How many Jews lived in what is now Israel in 1841?

Answer 1

Roughly no more than 1,000; the so-called "Palestinian Jews." Moreover not all "Palestinian Jews" were even semitic; the majority, were either Ashkenazim who had escaped this progrom or that in 17th century Europe or, Sephardic Jews who went to live there after they were expelled from Spain. Sephardic Jews, Spanish Jews, are not fully semitic; although the semitic blood in them is indeed thick, some having it as high as 40%, said semitic blood, comes mostly from Phoenician influences. See according to tradition, the ancestors of the Sephardim, where the children of King David by his concubines, and later on, the children of Solomon by HIS concubines and over 1,000 wives. Do not think for a minute, Greece was the only ancient world culture, whose lands could not support the people, Israel became too populous for its own good as well, thus, tradition holds that many left for what is now southern Spain. Somehow they managed to survive the Punic wars, but while there, they mixed a lot with the locals. In other words, while a Sephardic Jew may be semitic, it is not Hebrew semitic.

The further away semitic people get from the Arabian peninsula, the less tribal they become, and the more willing to intermarry they are. In Honduras for example, you have Jewish men married to Palestinian Arab women. The Palestinians in Honduras are Christian, not Muslim; however even so, you won't see that in the Middle East, even Christian Arabs are prejudiced against Jews. Its just human nature; if individuals can not find members of their group, they will find the closest thing, that are members of their group. Here's an example; say you have 10 Japanese, and 40 Chinese in a given University in Hamburg. Because they are the only 10 Japanese, they will be friends with the 40 Chinese, the "closest thing" to their group.

Isolated from Europe, you saw the same trend in the United States during its heavy European immigrant days; in Europe they were this or they were that, but here, the "threat of the native Americans" made everyone simply "white." In modern times, the "threat of hispanic and black crime" once again, makes everyone "white." The ancient Sephardim, were no different; isolated from their main group, they stuck to people, and picked marriage partners from, the closest thing which was of course, the Phoenicians who themselves were semitic. In other words just because a Sephardic Jew has semitic blood, it does not mean, said Semitic blood is in fact, Hebrew. Moreover, there is heavy contribution from Spain's host population, namely, the Celtiberian/Latin Spaniards. Spaniards are white people, just like the rest of Europe, especifically speaking, they are white people with very heavy ancient Roman admixture. The reason Spain has men and women who look taken straight out of a Roman sculptor's workshop, is because the majority of them have Latin blood, the same blood as the Romans. That is why Latin America is called LATIN America; its not just the culture, but the heavy admixture genetically speaking, that Latinos carry. Genetically, the majority of Latino mestizos from latin America are related to the ancient Romans, thus, they are cousins to Italians. Latin Americans look southern European, but the native American in them is also noticeable if you look carefully enough; more to the point, the tendency for the Latin peoples to mix with everyone they encountered, also included the Jews.

Now, I need to type a disclaimer; there is no historical proof for any of this. All we know from Archaeology, is that Sephardic Jews have indeed been in Spain for over 2,000 years, however because the existence of neither David, nor Solomon has as yet been confirmed, we can not take tradition as "proof." As to what happened to the Jews prior to 1841; after the burning of the second temple, you had the Talmudic period. The Talmud, was in fact originally written in ancient Judaea, however from there, it was taken to be preserved in Babylon, that is how you get that stuff about the "Babylonian Talmud." I need to point out, it was NOT first written in Babylon, however it was preserved there. The period following the burning of the second temple is known as the Talmudic period, a period of 200 years, where many, mostly wealthy members of the tribe of Levi, left ancient Judaea by the thousands.

Nevertheless despite the mass migration, even in Byzantine times, the majority of the people living in Judaea were Hebrew Jews, not Arabs, not Palestinians, not Greeks, not Byzantines, Hebrews, the actual native population. So, where did they go? What happened to them?

All men over 12, per the warfare rules of Islam, were exterminated by Gernal Khalid's armies, all boys under 12 were sold as slaves, as well as all the women. You see, there were no Jews living in "Palestine" because General Khalid's armies killed and sold them all. The "continuous Jewish pressence" thing is a myth; it is true, what the Arabs say, that there was a period where those lands were devoid of Jews.

However what the Arabs won't tell you, is that it was devoid because they massacred them all. Yes, there were Jews living there, but the first to resettle "Palestine," where Sephardic Jews from Spain who, being unable to withstand the miserable living conditions, the majority promptly left to go live in Anatolia (modern Turkey). Later on, as Central and Eastern Europe became hostile towards Jews, there was a small trickle of ashkenazi Jews. Some ashkenazi in Israel, have family backgrounds in that country, going back 200 years. In other words there are ashkenazi, European Jews, whose families have lived in Israel before Israel was even a country again. No doubt this question was motivated by something an Arab or Muslim told you; do your own research. Go to a University library, look up the most obscure historical writtings you can find on both the Jews, as well as the history of Islam, in addition to the history of the Byzantine empire. You will be somewhat shocked, by what you find.