Did Wikipedia remove the word "" from the Great Assembly article?

Yes. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it "assembly of 120 rabbis that ruled in israel in the period after the time of the prophets up to the time of the". Today it says "assembly of possibly 120 scribes". We saved the article's opening paragraph at 6 moments between 2005 and 2025, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Great Assembly article stop using the word ""?

The word appeared 0 times in the opening at its peak in 2005. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-02.

How can I verify what Wikipedia's Great Assembly article used to say?

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What did Wikipedia remove from the Great Assembly article?

The opening as it read in 2005

Great Assembly ( Anshe Knesset HaGedolah in Hebrew ) was an assembly of 120 rabbis that ruled in Israel in the period after the time of the prophets up to the time of the development of rabbinic Judaism in 70 .¹ They bridge a period of about two centuries.² The term is first used in Nehemiah 8-:10 to describe the public assembly of Jews who returned to Israel after the exile in Babylonia. In this gathering the leaders and people of Israel rededicated themselves to the Torah as their inheritance and code of law. According to Jewish tradition they redacted the books of Ezekiel , the twelve minor prophets (The Trei Asar ), and the books of Daniel and Esther . They also composed the Shemonah Esreh , the standing prayer ( Amidah ) of 18, later 19, prayers that are still recited by Jews today. They canonized the Tanakh . Most important, they enacted a democratization of Jewish education, making the Torah the possession of all, instead of just the priestly class.³

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17281491.

The opening as it stood in 2010 7 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

The Great Assembly ( ) or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה, "The Men of the Great Assembly"), also known as the Great Synagogue , was, according to Jewish tradition , an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism , marking a transition from an era of prophets to an era of Rabbis . They lived in a period of about two centuries ending c. 70 CE. Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish Biblical canon , including the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and the Twelve Minor Prophets; the introduction of the triple classification of the oral law , dividing the study of the Mishnah (in the larger sense) into the three branches of midrash , halakot , and aggadot ; the introduction of the Feast of Purim ; and the institution of the prayer known as the " Shemoneh 'Esreh " as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 369829556.

The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear

The Great Assembly ( ) or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה, "The Men of the Great Assembly"), also known as the Great Synagogue , or Synod , was, according to Jewish tradition , an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the early Hellenistic period . It comprised such prophets as Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (who is Ezra), Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Nehemiah b. Hachaliah, Mordechai and Zerubabel b. Sometimes, the Great Assembly is simply designated as "Ezra and his court of law" ( Beit Din ). Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish Biblical canon , including the books of Ezekiel , Daniel , Esther , and the Twelve Minor Prophets ; the introduction of the triple classification of the oral law , dividing the study of the Mishnah (in the larger sense) into the three branches of midrash , halakot , and aggadot ; the introduction of the Feast of Purim ; and the institution of the prayer known as the " Shemoneh 'Esreh " as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions. Some modern scholars question whether the Great Assembly ever existed as an institution as such. Louis Jacobs , while not endorsing this view, remarks that "references in the [later] Rabbinic literature to the Men of the Great Synagogue can be taken to mean that ideas, rules, and prayers, seen to be pre-Rabbinic but post-biblical, were often fathered upon them". Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662769248.

The opening as it stood in 2020

According to Jewish tradition the Men of the Great Assembly ( ) or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah ( , "The Men of the Great Assembly"), also known as the Great Synagogue , or Synod , was an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets since the early Second Temple period (which started around 516 BCE) to the early Hellenistic period (which began with Alexander's conquests of 333-332 BCE). It comprised such prophets as Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (who is Ezra), Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Nehemiah b. Hachaliah, Mordechai and Zerubabel b. Sometimes, the Great Assembly is simply designated as "Ezra and his court of law" ( Beit Din ). Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish Biblical canon , including the Book of Ezekiel , Daniel , Esther , and the Twelve Minor Prophets ; the introduction of the Feast of Purim ; and the institution of the prayer known as the " Shemoneh 'Esreh " as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions. Some modern scholars question whether the Great Assembly ever existed as an institution as such. Louis Jacobs , while not endorsing this view, remarks that "references in the [later] Rabbinic literature to the Men of the Great Synagogue can be taken to mean that ideas, rules, and prayers, seen to be pre-Rabbinic but post-biblical, were often fathered upon them". Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 931874728.

The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Assembly of Jewish sages For the legislature of the modern-day State of Israel, see Knesset . According to Jewish tradition the Great Assembly ( , also translated as Great Synagogue or Synod ) was an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, which existed from the early Second Temple period (around 516 BCE) to the early Hellenistic period (which began with Alexander's conquests of 333–332 BCE), roughly coinciding with the Persian hegemony over the nation of Israel. The assembly's members, known as Anshei Knesset HaGedolah ( אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה ‎, "The Men of the Great Assembly"), traditionally included such figures as Haggai , Zechariah , Malachi , Ezra , Nehemiah , Daniel , Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah , Mordechai and Zerubbabel . Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to the rabbis of this period are the fixing of the Jewish biblical canon (including the Book of Ezekiel , Daniel , Esther , and the Twelve Minor Prophets ); the introduction of the Feast of Purim ; and the institution of many prayers and rituals including the Amidah prayer. Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178174775.

The opening as it stood in 2025

Assembly of Jewish sages For the legislature of the modern-day State of Israel, see Knesset . According to Jewish tradition the Great Assembly ( Hebrew : כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה , romanized : Kəneset haGədōlā , also translated as Great Synagogue or Synod ) was an assembly of possibly 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, which existed from the early Second Temple period (around 516 BCE) to the early Hellenistic period (which began in the region with Alexander's conquest in 332 BCE), roughly coinciding with the Persian hegemony over the nation of Israel . The assembly's members, known as Anshei Knesset HaGedolah ( אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה ‎, the "Men of the Great Assembly"), traditionally included such figures as Haggai , Zechariah , Malachi , Ezra , Nehemiah , Daniel , Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah , Mordechai and Zerubbabel . Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to the sages of this period are the fixing of the Jewish biblical canon (including the Book of Ezekiel , Daniel , Esther , and the Twelve Minor Prophets ); the introduction of the Feast of Purim ; and the institution of many prayers and rituals including the Amidah prayer. Maimonides' Introduction to his Mishnah Commentary (ed.

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