Can you tell me of any academic or reliable source or a few sources
giving an overview of the different countries that Jewish communities
have settled in beginning from the time that the Northern kingdom of
Israel was dispersed throughout the Assyrian empire in 722 BCE to the
present day and also when significant numbers of members of these
communities returned to the land of Israel (also called Palestine).
Key details that are required are: 1) which countries Jewish
communities settled in 2) when these communities began 3)very roughly
how large the communities were or are 4) when did significant numbers
of these communities, and roughly what proportion of these communties,
return to the land of Israel. (dates for more recent returns (last 100
years) to the nearest year of 10 years period, and for less recent
returns to the nearest 50-100 year period, more acccurate if it is
available though.

Dear nicnoc, 

The first major Jewish settlement outside Israel occured in the 7th
century BCE, to Egypt, Babylon (Iraq and Turkey today) and other areas
in the Middle East: "When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722, the
Hebrew inhabitants were scattered all over the Middle East; these
early victims of the dispersion disappeared utterly from the pages of
history. However, when Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judaeans in 597 and
586 BC, he allowed them to remain in a unified community in Babylon.
Another group of Judaeans fled to Egypt, where they settled in the
Nile delta. So from 597 onwards, there were three distinct groups of
Hebrews: a group in Babylon and other parts of the Middle East, a
group in Judaea, and another group in Egypt. Thus, 597 is considered
the beginning date of the Jewish Diaspora. " (SOURCE: Richard Hooker,
"The Diaspora", Washington State University
<http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/HEBREWS/DIASPORA.HTM> - another version
in the Jewish Library
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/Diaspora.html>).

However, it was the Romans who exiled most of the Jews and created a
Jewish diaspora all over the Old World - from Spain to China, from
Yemen to Germany. A great source about the Jewish diaspora from the
7th century BCE to the Middle Ages is Jona Lendering's "Diaspora",
<http://www.livius.org/di-dn/diaspora/diaspora.htm>. Their map shows
some of the towns of the diaspora during the Roman period:
<http://www.livius.org/a/1/maps/diaspora_map.gif>.

The number of Jews in the world, between 1882 and 2000 could be viewed
in statistics by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics at the
Jewish Virtual Library
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/worldpop.html>.

The World Jewish Congress holds information on many communities, the
number of the members (also in relation to the general population - on
the top of each community page: JP - Jewish Population and GP -
General Population), and the number of the members who immigrated to
Israel after its independence in 1948, from Aghanistan to Zimbabwe
<http://www.wjc.org.il/communities/jewish_communities_of_the_world/alphabet.html>

The Jewish Virtual Library also provides the number of Jews in each country today: 
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html> 

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics provides more information on
immigrants between 1948 and 2000 and their land of origin at
<http://194.90.153.197/shnaton54/st04_04.pdf> (PDF File). This is also
summed up nicely in the Jewish Virtual Library:
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Immigration/immigration_by_country.html> 

More about specific communities (in numbers) before the foundation of
the state of Israel and today:
Jews in Arab countries: Before and after 1948 by the Historical
Society of Jews From Egypt
<http://www.middleeastfacts.com/Articles/jewsinarabcountries.html> 

Another source, with sometimes a bit weird information, but with very
good links for further research, is Harry Leichter's Jewish
Communities of the World <http://www.haruth.com/JewsoftheWorld.html>

I hope this answered your question. Search terms and strategy: to
search the web for academic (site:edu) adn toher reputable information
about "jewish population" and "jewish communities". Please contact me
if you need any further clarification on this answer before you rate
it.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by nicnoc-ga on 13 Apr 2004 10:01 PDT

You have provided some useful sources and information especially re
more recent diasopora details, however I was really looking for more
academic sources especially regarding details re the diaspora BCE- ie
papers books journal articles etc.  The information you have provided
re the diaspora BCE is based merely on a couple of very basic web
pages which is of very limited use for academic research. This was
disappointing.

---

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 13 Apr 2004 23:42 PDT

Dear nicnoc, 

This is only to let you know I am working on getting you moer satisfactory sources.

---

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 14 Apr 2004 01:38 PDT

Dear Nicnoc, 

Maybe I should explain my problem: you are looking for a soruce that
is comprehensive and covers 3,000 years of Judaism, yet you expect
this source to be citable and academic. Demographic research is done
mostly on smaller "units", not on 3,000 (or even 300) years; and if so
- not on all countries.

There is an academic journal called "Papers in Jewish Demography",
where there are place- or era-specific studies on Jewish
congregations. The Documentation Center in Jewish Demography and
Statistics <http://icj.huji.ac.il/archives_demog.asp> is a central
database of information on the demography of World Jewry . Therefore,
I doubt it if there is one reliable source that presents all
demographic details since the Assyrian exile.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by nicnoc-ga on 15 Apr 2004 05:14 PDT

I take your point re requesting info on 3,000 years of Jewish history
it was a tall order. However it would be really helpful if you could
point me in the direction of more academic sources re the earlier
period 722 BCE re the Assyrian exile, any institutions  for example
that might be able to help. Many thanks for your help.

---

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 15 Apr 2004 08:03 PDT

Dear nicnoc, 

Calculating the Jewish population and spread around the world in a
particular period is difficult indeed. The Encyclopedia of Religion
and Society (Edited by William H. Swatos. London: Alta Mira Press)
refers to the problem in the article "Jews" (by M. Herbert Danzger),
saying, that "A variety of methodological problems make it extremely
difficult to estimate the world Jewish population almost into the
twentieth century. Some guess that the population of Judah and Israel
in 1,000 B.C.E. was about 1.8 million, then falling to 150,000 in 586
B.C.E. with the Babylonian exile. Shortly before the fall of Jerusalem
(70 C.E.), the world Jewish population probably exceeded 8 million,
and the population in Palestine was about 2.5 million. Following the
defeat of Bar Kochba (135 C.E.), the population of what was then known
as Palestine dwindled, and the center shifted to Babylon. In the
eleventh century, it shifted to the Iberian Peninsula. Expelled from
there at the end of the fifteenth century, the Jewish population moved
to Poland. The center of Jewish population remained in the
Mediterranean basin, and Sephardim (Jews in Arab lands) dominated
demographically until the nineteenth century. At that point, a spurt
in growth made Europe the population center. In the twentieth century,
there has been a major shift in the center of Jewish population from
eastern and central Europe to the United States and Israel.

In 1900, the Jewish population worldwide was estimated at 10.6
million, with 8.7 million in Europe and 1 million in the United
States. By 1939, the world Jewish population was 16.7 million, with
9.5 million in Europe and 5 million in the United States. The best
evidence still suggests that about 6 million Jews were killed by the
Nazis during World War II (the Holocaust). In 1993, the total world
Jewish population was estimated at 13 million, distributed as follows:
United States, 5.7 million; Israel, 4.3 million; France, 530,000;
Russia, 410,000; Canada, 358,000; United Kingdom, 296,000; Ukraine,
245,000; Argentina, 210,000; Brazil, 100,000; South Africa, 98,000;
Australia, 91,000" (SOURCE: M. Herbert Danzger, "Jews", in: The
Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, Edited by William H. Swatos,
London: Alta Mira Press, 1998: in Hartford Institute for Religious
Research Website, <http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/jews.htm>).

A very thorough book could be "World Jewry Beyond 2000: The
Demographic Prospects", by Sergio Della Pergola.

Prof. Della Pergola is also considered one (if not THE) expert in the
field (you could see his homepage in his research centre - the
"Division of Jewish Demography and Statistics" in the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem:
http://icj.huji.ac.il/research_demog_desc.asp).

Prof. Joshua Comenetz is also teaching such a course, in an American
Uniersity, that might be of Interest: "Geography of the Jewish
Population". He recommends for his course "Martin Gilbert, The
Routledge Atlas of Jewish History, 6th ed., 2003". He also recommends
as an online source the "Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century"
with "Jews as a percentage of population" :
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/jews-20c.htm 

In this context, another good historical atlas might be: 
A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People : From the Time of the
Patriarchs to the Present by Eli Barnavi, a professor in Tel Aviv
University.