Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman

Part VI

During the Roman period, the Jewish community began to spread throughout the northern shore of the Mediterranean  to move, in small numbers, into various European locations.  For this reason, archaeological remains of small Jewish communities are scattered throughout southern Europe.  Even further to the north, small Jewish quarters are in evidence from Roman times, as Jewish traders follow the Roman armies and or trade routes. The larger communities of Italy and North Africa had come into being by substantial migrations, but in the Jewish move into Europe small groups of families or males alone established these new communities and, hence, inclusion of local women may be observed in the DNA record.

For a variety of reasons, historians have maintained that the Ashkenazic communities of medieval Franco-Germany (Hebrew: Ashkenazi) were developed as a result of a process by which Jews came from the Land of Israel to the boot of Italy, moved up further to the north of Italy, and then moved further up into areas that are now parts of northern France and Germany.  This does not mean that the same families made the entire trip, although in some cases we know that they… Continue reading →

Great Synagogue, Rome, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:928RomaSinagoga.JPG

The Western Diaspora, by which we refer primarily to the Mediterranean basin, was established during the Greco-Roman period.  Beginning already soon after the conquest of Alexander the great in 323 BCE, Jews began to move to Egypt and to spread themselves further towards North Africa.  Although Judah the Maccabee already sent ambassadors to Rome, it seems that the actual Jewish population originated somewhat later, probably in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, during the Great Revolt of 66-73 CE.  In the centuries following, some fourteen synagogues were known to have existed in Rome and the populace and successful nature of the Jewish community, as well as their loyalty to Judaism, can be observed in the Jewish catacombs of Rome for the period of the second-fifth centuries CE.  Jews had initially entered Italy through the boot, at Brundisium, coming from the Land of Israel.  For this reason, Jewish communities existed along the entire length of Italy and constitute the origins of the Italian (“Italki”) part of the Jewish community of today’s Italy.  The remaining Jews in Italy today are primarily Libyan, a group to which… Continue reading →

Iraqi Jews in front of Ezekiel's Tomb

Part IV

The story of the Eastern Diaspora goes back originally to the Assyrian exile.  According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribes in Transjordan were exiled to Assyria by Tiglathpileser in 740 BCE.  In 722 Sargon II took Samaria. According to Assyrian sources, 27,290 exiled from Samaria.  These Jews were scattered in a variety of areas such as “Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kgs 17:6).  While we have no other specific numbers, it might be reasonable to assume something between 50,000 and 100,000 exiles, but whatever the case we are dealing here with mass forced immigration.

It is generally believed that these Jews continued to migrate along the Silk Route during Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

A number of communities scattered along the Silk Route seem to have been established by small numbers of males who, in substantial numbers, took local wives, whether with or without some form of conversion.  While we cannot be sure, it seems that this is the way in which Jewish communities were established in northern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. … Continue reading →