Babylonian Jews
What 'lost tribe'?
Excerpt from:
soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jews As A Nation (7/12)
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/07-Jews-As-Nation/
Subject: Question 13.11: Who are the Edot Mizraxi?
Answer:
There were two communities in countries like Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
The first are communities that were there since the fall of the
Temple. In the case of Iraq's Babylonian Jewery, since the fall of the
First Temple. These are the people who maintained the institutions
that gave us the Talmud. For example, the acadamy of Sura, in which
half the debates of the Talmud occured (along with
Pupedisa/Naharda'ah, the other half) was founded in the Hasmonian
period and was closed in 1958 CE!
The other community are the exiles from Spain in 1942
(really 1492) , who were
largely absorbed into the older communities.
Technically, Edot haMizrach refer to the former, Sepharadi -- the
latter. Of course, the communities pretty well blended. Still, we see
customs particular to these communities that originated in the local
traditions rather than the Spanish ones. Including pronunciation,
diferences in prayer texts, etc... There are far more than one or two
differences in pronunciation, cantillation and services.
The Ben Ish Hai, and later R' Ovadia Yosef, has done much to unify
Sefaradi and Edot haMizrach practice to some fusion of Sepharadi and
Iraqi traditions.