Jewish Dispersion
Although the Jews were scattered, the dispersion was still bound together by religious ties.
The Hellenizing tendency found its most free development at Alexandria. The temple was the acknowledged center of Judaism, and the faithful Jew everywhere contributed the half shekel toward its maintenance..
The dispersion of the Jews throughout the world dates from the Babylonian exile. There are legends of early Jewish settlements in Arabia, Ethiopia and Abyssinia. Theirs was not professedly a missionary religion; but wherever the faithful Jew went, he carried the knowledge of the true God and as far as his influence extended, he carried that combination of religion and lawful commerce.
