How Change in Climate Resulted in Our Mental State of Mind and violence

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

      Protests over George Floyd's death on May 25, 2020  in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA  A police car burned in Brooklyn on Saturday night after clashes between demonstrators and officers.  100 years ago in 1920  the high was 84 and low was 62.   The day George died was 78 high 65 low.  A difference of 100 years is not enough to show a global warming taking place.  It was a hot day when the police interacted with George, though.  Minneapolis's highest and lowest weather we know since 1819: 

Highest Temperature	112 °F (44 °C)	May 31, 1934	Maple Plain
Lowest Temperature	4 °F (−16 °C)	May 1, 1909 May 2, 1909	Pine River

Protests Over Racism and Police Violence

Protests have erupted in at least 140 cities across the United States in the days after George Floyd, a black man, died in police custody. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent, prompting the activation of the National Guard in at least 21 states.

Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

An unsubstantiated claim but an interesting one is that a rise in average temperatures by just one degree leads to a 30% increase in violence.  

Think about it.  The direction of change is clear:  Every upheaval in climate conditions like increased rain and flooding or drought leads to social upheaval and violence.  Let history show  us:

1948-1800 BCE:  Drought in Canaan causing Jacob and family to migrate to Egypt

11th century BCE:  a powerful climate change took place in the Middle East like returning to the starting point of history.  The 11th century BC comprises all years from 1100 BC to 1001 BC. Many human societies were literate in this period,  1050 BC: Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from Israel in battle. (Approximate date). 1040 BC: David, King of Israel, is born. (This is Christian dating-as Judaism has David born in 1010 BCE).  

1206 BC

1187 BC

Evidence of major droughts in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hittite and Ugarit records show requests for grain were sent to Egypt, probably during the reign of Pharaoh Merenptah. Carpenter has suggested that droughts of equal severity to those of the 1950s in Greece, would have been sufficient to cause the Late Bronze Age collapse. The cause may have been a temporary diversion of winter storms north of the Pyrenees and Alps. Central Europe experienced generally wetter conditions, while those in the Eastern Mediterranean were substantially drier. There seems to have been a general abandonment of peasant subsistence agriculture in favour of nomadic pastoralism in Central Anatolia, Syria and northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, the Sinai and NW Arabia.

4th century CE:  Asians began moving West towards Turkey in trying to reach Hungary and the Balkans.

5th century:  Thousands migrated to Europe;  Huns, Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks and Vandals, moved because of climate and other reasons.

7th century: Islamic horsemen rode from Arabian Peninsula and settled throughout the Mediterranean Basin.

11th century:  Eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea underwent a climatic shock and warm Mesopotamia suffered cold waves.  The Nile River dried up and Egyptians went hungry and thirsty.  Entire tribes began migrating and as a result, Fustat, the capital, was destroyed.  Many fled a cold front in Russia and Siberia and moved toward Iraq and Middle East.

13th century:  Mongols-Genghis Khan and Timur arrived in Iraq and destroyed everything in sight.

1914-1918 WWI

1918-1919 Flu Pandemic 

1934: Globally the year 1934 was cooler than the 20th century average.The year 1934 was a very hot year in the United States, ranking sixth behind 2012, 2016, 2015, 2006, and 1998. However, global warming takes into account temperatures over the entire planet, including the oceans. The land area of the U.S. accounts for only 2% of Earth's total surface area. Despite the U.S. sweltering in 1934, that year was not especially hot over the rest of the planet. Globally, 1934 temperatures were actually cooler than average for the 20th century.    

1939, 1941-1945 WWII                               

Climate change skeptics have pointed to 1934 in the U.S. as proof that recent hot years are not unusual. Choosing the year 1934 is an obvious example of "cherry-picking" a single fact that supports a claim, while ignoring the rest of the data. In fact they have to cherry pick both a location (the U.S.) and a year (1934) to find data that is far from the global trend. Globally, the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 are the hottest on record, so far.

                                                    

Portland, Oregon July Temperature from 2016-2019

Temperature

High °F	Low °F	Year
80	58	2019
88	59	2018
83	56	2017
79	58	2016

1955-2015  Population growth in Middle East over the last 60 years has been unprecedented in the history of mankind.  

2015:  Wave of migrants flowing into Europe.  These refugees are a global phenomenon reminiscent of past historical migrations, like when the Jewish People went out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land or the movement of ethnic peoples that brought about the downfall of the Roman Empire.  

Migration happened then between 300,000 -800,000 war refugees;  climate refugees, migrant workers leaving poverty-stricken Africa, war-ravaged Middle East trying to reach Western Europe.  

                                                Demographics:

Population of Middle East and North Africa doubled from 1950-1980.  It doubled again in 28 more years from 1980-2008.  

                                                              

1979:  Melting of Ice in Polar regions: Sea ice melting since 1979 is 'enormously outside the bounds of natural variability' and clearly linked to humans burning fossil fuels, research shows.                                                          

1995-2015:  800 lakes in Africa dried up causing 100-200 million people to leave the African continent and its conflicts and corrupt leaders.  

2015:  1 billion people live in Africa .  In one decade, this number will increase by another 1/2 billion.   As of March 27, 2021 it is 1,363,973,822 which makes up 16.72% of the total world population.  Jews make up 0.02% of world population.   

2015:  400 million people  live in the Nile Basin.  Water in the Nile is drying up.  A huge number of infiltrators from Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia began their voyage out of the area.  

2015: 400-450 million people live in Europe of which 25 million are Muslims;  2020 estimate was 448 million.   

2020-2021, ?  COVID 19 Pandemic bringing life to a standstill , 2.8 million deaths by 3/31/21 

2021:  747,974,811 million people in Europe

May 2021-a swarm of billions of cicadas will rise after incubation of 17 years in 15 states including Washington DC when earth reaches 64 degrees, harmless but noisy insects.  

What's been happening lately?   We have seen a lot of marches, demonstrations like Black Lives Matters, marches turning into riots and destruction such as in Portland, Oregon, and the prophecy of the End of Days and the Coming of the Messiah, foretold in all 3 religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  They prophesied well, for the climatologists foretell a rising of the temperature and melting of ice in the Artic which is happening.                                            

Iran is threatening Israel with missiles from Syria, Lebanon, China is restless and so is Russia.                                   

 Mexican refugees claiming refugee status again and are entering the USA under Biden by droves now that Trump and his wall are out of the picture.  Update, Feb. 16, 2021: According to a CBP status report dated Jan. 22, two days after Trump left office, the U.S. constructed 458 miles of “border wall system” under Trump. That included 373 miles of replacement barriers for primary or secondary fencing, and 52 miles of primary wall and 33 miles of secondary wall in locations where there were no barriers before.

Biden did halt construction of new border barriers immediately upon taking office. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it “suspended all bollard barrier and gate construction January 21, 2021, and suspended all work on border infrastructure January 23, 2021.”

Resource;

Report, October 19, 2015, by Arnon Soffer, p. 6-7. Demographic doom

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/#:~:text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Africa,of%20the%20total%20world%20population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_environmental_history

https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/health/climate-violence

https://skepticalscience.com/1934-hottest-year-on-record.htm

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18082016/arctic-sea-ice-melting-historical-data-noaa-climate-change-global-warming-greenhouse-gases/?gclid=CjwKCAjwu5CDBhB9EiwA0w6sLWaROTGRLkstH6tWvsk0kU00nbrKpcGTuFZkog_pAPbYnSt0McIAYxoC2mUQAvD_BwE

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/30/cicadas-brood-x-prepares-swarm-15-states-dc/7044411002/

Finding Black Jews in the USA and Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Sammy Davis, Jr. (Dec. 8, 1925 Harlem, New York City-May 16, 1999 Beverly Hills, California)  “I’m colored, Jewish, and Puerto Rican,” the legendary Sammy Davis, Jr. once said at a performance. “When I move into a neighborhood, I wipe it out.” He said his mother, Elvera Sanchez, an Afro-Cuban dancer, was Puerto Rican, because he was afraid anti-Cuban backlash would hurt his career.

                                                                

We find that Jews are most likely born, not talked into becoming Jewish.  If your mother was Jewish, you are Jewish.  No argument.  If only your father was Jewish, and if you were born in about 1391 BCE, you were definitely Jewish, but today, it's questionable because of facts that have become the norm.  It's mothers who remind children that they are Jewish and keep a Jewish home atmosphere and cooking.  Dads are out of the house away from the children and have no affect as to what the child is learning.  That's the way it has been up to modern times, but now?  Besides that, we KNOW who the mother is; it's a visual thing when you get right down to it.  As for the father, we have only her word for it.  That's been changing back to only dads can fit the bill with everyone but  the strict adherents to the law.  On top of that, we do have DNA for proof today if there's a question or adoption. 

                                                                 

            The man I most respect-roots from Africa, not Ethiopian, but from Kenya,  a lawyer and rabbi normally to his people, a soldier like most all Israelis.  He's moved permanently to Israel now but had been traveling back and forth from Africa during his milueem duties.  Now this is a mentch, a real Jew!   I believe, if my memory still serves me, that he discovered his Y haplogroup being of the Jewish J1 line of the Cohen, and studied and converted to Judaism.    

  Who would select the religion who has been persecuted since its beginnings and hated so much?  If it wasn't during Haman's attempt at killing all the Jews in the world to the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms in Russia and the Holocaust that tried to wipe out all Jews, one wouldn't think that one would decide to convert to Judaism, but Sammy Davis, Jr. did.  He isn't alone, either.  Just wait till I tell you about this going on with the BLACKS, another group on the low end of the totem pole.

                                                                 

Color has never been an issue.  It's tribal; if one is of the 12 tribes going way back or as for all others if born to  a Jewish mother, or even if converted, what kind of conversion?  Orthodox or what?  Jews have walked the whole earth and found themselves with all colors of people, managing to carry on a normal life wherever and have children.  Lately Israel has been finding Jews from all over who have come to live with them.  

                                                                       

    Sammy's working and playing friends, THE RAT PACK.    Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy, and  on the end are Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who is a Polish Jew.   

     First Sammy Davis.  He's amazing!  Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian and comedian whom critic Randy Blaser called "the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage in these United States."  He does seem to fit the description of some Jews who have developed the reputation as actors and entertainers, singers and dancers, all right.  Sammy hobnobbed with a lot of Jews being they were in the same industry, but Sammy CHOSE to become Jewish, and he was born a Catholic..  He had chutzpah, all right.  He not only changed his religion but added more to his own culture as well.  Not many people can juggle 2 cultures at the same time, 2 very distinctive cultures of Black and Jewish  which includes learning a bit of Yiddish or Ladino as well as well as learning enough Hebrew.  His autobiography is entitled, YES, I CAN.  

 Despite his success, he often had to stay at “Black Only” hotels, illustrating the extreme racism he faced.

In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities. "In 1961, Davis converted to Judaism at a Las Vegas ceremony after studying with Rabbi Max Nussbaum at Temple Israel of Hollywood." It was a Reform conversion.  While filming Porgy and Bess in 1959, he insisted on not working on Yom Kippur.    Davis said Judaism felt natural: “After the accident I needed something desperately to hold onto. I found myself being more and more convinced that Judaism was it for me. I know there’s sort of a kinship between the plight of a Negro and the plight of a Jew: the oppression, the segregation, the constant trying to survive and trying to achieve dignity.”

          Eddie Fisher, Eddie Cantor, and Sammy Davis, jr., all Jewish

 Eddie Cantor, a good friend,  talked to Davis in the hospital about the similarities between Jewish and Black cultures. Davis, who was born to a Catholic mother and Baptist father, began studying the history of Jews. He converted to Judaism several years later in 1961. One passage from his readings (from the book A History of the Jews by Abram L. Sachar), describing the endurance of the Jewish people, interested him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three millennia of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush." The accident marked a turning point in Davis's career, taking him from a well-known entertainer to a national celebrity.

Davis’s popularity helped break the race barrier of the segregated entertainment industry. He did however have a complex relationship with the black community and drew criticism after publicly supporting President Richard Nixon in 1972. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro who's Jewish."^[ This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography and in many articles.                        

             4 religions:  Jew, Druze, Christian and Muslim -color unimportant                 
         The IDF of Israel shows the blend of  Israelis.  Each man here is from a                                                different culture and religion.  

Several congregations in New York are composed of Blacks who observe most of the Orthodox Jewish ritual.  They claim descent from the Ethiopian Jews.  Some of them are believed to be descendants of Black converts to Judaism dating back to American and West Indian slavery days; but  most adopted Judaism comparatively recently.                                                    

   A new immigrant, an Ethiopian child that came with parents and many others in a special flight bringing in hundreds of Ethiopian Jews to Israel; their choice to return

The main group was first organized as a congregation in 1930 by one of their members,  Rabbi Wentworth A. Matthew.  In addition, individual Blacks have converted to Judaism and are to be found in many parts of the US.  One of my own students in a private Jewish school was the child of a Jewish man and converted Black mother.  

                                                           

       A group of African Hebrew Israelites in Dimona, Israel.

A community from Chicago, after an unsuccessful experience in Liberia, that country populated by American ex-slaves, arrived in Israel claiming to be BLACK JEWS.  they were allowed to remain and settled in Dimona where they numbered several hundreds as of 1973.  As of now,  they have become rather problematic,  whose members believe they are descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The community now numbers around 5,000. Their immigrant ancestors were African Americans, many from Chicago, Illinois, who migrated to Israel in the late 1960s.  I have argued with several, who insisted that the real Jews-meaning the 12 tribes, were Blacks.  They were rather nasty with me, saying that we Jews were not Jews at all.  Yikes.  (It seems like the old adage of a little education can be harmful is true, one has to check out the origin of that education, for sure.)  It's what we learn of our religion that teaches us our ethics and mores  that's important, not the color of one's skin that's all that important.  

The Black Hebrews have alarmed the Israeli Government by declaring themselves the ''true'' Jews, by denouncing the Israelis as mere ''trustees'' of the land and by vowing to replace them with thousands of blacks returning to the Promised Land.  

By any definition, the Black Hebrews are not ordinary Jews but, rather, a strange cult. The rule of their 41-year-old leader, Ben-Ami Carter, is absolute. He has created a closed society that the Israelis have found difficult to penetrate, much less fully understand. Defectors have told Israeli authorities that some followers are held against their will within the sect, even mistreated. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that fugitives from the United States have taken refuge in the Dimona community after carrying out fraudulent schemes to raise money for the group.

UPDATE:  Evidently in 2018, Israel was having a problem with illegal entry of surrounding Blacks from other nations.  "HERZLIYA, Israel -- Thousands of African asylum seekers are protesting an Israeli plan to deport them. The mostly Eritrean and Sudanese who illegally entered Israel will be expelled under the new plans.  The government has issued an ultimatum, telling them to leave the country by April 1 -- in exchange for $3,500 and a plane ticket -- or face indefinite incarceration.  I saw a video on youtube about it with one fellow interviewed who broke out of a Sudanese jail and preferred to return to Israel even it it meant prison there as well.  Wonder how they solved this problem.  They were not interested in conversion, I'm sure.  I seem to remember that as a time citizens were being accosted for money and such by some of them for their survival.  

We came from 12 tribes originally, 12 brothers who all had the same father, Jacob.  The catch was that 2 of the mothers were sisters and were relatives of Jacob, and the other 2 were these mothers' handmaidens, most likely from Egypt or thereabouts, giving us, hundreds of generations later, the color of skin that most Ashkenazis, Sephardis and Mizrachis have.  

To those doubtful Thomases, may I suggest a DNA family finder test and transferring that to GEDmatch.com,genesis and do some deep deep ancestry evaluating with your DNA.  You'll see where your ancient ancestors were .  Science is great these days.  

Sammy Davis singing:  https://youtu.be/5Ys3yVu42ZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWvHS-IoU3s

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Davis_Jr.

https://www.kveller.com/23-things-you-dont-know-about-jewish-icon-sammy-davis-jr/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Hebrew_Israelites_of_Jerusalem

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/magazine/strangers-in-the-holy-land.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Bishop

Homelands For Freed Slaves : Blacks and Jews

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

                              Ships in 1819 used to return to Africa for Liberia

In 1821, the American Colonization Society founded the colony of Liberia south of Sierra Leone as a homeland for freed U.S. slaves outside of British jurisdiction. Most Americans of African descent were not enthusiastic to abandon their homes in the United States for the West African coast.   Liberia stretches over 38,250 square miles)

                                                     

The first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The immigration was largely the work of the American Colonization Society, a U.S. organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to return formerly enslaved African people to Africa. However, the expedition was also partially funded by the U.S. Congress, which in 1819 had appropriated $100,000 to be used in returning displaced Africans, illegally brought to the United States after the abolishment of the slave trade in 1808, to Africa.  It took the Civil War (April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865) to end slavery in the USA, so they were taking slaves illegally since 1808--practicing Slave Trading for 57 years!  

That $100, 000 in 1819 would be the same as  $2,087,412.70 today.

Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society (ACS), who believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. The country declared its independence on July 26, 1847. The U.S. did not recognize Liberia's independence until February 5, 1862, during the American Civil War. 

Between January 7, 1822, and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born people of color who faced social and legal oppression in the United States, as well as 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to the settlement, a total of 18,198 former slaves.  

 The settlers carried their culture and tradition with them. The Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after those of the U.S. On January 3, 1848, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a wealthy, free-born African American from Virginia who settled in Liberia, was elected Liberia's first president after the people proclaimed independence. it took from 1821 to 1848 to develop their state, only 27 years.  

As of the 2017 national census, Liberia was home to 4,694,608 people.  The Greater Monrovia District has 970,824 residents. As revealed in the 2008 census, Monrovia is more than four times more populous than all the county capitals combined.   As of 2006, Liberia had the highest population growth rate in the world (4.50% per annum). In 2010 some 43.5% of Liberians were below the age of 15.                                                

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia 2006-2018 Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. She completed her education in the United States, where she studied at Madison Business College and Harvard University.

Sirleaf  forged close relations with the United States, Liberia's traditional ally. Following the establishment of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) by the United States military, Sirleaf offered to allow the US to headquarter the new command in Liberia, the only African leader to do so. President Sirleaf addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress, asking for American support to help her country "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve."

Sirleaf has also strengthened relations with the People's Republic of China, reaffirming Liberia's commitment to the One-China policy. In return, China has contributed to Liberia's reconstruction, building several transmitters to extend the Liberia Broadcasting System nationwide and constructing a new campus for the University of Liberia.

Corruption is endemic at every level of the Liberian government. When President Sirleaf took office in 2006, she announced that corruption was "the major public enemy." In 2014 the US ambassador to Liberia said that corruption there was harming people through "unnecessary costs to products and services that are already difficult for many Liberians to afford. "

Liberia has the highest ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP in the world, with US$16 billion in investment since 2006. Following Sirleaf's inauguration in 2006, Liberia signed several multi-billion-dollar concession agreements in the iron ore and palm oil industries with numerous multinational corporations, including BHP Billiton, ArcelorMittal, and Sime Darby. Palm oil companies like Sime Darby (Malaysia) and Golden Veroleum (USA) have been accused of destroying livelihoods and displacing local communities, enabled by government concessions. Since 1926 The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company has operated the world's largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Margibi County.   As of 2015 it had more than 8,000 mostly Liberian employees, making it the country's largest private employer.

This is so reminiscent of the Israelites of Judah who were kidnapped, made slaves and taken to Babylon. The Fall of Babylon denotes the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire after it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BCE.  The Achaemenid Empire , also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great. The politics here affected the lands they had taken by force.  

      The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus (r.  556–539 BCE)

2,359 years before 1819  in 597 BCE, 8,000 of the local aristocratic  Israelites were kidnapped and taken away from Judah  as slaves  by the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE) .  The same forces under  Nebuchadnezzar 8 years later in 586 BCE attacked Judah and destroyed the Temple of Solomon and took away masses more of the population.                                     

Cyrus II, King of Persia( d 539 BCE)  in 538 BCE allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem some 70 years later to rebuild both their country and Temple.  Not all the people exiled to Babylon were willing to leave it. Who was left out of the original exiles?  Probably none.  

The trek from Jerusalem to Babylonia had been a hard one.   If we leave Portland, Oregon and drive to Lubbock, Texas, we'd be covering the same mileage. As being slaves with soldiers, it would have been 100 times worse by having to walk much of the way.   The miles based distance from Babylon to Jerusalem is 1678.2 miles.  Of those who were 20 years old then would now be 80 or deceased.  Those choosing to return to their homeland had never been there nor had seen the original Temple.  it would take a camel two months at the bare minimum under ideal conditions; and up to around six months under non-ideal circumstances to walk 1,400 miles.  I'd say it would take 6 months to have moved exiles slaves from Jerusalem to Babylon.                                                                                                       

Those that did return joined up with Zerubbabel (b:480 BCE) grandson of King Jehohachin (598-597 BCE) of Judah , who acted as the leader,  Under his directions, they rebuilt the Temple and held a dedication of it in 515 BCE.  Zerubbabel was one of the 1st Jews to return to Judah from Babylon with the assent of Cyrus.  He was appointed satrap after the death of Sheshbazzar, a Jewish official appointed by Cyrus over Judah in 538 BCE.  He was entrusted with the Temple vessels which he returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.  He also laid the foundation for the building of the 2nd Temple.  

Zerubbabel set up an altar, re-established the festivals, and took steps toward the rebuilding of the Temple.  He was the last satrap of Davidic descent in Jerusalem and after his time, the high priest increased in influence, possibly as a consequence of Persian apprehension concerning the renewal of Davidic dynasty.  

                                                

Ezra (of 5th century BCE)  was a Cohen, descendant of the high Priest Zadok who was among those kidnapped.  He had become a scribe to the Persian government.  After some 60 years, word reached him of the spiritual deterioration of the Jewish community  in Jerusalem and other places in Judah.  Ezra decided to lead a new party of settlers who would firmly establish the Mosaic law in Judah.  In 438 BCE, he received the requisite permission from Artaxerxes I of Persia and went to Jerusalem with 1,734 returning exiles.  Ezra, together with Nehemiah, persuaded the people to keep the Torah, to observe the Sabbath and the sabbatical year, to pay their Temple dues, and to reject intermarriage with gentiles by 444 BCE. 

                                               

Nehemiah was the governor of Judah, but when a slave, had been serving as a cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes I.  He also had heard of the deplorable conditions in Jerusalem and requested permission from the king to go there.  Artaxerxes acceded and appointed him the governor of Judah in 444 BCE.  When he reached Jerusalem, he organized the repair of its walls--an activity that was completed in 52 days despite interference by the neighboring population.  Nehemiah then devoted himself to social reforms, including the stimulation of Sabbath observance and the cancellation of debts owed by the poor.  The leaders of the people had to pledge themselves to maintain the Temple regulations and pay their tithes.  The security of Jerusalem was ensured by arranging for 1/10 of the people to take up residence there. 

 After 12 years, Nehemiah returned to Susa, Persia, but later went back to Jerusalem to renew his drastic activity.  In 433-432 BCE, he took steps against mixed marriages, etc, in conjunction with Ezra.  His work was decisive in the rebuilding of Judah.  Nehemiah's memoirs form the basis of the biblical book of Nehamiah which is a continuation of the Book of Ezra in the Hagiographa.  

The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran date back to late biblical times (mid-1st millenium BC). The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This great event in Jewish history took place in the late 6th century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.

What did the Judeans have that Nebuchadnezzar had to have?  Was all that effort worth taking so many slaves?  One exile in 587 BC saw around 1,500 people make the perilous journey via modern-day Lebanon and Syria to the fertile crescent of southern Iraq, where the Judeans traded, ran businesses and helped the administration of the kingdom.  “They were free to go about their lives, they weren’t slaves,” Vukosavovic said. “Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a brutal ruler in that respect. He knew he needed the Judeans to help revive the struggling Babylonian economy.”  (It sounds like the same reason Jews were invited into European countries.  They were needed for their expertise.)  They must have had quite the reputation for an Empire to go to such lengths to take a whole people away to their own land.  This way, we must remember, they kept the Judah Empire, now shrunk from the Empire of Israel, to be able to attack Babylon.  Perhaps they were so bold because they had been shrunk by the Assyrians in 721 BCE.  and they knew they had been weakened.  Taking Judah's best of the population was like grabbing computers by people who had none at all.  

The USA backed their slaves and helped them receive Liberia as a homeland and in return they are gaining a foothold and port in Africa.  They reduced the population of Black Slaves in return.  Babylonia and Persia backed the Jews leaving their land after all that expense of getting them and gained a foothold in their Empire in return.  

Resource:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/freed-u-s-slaves-depart-on-journey-to-africa

https://www.history.com/news/slavery-american-colonization-society-liberia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon/ancient-tablets-reveal-life-of-jews-in-nebuchadnezzars-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#:~:text=The%20Achaemenid%20Empire%20(%2F%C9%99%CB%88,founded%20by%20Cyrus%20the%20Great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon