Where were the Jews before captivation and liberation from Egypt? what is their original homeland?

Original homeland, that would be the homeland of the one who founded Judaism, Abraham.

Abraham, as it says in the Torah, was from Ur of the Chaldees (Ur Kasdim).

This was located in Lower Mesopotamia, which was Sumer.

Upper Mesopotamia was Babylon.

So Abraham was a Sumerian. Archealogists have found his family name on artifacts and temples ranging from Sumer clear up into Babylon, which has led to the conclusions that his family was very wealthy, very powerful, and probably a family of priests.

So..original homeland would be Sumer. Abraham was a Sumerian, from Ur of the Chaldees in Sumer, Lower Mesopotamia.

Sumer is also the oldest known civilization on earth. All of the flood myths, etc came from there, first with the Sumerian Flood myth and its hero Ziusudra (Eridu Genesis), then later the Akkadian and Babylonian Flood myths with their heroes Atrahasis and Gilgamesh.

So in actuality the Jewish Torah is a preservation of all of that, passed down clear from Abraham the Sumerian's time, until now.

Sumer was founded around 3500 - 3100 B.C.E, and Abraham lived around 1800 B.C.E there in Sumer, so it had been around for over a thousand years before Abraham was born, but he did a fine job of preserving these legends of his lands and passing them down.

If you would like to read more about Abraham and Shinar (Sumer) you can go to many University websites in their archealogy departments. Here is one:

Abraham and Shinar (Sumer):

http://history-world.org/genesis_narrative_in_the_...

Well if you believe the Judaeo-Christian book, didn't Moses basically create the Jews when he gathered the slaves of Egypt together from various diverse cultures (Phoenicians, Sumerians, etc.) and lead them out of Egypt?

They were worshipers of many "Gods" (for example when they reverted to their old ways and built the golden calf.) Moses then delivered the ten commandments among which was "shall not worship false idols" and "shall have no gods before me, for I am a jealous god."

"I will be your God and you shall be my people" as they were told by Jehovah, Iehovah, Yahweh, (whatever, the name is still much argued) through Moses.

Israel did not exist until May 14, 1948.

So the short answer would be "all over the place," and "no particular homeland."

Believe what you want, people always do. The main thing is to actually study the history without getting emotional about it before making up your mind. There are many legitimate sources, read them and make up your own mind. The answers are out there. Have fun learning ancient Hebrew ,and good luck finding original untranslated texts.

Most Jews do not live in Israel. The Zionists were like any colonists they colonized Palestine for the last 60 years. It is not yet a homeland for the Zionists as long as the native people of the land are fighting for their independence. Zionist did not do a good job to establish homeland for both the native people and the colonists. peace is the missing link in the Zionist homeland. Israel is the last colony in the world it is not a homeland yet.

Abraham came from the Chaldeas .. the fertile crescent .. in the area of modern day Iraq. The original family came to the Egyptian area in a time of famine when Joseph, an immediate descendant of Abraham was a leader in Egypt .. i would imagine that the families remained there in the vicinity until at some point they were considered not of the Egyptian heritage and were enslaved ..

They were in Israel as given to Avrahom in Genesis 15:18 On that day, the Lord formed a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the Euphrates river.

Which makes Israel several times larger then than the tiny sliver of land we have now. The 12 princes of Ishmael also had considerable land. The more land Israel had the more peace reigned in the region.

Israel. The 12 sons of Jacob/Israel, including Judah were living in the land of Israel before they went to Egypt . Furthermore Israel was given to the Jews by God for an everlasting possession.

The Holy Bible

Actually, it was a very small group that were in Egypt. They were always in the region.

They came from Canaan. They returned to Caanan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_i...

Wikipedia. There is no higher source for easy to find, general knowledge.

they were moving tribes