Jewish history begins with Creation, 6,000 years ago.

Science, they say disagrees, and posits the age of the world as very old. We will have to discuss this another time, but suffice it to say here, that evolution violates the law of physics known as entropy. Entropy is a law of physics that a system cannot produce a more complex system. Einstein's Big Bang violates another law of physics, that something cannot come from nothing. Entropy also tells us that simple plasma cannot turn into complex systems and people. The Big Bang violates another law of physics, that a huge mass shrunken into a small ball has such a terrific gravitational pull that even light cannot escape from it. Such a ball is pulled smaller and smaller and cannot expand. Thus, if it is true that the universe began with a tiny dot, it could not have expanded.

Originally, for about 2,000 years, there was no Jewish people. Righteous gentiles, such as Noah and Shem taught Torah to the world. There were, however, prophets. Until the time of Moses, there were gentile prophets. Once the Jews received the Torah and became the clergy of the human race, prophets carrying messages to people from G-d came exclusively from Israel.

Before Abraham, however, there were great prophets and scholars who taught the Torah at a sublime level. We have certain deep Kabbala books that historically contain teachings ascribed to the earliest people.

Abraham began the Jewish people about 3,700 years ago.

Abraham's wife, Sarah, was the major prophet of her time. G-d told Abraham, "All that Sarah tells you hearken to her voice."

Abraham and Sarah went from Babylonia, then the center of civilization, to Israel and Egypt and back to Israel.

Isaac was Abraham's son and Jacob was Isaac's son. Jacob had twelve sons, and they are the founders of the Jewish people, as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob was also known as Israel.

Jacob and his family went to Egypt during a famine. Eventually, the Egyptians enslaved the Jews. G-d rescued the Jews at Passover about 500 years after Abraham, brought them to Sinai to receive the Torah and Ten Commandments, and forty years after that, brought the Israelites, under Joshua, to Israel.

Thus, the entrance of the Jews to Israel under Joshua took place about 2,500 years after the Creation, about 3,300 years ago.

The Jews conquered Israel and divided it into twelve tribes or sections. Abour 500 years after the Jews entered Israel, Solomon built the First Temple. King David was the generation before Solomon. David prepared the material for the Temple, but did not build it, because he was a warrior. The Temple needed a king who was a man of peace.

Solomon brought the Jewish people to great prosperity. As happens in Jewish history, this was also a period of spiritual decline. After Solomon died, G-d punished the Jews by splitting the Jewish Kingdom into Northern and Southern kingdoms.

The Jewish people lived in Israel after Solomon for about four centuries. However, some people began to emigrate, due to the constant conquests and wars, or for other reasons.

The Jews originally came from the area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, near Babylonia, or present day Iraq. There was always a relationship between the Jewish family and those of the ancestors of the Jews. We find, for instance, Jacob, the grandson of Abraham and Sarah, the first Jews, going back to the place of his ancestors to find a wife. His mother, Rebecca, was born in Haran, and was a daughter of relatives of Abraham, the first Jew.

The Jews always spoke Aramaic, the language of the Talmud and the language of the official translation of the bible, which was the language of Babylonians. The Jews also used at times an alphabet called IVRI from the land of their ancestors. IVRI means "beyond" and could mean someone who lived beyond one of the great rivers such as the Euphrates.

The First Temple stood 410 years. From Creation until the Destruction of the First Temple, about 2,500 years ago, G-d spoke to humans who were prophets. He told them to rebuke people, and He told them the future. After the Destruction of the First Temple, prophecy remained for about a century, and then ceased. However, rabbis who were worthy still merited various divine inspiration on an individual basis, but G-d did not speak to them to tell things to the general community.

The seventy years between the Destruction of the First Temple and the Building of the Second Temple were some of the most constructive and exciting years in Jewish history.

This period, roughly 2500 years ago, was the time of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. However, the Jews were not in Greece, but in Persia and Babylonia, and until Aristotle, we have no record of rabbis talking with the great Greek savants.

Several biblical books originated in this time, such as the Book of Daniel, the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nechemiah, as well as various prophets, such as Ezekiel, Malachi, and Chagi.

Towards the end of the seventy years, Haman, the Prime Minister of Persia, attempted to wipe out the Jews, but there was a miracle, and Haman died and the Jews were saved.

Esther, as Jewess, was taken by the King for his wife, and she was instrumental in saving them. After the death of Haman, Mordechai, the uncle of Esther, became the Prime Minister. This led to a period of great prosperity for the Jews.

After Achashverush died, his son, the son of Esther, became king, and allowed the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple.

Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and befriended the rabbis. Our tradition says that Aristotle accompanied Alexander to Israel and befriended the great rabbis.

After Alexander, however, the Greek successors to his throne persecuted the Jews.

Finally, the High Priest Matisyohu rebelled against the Greeks and drove them out of Israel. For this, we celebrate each year the miracle of Hanuka.

The Second Temple was built under the Persians, and thrived for a while under the Greeks. However, the Greeks turned against the Jews and tried to force them to worship idols. The Jews rebelled, and the miracle of Hanuka celebrates the victory of the Jews over the Greeks.

The Second Temple lasted 420 years, and was destroyed by the Romans about 70.

The Talmud had been organized for many generations during and after the Second Temple, and the Mishneh was redacted about 200 by Rabbi Judah the Prince.

In Israel, a generation after the Mishneh, the first part of the Talmud, Rabbi Yochonon redacted the Jerusalemic Talmud, interpretations of the Mishneh, that was written with brevity.

Around 500 the rabbis of Babylonia produced another interpretation of the Mishneh entitled the Babylonian Talmud.

Rabbis called Rabbonon Savrui continued with the work of the Talmud for a short time. Their era was followed by a longer era, that of the Babylonian Geonim, or Torah princes, who were descendents of King David and were treated by the Babylonian government as royalty.

About a thousand years ago the Geonic period was followed by the early Rishonim, "earlier scholars" such as Rashi, Rif and Rabbeinu Tam. Then came Rambam, Ramban, and Rabbi Meir of Rottenburg. Then came the Rosh, Tashbats and others.

The next era was that of Kadmonim, such as Terumas haDeshen, and then came Acharonim, such as Rabbi Joseph Karo. Kadmonim means "earlier" relative to the latter "acharonim" meaning "latter." Rabbi Joseph Caro wrote the Code of Laws around 500 years ago.

The following era was that of "acharonim," or latter scholars. From after the Kadmonin to the present is one long era, but as time goes on, the generations generally decline. There are, however, a few very great rabbis, such as Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, who are considered throwbacks, and who achieve a status of the earlier Rishonim.