What impact did the diaspora have on Judaism?

Answer 1

It turned the Jewish religion from a place-centered religion of animal sacrifices, to a portable religion, focused on prayer.

Answer:

It's wrong to say that ancient Judaism centered around the Temple and sacrifices. Rather, Judaism centers around Torah-observance. This has never changed. The Torah contains many hundreds of commands, hundreds of which are applicable today too. When offering sacrifices was possible, they were offered; and when the Temple was destroyed, those particular commands of the Torah were suspended. It's like a man who lost his arms: he doesn't put tefillin on, but his Judaism hasn't changed.

To answer the question:

While the Torah, its commands and the principles and beliefs of Judaism remain unchanged, Judaism has evolved as circumstances have necessitated. Here are just a few examples:

1) After the end of prophecy (some 2350 years ago), the Tanakh was sealed by a special Sanhedrin (Rabbinical court). It was the same Sanhedrin which placed our prayers in their permanent form (see Talmud, Berakhot 33a).

2) Purim and Hanukkah were instituted after the relevant events.

3) Certain fasts were instituted in connection with the Destruction of the Temple.

4) After the Destruction of the Temple, the laws of sacrifices were suspended.

5) When circumstances made it impossible, the New Moon was no longer proclaimed by testimony; rather, the fixed calendar was instituted (around 360 CE).

6) The Talmud was put in writing (around 500 CE) when it became too hard to be learned by heart.

7) There are seven formal Rabbinical commands. These are:

Saying the blessings over food (and on various occasions)

Washing one's hands before eating bread

Lighting the Hanukkah-menorah

The Eruv

Saying the Hallel prayer on certain occasions

Lighting the Sabbath candles

Reading the Megillat Esther on Purim.

In addition, there are many Rabbinical decrees, mostly from the Men of the Great Assembly (4th century BCE), as well as later enactments.

The purpose of every one of these is to provide a "fence around the Torah," meaning to shore up something that can benefit from strengthening. An example: not handling electric appliances on the Sabbath, even if they are not connected to any electric socket.

Also:

While all Jews share the same Torah and Talmud, and differences in halakhah (Jewish laws) are relatively small, nonetheless some traits of our regions of residence have rubbed off on us. Examples are the differences in pronunciation and accent (for the Hebrew alphabet), differences in dress, and differences in customs and mannerisms.

Answer 2

The fact that we were exiled from our land into a diaspora (scattered communities) meant that we had to look back and see what we had done wrong and why God had seen fit to allow the Temple to be destroyed and the Jews be exiled. For a couple of examples, as soon as the First Temple was destroyed, the people stopped paying attention to the false prophets (who had said it wouldn't happen). And as soon as the Second Temple was destroyed, the Sadducees and Essenes evaporated away.

Answer 3

In respect to the Israelites, there is not really a diaspora. R. J. Coggins (The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, The origins of the Jewish diaspora) says that the descendants of those deported by the Assyrians in the eighth century presumably became absorbed into the communities where they were deported and lost their separate ethnic identity. However, the Babylonian Exile from the kingdom of Judah seems to have brought about a change in the Jewish understanding of the meaning of 'Israel', with an ideological victory achieved by those who presented the Babylonian Exile as the true context of Israel's community and claiming to be the true inheritors of the tradition of the whole community.

Whereas Jeremiah stringently observed the distinctions between the separate nations of Israel and Judah, especially in the early chapters, Ezekiel wrote of 'Israel' as a single people related to an undivided land. Thus the Jews began to see themselves as Israelites, taking with this self-designation responsibility for reclaiming, not just Judah and Jerusalem, but also the northern kingdom of Israel.

Not all the Jews of the Babylonian Exile chose to return to Judah. Gradually, an external community of those who thought of themselves as Jews grew up in the ancient Near East, both as descendants of the exiles and those who took advantage of trade opportunities. The arrival of the Roman Empire created more overseas opportunities for ambitious Jews. Then the disastrous Roman-Jewish Wars of the first and second centuries CE resulted in the loss of the Jewish homeland of Judea, although many Jews settled in Galilee and neighbouring states. Today, the Jewish diaspora simply describes those Jews living outside modern Israel.

Answer 4

It constitutes the majority of Jewish history. And it is thanks to the diaspora that the Sages were catalyzed to redact the Talmud and promulgate it in its final written form, due to the concern that in their dispersal the Jewish communities might become too dissimilar in their observance of the Oral Torah.

Answer 5

The Diaspora (scattering of the Jewish people) began because we were unable to live in the Holy Land. The prophets had constantly warned the Israelites that ignoring the Torah would result in exile.
1) Around 2600 years ago, the Assyrians forcibly exiled the Ten Israelite tribes to points unknown. A small percentage of each of these tribes is still among us, but most of them were exiled and didn't return.
2) Around 2500 years ago, the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and forcibly exiled the remainder of Israel's population to Babylonia. (See: The Destruction)
While the Jews were permitted to return to Israel (Judea) seventy years later, and tens of thousands did so (and rebuilt the Temple), most of them remained in Babylonia, while others began to settle in North Africa, southern Europe, the Crimea, throughout the Near East and elsewhere.

3) In 68 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. The Romans did not force the Jews out of Judea in a single expulsion. Rather, the Romans expelled them from Jerusalem only; and the rest of Judea lost its Jews slowly, over a period of centuries, as living there became too harsh. Even then, we have records of Jewish communities who lived in Judea (Palestine) during the entire period of the last two millenia. (See:History of the Jews in Israel)

Those Jews who left Judea went to southern Europe, North Africa, Arabia, the Near East, and (slowly) further afield (especially throughout Europe).

See also:

Jewish history timeline

Where do Jews live today?

Related topic:
The diaspora (scattering) was difficult for us:

1) Because certain mitzvot (such as those related to agriculture in the Holy Land) now became suspended for the duration of the exile.

2) Because of the impediment to communication between the various communities. This could lead to the development of rivaling groups, each claiming to be authentic.

(See for example: What are the Karaites?)

3) Because the Jews were now a minority among other nations, who were sometimes quite hostile.

4) Along with the Torah, the Land of Israel (Judea) and the Holy Temple had been central to Judaism. It now was to be seen whether Torah-observance could be maintained on the high level that those ideal factors had been conducive to.

Related topic:
How did the diaspora affect the Jews?
To a certain extent, the diaspora caused the various Jewish communities to take on minor aspects of their host countries.
While all Jews share the same Torah and Talmud, and differences in halakhah (Jewish laws) are relatively small, nonetheless some traits of our regions of residence have rubbed off on us. Examples are the differences in pronunciation and accent (for the Hebrew alphabet), differences in dress, and differences in customs and mannerisms.

See also:

Maintaining Judaism during the exile

Answer 6

It affected Jaudaism because Jews scattered to two main different areas, and some of the Jews from Sephardim mixed with their non-Jewish neighbors.

Answer 7

Diaspora is defined as anywhere outside of (the Biblical area called) Israel. Diaspora signifies the expulsion of the Jews from the Land of Israel by the Romans, among others.

Answer 8

It makes up the majority of Jewish history to date.