. Nevertheless, it pushed the Allied powers toward far more revolutionary documents, chief among them the Balfour Declaration. As we’ve seen, even that historic writ was only the final link in a long chain of letters, declarations, expressions, and promises issued by various diplomats over hundreds of years. The motives behind each statement may have differed, ranging from true philo-Semitism to purely political or economic interests. But each one was another step toward a Jewish state in Zion.

A plane dropping propaganda leafletsCourtesy of Psywarrior.com

A plane dropping propaganda leaflets

Modern Times

1917
CE
By: רן ישי

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