Jewish Migrations

Did you know that Jewish people have been migrating for several thousand years? There have been many large migrations in Jewish history, for example around the Middle East in Biblical times, to Europe in medieval times, and to Britain, the USA and South America in the nineteenth century. Jewish people left Germany and eastern Europe during the 1930’s because of persecution by the Nazis; most who remained died in the Holocaust. After the State if Israel was founded in 1948, Jews from many different countries migrated there. Yet most Jewish people continue to live outside Israel. They are known as the diaspora, from the Greek word meaning ‘scattered’. Today there are Jewish people living in almost every country of the world.