ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד בין העמים בכל מדינות מלכותך
As
we explained yesterday, the Jews were deported from Israel in 586 BCE.
At that time, more than 100,000 Jews were living in the Babylonian
Empire. The Jews were second class citizens, virtual prisoners of war of
the Babylonians. But the Jewish resilience prevailed. Not only they
did not assimilate but in a few decades, especially with the surge of
the Persian Empire (538 BCE), the Jews began to thrive. While in Israel,
for centuries, the Jews dedicated mainly to agriculture, now they
discovered a new enterprise: trade. The huge Persian Empire was a
perfect international free-trade-zone. Some examples.
According to Samuel Kurinsky (see below) the Jews discovered how to produce glass (from sand) including ornamental glass-beads. The Jews exported glass-beads to China in exchange for gold and silver mining rights.
The Jews also exported to China linen, made in Israel, (thus helping their brothers in Yerushalayim) and imported Chinese silk. Kurinsky explains that Chinese people fancied linen as much as the west fancied Chinese silk. Because of the international network they developed, Jews were very prominent in the famous Silk Road. "...the Jewish enclaves within the region, formed the hub of a network of trade routes that fanned out across Asia to the East and West. Jewish merchants and artisans established colonies at strategic points along those routes....".
Jews were also very strong in the spices trade. They imported exotic spices from China and India, which were in high demand in the west.
According to Samuel Kurinsky (see below) the Jews discovered how to produce glass (from sand) including ornamental glass-beads. The Jews exported glass-beads to China in exchange for gold and silver mining rights.
The Jews also exported to China linen, made in Israel, (thus helping their brothers in Yerushalayim) and imported Chinese silk. Kurinsky explains that Chinese people fancied linen as much as the west fancied Chinese silk. Because of the international network they developed, Jews were very prominent in the famous Silk Road. "...the Jewish enclaves within the region, formed the hub of a network of trade routes that fanned out across Asia to the East and West. Jewish merchants and artisans established colonies at strategic points along those routes....".
Jews were also very strong in the spices trade. They imported exotic spices from China and India, which were in high demand in the west.
But
all scholars agree that the most successful Jewish enterprise was
"credit". We have records, almost 900 clay tablets, of two families of
Jewish bankers, among them the Murashu family. (see this).
Imagine promissory notes, written in Hebrew, that were recognized and
honored by other Jewish merchants and financiers in the remote corners
of the Persian Empire, which extended from India-China to
Sudan-Ethiopia. "Jewish bankers made finance capital a factor of Persian
industrial development and initiated a system of credit that Jewish
traders wove into the world economy. The surviving records of two Jewish
banking families are among the most revealing documents of the Persian
period. Jews supplied the credit and capital for the expanding economy
of the region."
Probably referring to this international trade-hub, Haman described the Jews to Ahashverosh with great accuracy (Esther 3:8)"There is a certain people spread and dispersed among the peoples, in all the provinces of your kingdom..."
It
seems that by the time of Ahashverosh, the Jews in the Persian Empire
were economically successful. This could also explain why the majority
of the Jewish population (probably over 200,000 Jews) choose to remain
in the prosperous Diaspora instead of joining those who returned to
Erets Israel in 538 BCE.
For more information about the innovations and entrepreneurship of the Jews in their first diaspora read: "Samuel Kurinsky - The eighth day: the hidden history of the Jewish contribution to civilization"
For more information about the innovations and entrepreneurship of the Jews in their first diaspora read: "Samuel Kurinsky - The eighth day: the hidden history of the Jewish contribution to civilization"