How did Judaism become known all over the world?

Question

Did Abraham travel like The Buddah, or was it spread a different way?

Answer 1

Abraham didnt travel far, but his descendants would. Jews have had mulitple exiles from their own lands and lands that were not there own which scattered them across the world for 2000 years.

some major exiles were the Babylonian conquest of Israel in which the first Temple was destroyed, and people dispersed to Mesopotamia. the Roman conquest of Judea, Israels sucessor, where the second Temple was destroyed and people scattered all over the Empire. then the Spanish Inquisition dispersed many Jews who had been living in relative security in Muslim Spain, which dispersed Jews to Northern European countries, particularly Poland and Germany, although some fled to Turkey and even the American colonies. and then the modern dispersion was the Holocaust - many European immigrants to America in the 20th century were European Jews, with many before WWII.

besides expulsions and immigration, many Jews were traders who traveled far routes to Eastern countries. a Jewish family i know was from India, via a trade route that lead their great great grandparents from Baghdad.

the last and probably most powerful informer was powerful religions like Christianity and Islam having scripture and traditions relating to Jews, making them somewhat famous and infamous among adherents to those faiths.

Answer 2

It actually became known around the entire globe partially due to its connection to Christianity and also because of the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Dispersion.

During the Middle Ages there was an very substantial Jewish population throughout Europe. Remember, at this time there essentially was no Israel. The only connection to the Jewish religion and culture was through the people themselves who were living in every country of the known world.

Since there was no Jewish nation or homeland for nearly 2000 years; from approximately 70 AD until 1948, Judaism had plenty of time to travel the globe.

Answer 3

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RE:
How did Judaism become known all over the world?
Did Abraham travel like The Buddah, or was it spread a different way?

Answer 4

I'm not positive, but my guess is this. In the Old Testament times, Assyria took control of the Northren Kingdom of Israel (practically everything except Judah/Jerusalem), and took the Israelites captive into their own territories. This was around 721 BC. Then, in 612, Babylon began taking control of Judah/Jerusalem, and bringing THOSE people captive into Babylon (Iraq). The Medo-Persian Empire took control of Babylon around 536 BC, Greece took over from the Medo-Persian Empire ("Persia" is Iran, I'm uncertain about the Medes) arround 330 BC, and Rome in 63 BC. Now all of these countries took over much of the then known world, so Israelites were basically taken here, there, and everywhere. To complete the process, Rome sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70 AD -- and they all had to run for their lives. That was known as the Dispersia -- and everyone went everywhere, taking their religion with them. That's my best guess. There may be more in history, or other reasons, I just know that overview from my own Bible study.

Answer 5

The original plan of the G-d as He revealed it in His Torah [the Jewish Bible] is that the Jewish people would live exclusively in Eretz Israel [the Land of Israel] after our escape from Eygpt. Our sins, since then, have driven us into exile. 1st with the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom and a short time later, with the Babylonian conquest of the Southern Kingdom. 70 years later, a large minority of the Jewish people returned from Babylonian exile and re-established Israel under the control of the Persian Empire. However, a majority of the Jews did not leave Babylon and until about 1000CE {Common Era} Babylon was the largest Jewish community in the world. After Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, Jews from Eretz Israel spread through the eastern Mediterranean are while Jews from the eastern part [Babylon] of the Persian Empire spread to India. With the Roman conquest of the Alexandrian successor states, Jews spread throughout the Roman Empire. There are records of Jews along the Rhine frontier by 10 CE. During the period of the Middle Ages and into the Reformation/Renaissance Periods, different European countries expelled and welcomed Jews. So, at one time or another, Germany, England, France, Spain, Poland and Russia both sought Jewish emigration to improve business and trade possibilities and expelled Jews for political and religious reasons. There are records of a Jewish synagogue in Beijing founded by Jewish traders working the Silk Road from China to Persia by 1000CE.
In the last 60 years, there has been a major shift of Jewish demographics. 6 millions Jews were killed in the Holocaust and most of the remaining Jews in Europe, after WWII, escaped to America and the State of Israel. Over 3 millions Jews have been expelled from Arab/Muslim lands since 1946 and moved to the State of Israel, many more than there are Arab exiles from Paleistan. Also, out lying Jewish communities, long cut off from the main body of Judaism, in Ethiopia and India, have been rescued and returned to the State of Israel. Today, Jews are highly concentrated in the US and Israel.

Answer 6

The Judaism become known all over the world by the wisdom of the Jews their contribution for technology, medicine, agriculture and of course the bible.

Answer 7

It was spread with a book; actually several books that were eventually put together as one book. The book reveals a prophecy, that the people who spread Judaism claimed to have fulfilled. In fact, two groups of people make the claim that the Messiah has come and gone, and left them in charge till he gets back. One group gets its name from Judaism and the other group gets its name from the predicted name of the Messiah.

Unfortunately for a lot of people (mostly the two groups described) they are quite mistaken. In their defense though; if it hadn't been for their mistake, the prophecy would never have been preserved for us to use.

Regards,

Chris J

Answer 8

Before Israel, Jews had no home and people shunned them so they traveled all over. Now New York has more Jews (including Jerry Seinfeld) than Israel. France, England and Spain kicked out all the Jews and many ended up in Germany. Then Hitler killed most of them. All the above countries were mostly CHRISTIANS.

Answer 9

Worldwide familiarity with Judaism probably came about through its daughter religions' Christianity and Islam.

The Christians and Muslims were aware of their Jewish roots, so the people they converted and/or conquered learned about Jews, too.

Answer 10

Judaism was spread out when Jerusalem was destroyed. It was almost completely destroyed about 500 years before Jesus was born, but most of the people went back. Then Jerusalem was destroyed about 30 years after Jesus died, and Judaism spread some more. So did Christianity.