View source for Jews

{{About|the Jewish people|their religion|Judaism}}
{{Redirect|Jew}}
{{Pp-protected|small=yes}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
|group       = Jews
|native_name = {{lang-he|יהודים}} ({{lang|he-Latn|''Yehudim''}})
|image       = {{image array |perrow=3 |width=75 |height=95 |text=y
 |image1=Maimonides-2.jpg |caption1=[[Maimonides]]
 |image2=Spinoza.jpg |caption2=[[Baruch Spinoza]]
 |image3=SholemAleichem.jpg |caption3=[[Sholem Aleichem]]
 |image4=Albert Einstein (Nobel).png |caption4=[[Albert Einstein]]
 |image5=Noether (petite image).png |caption5=[[Emmy Noether]]
 |image6=David bengurion.jpg |caption6=[[David Ben-Gurion|David {{nowrap|Ben-Gurion}}]]
 |image7=Chagall France 1921.jpg |caption7=[[Marc Chagall]]
 |image8=George Gershwin 1937.jpg |caption8=[[George Gershwin]]
 |image9=Natalie Portman Thor 2 cropped.png |caption9=[[Natalie Portman]]
 }}
|population    = '''13,854,800–18,197,400'''<ref name="Population of Jews" />
|region1       = {{flag|Israel}}
|pop1          = 6,042,000
|ref1          = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4367878,00.html |title=Israel's population crosses 8 million mark |publisher=Ynetnews |date=April 14, 2013 |accessdate=April 14, 2013 }}</ref><ref>This figure does not include 300,000 Israeli ethnic Jews not considered to be Jewish under halakha</ref>
|region2       = {{flag|United States}}
|pop2          = 5,425,000 (2011)
|ref2          = <ref name="JVIL2012">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishdatabank.org/Studies/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=2941 |title=World Jewish Population, 2012 |first=Sergio |last=DellaPergola |authorlink=Sergio DellaPergola |editor1-first=Arnold |editor1-last=Dashefsky |editor1-link=Arnold Dashefsky |editor2-first=Ira |editor2-last=Sheskin |date=November 2, 2012 |work=Current Jewish Population Reports |publisher=North American Jewish Data Bank |location=[[Storrs, Connecticut]] |format=[[Portable Document Format|PDF]] |accessdate=September 21, 2013}}</ref>&nbsp;– 6,800,000<ref name=american-jewish-population />
|region3       = {{flag|France}}
|pop3          = 480,000
|ref3          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region4       = {{flag|Canada}}
|pop4          = 375,000
|ref4          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region5       = {{nowrap|{{flag|United Kingdom}}}}
|pop5          = 291,000
|ref5          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region6       = {{flag|Russia}}
|pop6          = 194,000&nbsp;– over 500,000<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jewishdatabank.org/Reports/World_Jewish_Population_2012.pdf | title=World Jewish Population, 2012 | publisher=North American Jewish Data Bank | date=November 2, 2012 | accessdate=21 July 2013 | author=DellaPergola, Sergio}}</ref>
|ref6          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region7       = {{flag|Argentina}}
|pop7          = 182,300
|ref7          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region8       = {{flag|Germany}}
|pop8          = 119,000
|ref8          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region9       = {{flag|Australia}}
|pop9          = 107,500
|ref9          = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|ref10         = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/26 |title=Hungary |publisher=[[World Jewish Congress]] |accessdate=2014-08-09}}</ref><ref>[http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/anti-semitism-international/adl-says-strong-showing-for.html ADL Says Strong Showing For Anti-Semitic Party In Hungarian Elections 'A Vote For Hate']. Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 2014-08-09.</ref>
|region10      = {{flag|Hungary}}
|pop10         = 100,000&nbsp;– 120,000
|region11      = {{flag|Brazil}}
|pop11         = 95,300
|ref11         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region12      = {{flag|South Africa}}
|pop12         = 70,800
|ref12         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region13      = {{flag|Ukraine}}
|pop13         = 67,000- 200,000<ref>''Aliyah from Ukraine Spikes'', By AFP and Arutz Sheva, First Publish: 5/4/2014</ref>
|ref13         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region14      = {{flag|Mexico}}
|pop14         = 39,400
|ref14         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region15      = {{flag|Belgium}}
|pop15         = 30,300
|ref15         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region16      = {{flag|Netherlands}}
|pop16         = 30,000
|ref16         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region17      = {{flag|Italy}}
|pop17         = 28,400
|ref17         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region18      = {{flag|Turkey}}
|pop18         = 26,000
|ref18         = <ref>http://www.turkishjews.com/</ref>
|region19      = {{flag|Chile}}
|pop19         = 18,500
|ref19         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|region20      = {{flag|Colombia}}
|pop20         = 12,000- over 25,000
|ref20         = <ref>http://www.npr.org/2012/12/20/167714541/lost-jews-of-colombia-say-theyve-found-their-roots</ref>
|region21      = All other countries
|pop21         = 250,200
|ref21         = <ref name="JVIL2012" />
|languages = '''Predominant spoken languages:'''<br />{{Hlist|[[English language|English]]|[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]|[[Russian language|Russian]]|[[Spanish language|Spanish]]|the [[vernacular]] languages of {{allow wrap|other countries in the [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]]}}}}
'''Historical languages:'''<br />{{Hlist|[[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]|[[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]]|[[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judeo-Arabic]]|[[Jewish languages|others]]}}
'''Sacred languages:'''<br />{{Hlist|[[Biblical Hebrew]]|[[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]}}
|religions     = [[File:Star of David.svg|10px]] [[Judaism]]
|related       = other [[Levant]]ines,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity|first= Nicholas|last= Wade|date=June 9, 2010|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/science/10jews.html?_r=0|work=New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1007/s004390000426|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/tcgapdf/Nebel-HG-00-IPArabs.pdf|title=High-resolution Y chromosome haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap with haplotypes of Jews|year=2000|last1=Nebel|first1=Almut|last2=Filon|first2=Dvora|last3=Weiss|first3=Deborah A.|last4=Weale|first4=Michael|last5=Faerman|first5=Marina|last6=Oppenheim|first6=Ariella|last7=Thomas|first7=Mark G.|journal=Human Genetics|volume=107|issue=6|pages=630–41|pmid=11153918}}</ref><ref name="evolutsioon">{{Cite journal|pmid=15300852|url=http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf|year=2004|last1=Shen|first1=P|last2=Lavi|first2=T|last3=Kivisild|first3=T|last4=Chou|first4=V|last5=Sengun|first5=D|last6=Gefel|first6=D|last7=Shpirer|first7=I|last8=Woolf|first8=E|last9=Hillel|first9=J|title=Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence variation|volume=24|issue=3|pages=248–60|doi=10.1002/humu.20077|journal=Human Mutation}}</ref><ref name="sciencedaily">{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/05/000509003653.htm |title=Jews Are The Genetic Brothers Of Palestinians, Syrians, And Lebanese |publisher=Sciencedaily.com |date=2000-05-09 |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref> [[Samaritans]],<ref name="evolutsioon" /> [[Arabs]],<ref name="evolutsioon" /><ref>{{Cite journal|pmc=3032072|year=2010|last1=Atzmon|first1=G|last2=Hao|first2=L|last3=Pe'Er|first3=I|last4=Velez|first4=C|last5=Pearlman|first5=A|last6=Palamara|first6=PF|last7=Morrow|first7=B|last8=Friedman|first8=E|last9=Oddoux|first9=C|title=Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry|volume=86|issue=6|pages=850–859|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015|journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|pmid=20560205}}</ref> [[Assyrians]]<ref name="evolutsioon" /><ref name="sciencedaily" />
}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}}

The '''Jews''' ({{lang-he-n|יְהוּדִים}} <small>[[ISO 259-3]]</small> {{transl|he|''Yehudim''}}, <small>Israeli pronunciation</small> {{IPA-he|jehuˈdim|}}), also known as the '''Jewish people''', are an [[ethnoreligious group]]<ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group"/> originating from the [[Israelites#Historical Israelites|Historical Israelites]] of the [[Ancient Near East]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com.au/booksid=VtAmmwapfVAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Biblical+peoples+and+ethnicity:+an+archaeological#v=onepage&q&f=false Biblical Peoples And Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, And Early Israel 1300-1100 B.C.E.]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=[[Simon Schama]]|title= [http://books.google.co.il/books?id=sHIpAgAAQBAJ The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD]}}
</ref><ref>
* "In the broader sense of the term, a Jew is any person belonging to the worldwide group that constitutes, through descent or conversion, a continuation of the ancient Jewish people, who were themselves descendants of the Hebrews of the Old Testament." 
* "The Jewish people as a whole, initially called Hebrews (ʿIvrim), were known as Israelites (Yisreʾelim) from the time of their entrance into the Holy Land to the end of the Babylonian Exile (538 BC)."
[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303358/Jew Jew] at [http://www.britannica.com Encyclopedia Britannica]</ref><ref>
"Israelite, in the broadest sense, a Jew, or a descendant of the Jewish patriarch Jacob"
[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/296891/Israelite Israelite] at [http://www.britannica.com Encyclopedia Britannica]</ref><ref>"Hebrew, any member of an ancient northern Semitic people that were the ancestors of the Jews." [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259033/Hebrew Hebrew (People)] at [http://www.britannica.com Encyclopedia Britannica]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Michael Brenner|title=[http://books.google.co.il/books/p/princeton?id=WGhprPLD26oC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false A Short History of the Jews]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Raymond P. Scheindlin|title=[http://books.google.co.il/books?id=bfsuicMmrE0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood]}}</ref>

According to Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced back to the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Biblical patriarchs]] such as [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]], and the Biblical matriarchs [[Sarah]], [[Rebecca]], [[Leah]], and [[Rachel]], who lived in [[Canaan]] around the 18th century BCE. Jacob and his family migrated to [[Ancient Egypt]] after being invited to live with [[Joseph (son of Jacob)|Joseph]] (who rose to the rank of [[Pharaoh]]'s Vizier) in the [[Land of Goshen]] region by [[Pharaohs in the bible|Pharaoh]] himself. The patriarchs' descendants were later enslaved until the [[The Exodus|Exodus]] led by [[Moses]], which is commonly dated to the 13th century BCE. Historically, Jews have descended mostly from the tribes of [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]] and [[Tribe of Simeon|Simeon]], and partially from the tribes of [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]] and [[Tribe of Levi|Levi]], who had all together formed the ancient [[Kingdom of Judah]] (alongside the remnants of the [[Northern Kingdom of Israel]] who migrated to their Southern counterpart and assimilated there).<ref>According to the [[Books of Chronicles]] chapter 9 line 3, the Israelites, who took part in [[The Return to Zion]], are stated to be from the Tribe of Judah alongside the Tribe of Simeon that was absorbed into it, the Tribe of Benjamin, the Tribe of Levi (Levites and Priests) alongside the tribes of [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]], which according to the [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] 7 were exiled by the Assyrians.</ref> A closely related group is the [[Samaritans]], who claim descent from the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, while according to the Bible their origin is in the people brought to Israel by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] and some Cohanim (Jewish priests) who taught them how to worship the "native God".<ref>Knoppers, G.N. ''Jews and Samaritans: The origins and history of their early relations''. "Although interactions of Jews and Samaritans had become contentious by the 1st century CE, the two groups actually shared much in common... Both groups could be found both in the land and outside of the land in diasporic communities. Each groups developed its own synagogues which were so similar architecturally that it can be challenging to tell them apart. Members of both groups professed a pedigree in the same eponymous ancestor (Jacob/Israel). Samaritans claimed to be descendants from the northern tribes of Joseph, representing Jacob's progeny of Ephraim and Menasseh ('eprayim and menasseh), while Judeans (yehudim) claimed to be descendants of the southern tribes of Judah (yehuda)." [http://books.google.co.il/books?id=YAgZUPT6CusC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=samaritans+joseph+jews+judah&source=bl&ots=ELXQU09LFH&sig=aWg9zLqvfTy0qdoViH8pKMizIXY&hl=iw&sa=X&ei=9lXUUYKpLeqE4ASNmoHQDg&ved=0CH4Q6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q=samaritans%20joseph%20jews%20judah&f=false]</ref>

The [[Jewish ethnic divisions|Jewish]] [[Ethnic group|ethnicity]], [[nationality]] and [[religion]] are strongly interrelated, as [[Judaism]] is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.louisville.edu/library/collections/brandeis/node/234|title=The Jewish Problem: How To Solve It|first=Louis|last=Brandeis|authorlink=Louis Brandeis|date=April 25, 1915|publisher=University of Louisville School of Law|accessdate=April 2, 2012|quote=Jews are a distinctive nationality of which every Jew, whatever his country, his station or shade of belief, is necessarily a member}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Edward Henry|authorlink1=Edward Henry Palmer|title=A History of the Jewish Nation: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=http://archive.org/details/historyofjewishn00palm|accessdate=April 2, 2012|date=October 14, 2002|origyear=First published 1874|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=978-1-931956-69-7|oclc=51578088|laysummary=http://www.gorgiaspress.com/bookshop/pc-45-60-palmer-e-history-of-the-jewish-nation.aspx}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://press.princeton.edu/einstein/materials/jewish_nationality.pdf|title=How I Became a Zionist|first=Albert|last=Einstein|authorlink=Albert Einstein|work=[[Einstein Papers Project]]|quote=The Jewish nation is a living fact|date=June 21, 1921|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|accessdate=April 5, 2012}}</ref> [[Conversion to Judaism|Converts to Judaism]] typically have a status within the Jewish ethnos equal to those born into it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/beliefs/conversion.shtml |title=BBC Religions/Converting to Judaism: "A person who converts to Judaism becomes a Jew in every sense of the word, and is just as Jewish as someone born into Judaism." |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |accessdate=2013-10-02}}</ref> Conversion is not encouraged by mainstream Judaism, and is considered a tough task, mainly applicable for cases of mixed marriages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-golin/the-complicated-relations_b_842806.html |title=Paul Golin: The Complicated Relationship Between Intermarriage and Jewish Conversion |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |accessdate=2013-10-02}}</ref>

The modern [[Israel|State of Israel]] was established as a [[Jewish state]] and defines itself as such in its [[Basic Laws of Israel|Basic Laws]]. Its [[Law of Return]] grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it.<ref>A 1970 amendment to Israel's [[Law of Return]] defines "Jew" as "a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion." {{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Immigration/Text_of_Law_of_Return.html|title=Law of Return}}</ref> Israel is the only country where Jews are a majority of the population. Jews had also enjoyed political independence twice before in [[ancient history]]. The first of these periods lasted from 1350<ref>{{cite book |last=Dillard |first=Raymond Bryan |title=An Introduction to the Old Testament |url=http://books.google.com.ar/books?id=qRSzg2oh5eMC&pg=PA111&dq=the+data+from+New+Kingdom+(c.+1580-1350+B.C.)+inscriptions+showed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uwx6VNzrJ4ymNvH4gtAO&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20data%20from%20New%20Kingdom%20(c.%201580-1350%20B.C.)%20inscriptions%20showed&f=false|publisher=Zondervan |year=1994 |page=111 |isbn=0310432502}}</ref> to 586 BCE,<ref>Edwin Thiele, ''[[The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings]]'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 0-8254-3825-X, 9780825438257.</ref> and encompassed the periods of the [[Book of Judges|Judges]], the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]], and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], ending with the destruction of [[Solomon's Temple|the First Temple]]. The second was the period of the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean Kingdom]] spanning from 140 to 37 BCE and to some degree under Herodians from 37 BCE to 6 CE. Since [[Destruction of the Second Temple|the destruction]] of the [[Second Temple]] in 70 CE, most Jews have lived in [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 82.</ref> As an ethnic minority in every country in which they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced [[Persecution of Jews|persecution]] throughout history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.

The world [[Jewish population]] reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to [[World War II]],<ref name="JVIL2010"/> but 6 million Jews were killed in [[the Holocaust]]. Since then the population has risen again, and {{as of|2012|lc=y}} was estimated at 13.75 million by the North American Jewish Data Bank,<ref name="JVIL2010">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html|title=The Jewish Population of the World (2010)|work=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}, based on {{cite book|title=American Jewish Year Book|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142}}</ref> or less than 0.2% of the total world population (roughly one in every 514 people).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4291987,00.html|title= Jews make up only 0.2% of mankind|publisher=[[ynetnews]]|date=October 2012}}</ref> According to this report, about 43% of all Jews reside in [[Israel]] (6 million), and 39% in the [[United States]] (5.3–6.8 million), with most of the remainder living in [[Europe]] (1.5 million) and [[Canada]] (0.4 million).<ref name="JVIL2010"/> These numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as so by a respondent in the same household.<ref>Jewish Virtual Library. ''World Jewish Population''. "Refers to the Core Jewish Population. The concept of core Jewish population includes all persons who, when asked in a socio-demographic survey, identify themselves as Jews; or who are identified as Jews by a respondent in the same household, and do not have another monotheistic religion." [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html]</ref> The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure. In addition to issues with census methodology, there are ''[[halakha|halakhic]]'' disputes regarding [[Who is a Jew?|who is a Jew]] and secular, political, and ancestral identification factors that may affect the figure considerably.<ref name=Pfeffer>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20090319024731/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html|archivedate=March 19, 2009|title=Jewish Agency: 13.2 million Jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768|accessdate=January 24, 2009|last=Pfeffer|first=Anshel|date=September 12, 2007|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

==Name and etymology==
{{Main|Jew (word)|Ioudaios}}
The English word ''Jew'' continues [[Middle English]] ''{{lang|enm|Gyw, Iewe}}''. These terms derive from [[Old French]] ''{{lang|fro|giu}}'', earlier ''{{lang|fro|juieu}}'', which had [[elision|elided]] (dropped) the letter "d" from the [[Medieval Latin]] ''Iudaeus'', which, like the [[New Testament]] [[Greek language|Greek]] term [[Ioudaios]], meant both ''Jews'' and ''Judeans / "of [[Judea]]"''.<ref>Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Facts On File Inc., Infobase Publishing, 2009, p.336</ref>

The Greek term was originally a loan from [[Middle Aramaic|Aramaic]] ''{{transl|arc|Y'hūdāi}}'', corresponding to {{lang-he-n|יְהוּדִי}}, ''Yehudi'' (sg.); {{Hebrew|יְהוּדִים}}, ''Yehudim'' ([[plural|pl.]]), in origin the term for a member of the [[tribe of Judah]] or the people of the [[kingdom of Judah]]. The name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from [[Judah (Bible)|Judah]], the fourth son of [[Jacob]].<ref>"Jew", ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref>

The Hebrew word for Jew, {{Hebrew|יְהוּדִי}} <small>[[ISO 259-3]]</small> Yhudi, is pronounced {{IPA-he|jehuˈdi|}}, with the stress on the final syllable, in Israeli Hebrew, in its basic form.<ref name=EJ253>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Grintz|first=Yehoshua M.|editor=Fred Skolnik|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]|title=Jew|edition=2d|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|volume=11|location=Farmington Hills, Mich.|isbn=0-02-865928-7|page=253|ref=harv }}</ref> The [[Ladino language|Ladino]] name is {{Hebrew|ג׳ודיו}}, ''Djudio'' (sg.); {{Hebrew|ג׳ודיוס}}, ''Djudios'' (pl.); [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]: {{Hebrew|ייִד}} ''Yid'' (sg.); {{Hebrew|ייִדן}}, ''Yidn'' (pl.).

The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., يَهُودِيّ ''yahoudiy'' (sg.); ''al-yahoud'' (pl.), and بَنُو اِسرَائِيل ''banoo israa'eel''  in [[Arabic]], "Jude" in [[German language|German]], "judeu" in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], "juif" in [[French language|French]], "jøde" in [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], "judío" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], "jood" in [[Dutch language|Dutch]], etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g., in [[Italian language|Italian]] (''Ebreo''), in [[Persian language|Persian]] ("Ebri/Ebrani" ({{lang-fa|عبری/عبرانی}})) and [[Russian language|Russian]] (''Еврей, Yevrey'').<ref>{{cite book|last=Falk|first=Avner|authorlink=Avner Falk|title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews|year=1996|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|location=Madison, N.J.|isbn=0-8386-3660-8|page=131 }}</ref> The German word "Jude" is pronounced {{IPA-de|ˈjuːdə|}}, the corresponding [[adjective]] "jüdisch" {{IPA-de|ˈjyːdɪʃ|}} (Jewish) is the origin of the word "Yiddish".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary|title=Yiddish|edition=11th|year=2004|publisher=Merriam-Webster|location=Springfield, Massachusetts|isbn=0-87779-809-5|page=1453|ref=harv }}</ref> (See [[Jewish ethnonyms]] for a full overview.)

According to ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]'', Fourth Edition (2000):
<blockquote>It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun ''Jew'', in phrases such as ''Jew lawyer'' or ''Jew ethics'', is both [[Vulgarism|vulgar]] and highly offensive. In such contexts ''Jewish'' is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of ''Jew'' as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as ''There are now several Jews on the council'', which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like ''Jewish people'' or ''persons of Jewish background'' may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/Jew|title=Jew|publisher=[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]|accessdate=April 2, 2012}}</ref></blockquote>

==Origins==
{{See also|Origins of Judaism|Jewish history}}
[[File:A map of Canaan (8343807206).jpg|180px|thumbnail|right|Map of [[Canaan]]]]
According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], all Israelites descend from [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]]. Abraham was born in the [[Sumer]]ian city of [[Ur Kaśdim]], and migrated to [[Canaan]] (commonly known as the [[Land of Israel]]) with his family. [[Aristotle]] believed that the Jews came from [[India]], where he said that they were known as the ''Kalani''.<ref>Josephus, Flavius. ''Contra Apionem'', I.176-183. Retrieved 6/16/2012 from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+Ap.+1.176&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0215.</ref> [[Genetic studies on Jews]] show that most Jews worldwide bear a common genetic heritage which originates in the [[Middle East]], and that they bear their strongest resemblance to the peoples of the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref name=WhoAreTheJews>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.beitberl.ac.il/~bbsite/misc/ezer_anglit/klali/05_123.pdf|title=Who are the Jews?|author=Jared Diamond|year=1993|accessdate=November 8, 2010}} Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12-19.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/97/12/6769.full|title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes|accessdate=11 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of the Jewish Diaspora|first=Nicholas|last=Wade|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/09/science/y-chromosome-bears-witness-to-story-of-the-jewish-diaspora.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=9 May 2000|accessdate=10 October 2012}}</ref> According to [[archaeologists]], however, Israelite culture did not overtake the region, but rather grew out of [[Canaan]]ite culture.<ref>Tubb, 1998. pg-13-14</ref><ref name=autogenerated1>Evans, Richard ''In Hitler's Shadow'', New York, NY: Pantheon, 1989 p. 43</ref><ref>Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (ca. 1200–1000&nbsp;BC). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" (Eerdman's)</ref><ref>Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5</ref>

==Judaism==
{{Main|Judaism}}
[[Judaism]] guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not only a religion, but also a "way of life,"<ref>Neusner (1991) p. 64</ref> which has made drawing a clear distinction between Judaism, Jewish culture, and Jewish identity rather difficult. Throughout history, in eras and places as diverse as the ancient [[Ancient Greece|Hellenic]] world,<ref>{{cite book|last=Patai|first=Raphael|authorlink=Raphael Patai|title=[[The Jewish Mind]]|year=1996|origyear=1977|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit|isbn=0-8143-2651-X|page=7}}</ref> in Europe before and after [[The Age of Enlightenment]] (see [[Haskalah]]),<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Lonnie R.|title=Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-510071-9|page=145}}</ref> in [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain and Portugal]],<ref name=Sharot2930>Sharot (1997), pp. 29–30.</ref> in [[North Africa]] and the Middle East,<ref name=Sharot2930/> [[Indian Jews|India]],<ref>Sharot (1997), pp. 42–3.</ref> [[History of the Jews in China|China]],<ref>Sharot (1997), p. 42.</ref> or the contemporary United States<ref>{{cite book|last=Fishman|first=Sylvia Barack|title=Jewish Life and American Culture|year=2000|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|isbn=0-7914-4546-1|page=38}}</ref> and Israel,<ref>{{cite book|last=Kimmerling|first=Baruch|title=The Israeli State and Society: Boundaries and Frontiers|year=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|isbn=0-88706-849-9|page=169}}</ref> 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 or specific communities of Jews with their surroundings, others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to from the religion itself. This phenomenon has led to considerably different Jewish cultures unique to their own communities, each as authentically Jewish as the next.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lowenstein|first=Steven M.|title=The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-513425-7|page=228}}</ref>

==Who is a Jew?==
{{Main|Who is a Jew?}}
[[Judaism]] shares some of the characteristics of a [[nation]], an [[ethnicity]],<ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group" /> a [[religion]], and a [[culture]], making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used.<ref>{{cite web|author=Name |url=http://www.chabad.org/45132 |title=What Makes a Jew Jewish? |publisher=Chabad.org |accessdate=2013-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/whojew1.html|title=Who is a Jew?|accessdate=2007-10-06|last=Weiner|first=Rebecca|year=2007|publisher=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}</ref> Generally, in modern secular usage Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly [[Matrilineality in Judaism|matrilineal descent]]), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally [[Conversion to Judaism|converted to Judaism]] and therefore are followers of the religion.<ref>{{cite book|title=World Religions: An Introduction for Students|last=Fowler|first=Jeaneane D.|year=1997|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=1-898723-48-6|page=7}}</ref>

Historical definitions of [[Jewish identity]] have traditionally been based on ''[[halakha|halakhic]]'' definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the [[Oral Torah]] into the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]], around 200 [[Common Era|CE]]. Interpretations of sections of the Tanakh, such as [[Deuteronomy]] 7:1–5, by Jewish sages, are used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and [[Canaanites]] because "[the non-Jewish husband] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods (i.e., idols) of others." {{bibleref2|Leviticus|24:10}} says that the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man is "of the community of Israel." This is complemented by {{bibleref2|Ezra|10:2–3}}, where Israelites returning from Babylon vow to put aside their [[gentile]] wives and their children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/10-11.html|title=What is the origin of Matrilineal Descent?|accessdate=January 9, 2009|date=September 4, 2003|publisher=Shamash.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.torah.org/qanda/seequanda.php?id=318|title=What is the source of the law that a child is Jewish only if its mother is Jewish?|accessdate=January 9, 2009|publisher=Torah.org }}</ref> Since the ''[[Haskalah]]'', these ''halakhic'' interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.<ref>Dosick (2007), pp. 56–7.</ref>

According to historian [[Shaye J. D. Cohen]], the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined patrilineally in the Bible. He brings two likely explanations for the change in Mishnaic times: first, the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures (''kilayim''). Thus, a mixed marriage is forbidden as is the union of a horse and a donkey, and in both unions the offspring are judged matrilineally.<ref name="J.D. Cohen">{{Cite book|author=Shaye J.D. Cohen|year=1999|title=The Beginnings of Jewishness|publisher=U. California Press|pages=305–306|isbn=0-585-24643-2}}</ref> Second, the [[Tannaim]] may have been influenced by Roman law, which dictated that when a parent could not contract a legal marriage, [[Mater semper certa est|offspring would follow the mother]].<ref name="J.D. Cohen"/>

By the first century, Babylonia, to which Jews migrated to after the Babylonian conquest as well as after the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] in 135 CE, already held a speedily growing<ref name="Translation 1981, pg. 95">[מרדכי וורמברנד ובצלאל ס רותת "עם ישראל - תולדות 4000 שנה - מימי האבות ועד חוזה השלום", ע"מ 95. (Translation: Mordechai Vermebrand and Betzalel S. Ruth - "The People of Israel&nbsp;— the history of 4000 years&nbsp;— from the days of the Forefathers to the Peace Treaty", 1981, pg. 95)</ref> population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million <ref name="Solomon Gryazel p. 137">[Dr. Solomon Gryazel, "History of the Jews - From the destruction of Judah in 586 BC to the preset Arab Israeli conflict", p. 137]</ref> between the years 200 CE&nbsp;– 500 CE, both by natural growth and by immigration of more Jews from the Land of Israel, making up about 1/6 of the world Jewish population at that era.<ref name="Solomon Gryazel p. 137"/> At times conversion has accounted for a part of Jewish population growth. Some have claimed that in the first century of the Christian era, for example, the population more than doubled, from four to 8–10 million within the confines of the Roman Empire, in good part as a result of a wave of conversion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beyond+the+fourth+wave%3A+contemporary+anti-Semitism+and+radical+Islam.-a0149590107|title=Beyond the fourth wave: contemporary anti-Semitism and radical Islam|first=Yehuda|last=Bauer|authorlink=Yehuda Bauer|accessdate=February 20, 2013 }}</ref>

Other historians believe that conversion during the Roman era was limited in number and did not account for much of the Jewish population growth, due to various factors such as the illegality of male conversion to Judaism in the Roman world from the mid second century. Another factor that would have made conversion difficult in the Roman world was the halakhic requirement of [[Brit milah|circumcision]], a requirement that proselytizing [[Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|Christianity quickly dropped]]. The [[Fiscus Judaicus]], a tax imposed on Jews in 70 CE and relaxed to exclude Christians in 96 CE, also limited Judaism's appeal.<ref name="docs.google.com">{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ib2suAQgXxDFZ5zLdag9DMTFCaDPkJrDwResH1I_J4I/edit |work=The Times Literary Supplement|title=Secta and natio|first=MARTIN|last= GOODMAN|publisher=Docs.google.com |date=February 26, 2010 |accessdate=2013-10-02}}</ref> In addition, historians argue the very figure (4 million) that had been guessed to account for the population of Jews in the ancient Roman Empire is an error that has long been disproven and thus the assumption that conversion impacted Jewish population growth in ancient Rome on a large scale is false.<ref name="docs.google.com"/> The 8 million figure is also in doubt as it may refer to a census of total Roman citizens.<ref>{{Cite book | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=RQgW9NMML4wC&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=roman+empire+jews+8+million&source=bl&ots=L2f2IRsFPU&sig=0RKrm3Icv0IYXEdxHjAFN_UtkyE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J4bRUrTqD8LhsAS12oH4DA&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=roman%20empire%20jews%208%20million&f=false| title = Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities P. 105 | year = 2002| accessdate = 2014-01-11 | publisher = Routledge.  London and New york}}</ref>

Aside from the Jewish communities of Babylonia and Rome, other Jewish communities were also to be found during that era in North Africa, across the Middle East, in Northern Europe, and in other places.

==Ethnic divisions==
{{Main|Jewish ethnic divisions}}
[[File:Gottlieb-Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Ashkenazi Jews]] of late 19th century [[Eastern Europe]] portrayed in ''[[Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur]]'' (1878), by [[Maurycy Gottlieb]]]]
Within the world's [[Jewish population]] there are distinct ethnic divisions, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating [[Israelite]] population, and subsequent independent [[evolution]]s. An array of Jewish communities was established by Jewish settlers in various places around the [[Old World]], often at great distances from one another resulting in effective and often long-term isolation from each other. During the [[millennia]] of the [[Jewish diaspora]] the communities would develop under the influence of their local environments; [[politics|political]], [[culture|cultural]], [[nature|natural]], and [[population]]al. Today, manifestation of these differences among the Jews can be observed in [[Jewish culture|Jewish cultural expressions]] of each community, including [[Jewish languages|Jewish linguistic diversity]], culinary preferences, liturgical practices, religious interpretations, as well as degrees and sources of genetic admixture.<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 60.</ref>

[[File:1900 photo of a Sephardi couple from Sarajevo.png|thumb|150px|[[Sephardi]] Jewish couple from Sarajevo in traditional clothing. Photo taken in 1900.]]
Jews are often identified as belonging to one of two major groups: the ''[[Ashkenazim]]'', and the ''[[Sephardim]]'', or "[[Hispanics]]" (Sefarad meaning "[[Spain]]/[[Hispania]]" or "[[Iberian peninsula|Iberia]]" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish, and Portuguese, base). The ''[[Mizrahim]]'', or "Easterners" (Mizrach being "East" in Hebrew), that is, the diverse collection of Middle Eastern and North African Jews, constitute a third major group, although they are sometimes termed ''Sephardi'' for liturgical reasons.<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 59.</ref>

Smaller groups include, but are not restricted to, [[Jews in India|Indian Jews]] such as the [[Bene Israel]], [[Bnei Menashe]], [[Cochin Jews]], and [[Bene Ephraim]]; the [[Romaniotes]] of Greece; the [[Italian Jews#Italian rite Jews|Italian Jews]] ("Italkim" or "Bené Roma"); the [[Teimanim]] from [[Yemen]]; various [[Jews and Judaism in Africa|African Jews]], including most numerously the [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]]; and [[History of the Jews in China|Chinese Jews]], most notably the [[Kaifeng Jews]], as well as various other distinct but now almost extinct communities.<ref name=EJ571>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schmelz|first=Usiel Oscar|coauthors=Sergio DellaPergola|editor=Fred Skolnik|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]|title=Demography|edition=2d|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|volume=5|location=Farmington Hills, Mich.|isbn=0-02-865928-7|page=571|ref=harv}}</ref>

The divisions between all these groups are approximate and their boundaries are not always clear. The [[Mizrahim]] for example, are a heterogeneous collection of [[North Africa]]n, [[Central Asia]]n, [[Caucasus (geographic region)|Caucasian]], and Middle Eastern Jewish communities that are often as unrelated to each other as they are to any of the earlier mentioned Jewish groups. In modern usage, however, the Mizrahim are sometimes termed ''Sephardi'' due to similar styles of liturgy, despite independent development from Sephardim proper. Thus, among Mizrahim there are [[Egyptian Jews]], [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Lebanese Jews]], [[Kurdish Jews]], [[Libyan Jews]], [[Syrian Jews]], [[Bukharian Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], [[Georgian Jews]], [[Iranian Jews]] and various others. The [[Teimanim]] from [[Yemen]] are sometimes included, although their style of liturgy is unique and they differ in respect to the admixture found among them to that found in Mizrahim. In addition, there is a differentiation made between Sephardi migrants who established themselves in the Middle East and North Africa after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s and the pre-existing Jewish communities in those regions.<ref name=EJ571/>
[[File:Yemenite Elder Blowing Shofat, February 1, 1949.jpg|thumb|left|Yemenite Jew blows shofar, 1947]]
Despite this diversity, Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70% of Jews worldwide (and up to 90% prior to [[World War II]] and the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]). As a result of their emigration from Europe, Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the [[New World]] continents, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil. In France, emigration of Jews from North Africa has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim .<ref name=EJ572>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schmelz|first=Usiel Oscar|coauthors=Sergio DellaPergola|editor=Fred Skolnik|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]|title=Demography|edition=2d|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|volume=5|location=Farmington Hills, Mich.|isbn=0-02-865928-7|pages=571–2|ref=harv}}</ref> Only in [[Israel]] is the Jewish population representative of all groups, a [[melting pot]] independent of each group's proportion within the overall world Jewish population.<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 61.</ref>

==Languages==
{{Main|Jewish languages}}
[[File:Page from Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary by Elijah Levita.jpg|thumb|upright|A page from [[Elia Levita]]'s (right to left) [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]-[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]-[[Latin language|Latin]]-[[German language|German]] dictionary (1542) contains a list of nations, including an entry for Jew: {{lang-he|יְהוּדִי}}, {{lang-yi|יוּד}}, {{lang-de|Jud}}, {{lang-la|Iudaeus}}]]
[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] is the [[liturgical language]] of Judaism (termed ''l'shon ha-kodesh'', "the holy tongue"), the language in which most of the Hebrew scriptures ([[Tanakh]]) were composed, and the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries. By the 5th century BCE, [[Aramaic]], a closely related tongue, joined Hebrew as the spoken language in [[Judea]].<ref name=Grintz>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/3264497|title=Hebrew as the Spoken and Written Language in the Last Days of the Second Temple|first=Jehoshua M.|last=Grintz|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=79|issue=1|date=March 1960|pages=32–47|publisher=The Society of Biblical Literature|jstor=3264497|ref=harv}}</ref> By the third century BCE, some Jews of the diaspora were speaking [[Ancient Greek|Greek]].<ref>Feldman (2006), p. 54.</ref> Others, such as in the Jewish communities of Babylonia, were speaking Hebrew and Aramaic, the languages of the Babylonian [[Talmud]]. These languages were also used by the Jews of Israel at that time.

For centuries, Jews worldwide have spoken the local or dominant languages of the regions they migrated to, often developing distinctive [[dialect]]al forms or branches that became independent languages. [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] is the Judæo-German language developed by [[Ashkenazi Jews]] who migrated to [[Central Europe]]. [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] is the Judæo-Spanish language developed by [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] Jews who migrated to the [[Iberian peninsula]]. Due to many factors, including the impact of the Holocaust on European Jewry, the [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]], and widespread emigration from other Jewish communities around the world, ancient and distinct [[Jewish languages]] of several communities, including [[Judaeo-Georgian|Judæo-Georgian]], [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judæo-Arabic]], [[Judeo-Berber language|Judæo-Berber]], [[Krymchak language|Krymchak]], [[Judæo-Malayalam]] and many others, have largely fallen out of use.<ref name=Languages/>

For over sixteen centuries Hebrew was used almost exclusively as a liturgical language, and as the language in which most books had been written on Judaism, with a few speaking only Hebrew on the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Parfitt|first1=T. V.|doi=10.1093/jss/17.2.237|title=The Use Of Hebrew In Palestine 1800–1822|journal=Journal of Semitic Studies|volume=17|issue=2|pages=237–52|year=1972|url=http://jss.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/2/237.full.pdf+html|ref=harv}}</ref> Hebrew was revived as a spoken language by [[Eliezer ben Yehuda]], who arrived in Palestine in 1881. It had not been used as a [[mother tongue]] since [[Tannaim|Tannaic]] times.<ref name=Grintz/> Modern Hebrew is now one of the two official languages of the State of Israel along with [[Arabic]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/EDC6CB3D-73EE-43BD-9CDC-ED4EFF8A4008/0/usisrael_pub.pdf|title=Israel and the United States: Friends, Partners, Allies|accessdate=April 2, 2012|publisher=[[Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.]]}}</ref>

Despite efforts to revive Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people, knowledge of the language is not commonly possessed by Jews worldwide and English has emerged as the [[lingua franca]] of the Jewish people.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0VnB2Jq3fW4C&pg=PA428&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=International Handbook of Jewish Education|author=Nava Nevo|publisher=Springer|year=2001|page=428|quote=In contrast to other peoples who are masters of their national languages, Hebrew is not the 'common possession' of all Jewish people, and it mainly—if not exclusively—lives and breathes in Israel.... Although there are oases of Hebrew in certain schools, it has not become the Jewish lingua franca and English is rapidly taking its place as the Jewish people's language of communication. Even Hebrew-speaking Israeli representatives tend to use English in their public appearances at international Jewish conventions.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hEHCW7KnuG8C&pg=PA121#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Prophets and Profits: Managerialism and the Restructuring of Jewish Schools in South Africa|author=Chaya Herman|publisher=HSRC Press|year=2006|page=121|quote=It is English rather than Hebrew that emerged as the ''lingua franca'' of the Jews towards the late 20th century.... This phenomenon occurred despite efforts to make Hebrew a language of communication, and despite the fact that the teaching of Hebrew was considered the ''raison d'être'' of the Jewish day schools and the 'nerve center' of Jewish learning.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bWmMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA185&dq=%22english+as+a+lingua+franca+for+jews+worldwide%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sgc3U87kG66lsATu64G4BQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22english%20as%20a%20lingua%20franca%20for%20jews%20worldwide%22&f=false|title=Negotiating Language Policy in Schools: Educators as Policymakers|author=Elana Shohamy|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|page=185|quote=This priority given to English is related to the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and the current status of English as a ''lingua franca'' for Jews worldwide.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rUpFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Dynamic Belonging: Contemporary Jewish Collective Identities|author=Elan Ezrachi|publisher=Bergahn Books|year=2012|page=214|quote=As Stephen P. Cohen observes: 'English is the language of Jewish universal discourse.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Worldwide+Community/Connecting+to+Community/Jewish+Languages.htm |title=Jewish Languages&nbsp;— How Do We Talk To Each Other? |publisher=[[Jewish Agency]] |accessdate=2014-04-05 |quote=Only a minority of the Jewish people today can actually speak Hebrew. In order for a Jew from one country to talk to another who speaks a different language, it is more common to use English than Hebrew.}}</ref> Although many Jews once had sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and [[Jewish languages]] like Yiddish and Ladino were commonly used as recently as the early 20th century, most Jews lack such knowledge today and English has by and large superseded most Jewish vernaculars. According to scholar [[Moshe Davis]], "English has in fact become the most common language of the Jews. It is the mother tongue for the majority of world Jewry and a secondary language for growing numbers in the other countries where Jews live."<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MnIBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22english+has+in+fact+become+the+most+common+language%22&dq=%22english+has+in+fact+become+the+most+common+language%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7_42U_beOKzQsQT17IHADg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ|title=The Jewish People in Metamorphosis|author=Moshe Davis|year=1963|quote=As recently as the beginning of the present century, many Jews within the framework of their own educational system possessed sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and the People as a whole, in their major components, used their self-created vernaculars of Yiddish and Ladino. Today, most Jews lack such knowledge and the Jewish People has relinquished its vernacular. There have been two major results. In the first place, English has in fact become the most common language of the Jews. It is the mother tongue for the majority of world Jewry and a secondary language for growing numbers in the other countries where Jews live.}}</ref>

The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are English, Hebrew, and Russian. Some Romance languages, particularly [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], are also widely used.<ref name=Languages>{{cite web|url=http://www.bh.org.il/links.aspx|title=Links|accessdate=April 2, 2012|publisher=[[Beth Hatefutsoth]]|archiveurl=//web.archive.org/web/20090326102214/http://www.bh.org.il/links/jewishlangs.asp|archivedate=March 26, 2009}}</ref> Yiddish has been spoken by more Jews in history than any other language,<ref>Hebrew, Aramaic and the rise of Yiddish. D. Katz. (1985) ''Readings in the sociology of Jewish languages'</ref> but it is far less used today, following the [[Holocaust]] and the adoption of Modern Hebrew by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel.

In some places, the mother language of the Jewish community differs from that of the general population or the dominant group. For example, in [[Quebec]], the Ashkenazic majority has adopted English, while the Sephardic minority uses French as its primary language.<ref>http://forward.com/articles/5434/quebec-sephardim-make-breakthroughs/</ref><ref>https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Quebec.html</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NYyiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR22#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach|author=Edna Aizenberg|year=2012|page=xxii}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fIZ6wftL3oQC&pg=PA449#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Canada's Jews: A People's Journey|author=Gerald Tulchinsky|pages=447–49}}</ref> Similarly, South African Jews adopted English rather than Afrikaans.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gbTFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Institutions, Ethnicity, and Political Mobilization in South Africa|author=Jessica Piombo|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=51}}</ref> Due to both Czarist and Soviet policies,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TIMoQbjAmhgC&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=World War I and the Remaking of Jewish Vilna, 1914-1918|author=Andrew Noble Koss (dissertation)|publisher=Stanford University|year=2010|pages=30–31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ic5Kth7aiusC&pg=PA781#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of "Jewish Languages"|author=Paul Wexler|chapter=Chapter 38: Evaluating Soviet Yiddish Language Policy Between 1917-1950|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2006|page=780}}</ref> Russian has superseded Yiddish as the language of Russian Jews, but these policies have also affected neighboring communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-russian.html|title=Jewish Russian|author=Anna Verschik|publisher=Jewish Languages Research Website|date=2007-05-25}}</ref> Today, Russian is the first language for many Jewish communities in former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=PA1007#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1|page=1007}}</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=ktyM07I9HXwC&pg=PT255&dq=jews+in+ukraine+speak+russian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oBE3U7n8JunLsQSlzIHICw&ved=0CDkQ6wEwAg#v=onepage&q=jews%20in%20ukraine%20speak%20russian&f=false]</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=eujRZg308isC&pg=PT95&dq=jews+in+ukraine+speak+russian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oBE3U7n8JunLsQSlzIHICw&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=jews%20in%20ukraine%20speak%20russian&f=false]</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/jerusalem-babylon/.premium-1.579733|title=The Jews who said 'no' to Putin|author=Anshel Pfeffer|publisher=''Haaretz''|date=March 14, 2014}}</ref> and Uzbekistan,<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html]</ref> as well as for Ashkenazic Jews in Azerbaijan,<ref name="Maoz">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA135#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Muslim Attitudes towards Jews and Israel|author=Moshe Ma'oz|pages=135, 160}}</ref> Georgia,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UNczHm67tjIC&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=DNA & Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews|author=Yaakov Kleiman|publisher=Devora Publishing|year=2004|page=72|quote=The community is divided between 'native' Georgian Jews and Russian-speaking Ashkenazim who began migrating there at the beginning of the 19th century, and especially during World War II.}}</ref> and Tajikistan.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=AgkVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages|author=Joshua A. Fishman|year=1985|pages=165, 169–74|quote=Jews in Tadzhikistan have adopted Tadzhik as their first language. The number of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews in that region is comparatively low (cf. 2,905 in 1979). Both Ashkenazic and Oriental Jews have assimilated to Russian, the number of Jews speaking Russian as their first language amounting to a total of 6,564. It is reasonable to assume that the percentage of assimilated Ashkenazim is much higher than the portion of Oriental Jews.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=idAfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Language in Ethnicity: A View of Basic Ecological Relations|author=Harald Haarmann|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1986|pages=70–73, 79–82}}</ref> Although communities in North Africa today are small and dwindling, Jews there had shifted from multilingual group to a monolingual one (or nearly so), speaking French in Algeria,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=f4Mp4qy8lbUC&pg=PA234&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Transnational Spaces and Identities in the Francophone World|page=234}}</ref> Morocco,<ref name="Maoz"/> and the city of Tunis,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=45exFa6wDIIC&pg=PA258#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa|pages=258, 270}}</ref><ref>[http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/africa/tunisia.html]</ref> while most North Africans continue to use Arabic as their mother tongue.

==Genetic studies==
{{Main|Genetic studies on Jews}}

[[Y chromosome|Y DNA]] studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths.<ref name="hammer2000">{{Cite journal|author=Hammer MF, Redd AJ, Wood ET, et al.|title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=97|issue=12|pages=6769–6774|date=June 2000|pmid=10801975|pmc=18733|doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997|bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H|ref=harv}}</ref> In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in [[Eastern Europe]], Germany and the French [[Rhine Valley]]. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the [[Middle East]].<ref name="Nebel 2001">{{cite journal|author=Nebel Almut, Filon Dvora, Brinkmann Bernd, Majumder Partha P., Faerman Marina, Oppenheim Ariella|year=2001|title=The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=69|issue=5| pages=1095–112|pmc=1274378|pmid=11573163|doi=10.1086/324070|ref=harv}}</ref><ref>Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA by Tony Nick Frudakis P:383 [http://books.google.rs/books?id=9vXeydpj7VkC&pg=PA383&dq=ashkenazi+jews+middle+eastern+origin+bronze+age&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MQ_SUKWvFISa0QXSvIDIDA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=ashkenazi%20jews%20middle%20eastern%20origin%20bronze%20age&f=false]</ref>
The maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at [[mitochondrial DNA]], are generally more heterogeneous.<ref name="Behar2008b">{{cite journal|author=Behar DM, Metspalu E, Kivisild T, et al.|title=Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora|journal=PloS ONE|volume=3|issue=4|pages=e2062|year=2008|pmid=18446216|pmc=2323359|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002062|editor1-last=MacAulay|editor1-first=Vincent|bibcode = 2008PLoSO...3.2062B|ref=harv}}</ref> Scholars such as [[Harry Ostrer]] and [[Raphael Falk]] believe this indicates that many Jewish males found new mates from European and other communities in the places where they migrated in the diaspora after fleeing ancient Israel.<ref name="Lewontin">Richard Lewontin, "Is There a Jewish Gene?", ''New York Review of Books'', 6 December 2012</ref> In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews originate maternally from just four female founders, who were of Middle Eastern origin. The populations of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish communities "showed no evidence for a narrow founder effect."<ref name="Behar2008b"/> Subsequent studies carried out by Feder et al. confirmed the large portion of non-local maternal origin among Ashkenazi Jews. Reflecting on their findings related to the maternal origin of Ashkenazi Jews, the authors conclude "Clearly, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. Hence, differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v15/n4/full/5201764a.html|doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201764|title=Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations: Lessons of population substructure in a closed group|year=2007|last1=Feder|first1=Jeanette|last2=Ovadia|first2=Ofer|last3=Glaser|first3=Benjamin|last4=Mishmar|first4=Dan|journal=European Journal of Human Genetics|volume=15|issue=4|pages=498–500|pmid=17245410}}</ref> For other Jewish groups, there is fairly uncontested evidence for founder females of Middle Eastern origin.<ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">{{cite journal|pmid=20560205|year=2010|last1=Atzmon|first1=G|last2=Hao|first2=L|last3=Pe'Er|first3=I|last4=Velez|first4=C|last5=Pearlman|first5=A|last6=Palamara|first6=PF|last7=Morrow|first7=B|last8=Friedman|first8=E|last9=Oddoux|first9=C|title=Abraham's children in the genome era: Major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry|volume=86|issue=6|pages=850–9|pmc=3032072|journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|pmid=23052947|year=2013|last1=Ostrer|first1=H|last2=Skorecki|first2=K|title=The population genetics of the Jewish people|volume=132|issue=2|pages=119–27|doi=10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6|pmc=3543766|journal=Human Genetics}}</ref>

Studies of autosomal DNA, which look at the entire DNA mixture, have become increasingly important as the technology develops. They show that Jewish populations have tended to form relatively closely related groups in independent communities, with most in a community sharing significant ancestry in common.<ref name="nature.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100603/full/news.2010.277.html|doi=10.1038/news.2010.277
|title=Jews worldwide share genetic ties
|year=2010 |first=Alla |last=Katsnelson

 }}</ref> For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]], [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]], and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Jewish populations show a predominant amount of shared Middle Eastern ancestry. According to Behar, the most parsimonious explanation for this shared Middle Eastern ancestry is that it is "consistent with the historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant" and "the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the Old World".<ref name="Behar2010">{{cite journal |author1= Doron M. Behar |author2= Bayazit Yunusbayev |author3= Mait Metspalu |author4= Ene Metspalu |author5= Saharon Rosset |author6= Jüri Parik |author7= Siiri Rootsi |author8= Gyaneshwer Chaubey |author8= Ildus Kutuev |author9= Guennady Yudkovsky |author10= Elza K. Khusnutdinova |author11= Oleg Balanovsky |author12= Olga Balaganskaya |author13= Ornella Semino |author14= Luisa Pereira |author15= David Comas |author15= David Gurwitz |author16= Batsheva Bonne-Tamir |author17= Tudor Parfitt |author18= Michael F. Hammer |author19= Karl Skorecki |author20= Richard Villems |url=http://www.researchgate.net/publication/44657170_The_genome-wide_structure_of_the_Jewish_people/file/79e41508a88be7e829.pdf |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |journal=Nature |date=July 2010 |volume=466 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |issue=7303 |pages=238–42 |pmid=20531471}}</ref> North African, Italian and others of Iberian origin show variable frequencies of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations among the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular [[Moroccan Jews]]), who are apparently closely related, the non-Jewish component is mainly southern European. Behar ''et al.'' have remarked on an especially close relationship to modern Italians.<ref name="Behar2010"/><ref name=zooss>{{cite journal|journal=Biol Direct|year=2010|volume=5|issue=57|doi=10.1186/1745-6150-5-57|title=The Origin of Eastern European Jews Revealed by Autosomal, Sex Chromosomal and mtDNA Polymorphisms|first=Avshalom|last=Zoossmann-Diskin|pmc=2964539|pmid=20925954|url=http://www.biology-direct.com/content/5/1/57|page=57|ref=harv}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Did Modern Jews Originate in Italy?|url=http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/10/did-modern-jews-originate-italy|accessdate=21 October 2013|newspaper=[[Science (journal){{!}}Science]]|date=8 October 2013}}</ref> The studies show that  the descendants of the [[Anusim]] of [[Iberia]] (19.8% of modern Iberia), the [[Bene Israel]] and [[Cochin Jews]] of [[India]], [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]], and a portion of the [[Lemba people]] of southern Africa, while more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, have some ancient Jewish descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/155742/jews-are-a-race-genes-reveal/?p=all |title=Jews Are a 'Race,' Genes Reveal&nbsp;– |publisher=Forward.com |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref><ref name=discovermagazine>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/06/genetics-the-jews-its-still-complicated/ |title=Genetics & the Jews (it's still complicated) : Gene Expression |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |publisher=Blogs.discovermagazine.com |date=2010-06-10 |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref><ref name="in.reuters.com">{{cite web|last=Begley |first=Sharon |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/06/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806?mlt_click=Master+Sponsor+Logo%28Active%29_19_More+News_sec-col1-m1_News |title=Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa's Jews &#124; Reuters |publisher=In.reuters.com |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Demographics==
{{Further|Jewish population by country}}

===Population centers===
{{Main|Jewish population by urban areas}}
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; margin:10px"
|-
! Country<ref name="JVIL2010"/>
! Jews, №
! Jews, %
|-
| {{flagicon|Israel}} [[History of the Jews in the Land of Israel|Israel]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,916,200<ref name="Haaretz">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-closes-decade-with-population-of-7-5-million-1.1083 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |title=Israel closes decade with population of 7.5&nbsp;million |date=30 December 2009 |accessdate=20 March 2012}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;"| 75.52%
|-
| {{flagicon|United States}} [[History of the Jews in the United States|United States]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,275,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.71%
|-
| {{flagicon|France}} [[History of the Jews in France|France]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 483,500
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.77%
|-
| {{flagicon|Canada}} [[History of the Jews in Canada|Canada]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 375,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.11%
|-
| {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[History of the Jews in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 292,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.47%
|-
| {{flagicon|Brazil}} [[History of the Jews in Brazil|Brazil]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 207,329
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.10%
|-
| {{flagicon|Russia}} [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 205,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.15%
|-
| {{flagicon|Argentina}} [[History of the Jews of Argentina|Argentina]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 182,300
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.45%
|-
| {{flagicon|Germany}} [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 119,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.15%
|-
| {{flagicon|Australia}} [[History of the Jews in Australia|Australia]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 107,500
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.50%
|-
| {{flagicon|Ukraine}} [[History of the Jews in Ukraine|Ukraine]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 71,500
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.16%
|-
| {{flagicon|South Africa}} [[History of the Jews in South Africa|South Africa]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 70,800
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.14%
|-
| {{flagicon|Hungary}} [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungary]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 48,600
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.49%
|-
| {{flagicon|Mexico}} [[History of the Jews in Mexico|Mexico]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 39,400
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.04%
|-
| {{flagicon|Belgium}} [[History of the Jews in Belgium|Belgium]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 30,300
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.28%
|-
| {{flagicon|Netherlands}} [[History of the Jews in the Netherlands|Netherlands]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 30,000
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.18%
|-
| {{flagicon|Italy}} [[History of the Jews in Italy|Italy]]
| style="text-align:right;"| 28,400
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.05%
|-
! World
! style="text-align:right;"| 13,558,300
! style="text-align:right;"| 0.21%
|}
According to the [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] there were 13,421,000 Jews worldwide in 2009, roughly 0.19% of the world's population at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton61/st02_27.pdf|title=Jewish population in the world and in Isrel|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>

According to the 2007 estimates of [[The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute]], the world's Jewish population is 13.2 million.<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news|title=Percent of world Jewry living in Israel climbed to 41% in 2007|first=Anshel|last=Pfeffer|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/percent-of-world-jewry-living-in-israel-climbed-to-41-in-2007-1.236675|newspaper=Haaretz|date=6 January 2008|accessdate=10 October 2012}}</ref> [[Adherents.com]] cites figures ranging from 12 to 18 million.<ref>[http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_408.html Judaism, continued...] citations at [[Adherents.com]]</ref> These statistics incorporate both practicing Jews affiliated with synagogues and the Jewish community, and approximately 4.5 million unaffiliated and [[Secular Jewish culture|secular Jews]].

====Israel====
{{Main|Israeli Jews}}
[[Israel]], the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=257112|title='Iran must attack Israel by 2014'|date=February 9, 2012|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|accessdate=April 3, 2012}}</ref> Israel was established as an independent [[Parliamentary democracy|democratic]] and Jewish state on May 14, 1948.<ref name="cia">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|work=The World Factbook|accessdate=2007-07-20|date=2007-06-19|title=Israel}}</ref> Of the 120 members in its parliament, the [[Knesset]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm|publisher=The Knesset|accessdate=2007-08-08|title=The Electoral System in Israel}}</ref> currently, 12 members of the Knesset are [[Arab citizens of Israel]], most representing Arab political parties. One of Israel's [[Supreme Court of Israel|Supreme Court]] judges is also an Arab citizen of Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/israel|title=Israel|work=Freedom in the World|publisher=Freedom House|year=2009}}</ref>

Between 1948 and 1958, the Jewish population rose from 800,000 to two million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics|accessdate=2007-08-07|year=2006|title=Population, by Religion and Population Group}}</ref> Currently, Jews account for 75.4% of the Israeli population, or 6 million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4280028,00.html |title=Jewish New Year: Israel's population nears 8M mark&nbsp;— Israel News, Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=1995-06-20 |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/01/israel-jewish-population-six-million |title=Israel's Jewish population passes 6 million mark &#124; World news &#124; guardian.co.uk |publisher=Guardian |date=2013-01-01 |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref> The early years of the State of Israel were marked by the [[Aliyah|mass immigration]] of [[Aftermath of the Holocaust|Holocaust survivors]] and Jews fleeing Arab lands.<ref name="persecution">{{harvnb|Dekmejian|1975|p=247}}. "And most [Oriental-Sephardic Jews] came... because of Arab persecution resulting from the very attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine."</ref> Israel also has a large population of [[Ethiopian Jews]], many of whom were airlifted to Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|title=airlifted tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html#operation1/|accessdate=July 7, 2005}}</ref> Between 1974 and 1979 nearly 227,258 immigrants arrived in Israel, about half being from the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/|script-title=ru:История инакомыслия в СССР|first=Lyudmila|last=Alexeyeva|authorlink=Lyudmila Alexeyeva|location=Vilnius|year=1983|language=Russian|trans_title=History of Dissident Movement in the USSR}}</ref> This period also saw an increase in [[Aliyah|immigration to Israel]] from [[Western Europe]], [[Latin America]], and North America.<ref>Goldstein (1995) p. 24</ref>

A trickle of immigrants from other communities has also arrived, including [[Indian Jews]] and others, as well as some descendants of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] Holocaust survivors who had settled in countries such as the United States, Argentina, Australia, Chile, and South Africa. Some Jews have emigrated from Israel elsewhere, because of economic problems or disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing [[Arab-Israeli conflict]]. Jewish Israeli emigrants are known as [[yordim]].<ref name="Dosick 2007, p. 340">Dosick (2007), p. 340.</ref>

====Diaspora (outside Israel)====
{{Main|Jewish diaspora}}
The waves of [[immigration to the United States]] and elsewhere at the turn of the 19th century, the founding of [[Zionism]] and later events, including [[pogroms]] in Russia, the massacre of European Jewry during the Holocaust, and the founding of the [[state of Israel]], with the subsequent [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]], all resulted in substantial shifts in the population centers of world Jewry by the end of the 20th century.<ref>Gartner (2001), p. 213.</ref>

[[File:Hanukkah sign Nicosia Republic of Cyprus.JPG|thumb|left|[[public menorah|Public Hanukkah menorah]] in [[Nicosia]], [[Cyprus]]]]
[[File:Happynewyearcard.jpg|thumb|upright|In this [[Rosh Hashana]] greeting card from the early 1900s, Russian Jews, packs in hand, gaze at the American relatives beckoning them to the United States. Over two million Jews fled the [[pogroms]] of the [[Russian Empire]] to the safety of the U.S. between 1881 and 1924.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gurock|first=Jeffrey S.|title=East European Jews in America, 1880–1920: Immigration and Adaptation|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-91924-X|page=54 }}</ref>]]
More than half of the Jews live in the Diaspora (see Population table). Currently, the largest Jewish community outside Israel, and either the largest or second-largest Jewish community in the world, is located in the United States, with 5.2 million to 6.4 million Jews by various estimates. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in [[Canada]] (315,000), [[Argentina]] (180,000-300,000), and [[Brazil]] (196,000-600,000), and smaller populations in [[Mexico]], [[Uruguay]], [[Venezuela]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]] and several other countries (see [[History of the Jews in Latin America]]).<ref name="JPPI2007">{{cite web|title=Annual Assessment|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|year=2007|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|page=15|format=PDF}}, based on {{cite book|title=Annual Assessment 2007|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142|volume=106|year=2006}}</ref> Demographers disagree on whether the United States has a larger Jewish population than Israel, with many maintaining that Israel surpassed the United States in Jewish population during the 2000s, while others maintain that the United States still has the largest Jewish population in the world. Currently, a major national Jewish population survey is planned to ascertain whether or not Israel has overtaken the United States in Jewish population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/demographic_duo/item/israel_may_be_main_topic_in_next_national_jewish_population_survey_of_the_u |title=Israel May Be Main Topic In Next National Jewish Population Survey of the U.S. |publisher=Jewish Journal |date=2013-03-14 |accessdate=2013-04-12}}</ref>

Western Europe's largest Jewish community, and the third-largest Jewish community in the world, can be found in [[France]], home to between 483,000 and 500,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], and [[Tunisia]] (or their descendants).<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 410–410.</ref> The [[United Kingdom]] has a Jewish community of 292,000. In [[East Europe|Eastern Europe]], there are anywhere from 350,000 to one million Jews living in the former [[Soviet Union]], but exact figures are difficult to establish. In [[Germany]], the 102,000 Jews registered with the Jewish community are a slowly declining population,<ref>Jewish community in Germany: [http://zwst.org/cms/documents/178/de_DE/ZWST-Mitgliederstatistik-2012-web.pdf ''Mitgliederstatistik der jüdischen Gemeinden und Landesverbände in Deutschland für das Jahr 2012''], p. 4</ref> despite the immigration of tens of thousands of Jews from the former [[Soviet Union]] since the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|title=Annual Assessment 2007|accessdate=2008-07-03|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|format=PDF|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|pages=40–2}}</ref> Thousands of [[Israelis]] also live in Germany, either permanently or temporarily, for economic reasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jg-berlin.org/en/service/israelis-in-berlin.html|title=Israelis in Berlin|publisher=Jewish Community of Berlin|accessdate=11 October 2012}}</ref>

Prior to 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living in lands which now make up the [[Arab world]] (excluding Israel). Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French-controlled [[Maghreb]] region, 15–20% in the [[Kingdom of Iraq]], approximately 10% in the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] and approximately 7% in the [[Kingdom of Yemen]]. A further 200,000 lived in [[Pahlavi Iran]] and the [[Republic of Turkey]]. Today, around 26,000 Jews live in Arab countries<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bdAdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false The Rebirth of the Middle East], Jerry M. Rosenberg, Hamilton Books, 2009, page 44</ref> and around 30,000 in Iran and Turkey. A small-scale exodus had begun in many countries in the early decades of the 20th century, although the only substantial [[aliyah]] came from Yemen and Syria.<ref>Reeva S. Simon, Michael M. Laskier, Sara Reguer, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bW7aNxCGDKQC&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times], 2003, p.327="Before the 1940s only two communities, Yemen and Syria, made substantial aliyah."</ref> The [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|exodus from Arab and Muslim countries]] took place primarily from 1948. The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily in Iraq, Yemen and Libya, with up to 90% of these communities leaving within a few years. The peak of the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1956. The exodus in the Maghreb countries peaked in the 1960s. Lebanon was the only Arab country to see a temporary increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of refugees from other Arab countries, although by the mid-1970s the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. In the aftermath of the exodus wave from Arab states, an additional migration of [[Iranian Jews]] peaked in the 1980s when around 80% of Iranian Jews left the country.

Outside Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and the rest of Asia, there are significant Jewish populations in [[Australia]] (120,000) and [[Jewish population of South Africa|South Africa]] (70,000).<ref name=JVIL2006>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html#region|title=Jewish Virtual Library|publisher=Jewish Virtual Library|accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref> There is also a 7,000-strong community in [[New Zealand]].

===Demographic changes===
{{Main|Historical Jewish population comparisons}}

====Assimilation====
{{Main|Jewish assimilation}}
Since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their [[Jewish identity]].<ref name=Johnson171>Johnson (1987), p. 171.</ref> Assimilation took place in all areas, and during all time periods,<ref name=Johnson171/> with some Jewish communities, for example the [[Kaifeng Jews]] of China, disappearing entirely.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shavei.org/communities/kaifeng_jews/articles-kaifeng_jews/chinese-jews-reverence-for-ancestors/|title=Chinese Jews: Reverence for Ancestors|last=Edinger|first=Bernard|date=December 15, 2005|publisher=Shavei Israel|accessdate=April 2, 2012}}</ref> The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment of the 18th century (see [[Haskalah]]) and the subsequent [[Jewish emancipation|emancipation of the Jewish populations]] of Europe and America in the 19th century, accelerated the situation, encouraging Jews to increasingly participate in, and become part of, secular society. The result has been a growing trend of assimilation, as Jews marry non-Jewish spouses and stop participating in the Jewish community.<ref>Elazar (2003), p. 434.</ref>

Rates of [[interreligious marriage]] vary widely: In the United States, it is just under 50%,<ref>{{cite web|title=NJPS: Defining and Calculating Intermarriage|url=http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46252|accessdate=April 2, 2012}}</ref> in the United Kingdom, around 53%; in France; around 30%,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.akadem.org/medias/documents/Rapport-Erik-Cohen.pdf|title=Les juifs de France: La lente progression des mariages mixtes|last=Cohen|first=Erik H.|date=November 2002|publisher=Akadem|language=French|accessdate=11 October 2012}}</ref> and in Australia and Mexico, as low as 10%.<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/2|publisher=World Jewish Congress|accessdate=April 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour&nbsp;– Mexico|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Mexico.html|accessdate=July 7, 2005}}</ref> In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate with Jewish religious practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|title=Annual Assessment 2007|accessdate=2008-07-03|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|format=PDF|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|page=61}}</ref> The result is that most countries in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]] have steady or slightly declining religiously Jewish populations as Jews continue to assimilate into the countries in which they live.

====War and persecution====
{{Main|Persecution of Jews}}
{{Further|Antisemitism|Orientalism|Islam and antisemitism|History of antisemitism|New antisemitism}}
[[File:The Jews the world over love liberty poster.jpg|thumb|upright|[[World War I]] poster shows a soldier cutting the bonds from a Jewish man, who says, "You have cut my bonds and set me free - now let me help you set others free!"]]
The Jewish people and [[Judaism]] have experienced various [[persecution]]s throughout [[Jewish history]]. During late [[Classical Antiquity|Antiquity]] and the early [[Middle Ages]] the [[Roman Empire]] (in its later phases known as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) repeatedly repressed the Jewish population, first by ejecting them from their homelands during the pagan [[Roman era]] and later by officially establishing them as [[Justinian I#Suppression of religions|second-class citizens]] during the Christian Roman era.<ref>Goldenberg (2007), pp. 131, 135–6.</ref><ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 164–5.</ref>

According to [[James P. Carroll|James Carroll]], "Jews accounted for 10% of the total population of the [[Roman Empire]]. By that ratio, if other factors had not intervened, there would be 200 million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13 million."<ref>Carroll, James. ''[[Constantine's Sword]]'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) ISBN 0-395-77927-8 p. 26</ref>

Later in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews in the name of Christianity occurred, notably during the [[Crusades]]—when Jews all over Germany were massacred—and a series of expulsions from England, Germany, France, and, in the largest expulsion of all, Spain and Portugal after the [[Reconquista]] (the Catholic Reconquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]), where both unbaptized Sephardic Jews and the ruling [[Muslim]] [[Moors]] were expelled.<ref name="Johnson207-208"/><ref name="Johnson213plus"/>

In the [[Papal States]], which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called [[ghetto]]s.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 243–4.</ref> In the 19th and (before the end of World War II) 20th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church adhered to a distinction between "good antisemitism" and "bad antisemitism". The "bad" kind promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered un-Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The "good" kind criticized alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about accumulation of wealth, etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/timeline.htm|title=A Catholic Timeline of Events Relating to Jews, Anti-Judaism, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust, From the 3rd century to the Beginning of the Third Millennium|publisher=Sullivan-county.com|accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>

[[Islam and Judaism]] have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands, known as [[dhimmis]], were allowed to practice their religions and administer their internal affairs, but they were subject to certain conditions.<ref name="Bernard1020">Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20</ref> They had to pay the [[jizya]] (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to the Islamic state.<ref name="Bernard1020"/> Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal [[Disabilities (Jewish)|disabilities]] such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims.<ref>Lewis (1987), p. 9, 27</ref> Many of the disabilities were highly symbolic. The one described by [[Bernard Lewis]] as "most degrading"<ref name=Lewis131/> was the requirement of [[Yellow badge|distinctive clothing]], not found in the [[Quran]] or [[hadith]] but invented in [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] [[Baghdad]]; its enforcement was highly erratic.<ref name=Lewis131>Lewis (1999), p.131</ref> On the other hand, Jews rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced compulsion to change their religion, and they were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession.<ref>Lewis (1999), p.131; (1984), pp.8,62</ref>

Notable exceptions include the massacre of Jews and/or forcible conversion of some Jews by the rulers of the [[Almohad]] dynasty in [[Al-Andalus]] in the 12th century,<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 52; Stillman (1979), p.77</ref> as well as in [[Islamic conquest of Persia|Islamic Persia]],<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 17–8, 94–5; Stillman (1979), p. 27</ref> and the forced confinement of Moroccan Jews to walled quarters known as [[mellah]]s beginning from the 15th century and especially in the early 19th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28.</ref> In modern times, it has become commonplace for standard [[Anti-Zionism#Anti-Zionism and antisemitism|antisemitic themes to be conflated with anti-Zionist]] publications and pronouncements of Islamic movements such as [[Hezbollah]] and [[Hamas]], in the pronouncements of various agencies of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]], and even in the newspapers and other publications of Turkish [[Refah Partisi]]."<ref name=Lewis_MEQ>{{cite web|url=http://www.meforum.org/396/muslim-anti-semitism|title=Muslim Anti-Semitism|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|authorlink=Bernard Lewis|work=Middle East Quarterly|publisher=Middle East Forum|date=June 1998}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1576 Bild-006, Minsk, Juden.jpg|thumb|left|Jews in [[Minsk]], 1941. Before World War II some 40% of the population was Jewish. By the time the Red Army retook the city on 3 July 1944, there were only a few Jewish survivors.]]
Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed ranged from expulsion to outright genocide; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. The [[history of antisemitism]] includes the [[First Crusade]] which resulted in the massacre of Jews;<ref name="Johnson207-208">Johnson (1987), pp. 207–8.</ref> the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (led by [[Tomás de Torquemada|Torquemada]]) and the [[Portuguese Inquisition]], with their persecution and ''[[Auto-da-fé|autos-da-fé]]'' against the [[New Christians]] and [[Marrano]] Jews;<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 226–9.</ref> the [[Bohdan Chmielnicki]] [[Cossack]] massacres in [[Ukraine]];<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 259–60.</ref> the [[Pogrom]]s backed by the Russian [[Tsar]]s;<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–5">Johnson (1987), pp. 364–5.</ref> as well as expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled.<ref name="Johnson213plus">Johnson (1987), pp. 213, 229–31.</ref> According to a 2008 study published in the [[American Journal of Human Genetics]], 19.8% of the modern [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry,<ref name="Adams2008">{{cite journal|last=Adams|first=Susan M.|year=2008|title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=83|issue=6|pages=725–736|issn=00029297|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007|pmid=19061982|pmc=2668061}}</ref> indicating that the number of [[converso]]s may have been much higher than originally thought.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/europe/04iht-gene.4.18411385.html|title=DNA study shows 20 percent of Iberian population has Jewish ancestry|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 4, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.cell.com/AJHG/fulltext/S0002-9297(08)00592-2|title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula|publisher=Cell.com|work=American Society of Human Genetics|date=December 2008|accessdate=2011-11-12}}</ref>

The persecution reached a peak in [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[final solution|Final Solution]], which led to the [[Holocaust]] and the slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 512.</ref> Of the world's 15 million Jews in 1939, more than a third were killed in [[The Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html|title=History of the Holocaust&nbsp;– An Introduction|publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|date=19 April 1943|accessdate=13 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Luke Harding in Moscow|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,,2096327,00.html|title=Pipeline workers find mass grave of Jews killed by Nazis|work=The Guardian|location=UK|accessdate=13 November 2011|date=5 June 2007}}</ref> The Holocaust&nbsp;— the state-led systematic [[persecution]] and [[genocide]] of European Jews (and certain communities of North African Jews in [[History of North Africa#European colonization|European controlled North Africa]]) and other [[minority group]]s of Europe during [[World War II]] by Germany and its [[Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II|collaborators]] remains the most notable modern-day persecution of Jews.<ref>Donald L Niewyk, ''The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust,'' [[Columbia University Press]], 2000, p.45: "The Holocaust is commonly defined as the murder of more than 5,000,000 Jews by the Germans in World War II." However, the Holocaust usually includes all of the different victims who were systematically murdered.</ref> The persecution and [[genocide]] were accomplished in stages. [[Nuremberg Laws|Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society]] was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 484–8.</ref> [[Nazi concentration camps|Concentration camps]] were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 490–2.</ref> Where the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]] conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized units called [[Einsatzgruppen]] murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings.<ref name="BBC-Grave">{{cite news|title=Ukrainian mass Jewish grave found|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6724481.stm|newspaper=BBC News Online|date=5 June 2007|accessdate=10 October 2012}}</ref> Jews and [[Romani people|Roma]] were crammed into [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghettos]] before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to [[extermination camp]]s where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 493–8.</ref> Virtually every arm of Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal nation."<ref name=Berenbaum103>Berenbaum, Michael. ''The World Must Know," United States Holocaust Museum'', 2006, p. 103.</ref>

====Migrations====
[[File:1614jews.jpg|thumb|Etching of the [[Frankfurter Judengasse#The Fettmilch Rising|expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt]] on August 23, [[Timeline of antisemitism|1614]]. The text says: "1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate"]]
[[File:Jewish refugees Liverpool 1882.jpg|thumb|upright|Jews fleeing pogroms, 1882]]
Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their [[Land of Israel|original homeland]] and many of the areas in which they have settled. This experience as [[Jewish refugees|refugees]] has shaped [[Jewish identity]] and religious practice in many ways, and is thus a major element of Jewish history.<ref>de Lange (2002), pp. 41–3.</ref> The incomplete list of major and other noteworthy [[human migration|migrations]] that follows includes numerous instances of expulsion or departure under duress:
* The patriarch [[Abraham]] was a migrant to the land of [[Canaan]] from [[Ur]] of the [[Chaldea|Chaldees]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 10.</ref> after an attempt on his life by King [[Nimrod]].<ref>{{cite Jewish Encyclopedia|title=NIMROD|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11548-nimrod|first1=Emil G.|last1=Hirsch|authorlink1=Emil G. Hirsch|first2=Max|last2=Seligsohn|authorlink2=Max Seligsohn|first3=Wilhelm|last3=Bacher|authorlink3=Wilhelm Bacher}}</ref>
* The [[Children of Israel]] experienced [[the Exodus]] (meaning "departure" or "exit" in Greek) from [[ancient Egypt]], as recorded in the [[Book of Exodus]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 30.</ref>
* The [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] was sent into permanent exile by [[Assyria]], initially to the Upper Mesopotamian provinces of the Assyrian Empire,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_06182.html|last=Malamat|first=Abraham|editor=Fred Skolnik|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]|title=Exile, Assyrian|edition=2d|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|location=Farmington Hills, Mich.|isbn=0-02-865928-7|ref=harv}}</ref> from whence they scattered all over the world (or at least to unknown locations).<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 70–1.</ref>
* The [[Kingdom of Judah]] was exiled by [[Babylon]]ia,<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 78–9.</ref> then returned to [[Judea]] by [[Cyrus the Great]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] [[Achaemenid Empire]],<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 85–6.</ref> and then many were exiled again by the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 147.</ref>
* The 2,000 year dispersion of the [[Jewish diaspora]] beginning under the [[Roman Empire]], as Jews were spread throughout the Roman world and, driven from land to land, settled wherever they could live freely enough to practice their religion. Over the course of the diaspora the center of Jewish life moved from [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 163.</ref> to the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 177.</ref> to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 231.</ref> to the [[Jewish American|United States]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 460.</ref> and, as a result of Zionism, back to [[Israel]].<ref name=Gartner431>Gartner (2001), p. 431.</ref>
* Many expulsions during the Middle Ages and Enlightenment in Europe, including: 1290, 16,000 Jews were expelled from England, see the ''([[Statute of Jewry]])''; in 1396, 100,000 from France; in 1421 thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of these Jews settled in [[Eastern Europe]], especially Poland.<ref name="Gartner 11-12">Gartner (2001), pp. 11–2.</ref>
* Following the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in 1492, the Spanish population of around 200,000 [[Sephardi]]c Jews were expelled by the Spanish crown and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic church]], followed by expulsions in 1493 in Sicily (37,000 Jews) and Portugal in 1496. The expelled Jews fled mainly to the [[Ottoman Empire]], the Netherlands, and [[North Africa]], others migrating to [[South Europe|Southern Europe]] and the Middle East.<ref name="Johnson229-231">Johnson (1987), pp. 229–31.</ref>
* During the 19th century, France's policies of equal citizenship regardless of religion led to the immigration of Jews (especially from Eastern and Central Europe).<ref name="Johnson 1987, p. 306">Johnson (1987), p. 306.</ref>
* The arrival of millions of Jews in the [[New World]], including immigration of over two million Eastern European Jews to the United States from 1880–1925, see [[History of the Jews in the United States]] and [[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 370.</ref>
* The [[Pogroms]] in Eastern Europe,<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–5"/> the rise of modern [[antisemitism]],<ref name="Gartner 2001, pp. 213–5">Gartner (2001), pp. 213–5.</ref> the Holocaust,<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 357–70.</ref> and the rise of [[Arab nationalism]]<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 529–30.</ref> all served to fuel the movements and migrations of huge segments of Jewry from land to land and continent to continent, until they arrived back in large numbers at their original historical homeland in Israel.<ref name=Gartner431/>
* The [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution of Iran]] caused many [[Persian Jews|Iranian Jews]] to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly Los Angeles, CA) and Israel. Smaller communities of [[Persian Jews]] exist in Canada and Western Europe.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Netzer|first=Amnon|editor=Fred Skolnik|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]|title=Iran|edition=2d|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Gale|volume=10|location=Farmington Hills, Mich.|isbn=0-02-865928-7|pages=13|ref=harv }}</ref>
* When the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)#Dissolution of the USSR|Soviet Union collapsed]], many of the Jews in the affected territory (who had been [[refusenik]]s) were suddenly allowed to leave. This produced a wave of migration to Israel in the early 1990s.<ref name="Dosick 2007, p. 340"/>

====Growth====
[[File:A man prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|A man praying at the [[Western Wall]]]]
Israel is the only country with a Jewish population that is consistently growing through natural population increase, though the Jewish populations of other countries, in Europe and North America, have recently increased through immigration. In the Diaspora, in almost every country the Jewish population in general is either declining or steady, but [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] and [[Haredi]] Jewish communities, whose members often shun [[birth control]] for religious reasons, have experienced rapid population growth.<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 400–1.</ref>

Orthodox and Conservative Judaism discourage proselytism to non-Jews, but many Jewish groups have tried to reach out to the assimilated Jewish communities of the Diaspora in order for them to reconnect to their Jewish roots. Additionally, while in principle Reform Judaism favors seeking new members for the faith, this position has not translated into active proselytism, instead taking the form of an effort to reach out to non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples.<ref>Kaplan (2003), p. 301.</ref>

There is also a trend of Orthodox movements pursuing secular Jews in order to give them a stronger [[Jewish identity]] so there is less chance of intermarriage. As a result of the efforts by these and other Jewish groups over the past 25 years, there has been a trend (known as the ''[[Baal Teshuva]]'' movement) for secular Jews to become more religiously observant, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown.<ref>Danzger (2003), pp. 495–6.</ref> Additionally, there is also a growing rate of conversion to [[Jews by Choice]] of [[gentiles]] who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.<ref>de Lange (2002), p. 220.</ref>

==Leadership==
{{Main|Jewish leadership}}
There is no single governing body for the Jewish community, nor a single authority with responsibility for religious doctrine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eisenstadt|first=S.N.|title=Explorations in Jewish Historical Experience: The Civilizational Dimension|year=2004|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=90-04-13693-2|page=75 }}</ref> Instead, a variety of secular and religious institutions at the local, national, and international levels lead various parts of the Jewish community on a variety of issues.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Hal M.|title=From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership|year=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, Md.|isbn=0-7425-5229-2|page=1 }}</ref>

==Notable individuals==
{{Main|Lists of Jews}}
Jews have made a myriad contributions in a broad and diverse range of fields, including the sciences, arts, politics, and business.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Richard H.|title=Judaism and Global Survival|year=2001|publisher=Lantern Books|location=New York|isbn=1-930051-87-5|page=153}}</ref> Although Jews comprise only 0.2% of the world's population, over 20%<ref>{{cite book|last=Shalev|first=Baruch|title=100 Years of Nobel Prizes|year=2005|page=57|quote=A striking fact... is the high number of Laureates of the Jewish faith—over 20% of the total Nobel Prizes (138); including: 17% in Chemistry, 26% in Medicine and Physics, 40% in Economics and 11% in Peace and Literature each. These numbers are especially startling in light of the fact that only some 14 million people (0.2% of the world's population) are Jewish.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/16556/as-the-nobel-prize-marks-centennial-jews-constitute-1-5-of-laureates/|title=As the Nobel Prize marks centennial, Jews constitute 1/5 of laureates|accessdate=April 3, 2012|last=Dobbs|first=Stephen Mark|date=October 12, 2001|newspaper=[[j.]]|quote=Throughout the 20th century, Jews, more so than any other minority, ethnic or cultural group, have been recipients of the Nobel Prize -- perhaps the most distinguished award for human endeavor in the six fields for which it is given. Remarkably, Jews constitute almost one-fifth of all Nobel laureates. This, in a world in which Jews number just a fraction of 1 percent of the population.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishbiography.com/biographies/list-of-jews/jewish-nobel-prize-winners/index.html|title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners|accessdate=25 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Judaism for dummies|chapter=28|year=2001|quote=Similarly, because Jews make up less than a quarter of one percent of the world's population, it's surprising that over 20 percent of Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jews or people of Jewish descent.|author=Ted Falcon, David Blatner|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It|author=Lawrence E. Harrison|page=102|year=2008|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|quote=That achievement is symbolized by the fact that 15 to 20 percent of Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews, who represent two tenths of one percent of the world's population.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The History of the Jewish People: Ancient Israel to 1880's America|page=1|year=2006|publisher=Behrman House, Inc.|quote=These accomplishments account for 20 percent of the Nobel Prizes awarded since 1901. What a feat for a people who make up only .2 percent of the world's population!|author=Jonathan B. Krasner, Jonathan D. Sarna}}</ref> of [[Nobel Prize]] laureates have been Jewish, with [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates|multiple winners in each category]].

==See also==
*[[Israelites]]
*[[Hebrews]]
*[[Jewish history]]
*[[Jewish culture]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="Population of Jews">
''13.85 million'' (core Jewish population) according to:
*{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishdatabank.org/studies/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=3113 |title=World Jewish Population, 2013 |first=Sergio |last=DellaPergola |authorlink=Sergio DellaPergola |editor1-first=Arnold |editor1-last=Dashefsky |editor1-link=Arnold Dashefsky |editor2-first=Ira |editor2-last=Sheskin |date=2013 |work=Current Jewish Population Reports |publisher=North American Jewish Data Bank |location=[[Storrs, Connecticut]] |format=[[Portable Document Format|PDF]] |accessdate=2014}}
''14 - 14.5 million'' according to:
*{{cite news|title=Worldwide Jewry numbers 14 million|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4324677,00.html|publisher=Ynet|accessdate=21 October 2013}}
*{{cite web|title=Jewish Population|url=http://www.jewfaq.org/populatn.htm|work=Judaism101|accessdate=20 September 2013}}
*{{cite web|author=Daniel J. Elazar|title=How Strong is Orthodox Judaism -- Really? The Demographics of Jewish Religious Identification|url=http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/demographics.htm|work=[[Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs]]|accessdate=20 September 2013}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-jew/|work=[[Pew Research Center]]|title= The Global Religious Landscape&nbsp;— Jews|date=December 18, 2012|accessdate=31 October 2013}}
''18.19 million'' (the enlarged Jewish population worldwide, which includes a wider definition of the term) according to:
*{{cite book|author=[[Sergio DellaPergola]]|title=American Jewish Year Book 2013|year=2013|publisher=Berman Jewish DataBank|page=21|url=http://www.jewishdatabank.org/studies/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=3113}}
</ref><ref name=american-jewish-population>An estimated figure, the following sources claim the number to be either slightly higher or lower:
*{{cite journal|title=American Jewish Population Estimates: 2012|journal=[[Brandeis University]] - Steinhardt Social Research Institute|page=page 7 (Executive Summary&nbsp;— Key Findings)|url=http://www.brandeis.edu/ssri/pdfs/AmJewishPopEst2012.pdf|accessdate=21 October 2013}}
*{{cite web|title=Jewish Population in the United States, by State|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/usjewpop.html|work=JVL|accessdate=21 October 2013}}
*{{cite web | url=http://forward.com/articles/149492/us-jewish-population-pegged-at--million/ | title=U.S. Jewish Population Pegged at 6 Million | publisher=Forward | date=January 17, 2012 | accessdate=February 5, 2013 | author=Naomi Zeveloff}}
*[http://books.google.ca/books?id=-MChymxEfdsC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=6.722+jews+united+states&source=bl&ots=J4ANuZu4gX&sig=S0pemsr-KOMyzs-Ht186xips818&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5-U0UZ2XFpGmqQHBs4HYCQ&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=6.722%20jews%20united%20states&f=false American Jewish Year Book 2012 - Google Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]
*[http://gestetnerupdates.com/2013/02/18/us-jewish-population-is-anywhere-between-5-425-million-to-6-722-million/ US Jewish Population is Anywhere Between 5.425 Million and 6.722 Million - Gestetner Updates | Gestetner Updates<!-- Bot generated title -->]
*{{cite web|title=A portrait of Jewish Americans Chapter 1: Population Estimates|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/chapter-1-population-estimates/|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]|accessdate=7 October 2013|date=1 October 2013|quote=Combining 5.3 million adult Jews (the estimated size of the net Jewish population in this survey) with 1.3 million children (in households with a Jewish adult who are being raised Jewish or partly Jewish) yields a total estimate of 6.7 million Jews of all ages in the United States (rounded to the nearest 100,000).}}
*{{cite news|last=DellaPergola|first=Sergio|title=Bigger Population Estimate Means Wider Definition of Jewishness|url=http://forward.com/articles/184983/bigger-population-estimate-means-wider-definition/|accessdate=7 October 2013|newspaper=[[The Forward]]|date=6 October 2013|authorlink=Sergio DellaPergola}}
</ref><ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group">
*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V4qhTL61nXEC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=jew+ethnic+mandla&source=bl&ots=be8CAG3X3I&sig=WpluA7K2ZA_w54szQrgtLnXmMHk&hl=en&ei=MupJSrjtA8aNjAeYuo3QAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 Ethnic minorities in English law&nbsp;– Google Books]. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.
*{{cite journal|jstor=2573430|title=Jewish Ethno-Religious Involvement and Political Liberalism|author=Edgar Litt|journal=Social Forces|volume=39 |issue=4|year=1961|pages=328–332|doi=10.2307/2573430}}
*{{cite web|title=Are Jews a Religious Group or an Ethnic Group?|url=http://www.icsresources.org/content/curricula/ReligiousOrEthnic.pdf|work=Institute for Curriculum Services|accessdate=21 October 2013}}
*{{cite web|title=The Samaritans&nbsp;– A Jewish Sect in Israel: Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century|author=Sean Ireton|publisher=Anthrobase|year=2003|accessdate=2009-12-30|url=http://www.anthrobase.com/Txt/I/Ireton_S_01.htm}}
*{{cite journal|url=http://www.policyarchive.org/bitstream/handle/10207/10008/Levey-StudiesinContemporaryJewry11.pdf|title=Toward a Theory of Disproportionate American Jewish Liberalism|last=Levey|first=Geoffrey Brahm}}
*{{cite journal|title=Symbolic Ethnicity or Religion Among Jews in the United States: A Test of Gansian Hypotheses|author=J. Alan Winter|work=Review of Religious Research|volume=37|date=March 1996|issue=3|url=http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=96271706}}
</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* [[Salo Wittmayer Baron|Baron, Salo Wittmayer]] (1952). ''A Social and Religious History of the Jews,'' Volume II, ''Ancient Times'', Part II. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.
* {{cite book|last=Carr|first=David R.|editor1-last=Neusner|editor1-first=Jacob|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|editor2-first=Alan J.|title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism|year=2003|origyear=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden, Massachusetts|isbn=1-57718-058-5|chapter=Judaism in Christendom}}
* {{cite book|last=Cowling|first=Geoffrey|title=Introduction to World Religions|publisher=First Fortress Press|location=Singapore|year=2005|isbn=0-8006-3714-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Danzger|first=M. Herbert|editor1-last=Neusner|editor1-first=Jacob|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|editor2-first=Alan J.|title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism|year=2003|origyear=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden, Massachusetts|isbn=1-57718-058-5|chapter=The "Return" to Traditional Judaism at the End of the Twentieth Century: Cross-Cultural Comparisons}}
* {{cite book|last=Dekmejian|first=R. Hrair|title=Patterns of Political Leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1975|isbn=0-87395-291-X}}
* {{cite book|last=de Lange|first=Nicholas|title=An Introduction to Judaism|year=2002|origyear=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-46073-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Dosick|first=Wayne|title=Living Judaism|year=2007|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0-06-062179-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Elazar|first=Daniel J.|editor1-last=Neusner|editor1-first=Jacob|editor1-link=Jacob Neusner|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|editor2-first=Alan J.|title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism|year=2003|origyear=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden, Massachusetts|isbn=1-57718-058-5|chapter=Judaism as a Theopolitical Phenomenon}}
* {{cite book|last=Feldman|first=Louis H.|title=Judaism and Hellenism Reconsidered|year=2006|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=90-04-14906-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Gartner|first=Lloyd P.|title=History of the Jews in Modern Times|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-289259-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Goldenberg|first=Robert|title=The Origins of Judaism: From Canaan to the Rise of Islam|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-84453-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Joseph|title=Jewish History in Modern Times|year=1995|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=1-898723-06-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Paul|authorlink=Paul Johnson (writer)|title=A History of the Jews|year=1987|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|isbn=0-06-091533-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Dana Evan|editor1-last=Neusner|editor1-first=Jacob|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|editor2-first=Alan J.|title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism|year=2003|origyear=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden, Massachusetts|isbn=1-57718-058-5|chapter=Reform Judaism}}
* {{cite book|last=Katz|first=Shmuel|title=Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine|year=1974|publisher=Taylor Productions|isbn=0-929093-13-5}}
* [[Bernard Lewis|Lewis, Bernard]] (1984). ''The Jews of Islam''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00807-8
* Lewis, Bernard (1999). ''Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice''. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31839-7
* {{cite journal|last=Littman|first=David|authorlink=David Littman (historian)|year=1979|title=Jews Under Muslim Rule: The Case Of Persia|journal=The Wiener Library Bulletin|volume=XXXII|issue=New series 49/50|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Neusner|first=Jacob|title=Studying Classical Judaism: A Primer|year=1991|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=0-664-25136-6}}
* [[Leon Poliakov|Poliakov, Leon]] (1974). ''The History of Anti-semitism.'' New York: The Vanguard Press.
* Ruderman, David B. ''Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History'' (Princeton University Press; 2010) 326 pages. Examines print culture, religion, and other realms in a history emphasizing the links among early modern Jewish communities from Venice and Kraków to Amsterdam and Smyrna.
* {{cite book|last=Sharot|first=Stephen|editor1-last=Endelman|editor1-first=Todd M.|title=Comparing Jewish Societies|year=1997|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor, Mich.|isbn=0-472-06592-0|chapter=Religious Syncretism and Religious Distinctiveness: A Comparative Analysis of Pre-Modern Jewish Communities}}
* [[Norman Stillman|Stillman, Norman]] (1979). ''The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book''. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
* {{cite book|last=Sweeney|first=Marvin A.|editor1-last=Neusner|editor1-first=Jacob|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|editor2-first=Alan J.|title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism|year=2003|origyear=2000|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|location=Malden, Massachusetts|isbn=1-57718-058-5|chapter=The Religious World of Ancient Israel to 586 BCE}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links}}
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ Homepage] of the [[Jewish Virtual Library]]
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Archives] of the [[Jewish Encyclopedia]]
* [http://www.jewfaq.org/index.htm Judaism 101]
* [http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/ Official website] of the [[World Jewish Congress]]
* [http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Home/ Official website] of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel]]
* [http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/indi.asp Maps related to Jewish history]
* {{dmoz|Society/Ethnicity/Jewish}}

{{Jews and Judaism}}

{{Good article}}

[[Category:Jews| ]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East]]
[[Category:Ethno-cultural designations]]
[[Category:Ethnoreligious groups]]
[[Category:Religious identity]]
[[Category:Semitic peoples]]