The Jewish diaspora refers both to the historical exile of the majority of the Jewish people from their ancestral homeland in Judea and the Land of Israel over 2,500 years and to the reality of Jews living in communities around the world outside Israel. The word diaspora comes from ancient Greek, meaning “to scatter” — a term first used to describe the Jewish experience of exile.
Jewish history, tradition, and spiritual practice have been deeply shaped by exile, beginning with the expulsion of Jews from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE by the Assyrian Empire, leading to the forced Babylonian exile in 586 BCE, and later by the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Despite ongoing persecution and exile, a number of Jews maintained a continuous presence in Jerusalem and the surrounding area through the present day.
Over time, Jewish communities spread out from the Roman Empire and took root across the globe. In the Middle East, Mizrahi Jews built enduring communities in places like Iraq and Syria, developing distinct religious traditions, liturgy, and cultural life. In Europe the Enlightenment introduced new ideas about citizenship, assimilation, and religious reform. Across the diaspora, Jewish history has included both periods of vibrant flourishing, such as in medieval Spain and pre-war Poland, and devastating persecution, including expulsions, pogroms, and the Holocaust.
Jews in the diaspora maintained strong ties to their ancient homeland through prayer, tradition, and memory, even amid persecution and displacement. Today, slightly more than half of the world’s Jews continue to live outside Israel, primarily in the U.S., France, Canada, and the U.K. The diaspora continues to shape Jewish identity as both a global people and a community deeply connected to a shared homeland.