What makes a “world religion”? In the case of Judaism, the development of modes of prayer and study enabled it to make the transition to a “portable” religion after its two Temples were destroyed in BCE?586 and 70 CE. One can be an observant Jew anywhere (although a certain minimum level of communal infrastructure makes things easier).At the same time, though, Judaism has always maintained a degree of mourning for the time when it was a local cult, founded on agriculture, sacrifice and priestly rituals. This is why, to take one example, the book of Lamentations is still read on the fast day of Tisha B’Av, when the loss of the Temple is commemorated.So the Jewish condition of being uprooted and dispersed, the “diaspora”, is, it appears at first, a