Jewish Communities in Modern Asia

Imperial expansion and adventurism by Great Britain and Russia were the chief motors that initially drove Jewish settlers to move eastwards in the nineteenth century combined as this was with the rise of port cities and general development of the global economy. The new immigrants soon become centrally involved in ways quite disproportionate to their numbers in Asian commerce. Their role and centrality finished with the outbreak of World War II the chaos that resulted from the fighting and the consequent collapse of Western imperialism. This unique ground-breaking book charts their rise and fall while pointing to signs of these communities'' post-war resurgence and revival. Fourteen chapters by many of the most prominent authorities in the field from a range of perspectives explore questions of identity society and culture across several Asian locales. The book concludes with a fascinating chapter exploring the quest for the supposed ''lost tribes of Israel''.