ABSTRACT
Diaspora Jews would henceforth be nourished and sustained by a Judaism “made in Israel” and exported for Diaspora consumption. Judaism in Israel will flourish because of Diaspora contributions, and Diaspora Judaism will maintain itself because of its contact with the State of Israel. The Jewish “colonies” are the exact counterparts of the “colonies” of Egyptians, Syrians, and Phoenicians, in Greece, in Rome, and in the important commercial centers of Italy. The term “ancestral customs” quite clearly describes the Jewish politeia in Alexandria as a religious organization. The second term, “the enjoyment of political rights,” is not so clear, but, according to Wolfson, it is quite certain, on the evidence of the Claudine letters to the Alexandrines, that the Jews were not full citizens of Alexandria. The raison d’etre of the Diaspora, now that the State of Israel has been established, is its usefulness to the Jewish State.
