A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
(Greek ‘Dispersion’) The dispersion of the Jewish people outside the land of *Israel after the *Exile in Babylon of the 6th Century BCE. Many *Jews settled in Babylon and did not return in the Persian period and from *Hellenistic times there were Jewish communities in most urban centres round the Mediterranean Sea. In
the Middle Ages in Christian Europe, Jews were much persecuted (See *ANTI-SEMITISM) and were frequently expelled.
Many gravitated to Muslim countries, Eastern Europe and, eventually, to the United States, South America, Australia and South Africa. From the late 19th Century, many sought to return to Palestine (see *ZIONISM) and the founding of the State of Israel has had a profound effect on Diaspora Jewry. With the destruction of the great Eastern European communities in the *holocaust, the focus of the Diaspora has become the United States and the countries of the British Commonwealth. (See also *GALUT).
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