THE LIFE OUTSIDE THE NATIVE LAND

                                       

"Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens. And take care of the welfare of the city, in which I moved you, and pray for the Lord; because the well-being of him and you will be peace".

So wrote the Prophet Jeremiah from Jerusalem the elders, priests, other prophets, and an entire nation, which is on the order of Nebuchadnezzar was relocated to Babylon. Following his wise Council, exiles began to care "about the well-being of the people" and succeeded in doing so. Babylonian captivity was not any comparison with the harsh living conditions of the children of Israel on the Nile, Pitom and Raamses in the days of Moses. The Babylonians, with rare exceptions, not forced Jews to the heavy physical labor. So, nowhere does it say that the prisoners were involved in the production of bricks, the brick industry in Babylon was in those days, perhaps the first in the world. After all, when Nebuchadnezzar in Mesopotamia was a great building.

Anyone who has taken advantage of by Jeremiah, have made great strides.

At home, the Judea were sedentary farmers, shepherds and artisans. Now, however, the profession of merchant, merchant became the main among these people, and it remains to this day.

A better school than the Babylonian captivity, it was impossible for Israelis and imagine. Babylon, this international centre of trade, industry and commerce, was, in fact, the greatest of the school and the other cities of the ancient world, House all the homeless. This metropolis, the ruins of which 2500 years later, traces of the former greatness and glory, was second to none in the ancient East.