The Slaters bring to life events that have, over the past 4,000 years, shaped the Jewish people and determined the course of their history. Photos throughout.

"Examining the entire span of Jewish history through the lens of thirty pivotal moments in the Jewish people's experience from biblical times through the present, Turning Points in Jewish History provides "the big picture": both a broad and a deep understanding of the Jewish historical experience"--

Examining the entire span of Jewish history by focusing on thirty pivotal moments in the Jewish people’s experience from biblical times through the present—essentially the most important events in the life of the Jewish people—Turning Points in Jewish History provides “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 Judaism’s encounters with power, powerlessness, exile, messianism, rationalism, mysticism, catastrophe, modernity, nationalism, feminism, and more. The book’s thirty distinct and logically connected events lend themselves to a full course or to customized classes on specific turning points. Discussion questions for every chapter (some in print, more online) facilitate reflection and continuing conversation.

Adult readers will appreciate this epic story of the Jewish people rendered as a concise, accessible, and engaging narrative. This lively and accessible volume presents the full range of Jewish history, from biblical to contemporary times. Adapted from the two-volume award-winning work, The History of the Jewish People by Professors Jonathan Sarna and Jonathan Krasner, this single volume treats readers to a fast-paced account of Jewish history that is grounded in scholarship and brimming with information on topics as diverse as the development of Christianity beyond its Jewish roots into a new religion and the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language. The text is filled with colorful anecdotal detail about Jewish communities throughout history and around the world, such as how Passover was celebrated on the Civil War battlefield and the origins of Beta Israel, the Ethiopian-Jewish community. The broad array of graphics-16 maps, 12 charts, 27 timelines, and more than 100 photographs--is sure to engage readers and enrich their appreciation and understanding of Jewish history.

... Have played a role. more than 8000 entries in chronological order document the relationship of the Jews to the larger story of world civilization. the information is arranged in the usual timetables format.