Question

Hi Michi,
About 30 years ago already, I argued on various occasions that the exile following the destruction of the Second Temple is a bluff.
True, the Romans exiled a few thousand Jews after the revolt. But by that time there were already huge numbers of Jews all over the world. Evidence for this is the revolts that those Jewish communities carried out against the authorities.
And in this context—after all, we say, “we were exiled from our land,” not “we were deported from our land.” We sinned in that we preferred the comforts of the Diaspora to the Land of Israel.
But there were mitigating circumstances: after all, what was true in Egypt in Joseph’s time and afterward continued to be true later as well: “And the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied and increased exceedingly greatly, and the land was filled with them.” The Land of Israel was too small for the Jewish people. Thanks to the Jews’ high level of literacy, and the connection among the communities in different lands, Jews had an advantage in international trade. And the extensive trade caused more and more Jews to “go down to buy grain.”
At first a clever little idea came to mind, but since it would just be sophistry for its own sake, I’ll let it go.
All the best to you, and have a good week.