Jewish ancestry is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs such as Abraham, his son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, and the Biblical matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel, who lived in Canaan. The Twelve Tribes are described as descending from the twelve sons of Jacob.
The Kingdom of Judah and Israel were formed in 931 BC. When Soloman died, they were split up—Israel in the North and Juda in the South. The Assyrians conquered both and ruled them for one hundred years. In 722 BC, Babolyn defeated the Assyrians. In 538 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the Babylonian Empire. The Jews went home, rebuilt the Temple, and wrote the Torah; two hundred years later, Alexander the Great of Macedonia took the Persian Empire down. Alexander died a few years later, and his generals divided his empire into various Hellenic Kingdoms.
Soon after, the Hellenized Jews split up with the religious Jews in 198 BC. The Romans contoured the region two hundred years later. The Jews revolted against Roman rule in 66 to 73 AD, destroying the second Temple. A second revolt happened in 132 to 135 AD- a half million Jews were killed. Many Jews fled to Galilee. The Romans renamed the Kingdom of Judah Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.
During this time, Christianity, which had started as a Jewish sect, grew exponentially. During the 4th and early 7th centuries, the Jews thrived throughout the Mediterranean area. Then, Christian persecution and forced conversions started. Islam originated in Medina and Mecca at the start of the 7th century AD. Muslims regard Islam as a return to the original faith of the Abrahamic prophets. At first, the Arabs tolerated the Jews. The Muslims built their Dome of the Rock on the ruins of the second temple-making Jerusalem a holy city for three monotheistic religions.
The Jews spread out across Europe. Russia, and Scandinavia. Black death killed half of Europe’s population within five years. The Jews were scapegoated. Many Jews chose to settle within the Ottoman Empire. A Ukrainian uprising in 1648-1654 killed 100,000 to 300,000 Jews. Soon after, the Poland-Lithiunia Commonwealth weakened, and Russia took over those lands. Nine hundred unwelcomed Jews were added to the Russian Empire. Programs went on for decades, killing the Jews. These Russian Jows were removed to a Pale settlement area. The Pale of Settlement included modern-day Belarus and Moldova, much of Lithuania, Ukraine, east-central Poland, and relatively small parts of Latvia.
The Pale of Settlement was a giant ghetto. In 1791, Catherine the Great approved the creation of the Pale of Settlement to restrict Jews’ movement and rights. The principles underpinning the Pale emerged in 1790 when members of the merchant class in Moscow protested to the municipal government against an influx of Jewish merchants. The Pale was the largest concentration of Jews ― about 5 million ― was located there, representing 40% of the Jewish population worldwide. Some two million Jews emigrated from The Pale to America between 1881 and 1914.
During World War I, the Pale lost its rigid hold on the Jewish population when many Jews fled into the Russian interior to escape the invading German army. The Pale of Settlement de facto ceased to exist on August 19, 1915. In 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved by the Bolsheviks.
Jewish badge of shame.
Jews were ordered to wear the yellow star in some caliphates during the Middle Ages, European powers during the Medieval times, and the Axis powers during World War ll.
