Globalization, Location, and Identity: Determinants and Consequences of Modern Jewish Geography

• In Event: Transnational Jewish Identities, Intersections, and Contexts

Abstract

Any attempt to study the Jewish collective transnationally must cope with the foundational fact that Jews (not unlike numerous other human and social aggregates) are geographically dispersed worldwide. The very definition of the Jewish collective inherently draws from their past and present high geographical mobility and heterogeneous physical location. A Jewish population that were theoretically concentrated, constituting a minority in only one country would not be able to carry in the long run the cultural complexity and resilience actually demonstrated all along history by the constellation of Jewish minorities in scores of different countries. A similar doubt might be raised regarding the viability of a Jewish people exclusively located in one country alone of which it forms the majority. If the dependency of Jewish experience on multiple locations seems therefore a prerequisite of Jewish existence, the question becomes whether certain patterns of geographical directionality and location can be meaningfully posited among the major drivers and consequences of Jewish history and society. These issues need first to be examined through a short review of the disciplinary tools available for such an assessment. It is also necessary to shortly review the definitional criteria of the group at stake, which cannot be considered neutral to geography. Regard the substance of the relationship between Jewish existence and geographical distribution, the multilevel character of the relationship should be recognized. First, a global civilizational dimension requires assessing the general patterns of cultural and societal organization than may have resulted more favorable to a Jewish presence. Second, a national dimension calls for examining which regional factors within a given country may stimulate or deter a Jewish presence. Third, an urban dimension involves understanding the nature of residential choices within major metropolitan areas and other urban locations where Jews are preferentially located. The further question of what Israel's existence did to modern Jewish geography needs to be given special consideration. In the concluding remarks, an attempt will be made to draw crossnational and transnational generalizations that may be helpful to a broader assessment of the Jewish past and to predictions about the Jewish future.

author

• Sergio DellaPergola, Hebrew University of Jerusalem