Judaism in the Diaspora
Erich S. Gruen
A Roman army destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70c.e.For the Jews
of antiquity the loss of the Temple not only constituted a devastating blow
but signaled an enduring trauma. The reverberations of that event still res-
onate. The day of the Temple’s destruction, which, by a quirk of fate or
(more probably) fabrication, coincides with that on which Jerusalem fell
to the Babylonians six and a half centuries earlier, continues to receive an-
nual commemoration in Israel. For many it shaped the consciousness of
the Jewish Diaspora through the centuries to follow. The eradication of the
center that had given meaning and definition to the nation’s identity
obliged Jews to alter their sights, accommodate to a displaced existence,
and rethink their own heritage in the context of alien surroundings.The Extent of the Jewish Diaspora
The focus on the consequences of the Temple’s destruction, however, over-
looks a fact of immense significance: the Jewish Diaspora had a long his-
tory prior to Rome’s crushing of Jerusalem. Indeed, the notion of removal
from the homeland is lodged deeply in the mythology of the nation. The
curse of Cain, condemned to perpetual wandering over the earth, symbol-
izes it. So do the years of enslavement and oppression in Egypt prior to the
exodus, followed by years of meandering in the wilderness. And that was
just the beginning. The record of Jewish experience included the “Babylo-
nian captivity” in the sixth centuryb.c.e., ostensibly a serious dislocation
from the homeland. The story may contain exaggeration and embellish-
ment but does not deliver pure fiction. And, whatever the historicity of the95EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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