Part 12. Judaism in the Middle East

Judaism has been present in the Middle East even longer than Christianity, with its origins tracing to the second millennium BCE.  Judaism was the state religion in the ancient nation of Israel, which existed in Palestine for at least 500 years prior to its conquest by the Assyrians around 723 BCE (northern kingdom) and Babylonians in 587 BCE (southern kingdom).  During the so-called Babylonian captivity (587 BCE-circa 520 BCE) and the early years following the return of a portion of the Jewish population to Palestine, much of the Jewish Bible (Christian Old Testament) was written and assembled.  The restored state of Israel continued for almost 600 years under Persian, Seleucid, Hasmonean and Roman rule until it was finally destroyed and most of its Jewish population sent into exile following failed Jewish rebellions against Rome in 66-73 CE and 132-136 CE.

Following the destruction of the ancient state of Israel, Jewish populations settled throughout the Mediterranean region.  While the troubled history of Jews in Europe has been well documented, their centuries of residence under Muslim rule in the Middle East and North Africa has also played an important role in the formation of modern Judaism.  Like Christian minorities in the Middle East, Jews were granted the right to practice their faith in Islamic countries as long as they submitted to Muslim rule and paid the poll tax required of all dhimmis (non Muslims living under Muslim rule).  Also like Christians, the amount of freedom experienced by Jews minorities in Muslim countries varied according to time and place.  For instance, Jewish communities prospered within Muslim societies in medieval Spain and also at times in North Africa, Egypt, Iraq and Yemen.  At other times, however, Jews suffered persecution, such as massacres in Muslim Granada (1066), Fez (1465), Libya (1785) and Algiers (sporadically between 1805 and 1830).

The situation of Jews in the Middle East became worse with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.  In the following decade, Jewish populations in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Yemen and Egypt emptied out as tensions related to Israel grew between Muslims and Jews.  Many of these Jews immigrated to Israel where they were granted citizenship, while often retaining customs and languages practiced for generations in their former home countries.  Morocco’s Jewish population, for instance, declined from some 300,000 in the 1950s to approximately 2,000 today.  Though the overwhelming Middle Eastern Jewish population now lives in Israel, it remains surprisingly diverse.  The following articles describe some of that diversity.  The first two websites discuss the history and legacy of Jews in the Muslim Middle east, while the third describes the diversity of Judaism within Israel.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-of-the-middle-east/

https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/jews-from-arab-lands

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/israels-vibrant-jewish-ethnic-mix/