I was always under the impression that the Jewish diaspora had more to do with the treatment of European Jews through history (read: really ducking bad). So it would be more that they had to keep moving as smaller units in order to avoid each new pogrom that came along
Honestly that’s what I assumed as well, but when I looked up the definition of diaspora I could only find definitions that refer to a homeland, and specifically for Jewish diaspora the homeland is always given as Israel (there’s a whole Wikipedia page about Jewish diaspora). But I wouldn’t be surprised if the definition of diaspora has changed over the years and that the connection to a homeland is relatively recent.
the connection to israel was always there, but until relatively recently it was essentially a myth. there was no chance some jew from a shtetl in poland would make it to israel.
the actual day to day reality that made the diaspora what it is is european antisemitism though. european jews were obviously european, but they were never allowed to feel at home in their countries. they were always treated as recent immigrants.
when jews started assimilating en-masse, the rest of europe responded with EVEN MORE antisemitism. (my personal theory is that assimilated jews scared european fathers because suddenly you couldnt tell who was jewish and who wasnt, and your daughter might end up dating a jew. the horror. it’s the “they’re taking our women” shit except against jews)
btw, european jews are STILL not allowed to feel at home in europe. eg, in hungary, in the popular consciousness, nobody counts the hundreds of thousands of hungarian jews liquidated in the holocaust as hungarians.
I was always under the impression that the Jewish diaspora had more to do with the treatment of European Jews through history (read: really ducking bad). So it would be more that they had to keep moving as smaller units in order to avoid each new pogrom that came along
Honestly that’s what I assumed as well, but when I looked up the definition of diaspora I could only find definitions that refer to a homeland, and specifically for Jewish diaspora the homeland is always given as Israel (there’s a whole Wikipedia page about Jewish diaspora). But I wouldn’t be surprised if the definition of diaspora has changed over the years and that the connection to a homeland is relatively recent.
the connection to israel was always there, but until relatively recently it was essentially a myth. there was no chance some jew from a shtetl in poland would make it to israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Shana_Haba'ah
the actual day to day reality that made the diaspora what it is is european antisemitism though. european jews were obviously european, but they were never allowed to feel at home in their countries. they were always treated as recent immigrants.
when jews started assimilating en-masse, the rest of europe responded with EVEN MORE antisemitism. (my personal theory is that assimilated jews scared european fathers because suddenly you couldnt tell who was jewish and who wasnt, and your daughter might end up dating a jew. the horror. it’s the “they’re taking our women” shit except against jews)
btw, european jews are STILL not allowed to feel at home in europe. eg, in hungary, in the popular consciousness, nobody counts the hundreds of thousands of hungarian jews liquidated in the holocaust as hungarians.