The various Jewish communites of the Diaspora interacted to varying degrees with the local culture. The Jews of the Diaspora developed remarkably diverse cultural lives as well as religious outlooks. These Jewish communities were established througout Europe as well as the Middle East. Spain and Portugal using law and the Inquisition kept Jews out of the Americas until independence (19th century). Egland did not, however, bar Jews from their American colonies. Each country has its own unique history of Jewish settlement and culture. Some like America, Poland, and Rusia had very large Jewish communities. Other countries have had only tiny Jewish communities. Some Jewish communities were destroyed or exiled in the Medieval era and n some instances later recovered. Some were irevocably destroyed. Jews and later Protestants were a major target of the Inquisition. Many of these communities were destoyed in thr 20th century. The NAZIs destroyed vibrant Jewish communities throughout the areas of Europe they occupied. The Arabs and Iranians have destroyed the Jewish communities in their countries. Here is what we know about the various Jewish communities of the Disopra. While small in number, Jews in many of these countries have played a major role in cultural and intelectual life.
Albania
There are few details about the earliest Jewish community in Albania. As in other European countries it would have begun during after Rome acquired the Levant leading to the Jewish Revolt and the brutal Roman suppression of it. This was the cause of the Jewish Diaspora. Jews began tubing up in avarious parts of the Roman Empire, meabing for the first time in Europe. There are reports of Jews washing up on on what is now the coast of Albania. They were apparent enlaved Jews being transported and a ship wrecked (70 AD). It is unclear to what extent this is more of a legend than history. Apparently descendants of these captive Jews build the first synagogue in the southern port city of Sarandë (5th century AD). Finally there is documented evidence of a Jewish presence in Albania. The was the same time that the Ottoman Empire seized control of Albania as part of its conquest of the Balkans. At the same tome Jews were being friven out of the few areas of Western Europe where they still lived (especially Portugal and Spain). At the time Islam was more tolerant than Christianity. The small Jewish community which became established in Albania consisted of both Romaniote and Sephardi origin. Italy invaded Albania (1939). The Italians unlike the Germans did not have a an anyi-Jewish vendetta. Jewish-American Herman Bernstein was the U.S. Ambassador to Albania before the Italian invasion. The Albania Jews were one of the rare European Jewish communities that survived the Holocaust. At it was the only NAZI-occupied country in which the Jewish population actually increased during World War II. Albanian Jews were not turned over to the Germans and Jewish refugees from Greece and Yugoslavia found people will to risk their lives to hide them. Fortunatly the German occupoation was short and the occupation force was small. The Albanian tradition of Besa in the Kanun --i traditional oral Albanian laws not taking a written form until the 20th century. After the War Communist Parisan Enver Hoxha established a police state dictatorship -- the Socialist People's Republic of Albania. Hoxha banned all religions, including Judaism. After the dall of Communism, Alnania has adopted a democratic system with freedom of religion. Only a few Jews remain in the country. Most Albanian Jews have emigrated to Israel.
Algeria
Jews as in other Mediterranean countries reached Algeria during the Roman era. This presumably occurred after the Romans defeated the Jewish revolt and the resulting Dispora. Arab chroniclers suggest that some Berber tribes had been converted to Judaism before the arrival of the conquerung Arabs fired by Islam.One source mentions Queen Kahina. Jews were present at the Rustamid capital Tahert as well as other cities. Not a great deal is know about these early communities. Some centuries later after Algeria had been throughly islmacized, there are accounts of Algerian Jewish families [Geniza Letters] The Jewish community in Algeria seems to have been fairly small throughout the Medieval era. This changed with the final success of the Reconquista in Spain. Spain and Portugal had been the only place in Western Europe where Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together in relative harmony. Ferdinand and Isabella after the fall of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom, expelled the Jews and Muslims who refused to convert (1492). Perhaps 200,000 Jews were forced to flee Spain. Many found refuge in the Islanic controlled ports of North Africa. The Spanish Inquisition closely monitored the conversos and thus the original wave was followed by more Moriscos and ????. A substantial Jewish community developed in Oran and Algiers. Jews in Oran maintaned their Ladino language (a dialect of Spanish) into the early 19th century. Jewish merchants were noted during the Ottoman era. The French seized Algeria after the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. The French having lost their empire as a result of wars with England, wanted to recreate one and mearby North Africa was seen as the logical place to begin. The French began their interbention in Algeria when the Dey's demanded that the French government pay a substantial wheat debts to two Jewish merchants (Bacri and Busnach). The French occupied Algeria (1830). French colonial authorities transformed the Ottoman millet system. The French authorities set up different regimes for French and Algerians. French citizens could vote, were governed by the French legal system, and had military obligations. France at the time was moving toward the emancipation of Jews. And by the 1840s Jewish courts (beth din) were closed and judicial hearings involving Jews were being held in the French courts. I am not sure why this occurred. French authorities appointed Jews from metropolitan France to serve as chief rabbis for the various regions of Algeria (1845). The new chief rabbis were given the task of incorporating indigenous lgerian Jews into French society. The French Goverrment set up a liberal system throufg which Jews and Muslims could become full French citizens (1865). Few took advantage of this because it required renouncing renouncing some traditional values and thus was considered by many as apostasy. The French Government with the décrets Crémieux granted voting rights to Algerian Jews (1870). From this point they are generally treated as one element of the pied noirs (French settlers). The Algerian Jews, however, were not French settlers and most did not even speak French. French Jews looked on them as backward and wanted them to give up their Arab traditions and become French. This in fact occurred and by the turn of the 20th century, Algerian Jews mostly spoke French rather than Arabic or Ladino. The Algerian Jews also widely adopted French culture. At the time of World War II, there were about 120,000 Jews in Algeria. This represented about 2 percent of the Algerian population. This was population was largely concentrated in Algeria's principal cities (Algiers, Constantine, and Oran). The population of these cities was about 7 percent Jewish. This also tended to be the situation in many smaller cities like Ghardaia and Setif. One small town (Messad) had a Jewish majority.
Figure 1.--Small groups of Jews, mostly German Jews, arrived in America during the early- and mid-19th century. Really large numbers of Jews began arriving in the late-19th century after Tsar Alexander III launched an anti-Semetic campaign including bloody pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, and Poland. This is a portrait of a group of Jewish boys with prayer shawls and ther rabbi. The portrait is undated, but was taken about the turn-of-the 20th century in Reading, Pennsylvania. Most of the boys were probably born in America.
The Jews were not a national group and came from many countries. The economic and social impact of Jews on America varied coincerning their origins, but my far the most important wre the Russian and other Eastern European Jews. The vast oproportion of Jews who emmigrated to America came from Russia and eastern Europe, but primarily Russia. (Large areas of Poland at the time were part of Tsarist Russia.) The reason of course was the terrible oppression visited upon the Jews by the Tsarist regime and the Cossacks. Not only were there legal restrictions, but vicisious programs massacred Jews in the thousands. The primary impetus for Russian immigration to America was the pogroms directed at Jew in the wake of the assaination of Tsar Alexander II (1881). A substantial proprtion of the Russian immigrants were Jews. This was the largest group of European Jews to come to America. Earlier Jewish immigrants had been primarily German, but they were realtively small in number compared to the numbers of Russian Jews that began to arrive in America during the 1880s. This same oppression drove Jews into Western Europe, especially Germany which under Bismarck had emancipated the Jews. The Jews are notable for several reasons. Notably the Jews were most likely to stay in America. Few returned to Europe. The Jews were also the immigrant most willing to aid new arrivals. They actively support relief agencies for the new arrivals. The most important impacts of the Jews is surely the impact on American intellectual and political thought.
Spain expelled its Jews in the same year Columbus discovered America. Spain prohibited Jews and later Protestants from its colonies. Some Jews converted to Christianity rather than being expelled. Some of these convcersos secretly retained their Jewish faith. They were gradually discovered by the Holy Inquisition. Some of the conversos emigrated to Argentina. They gradually assimilated and by the 19th century there were virtually no Jews in Argentina. When Spain weakened during the Napoleonic wars, its Latin American colonies fought successful wars of independence. Argentina achieved its independence (1810). Independent Argentina's first president, Bernardino Rivadavia, upported open immigration and promoted individual rights. He abolished the Inquisition. European Jews egan arriving in Argentinaalong with other European immigrants in the mid-19th century. Many of the Jewish immigrants at this time were from France. Jews gradually began to practice their religion openly. The first Jewish wedding occurred (1860). A minyan in Buenos Aires became the Congregacion Israelita de la Republica. Jewish immigration shifted as Tsarist pogroms in Russia targeted Jews. Jewish immigration in the late 19th century was mostly from Eastern Europe and were knon as "Rusos". A notable group of Russian Jews attived on the SS Weser and became gauchos (cowboys) and ranchers (1889). They established the Colony (rural community) Moiseville. Baron Maurice de Hirsch helped finnce this and other colonias. He also founded the Jewish Colonization Association. Substantial numbers of Jews eventually lived in these colonias. In the years before World War I about 13,000 Jewish immigrants annually entered Argentina. Most of the immigrants were Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, but a small number of Sephardic Jews from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire alsoentered Argentina. The Jewish population reached 150,000 people (1920). There were very rarely attacks on Jews before World war I. This appears to have changed with the Russian Revolutuion (1917). Jews were associated with the Revolution and as a result were targetted by right-wing, ultra nationalist groups. Leftist groups in Argentina staged a general strike in Buenos Aires (January 7-13, 1919). Right-wing groups associated Jews with the genneral strike and carried out a pogrom, beating Jews and looting or destroying their property. Despite this attack, many Jews prospered in Argentina. Righ-ing groups dominated the government excluded Jews from the civil service and military. Jews persued careers as farmers, peddlers, artisans and shopkeepers. Jewish cultural and religious organizations flourished. A Yiddish press and theater opened in Buenos Aires. Jews founded a hospital and organized Zionist groups.
Argentina sympithized with the Axis during World War which unerved the country's Jewish community. Col.
Juan Peron seized power (1946). He was an admirer of Benito Mussolini. Peron changed Argentina's immigration laws, prohibiting further Jewish immigration. He also implemented educational reforms, including Catholic religious instruction in the public schools. He also offer a refugee for fleeing NAZI war criminals. He did not, however, initiate attacks on Jews and recognized Israel (1949). An estimated 45,000 Argentine Jews emigrated to Israel. Occassional anti-semetic incidents have occurred in Argentina. Israeli agents kidnapped SS officer Adolf Eichmann who oversaw the Holocaust (1960). They managed to sureptiously get him to Israel for trial. The trial was televised (April 1961). Argentina was ruled by a military junta (1976-83). The military fought a Communist insurgency. The military arrested and tortured suspected insurgents. Many of those arrested disappeared. An estimated 1,000 of the 9,000 known victims were Jews. Journalistic sources claim that Isreali negotiaed a secret arrangment wth the Junta to accept Jews arresed for suspected political offenses. After a civilian government replaced the Juntaattacks on Jews declined. In recent years Islami terrorists have begun stageing attacks in Argentina.
Armenia
Little historical information is available on Armenian Jews. Jewish grave stones have benn found as erly as the late 13th century. Scholars believe that the first Armenian Jews came from Persia. The most important center is believed to be Eghegis, because of gravestones found there. There does not appear to be the anti-semitism common in Western Europe at the time, but informtion is very limited.
Austria during the medieval era became an important center of Jewish learning (13th century). The Emperor expelled the Jews (1669). Tey were not allowed to return until liberal reforms wee adopted (1848). A sizeable Jewish community began to develop, primarily in Vienna. The Jewish population in Austria was in large measure refugees from the anti-Semetic policies of the Russian Tsaeist government. Vienna was one of the mot cosmopolitan cities in Europe and Jews made a major contributin to that culture. Austria was the center of a large multi-ethnic empire. There were also Jews in the various provinces of the Empire, many of which became independent or parts of independent countries after World War I. At the peak in the early 1930s, about 300,000 Jews lived in Austrria. There was a long established and largely assimilated Jewish population. Austria had a population of about about 206,000 Jews (March 1938). This was only about 3 percent of the population. The largest community was in Vienna where about 175,000 Jews lived. The Jewish community of Vienna was one of the largest and most prestigious in Western Europe. There were many important synagogues and a dozen Jewish schools. Vienna Jews had an extrodinary recird of culture and learning. The most prominent individual was Freud, but there were many other prestigious individuals. The NAZI Anschluss united Austria with Germany (1938). The NAZIsimmediately applied the anti-Semrtic Nuremberg laws. Most of Austria's Jewish community emigrated or were killed by the NAZIs in the Holocaust. There were very few Jews left in Austria when the Allies arrived (1945).
Belarus
Modern Belarus borders on Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. The history of Belarus Jews is intertwined with the history of Jews in those countries, especially because Belarus was never until the disolutuion of the Soiviet Union a separate state (1992). Jews may have been present in Belarus as early as the 13th century. At the time Belrus was contolled by Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This was a major European power at the time. Another source reports that the first evidence of Jewish settlement comes later, Brest-Litovsk with was part of Poland -Lithuania (1388). It was a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic commonwealth which permitted the development with laid the foundation for a unique Renaissance culture. Jews played an important role diverse culture tha developed in Lithuania and later Poland. Belorussia at the time was astride trade routes between Poland and Russia and Jewish merchants would have been ebvolved in that trade.
Jews were expelled in the late 15th century, but allowed back (1503). Actual Jewish settlement was difficult. Land ownership and involvement in many trades were resticted. Building synagogues was prohibited and without a snagogues a Jewish community could not function. Russian Orthodox devotees were especially hostile to Jews because of the Church's teachings. There were constant attacks on Jews. Some were forced to convet. Others were robbed or even killed. The population, however, slowly grew. One reports suggest as population of 62,800 (1766). Belorussia came under Russian control as part of the Polish Partitions (late 18th century). Some Jews under Russian control prospered, most lived in poverty. Jews generally were made a living as small-scale merchants are trades in which they were permitted to engage. Russia before the Polish Settlements had exckluded Jews. As a result of acquiring Polish lands, the Russians now had a substantial Polish population. The Tsaeist Govement established the OPale of Settlement (1791). Jews within the Russian Empire were required to live within the Pale. This was established in large measure to prevent Jews from competing with Russian merchants and artisans. In particularr they were excluded from Russian ethnic areas. The Pale included the western areas of the Russuan Empire, what is now Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belorussia. The Jews in the Pale generally eked out a meager existence, most living in poverty because if the many restrictions. Een so, the Jewish population increased. One estimae suggests a pipulation of over 725,000 (1897). Conditions within the pale and periodic pogroms caused many Jews to emigrate. Many went to Germany and other areas in Western Europe or to the Ukraine where conditions were soimewhat better for Jews. Others emigrated to America. Restrictions on Jewish land ownership meant that the Jewish population was primarily urban. Thus Jews represented a substantial portion of the population of the major cities (Minsk, Pinsk, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Vitebsk, and Gomel). Belarus largely came under the control of the new Polish state after World War I. Most Belarus Jews perihed in the NAZI Holocaust.
Very little is known about Belgian Jews in the early medieval era, but as in other European countries, they were severely repressed during the later medieval era. During this period Belgian Jews were expelled or killed. Gradually Jews began returing to Belgium as the country entered the modern era. Antwerp became a center in northern Europe for the Renaissance and thriving economic activity that transformned Medieval Europe. Jews played a major role in this transition. Belgium had a much smaller Jewish population than the neighboring Netherlands, because the Spanish had supressed the Protestant revolt in the 16th century and expelled the Jews again. The legal situation of Jews began to change with the French Revolution and Belgian Jews were subsequently emancipated.While the country had only a small Jewish population, quite a number of German and other European Jews in the years before the World war II sought refuge in Belgium.
Brazil
The Inquisition attempted to prevent Jews from reaching Portugal's Brazil colony. But over time a small some Jews managed to reached the colony, although they had to hise their faith for centurirs. Brazil as a result has a small Jewish population. It was increased by about 30,000 Western European Jews who managed to find refuge in Brazil from rising anti-semitism in Europe after World War I. One reports indicated that 27 Jewish schools were operating in the country. The Government adopted a strict immigration policy, largely to restrict Jewish immigration (1930s). Rabbi Isaiah Raffalovitch of the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) attempted to organize Jews, but this proved difficult because of their diversity in political, social, and religious outlook. The Brazil Government began an assimilation effort (1938). The Government closed both the Yiddish newspapers and Jewish organizations, including both Jewish secular and religious organizations. A range of anti-Semitism acts followed. Several editions of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were published in Brazil. Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay agreed not to accept Jewish immigrants that had not legally immigrated from their countries of origin (November 1941). This essentially meant that these countries were demanding Jews get NAZI exit permits in the middle of the Holocaust. There were, however, no coordinated attacks on Brzilian Jews. And the Brazilian Government, unlike neigboring Argentina, was not sympathetic to the Fascist powers. Brrazil declared war on NAZI Germany and played a modest role in World War II. Brazil adopted a new, more democratic constitution (1945). This allowed organized Jewish religious and secular activities to resume. Brazil supported the partition of Palestine and for the creation of a Jewish state in the United Nations General Assembly vote (1947). Another smaller wave of Jewish immigration saw more than 3,500 North African Jews fleeing persecution in Arab countries to Brazil (1950s). The 1969 census reported about 140,000 Jews in Brazil. Almost all lived in the mahor cities: Rio de Janeiro (50,000), Sao Paulo (55,000), Porto Alegre (12,000), Belo Horizonte (3,000), Recife (1,600) and Belem (1,200). Jewish communal life has been largely was uneventful in the post-War era. The anti-Semitism notable in Argentina did not manifest itself in Brazil. A rare exception was the right-wing Catholic organization Tradicao, Familia e Propriedade (Tradition, Family and Property). There is a wide range of Jewish religious believes in Brazil from the secilar, non-observant to the Orthodox. There are both Sephardi and Ashkenazi cultural influences. Brazil's current Jewsish population is about 150,000. This is the largest in Latin America, but only about 0.1 percent of the country's population. About 8,000 Brazilian Jews have moved to Israel since the country's creation. There are over 40 active synagogues in Brazil. The principal threat to Brazilian Jewery seems to be inter-marriage and assimilation.
Most of our Disapora country pages are countries that exist today even though some did not exist when Jews lived there. It simply is easier to deal with modern countries. One exception is the Emirate of Bukara meaning much of Central Asia. This is today a Jewish community that no longer exists in ny substntial numbers, a least in its home land of Central Asia. it is defined more than anything by the language they spoke-- Bukhori. This is a dialet of the Tajik-Persian language. The name of the language and community comes from the historic Central Asian Emirate of Bukhara which had a substantial Jewish community. When we talk about the Diaspora, we generally mean the Jews dispersed from Palestine by the Romans. This is in fact how the Jews were dispersed over North Africa and Western Europe and eventually after the Roman era into Eastern Europe. The Roman Diaspora was, however, not the first Diasapra. From a very early time, some Jews traveled into Central asias as merchanbts and traders. Judah and Israel became targes of the ancient imperial powers, especially Assyria and Babalon which practiced population resettlement as part of a policy of securing cinquered lands. And boith moved large numbers of Jews east. And than the Persian Empire and subsequent Hellinist empires created conditions for Jews to settle throughout the NearEast and Central Asia. This was the same process by which Jews appeared throughout the Roman Empire in the west. Nothing is known about the Jews taken to the Middle East by the Assyrians and Byloobians. Some thanks to Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great were able to return to Palestine, but Cyrus allowed those Jews who chose so to settlend move freely in his Empire, but thise who remained in the Middle East are lost to history. We do not see them again until the late Middle Ages And the largest Jewish Community in Central Asia was in the Emirate of Bukhara. The Bukharan Jews have their own tradition of their origins, butin fact there is no historical evidence. Over time the Community was driven from Centrl Adia, by both Ilamist regimes and Soviet supression of religion. Because of their location, the surviving community survived the Holcaust. The NAZI Einsatzgruppen nevr reached them. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the great majority of the remaining Bukharian Jews have immigrated to Israel or to the United States (Forest Hills, New York is an important center) with smller numbers to Europe or Australia.
Bulgaria was liberated from the Turks by the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Jews were not perceuted during the ceturies of contol by the Ottomon Turks. After liberation from the Ottomons this situation did not change significanl. Most intances of nti-Semitism originated from foreign influences. Here the most important was the Russian trops who helped liberate Bulgaria. The Russians introduce the old legends about Jewish ritual murders of Christian children (on the eve of Passover). Accusations were made in various towns: Pazardjik (1884), Vratza (1890), Lom (1903), and Kustendil in (1904). In these towns, the accusations were dismissed after the Jews involved proved that the accusations were false. The Jewish commuinity in Bulgaria was free from any legal persecuted and as a result developed as an important part of the country's social and economic life. Iindividual Jews obtained important positions. Most Bulgarians treated the Jews as equals. Prominent Jews included: Professor Yossif Fadenchecht (Minister of Justice), Yossef Herbst ( Director of the Press at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Boris Schatz (Director of the Academy of Fine Arts), and Dora Gabe (a popular poetess). [Boyadjieff]
Emperor Constantine after seizing control of the Roman Empire built a new capital at Byzantium, then a small fishing village. It became the great Byzantine capital of Constantinopkle (İstanbul). Roman emperors decided that one answer to the difficulties the Empire was experiencing was to split it. When Rome fell to barbarian hordes (476 AD), the Western Empire collapsed. The Eastern Empire was able to resist the barbarians, although with considerable difficulty. It became known as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine or Orthodox Church viewed the Jews differently than the western Roman Catholic Church. There were more Jews in the Eastern Empire. And Church and state officials treated them more harshly.
Jews were generally afforded some legal protection as long as they did not proselytize Christians. The Byzantines placed many limitatins on Jews which made it more difficult for them to survive. They barred Jews from holding public office. Thus the Byzantine Jews survived in often severe poverty. The Byzantines alsp prohibited the construction of new synagogues. Justinian wanted a standard religion to avoid relgious connflict. He insisted that Chritians develop an agreed upon theology. He also adopted a policy of voluntary conversion for Jews. Subsequent emperors ordered the to be convert and baptized. They granted tax breaks to Jews who voluntarily complied. The Byzantines made, however, little progress in converting the Jews in the Empire. Some Jew made an alliance with the Persians who invaded Palestine (614). They defeated the small Byzantine garrison at Jerusalem. The Jews thus controlled Jerusalem for 3 years. The Persians and Byzantines made peace. Emperor Heraclius was able to retake Jerusalem and exiled those Jews who were not slaughtered (617). [Katz] Arab warriers conquered large areas of the Byzantine and then largely Christian Middle East (7th century). This brough large numbers of Byzantine Jews under Muslim control. Subsequently the Ottoman Turks would seize control of much of Anatolia. Constantinople itself survived for centuries. For most Jews the Islamic conquests brouht more enlightened, tolerant rule, although they were still seen as inferior by the population which gradually converted to Islam.
Canada rather surprisingly has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Canada has the fourth largest Jewish community, exceeed only by that of Israel, the United States, and France. The number totlds over 0,.3 million.
Canadian Jews are a relatively new community. At the time, France founded New France (17th century), there were very few French Jews and virtually none that were openly Jewish. French possible was to maintain New France as pitinely Catholics, even Protestants were excluded. France like most of Wesern Europe had expelled its Jews during the medieval era. The same was true of Britain whih seized New France during the French and Indian Wars (1760s). The few Jews reached Canada at this time, but there were also few British Jews so the number was very small. German Jews began emigrating to America (early- and mid-19th century). Few chose to settle in Canada. Canada's Jewish community is primarily composed of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe. The motivating force was Tsarist pogroms, the same dynamic that drove Ashkenazi Jews to America. One of the most important immigrant groups during the late-9th century was Ukranians, an area of the Tsarist Empire with many Jews. Like other countries, Canada made little effort at the Evian Conferenceto to offer refuge to Jews fleeing the NAZI Holocaust (1939). Canada during the War accepted only about 5,000 Jews, a very small number given the country's ability to accmodate refugees. Canada did, however, play an important role in defeatig NAZI Germany during World War II. After the War, the Canadian Government did offer refuge to survivors of the Holocasust. There are today minority groups from all Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and a number of converts. It is the Ashkenazi, however, that dominate the Canadian Jewish community. Canadian Jews comprise the full range of Jewish cultural traditions including the wide spectrum of Jewish religious observance. Alhough an important part of the diaspora, Canadian Jews are only about 1 percent of the Canadian population.
China
Jews have a long if very limited history in China. The presence of Jews is documented in China in he European early-medieval period (7th-8th centuries). Very little is known about these Jews who must have been traders moving, probably in stages along the Silk Road. This occurred during the early Caliphate. We are not sure just what role the rise of Islam had to do wih these ealy Jewish settlers. The Clihate did create a degree of stabiity as well as relative toleration of religious diversity. Reports exist of small, isolated Jewish communities during the Tang and Song Dynasties (7th-12th centuies). A few still existed in the Qing Dynasty (19th century). The largest community was the Kaifeng Jews. China provided a society in which small religious communities could exist. This was very different envioment than Europe before the Reformtion and the Middle East. It is uncear to what extent the Chinese Jews maintained an ethnic separtness from the Chinese. There was considerable inter-marriage with the larger Chinese communities in which they were located. Unlikethe Europe there were no economic restrictions ion Jews. One report suggess that few if any Chinese Jews still practiced Judaism are were significantly influenced by Jewish culture. This began to change in the 19th century. Jews were among the Wsterners who came to China for commercial reasons. This occurred in the coastal commercial centers enclaves established by the colonial powers: Hong Kong and Shanghai, This also occurred in Harbin as a result of the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway. The small number of Jews made no effort to contact Jewish groups in the interior. This was the situation in the 20th century when China was rocked by the Boxers, the fall of the Imperial regime, the war aginst the war lords, and World War II. As a result of the Russian Revolution and later German Holocaust, Holocaust, thousands of European Jews sought refuge in China. Shanghai was a particularly important refuge. Most of these Jews, however, were primarily interested in reaching saftey in the West. They had little impact on China or Chinese Jews. Soon after the Communists seized control of China. We have little information on how Jews fared, but as they had lost Jewish religious ad culturl practices, the impact seems to have been minimal. Free market reforms at the end of the 20th century opeed China to the West. International Jewish groups began cotacting Chinese Jews and helping them to redisover their roots and heritage.
Cuba
Columbus discovered the Indies in the same year that Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand expelled the country's Jews (1492). The Crown and Church prohibited people from other religions, especially Jews and Muslims, from the America. Through the Inquisition they even attempted to prevent conversos from the America. This proved difficult, but the practice of Judaism in the Indies was impossible. As far as we know, Jews did mot reach Cuba until after the United States invaded Cuna and defeated the Spanish colonial army (1898). There are no precise estimates of the subsequent Jewish population in Cuba. Jews after Cuban independence began to arrive, a substantial number from Turkey, including both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. After the United States enacted restrictive ommigration laws (1924), some Jews came to Cuba as a stepping stone. A substantial part of the Jewish immigrants were men. This is important because unaccompanies men were lilely to mary Cuban Catholic women and the children be raised as Catholics. This greatly complicated any calculstion of Cuban Jews. About 2,000 Jews are believed to have reached Cuba as a result of pre-War NAZI persecution of Jews. The Cuban Government instituted policies to stop further immigration. The Jews on the SS St. Louis were not allowed to enter Cuba just before the War (1939). Some estimates suggest a Jewish population of about 15,000 at the time of the Revolution, not of whom departed for the United States when the character of the regime became apparent. One author suggests that there are major problems with these figures. [Levine, pp. 115-116.] They reflect the population of practicing Jews, but not people of Jewish ancestry. Only a few Jews remained in Cuba and like other religions, the Communist Government created problems fo religious observation. A sa result Judaism virtually disappeared. One source reports that the Jewish community is being rebuilt by the 10 percent of the Jewish population which remained after the Revolution. In recent years, the Jewish community has flown in a group of rabbis every two years to lead Jewish conversion classes. Cuba's Jewish community consists of about 1,500 members, most of them in Havana. There are three synagogues and a Jewish community center. Canadian Jews have helped support Cuba Jews such as providing Kosher food.
Cuban police arrested Allan P. Gross, an American contractor trying to help Cuban Jews access the internet so they can establish contact with Hews around the world (Secember 4, 2009). This does not seem to be an act of anti-Semitism, but more a police state's fear of allowing its people access to incensored information. The polixce were apparently disturbed by an American bringing in satellite equipment. The Cuban police do not want Cubans accessing the internet, especially through sattelite conections. And Gross being an American further raised their suspecions. The police action came 2-weeks after President Obamaaised Ms. Yoani Sánchez for her efforts to prpmote free expression anf technology in Cuba. ["Our man in Havana"]
About 350,000 Jews lived in Czechoslovakia before the NAZIs seized the country after the Allies signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler. About one-third lived in Bohemia and Moravia. Jews in Czechoslovakia had full civil rights, enjoyed the same civil rights and religous freedom as all other Czech citizens. We have few details about Jews in Czechoslvakia, but believe that they were highly assimilated. Note the Jewish boy on the dress page. Sudeten Jews were subjected to NAZI Germnlaws and regulations when after Munich Hitler seized the Sudetenland. Hitler subsequently seized Bohemia nd Moravia (March 1939). At this time Slovakia suceeded from Czechoslovakia and the country ceased to exist. The NAZIs set up the Protectirate of Bohemia nd Moravia. NAZI official von Neurath issued anti-Jewish decrees (June 21, 1939,). They were practically identical to the regulations in forcein the Reich itselelf. As in Germany the regulatins were designed to terminate all civil rights and confiscate asmuch Jewish oroperty as possible. The measures quickly succeeded in destroying the economic viability of Czech Jews. The NAZIs were chillingly effective in their efforts to destroy Czech Jews in the Holocaust. After the NAZI victory in Poland, launching World War II, deportations began to concentration camps set up in Poland (October 1939). The death camps were operational by mid-1942 and by October 1942, about 75 percent of Czechoslovakian Jews had been deported, most of who were murdered at Auschwitz.
The Jutland Peninsula was beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire and thus there was no known Jewish settlement during the classical era. Nor during the ealy medieval Viking era do we know of any Jews in Denmark. Medieval Danish art does depict Jews. They can easily be identified wearing pointed hats. This appears to be part of a generalized Christian vision of Jews. There is no documented evidence any Jews actually residing in in medieval Denmark. The Danish Kingdom was an early convert to Protestantism (1536). Jews at that time were specifically prohibited from entering Denmark. King Christian IV invited Jews to settle in Denmark (1622). This resulted in the first documented settlement of Jews in Denmark.
Christian IV founded Glückstadt on the river Elbe in what is now Schleswig-Holstein. At the time he permitted a Jewish merchant, Albert Dionis, to live in the city. The specific dispensation for Dionis was gradually expanded and Jews in Glückstadt werec eventially granted protection. This involved more thn livong in the city, but the right to hold religious services (albeit privately) and to establish a cemetery. Albert Dionis managed to gain considerable status in Christian's court by loaning money to the king. Subsequently another Jew of Sephardic origins, Gabriel Gomez, also attined status in court and convinced Frederik III to grantb a general dispensation for Sephardic Jews to reside in Denmark to engage in trade. Although this was limited to Sephardim, a number of Ashkenazim were eventully granted letters of safe passage and eventually settled in Denmark.
Danish Jews during the 19th century achieved civil, economic, and political equality. Denmark had a small Jewish population of about 7,500 at the onset of World War II. The NAZIs estimated even less. The entry for Denmark at the Wannsee Convention was only 5,600. Denmark's small Jewish population, unlike Jews in many other European countries, was throughly assismilated. Many Danish Jews were Christianized. This small Jewish community was not widely known outside of Denmark itself. It was the Danes' heroic rescue of their Jews that brought the community to world attention.
Egypt was a major refuge for the Jews of the Dispora following the revolt against Rome (1st century AD). Egypt had one of the most dynamic Jewish communities in the Diaspora. After the Arab conquest Jews were tolerated to a varying degree. During the Caliphate Jews were subjected to major periods of persecution by different caliphs (9th-11th centuries). Finally the large Jewish quater in Cairo was destoyed and the Jews there murrdered in mass (1012). Conditions in Egypt varied at the whim of local rules after the destruction of the Caliphate. There were periods of relative tollerance and periods of persecution. Spain expelled Jews (1492). e Sephardi and Karaite Jews began to emigrate to Egypt, The Ottomans seized Egypt (1517). Again treatment of the Jews varied depending on the attitude of the various sultans. Ottoman rule weakened in the 19th century and local rulers began to exert indepedence. The French and British took an increasing interest in Egypt at mid-century with the construction of the Suez Canal. The numbers of Jews increased substantially after the completion of the Suez Canal (1869). The growth in commercial and trading opportunities attracted Jews from all over the Ottoman Empire as well as Italy and Greece. Jews settled in the main cities of Egypt, especially Alexandria and Cairo. Ashkenazi Jews began to arrive as Jews were targeted with pogrms in the Tsaeisr Empire (late-19th century). They were largely confined to Cairo's Darb al-Barabira quarter. Along with economic success came increasing attacks bt Muslims. There were at least six blood libel persecutions in Egyptian cities (1870-92). Egyptians were affected by European anti-Semitism. The Tsarist secret police published the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was a forgery, but widely deseminated. Most Egytians to this day regard it as a historical document. Egyptians nationalists were influenced by the anti-British and anti-Semitic writings and broadcasts of the Grand Mufti of Jeursalem in Palestine. Both the Free Officers movement and the Muslim Broytherhood were heavily influenced by anti-Semitism. At the end of World War II (1945), there were about 80,000 Jews in Egypt. Most lived in Alexandria and Cairo. Unlike the other Jews in North Africa, the Fascists in never occupied Egypt, exceot for the Western Desert. Thus Egyptian Jews did not experience the NAZI Holocaust, but only because the British Eighth Army stopped the Afrika Korps at El Alamein. Many Egyptian nationists were prepared to welcome the Germans. After Israel declared independence and Arab armies attacked, Jews in Egypt were targeted (1948). Arabs carried out bomb attacks in Cairo, killing about 70 Jews. Authorities arrested prominent Jews and confiscated their property. Virtually all Jews were the explled. The population of Jewish Egyptians Jews precipitously fell from a thrivig community of 80,000 to virtually none. A handful of elderly Jews still libe in Egypt.
Suely over 300 years of Roman occupation, some Jews must habe reached Britain. There are, however, no written records. The Jews would have been largely urban. The Anglo-Saxon invaders destoyed the urban culture of Roman Britain and this probably included the Jews in those towns. We jnow there were Jews in Anglo-Saxon Britain, in part because there were laws concerning Jews. We do not, however, have details on Jewish communities are know where these Jews came from. There are written records of Jewish during the Norman era. Some Jews arrived with William the Conqueror (1066). Anti-semitism developed in England as in the rest of Western Europe. The accusation of the Blood libel appears to have originated in England (12th century). Edward I expelled England's Jews (1290). Thus for nearly four centuries there were no Jews permitted in England, although a small number apparently practiced their religion in secret. A small group of Sephardic Jews were uncovered in Londpn during the Civil war era (1656). Lord Proctor Oliver Cromwell decided not to expell them, in part because of his financial situation. Even so, the prohibition on Jews was not rescinded. The Jewish population continued to be very small. The concern over emancipation was shown with the Jew Bill (1753). The process of emancipation was gradual, but the kep step was probably allowing Jews to become members of Parliament (1858). One of England's greatest priminister was Benjamin Disreali. Full emancipation was not achieved until later (1890s). These steps and the absence of violence aimed at Jews gradually resulted in England acquiring a reputation for tolerance. Englad's Jewish population renained relatively small. With the rise of the NAZIs in Germany, Jews began fleeing Germany and areas seized by the Germans (Austria and Czechoslovakia, England allowed only small numbers of Jews to enter (1930s). An exception was the Kindertransport children. Britain's Jews were spared the Holocaust, because the Germans were unable to invade. TheGermans did arrest and deport Jews from the Channel Islabds. Britain's small Jewish community is today vibrant.
Eritrea
We know very little about Eritrean Jews. One sources reports Jews from Aden (in modern Yemen) established a community in Eritrea after the Italians seized the area (late-19th century). Adenite Jews were apparently attracted by ommercial opportunities resulting from Italian rule. A few European Jews fleeing the Holocaust reached Eritrea (1930s). We do not know to what extent Italian authotities targeted Eritrea Jews after under German pressure, Italy passed anti-Semetic laws (1939). Italy entered World War II, declaring war on Britain and France (June 1940). After the Italian Army foundered in the Werstern Desert, the British launched an invasion of Italian-controlled Ethiopia which resulted in the occupation of not only Ethiopia, but other Italian controlled areas of East Afrian--Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. After the War, the British used Eritrea as a location to exile Jewish Irgun and Lehi guerrillas from Palestine. Jewish prisoners included Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamirand Haim Corfu, a founder of Beitar Jerusalem. Ethiopia annexed Eritrea (1961) causing an extended guerrilla war for independence. The small Jewish community bedgan to leave Eritra. Jewish emigration increased when the fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia intensified (1970s). Eritrea gained its independence (1993). Only one native Jew remains in Eritrea, Sami Cohen. He cares for the Asmara Synagogue and cemetery. The Eritrean Government recognizes four religions. Judaism is not one of them.
Estonia
Individual Jews may have reached Estonia by the 14th century. Authorities prohibited permanent Jewish settlement. There is no evidence of Jewish communities in Estonia until the 19th century. The Tallinn congregation was founded already in 1830 and was the klargest Jewish community. Tsar Alexander II granted Jews the right to enter the region (1865).
The Tsar's decree permitted the‘Nicholas soldiers’ and their descendants, cantonists, First Guild tradesmen, artisans, and Jews with higher education to settle in Estonia and other parts of the Russian Empire.
They founded the Jewish communities in Estonia. The Tartu congregation was founded in 1866 by 50 families. Jewish communities began to build Synagogues. The largest was built in Tallinn (1883) and Tartu (1901).
Small Jewish communities appeared in other Estonian cities (Valga, Pärnu and Viljandi) evidenced by cemeteries. These communities opened boys' schools for instruction in the Talmud. Jews opened primary schools in Tallinn (1880s). Most Estonian Jews were merchants and artisans. Few Jews had higher education and thus cultural life was limited. A few Jews were admitted to the University of Tartu (late 19h century). The Jewish population was small. One estimate reports 4.400 Jews in 1934. The Soviets seized Estonia (1940) and the process of Sovitization included closing all independent cultural organizations. This Jewish cultural autonomy was ended. Among the arrests and deportments of Estonians was a group of 400 Jews (June 14, 1941) just before the NAZI invcasion. With the arrival of the Germans, Jews who had not fled were rounded up and murdered. One report indicated that the Germns murdered 1,000 Jews in 1941. Some other sources suggest higher numbers. The small numbers involved made the killing operations relatively simple.
We have some insight into Ethiopia's religious history because of references in the Old Testament. Some traditions are legendary, others seem based on fact. Some believe one of the lost Tribes of Israel settled in Ethiopia. The Queen of Sheba was born in Axum, a state which dominated what is modern Ethiopia for centuries. She travelled to Israel to meet King Solomon. They had a son named Menelik, who later became the first emperor of Ethiopia. Legend has it that Menelik brought the original Ark of the Covenant back to Ethiopia from Israel. Today, the Arc remains guarded by a select group of monks in Axum. A sect known as Beta Israel or Falashas, who practice a type of Judaism that probably dates back to contact with early Arabian Jews, were airlifted to Israel in 1991 during Ethiopia's civil war.
Sources
Levine, Robert M. "Identity amd memoirs of Cuban Jews," in Kristin Ruggiero, The Jewish Diaspora in Latin American and the Caribbean; Fragments of Memory, pp. 115-123.
"Our man in Havana: What Cuba's jailing of an American contractor says about its response to the Obama administration" (editorial), Washington Post (January 22, 2010), p. A20.
