The Jewish Diaspora

The story of the Jewish Diaspora begins in the year 587 B.C.E., when the kingdom of
Judea was conquered by the Babylonians, who destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and
exiled a large part of the Jewish population to Babylonia (now southern Iraq).
Ever since, significant numbers of Jews have lived in the Diaspora, many expressing
longing to return to the Land of Israel.
The history of Jewish dispersion has led to the outstanding diversity of the Jewish
people, who have settled in countries as disparate as Morocco, Cuba, Mexico, and
Australia. There are currently some 13.4 million Jews in the world: more 8 million in the
Diaspora, with the remaining more than 5 million in Israel.
The total number of Jews in America was estimated at up to 6.4 million. In the
Americas, there are also significant populations in Canada, Argentina, and Brazil.
The North American Jewish community faces demographic challenges from factors
such as the aging of the Jewish population, increased rates of intermarriage, declining
rates of conversion to Judaism, and a relatively low percentage of children of mixed
marriages identifying themselves as Jewish.
Argentina and Brazil rank seventh and ninth, respectively, in the world-Jewry list.
Argentina is home to some 200,000 Jews, mostly concentrated in Buenos Aires. The
democratic regime now in place in Argentina is seen as a catalyst accelerating the rate
of integration into the local culture and economy, enabling the Jewish community to
overcome the devastating physical and emotional trauma of the 1994 bombing of the
Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center.
The Jewish community of Brazil, currently numbering over 100,000, is largely
undisturbed by the outbreaks of anti-Semitism that have been so destructive to their
Argentinean neighbors.
The Jewish state comes to an end in 70 AD, when the Romans begin to actively drive Jews from
the home they had lived in for over a millennium. But the Jewish Diaspora ("diaspora"
="dispersion, scattering") had begun long before the Romans had even dreamed of Judaea. When
the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722, the Hebrew inhabitants were scattered all over the Middle
East; these early victims of the dispersion disappeared utterly from the pages of history.
However, when Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judaeans in 597 and 586 BC, he allowed them to
remain in a unified community in Babylon. Another group of Judaeans fled to Egypt, where they
settled in the Nile delta. So from 597 onwards, there were three distinct groups of Hebrews: a
group in Babylon and other parts of the Middle East, a group in Judaea, and another group in
Egypt. Thus, 597 is considered the beginning date of the Jewish Diaspora. While Cyrus the
Persian allowed the Judaeans to return to their homeland in 538 BC, most chose to remain in
Babylon. A large number of Jews in Egypt became mercenaries in Upper Egypt on an island
called the Elephantine. All of these Jews retained their religion, identity, and social customs;
both under the Persians and the Greeks, they were allowed to run their lives under their own
laws. Some converted to other religions; still others combined the Yahweh cult with local cults;
but the majority clung to the Hebraic religion and its new-found core document, the Torah.
In 63 BC, Judaea became a protectorate of Rome. Coming under the administration of a
governor, Judaea was allowed a king; the governor's business was to regulate trade and
maximize tax revenue. While the Jews despised the Greeks, the Romans were a nightmare.
Governorships were bought at high prices; the governors would attempt to squeeze as much
revenue as possible from their regions and pocket as much as they could. Even with a Jewish
king, the Judaeans revolted in 70 AD, a desperate revolt that ended tragically. In 73 AD, the last
of the revolutionaries were holed up in a mountain fort called Masada; the Romans had
besieged the fort for two years, and the 1,000 men, women, and children inside were beginning
to starve. In desperation, the Jewish revolutionaries killed themselves rather than surrender to
the Romans. The Romans then destroyed Jerusalem, annexed Judaea as a Roman province, and
systematically drove the Jews from Palestine. After 73 AD, Hebrew history would only be the
history of the Diaspora as the Jews and their world view spread over Africa, Asia, and Europe
Europe
More than 1.5 million Jews live in Europe--two-thirds in Western Europe and one third in
Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries. The aging of the Jewish community--resulting
in a greater number of deaths than births--together with intermarriage, constitute the
main demographic factors challenging Western European Jewry. These factors are
offset in part by immigration, mainly from the former Soviet Union. Numerous European
Jewish communities also face growing anti-Semitism.
With the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, France became the third-largest
Jewish population of the world, estimated at more than 500,000. France's mostly
Ashkenazic (European-descended) community underwent a major demographic
transformation in the 1950s and 1960s, with the arrival of 300,000 Jews from North
Africa. The community is politically organized, featuring an umbrella organization (CRIF-
-the Council of French Jewry), as well as Zionist and youth movements. In addition to
the challenges of intermarriage and the aging community, French Jewry has suffered
numerous serious anti-Semitic incidents, including bombings and vandalism. Strong
electoral support for the extreme-right National Front is a continued source of concern
to the Jewish community.
Poland and Germany have, in the last few years, experienced a reawakening of Jewish
consciousness, with young Jewish people joining the community and seeking out a
Jewish education.
The Middle East
It is difficult to speculate on the Jewish populations of the Arab countries of the Middle
East. The Jewish population of Iran is estimated at 10,800. In other Middle Eastern
countries with ancient Jewish communities, the Jewish population virtually disappeared.
In the years following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there were
900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands: 600,000 were absorbed by Israel and the
other third were absorbed by countries in Europe and the Americas. A recent, notable
decrease occurred in Syria and Yemen, when Jews were officially allowed to emigrate.
Africa
About 87,000 Jews are estimated to remain in Africa, about 90 percent of whom live
in South Africa. That Jewish community is remarkably well-organized and cohesive,
featuring a broad network of welfare, educational, political, and Zionist institutions.
Intermarriage rates are low, support for Israel is strong, and religious identification is
intensifying. The community is, however, experiencing continued emigration, stemming
from personal insecurity and fears of an unstable future.
The Jewish community of Ethiopia was in recent years at the center of an international
rescue effort. In 1991 the overwhelming majority of Ethiopian Jews--about 20,000
people--were brought to Israel, most of them in a dramatic one-day airlift
operation. Thousands of other Ethiopians who claim Jewish ancestry were left behind.
Historians debate whether they are descendants of converts to Christianity or whether
they simply abandoned Judaism. Many of these Falash Mura, as they are called, are
related to the Jews who emigrated to Israel and are returning to Judaism, wishing to be
reunified with their relatives in Israel.

Asia & Oceania
The majority of Jews in Oceania reside in Australia, home to 95 percent of the region's
estimated 104,000 Jews. Australian Jewry received migratory reinforcements during the
past decade, particularly from South Africa, the former Soviet Union, and Israel,
countering negative demographic patterns. The Jewish community is a vibrant one and
has developed a vast network of Jewish communal organizations.
Small Jewish communities exist throughout Asia. In China, where traveling Jewish
merchants first arrived in the eighth century, there is currently a Jewish population of
1,000, the same as Japan. Though relics of the ancient Chinese Jewish population can
still be found, mainly in Shanghai, there are presently no Jewish communal structures.
The Jews of India, living mostly around Bombay, currently number 5,300. The
community is composed of three distinct groups: Bnei Israel, who believe themselves to
be the descendants of the original settlers who came to India in the second century
B.C.E.; the Jews of Malabar, centered in Cochin, whose ancestors arrived in India from
Europe and the Middle East 1,000 years ago; and the "Baghdadis," Iraqis who began
settling in India at the end of the 18th century.
Other small Asian Jewish communities exist in Singapore (300) Thailand (200), South
Korea (100), and The Philippines (100).











1) Eternal Nation
It has been prophesied in the Torah that Jews would be an eternal nation:
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and your descendants after
you, throughout the generations. An eternal covenant to be your God, and the God
of your descendants after you (Genesis 17-7).
This promise is repeated many times throughout the Torah (Leviticus 26:43,
Deuteronomy 4:26-27, Deut. 28:63-64). And it has come true. Even though Jews did
not have a homeland, a common language or a shared history (the factors that
historians use to define a nation), they have remained a distinct people.
2) Exile and Dispersion
It has been prophesied in the Torah that Jews would be exiled and dispersed:
And you, I will scatter among the nations, at the point of My drawn sword, leaving
your country desolate and your cities in ruins (Leviticus 26:33).
Jews have remained a people despite exile and dispersion. In all of human history,
there have been less than ten exiles of an entire people out of their country. Its a
highly unusual phenomenon to take a whole people and throw them out of their
country.
Multiple exiles are unheard of, since after the first one the people generally
disappearthey simply become assimilated among other peoples. In human history,
multiple exiles and dispersion are unique only to the Jewish people.
The dispersion of the Jewish People to the four corners of the globe is a completely
unique phenomenon in human history. Jews have wandered and settled in almost
every land on earth -while somehow managing to maintain their distinct national
identity.
The Jewish people were exiled from Israel by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. They
survived, returned to Israel after 70 years, and then built the Second Temple. Then
in 70 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, causing the Jews to go into
exile once again.
Therefore, we see two different uniquenesses:
A. The only nation exiled twice from their own land
B. The only nation to ever survive and return from a previous exile
The Torah goes on to spell out one final uniqueness within this phenomenon
amongst these nations within which the Jews will be scattered, there will be a
continual wandering. Immediately after Deuteronomy 28:64 (And G-d shall scatter
you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other), the prophesy
continuesAmong those nations you shall find no repose, not a foot of ground to
stand upon, for there the L-rd will give you an anguished heart and wasted eyes and
a dismayed spirit. (Deuteronomy 28:65).
3) Few In Number
It has been prophesied in the Torah that Jews will survive as an eternal nation
despite dispersion and being few in number:
God will then scatter you among the nations, and only a small number will remain
among the nations where God shall lead you (Deuteronomy 4:27).
To every other people, a small population spells extinction. We know from the
records that the Romans kept about 2,000 years ago, there were between 8-10
million Jews living in the world. How many Jews do demographers say should be in
the world today?
If in the same period of time, the Chinese went from a population of 30 million to
over 1 billion people, there should be approximately 500 million Jews alive in the
world today. After the Chinese and the Indians, the third largest ethnic group on the
planet earth should be the Jews! But there are only 14 million Jews alive today.
There are virtually no more Jews in the world today than there were 2,000 years ago
and yet throughout all this time, the Jews remained a distinct people.