Turning Points in Jewish 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 ReligionExamining the entire span of Jewish history by focusing on thirty pivotal moments in the Jewish peoples experience from biblical times through the present-essentially the most important events in the life of the Jewish people-Turning Points in Jewish Historyprovides 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 Judaisms