18 Questions, 40 Mystics26 Touko 2025

Malka Simkovich: When Did The Jewish Diaspora Begin? (18Forty Podcast Re-Release)

While we await next week's new episode, we invite you to revisit our (third) 18Forty Podcast conversation with Malka Simkovich, originally aired on November 19, 2024.

18Forty is celebrating its fifth year LIVE in NYC on June 9. Reserve your seats today!

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Malka Simkovich—a scholar of Jewish history, the editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society, and a three-time 18Forty guest—about previous Jewish diasporas.

We tend to think of “Israel-diaspora relations” as a modern phenomenon. But, as Dr. Simkovich reminds us, that situation existed well over 2,000 years ago, when some Jews returned to the Land of Israel following the Babylonian exile while others remained abroad. In this episode we discuss:

What are the differences between the notions of golah, diaspora, and galut?
Did ancient diaspora Jews have a political equivalent to “supporting Israel”?
How should Jews live when in a partial state of exile?

Tune in to hear a conversation about the “proto-messianic mindset” throughout Jewish history and today.

Interview begins at 8:58.

Dr. Malka Simkovich is the director and editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society and previously served as the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She earned a doctoral degree in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism from Brandeis University and a Master’s degree in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016), Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018), and Letters From Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, (2024). This is her third time speaking on 18Forty.

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