Persecuted for centuries, by 1900 three quarters of the global Jewish population of ten million lived in Eastern Europe, mostly in Russia. But problems in the years surrounding the Russian Revolution led to a massive wave of emigration to western Europe and to the United States and Britain. This was matched only by the massive displacement caused by the Holocaust.

Immigration to the the United States after World War II coincided with a massive economic boom. Jews who had moved in family groups and were quick to learn English prospered in the garment trade in particular becoming one of the most successful of America’s many diasporas.

The creation of Israel has created a religious and cultural friction amongst  the Jewish diaspora with the Israeli State fostering a more religious and Orthodox faith whilst the diaspora particularly in the United States remains more reform minded.