What is the history of Jewish people in Europe?

Answer 1

Before answering, it is important to note how overbroad and general this question is. People have written books on Jewish history that within them cover just a few days (like books on the Six-Day War), so writing about two millennia of Jewish History would be next to impossible. However, I will attempt an extremely broad coverage of different events using numbers sequentially and letters regionally. (i.e. 1A and 1B both happen at the same time but in different places and 1B and 2B happen in the same place but 1B happened before 2B.)

Regions: A = Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans, B = Eastern Europe, C = Germany and North Central Europe, D = Western Europe

1AD) The Roman Empire exiles the Jews from the Province of Judea which means that they move to a variety of locations within the Roman Empire. Jews continue to be discriminated against and persecuted by Roman Authorities, leading them to preserve their religion in secret. (no 1BC)

2A) The Roman Empire gives way to the Islamic Caliphates in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia and the Balkans. The treatment under the Byzantine Empire is rather similar to that in Western Europe (see 2D). In the Islamic Caliphates, Jews are recognized and protected and Anti-Semitism while pervasive is not strong, leading to some pogroms and violence on a much smaller scale. Jews in the Arab World are taxed (both by head - jizya, and by land - kharaj). Jews in the Arab World were allowed to choose their professions (although there were professions that Jews tended to take because of lack of Moslem competition, like banking). Jews joined the Moslems in a cultural flowering across the Arab World. Rabbis in the Jewish communities in the Arab World corresponded with their counterparts in Europe to reach Jewish decisions.

2BC) Jews begin to arrive in these regions due to more fluid borders and less stringent obligations. The Jews moving to Central and Eastern Europe (most often from Western Europe) are typically poorer than those who remained in the Western European cities. Anti-Semitism was still pervasive, but Jewish communities could usually avoid the major cities and instead live as farmers.

2D) As the Roman Empire disintegrates, the Medieval Christian States begin to impose harsh laws on the Jews but allow them to practice openly if they follow these rules. Typically the community would be allowed to live in one neighborhood, called a "ghetto" after the Venetian neighborhood so designated, under the stewardship of a Kahal (or Jewish Board of Directors). However, the cities allowing Jews to set up these types of neighborhoods were few and far between, leading many Jews out of Western Europe and further East to find sanctuary. In addition, Jews were banned from many occupations which lead them into very specialized fields. Anti-Semitism was pervasive and common which lead to numerous pogroms and religiously incited massacres. Judaism was also defined religiously at this point which meant that a Jew could convert to Christianity and become just as accepted as native-born Christians. Rabbis in these Kahals correspond with their counterparts in the Arab World.

3A) There are no major, substantiative changes in the Jewish communities in the Arab World until the Age of Imperialism and this will go under 4A. There was influx from Jewish communities in Europe fleeing persecution who settled in certain very important cities (such as Thessaloniki, Greece and Fez, Morocco). Overall the change from Arab rule to Turkish rule led to no significant change to the Jewish communities in the Arab World who were still taxed and relegated to certain neighborhoods.

3B) The Eastern Jewish community, although poor and much maligned by their Christian neighbors begins to become the largest Jewish community region (with numbers roughly equivalent to every other Jewish community region summed together). Unburdened with the in-city laws and restricted territories (they lived outside of the city limits and were farmers as opposed to tradesmen), they began to spread. However, the Eastern European Jewish community began to come under direct fire from European Imperial Governments seeking to ethnically cleanse themselves of Jews. Anti-Semitism becomes much more entrenched and institutionalized as the countries of Eastern Europe begin to modernize. The 1700s sees the rise of the Orthodox Jewish, Hasidic, and Mitneged Movements, which showcase Jewish spirituality by interpreting the Jewish tradition in interaction with modernity, holistically, and scholastically respectively.

3C) The German Jewish Community really begins to develop and urbanize during this period, becoming much more similar to the Western European Communities than the Eastern European communities. They deal with many of the same problems and restrictions that Western European Jews do, but a more tolerant atmosphere in Germany lends itself to the Jewish Enlightenment or Haskalah where Jews begin to join the Modern European discussions on Rights and Freedoms. German Jews begin to assert that they can be European citizens without giving up their religious background. By the mid-1800s, German Jews have founded what are now known as the Conservative, Reform, and Secular Movements in Judaism. In the Netherlands, the Jewish community was able to openly practice without discrimination, making Amsterdam a haven for many Jews fleeing Western Europe. As a result of Amsterdam's freer intermingling, Jews there were also able to participate in the wider phenomenon of Modernization.

3D) Western Europe became more and more Anti-Semitic. Beginning with the Expulsions from Spain and Portugal, Western Europe begins to formalize the Jewish-Race concept wherein there is something physically wrong with the Jew that makes him unfit for European civilization (converting to Christianity will not fix him). Jews have minimal involvement in France and slowly begin to return to the United Kingdom (they were expelled in 1290). Western European Jews tried to challenge convention, but were much less successful than their German and Dutch brethren. In the 1700s and 1800s, the Jews of the United Kingdom began to gain more rights and political freedoms.

4A) The arrival of the colonizers into the Arab World and the expansion of Central European Empires into the Balkans leads to a separation between the Jews/Christians and Moslems where European Jews/Christians of esteem from Europe begin to educate and modernize the Jewish communities in the Arab World. This brings the Jews/Christians more in line with the colonial governments than with the indigenous Arabs. Jews in the Arab World begin to become more regimented and modern. They eventually leave the Arab World en masse after the independence of the Arab countries due to a multiplicity of factors including: pogroms, executions, Anti-Semitic Laws, and Anti-Zionist sentiment. (It is important to note that even though many Jews from the Arab World ended up going to Israel, they did not support Zionism as a political movement prior to that point.)

The Jewish population in the Balkans region was exterminated in the Holocaust. Few Greek Jews (Romaniot) and Yugoslav Jews remain and many have since emigrated to Israel or the United States.

The entire Israel experience (from the Halutzim to the Present Day) took place in this region. Since the founding of Israel is intensely political and emotional, I will leave a discussion of Israel's purpose and history to other articles. Suffice it to say that Israel became a major center of modern Secular Judaism and represents over 40% of the current Jewish population. That population comes from all over the world (the ABCDEF categories listed plus Ethiopia and Yemen).

4BD) The Modern European States began to integrate Jews more fully in society after the Napoleonic Era. This meant that Jews were able to fight in European Armies and live wherever they wished. However, there was huge backlash. Anti-Semitism manifested in new Pseudo-scientific forms which explained that Jews were deficient and this is what led to their differences and impossibility of being Proper Europeans. This sentiment explains the rise of Zionism as a way for the Jews to create a State that caters to their interest away from European questions over the possibility of Jewish integration. The Anti-Semitism expressed in Modern Western and Central Europe was directly responsible for the Holocaust which effectively exterminated the Jewish population in all European countries except the United Kingdom (for obvious reasons).

4C) Eastern European Judaism did not change much other than the fact the Mitneged and Hasidic Movements merged together to form the Modern Hasidic Movement. Eastern European Jewry was completely cleansed of its Jewish population in the Holocaust.