The Jews of Eastern Europe #262025

The dispersion of the Jews had already begun long before St. James wrote his Epistle to the sojourners of the Dispersion. They had already reached the more important cities of the Roman Empire. With the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation of a great part of the Jews, their numbers everywhere vastly increased. As Slaves at first, and afterwards as freedmen, they penetrated into the more remote parts of the Empire. Wherever the Roman built his roads and opened up the way to commerce, there the Jew followed. This brought them into the lands of Western Europe.