Exiles and Prophets

Abstract

The story is simple in its bare outlines. A political nation and civilization with a thriving literature occupied the land of Israel for about a thousand years, interrupted by the loss of the northern kingdom to Assyria in the eighth century BCE and by the Babylonian Exile of the sixth century BCE. The Roman Empire delivered the catastrophic defeat in 70 CE when Jews were dispersed to other parts of the Near East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. Although Jews continued in parts of Israel—Hebron, Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias—more or less continuously with fluctuating population numbers all during the time of the Diaspora, they lived without political sovereignty. Rabbinic Judaism adjusted to the new conditions but envisioned a messianic gathering of the exiles, return to Zion and rebuilding the Temple.1 Although there were a few moments of enthusiasm like the movement sparked by the false messiah Shabbatai Zevi (1626–76), modern Zionism dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century.2KeywordsJewish CommunityJewish IdentityLand ReformJewish HistoryBiblical TextThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.