The Spread of the Ideological Concept of a (Jerusalem-Centred) Tōrâ-centred Israel beyond Yehud: Observations and Implications

The first historical attestation of the wide acceptance and development of the ideological concept of a (Jerusalem-centred) tōrâ-centred Israel outside Judah occurs in Ptolemaic Egypt. Socio-demographic features of the Judean migration to Egypt in the aftermath of the Greco-Macedonian conquest and historical contingencies in Ptolemaic Egypt facilitated the socio-cultural processes that led to this outcome. This essay opens a conversation on how and why the concept of tōrâ-centred Israel, which was rooted in the late Persian period among Yehud's Jerusalem-centred literati, extended beyond its traditional circles and spread beyond its borders.