The history of the Jewish people originates from the nomadic Semitic tribes that lived in the lands of ancient Mesopotamia, on the territory of modern Iraq. And I must say that the nomadic spirit will not leave him throughout the thousand-year history. In some cases, travel will be voluntary, and sometimes it will be exile or persecution, but always with dignity and nobility these people will go on a journey. In any country where Jews lived, they did not feel safe.
From south to north. A long journey of seven decades
The first wanderer in the history of the Jewish people was Abraham. The greatest biblical patriarch was born in the south of Mesopotamia, in the ancient city of Ur, but quite quickly the moment came when it became unsafe for his family to be in this country. This sad story will repeat itself more than once - in the countries where Jews lived, they will not be protected from persecution.
At this moment, Abraham's father decides to go to the country of Canaan, but he won’t get there, staying in the city of Harran, in the south of modern Turkey. The two cities are separated by more than a thousand kilometers, and even today this distance is not so easy to overcome due to the unstable situation in Iraq and Syria. In biblical times, in countries where Jews used to live, the situation was no less dangerous: robbers and robbers, greedy kings and a military leader threatened every traveler.
However, the family of Abraham reached the north of Mesopotamia and lived there for a long time, gaining wealth and honor, until the Lord turned to Abraham and again called him on the road. Having buried his father, Abraham went south to dangerous and uncomfortable lands.
Such different countries where Jews live
The next Jewish wanderer mentioned in the Bible 82 times will be Jacob, who, fleeing the danger that threatens him in Hebron, will again return north to the city of Harran, where he will find family happiness and two wives.
However, even there, the ancestor of the Jews did not stay long, he soon returned to his father again to reconcile with him and, having received a blessing, bury him.
After the death of his father, Jacob went to Egypt, where his son Joseph gained honor and respect at the court of the pharaoh. So, it becomes known about another country where the Jews lived before establishing their own state.
First jewish state
After leaving Egypt with the help of Moses, the biblical people rush to Canaan, which is now becoming the place where Jews live. The country from this moment is called Israel. This state will have a long and eventful history, full of wars, intrigues and still unsolved secrets. However, this country will come to an end when the Babylonians invade Jerusalem, destroy the Jewish Temple, and take all the townspeople into slavery or forcibly relocate to unsuitable lands. Everything that will happen from this moment until the return of the Jews to their lands, in historiography will be called the "Babylonian captivity."
As mentioned above, not all countries where Jews lived were friendly to their subjects, however, they would not be protected in their own state when the conquerors arrived.
Roman occupation and burning of Jerusalem
The fact that the insatiable Roman Empire sooner or later reaches the fertile crescent was understood by all the rulers of the eastern Mediterranean. Jewish merchants who had business with the empire, of course, knew what was happening in the West, and later the society of the kingdom of Judah was ready to conquer, that is, it was reconciled with it in advance, and adopted a new ruler, who from then on began to be considered the emperor.
Thus, the sovereign state of the Jews turned into one of the many Roman provinces, called Judea. However, peace did not last long in the occupied lands, and soon the population rebelled, but the rebellion was crushed, the Jerusalem temple and the city itself were burned to the ground, and the population was resettled again.
Great scattering of the Jews
Fleeing the punishment of the Roman rulers, the Jews began to disperse to different ends of the empire and find shelter and a new home there. But soon the empire collapsed, and many new Christian and barbarian kingdoms appeared on its fragments.
So, among the countries where Jews have ever lived, Spain and the Western Roman Empire appear, which will be replaced by Visigoth kingdoms and the Papal state.
And, of course, there can be no talk of peace, the Jews are again harassed by Christian rulers, and centuries later, they are driven out of Spain and then from Italy.
To date, Jews are considered one of two peoples who, although they have their own national state, but the diaspora exceeds its population in terms of size. The second such people were Armenians, who also suffered a lot of persecution from different governments.
The largest Jewish community is in the United States, which became a place of salvation from pogroms in the Russian Empire, and later from extermination in Nazi Germany. Jews from the Soviet Union also left for the United States, where anti-Semitism was widespread at both the state and the everyday level. The USSR was also the state where Jews live. The country was considered unfriendly by the Jews, and many managed to leave it for Israel or the United States under the so-called Jewish quota.