Running head: 1

The Diaspora of the Jews

Diaspora is a Greek word and according to several dictionaries, its meaning is a
dispersion or scattering. The use of this word is found in Greek translations of the Hebrew
Bible (Deuteronomy 25). While this specific historical sense is still used, especially in scholarly
writing, modern-day definitions of the Jewish can refer to the displacement of Jews at other
times during their history, especially after the Holocaust in the 20th century (Diaspora, 2012).
Jewish peoples were displaced many times from many places throughout history. The
first significant Jewish Diaspora came as the result of the Babylonian Exile of 586 B.C.E. After
the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah; part of the Jewish population was deported
into slavery (Diaspora, 2012). When the Persian Emperor allowed the Jews to return to their
homeland in 538 B.C.E., many chose to remain behind.
The largest Jewish Diaspora was thought to have occurred when the Romans exiled the
Jews to Alexandria. Sometime in the first century B.C.E, it was believed that 40 percent of the
population of Alexandria was Jewish. Diaspora Jews outnumbered the Jews in Palestine even
before the destruction of Jerusalem in C.E. 70 (Diaspora, 2012). After that, centers of Judaism
shifted from country to country (Babylonia, Persia, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and
the United States).
Although the Jewish communities were scattered and some adopted distinctive
languages, rituals, and cultures, most believed in the covenant that would return them to their
homeland. They had become a people dispersed all over the world with no homeland. Judaism
began to develop a way of life outside the Jerusalem which helped insure not only the people's
national survival but a spiritual identity. This was vital in the process of restoring its people to a
nation once again.
2
In Rome, the center was the academy of Javneh, where rabbi's received their formal
education. In principle, Javneh was also responsible for the Jews in the Diaspora, and sometimes
teachers were sent abroad to educate the Jews in other parts of the Mediterranean world
(Lendering, 2012). Other large communities were also home to the Jews especially throughout
the Ottoman Empire.
The territory under Ottoman rule stretched from what is known today as Turkey, through
Syria, Palestine, Egypt, parts of Arabia, parts of North Africa and Mesopotamia, now known as
Iraq. The Jewish population in the Ottoman Empire was diverse and spread throughout the
empire. It included the Roman Jews, mostly Greek-speaking and following the Romanian
liturgy in the Balkans; Ashkenazic Jews who found their way to the empire either as a result of
persecution or in search of economic opportunities; and Sephardic Jews who settled there
following the Expulsion from Spain. There were also indigenous Jews in Arab lands, in
Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, and North Africa (Teter, 2009).
Beginning about 1700, groups of followers led by rabbis reached Palestine from Europe
and the Ottoman Empire with various programs. Other groups and individuals came from
Lithuania and Turkey and different countries in Eastern Europe. Although many Jews spoke
openly of the desire to return to the homeland, at no time between the Roman exile and the rise
of Zionism was there a movement to settle the holy land that included the European or Eastern
Jews. For most Jews, the connection with the ancient homeland and with Jerusalem remained
largely cultural and spiritual, and return to the homeland was an event that would occur with the
coming of the Messiah.
The Jews who returned to Palestine were not prepared for the conditions that awaited
them. Most of the communities founded by these early settlers met with economic disaster, or
3
were disbanded following earthquakes, anti-Jewish riots or outbreaks of disease. The Jewish
communities of Safed, Tiberias, Jerusalem and Hebron were typically destroyed by natural and
man-made disasters and repopulated several times, never supporting more than a few thousand
persons each at their height (Zionism Defined, 2012).
Zionism is an ideology which expresses the yearning of Jews the world over for their
historical homeland Zion, the Land of Israel. Zionism is the term used to define the
international movement for the return of the Jewish people to their original homeland and the
resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel (Zionism and Zionists, 2012). Zionism is
a movement started by Theodor Herzl who wrote The Jewish State (1896). He called for the
formation of a Jewish nation state as a solution to the Diaspora and to anti-Semitism.
Herzl called for the first Zionist conference which was convened in 1897 in Basel,
Switzerland. At this conference, the delegates passed the following resolution: "Zionism seeks to
secure a publically recognized, legally secured home in Palestine for the Jewish people. These
Jews formed an organization called the World Zionist Organization, later just called the Jewish
Agency or Jewish Committee. By 1914 the Zionists had 127,000 dues paying members world-
wide (Dinelli).
Without delay the Zionists set out to implement their mission of removing Palestinians
from the land. They set up "the Fund" to buy land from the Palestinians' and deposited it in a
trust which allowed only Jews to use or rent it. It was during this time that the olim (the term for
the new Jewish immigrants) began to form kibbutz. These were collective farms in which all the
houses, animals, and farming equipment belonged to the group and all decisions were made by
the group. The best survived because they were dedicated to rebuilding their national home
(Davidson, 2010).
4

Out of a population of 1,000,000 people in 1897 Palestine, only 5% - 50,000 - were
Jewish. Many of those Jews reacted negatively to Zionism. It was not until November 2, 1917
that support was given to the Zionist movement. British policy became gradually committed to
the idea of establishing a Jewish home in Palestine (Eretz Yisrael). After discussions in the
British Cabinet, and consultation with Zionist leaders, the decision was made known in the form
of a letter by Arthur James Lord Balfour to Lord Rothschild. The letter represents the first
political recognition of Zionist aims by a Great Power (Balfour Declaration, 2008). After the
defeat and dismantling of the Ottoman Empire by the European colonial powers in 1918, the
League of Nations endorsed the full text of the Balfour Declaration and established the British
Mandate for Palestine.
On May 14, 1948, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and
declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the
United States and three days later by the USSR. The declaration was made on the day in which
the British Mandate over a Palestine expired. This declaration in part said This recognition by
the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This
right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other
nations, in their own sovereign State (Declaration of Establishment, 2008).
After World War I, progress had been made in the Zionist movement. It was not until
after World War II and the revelation of the true scope of the Holocaust, that the militant
Zionists who had the goal of an immediate refuge homeland for Jews gained ascendancy.
Despite winning the 1945 British election with a manifesto promising to create a Jewish state in
Palestine, the Government succumbed to Foreign Office pressure and kept Palestine closed to
5
Jewish migration. In 1947 the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into
an Arab state and a Jewish state. The end of the British Mandate and declaration of the State of
Israel in 1948, was the culmination of almost a century of Zionist efforts (Zionism and Zionists,
2012).
The 1967 war between Israel and the Arab states (the "Six-Day War") marked a major
turning point in the history of both Israel and of Zionism. During the war, Israeli forces captured
the eastern half of Jerusalem including the Western Wall of the ancient Temple. This site is
considered one the holiest of the Jewish religious sites. They also took over the remaining
territories of Palestine, the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza
Strip from Egypt.
The 28th Zionist Congress (Jerusalem, 1968) adopted the following five principles,
known as the "Jerusalem Program", as the aims of contemporary Zionism. They are: The unity of
the Jewish People and the centrality of Israel in Jewish life; The ingathering of the Jewish
People in its historic homeland, Eretz Israel, through Aliyah from all countries; The
strengthening of the State of Israel which is based on the prophetic vision of justice and peace:
The preservation of the identity of the Jewish People through the fostering of Jewish and Hebrew
education and of Jewish spiritual and cultural values; The protection of Jewish rights
everywhere" (Zionism Defined, 2012).
In 1975 the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 was passed. It stated that
"zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." The resolution specifically notes that
eliminating colonialism, foreign occupation, Zionism, and apartheid are necessary to end
discrimination. In 1975, the Soviet Union pioneered Resolution 3379 and was bolstered by
Arab and African states amidst accusations that Israel supported the apartheid regime in South
6
Africa through economic cooperation. Resolution 3379 was rescinded in 1991 by the Resolution
4686 (General Assembly Resolution 3379).
Following the 1967 Six-Day War several prominent Labor Zionists created the
Movement for Greater Israel. This movement supports an ideology of Greater Israel and called
upon the Israeli government to keep and populate all areas captured in the war. Still other Labor
Zionists have become strong advocates for relinquishing the territory won during the Six-Day
War. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres allowed this to become
the central policy of the Labor Party, by the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. This was an
historic turning point in Arab-Israeli relations.
The negotiations were ongoing for years, from Oslo, Hebron Accord, a summit at
Maryland's Wye River Plantation, Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Camp David, and the Taba
Talks. After Taba, Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister in a landslide. Sharon had
consistently rejected the Oslo peace process. He was also vocal in his criticism of Israel's
positions at Camp David and Taba.
In March of 2002 a suicide bomber killed 30 people. Israel launched Operation Defensive
Shield. This led to Israel's troops re-entering Palestinian cities and refugee camps where they
would hunt down terrorists. Frequently they left massive destruction in their wake. Three
months later two more suicide bombings struck Israel. Sharon announced Israel would
immediately begin a policy of taking back land in the West Bank, and holding it, until the terror
attacks stopped (Shattered Dreams of Peace, 2011). There seems to be no resolution in sight.


7
References
Jewish Diaspora. (1980). Retrieved April 19, 2012, from My Jewish Learning:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Ancient_and_Medieval_History/539_BCE-
632_CE/The_Diaspora.shtml
Balfour Declaration. (2008). Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Proces
s/The%20Balfour%20Declaration
Declaration of Establishment. (2008). Retrieved April 29, 2012, from Israel Ministry of Foreign
Affairs:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+o
f+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm
Shattered Dreams of Peace. (2011). Retrieved April 28, 2012, from Frontline:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oslo/negotiations/
Diaspora. (2012). Retrieved April 28, 2012, from Encyclopedia Brittanica:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/161756/Diaspora
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel . (2012). Retrieved April 1, 2012,
from Jewish Virtual Library:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Dec_of_Indep.html
Zionism and Zionists. (2012). Retrieved April 27, 2012, from Palestinian Facts:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_zionism.php
Zionism Defined. (2012). Retrieved April 19, 2012, from Zionism on the Web:
http://www.zionismontheweb.org/zionism/zionism.html
Davidson, A. G. (2010). A Concise History of the Middle East. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
8
Dinelli, D. (n.d.). Zionism. Retrieved April 28, 2012, from Zionism in America:
http://www.zionismexplained.org/
General Assembly Resolution 3379. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2012, from Essential Documents:
http://www.cfr.org/un/un-general-assembly-resolution-3379-racial-discrimination/p11284
Lendering, J. (2012). The Jewish Diaspora: Rome. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from LIVIUS
Articles on Ancient History: http://www.livius.org/di-dn/diaspora/rome.html
n.d. (2012). Diaspora. Retrieved April 27, 2012, from Dictionary.com Unabridged:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/diaspora
Teter, M. (2009, January 25). Ottoman Empire. Retrieved April 27, 2012, from EARLY
MODERN JEWISH HISTORY: Overview: http://jewishhistory.research.wesleyan.edu/i-
jewish-population/5-ottoman-empire/