Figure 1.-- This 15th century German Haggadah show Mosses laeding the children of Israel across the Red Sea. In the upper left corner is the the "strong east wind" described in Exodus that parted the sea, The scene pictures the Jews in 15th century clothing. The image suggests that German Jews at the time dressed like other Germans. The children seemed to be dressed much like the adults.

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 Diasopra. While small in number, Jews in many of these countries have played a major role in cultural and intelectual life.

A-E

F-L

M-R

S-Z

Other

There are some groups of Jews who seem to defy narrow national limits. This is especially the case of the group which have come to be called Mountain or Caucasus Jews. They came to come under the domination of the Russian Empire, but were unrelated to much larger Jewish communities in Ukrakine and Poland. The larger communities seem to have been in Azerbaijan and Russian Dagistan.

Sources

Boyadjieff, Christo. Saving the Bulgarian Jews in World War II (Free Bulgarian Center: 1989).

Katz, Shmuel. Battleground (1974).

Perera, Victor. The Cross and the Pear Tree.

HBC

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Created: 11:24 PM 7/12/2007
Last updated: 7:24 AM 9/20/2016