Jewish History: Difference between revisions

Effective research requires understanding historical events that affected your family and the records about them. Learning about governments, laws, wars, migrations, and religious and economic trends helps you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records about your family, such as taxation and military documents.  

Some key dates and events in Jewish history of interest to the genealogist are:  

'''1492''' Jews are either forcibly converted or expelled from Sardinia, Sicily, and Spain. They settle in the Netherlands, France, Italy, the Balkans, and North Africa. Later many European Jews flee to Poland, which has become far more tolerant of religious diversity than other nations. After the expulsion of Spanish Jewry and the continued persecution of Jews in western Europe, Poland and Lithuania (united into one kingdom in 1569) become the new cultural center of Jewish life in Europe. The Jewish population grows and flourishes in Poland. In some cities Jews constitute over 50% of the population.  

'''1948''' The State of Israel is proclaimed. Jews begin immigrating to Israel.  

=== Local Histories  ===

General local histories describe the settlement of the area, churches, schools, and local economy and may include information about the local Jewish community. Other histories focus specifically on the Jewish community and give additional information about the founding of synagogues, yeshivas (an academy of Jewish learning and scholarship), and businesses, including maps and photographs. Yizkor books, which are discussed in "Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)" in this outline, also contain informa-tion about the history of Jewish communities. Examples of some local Jewish histories include:  

== Chronology  ==

The months and years of the Hebrew calendar do not correspond with the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar in common use in the world today. The Gregorian calendar is based on the birth of Jesus Christ and uses the abbreviations a.d. (year of the Lord) and b.c. (before Christ). When Jews date events in accordance with the Gregorian calendar they use c.e. (common era) and b.c.e. (before the common era).  

The Gregorian is a correction of the Julian calendar, which had been in use since 46 b.c.e. Leap years had been miscalculated in the Julian calendar; by 1582 the calendar was 10 days behind the solar year. Pope Gregory XIII corrected the calendar by dropping 10 days. The new calendar was adopted by the Catholic church in 1582 but at later dates in non-Catholic countries. Russia did not accept the new calendar until 1918. In Russia and part of Poland, the Julian calendar was generally used throughout the 1800s, when the difference had accumulated to 12 days. Polish vital records often give both the Julian and Gregorian dates. This can be confusing to beginning researchers. When both dates are given, use the later date (the Gregorian) for your record keeping.  

Resources and conversion charts have been published that convert dates to the modern Gregorian calendar. Many of these are available free through the Internet, including: