ASIA

-History Jewish history originated in this continent, in the Near-Eastern complex of the Fertile Crescent. The journeyings of the patriarchs led from ur of the Chaldees in present-day iraq through the Fertile Crescent to egypt . In antiquity, canaan controlled the highway linking Asia with Africa (Egypt). The crescent had ties with Hellenic Europe. These were initially established through crete , and somewhat later through the contact with the philistines and phoenicians . Despite the many ties with Egypt, few traces of Egyptian cultural influence are found in Ereẓ Israel of the biblical period. The effects of this geopolitical background are, however, clearly discernible. The cultural differences existing between the kingdoms of israel and judah and their separate destinies largely resulted from the exposure of the northern kingdom to influences emanating from syria , Assyria, and babylonia , and its commercial or other ties with the Asiatic area of the crescent. After the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E., a considerable number of its population were deported further into the Asian interior. Thus began the myth of the Lost Tribes of Israel which was destined to have a pivotal role in the later development of relations between Jews and much of Asia. With the Babylonian conquest of Judea in 586 B.C.E., the transference of the center of Jewish life to mesopotamia was momentarily almost complete. Some historians believe that monotheism crystallized in its pure form in Judaism from the impact of the Babylonian exile and the close confrontation with Babylonian paganism. Manifold religious and cultural concepts, the nomenclature of the months, the so-called Assyrian characters of the Hebrew script, were acquired in Mesopotamia and carried back to Ereẓ Israel. During the Second Temple period these became central and integral elements in Jewish mores, thought, and literature. A large proportion – possibly the bulk of Jewry – stayed on in Mesopotamia after the Return to Zion, often in flourishing trade centers such as Nippur. Thus Babylonia also became a Jewish national cultural center. On the other hand, European influences began to penetrate Jewish life and culture with greater force after the conquests of alexander the great . These emanated from Seleucid Syria in the north, as well as from Ptolemaic Egypt in the south. When acculturation was pressed by forcible measures under the Seleucid antiochus iv epiphanes , the sharp Jewish reaction culminated in the hasmonean revolt. Jewish influence on its part was evident in some of the Asian principalities. The royal house of adiabene adopted Judaism. The Hasmonean revolt was the only instance of a religio-national uprising by an Asiatic society against Hellenistic domination. In the protracted Roman-Byzantine period (63 B.C.E.–641 C.E.) Jewish resistance to alien domination continued, erupting in the Jewish War of 66–73 and subsequent revolts (see history of Israel, Second Temple Period; bar kokhba ). The Jewish image and the horizon of the Near East influenced the European conception of Asia until the modern era. The Babylonian Jewish center, however, continued to develop independently under Arsacid Partho-Persian rule. The Jewish area of settlement expanded into Persia and toward Central Asia. Jewish settlements on the borders of the Roman and Persian empires in Asia developed a vital Jewish communal life and culture. Evidence of their exceptionally resplendent synagogue art is the dura-europos synagogue and its paintings. The most important contribution of the Babylonian center for subsequent Jewish culture was evolved in the environment of the restored Sassanian Persian Empire. The babylonian talmud exerted its powerful influence on Jewish life on all subsequent generations. Thus Sassanian cultural and folk elements absorbed into the Talmud were integrated into Jewish culture in addition to the former Babylonian and early Persian accretions.   Figure 1. Dispersion of Jews in Asia from the early 1700s to 1945. Figure 1. Dispersion of Jews in Asia from the early 1700s to 1945.     The Arab conquest of Ereẓ Israel, Mesopotamia, and the adjacent areas in the seventh and succeeding centuries brought the whole of North Africa, and for a time spain , within the sphere of influence of the Muslim caliphate. The fact that its center of gravity and seat of government lay in the Fertile Crescent (abbasids , umayyads , damascus ) had an incalculably important effect on Jewish life for generations. The Mesopotamian scene under Arab rule centering on baghdad formed the background for an outstandingly creative period in Jewish history. This was the age of the exilarchs and geonim, lasting approximately from the seventh to the eleventh centuries. Meanwhile, the pax arabica enabled the area of Jewish settlement to extend increasingly farther eastward. The commercial and industrial revolution of the ninth century gave particular impetus to this advance. Trade with india , where Jewish communities existed perhaps as early as the fifth century, was commonplace in the geonic period. The ancient Jewish settlement at kaifeng in China apparently owed its origin to the flourishing silk trade in about 1000. Jewish travelers of the 12th century, benjamin of Tudela and Pethahiah of Regensburg, reported dense and flourishing Jewish populations in most of the Near-Eastern areas. Source evidence from the cairo genizah mirrored the diversified nature of Jewish international trading activities in the Indian Ocean in the 12th century. Links were established from the Near East and Egypt with the Far East via the staging post in yemen . The violence surrounding the crusades and the Tatar invasions of the 13th century critically endangered the Jewish communities throughout Western Asia. In Ereẓ Israel many Jews were massacred, and after the 11th century the Jewish settlement there stood in need of constant replenishment by immigration from the Diaspora. In the 13th century Mesopotamian Jewry was also almost annihilated though a remnant remained. Meanwhile the communities of Asia Minor had dwindled as a result of the traditional intolerance of the Byzantine rulers. However, a fairly robust Jewish society was flourishing in the areas comprised by the ottoman empire in the second half of the 15th century. An isolated Arabized community of some numerical importance continued to exist in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, in conditions which remained largely unchanged for many centuries. In India the bene israel of mysterious origin were settled in Bombay, in addition to the ancient communities in Cranganore (later transferred to kochi (Cochin). An important reinforcement of the Jewish existence in Asia was provided after the expulsion from Spain in 1492. Large numbers of Jewish exiles, followed later by Portuguese marranos , found new homes in various places within the Ottoman Empire. Their settlement was not confined to Ottoman territory in Europe, but also extended to Asia Minor, Syria, and other parts of Asia. The new immigration not only reinvigorated communities surviving from former days, but actually transformed their original character. Whereas these communities were formerly autochthonous, preserving an ancient native Jewish culture, they now assumed more European characteristics. They became largely Spanish speaking and followed the Spanish rite. Probably the former Jewish traditions were genuinely preserved only in Persia, in the Yemen, and in the small surviving Jewish community of Iraq. The post-expulsion period also witnessed a revival of Jewish settlement in Ereẓ Israel. The neo-kabbalistic school of safed (see kabbalah ) renewed Palestinian cultural and religious influences in Jewish life after a recession of many centuries. The record of Jewish life and creativity in Asia in the late medieval and early modern periods still awaits its definitive presentation. The state of research in modern Jewish historiography reflects its European focus. Numerically there was a Jewish decline in Asia and no certain data exist. Nevertheless the ancient matrix remained. In Yemen and in kurdistan Jewish creativity was manifested in specific folk art and customs. The national center of Ereẓ Israel drew to it devoted men and women in each generation. If the Asian communities failed to make their mark on European Jewry in the period, this was mainly the result of the general political predominance then achieved by Europe as a whole. Two new waves of Jewish migration penetrated deep into Far Eastern Asia in the 19th century. Both were numerically small, but significant in their geographical scope and economic attainments. Both followed in the wake of European imperialism. The first was the considerable eastward emigration from Baghdad and other cities in Iraq, mainly to areas in the British sphere of influence. Small communities that were established in India and farther east, in points as far away as Hong Kong, became extremely affluent and correspondingly important. The second migratory wave to penetrate the fastnesses of Asia made the overland trek from Russia. Initially Jews went to live in siberia , mainly for trade for a limited period or when sentenced to exile. Others went on to manchuria , especially after World War I, and temporarily important communities were established in places like harbin . The industrialization of Asian regions of the Soviet Union, and the development of scientific centers there, again stimulated Jewish movement to Asia. Despite its failure, the autonomous Jewish region of birobidzhan , created on Far Eastern soil, still harbors a Jewish community. With the commencement of Nazi persecution, a considerable increase in the number of Jews in Russian Asia was reported, although the actual figures are not known. World War II completely changed the Far Eastern picture. Many refugees from German-occupied countries and Russia escaped to territories under Japanese rule. The Japanese, although responsible for having introduced certain antisemitic measures, did not carry them out to the extreme. The communist victory in China after the war made it impossible for the Jews to continue there in their former occupations. The recently established communities disappeared. In the Middle East the reorganization of the Turkish state after World War I along nationalist lines and the changes in the Turkish economy had adverse effects on the local Jewish communities, which dwindled considerably. In Ereẓ Israel, however, new forces were at work. The rise of zionism revitalized the Jewish settlement. After   the 1880s the yishuv played a role of increasing significance in world Jewry, growing rapidly in numbers and developing a character and culture of its own. Jewish settlement proceeded despite obstacles, and foundations were laid for state institutions. The achievements of the pioneers had their effect. By the balfour declaration Ereẓ Israel became the declared Jewish national home. From 1920, after the league of nations gave the mandate for Palestine to Britain, an entirely new situation was created. Within the next few decades after the creation of the state of israel in 1948, almost all the Jews of the historic communities of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Yemen had emigrated to Israel. Only small communities remained. Israel also attracted numerous immigrants from other Asian countries, especially from those where economic conditions were poor, such as Turkey and Persia, as well as India. (See Table: Jewish Population of Asia.) The "black" Jews of Cochin, established on the Malabar coast from antiquity, migrated almost en masse. Scattered communities, however, continued to maintain themselves here and there in the Asian continent. In 1970 there were 2,518,000 Jews in the State of Israel, forming about 15% of world Jewry and the third largest Jewish concentration in the world. By the early 21st century it had passed the 5 million mark and constituted nearly 40% of the world Jewish population. -Demography and Statistics The growth of the Jewish population on the Asian continent during a period of a bit more than 120 years, from 1840 to 1961, shows a steadily increasing tempo. This was, no doubt, in keeping with the general improvement in Asian health and hygienic standards, especially among urban populations, affected by the penetration of European influence. In the first 60 years (1840–1900) the Jewish population increased by only 70%; over the next 40 years (1900–40) it more than doubled, and in the next 21 years (1940–1961) the figure almost tripled, mainly due to the increase of the Jewish population in Ereẓ Israel. (See Table: Aliyah from Asian Countries.) The drop in the ratio of Asian Jewry to total world Jewry during the first 60 years stemmed from the fact that population increase in Asia lagged considerably behind that in other continents. But the situation changed in the 20th century, and more especially in the period 1940–61, when the percentage more than tripled that at the outset of the period. This percentage increase, however, was not due solely to the absolute numerical growth of the Jewish population in Asia, since it was conditioned in the main by the annihilation of European Jewry, which changed the relative scale. By the 1970s Jews constituted everywhere barely a fraction of 1% of the total population. About 100,000 Jews were scattered over this gigantic continent (outside of Israel) as minority groups engulfed by overwhelming – and in the Arab countries, usually hostile – majorities and were thereby seriously exposed to various dangers. Complete assimilation threatened Asiatic Soviet Jewry, dispersed over the vast expanses of Asiatic Jewish Population of Asia in 1966 and in 2002 (excluding Israel)") Jewish Population of Asia in 1966 and in 2002 (excluding Israel)   2"> 1966 2"> 2002 Country Total Population Jewish Population Total Population Jewish Population 5"> Including Hong Kong. Far East Afganistan 15,352,000 800 Burma 25,246,000 200 China 700,000,000 20 1,287,900,000 1,000 Hong Kong 3,836,000 200 India 498,680,000 16,000 1,049,500,000 5,200 Indonesia 104,500,000 100 Japan 97,960,000 1,000 127,096,000 1,000 Pakistan 105,044,000 300 Philippines 33,477,000 500 80,000,000 100 Singapore 1,914,000 600 4,200,000 300 Near East Cyprus 603,000 30 Iran 23,428,000 88,000 65,600,000 11,000 Iraq 8,262,000 2,500 Lebanon 2,400,000 6,000 Syria 5,399,000 3,000 17,200,000 100 Turkey 32,005,000 35,000 67,300,000 18,000 \<!   \> \!main periods of aliyah from asian countries Main Periods of Aliyah from Asian countries   Country Main period of Aliyah Number of Immigrants to Israel Jewish Population in 1945 4"> Iraq served as an assembly center for immigrants from other places. The high emigration figures do not indicate that all the Jews left Iraq in this period. Turkey 1919–1950 37,000 80,000 Lebanon+Syria 1950–1955 12,000 25,000 Iraq 1950–1951 106,662 90,000 Iran 1950–1965 18,000 50,000 Afganistan 1950 1,200 5,000 China 1949 5,000 9,000 Manchuria 1949 1,000 10,000 Japan 2,000 Philippine 1950–1955 22 1,000 Islands Pakistan 1949–1953 1,500 1,500 India 1950–1955 4,000 30,000 Indonesia 1950 20 2,000 Yemen 1948–1950 43,000 45,000 Aden 1950 2,825 6,000 Russia, among whom the rate of mixed marriages had been as high as 25–30% before World War II. Over the following decades, however, the trend continued. The various communities of Asia emigrated, often to Israel. Thus the remnant of the Yemeni and Syrian communities left and many thousands left Iran. There were still sizeable communities in Azerbaijan (6,000), Uzbekistan (7,000), Tajikistan (1,100) Kazakhstan (5,000), and Iran (11,500). However, the overall population of   Figure 2. The growth of the Jewish population in Ere Israel and its decrease in other parts of Asia from 1840 to 1966. Figure 2. The growth of the Jewish population in Ereẓ Israel and its decrease in other parts of Asia from 1840 to 1966.   Jews in Asia (outside Israel) declined to no more than 47,000 in 2005. Over the same period Judaizing movements in india and elsewhere did something to raise the total. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.N. Adler, Jews in Many Lands (1905), 173–244; I. Cohen, Journal of a Jewish Traveller (1925), 105–266; S.S. Mendelsohn, Jews of Asia (1930); J.J. Benjamin, Eight Years in Asia and Africa (1859); J. Saphir, Even Sappir, 2 vols. (1866); I. Ben Zvi, The Exiled and the Redeemed (1957); Fischel, Islam; H. Lord, Jews in Indian and Far East (1907); H. Dicker, Wanderers and Settlers in the Far East: a Century of Jewish Life in China and Japan (1962); S. Strizower, Exotic Jewish Communities (1962); Neusner, Babylonia; AJYB, passim. S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 6 vols. (1967–1993); S.B. Isenberg, India's Bene Israel: a Comprehensive Inquiry and Source Book (1988); J.G. Roland, Jews in British India: Identity in a Colonial Era (1989); Thomas A. Triberg (ed.), Jews in India (1986); J.B.A. Segal, A History of the Jews of Cochin (1993); S.J. Shaw, The Jews Figure 3. Figures for main periods of Aliyah from Asian countries. Figure 3. Figures for main periods of Aliyah from Asian countries.   of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic (1991); N.A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands (1979). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Parfitt, The Lost Tribes of Israel: the History of a Myth (2002).