What are the benefits of Israel's exile?

Answer 1

Jews typically understand the exile to be a punishment which lacks both the physical and spiritual benefits of being in Divine Grace.

Answer:1) The exile showed that the prohibitions of the Torah are not to be trifled with (Leviticus ch.26; Deuteronomy ch.28).

2) The exile finally revealed the false prophets for what they were. The false prophets had for many decades "predicted" that there never would be an exile.

3) The exile showed that, other than God, nothing can be trusted absolutely. Prior to the Destruction, some had placed their trust in the nation's ability to defeat any enemy, and some had placed their trust in the treaties which had been made with Egypt and Assyria.

4) The scattering of the Diaspora made it unrealistic for any foe to hope of destroying all the Jews.

5) The scattering of the exile enabled many righteous people to become Jews.

6) The fact of the Jews having survived the millenia-long exile has provided the world with one of the incontrovertible historical miracles. Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1697-1776) actually calls this one of the greatest miracles of all. Mark Twain, in a deservedly famous quote from 1897, wrote: "The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded...and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, and survived them...all things are mortal except the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"