Jewish diaspora
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"In 638, Palestine came under Muslim rule with the Muslim conquest of the Levant. One estimate placed the Jewish population of Palestine at between 300,000 and 400,000 at the time. However, this is contrary to other estimates which place it at 150,000 to 200,000 at the time of the revolt against Heraclius. According to historian Moshe Gil, the majority of the population was Jewish or Samaritan. The land gradually came to have an Arab majority as Arab tribes migrated there. Jewish communities initially grew and flourished. Umar allowed and encouraged Jews to settle in Jerusalem. It was the first time in about 500 years that Jews were allowed to freely enter and worship in their holiest city. In 717, new restrictions were imposed against non-Muslims that negatively affected the Jews. Heavy taxes on agricultural land forced many Jews to migrate from rural areas to towns. Social and economic discrimination caused significant Jewish emigration from Palestine, and Muslim civil wars in the 8th and 9th centuries pushed many Jews out of the country. By the end of the 11th century the Jewish population of Palestine had declined substantially."--Sholem Stein |
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The Jewish diaspora (or simply the Diaspora) is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות (Yiddish: 'Galus'), or 'exile', that encompassed several forced expulsions of Israelites from what is now the states of Israel, Jordan and parts of Lebanon. The modern Hebrew term of Tefutzot תפוצות, "scattered", was introduced in the 1930s by the American academic Simon Rawidowicz, who to some degree argued for the acceptance of the Jewish presence outside of the Land of Israel as a modern reality and an inevitability.
The diaspora is commonly accepted to have begun with the 8th–6th century BC conquests of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah, destruction of the First Temple (c.586 BC), and expulsion of the population, and is also associated with the destruction of the Second Temple and aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt during the Roman occupation of Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
A number of Jewish communities were then established in the Middle East as a result of tolerant policies and remained notable centers of Torah life and Judaism for centuries to come. The defeat of the Great Jewish Revolt in the year 70 AD and of Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Roman Empire in 135 AD notably contributed to the diaspora as many Jews were scattered after losing control over Judea or were sold into slavery throughout the empire. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the term Jewish diaspora came to refer to all Jews living outside Israel.
See also
- The Great Revolt
- Bar Kokhba revolt
- Babylonian captivity
- Timeline of Jewish history
- History of ancient Israel and Judah
- Jewish history
- Jewish population
- Jews by country
- Historical Jewish population comparisons
- Zionism
- Return to Zion
- History of Israel
- Yerida
- Jewish refugees
- Jews and Judaism in Europe
- Antisemitism and History of antisemitism
- Christianity and antisemitism
- Timeline of Jewish Polish history
- Islam and antisemitism
- History of the Jews under Muslim rule
- Jewish exodus from Arab lands
- Arabs and antisemitism
- Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust
- Jewish American Heritage Month
- White House Hanukkah Party
