Editing Timeline of Jewish history (section)

== 20th century ==
;1902: Rabbi Dr. [[Solomon Schechter]] reorganizes the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] and makes it into the flagship institution of [[Conservative Judaism]].

;1903: St. Petersburg's ''Znamya'' newspaper publishes a literary [[hoax]] ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''. [[Kishinev Pogrom]] caused by accusations that Jews practice cannibalism.

;1905: [[1905 Russian Revolution]] accompanied by pogroms.

; 1912-1914: [[S. An-sky]]'s [[Jewish Ethnographic Expedition]] to the Pale of Settlement visited around 70 shtetls in Volyn, Podolia, and Galicia to collect folklore and artifacts, record music, and take photos of vanishing Ashkenazi culture

;1915: [[Yeshiva University|Yeshiva College]] (later University) and its Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary is established in [[New York City]] for training in a Modern Orthodox milieu.

;1916: [[Louis Brandeis]], on the first of June, is confirmed as the [[United States]]' first Jewish [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] justice. Brandeis was nominated by American President [[Woodrow Wilson]].

[[File:Balfour portrait and declaration.JPG|thumb|right|200px|The [[Balfour Declaration]] which supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and protected the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities.]]
;1917: The British defeat the Turks and gain control of Palestine. The British issue the [[Balfour Declaration]] which gives official British support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people ... it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Many Jews interpret this to mean that all of Palestine was to become a [[Jewish state]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/balfour.htm|title=Balfour Declaration|access-date=23 November 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704103803/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/balfour.htm|archive-date=4 July 2007}}</ref>

;1917 February: The Pale of Settlement is abolished, and Jews get equal rights. The [[Russian Civil War]] leads to over 2,000 pogroms with tens of thousands murdered and hundreds of thousand made homeless.

;1918–1939: The period between the two World Wars is often referred to as the "golden age" of ''[[hazzan]]ut'' (cantors). Some of the great Jewish cantors of this era include [[Abraham Davis]], [[Moshe Koussevitzky]], [[Zavel Kwartin]] (1874–1953), [[Jan Peerce]], [[Yossele Rosenblatt|Josef "Yossele" Rosenblatt]] (1882–1933), [[Gershon Sirota]] (1874–1943), and [[Laibale Waldman]].

;1919:
:February 15: Over 1,200 Jews killed in [[Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine|Khmelnitsky]] pogrom.
:March 25: Around 4,000 Jews killed by Cossack troops in [[Tetiev]].
:June 17: 800 Jews decapitated in assembly-line fashion in {{ill|Dubova, Uman Raion|lt=Dubova|uk|Дубова (Уманський район)}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jewua.org/dubova/ |title=Dubova |website=jewua.org |date=2 June 2013 |access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref>

;1920: At the [[San Remo conference]] [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] receives the [[League of Nations]]' [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]].
:April 4–7: Five Jews killed and 216 wounded in the [[1920 Palestine riots|Jerusalem riots]]

;1920s–present: A variety of Jewish authors, including [[Gertrude Stein]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Saul Bellow]], [[Adrienne Rich]] and [[Philip Roth]], sometimes drawing on Jewish culture and history, flourish and become highly influential on the [[English-speaking world|Anglophone]] literary scene.

;1921: British military administration of the Mandate is replaced by civilian rule.

;1921: Britain proclaims that all of Palestine east of the [[Jordan River]] is forever closed to Jewish settlement, but not to Arab settlement.

;1921: Polish–Soviet peace treaty in [[Riga]]. Citizens of both sides are given rights to choose the country. Hundred thousands of Jews, especially small businesses forbidden in the Soviets, move to Poland.

;1922: [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] Rabbi [[Stephen S. Wise]] established the [[Jewish Institute of Religion]] in New York. (It merged with [[Hebrew Union College]] in 1950.)

;1923: Britain gives the [[Golan Heights]] to the [[French Mandate of Syria]]. Arab immigration is allowed; Jewish immigration is not.

:The [[First World Congress of Jewish Women]] is held 6–11 May in Vienna.

;1924: 2,989,000 Jews according to religion poll in Poland (10.5% of total). Jewish youth consisted 23% of students of high schools and 26% of students of universities.

;1926: Prior to World War I, there were few [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] yeshivas in Europe. On [[Lag BaOmer]] 1926, Rabbi [[Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowicz|Shlomo Chanoch Hacohen Rabinowicz]], the fourth [[Radomsk (Hasidic dynasty)|Radomsker]] [[Rebbe]], declared, "The time has come to found yeshivas where the younger generation will be able to learn and toil in Torah", leading to the founding of the [[Keser Torah Radomsk|Keser Torah]] network of 36 yeshivas in pre-war Poland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishpressads.com/printArticle.cfm?contentid=38878 |title=Radomsker Rebbe's Yahrzeit |work=[[The Jewish Press]] |last=Tannenbaum |first=Rabbi Gershon |date=7 April 2009 |access-date=21 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615210441/http://www.jewishpressads.com/printArticle.cfm?contentid=38878 |archive-date=15 June 2012 }}</ref>

;1929: A long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalates into the [[1929 Palestine riots]]. The riots included attacks by Arabs on Jews, resulting in massacres in [[1929 Hebron massacre|Hebron]] and [[Safed]], and violence against Jews in Jerusalem.

;1930: World Jewry: 15,000,000. Main countries USA (4,000,000), Poland (3,500,000 11% of total), Soviet Union (2,700,000 2% of total), Romania (1,000,000 6% of total). Palestine 175,000 or 17% of total 1,036,000.

;1933: [[Hitler]] takes over [[Germany]]; his anti-Semitic sentiments are well-known, prompting numerous Jews to emigrate.

;1935: [[Regina Jonas]] became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi.<ref name=jwa>{{cite web |url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/jonas-regina |title=Regina Jonas 1902–1944 |author=Klapheck, Elisa |work=Jewish Women's Archive |access-date=3 April 2011}}</ref>

;1937: [[Adin Steinsaltz]] born, author of the first comprehensive Babylonian Talmud commentary since [[Rashi]] in the 11th century.

;1939: The British government issues the '[[White Paper of 1939|White Paper]]'. The paper proposed a limit of 10,000 Jewish immigrants for each year between 1940 and 1944, plus 25,000 refugees for any emergency arising during that period.

;1938–1945: [[The Holocaust]] (Ha Shoah), resulting in the methodical extermination of nearly 6 million Jews across Europe.

;1940s–present: Various Jewish filmmakers, including [[Billy Wilder]], [[Woody Allen]], [[Mel Brooks]] and the [[Coen Brothers]], frequently draw on Jewish philosophy and humor, and become some of the most artistically and popularly successful in the history of the medium.

;1941: The Muslim residents of Baghdad carried out a savage pogrom against their Jewish compatriots. In this pogrom, known by its Arabic name ''al-[[Farhud]]'', about 200 Jews were murdered and thousands wounded, on June 1–2. Jewish property was plundered and many homes set ablaze.

;1941: The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi [[Menachem Schneerson]], arrives in New York after escaping Nazi Europe. Along with his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe, he builds one of the largest worldwide movements ([[Chabad]]-Lubavitch) aimed at inspiring Jews to return to their heritage and Torah observance.

;1945–1948: Post-Holocaust refugee crisis. [[United Kingdom|British]] attempts to detain Jews attempting to enter Palestine illegally.

;1946–1948: The violent struggle for the creation of a Jewish state in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate of Palestine]] is intensified by Jewish defense groups: [[Haganah]], [[Irgun]], and [[Lehi (group)]].

;November 29, 1947: The [[United Nations]] approves the creation of a Jewish State and an Arab State in the British mandate of Palestine.

[[File:Declaration of State of Israel 1948 2.jpg|thumb|right|[[David Ben-Gurion]] proclaiming Israeli independence on May 14, 1948, below a portrait of Theodor Herzl|alt=A single man, adorned on both sides by a dozen sitting men, reads a document to a small audience assembled before him. Behind him are two elongated flags bearing the Star of David and portrait of a bearded man in his forties.]]
;May 14, 1948: The State of [[Israel]] declares itself as an independent Jewish state hours before the British Mandate is due to expire. Within eleven minutes, it is de facto recognized by the [[United States]]. [[Andrei Gromyko]], the [[Soviet Union]]'s UN ambassador, calls for the [[United Nations]] to accept Israel as a member state. The UN approves.

;May 15, 1948: [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]: [[Syria]], Iraq, [[Jordan|Transjordan]], [[Lebanon]] and [[Egypt]] invade Israel hours after its creation. The attack is repulsed, and Israel conquers more territory. A [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands]] results, as up to a million Jews flee or are expelled from Arab and Muslim nations. Most settle in Israel. See also [[1949 Armistice Agreements]].

;1948–1949: Almost 250,000 Holocaust survivors make their way to Israel. "[[Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)|Operation Magic Carpet]]" brings thousands of [[Yemen]]ite Jews to Israel.

;1956: The [[1956 Suez War]] Egypt blockades the Gulf of Aqaba, and closes the Suez canal to Israeli shipping. Egypt's President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] calls for the destruction of Israel. Israel, England, and France go to war and force Egypt to end the blockade of Aqaba, and open the canal to all nations.

;1964: Jewish-Christian relations are revolutionized by the [[Roman Catholic Church]]'s [[Vatican II]].

;1965: [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] pitcher [[Sandy Koufax]] refuses to pitch Game 1 of the [[1965 World Series]] because it fell on [[Yom Kippur]].<ref name="yomkippur">{{cite web|title=Yom Kippur and Sandy Koufax|work=JewishSports.com|first=Sandor|last=Solomvits|url=http://www.jewishsports.com/reflections/koufax_yom.htm|access-date=August 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018193520/http://www.jewishsports.com/reflections/koufax_yom.htm|archive-date=October 18, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-21|title=Sandy Koufax's refusal to pitch on Yom Kippur still resonates|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13710996/los-angeles-dodgers-legend-sandy-koufax-decision-not-pitch-game-1-1965-world-series-yom-kippur-resonates-today|access-date=2021-04-11|website=ESPN|language=en|archive-date=April 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411053246/https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13710996/los-angeles-dodgers-legend-sandy-koufax-decision-not-pitch-game-1-1965-world-series-yom-kippur-resonates-today|url-status=live}}</ref>

;1966: [[Shmuel Yosef Agnon]] (1888–1970) becomes the first Hebrew writer to win the [[Nobel Prize]] in literature.

;May 16, 1967: Egyptian President Nasser demands that the UN dismantle the [[UN Emergency Force I]] (UNEF I) between Israel and Egypt. The UN complies and the last UN peacekeeper is out of Sinai and Gaza by May 19.

;1967 May: Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser [[Israeli passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran|closes the strategic Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping]]. Egyptian troops replace the United Nations in the [[Sinai Peninsula]].

;June 5–10, 1967: The [[Six-Day War]]. Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against [[Egypt]], [[Jordan]], and [[Syria]]. Israeli aircraft destroy the bulk of the Arab air forces on the ground in a [[Operation Focus|surprise attack]], followed by Israeli ground offensives which see Israel decisively defeat the Arab forces and capture the Sinai Peninsula, the [[West Bank]], and the [[Golan Heights]].

;September 1, 1967: The Arab Leaders meet in [[Khartoum]], [[Sudan]]. The Three No's of Khartoum: No recognition of Israel. No negotiations with Israel. No peace with Israel.

;1968: Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan formally creates a separate [[Reconstructionist Judaism]] movement by setting up the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://communities.msn.com/JudaismFAQs%26naventryid%3D200 |title=Welcome to Windows Live |access-date=2019-11-18 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714044751/http://communities.msn.com/JudaismFAQs&naventryid=200 |archive-date=2012-07-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><!-- {{dlw-inline|url=http://home.fuse.net/aja/Fried.htm|title=}}, --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://shamash.org/jrf|title=Jewish Reconstructionist Federation - JRF|access-date=23 November 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990508194741/http://shamash.org/jrf/|archive-date=8 May 1999}}</ref>

;1969: First group of African Hebrew Israelites begin to migrate to Israel under the leadership of Ben Ammi Ben Israel.

;Mid-1970s to present: Growing revival of [[Klezmer]] music (The folk music of European Jews).,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/articles/aboutklez.html |title=About the Klezmer Revival |publisher=Well.com |access-date=2018-01-13}}</ref> [http://www.klezmershack.com/]

;1972: [[Sally Priesand]] became the first female rabbi ordained in the US, and is believed to be only the second woman ever to be formally ordained in the history of Judaism.<ref name=NYT1972>Blau, Eleanor. [https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/04/archives/1st-woman-rabbi-in-us-ordained-she-may-be-only-the-second-in.html "1st Woman Rabbi in U.S. Ordained; She May Be Only the Second in History of Judaism"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 4, 1972. Retrieved September 17, 2009. "Sally J. Priesand was ordained at the Isaac M. Wise Temple here today, becoming the first woman rabbi in this country and it is believed, the second in the history of Judaism."</ref>

;1972: [[Mark Spitz]] sets the record for most gold medals won in a single [[Olympic Games]] (seven) in the [[1972 Summer Olympics]]. The [[Munich massacre]] occurs when Israeli athletes are taken hostage by [[Black September (group)|Black September]] terrorists. The hostages are killed during a failed rescue attempt.

;October 6–24, 1973: The [[Yom Kippur War]]. [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], backed up by expeditionary forces from other Arab nations, launch a surprise attack against Israel on [[Yom Kippur]]. After absorbing the initial attacks, Israel recaptures lost ground and then pushes into Egypt and Syria. Subsequently, [[OPEC]] reduces oil production, driving up oil prices and triggering a global economic crisis.

;1975: President [[Gerald Ford]] signs legislation including the [[Jackson–Vanik amendment]], which ties US trade benefits to the Soviet Union to freedom of emigration for Jews.

;1975: United Nations adopts resolution equating Zionism with racism. Rescinded in 1991.

;1976: Israel rescues hostages taken to [[Operation Entebbe|Entebbe]], Uganda.

;September 18, 1978: At [[Camp David]], near [[Washington D.C.]], Israel and Egypt sign a comprehensive peace treaty, The [[Camp David Accord]], which included the withdrawal of Israel from the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]].

;1978: [[Yiddish]] writer [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]] receives Nobel Prize

;1979: Prime Minister [[Menachem Begin]] and President [[Anwar Sadat]] are awarded [[Nobel Peace Prize]].

;1979–1983: Operation Elijah: Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry.

;1982 June–December: The [[1982 Lebanon War|Lebanon War]]. Israel invades Southern [[Lebanon]] to drive out the PLO.

;1983: American [[Reform Jew]]s formally accept patrilineal descent, creating a new definition of who is a Jew.

;1984–1985: Operations Moses, Joshua: Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry by Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/100/concepts/aliyah5.html|title=The Zionist Century - Concepts - Aliyah|access-date=23 November 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000915151150/http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/100/concepts/aliyah5.html|archive-date=15 September 2000}}</ref>

;1986: [[Elie Wiesel]] wins the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]

;1986: [[Nathan Sharansky]], Soviet Jewish dissident, is freed from prison.

;1987: Beginning of the [[First Intifada]] against Israel.

;1989: Fall of the [[Berlin Wall]] between East and West Germany, collapse of the communist East German government, and the beginning of [[German reunification|Germany's reunification]] (which formally began in October 1990).

;1990: The Soviet Union opens its borders for the three million Soviet Jews who had been held as virtual prisoners within their own country. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews choose to leave the Soviet Union and move to Israel.

;1990–1991: Iraq invades [[Kuwait]], triggering a war between Iraq and Allied United Nations forces. Israel is hit by 39 [[Scud missile]]s from Iraq.

;1991: [[Operation Solomon]]: Rescue of the remainder of [[Ethiopia]]n Jewry in a twenty-four-hour airlift.

;October 30, 1991: The [[Madrid Conference of 1991|Madrid Peace Conference]] opens in [[Spain]], sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union.

;April 22, 1993: The [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] dedicated.

[[File:Bill Clinton, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat at the White House 1993-09-13.jpg|right|thumb|[[Yitzhak Rabin]] and [[Yasser Arafat]] shake hands at the signing of the [[Oslo Accords]], with [[Bill Clinton]] behind them, 1993|alt=A stolid balding man in a dark suit on the left shakes the hand of a smiling man in traditional Arab headdress on the right. A taller, younger man stands with open arms in the center behind them.]]
;September 13, 1993: Israel and [[PLO]] sign the [[Oslo Accords]].

;1994: The Lubavitcher ([[Chabad Lubavitch|Chabad]]) Rebbe, [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], dies.

;October 26, 1994: Israel and Jordan sign an official peace treaty. Israel cedes a small amount of contested land to Jordan, and the countries open official diplomatic relations, with open borders and free trade.

;December 10, 1994: Arafat, Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres share the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/peace/guide.html | title=A guide to the Mideast peace process | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980120092610/http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/peace/guide.html | archive-date=1998-01-20 | date=October 1997}}</ref>

;November 4, 1995: Israeli Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] is assassinated.

;1996: Peres loses election to Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu (Likud party).

;1999: [[Ehud Barak]] elected Prime Minister of Israel.