Jews, as a nation and a religious group, were born in the Middle East. The exact location cannot matter that much today: Southern Mesopotamia, Northern Mesopotamia, Egypt and today’s Land of Israel, with the surrounding areas, are all heavy contributors into the Jewish nation. Despite rather unambiguous historical links to Mesopotamia (today’s areas of Iraq) and other areas, it is only the Land of Israel that Jews across generations claimed as theirs, and in strongest terms.
It would be fair to say that during the time of King David, about 3,000 years ago, all or almost all Jews lived in the Land of Israel. How many were they? Up to 2 million – a very uncertain figure that may be radically revised downwards in the future; it is still worth mentioning it before a better estimate becomes available. In the 1,000 years that followed, as a result of war and peaceful migration, significant Jewish presence formed outside of Israel. Around the beginning of the Common Era, the Land of Israel hosted 50% of all Jews on the globe (probably about 2.5 million). The other 50% however lived nearby-in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syria, in any case, not in Europe.
The next thousand years were the time of destruction, both in absolute terms and in the weight of the Land of Israel in global Jewry. When a Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela decided to survey the entire Jewish world, in 1170 CE, he kept detailed numerical records of numbers of all communities he visited. These records (allowing for some later corrections) suggest that no more than 1.3 million Jews existed in the world at that time, only 5% of whom lived in the Land of Israel. Ramle, Ashkelon, Jerusalem, Acre and Caesaria were the largest Jewish communities mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela in the Land of Israel. Each numbered no more than 1,500 Jews. The entire Jewish world was still predominantly Middle Eastern but some Jews already lived in Europe at that time.
The final thousand years are the time of Israel’s revival from the miserable share documented by Benjamin of Tudela to the share resembling the beginning of the Common Era. 45% of all Jews live in Israel today (about 6.9 million, 1 January 2021). In sum, history of Israel could be neatly divided into three parts: (1) a thousand years of consolidation and growth of Jewish presence, all the way up to Year 0, (2) a thousand years of collapse (0-1000) , and (3) a thousand year of revival (1000-2020). That is ‘telescopically-speaking’ of course, focusing on large objects seen from great distance. No matter when, neither growth nor decline were continuous. ‘Microscopically-speaking’, i.e. with attention to detail, Jewish population in Israel fluctuated in the course of each millennium.
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If using graphical and/or textual content presented here, please cite Jewish World in Data (Daniel Staetsky) as a source