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A Jew is either a follower of a certain religion (Judaism), a member of a continuous non-national
cultural tradition (adj. Jewish) or both.
Judaism is a complex combination of a religion and a non-exclusive ethnic group. It has a way to allow others to join through a formal process of
"conversion", usually a very difficult process. The religious belief is detailed in Judaism; this article discusses Jews as an ethnic group.
In an ethnic sense, the Jews are members of the people, or "nation", that traces its ancestry from the Biblical patriarch
Abraham through his son Isaac and in
particular Jacob, Isaac's son, as well as to those who subsequently joined them over the
course of history as converts. Ethnic Jews include both "Observant Jews", meaning those who practice the Biblical and Rabbinic
laws, known as the halakha, and those who, while not practicing Judaism as a
religion, still identify themselves as Jews in a cultural or ethnic sense. These are sometimes called "Secular Jews".
Etymology
There are different views as to the origin of the word "Jew". The most common view is that the Middle English word "Jew" is
from the Old French giu, earlier juieu, from the Latin iudeus from the Greek. The Latin simply means
Judaean, from the land of Judaea. There is some scholarly controversy
over whether Judaea is a patronymic or if it was a purely geographic term of uncertain Semitic origin. If indeed it is
patronymic, it corresponds to the Hebrew y'hudi (or
yehudi) "Judah" in English, a member of the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel
— i.e., Jacob's sons. According to Genesis, Judah was the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob, from whom the
tribe descended. The Old English equivalent was Iudeas,
meaning "Judean".
Classical Rabbinic literature has a tradition which traces
the word "Jew" to Genesis 29:35, which says that Judah's mother — the matriarch Leah
— named him Judah because she wanted to praise God for giving birth to so many sons: "She said, 'This time let me
praise (odeh) God,' and named the child Judah (Yehudah)." Thereafter in the Biblical narrative, Judah
vouchsafes the Jewish monarchy, and the Israelite kings David and Solomon derive their lineage from Judah. Indeed, there is the tradition that the "Judaeans" (Jews) are named
for him, their ancient tribal ancestor.
In Hebrew, the name "Judah" contains the four letters of the
Tetragrammaton — the special, holy, and ineffable name of the
Jewish God. The very holiness of the name of Judah attests to its importance as an alternate name for "Israelites" that it ultimately replaces.
A much less common view is that the word "Jew" is from "Jewry", from the Greek evrei meaning "Hebrew", which some
speculate comes from the ancient Egyptian hiberu which meant "stranger". Under the latter view, Abraham, Israel and other patriarchs are regarded as Jews while under
the former only the descendants (ethnically or physically) of the Judaeans from the Kingdom of Judah would be Jews, strictly speaking. In the Hebrew language the word "Hebrew",
ivri, means "one who 'passes' over" as did the patriarch Abraham who "passed
over" from being a gentile to becoming a "convert" to the faith of Monotheism.
Ancient terminology
In some places in the Talmud, the word Israel(ite) refers to somebody who
is Jewish but does not necessarily practice Judaism as a religion: "An Israel(ite) even though he has sinned is still an
Israel(ite)." More commonly the Talmud uses the term "Bnei Yisrael" , the Children of Israel (another name for Jacob)" to refer
to Jews. This Talmudic distinction is comparable to the contemporary distinction between "religious Jews" and "secular Jews." In
modern English, the term "Israelite" is never used to refer to contemporary Jews, but can be used to refer to Jews of the
Biblical era.
Usage by non-Jews
The term "Israelite", has also been appropriated by various non-Jewish groups, for example the Rastafarians, who claim descent from the tribes of Israel.
Who is a Jew?
Jewish law
Halakha, Jewish tradition and law, defines a Jew as someone who is
either
This standard is mandated by the Talmud, the record of oral law that explicates the
Torah, the text on which Jewish law is based. According to the Talmud, this standard has
been followed since the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai some 3,300 years
ago. Non-Orthodox Jewish historians claim that this standard has been followed only for the last 2,000 years.
Traditional Jewish views
According to traditional Jewish law, mere belief in the principles of Judaism does
not make one a Jew. Similarly, non-adherence by one who is Jewish to Jewish principles of faith does not make one lose one's Jewish status.
Jewishness is determined by the mother (matrilineal descent); thus the immediate
male descendants of a female Jewish apostate are still considered Jewish; all her
female descendants, but only in a documented unbroken female line of descent, and their immediate male children are also considered Jewish. While most of these descendants probably would not be practicing Judaism, or
in many cases aware of their Jewishness, their status as Jews technically still would be in effect. As such, all Jewish denominations welcome the return of any of these people back
to the Jewish community; such people would be considered Jews in good standing without the need for a formal conversion.
Generally, people who have been raised as non-Jews (gentiles) would be expected
to make some sort of public sign that they are returning to Judaism, for instance engaging in a course in Jewish Torah education, joining a synagogue, observing
the Jewish Shabbat (Sabbath), the Jewish Festivals, keeping kosher, commencing "Family Purity" or
niddah, having an adult "Bar
Mitzvah" ceremony, and anything else they should try to observe. If not circumcised, males are required to have a
brit milah (ritual circumcision).
Note that "circumcision" in the Jewish sense is not the medical procedure performed by a doctor but is a religious procedure
performed by a mohel (also pronounced as mo'el).
Jewish peoplehood is not inherited from one's Jewish father alone, even if he were
not an apostate from Judaism. This traditional rabbinic view is still held by many in the return-to-tradition wing of Reform Judaism, and by all of Orthodox Judaism and Conservative
Judaism.
View of the State of Israel
The modern Israeli legal definition of a Jew is essentially that of
Halakha; however, it excludes those who have joined other religions. See below Jew in Israel and Israeli Law
Views of Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism
In the last half of the 20th century, two theologically liberal (primarily American) Jewish groups —
Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism — have allowed people who do not meet these criteria to define
themselves as Jews. They no longer require converts to follow traditional Jewish procedures of conversion, and they accept a
person as a Jew even if their mother is non-Jewish; in the case of Reform, so long as the father is a Jew and the person performs
"appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people". This is commonly (though
mistakenly) known as patrilineal descent.
This has thus resulted in a serious schism among the Jewish people; today many Reform Jewish and secular Jewish-Americans born from originally gentile mothers, (who were not born Jewish themselves), consider themselves to be Jews, although they are not
considered Jewish by Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, and even by many Reform Jews outside of the
United States.
Some Reform Jews view Judaism as a religion alone, and thus they view Jews who
convert to another faith as non-Jews. This contrasts to the traditional rabbinic view of Judaism as a peoplehood, and not merely
a religion. In the traditional view, those who leave Judaism by converting to another religion are still seen as Jewish people;
however, they are seen as apostates who by their actions have chosen to remove
themselves from the Judaic religion.
Maintaining Jewishness versus assimilation
Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not
only a religion, but also a "way of life", which has made the job of differentiating between Jews and Judaism almost
impossible.
In many times and places, such as the Hellenization during ancient
Greece, the Enlightenment in
Europe, and in the modern USA and Israel, cultural phenomena have developed that are in
some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism,
others from the interaction of Jews with others around them.
In most of Europe up until the late 18th century, and in some places to
an even later date, Jews were prohibited by governments under the sway of the Roman Catholic Church, from owning land. Conversely, most forms of Christianity and Islam
traditionally did not allow their members to lend money at interest. Also, the
strong Jewish tradition of religious scholarship often left Jews well prepared for secular scholarship, although in some times
and places this was countered by Jews being banned from studying at universities, or admitted only in limited numbers.
Consequently, even into recent times Jews were little represented in the land-holding classes, but far better represented in the
learned professions and in finance and commerce.
In some places where there have been relatively high concentrations of Jews, distinct secular Jewish subcultures have arisen.
For example, ethnic Jews formed an enormous proportion of the literary and artistic life of Vienna at the end of the 19th century, or of New York City fifty years later, and for the most part these were not at all
particularly religious people.
Ethnic divisions
The commonly-used terms Ashkenazi (meaning "German" in Hebrew, denoting the Central European base of Jewry), and Sephardic (meaning "Spanish" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish and
North African location), refer both to a religious and an ethnic division. Some scholars hold that Ashkenazi Jews are descendants
of those who originally followed the Palestinian Jewish religious tradition, and Sephardic Jews are descendants of those who
originally followed the Babylonian religious tradition.
Jews have historically been divided into four major ethnic groups:
- Ashkenazi (Jews who lived in Germany or France before migrating to Eastern Europe)
- Sephardic (Jews who lived in Spain or
Portugal)
- Oriental or "Mizrahi" Jews (edut hamizrach in Hebrew) (Jews
who lived in the Middle East and North Africa, but later spread to Central Asia and
South Asia). Note that in common usage, most Oriental Jews are now
referred to as Sephardic, as the religious rites of Oriental and Sephardic Jews are essentially the same.
- The Yemenite Jews (also known as Teimanim ). These are Oriental Jews whose geographical and social isolation from the rest of the Jewish
community allowed them to develop a liturgy and set of practices sufficiently distinct from other Oriental Jewish groups so as to
be recognized as a different group.
Of these communities, the largest by far are the Ashkenazim, comprising approximately 70% of the Jewish total, with Oriental
Jews comprising most of the remainder. Many Sephardim live in France (most of its
Jews), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (small numbers), and the USA (a very small number), but most
are in Israel (about 50% of Israelis), where they have created their own large ethnic
political party called Shas guided by their rabbis such as Ovadia Yosef.
Smaller groups
Smaller groups of Jews include the following:
- The Gruzim, Georgian-speaking Jews from (Georgia
in the Caucasus)
- The Juhurim (Mountain Jews mainly from Daghestan in the eastern Caucasus)
- The Bene Israel, of Bombay, India.
- The Cochin Jews, also in India.
- The Romaniotes, i.e. Greek-speaking Jews living in the Balkans from the Hellenistic era until today.
- The Ethiopian Jews and various other small African Jewish populations. Many of these are, arguably, Jewish only in the religious and not the ethnic
sense.
These groups number in the thousands or tens of thousands, with the Gruzim being most numerous at about 100,000. Many
members of these groups have now emigrated from their traditional homelands, largely to Israel. For example, only about 10% of
the Gruzim remain in Georgia.
Jewish languages
Yiddish was the traditional language of the Ashkenazi, whereas Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) was that of the Sephardim. Most Oriental Jews spoke Arabic, but others spoke Aramaic or Persian. Most of the smaller
Jewish populations spoke their respective local languages.
Migrations
Following the Spanish Inquisition, the Sephardic Jews were
dispersed, some migrating mainly to Southern Europe, where they were
assimilated into the Ashkenazi, others migrating to North Africa and the
Middle East where they were assimilated into the Oriental Jews. Most Oriental
Jews practice Sephardic rite and are therefore sometimes referred to as Sephardic. Ashkenazi Jews practice Ashkenazi rite.
Famous ethnic Jews
- See also: List of Jews
Despite the relatively small number of Jews worldwide, many influential thinkers and leaders in modern times have been
ethnically Jewish. Ethnic Jews have stood at the basis of modern psychology,
philosophy, socialism, capitalism and many important scientific
and technological advances were first discovered by Jews.
The list of famous Jews includes Moses Maimonides (rabbi and philosopher), Baruch Spinoza (philosopher), Karl Marx (founder of Marxism, parents converted to Christianity when he was young), Benjamin Disraeli (baptised by parents into Anglican Church, British Prime Minister), Leon Trotsky (creator of the Russian Red Army and philosopher), Sigmund Freud (father of psychoanalysis), Albert Einstein (physicist who
proposed the theory of relativity), Haym Solomon (financier of the American Revolution), Judah Benjamin
(Confederate leader), Edward Teller (father of the hydrogen bomb), Theodor Herzl (founder of modern
secular Zionism), Ludwig
von Mises (economist), Ayn Rand (writer), Noam Chomsky (linguist, philosopher, and social theorist),
Hyman Rickover (admiral, father of US nuclear navy), David BenGurion (founding
Prime Minister of State of Israel), Henry Kissinger (US Secretary of
State), Milton Friedman (economist), Kirk Douglas (movie actor), Steven
Spielberg (movie producer), William Shatner (TV and movie actor),
Michael Bloomberg (billionaire financier and New York City mayor), Moshe Feldenkrais (founder of the Feldenkrais Method), and Andrew Grove (co-founder and
chairman of Intel).
Conversion to Judaism
Main article: Conversion to Judaism
The laws of conversion to Judaism are based in discussions in the Talmud. Jewish law is generally interpreted as discouraging
proselytizing, and conversion is also discouraged. However, a rabbi convinced of the prospective convert's sincerity may allow
him or her to follow the process of conversion. The convert is taught the basic laws and beliefs of Judaism, and must show an
ability to keep the laws and make a commitment to keep them.
As discussed above, some denominations of present-day Judaism do not follow traditional Jewish laws concerning conversion. As
a result, their converts may not be recognized by other Jewish denominations.
"Jew" in Israel and Israeli law
The State of Israel allows any Jew to acquire citizenship; this is
known as the Law of Return for population groups in Israel. For the purposes of the
Law of Return, anyone with a Jewish grandparent or who converted to Judaism is considered Jewish, and Israeli law also allows the
immediate non-Jewish family of immigrants to immigrate under the law. This definition is not the same as that in traditional
Jewish law; it is a deliberately wider, so as to include those non-Jewish relatives of Jews who were perceived to be Jewish, and
thus faced anti-Semitism.
Many secular Israelis consider themselves to be "Israeli" enjoying a new Israeli culture and reject the title "Jew" as derived from Jewish religious law (Halacha). They assert that one who is devoted to Zionism, believes and lives in the modern State of
Israel, serves in the Israel Defense Force, and works
for the Ingathering of the Exiles from the diaspora, is
"the real Jew". According to this re-definition, even a gentile who meets these criteria can be an "Israeli". They scorn the
older generation of European Jews who they believe went "like sheep to the slaughter" during the Holocaust and berate them for having a "galut (Exile)
mentality". They have a particular dislike for Haredi
Jews whom they regard as "old fashioned" and a relic of the Middle Ages,
and whom they accuse of "religious coercion". This is part of an ongoing kulturkampf (cultural divide) in Israeli
politics.
Ancient Israelites and Judeans
Historical geography
Looking at the timeline of Jewish history,
the first two periods of the history of the Jews is mainly that of Palestine or
Judea. It begins among those peoples of Syria which occupied the area lying between the
Nile river on the one side and the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers on the other.
Surrounded by ancient seats of culture in Egypt and Babylonia, by the mysterious deserts of Arabia, and by the highlands of Asia Minor, the land of Canaan, later Judea, then Palestine, then Israel, was a meeting place of civilizations. The land was traversed by old-established trade routes and possessed important harbors on the Gulf of Akaba and on the Mediterranean
coast, the latter exposing it to the influence of the Levantine culture.
Kingdoms of Israel and Judah
Jews descend mostly from the ancient Israelites (also known as Hebrews), who
settled in the Land of Israel. The Israelites traced their common
lineage to the biblical patriarch Abraham
through Isaac and Jacob. A kingdom was established under Saul and continued
under King David and Solomon. King
David conquered Jerusalem (first a Canaanite, then a Jebusite town) and made it his capital. After
Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of
Israel (in the north) and the Kingdom of Judah (in the south).
The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V in the
8th century BC. The Kingdom of Judah was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BC. The Judahite elite was exiled to Babylonia, but later at least a part of them returned to
their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians. This period of exile is known as the "Babylonian Captivity."
Persian, Greek, and Roman rule
The Seleucid Kingdom, which arose after the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, sought to introduce Greek culture into the
Persian world. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV
Epiphanes, supported by Hellenized Jews (those who had adopted Greek
culture), attempted to convert the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
to a temple of Zeus, the non-Hellenized Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees and rededicated the Temple to the Jewish God (hence the origins of Hanukah) and created an independent Jewish kingdom known as the Hasmonaean Dynasty which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE. This was followed by a period of Roman rule.
The generally religiously tolerant Empire could not readily accomodate the exclusive monotheism of Judaism, and the religious
Jews could not accept Roman polytheism. In 66
CE, the Judeans began to revolt against the Roman rulers. The revolt was smashed by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus Flavius. In Rome the Arch of Titus still
stands, depicting the enslaved Judeans and the menorah with trumpets being
brought to Rome:
The Romans all but destroyed Jerusalem; only a single "Western Wall" of the Temple remained. The Roman legions pillaged and
burned the city and stole the holy menorah and much more. The Judeans
continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion, until the 2nd century when Hadrian ravaged Judea
while putting down the bar Kokhba revolt. After 135, Jews were not allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem, although this ban must have been at least partially
lifted, since at the destruction of the rebuilt city by the Persians in the 7th
century, Jews are said to have lived there.
Roman exile
Many of the ancient Jews were sold into slavery, while others became citizens of
other parts of the Roman Empire. This is the traditional explanation to the
diaspora, almost universally accepted by past and present rabbinical or Talmudical
scholars, who believe that Jews are almost exclusively biological descendants of the Judean exiles. Some secular historians
speculate that a majority of the Jews in Antiquity were most likely descendants of converts in the cities of the Graeco-Roman world, especially in Alexandria and Asia Minor, and were only affected by the
diaspora in its spiritual sense, as the sense of loss and homelessness which became a cornerstone of the Jewish creed, much
supported by persecutions in various parts of the world. Any such policy of conversion, which spread the Jewish religion
throughout the Hellenistic civilization, seems to have ended with the wars
against the Romans and the following reconstruction of Jewish values for the post-Temple era.
International scope
Before the rise of Islam, Jews were to be found throughout the entire Roman empire; with the Arab expansion, some
of them would move as far as India and China.
Some Jewish people are also descended from converts to Judaism outside the Mediterranean world. While the Avars' Hebrew origins/conversion
debate continues, it is known that some Khazars, Edomites, and Ethiopians, as well as many Arabs, particularly in Yemen earlier, converted to Judaism in the past;
today in the United States and Israel gentiles still convert to Judaism. In fact, there is a greater tradition of conversion to Judaism than many people
realize. The word "proselyte" originally meant a Greek who had converted to Judaism. As late as the 6th century the rump Roman empire (i.e. Byzantium) was issuing decrees against conversion to Judaism, implying that conversion to Judaism was still
occurring.
Ancient schisms among the Jews
First Temple era
Based on the historical narrative in the Bible and archeology, civilization at the time was prone to idol
worship, astrology, worship of reigning kings, and paganism. This was in direct contrast to the teachings in the Torah,
and was condemned by the ancient Biblical prophets who attacked those Israelites and
Judeans who became idol worshipers. The split by the Kingdom of
Israel from the Kingdom of Judah was completed by Jeraboam who crowned himself king, and built a northern temple with calf-like idol images
that were condemned by the Judeans of Judah. After the destruction
and exile of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Assyria, the temptations to follow non-Judaic practices continued, so that according to the
narratives of Jeremiah and others, it brought about the
failure, destruction, and exile of the southern Kingdom of Judah by
Babylonia.
Second Temple era
This was a time when the Jews lived under Persian, Greek, and Roman power and influence. The main struggles during this era were between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as well as the Essenes and Zealots. The Pharisees wanted to maintain the authority and traditions of classical Torah teachings
and began the early teachings of the Mishna, maintaining the authority of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court. The Sadducees sought to adapt to more Hellenistic ideas, as
espoused by Philo of Egypt. The Essenes
preached a reclusive way of life. The Zealots advocated armed rebellion against any
foreign power such as Rome. All were at violent logger-heads with each other, leading to
the confusion and disunity that ended with the destruction of the Jewish
Temple and the sacking of Jerusalem by Rome.
Break-offs: Samaritans and Christians
One small sect of Samaritans is still extant; however, their religion is not
the same as rabbinic Judaism. The Samaritan faith and that of other Jews diverged
over a millennium ago; Samaritans do not consider themselves, nor call themselves, Jews. This is because they believe they are of
tribes other than Judah.
Of course, the most famous schism in Jewish history was the split between the followers of Jesus (who were known as Notzrim or Nazarenes) with the claim by his disciples that he was the long-awaited
Jewish Messiah, and the majority Pharisees (the rabbinically led Jews) who rejected him 2,000 years ago and still do so until the present time.
The abandonment of Jewish Law and the subsequent deification of Jesus by
early Church leaders, by for example Paul of Tarsus and the publication of the New
Testament, ensured that Christianity and Judaism would become completely different and often conflicting religions. The New Testament depicts the Pharisees as Jesus' opponents, whereas the Jewish perspective has the Pharisees as the
justified followers of the rabbis who upheld the Torah.
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by:
Karaites had a wide following in the times of the 9th century (at one time 40% of Jews were Karaites) over the centuries their
numbers have dwindled drastically. Presently a small group, most Karaites live in Israel.
There is a divergence of views about the historical origins of Karaite
Judaism. Some scholars maintain that it was founded by Anan ben
David, whereas Karaites claim that they are not the historical disciples of Anan ben David at all. In fact, many of their sages such as Ya'acov Al-Kirkisani spoke critically about
him.
The state of Israel, along with it's Chief Rabbinate, ruled that Karaites are Jews, and while critical differences between
Orthodox Judaism and Karaite Judaism exist, American Orthodox rabbis ruled that Karaism is much closer to Orthodoxy than the
Conservative and Reform movements, which may ease issues of formal conversion.
Some Karaites are known to refer to themselves as not Jewish, some referring to themselves as a "Turkic People". These may be
Christian descendants of Karaites, or an different group believing in a completely different Karaism which is a Turkish tribal
religion. These same "Karaites" also denied they were Jews in the Holocaust.
Sabbatians and Frankists
In 1666 Shabtai Tzvi declared
himself to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah whilst living in the Ottoman Empire. Vast numbers of Jews believed him; but when under pain of a
death sentence in front of the Turkish sultan Mehmed IV he became an apostate to Judaism by becoming a Moslem, his movement crumbled. Nevertheless, for centuries, small groups of Jews believed in
him, and the rabbis were always on guard against any manifestations of this schism,
always suspicious of hidden "Shebselach" (Yiddish for "little Sabbatians", a play on the word for "young dumb sheep").
Indeed, when the movement of Hasidism began attracting many followers, the rabbis
were once again suspicious that this was Sabbatianism in different garb. It would take many centuries to sort out these complex
divisions and schisms and see where they were headed.
After his mysterious death somewhere in the area of Turkish Albania, groups of
Jews continued to be clandestine followers of Shabtai Tzvi even though they had outwardly converted to Islam, these Jews being known as the Donmeh. Jewish converts to Islam
were, at times, therefore regarded with great suspicion by their fellow Moslems.
A few decades after Shabtai's death, a man by the name of Jacob Frank
claiming mystical powers preached that he was Shabtai Tzvi's successor. He attracted a following, preached against the Talmud, advocated a form of licentious worship, and was condemned by the rabbis at the time.
When confronted by the Polish authorities, he converted to Catholicism in 1759 in the presence of King Augustus III of Poland, together with groups of his Jewish
followers, known as "Frankists". To the alarm of his opponents, he was received by reigning European monarchs who were anxious to
see their Jewish subjects abandon Judaism and apostacise. The Frankists eventually
joined the Polish nobility and gentry.
Reform vs. Orthodox: West vs. East
From the time of the French Revolution of 1789, and the growth of Liberalism, added to the political and
personal freedoms granted by Napoleon to the Jews of Europe, many Jews chose to
abandon the forboding and isolating ghettos and enter into general society. This
influenced the internal conflicts about religion, culture, and politics of the Jews to this day.
Many Jews in Western Europe joined the religiously liberal new Reform Judaism movement, which drew inspiration from the writings of modernist
thinkers like Moses Mendelson. They coined the name "Orthodox" to
describe those who opposed the "Reform". They were criticized by the Orthodox Judaism rabbis such as Samson
Raphael Hirsch in Germany, and condemned, particularly by those known today as followers of Ultra Orthodox Judaism, (or Haredim in Israel), and the leaders of Hasidic Judaism, the disciples
of the Baal Shem Tov, based mainly in Eastern Europe.
There was thus also created a cultural schism between the more westernised English, German and French speaking Western European Jews and their more religiously observant
Yiddish speaking Eastern European brethren whom they denigratingly labelled Ost
Yidden ("Eastern Jews"). These schisms and the debates surrounding them, continue with much ferocity in all Jewish
communities today as the Reform and Orthodox movements continue to confront each other over a wide range of religious, social,
political, and ethnic issues.
Persecution
Nazism
Modern persecution of the Jews reached its peak under the Nazis from 1933 to 1945. The Nazis, who thought of themselves as a
"Master Race", considered the Jews inferior and subhuman. Upon capturing most
of the European mainland, and in accordance with its Wannsee
Conference, Nazi Germany built concentration camps designed to kill Jews for the mere "sin" of being born ethnically Jewish.
Over 6,000,000 Jews perished. Even Jews who had long assimilated and had been baptized into Christianity were not spared. These racist laws were embodied in the Nuremberg Laws specifically designed to discriminate against Jews. With the defeat of the Axis Powers by the Allied
Nations, many high German officials were punished by the Nuremberg
Trials and Germany paid reparations to Holocaust survivors and to the State of Israel.
Soviet Union
The former Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also instigated a policy banning Jewish
religious life completely, and executed and banned many Jews to Siberia to suffer and
die. Even though many of the original Bolsheviks were ethnically Jewish they
sought to uproot Judaism and even established the Yevsektsiya to do so. Prior to his demise in 1953 Joseph Stalin issued orders for the deportation and persecution of Russia's Jews.
Following his death, secular Russian Jews who knew only of their ethnic origins began to rediscover their cultural and religious
roots and began to fight for the rights of Jews to practice their religion, adopt Zionism and to leave Russia which was unheard of at that time. They were persecuted and became known as Refuseniks, such as Anatoly Scharansky, until the fall of the Soviet Union opened the gates of freedom for
Jews to leave Russia.
Christian
Christianity, which owes its origins and theology to Jewish teachings about the Messiah, has long had an
ambiguous relationship with Judaism, giving rise to Christianity and anti-Semitism. Christians had
difficulty with the Jews' claim as the "chosen people" of God, and they were seen as having contributed to Jesus' demise. In medieval Europe, many notorious persecutions of Jews in the name of Christianity occurred,
notably during the Crusades - when Jews all over Germany were massacred - and in the Spanish Inquisition, when
the entire Jewish population that refused to baptise was expelled and found refuge mainly in the Ottoman Empire and the Low Countries. Until
the end of Tsarist times in Russia, Jews were
restricted to the Jewish Pale of Settlement and subjected to
frequent pogroms. On the other hand, in the 16th century, the Council of Trent (article 4) declared that the Jews were no more
responsible for death of Christ than Christians, and this was later reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council.
Arab and Islamic
Islam and Judaism have a complex relationship. Jews have
generally enjoyed the benefits of "protected" Dhimmi status under Islam; yet the political conflict between Muhammad and the Jews
of Madina in the seventh century left ample ideological fuel for Islam and anti-Semitism through the centuries. During the
Middle Ages, Jews had a better status in the Muslim world than in
Christendom, though still short of full equality with Muslims. During the Holocaust the Middle East was in turmoil: in Egypt, with a Jewish population of 75,000, Anwar
Sadat was imprisoned for conspiring with the Nazis to bring independence from
Britain; the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem was in Berlin supporting Hitler; a coup briefly
brought a pro-Axis government to power in Iraq
terrifying Iraq's Jews; and the Jewish Stern Gang assassinated Lord Moyne for closing Palestine to Jewish immigration. The tensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict was also a factor in the rise of animosity
to Jews all over the Middle East, as hundreds of thousands of Jews fled as refugees, the main waves being soon after the 1948 and 1956 wars. The vast majority of the Jews of Iraq fled in 1952.
Leadership
Orthodox
Traditionally only the greatest scholars of the Torah and Talmud rise to become the spiritual and even temporal leaders of the
Jewish people. This requires deep study of the Talmud and the Shulkhan Arukh Code of Jewish Law as well as many other classical texts of
Jewish scholarship. Normally, one must study many years in a Yeshiva to become a
rabbi. Synagogues are led by rabbis meaning "great ones or teachers". In many synagogues there is a hazzan (cantor)
that leads many parts of the prayer service. Many Sephardic rabbinic Jewish communities refer to their leaders as hakham. Among
Yemenite Jews, known as Teimanin, the term mori (teacher) is used.
Secular
Following the Renaissance and the Enlightenment in Europe (with its Jewish "extension" the
Haskalah movement, which led to much modern-day assimilation into the cultures of
their native countries), most Jews dropped much of Judaism. Many even became Christians, and adopted secular values and life-styles. Thus most modern local Jewish
communities, or international ones such as the World Jewish
Congress, are guided by secular leaders who may not be religiously knowledgeable or observant at all and they are most often
very Zionistic.
USA communities
In the USA today, the mainly secular United Jewish Communities (UJC), formerly known as the United Jewish Appeal
(UJA), represents over 150 Jewish Federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Every American city has its
local "Jewish Federation", and many have sophisticated community centers and provide services, mainly health care related. They
raise record sums of money for philanthropic and humanitarian causes in the USA and Israel. Other organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish
Congress, American Jewish Committee, and the Bnai Brith
represent different segments of the American Jewish community on a variety of issues.
Karaite
A Karaite synagogue is run by a board of directors, and it's spiritual leader is often called a Hakham, the
equivalent of a "rabbi", but is not required for it to function. The Gabbai is the treasurer, the Shammash is
the custodian, the Hazzan leads prayers, and in some the Ba'al Qeri'ah leads in the reading of the Torah.
World population
Pre- and post-Holocaust
Prior to World War II the world population of Jews was around 18
million. The Holocaust reduced this number to around 12 million. Today, there are
an estimated 14 million Jews worldwide in over 134 countries. Of these, around 6 million live in the United States and Canada, about 2
million in Europe, about 100,000 in Australia and 100,000 in South Africa. Over 5 million live
in Israel. At the moment, an increasing number of Russian Jews are emigrating to
Germany.
Latin America
Approximately 500,000 Jews live in Latin America. Over half of them
live in Argentina, while large communities also exist in Brazil (about 120,000) and Mexico (about 50,000).
Israel
Israel is the only country in which Jews form a majority of the population. It was
re-established as an independent democratic state on May 14, 1948. Of the 120 members in its parliament, the Knesset, about ten members are Israeli Arabs. At the
time of its independence, approximately 600,000 Jews lived there. Since then, its Jewish population has increased by about one
million over each decade as more immigrants arrive, and more Israelis are born, in one of the most significant global Jewish
population shifts in over 2,000 years.
All the Arab Israeli Wars have not slowed Israel's growth.
Israel opened its doors to the Holocaust survivors. It has absorbed almost all
the Sephardic Jews from the Islamic countries. And it has taken in hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former USSR. Jews from all over the world continue to move to Israel as they view it as their only true home in a world rife
with Anti-Semitism rooted in a long history of anti-Semitism and hostile to the Jewish
people.
The symbol on the Israeli flag is known as the Star of David
(Magen David in Hebrew).
Europe
Western Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in France, home to 600,000 Jews, most immigrants or refugees from
North African and Arab lands such as
Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. There are over 300,000 Jews in Great Britain. In Eastern Europe, there are probably over
one and a half million Jews living in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Belorussia, and the other areas dominated by the former USSR. Exact
figures are difficult to establish.
The fastest-growing Jewish community in the world, outside of Israel, is in Germany, especially in its capital Berlin. Tens of thousands of Jews from
the former Eastern Bloc have settled in Germany since the fall of the
Berlin wall. Some factors that make Germany amenable: A cosmopolitan
atmosphere; a welcoming, liberal, post-war education; and the political freedoms garnered since the 1960s have created an atmosphere of tolerance in Germany which is still missing in some post-communist states.
Familiarity with Yiddish for older Russian Jews, may make it easier
to adapt to German.
German Jews belong to either the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland with about 100,000 members or the liberal Union progressiver Juden in
Deutschland. However, there are many secular Jews who do not belong to any organisation or synagogue.
Decrease and growth
Both persecution and assimilation have resulted in small Jewish numbers vis-a-vis the world's population.
Wars against the Jews
Many empires and rulers have sought to "liquidate" the Jews through wars of destruction, extinction, genocide, expulsions,
exiles, and torture. Some examples in the history of
anti-Semitism are: the Great Jewish Revolt against the
Roman Empire as described by Josephus; the Spanish Inquisition led by
Torquamada and the Auto de
fe against the Marrano Jews; the Bohdan Chmielnicki Cossack massacres in the Ukraine; the Pogroms by the Russian Czars; Blood libels; Adolf Hitler's Final
Solution which lead to the Holocaust and the World War II atrocities in Poland and
elsewhere; and modern wars and Jihad via "suicide bombing" against Israel and its Jewish citizens.
In addition to the above examples, one must review the historical record of the destruction and persecution of the Jewish
communities throughout the Islamic Empire. As the empire expanded during the centuries, the status of the non-Muslim communities
remained precarious and subject to dhimmi laws. The Jewish communities were not second class citizens, they were not considered
to be citizens of the larger community at all. Repressive measures against their persons occured with regularity as the Muslim
majority massacred them with impunity. There was no protection under the laws and the word of a Muslim was sufficient to subject
any Jew to harsh punishment.
Assimilation
Secular Jews tend to marry late and have smaller families with wide acceptance of birth control. When granted political, economic and religious freedom, many Jews,
probably the majority, choose to adopt the ways and religions of their host nations, abandoning many vestiges of their own
ethnicity and religion, and then frequently choose to marry non-Jews when living outside of Israel. In the United States, the
National Jewish Population Survey has shown that over 50%, and as high as 75% according
to some calculations, of America's Jews presently marry non-Jewish partners. These figures are probably also true for the Jews of
Europe today. Most non-Jewish spouses do not convert to Judaism, surveys show. This
phenomenon is known as "intermarriage" and is the leading cause for the
shrinkage of almost all Jewish populations in Western countries since World
War Two, it has been called the "Silent Holocaust" by some social observers.
Growth
Only in the State of Israel have secular Jews increased due to
natural growth and immigration, and both Orthodox Jews and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who shun birth control for religious reasons, have increased due to their large families. The Reform Judaism movement has officially launched an "outreach" effort to bring
in not only the non-Jewish spouses of Jews, but to actively seek new members for the faith. There is also a growing movement of
Jews by Choice by gentiles who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews. There is a
"return to Judaism" movement known as the Baal Teshuva movement
that has brought many secular Jews to become more religiously observant. There are a number of efforts undertaken by all the
denominations to re-introduce alienated Jews to Jewish religion and customs through educational and beginners programs.
Related topics
- Jewish symbols
- Jewish languages
Jewish history
External links
Photos
General
Major secular organizations
Zionist and Israeli institutions
Orthodox
Reform
Conservative
Reconstructionist
Traditional
Karaite
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