CarolC-Then either your relatives are wrong or the Jews are wrong. BTW, I enjoy the irony of be called on cut and paste by the queen of cut and paste.

Suffet(Steve)-Jews live all over the world, just as other religio-ethnic groups, and have since Cyrus of Persia allowed them to return to Judea from Babylonian exile (538 BCE). Even back then a substantial group of Jews, most of whom grew up in exile remained in the Persian Empire. Until 1948 there were sizeable communities of Jews in both Iraq and Iran, now only remnants. The difference in the Diaspora now is that Jews have the choice of living in a Jewish homeland, or living anywhere else. This was not always a choice for them.

May your sister-in-law always remain safe.