Jews

Jew is a term used to denote both followers of a religion and members of an ethnicity (adj. Jewish).

The six-pointed
Star of David

In a religious sense, the term refers to followers of Judaism. In an ethnic sense, it refers to the people, or "nation", that historically 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 mitzvot, and those who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jews in a cultural or ethnic sense, sometimes called "Secular Jews".

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". The religious belief is detailed in Judaism; this article discusses the ethnic group.

Etymology

English Language Origins

There are competing views as to the origin of the name "Jew". The most common view, among English speakers, is that the Middle English word "Jew" is from the Old French qiu, earlier juieu, from the Latin iudeus from the Greek corresponding 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. Judah was the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob according to Genesis, and the tribe descended from him. The Old English equivalent was Iudeas.

Judaic Origins

Jews themselves have scholarly traditions that link the name "Jew" starting with Genesis chapter 29 verse 35 where it 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)." In the Biblical narrative, Judah was vouch-safed the Jewish monarchy, as the Israelite kings David and Solomon derived their lineage from Judah, and so thus eventually his descendants and subjects were known by his name as well. In Hebrew, the name "Judah" contains the four-letter Tetragrammaton, the special holy ineffable name of God according to Judaism attesting to its importance as an alternate name for "Israelites" .

Other Theories

An alternative and much less common view is that "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.

Talmudic Citations

In one place 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)." In this usage, the distinction is not made between "Jew" and "Israelite" and they are both called Jew. In modern English, this terminology is not commonly used; one can refer to "religious Jews" or "secular Jews."

Who is a Jew?

Jewish Law

Halakha, Jewish law, defines a Jew as someone who is either

the child of a Jewish mother, known as matrilineal descent

or

a person who converts to Judaism in accord with Jewish law, known as a ger or ger tzedek ("righteous convert") and whom the Bible commands be accepted and loved by the Jewish community.

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 3300 years ago. Non-Orthodox Jewish historians claim that this standard has been followed only for the last 2,000 years.

Common Misconceptions

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. However, the modern Israeli legal definition of a Jew excludes those who have joined other religions.

Reform and Recontructionist 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, so long as the father is a Jew. This is 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 consider themselves 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. In contrast, traditional rabbinic Judaism views Judaism as a peoplehood, and not merely a religion. In this 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.

Classical Interpretations

According to Jewish law, Jewishness is determined by the mother; thus the immediate male descendants of a female Jewish apostate are still considered Jewish; all her female descendants, but only in an 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 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 (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 .

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, and by all of Orthodox and Conservative Judaism.

Conversion to Judaism

Traditional Views

The laws of coversion to Judaism are based in discussions in the Talmud; throughout history different Jewish communities have always agreed on the basic requirements, although minor details have varied from community to community. Specifics can be found in the responsa literature, and in the various codes of Jewish law. Whenever someone converts to Judaism their sponsoring rabbi has the role of a mara d'atra , local halakhic authority, who has within bounds, the final say in deciding how to apply and interpret Jewish law. A good summary of the process of conversion to Judaism can be found in the Shulchan Aruch, the classic 16th century code of Jewish law.

Not a proselytizing religion

Most authorities interpret Jewish law as forbidding proselytizing, or at least discouraging it. Any non-Jew who wishes to become a Jew is gently discouraged from doing so. Traditionally, a rabbi turns away a prospective convert three times. However, if the rabbi approached is convinced of the prospective convert's sincerity, then they will allow him or her to follow the process of conversion. This process requires that the convert be taught the basic laws and beliefs of Judaism. The convert must show an ability to keep the laws and make a commitment to keep them.

Mechanics of "conversion"

The conversion takes place in the presence of a beth din three-person court; the three may be rabbis, but in pressing circumstances some or all may be Jewish laypeople generally recognized in the local Jewish community as religiously observant and trustworthy. The court must give the convert a summary of the laws and the convert must undertake in the presence of the court to keep the laws.

If the convert is a man he must undergo circumcision. If he is already circumcised, he undergoes a symbolic circumcision in which a tiny drop of blood is drawn. The convert then immerses himself or herself in a mikvah (ritual bath) in the presence of the court. If the convert is a woman, she immerses herself, in a standing position, in the presence of women, leaving her head above the water. The court then witnesses the immersion of the head from another room. (This fulfills two goals: (1) the immersion of the head---and therefore the whole body---is witnessd by the court and (2) the privacy and modesty of the woman is protected.)

Upon immersion, the convert becomes a full-fledged Jew. He or she is from that moment onward required to keep the laws of Judaism; according to classical Jewish theology, a convert will get an additional heavenly reward for doing so, yet can incur heavenly punishment if he or she fails to keep them.

Conversion in Reform Judaism

These rules of conversion to Judaism are still followed by Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism , and by some of Reform Judaism outside of the USA. However, Reform Judaism within the USA no longer follows these rules. The Central Conference of American Rabbis (the official body of American Reform rabbis) formally resolved to permit the admission of converts "without any initiatory rite, ceremony, or observance whatever." (CCAR Yearbook 3 (1893), 73-95; American Reform Responsa, no. 68, at 236-237.)

Although this resolution has been examined critically by some Reform rabbis, the resolution still remains the official policy of American Reform Judaism (CCAR Responsa Circumcision for an Eight-Year-Old Convert 5756.13, and Solomon B. Freehof, Reform Responsa for Our Time, no. 15.) Thus, American Reform Judaism does not require ritual immersion in a mikveh, circumcision, acceptance of any part of Jewish law as normative, the appearance before a rabbinical court, or a minimal course of Jewish study. As such, their conversions are generally rejected by non-Reform Jews.

Recognition of converts between denominations

Converts who have undergone non-Orthodox conversions will find that many Jews will not marry them or their children. Orthodox Jews generally accept the validity of most Orthodox conversions to Judaism, but reject the validity of most Conservative conversions, and reject the validity of all Reform and Reconstructionist conversions. Even among Orthodox Jews, disputes sometimes arise.

Conservative Jews accept the validity of all Orthodox and Conservative conversions to Judaism; they are willing to accept the validity of individual Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism conversions if those cases are carried out in accord with Jewish law; however, these are examined on a case by case basis.

Orthodox Jews believe that Jewish Law was handed down thousands of years ago, and is immutable, while Reform Jews believe that Jewish law is a living set of rules that are applied in the context of current civilization. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews interpret Jewish law so as to accept the validity of conversions to Judaism from all Jewish denominations.

It is sometimes not made clear to converts that their conversions would not be accepted by all Jewish groups. This can lead to circumstances when a Rabbi will not agree to let somebody who thought he was Jewish marry until he undergoes a new conversion. In the case of a woman who underwent a less stringent conversion, those who require a more stringent conversion would consider her and all her children non-Jewish until they undergo the more stringent conversion.

Arguments against conversions

In addition, the more stringent accuse the less stringent of causing intermarriage and the deterioration of the Jewish people, as they are watering down what it means to be a Jew, and making it easier for people to leave Judaism by allowing them to easily join non-Jewish families. The less stringent note that Jewish descent in the Bible appears to have been patrileneal, that modern DNA testing can remove doubts about paternity, that Judaism is no longer an ancient tribal religion and should model its conversion procedures on modern faith communities, that the more stringent discourage sincere conversions to a religion and people decimated by generations of oppression, and that stringent conversion procedures discourage non-Jewish romantic partners of Jews from joining the Jewish people.

"Jew" in Israeli law

The State of Israel allows any Jew to acquire citizenship; this is known as the Law of Return. 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. More on this topic can be found in the article on Population groups in Israel.

Ancient Israelites

Hitorical Geography

The first two periods of the history of the Jews is mainly that of Palestine or Judea. It begins among those peoples 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 Israel (in the north) and the Judah (in the south). 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.

Persian, Greek and Roman rule

After the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great, the Seleucid Kingdom was formed which sought to incorporate Greek culture into the Persian world. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, supported by hellenized Jews, attempted to rededicate the Jewish temple to Zeus , the orthodox Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees 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. In 66 CE, Judeans began to revolt against the Roman rulers of Judea. The revolt was smashed by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus Flavius. The Romans destroyed all but a single wall of the Temple in Jerusalem and pillaged then burned the Temple and stole the holy menorah. Judeans continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion, until the 2nd century when Julius Severus 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. Some secular historians speculate that a majority of the Jews in Antiquity were most likely descendants of convertites in the cities of the Hellenistic-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. The 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. This latter view is not accepted by any past or present rabbinical or Talmudical scholars, who believe that Jews are almost exclusively biological descendants of the Judean exiles.

Jews and Islam

Before the rise of Islam the Jews inhabited 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 before, converted to Judaism in the past; today in the United States and Israel some people 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.

Ethnic divisions

Common Terms

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 Jews (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 called Sephardic, as the religious rites of Oriental Jews and Sephardic Jews is 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.

Smaller groups of Jews include the following:

The Ethiopian Jews, also known as the Falasha or Beta Israel.

the Bene Israel, i.e. Jews who lived in Bombay, India.

The Cochin Jews, also living in India

The Romaniotes, i.e. Greek speaking Jews living in the Balkans from the Hellenistic era until today (almost 6,000 people worldwide)

Communities

Yiddish was the traditional language of the Ashkenazi, whereas Ladino (Judeo-Portuguese) was that of the Sephardim. Most Oriental Jews spoke Arabic, but others spoke Aramaic or Persian.

Following the Spanish Inquisition the Sephardic Jews were dispersed, some migrating to Europe, where they were assimilated into the Ashkenazi, others migrating to 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.

Out of these communities, the largest by far are the Ashkenazim, comprising ~80% of the Jewish total, with Oriental Jews comprising most of the remainder.

Sub-groups of Jews include the Gruzim (Georgian Jews from the Caucasus), Juhurim (Mountain Jews mainly from Daghestan in the eastern Caucasus), Maghrebim (North African Jews), Abayudaya and (Ugandan Jews)

Ancient schisms in Judaism

Rabbinical Jews

Almost all Jews today are "Rabbinical Jews", who follow Judaism through the lens of the oral law, contained in the Mishnah and Talmud. A miniscule group known as the Karaites still exists. They accept the whole of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, but reject the teachings in the later Mishnah and Talmud. As a result, the Karaites do not accept the Talmud's prohibition against eating milk and meat together. Most Jews do not consider Karaites to be Jewish at all.

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. 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-awaied 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 became completely different and often conflicting religions.

Leadership

Religious

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 it Jewish "extension" the Haskalah movement, with much modern-day assimilation into the cultures of their native countries, most Jews dropped much of Judaism, many even becoming Christians, and adopted secular values and life-styles. Thus most modern Jewish communities are guided by secular leaders who may not be religiously knowledgeable or observant at all.

The spiritual leader of a Karaite community is often called a hakham.

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 5.8 million live in the United States and 5 million live in Israel. Most of the remainder live in Canada, Hungary, Ukraine, France, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Russia and Germany, including 2.4 million in Europe. At the moment, an increasing number of Russian Jews are emigrating to Germany.

More than 500,000 Jews live in Latin America. Nearly 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 established as an independent state on May 14, 1948. The symbol on the Israeli flag is known as the Star of David (Magen David in Hebrew).

Famous Jews

Despite the small number of Jews worldwide, many influential thinkers and leaders in modern times have been ethnically Jewish. These include Karl Marx (whose parents converted to Christianity before he was born, and gave him no Jewish education), Benjamin Disraeli, Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Edward Teller, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Noam Chomsky, Hyman Rickover, Henry Kissinger, and Milton Friedman. See List of famous Jews.

Victims of Anti-Semitism

Nazis and Jews

Modern persecution of the Jews reached its peak under the Nazis who classed the Jews a "race" during 1933 to 1945. Upon capturing most of the European mainland, Nazi Germany built concentration camps designed to kill Jews for the mere "sin" of being born ethnically Jewish. Even Jews who had long assimilated and had been baptized into Christianity were not spared. These racist laws were embodied in the Nuremburg Laws specifically designed to discriminate against Jews. With the defeat of the Axis Powers by the Allied Nations, many German officials were punished by the Nuremburg Trials and Germany paid reparations to Holocaust survivors and to the State of Israel.

Communists and Jews

The former Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also instigated a policy banning Jewish religious life completely. Even though many of the original Bolsheviks were ethnically Jewish they sought to uproot Judaism and even established the Yeksektzia 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 the rights of Jews practice their religion, adopt Zionism and to leave Russia which was unheard of at that time. They were persecuted and became known as Refuseniks until the fall of the Soviet Union opened the gates of freedom for Jews to leave Russia.

The Jewish community today

Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in France, home to 600,000 Jews.

The fastest-growing Jewish community in the world is in Germany, especially in its capital Berlin. Some tens of thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc have settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin wall. The experiences during the Nazi era, a cosmopolitan and anti-nationalistic post-war education, and the political movement of the 1960s have created an atmosphere of tolerance in Germany which is still missing in many post-communist states.

Why so few Jews? And why are people obsessed with them?=

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 and torture. Some examples are the Roman Wars as described by Josephus, the Spanish Inquisition led by Torquamada, Adolf Hitler's Holocaust, and modern wars and Jihad via "suicide bombing" against Israel and its Jewish citizens.

Assimilation

When granted political, economic and religious freedom, many, prtobably the majority, Jews choose to adopt the ways and religions of their host nations, 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% of America's Jews marry non-Jewish partners. This phenomenon is known as "intermarriage" and is the leading cause for the shrinkage of almost all Jewish populations in Westen countries since World War Two.