Decimal Diaspora: Ten Exiles and a Medieval Construction of Jewish History

The present article reviews religious constructions of Jewish diaspora History in their long-term evolution and discusses a midrashic text that hints at historical turning-point the 12th century. In Antiquity, gendered metaphors were most commonly used to characterize troubled relations between God, Land, people Israel. Early medieval conceptions speculated about cyclical repetition deportation events other calamities. That meant number rather than gender became dominant organizing principle narrative later period. Since “Midrash Ten Exiles” expresses this new numerology straightforwardly, redactional history literary context short is focus study.