Wanderings

What does it mean to be a "wandering Jew?"  That's one of the main questions that we're trying to get a handle on in this week's classes.  When the  Jews left their homeland after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, it seems as though our history has been one long road trip.  Out of Jerusalem, some Jews wended their way through mountains, deserts and valleys and sailed across seas to land in ports as far away as Spain, Morocco and Portugal.  They would blend their traditions with the local culture, eventually becoming what we now refer to as Sephardi Jews.

     At the same time, other Jews went north, to settle in Rhineland, the areas in Germany and Northern France that nestled along the Rhine River.  These Jews became known as Ashkenazi Jews, and it is their story that we are following in class.  Unlike their southern brethren, the Jews who settled in Northern Europe during the Roman Empire and early Middle Ages did not assimilate.  They preferred to keep their own language of Hebrew, and live within their own communities.  Eventually, the language evolved into Yiddish, a blend of German and Hebrew, and the Ashkenazi Jews thrived as traders, artisans and moneylenders.
     Alas, the Middle Ages were not a good time for these Jews.   The antisemitism demonstrated by intermittent attacks on individuals and small communities in the 700's and 800's grew to epidemic proportions during the Crusades.  In the 12th and 13th centuries, Jews were labeled "infidels" and attacked by angry mobs throughout France, England and Germany.  Things settled down for a while, but as the Black Death decimated 1/3 of Europe's population, the Jews were blamed, and violence increased.  Still, the Ashkenazim remained in these countries which had become their homes, even during the Inquisition.  Torture and often death faced the Ashkenazim, yet their culture, religion and language were the glue that held their communities together.
     Finally, by the late 1300's, after being expelled from France and England, over 100,000 of the Ashkenazi Jews made their way east, to the Slavic countries of Poland, Latvia, and parts of Russia.  There, they were welcomed by the local gentiles, and encouraged to settle into new Jewish communities.  As we all know, things would change...eventually.  Pogroms throughout Eastern Europe would once again force the wandering Jews to hit the road, landing on our shores in the late 19th century.  Here in America, the Ashkenazim would take an important part in helping to mold our American culture.