Diaspora

Diaspora [Gr.,=dispersion], term used today to denote the Jewish communities living outside the Holy Land. It was originally used to designate the dispersal of the Jews at the time of the destruction of the first Temple (586 BC) and the forced exile [Heb.,=Galut] to Babylonia (see Babylonian captivity ). The diaspora became a permanent feature of Jewish life; by AD 70 Jewish communities existed in Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. Jews followed the Romans into Europe and from Persia and Babylonia spread as far east as China. In modern times, Jews have migrated to the Americas, South Africa, and Australia. The Jewish population of Central and Eastern Europe, until World War II the largest in the world, was decimated in the Holocaust . Despite the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the vast majority of the Jewish people remains in the diaspora, notably in North America, Russia, and Ukraine. The term diaspora has also been applied to other peoples with large numbers living outside their traditional homelands. See Jews ; Judaism .

Diaspora (Gk. ‘dispersion’) Jewish communities outside Palestine. Although there were communities of Jews outside Palestine from the time of the Babylonian Captivity (6th century bc), the Diaspora essentially dates from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (ad 70). See also Zionism

Diaspora (Gk., ‘dispersion’; Heb., galut, ‘exile’, is the nearest equivalent). Jewish communities outside the land of Israel. Today, increased assimilation, higher rates of intermarriage, low birth rates, and increased secularism are threatening the identity of Jews in the Diaspora, except among the ultra-orthodox. The Zionist dream and support for the state of Israel, however, has proved a unifying focus for the diaspora communities.

Diaspora is also widely used for members of other faiths living outside their spiritual homeland, e.g. Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians.