Conquering empires, namely the Babylonians and (later) Rome,caused the Jewish diaspora by overrunning Judea (Israel) and makingit untenable for the Jews to remain there.While the Babylonians exiled the Jews outright, the Romans didnot force the Jews out of Judea. Rather, they expelled them fromJerusalem only; and the rest of Judea lost its Jews slowly, over aperiod of centuries, as living there became too harsh.How was Judaism affected?To a certain extent, the diaspora caused the various Jewishcommunities to take on minor aspects of their host countries.The religion itself was affected little, if at all, since allJews share the same Torah and Talmud, and differences withinhalakhah (Jewish laws) are relatively small. In addition, the Jewswere dissuaded from assimilating because the Romans were the polaropposite of Judaism; plus the fact that some of the greatest Roman,Christian and Muslim historians spewed diatribes of hate againstthe Jews.However, in secondary matters of culture such as pronunciation,mannerisms, and introduction of new vocabulary, every community isinfluenced somewhat by the others among whom they dwell; so sometraits of our regions of residence have rubbed off on us. Examplesare the differences in pronunciation and accent (for the Hebrewalphabet), differences in dress, and minor differences incustoms.