Diaspora+Judaism

Diaspora Judaism

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// Diaspora // is a Greek word meaning "dispersion," the Hebrew word being Galut גלות (Exile) and refers to the period in which Jews, whether by force or by choice, began to live outside their Homeland. The term 'diaspora' originates from the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 28:25, "thou shalt be a diaspora in all kingdoms of the earth." The Jewish Diaspora began in the year 587 B.C.E., when the kingdom of Babylonia conquered Judea, and destroyed the holy Temple in Jerusalem, exiling a large part of the Jewish population to Babylonia (now southern Iraq). While some Jews returned to Judea fifty years later upon permission of Cyrus the Great, many stayed in Babylon. Another large center for Diaspora Jews at that time was in Egypt. 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. Although the Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem, the ultimate dispersion came with the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Romans in 70C.E. Ever since, significant numbers of Jews have lived in the Diaspora, but today, Israel the modern day national Jewish State established in 1948 and the home of approximately 6 million Jews is rapidly changing the balance. The history of Jewish dispersion has led to the incredible diversity of the Jewish people who settled in almost every country in the world, America today leading with approximately 6.5 million Jews, and significant populations in Canada, Argentina, and Brazil. Diaspora Judaism developed outside of the cultic practices that bound the Israelites together as a nation and as a religion through priestly rituals and Temple sacrifice. When the Temple could no longer be the central focus of Jews, other forms of worship developed, such as prayer and leadership of the community was transferred from the priests to the prophets and finally to the guardians and sages of the Torah, the Rabbis. =====