At the beginning of the 18th century the Jews of Baghdad began emigrating to India, and a portion of these eventually wound up making it to China. At the end of the 19th century, an emigration to Palestine began. For a long…
Author: Dr. James Loeffler
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF IRAQ (PART I)
Born in 1921, the so-called Kingdom of Iraq loosely equated itself with the Babylon of old, to which Jewish settlements and culture were connected going back to the oldest of these states. In Ur Kasdim, which today is Mukajjar, stood…
Before The Deluge: The Jews Of Libya
Libya lies in North Africa between Egypt and Tunisia and consists of Cyrenica and Tripoli. Even in the 3rd century before the Common Era, Cyrenica was a destination for Jewish emigration. Over the next century the Jewish population grew in…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF CHINA II
The Zionist movement has a strong following in Shanghai. It manifests itself there via the monthly publication “Israel’s Messenger.” In Tientsin arose a colony of Jews in the beginning of the 1920s; they developed a cadre of dealers in smoking…
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF CHINA
The oldest settlement of Jews in China is recorded under the Emperor Ming-Ti of the Han Dynasty in 58-76 CE. [Translator’s note: All dates from Die Juden in der Welt were given in the common BC-AD format and numbering system, as established by…
Before The Deluge: Jews Of The Mediterranean Islands (Part VIII) – Chios
Chios Chios, in the Aegean Sea, has been under Greek control since 1912. This island can look back on a very old Jewish settlement. A historical curiosity is the story of the 15 Jewish families who, in the year 1048,…
Before The Deluge: Jews Of The Mediterranean Islands (Part VII) – Delos, Sardinia, Baleric Islands
Delos On the islands of the Cyclades [Translator’s note: south of the Greek mainland], north of Naxos, an island that played an important role in ancient times, there was a Jewish community in the second century BCE which – as…
Before The Deluge: Jews Of The Mediterranean Islands (Part VI) – Sicily, Eubia, Samos, Zante
Sicily The excavation of archeological layers has shown that in Roman times there were Jewish communities in Syracuse, Catania, Noto, among other places. At the end of the 6th century there is mention of Jews in Messina, Palermo, and Girgenti. By…
Before The Deluge: Jews Of The Mediterranean Islands (Part V) – Rhodes, Cos, Lesbos and Lemnos
Rhodes Rhodes is in the Aegean Sea, currently under Italian control. [Translator’s note:Rhodes was awarded to Greece after WWII and today remains Greek, though it lies within eyeshot of the Turkish mainland.] As early as the second century BCE it…
Before The Deluge: Jews Of The Mediterranean Islands (Part IV) – Malta
Malta Findings in catacombs confirm the existence of Jews on Malta from the time of the Roman Empire until late in the Middle Ages. They came from Alexandria to this important crossroads on their way to Italy. In 1240 there…