A Split Jewish Diaspora: Its Dramatic Consequences

This article proposes that a language divide and two systems of communication contributed to the creation of a serious divide between the western and eastern Jewish diasporas. This study maintains that the western Greek-speaking Jews lost touch with the Halakhah and the Rabbis, a condition that had far-reaching consequences on Jewish history thereafter. The Rabbis paid a high price for keeping their Halakhah in oral form, losing in consequence half of their constituency. An oral law did not develop in the western diaspora, whereas the existing eastern one was not translated into Greek. Hence it is not surprising that western Jews contributed nothing to the development of the oral law in the east. The Jewish communities that were isolated from the Rabbinic network served as a receptive basis for the development of an alternative Christian network by Paul and the apostles, which enabled it to spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. Jewish communities that remained biblically oriented established themselves in Europe in the Middle Ages.