6. The Land of Israel between 313–1919
Holy Sepulchre Basilica
tylized sectional drawing of the present Holy Sepulchre Basilica
313
– Emperor Great Constantine issued the Milanese edict, which ensured Christians free religious practice. In 325, he called together the first universal synod in Niece, and as the emperor of Rome, he took a stand in theological questions as well: Christianity and the state were interconnected.
326–328
– Helena, the mother of Constantin visited the land of Israel, searching for the places of Jesus’ life, she built memorials and temples. The Christians began to occupy the country step by step. Christianity became more and more anti-Jewish; it had totally broken away from its Jewish roots. The life of the Jews became full of struggles and harassments; the Christians destroyed many synagogues.
360
– In the land of Israel, in contemporary Jewish scientific centers – Tiberias, Sepphoris (Zippori) and Caesarea – the rabbis worked on interpreting the Mishnah. The growing political tension forced them to finish their work. In 360 they closed the Jerusalem Talmud, which interpreted the Mishnah and contained the explanations written in Israel.
395
– The Roman Empire was torn apart, Israel was under the control of the East-Romans, that is the Byzantine Empire. As the state was under the supremacy of the Church, the Byzantine emperors issued several anti-Jewish orders and taxed the Jews heavily. After a few years of Persian control (614–628) with the Byzantine victory, a burden was put on the Jews again.
638
– Six years after the death of Mohamed, Khalif Omar occupied Jerusalem, and the early Muslim period began on the land of Israel. In 691, Khalif Abd al-Malik built the Rock Mosque (Omar-Mosque) on the Temple Mount and in 701, Khalif Al Valid at the place of a Byzantine temple, the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Between 1099–1291
Israel was more or less under the control of the crusaders; their capital was Akko. The crusaders forbid the Jews to enter Jerusalem, their position softened only under the short rule of Sultan Saladin (the Ayyubid dynasty: 1187–1229, then after crusaders’ control another Ayyubid rule: 1244–1260). More and more Jewish people made pilgrimages to the Holy Land from Hispania in the 12th–13th century (e.g., Judah Halevi, Benjamin of Tudela, Nachmanides etc.), then many of the French and German rabbis arrived. Most of them settled in Akko.
1291
– The mostly Turkish, Muslim mamelukes’ (slaves) army invades Akko, the last refuge of the crusaders, and they slaughtered its population. (At the time, Jerusalem was under mameluke control for thirty years, the mameluke period in Israel is counted from 1260.) Under their reign – until 1516 – the Jews suffered from more and more harassments and restrictions.
1517
– After the conquest of the Turkish Sultan Selim I, the land of Israel was under the rule of the Ottomans. Between 1537 and 1541 Sultan (Great) Suleiman I rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, the Western Wall officially became the Jewish place of worship. The Turkish rule ended with the outbreak of the First World War.
