Jewish History In Conflict
The author writes:\ “According to Seder Olam Rabbah, the work that forms the basis for almost all rabbinic chronology, the .period from the defeat of the Babylonians by the Medeo-Persians until the beginning of Greek rule, encompassed 52 years and spanned the reigns of three Persian kings. According to the chronology that is universally accepted by historians today (conventional chronology), this period of Persian rule over the land of Israel encompassed 207 years (539 to 332 BCE) and during...
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Explores the famous dispute about the length of time that Persia ruled over the land of ancient Israel.
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Diagram Statement of Purpose\ Part I: Introduction to the Discrepancy The SO Chronology The Conventional Chronology The Discrepancy\ Part II: The Earliest Jewish Responses to the Discrepancy\ 1. Saadiah Gaon\ 2. Seder Malkhei Romi\ 3. Josippon\ 4. Isaac Abravanel\ 5. Abraham Zacuto\ Part III: Collection and Categorization of Jewish Responses From the Time of Azariah de Rossi through Modern Times\ Category A – SO Chronology is Correct: Conventional Chronology is Error\ 1. David Ganz\ 2. Judah Loew\ 3. Isaac Cantarini\ 4. Jacob Emden\ 5. Wolf Pohrille\ 6. Abraham Yeshayahu Karelitz\ 7. David Shmidel\ 8. Shlomo Rotenberg\ 9. Saul Lustig\ 10. Abraham Zuartz\ 11. Hayyim Fov Rabinovitz\ 12. David Hayyim Ibn Shalosh\ 13. Hersh Goldwurm\ 14. Isaac Simon Feder\ 15. Chaim Heifetz\ 16. Brad Aaronson\ 17. Sholom Klass\ Category B – Conventional Chronology is Correct: SO Chronology is in Error\ 1. Azariah de Rossi\ 2. Samuel Joseph Fuenn\ 3. Nachman Krochmal\ 4. Solomon Judah Rapoport\ 5. Morris Raphall\ 6. Levi Herzfeld\ 7. Joseph Derenbourg\ 8. Moses Zuckermandel\ 9. Isidore Loeb\ 10. Baer Ratner\ 11. Alexander Marx\ 12. Joseph Jacobs\ 13. Ahron Marcus\ 14. Max Seligsohn\ 15. Eduard Mahler\ 16. Hayyim Bornstein\ 17. Philip Biberfeld\ 18. Ephraim Urbach\ 19. Harold Ginsberg\ 20. Solomon Zeitlin\ 21. Pinkas Weis\ 22. Abraham Akavya\ 23. Yehezkel Kaufmann\ 24. Simon Schwab\ 25. Issachar Jacobson\ 26. Hayyim Shvilly\ 27. Elias Bickerman\ 28. Aryeh Neuman\ 29. Judah Rosenthal\ 30. Benny Isaacson\ 31. Mordechai Breuer\ 32. Elihu Schatz\ 33. Ben Zion Wacholder\ 34. Moses Herr\ 35. Jay Braverman\ 36. Hayyim Mantel\ 37. Samuel Kedar\ 38. Joseph Tabori\ 39. Berel Wein\ 40. Henry Guggenheimer\ 41. Samuel Hakohen\ Category C- Both the Conventional Chronology and the SO Chronology are Correct\ 1. Azariah de Rossi\ 2. Anonymous\ 3. Ze’ev Jawitz\ 4. Samuel Krauss\ 5. Hayyim Hirscensohn\ 6. Henry Englander\ 7. Jonas Bondi\ 8. Jacob Gutkovski\ 9. Jacob Lauterbach\ 10. Hayyim Shvilly\ 11. Abraham Akavya\ 12. Charles Raddock\ 13. Adain Steinsaltz\ 14. Rahamin Sar-Shalom\ Category D – Other Responses DI Responses that Present Both the SO Chronology and the Conventional Chronology without Taking a Position as to which is Correct\ 1. Aryeh Kaplan\ 2. Jacob Meidan\ DII Responses that Adopt the SO Chronology without Mentioning the Conventional Chronology\ 1. Meir Loeb ben Jehiel Michael\ 2. Moses Weinstock\ 3. Abraham Kurman\ 4. Avigdor Miller\ 5. Meir Zlotowitz\ 6. Zechariah Fendel\ 7. Yosef Rabinowitz\ 8. Eliezer Shulman\ 9. Mattis Kantor\ DIII Repsonsed that Adopt the Conventional Chronology without Mentioning the SO Chronology\ 1. Heymann Kottek\ 2. Simon Glazer\ 3. Kalman Kahana\ 4. Joseph Hertz\ 5. Isaac Halevy\ 6. Gilbert Klaperman\ 7. Shelomoh Daziger\ 8. Meir Herskovics\ 9. Abraham Bloch\ 10. Abraham Rosenfeld\ 11. Irving Greenberg\ 12. Shlomo Riskin\ 13. Emanuel Rackman\ 14. Louis Bernstein\ 15. Haskel Lookstein\ DIV Miscellaneous Responses\ 1. Jehiel Heilprin\ 2. Moses Auerbach\ Part IV: Evaluation of the Responses\ Part V: Some Observations Regarding the Rabbinic Responses\ Part VI: Summary and Conclusion\ Appendix A: The SO Chronology\ Appendix B: The Conventional Chronology\ Appendix C: Additional Note on the Identification of Ahashverosh with Xerxes\ Appendix D: Early Jewish Authors who Adopt Chronologies of the Persian and Second Temple Periods that Differ from the SO Chronology Appendix E: Note on a Passage in Nahmandies\ Appendix F: Note on the Responses of Non-Jewish Scholars\ Addenda Biographical Sketches Bibliography Index
\ Sid Z. Leiman“Mitchell First has produced a groundbreaking study in Jewish intellectual history. By examining Jewish responses to an obvious teaching and the results of classical and modern scholarship (regarding matters of chronology), First has opened a window on how knowledgeable Jews throughout the generations have responded to such discrepancies. His lucid and erudite analysis of the history of the controversy will become the point of departure for all future discussion of this issue, including any and all attempts to resolve it once and for all.”\ - Sid Z. Leiman Professor of Jewish History and Literature Brooklyn College, CUNY\ \
