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{{two other uses||the Jewish religion|Judaism}}
{{Infobox Jew}}
A '''Jew''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: יְהוּדִי, ''Yehudi'' ([[singular|sl.]]); {{lang|he|יְהוּדִים}}, ''Yehudim'' ([[plural|pl.]]); [[Ladino language|Ladino]]: ג׳ודיו, ''Djudio'' ([[singular|sl.]]); ג׳ודיוס, ''Djudios'' ([[plural|pl.]]); [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]: ייִד, ''Yid'' (sl.); {{lang|yi|ייִדן}}, ''Yidn'' (pl.))<ref>According to the [[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]], Fourth Edition (2000): "It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun ''Jew'', in phrases such as ''Jew lawyer'' or ''Jew ethics'', is both 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. [http://www.bartleby.com/61/75/J0037500.html "Jew"], [[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]], Fourth Edition (2000).</ref> is a member of the Jewish people, an [[ethnoreligious]] group originating in the [[Israelite]]s or [[Hebrews]] of the [[Ancient Near East|ancient Middle East]]. The [[ethnicity]] and the [[religion]] of [[Judaism]], the traditional faith of the Jewish nation, are strongly interrelated, and [[Conversion to Judaism|converts to Judaism]] are both [[Non-exclusive ethnic group|included and have been absorbed]] within the Jewish people throughout the millennia.

The Jews have experienced a long history of persecution in many different lands, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries. According to the [[Jewish Agency]], for the year 2007 there were 13.2 million Jews worldwide; 5.4 million (40.9%) in [[Israel]], 5.3 million (40.2%) in the [[United States]], and the remainder distributed in communities of varying sizes around the world; this represents 0.2% of the current estimated [[world population]].<ref name="jppistudy" /><ref name="pfef">{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html |publisher=Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel |title=Jewish Agency: 13.2 million Jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768 |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref> These numbers include all those who consider themselves Jews whether or not affiliated, and, with the exception of Israel's Jewish population, do not include those who do not consider themselves Jews or who are not [[Who is a Jew#Religious definitions|Jewish by halakha]]. The total world [[Jewish population]], however, is difficult to measure. In addition to ''[[Halakha|halakhic]]'' considerations, there are [[secular]], [[Law of Return|political]], and [[Who is a Jew#Non-religious ethnic and cultural definitions|ancestral identification]] factors in defining [[Who is a Jew?|who is a Jew]] that increase the figure considerably.<ref name="pfef"/>

==Jews and Judaism==
{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{main|Jewish history}}

The origin of the Jews is traditionally dated to around the second millennium BCE to the patriarchs, [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]].

The [[Merneptah Stele]], dated to 1200 BCE, is one of the earliest archaeological records of the Jewish people in the [[Land of Israel]], where Judaism, possibly the first [[monotheism|monotheistic]] religion, developed over a period of thousands of years. According to [[Bible|Biblical]] accounts, the Jews enjoyed periods of [[self-determination]] first under the [[Biblical judges]] from [[Othniel Ben Kenaz]] through [[Samson]], then circa 1000 BCE [[David|King David]] established [[Jerusalem]] as the capital of the [[United Monarchy|United Kingdom of Israel and Judah]], also known as the ''United Monarchy'', and from there ruled the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]].
[[Image:Jerusalem Ugglan 1.jpg|thumb|left|270px|Early elaborated reconstruction of the [[Temple of Solomon]].]]
In 970 BCE, David's son [[Solomon]] became [[Kingdom of Israel|king of Israel]].<ref name="wwbible">{{cite book|title=The Complete Book of When and Where: In The Bible And Throughout History |last=Michael |first=E. |coauthors=Sharon O. Rusten, Philip Comfort, and Walter A. Elwell |publisher= Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. |isbn=0842355081 |date=[[2005-02-28]] |accessdate=2007-01-22 |pages=20-1, 67}}</ref> Within a decade, Solomon began to build the [[Temple of Jerusalem|Holy Temple]] known as the ''First Temple''. Upon Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the [[Ten Lost Tribes|ten northern tribes]] split off to form the [[Kingdom of Israel]]. In 722 BCE the [[Assyria]]ns conquered the Kingdom of Israel and exiled its Jews, starting a [[Jewish diaspora]]. At a time of limited mobility and travel, Jews became some of the first and most visible immigrants. Then as now, immigrants were treated with suspicion.

The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE as the Babylonians conquered the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and destroyed the [[Jewish Temple]]. In 538 BCE, after fifty years of [[Babylonian captivity]], [[Persian Empire|Persian]] [[List of kings of Persia|King]] [[Cyrus the Great]] permitted the Jews to return to rebuild Jerusalem and the holy temple. Construction of the [[Second Temple]], was completed in 516 BCE during the reign of [[Darius I of Persia|Darius the Great]] seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.<ref>{{cite book|title=Between Rome and Jerusalem: 300 Years of Roman-Judaean Relations |last=Sicker |first=Martin |isbn=0275971406 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |date=[[2001-01-30]] |pages=2 |accessdate=2007-01-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period2-3.htm |publisher=Boston University |title=Center of the Persian Satrapy of Judah (539-323) |last=Zank |first=Michael |accessdate=2007-01-22}}</ref> When [[Alexander the Great]] conquered the [[Persian Empire]], the Land of Israel fell under [[Hellenistic Greece|Hellenistic Greek]] control, eventually falling to the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] who lost it to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]]. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenized]] [[polis]] came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful [[Maccabean revolt]] of [[Mattathias]] the [[Kohen Gadol|High Priest]] and his five sons against [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes|Antiochus Epiphanes]], and their establishment of the [[Hasmonean|Hasmonean Kingdom]] in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schiffman|first=Lawrence H.|title=From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism|publisher=Ktav Publishing House|year=1991|isbn=0-88125-371-5|pages=60-79}}</ref> The Hasmonean Kingdom lasted over one hundred years, but then as [[Roman Empire|Rome]] became stronger it installed [[Herod the Great|Herod]] as a Jewish [[satellite state|client king]]. The Herodian Kingdom also lasted over a hundred years. Defeats by the Jews in the [[First Jewish revolt|First revolt]] in 70 [[Common Era|CE]], the first of the [[Jewish-Roman Wars]] and the [[Bar Kochba's revolt|Bar Kokhba revolt]] in 135 CE notably contributed to the numbers and [[geography]] of the diaspora, as significant numbers of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel were expelled and sold into [[slavery]] throughout the [[Roman Empire]]. Since then, Jews have lived in almost every country of the world, primarily in [[Europe]] and the greater [[Middle East]], surviving discrimination, oppression, poverty, and even [[genocide]] (see: [[anti-Semitism]], [[The Holocaust]]), with occasional periods of cultural, economic, and individual prosperity in various locations (such as [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain and Portugal]], [[Haskalah|Emancipating Germany and Poland]], or the contemporary [[Liberal Democracy|Liberal Democracies]] of the [[American Jews|United States]], [[History of the Jews in Australia|Australia]] or [[History of the Jews in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]).

Until the late 18th century, the terms ''Jews'' and ''adherents of Judaism'' were practically synonymous, and Judaism was the prime binding factor of the Jewish people, regardless of the degree of adherence. Following the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and its Jewish counterpart [[Haskalah]], a gradual transformation occurred during which many Jews came to view being a member of the Jewish nation as separate from adhering to the Jewish faith.

The Hebrew noun "Yehudi" (plural ''Yehudim'') originally referred to the tribe of Judah. Later, when the Northern [[Kingdom of Israel]] split from the Southern Kingdom of Israel, the Southern Kingdom of Israel began to refer to itself by the name of its predominant tribe, or as the [[Kingdom of Judah]] . The term originally referred to the people of the southern kingdom, although the term ''B'nei Yisrael'' (Israelites) was still used for both groups. After the [[Assyrians]] conquered the northern kingdom leaving the southern kingdom as the only Israelite state, the word ''Yehudim'' gradually came to refer to people of the Jewish faith as a whole, rather than those specifically from the tribe or Kingdom of Judah. The English word ''Jew'' is ultimately derived from ''Yehudi'' (see [[Jew#Etymology|Etymology]]). Its first use in the [[Tanakh]] ([[Hebrew Bible]]) to refer to the Jewish people as a whole is in the [[Book of Esther]].

==Etymology==
{{main|Etymology of the word Jew}}

There are many different views as to the origin of the [[English language]] word ''Jew''. The most common view is that the [[Middle English]] word ''Jew'' is from the [[Old French]] ''giu'', earlier ''juieu'', from the [[Latin]] ''iudeus'' from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''Ioudaios'' (''{{polytonic|Ἰουδαῖος}}''). The Latin simply means ''Judaean'', from the land of ''[[Judea|Judaea]]''. The Hebrew word for Jew, יהודי , is pronounced ye-hoo-DEE.

The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., "Jude" in [[German language|German]], "juif" in [[French language|French]], "jøde," in [[Danish language|Danish]], etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jewish person, e.g., in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (hebreo), in [[Italian language|Italian]] (Ebreo), and {{lang-ru|Еврей}}, (''Yevrey''). The German word "Jude" is pronounced ''yoodeh'' and is the origin of the word Yiddish. (See [[Jewish ethnonym]]s for a full overview.)

==Who is a Jew?==
{{main|Who is a Jew?}}
[[Judaism]] shares some of the characteristics of a [[nation]], an [[ethnicity]], 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 |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/whojew1.html |title=Who is a Jew? |accessdate=2007-10-06 |last=Weiner |first=Rebecca |coauthors= |date=2007 |work= |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 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. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1997 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |location= |isbn=1898723486 |pages=7 }} </ref> At times conversion has accounted for a substantial part of Jewish population growth. In the first century of the Christian era, for example, population more than doubled, from 4 to 8–10 million within the confines of the Roman Empire, in good part as a result of a wave of conversion<ref>[[Yehuda Bauer|Bauer, Yehuda]]. [http://web.archive.org/web/20030705131522/http://humanities.ucsc.edu/JewishStudies/docs/YBauerLecture.pdf "Problems of Contemporary Anti-Semitism"], 2003, p. 2. Retrieved February 24, 2008.</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 tradition into the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]]. Interpretations of sections of the [[Tanach]], such as [[Deuteronomy]] 7:1-5, by learned Jewish sages, are used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews because "[the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." [[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 contrasts with [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]] 10:2-3, where Israelites returning from Babylon, vow to put aside their gentile wives and their children. Since the [[Haskalah]], these halakhic interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.

==Ethnic divisions==
{{main|Jewish ethnic divisions}}
[[Image:Gottlieb-Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur.jpg|thumb|right|[[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]], which is considered a single [[Identity|self-identifying]] [[ethnicity]], 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 were 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.

Historically, Jews have been distinguished into two major groups: the ''[[Ashkenazim]]'', or "Germans" (Ashkenaz meaning "[[Germany]]" in [[Medieval Hebrew]], denoting their [[Central Europe]]an base), and the ''[[Sephardim]]'', or "Spaniards" (Sefarad meaning "[[Spain]]" or "[[Iberian peninsula|Iberia]]" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish and [[Portugal|Portuguese]] base). The ''[[Mizrahim]]'', or "Easterners" (Mizrach being "East" in Hebrew), that is, the diverse collection of Middle Eastern and North African Jews, could constitute a third major group.

Smaller Jewish cultural groups include the [[Jews in India|Indian Jews]] including the [[Bene Israel]], [[Bnei Menashe]], [[Cochin Jews]] and [[Bene Ephraim]]; the [[Romaniotes]] of [[Greece]]; the [[Italkim]] or [[Bené Roma]] of [[Italy]]; the [[Teimanim]] from the [[Yemen]] and [[Oman]]; 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 extinct communities.

The divisions between all these groups are approximate and their boundaries aren’t clear. The ''[[Mizrahim]]'' for example, are a heterogeneous collection of [[North Africa]]n, [[Central Asia]]n, [[Caucasus (geographic region)|Caucasian]] and [[Middle East]]ern Jewish communities which 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 also termed ''Sephardi'' due to similar styles of liturgy, despite independent development from Sephardim proper. Thus, among Mizrahim there are [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Egyptian Jews]], [[Berber Jews]], [[Lebanese Jews]], [[Kurdish Jews]], [[Libyan Jews]], [[Syrian Jews]], [[Bukharian Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], [[Georgian Jews]] and various others. The [[Teimanim]] from the [[Yemen]] and [[Oman]] 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. Additionally, there is a differentiation made between the pre-existing Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities as distinct from the descendants of those Sephardi migrants who established themselves in the Middle East and North Africa after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by the [[Catholic Monarchs]] in 1492, and a few years later from the expulsion decreed in [[Portugal]].

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 [[Holocaust]]). As a result of their emigration from Europe during the wartime periods, Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the [[New World]] continents and in countries previously without native Jewish communities, such as the [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], [[Brazil]] and [[South Africa]]. In [[France]], emigration of Mizrahim from North Africa has led them to outnumber pre-existing European Jews. 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.

==Population==
{{main|Jewish population}}

===Significant geographic populations===

There are an estimated 13 million Jews worldwide.<ref name="jppistudy">Data based on a [http://www.jpppi.org.il/JPPPI/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&GID=443 study] by ''Jewish People Policy Institute'' (JPPI): "World Jewry was estimated at 13,085,000 at the
beginning of 2006, an overall increase of 0.4% over 2005." See ''[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&amp;cid=1088046787193&amp;p=1008596975996 Jewish people near zero growth]'' by Tovah Lazaroff, [[Jerusalem Post]], June 24, 2004.</ref> The table below lists countries with significant populations. Please note that these populations represent low-end estimates of the worldwide Jewish population, accounting for around 0.2% of the [[World population|world's population]].
<center>
{| class="toccolours sortable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+
|- bgcolor=#6495ED
!Country or Region
!Jewish population
!Total Population
!% Jewish
!Notes
|-
|[[United States]]
|style="text-align: right"|5,300,000 to 6,155,000
|style="text-align: right"|301,469,000
|style="text-align: right"|1.8%-2.0
| (est.)<ref>For the 5.3 million figure, data based on official 2001 survey as told in the Jerusalem Post. See ''[http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1145961262900]'' (Updated to May 2, 2006 ).</ref><ref name="jppistudy">The authors of this study wrote that,"While we believe that the Jewish population of Israel will eventually overtake the Jewish population of the U.S.. that is unlikely to have happened as of 2006."</ref><ref name="UScensus2003JewChristian">The 6.155 million total is based on a [http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/07s0075.xls 2003 US census] compilation of estimates from local Jewish federations. </ref>
|
|-
|[[Israel]]
|style="text-align: right"|5,393,400
|style="text-align: right"|7,116,700
|style="text-align: right"|75.8%
|<ref name="cbs">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton58/st02_02.pdf|title=Population, by religion |publisher=[[Israeli central bureau of statistics]] |year=2007 |accessdate=2007-11-13}}</ref>
|-
|[[Europe]]
|style="text-align: right"|2,000,000
|style="text-align: right"|710,000,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.3%
|(less than)
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[France]]
|style="text-align: right"|494,000
|style="text-align: right"|64,102,140
|style="text-align: right"|0.8%
| (est.)<ref name="jppistudy" />
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[United Kingdom|United&nbsp;Kingdom]]
|style="text-align: right"|267,000
|style="text-align: right"|60,609,153
|style="text-align: right"|0.4%
|(2001 census)
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Russia]]
|style="text-align: right"|228,000
|style="text-align: right"|142,400,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.15%
|(Territory of the former [[Soviet Union]]. (est.)<ref name="jppistudy" /> Some estimates are much higher.)<ref>The US State Department Religious Freedom Report [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35480.htm] estimates the number of Jews in Russia alone at 600,000 to 1 million.</ref>
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Germany]]
|style="text-align: right"|220,000
|style="text-align: right"|82,310,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.3%
|(2004 est.), over 100,000 who are members of a synagogue
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Ukraine]]
|style="text-align: right"|103,591
|style="text-align: right"|46,481,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.2%
|(2001 Census)<ref name=jta>{{cite news| last =MacIsaac| first =Daniel| title =Ukraine’s Jews say fear led to low numbers in recent census| work =ACROSS THE FORMER SOVIET UNION| language =English| publisher =JTA| date =2003-02-06| url =http://www.jta.org/story.asp?id=030206-cens| accessdate =2007-01-10}}</ref><br>250,000 to 500,000 (Local Jewish agency estimate)<ref name=jta/>
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Hungary]]
|style="text-align: right"|80,000 to 100,000
|style="text-align: right"|10,053,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.8-1%
|<ref>[http://www.zsido.hu/tortenelem/magyarzs.htm Jewish community in Hungary]</ref> Mainly [[Neolog Judaism|Hungarians of Jewish religion]] (Hungarian speaking, assimilated Jews)
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Belgium]]
|style="text-align: right"|30,000
|style="text-align: right"|10,419,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.3%
| (est.)
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Italy]]
|style="text-align: right"|30,000
|style="text-align: right"|58,883,958
|style="text-align: right"|0.05%
|(Jewish communities est.)
|-
|[[Canada]]
|style="text-align: right"|371,000
|style="text-align: right"|32,874,400
|style="text-align: right"|1.1%
|(est.)<ref name="jppistudy" />
|-
|[[Guatemala]]
|style="text-align: right"|1,200
|style="text-align: right"|1,200
|style="text-align: right"|1.2%
| (est).<ref
name="Jewishvirtuallibrary">http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Guatemala.html</ref>
|-
|[[Turkey]]
|style="text-align: right"|30,000
|style="text-align: right"|72,600,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.04%
|(2001 census)
|-
|[[Argentina]]
|style="text-align: right"|250,000
|style="text-align: right"|39,921,833
|style="text-align: right"|0.6%
|(est.)<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary">[http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html Jewish Virtual Library], [http://www.jewfaq.org/populatn.htm JewFAQ]</ref>
|-
|[[Brazil]]
|style="text-align: right"|130,000
|style="text-align: right"|188,078,261
|style="text-align: right"|0.07%
|(est.)<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary" />
|-
|[[South Africa]]
|style="text-align: right"|106,000
|style="text-align: right"|47,432,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.2%
|(est.)<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary" />
|-
|[[Australia]]
|style="text-align: right"|126,000
|style="text-align: right"|20,788,357
|style="text-align: right"|0.6%
|(est.)<ref>Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIMA), 1996 Census</ref>
|-
|[[Asia]] (excl. Israel)
|style="text-align: right"|50,000
|style="text-align: right"|3,900,000,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.001%
|(est.)
|-
|style="text-indent: 2em"|[[Iran]]
|style="text-align: right"|20,405
|style="text-align: right"|68,467,413
|style="text-align: right"|0.03%
|(est.)<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary" />
|-
|[[Mexico]]
|style="text-align: right"|40,000&ndash;50,000
|style="text-align: right"|108,700,000
|style="text-align: right"|0.04%
|(est.)<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary" />
|-
|'''Total'''
|style="text-align: right"|'''15,871,000'''
|style="text-align: right"|'''6,453,628,000'''
|style="text-align: right"|'''0.25%'''
|style="text-align: right"|'''(est.)'''
|}
</center>

===State of Israel===
{{main|Israel}}
[[Image:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg|left|frame|[[David Ben Gurion]] (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the [[Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel]], [[May 14]], [[1948]]]]

[[Israel]], the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens. Israel was established as an independent [[Parliamentary democracy|democratic]] 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=http://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 and one of Israel's [[Supreme Court of Israel|Supreme Court]] judges is a Palestinian Arab.<ref>{{cite web|title=Country's Report Israel|publisher=Freedom House|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2006&country=6985}}</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 76.4% of the Israeli population, or 5,600,000 of the citizens.<ref name="cia"/>
The early years of the state of Israel, were marked by the [[Aliya#Immigration from 1948-1950|mass immigration]] of [[After 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=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html#operation1/ | accessmonthday= July 7 | accessyear= 2005 }}</ref> Between 1974 and 1979 nearly 227,258 immigrants arrived in Israel about half from the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>''[http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/ALEXEEWA/alexeeva_toc.htm History of Dissident Movement in the USSR]'' by [[Ludmila Alekseyeva]]. Vilnius, 1992 (in Russian)</ref> This period also saw an increase in immigration to Israel from [[Western Europe]], [[Latin America]], and the [[United States]]<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 and South Africa. Some Jews have emigrated from Israel elsewhere, due to economic problems or disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing [[Arab-Israeli conflict]]. Jewish Israeli emigrants are known as [[yordim]].

===Diaspora (outside Israel)===
{{main|Jewish diaspora}}
The waves of immigration to the United States and elsewhere at the turn of the nineteenth century and later due to various causes, including the [[pogroms]] in Russia, the massacre of European Jewry during [[the Holocaust]], and the foundation of the [[state of Israel]] (and subsequent [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]]), all resulted in substantial shifts in the population centers of world Jewry by the end the twentieth century.
[[Image:Happynewyearcard.jpg|thumb|225px|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 would flee the [[pogroms]] of the [[Russian Empire]] to the safety of the US from 1881-1924.]]

Currently, the largest Jewish community in the world is located in the United States, with almost 5.7 million Jews. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in Canada, Argentina and [[Brazil]], and smaller populations in [[Mexico]](45,000<ref name="tabulados">[http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/censos/poblacion/2000/definitivos/Nal/tabulados/00re01.pdf 2000 Tabulados de Religión]</ref>), [[Uruguay]], [[Venezuela]], [[Chile]], and several other countries (see [[History of the Jews in Latin America]]).

Western Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in [[France]], home to 600,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], and [[Tunisia]] (or their descendants). There are over 265,000 Jews in the [[United Kingdom]]. In [[East Europe|Eastern Europe]], there are anywhere from 500,000 to over two million Jews living in the former [[Soviet Union]], but exact figures are difficult to establish. The fastest-growing Jewish community in the world, outside Israel, is the one in [[Germany]], especially in [[Berlin]], its capital. Tens of thousands of Jews from the former [[Eastern Bloc]] have settled in Germany since the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]].

The [[Arab World|Arab countries]] of [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]] were home to around 900,000 Jews in 1945. Fueled by [[anti-Zionism]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Ingathering of the Exiles|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20Ingathering%20of%20the%20Exiles}}</ref> after the founding of Israel, systematic persecution caused almost all of these Jews to flee to Israel, North America, and Europe in the 1950s (see [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]]). Today, around 8,000 Jews remain in Arab nations. [[Iran]] is home to around 25,000 Jews, down from a population of 100,000 Jews before the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 revolution]]. After the revolution some of the [[Iranian Jews]] emigrated to Israel or Europe but most of them emigrated (with their non-Jewish Iranian compatriots) to the [[United States]] (especially [[Los Angeles]]).<ref name="littman3">Littman (1979), p. 5.</ref>

Outside Europe, Asia and the Americas, significant Jewish populations exist in [[Australia]] and [[South Africa]].

===Population changes: 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]]. Some [[Kehilla|Jewish communities]], for example the [[Kaifeng Jews]] of [[China]], have disappeared entirely, but assimilation has remained relatively low over much of the past millennium, as Jews were often not allowed to integrate with the wider communities in which they lived. The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment (see [[Haskalah]]) of the 1700s and the subsequent emancipation of the Jewish populations of Europe and America in the 1800s, changed the situation, allowing 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. Rates of [[interreligious marriage]] vary widely: In the United States, they are just under 50%,<ref>{{cite web | title=NJPS: Intermarriage: Defining and Calculating Intermarriage | url=http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=83910 | accessmonthday= July 7 | accessyear= 2005 }}</ref> in the United Kingdom, around 50%, and in Australia and Mexico, as low as 10%,<ref>{{cite web | title=World Jewish Congress Online | url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/communities/world/asia-oceania/australia.cfm | accessmonthday= July 7 | accessyear= 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour - Mexico | url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Mexico.html | accessmonthday= July 7 | accessyear= 2005 }}</ref> and in France, they may be as high as 75%. In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate themselves with Jewish religious practice. <!-- Additionally, since non-religious Jews generally tend to marry later and have fewer children than the general population, the Jewish religious community in many countries is ageing.--> 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.

===Population changes: Wars against the Jews===
[[Image:FirstCrusade.jpg|thumb|180px|Right|Jews (identifiable by the [[Judenhut|distinctive hats]] that they were required to wear) being killed by Christian knights. French Bible illustration from 1255.]]
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; the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (led by [[Torquemada]]) and the [[Portuguese Inquisition]], with their persecution and ''[[Auto de fé]]'' against the [[New Christians]] and [[Marrano]] Jews; the [[Bohdan Chmielnicki]] [[Cossack]] massacres in [[Ukraine]]; the [[Pogrom]]s backed by the Russian [[Tsar]]s; as well as expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled. The persecution reached a peak in [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[final solution|Final Solution]], which led to [[the Holocaust]] and the slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews from 1942 to 1945.

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> Of course, there are many other complex demographic factors involved; the rate of population growth, migration, assimilation, and conversion could all have played major roles in the current size of the global Jewish population.

===Population changes: Growth===
Israel is the only country with a consistently growing Jewish population due to natural population increase, though the Jewish populations of other countries in Europe and North America have recently increased due to 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, with rates near 4% per year for Haredi Jews in Israel, and similar rates in other countries{{Fact|date=March 2007}}.

Orthodox and Conservative Judaism discourage proselytization to non-Jews, but many Jewish groups have tried to reach out to the assimilated Jewish communities of the Diaspora in order to increase the number of Jews. 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. 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 twenty-five years, there has been a trend of secular Jews becoming more religiously observant, known as the ''[[Baal Teshuva]]'' movement, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown. Additionally, there is also a growing movement of [[Jews by Choice]] by [[gentiles]] who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.

==Jewish languages==
{{main|Jewish languages}}

[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] is the [[liturgical language]] of Judaism (termed ''lashon ha-kodesh'', "the holy tongue"), the language in which the Hebrew scriptures ([[Tanakh]]) were composed, and the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries. By the fifth century BCE, [[Aramaic]], a closely related tongue, joined Hebrew as the spoken language in [[Judea]].<ref name=Grintz>Grintz, Jehoshua M. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9231(196003)79%3A1%3C32%3AHATSAW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M "Hebrew as the Spoken and Written Language in the Last Days of the Second Temple."] ''Journal of Biblical Literature''. March, 1960.</ref> By the third century BCE, Jews of the diaspora were speaking [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]. Modern Hebrew is now one of the two official languages of the State of Israel along with [[Arabic]].

Hebrew was revived as a spoken language by [[Eliezer ben Yehuda]], who arrived in Palestine in 1881. It hadn't been used as a [[mother tongue]] since [[Tannaim|Tannaic]] times.<ref name=Grintz/>
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>Parfitt, T. V. "The Use of Hebrew in Palestine 1800–1822." ''Journal of Semitic Studies '', 1972.</ref> For centuries, Jews worldwide have spoken the local or dominant languages of the regions they migrated to, often developing distinctive [[dialect]]al forms or branching off as independent languages. [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] is the Judæo-German language developed by [[Ashkenazi Jews]] who migrated to [[Central Europe]], and [[Ladino language|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 [[Gruzinic]], [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judæo-Arabic]], [[Judeo-Berber language|Judæo-Berber]], [[Krymchak language|Krymchak]], [[Judæo-Malayalam]] and many others, have largely fallen out of use.

The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are English, modern Hebrew, and Russian. Some Romance languages, such as French and Spanish, are also widely used.

==Jewish culture==
{{main|Secular Jewish culture|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, in [[Europe]] before and after [[The Age of Enlightenment]] (see [[Haskalah]]), in [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain and Portugal]], in [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]], [[Indian Jews|India]] and [[Chinese Jews|China]], or the contemporary United States and Israel, cultural phenomena have developed that are in some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism, others from the interaction of Jews 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.

==History of the Jews==
{{main|Jewish history}}
:''See also: [[Timeline of Jewish history]] and [[Schisms among the Jews]]''

===Jews and migrations===
[[Image:1614jews.jpg|thumb|200px|Right|Etching of the expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt on [[August 23]], [[1614]]. The text says: "1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate"]]
[[Image:Jewish Refugees in Shanghai.jpg|thumb|200px|[[History of the Jews in China|Jewish refugees]] in [[Shanghai]], [[PRC|China]] during [[World War II]]. Shanghai offered unconditional asylum for tens of thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe escaping the [[Holocaust]].]]
Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their original homeland, and the areas in which they have resided. This experience as both [[immigrate|immigrants]] and [[Emigration|emigrants]] (see: [[Jewish refugees]]) have shaped [[Jewish identity]] and religious practice in many ways, and are thus a major element of Jewish history. An incomplete list of such migrations includes:

*The patriarch [[Abraham]] was a migrant to the land of [[Canaan]] from [[Ur]] of the [[Chaldea|Chaldees]].
*The [[Children of Israel]] experienced [[the Exodus]] (meaning "departure" or "exit" in Greek) from [[ancient Egypt]], as recorded in the [[Book of Exodus]].
*The [[Kingdom of Israel]] was sent into permanent exile and scattered all over the world (or at least to unknown locations) by [[Assyria]].
*The [[Kingdom of Judah]] was exiled by [[Babylon]]ia, then returned to [[Judea]], and then many were exiled again by the [[Roman Empire]].
*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, and 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]] to the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]] to the [[Jewish American|United States]] and to [[Israel]].
*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]].
*Following the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in 1492, the Spanish population of around 200,000 [[Sephardi]]c Jews were expelled by the Spanish crown and 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]].
*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), which was encouraged by [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]].
*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]].
*The [[Pogroms]] in Eastern Europe, the rise of modern [[Anti-Semitism]], [[the Holocaust]] and the rise of [[Arab nationalism]] 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.
*The [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution of Iran]] forced 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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
*When the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)#Dissolution of the USSR|Soviet Union died]], 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.

===Kingdoms of Israel and Judah===
[[Image:1695 Eretz Israel map in Amsterdam Haggada by Abraham Bar-Jacob.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Allotments of Israelite tribes in [[Eretz Israel]]. (1695 Amsterdam [[Haggada]])]]
{{main|History of ancient Israel and Judah}}
Jews descend mostly from the ancient [[Israelites]] (also known as [[Hebrews]]), who settled in the [[Land of Israel]](fact|date). The Israelites traced their common lineage to the [[Bible|biblical]] patriarch [[Abraham]] through [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]]. A [[United Monarchy]] was established under [[Saul the King|Saul]] and continued under [[King David]] and [[Solomon]]. King David conquered [[Jerusalem]] (first a [[Canaan]]ite, then a [[Jebusite]] town) and made it his capital. After Solomon's reign, the nation split into two kingdoms, the [[Kingdom of Israel]] (in the north) and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] (in the south). The [[Kingdom of Israel]] was conquered by the [[Assyria]]n ruler [[Shalmaneser V]] in the 8th century BCE and spread all over the Assyrian empire, where they were assimilated into other cultures and came to be known as the [[Ten Lost Tribes]]. The [[Kingdom of Judah]] continued as an independent state until it was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BCE, destroying the [[First Temple]] that was at the centre of Jewish worship. The Judean elite was exiled to Babylonia, but later at least a part of them returned to their homeland after the subsequent conquest of Babylonia by the Persians seventy years later, a period known as the [[Babylonian Captivity]]. A new [[Second Temple]] was constructed funded by Persian Kings, and old religious practices were resumed.

===Persian, Greek, and Roman rule===
:''See related article [[Jewish-Roman wars]]''.

The [[Seleucid]] Kingdom, which arose after the Persians were defeated by [[Alexander the Great]], sought to introduce Greek culture into the Persian world. When the [[Greeks]] under [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]], supported by [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] Jews (those who had adopted Greek culture), attempted to convert the Jewish Temple to a temple of [[Zeus]], the Jews revolted under the leadership of the [[Maccabees]] and rededicated the Temple to the Jewish God (hence the origins of ''[[Hanukkah]]'') and created an independent Jewish kingdom known as the [[Hasmonaean Kingdom]] which lasted from 165 BCE to 63 BCE, when the kingdom came under influence of the [[Roman Empire]]. During the early part of Roman rule, the Hasmonaeans remained in power, until the family was annihilated by [[Herod the Great]]. Herod came from a wealthy [[Edom|Idumean]] family and became a very successful [[client king]] under the Romans. He significantly expanded the Temple in Jerusalem.

[[Image:Sack of jerusalem.JPG|thumb|300px|The [[Arch of Titus]] depicts enslaved Judeans and objects from the Temple being brought to Rome.]]

Upon his death in 4 BCE the Romans directly ruled Judea and there were frequent changes of policies by conflicting and empire-building [[Caesar (title)|Caesars]], generals, governors, and consuls who often acted cruelly or to maximize their own wealth and power. Rome's attitudes swung from tolerance to hostility against its Jewish subjects, who had since moved throughout the Empire. The Romans, worshiping a [[Roman religion|large pantheon]], could not readily accommodate the exclusive [[monotheism]] of Judaism, and the religious Jews could not accept Roman [[polytheism]]. (It was in this tumultuous climate that [[Christianity]] first emerged, among a small group of Jews.) After a famine and riots in 66 CE, the Jews in [[Judea]] began a [[First Jewish-Roman War|revolt]] against Rome. The revolt was smashed by [[Titus|Titus Flavius]], the son and successor of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Vespasian]]. In Rome the [[Arch of Titus]] still stands, showing enslaved Judeans and a ''[[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]]'' being brought to Rome. It is customary for Jews to walk around, rather than through, this arch.

The Romans destroyed most of [[Jerusalem]] but left the [[Western Wall]], a retaining wall of the [[Temple Mount]]. After the end of this first revolt, the Jews continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion. In the second century the Roman Emperor [[Hadrian]] began to rebuild Jerusalem as a pagan city while restricting some Jewish practices. Angry at this affront, the Jews again revolted led by [[Bar Kokhba's revolt|Simon Bar Kokhba]]. [[Hadrian]] responded with overwhelming force, putting down the revolt and killing as many as half a million Jews. After the Roman Legions prevailed in 135, Jews were not allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem and most Jewish worship was forbidden by Rome. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, Jewish worship stopped being centrally organized around the Temple, and instead the rabbis took on a more prominent position as teachers and leaders of individual communities. No new books were added to the Jewish Bible after the Roman period, instead major efforts went into interpreting and developing the [[Halakhah]], or oral law, and writing down these traditions in the [[Talmud]], the key work on the interpretation of Jewish law, written during the first to fifth centuries CE.

===Beginning of the Diaspora===
{{main|Jewish diaspora}}

Though Jews had settled outside Israel since the time of the Babylonians, the results of the Roman response to the Jewish revolt shifted the center of Jewish life from its ancient home to the diaspora. While some Jews remained in Judea, renamed Palestine by the Romans, some Jews were sold into [[slavery]], while others became citizens of other parts of the [[Roman Empire]]. This is the traditional explanation to the [[Jewish diaspora]], almost universally accepted by past and present rabbinical or Talmudical scholars, who believe that Jews are almost exclusively biological descendants of the Judean exiles. Some secular historians speculate that a majority of the Jews in Antiquity were most likely descendants of converts in the cities of the [[Greco-Roman|Græco-Roman world]], especially in Alexandria and Asia Minor. They were only affected by the diaspora in its spiritual sense and by the sense of loss and homelessness which became a cornerstone of the Jewish creed, much supported by persecutions in various parts of the world. Any such policy of conversion, which spread the Jewish religion throughout Hellenistic civilization, seems to have ended with the wars against the Romans and the following reconstruction of Jewish values for the post-Temple era. DNA evidence of this theory has been spotty, however, some historians believe based on some historical records that at the dawn of [[Christianity]] as many as 10% of the population of the Roman Empire were Jewish, a figure that could only be explained by local conversion. This theory could also solve the paradox of DNA studies noted above that show [[Ashkenazi Jews]] to be related to the peoples of the nations surrounding [[Israel]] and being relatively far from their European neighbours, despite physical features that sometimes are more closely resembles that of the peoples of southern, central and northern [[Europe]]; as one explanation would be a large intermarriage to European [[gentiles]] millennia ago followed by almost no outside genetic contact thereafter. These types of assumptions are not supported by any historical account, and the extent of similarities in physical features between [[Ashkenazi]] Jews and non-Jewish [[European ethnic groups|Europeans]] is disputed.
[[Image:synagogo2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|The [[Amsterdam Esnoga]], the synagogue of the [[Sephardic]] community]]

During the first few hundred years of the Diaspora, the most important Jewish communities were in [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]], where the [[Babylonian Talmud]] was written, and where relatively tolerant regimes allowed the Jews freedom. The situation was worse in the Byzantine Empire which treated the Jews much more harshly, refusing to allow them to hold office or build places of worship. In the belief of restoration to come, the Jews made an alliance with the Persians who invaded Palestine in 614, fought at their side, overwhelmed the Byzantine garrison in [[Jerusalem]], and for three years governed the city. But the Persians made their peace with the Emperor [[Heraclius]]. Christian rule was re-established, and those Jews who survived the consequent slaughter were once more banished from Jerusalem.<ref name = "Katz-1974"> Katz, Shmuel, Battleground (1974) </ref>

The conquest of much of the Byzantine Empire and Babylonia by Islamic armies generally improved the life of the Jews, though they were still considered second-class citizens. In response to these Islamic conquests, the [[First Crusade]] of 1096 attempted to reconquer Jerusalem, resulting in the destruction of many of the remaining Jewish communities in the area. The Jews were among the most vigorous defenders of Jerusalem against the Crusaders. When the city fell, the Crusaders gathered the Jews in a synagogue and burned them. The Jews almost single-handedly defended [[Haifa]] against the Crusaders, holding out in the besieged town for a whole month (June-July 1099). At this time, a full thousand years after the fall of the Jewish state, there were Jewish communities all over the country. Fifty of them are known to us; they include Jerusalem, [[Tiberias]], [[Ramleh]], [[Ashkelon]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], and [[Gaza]].<ref name = "Katz-1974"/>

[[Image:Spanishhaggadah.jpg|thumb|250px|Image of a [[Hazzan|cantor]] reading the [[Passover]] story in [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula|Moorish Iberia]], from a 14th century Iberian [[Haggadah]].]]

===Middle Ages: Europe===
{{main|Jews in the Middle Ages}}
Jews settled in [[Europe]] during the time of the Roman Empire, but the rise of the [[Roman Catholic]] Church resulted in frequent expulsions and persecutions. The Crusades routinely attacked Jewish communities, and increasingly harsh laws restricted them from most economic activity and land ownership, leaving open only money-lending and a few other trades. Jews were subject to expulsions from England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire throughout the Middle Ages, with most of the population moving to Eastern Europe and especially Poland, [[History of the Jews in Poland|which was uniquely tolerant of the Jews through the 1700s]]. The final mass expulsion of the Jews, and the largest, occurred after the Christian conquest (''[[Reconquista]]'') of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] in 1492 (see [[History of the Jews in Spain]] and [[History of the Jews in Portugal]]). Even after the end of the expulsions in the 17th century, individual conditions varied from country to country and time to time, but, as rule, Jews in Western Europe generally were forced, by decree or by informal pressure, to live in highly segregated [[ghettos]] and [[shtetls]]. By the beginning of the twentieth century, most European Jews lived in the so-called [[Pale of Settlement]], the Western frontier of the [[Russian Empire]] consisting generally of the modern-day countries of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and neighboring regions.

===Middle Ages: Islamic Europe, North Africa, Middle East===
{{main|History of the Jews under Muslim rule}}

In the [[Al-Andalus|Iberian Peninsula]], under Muslim rule, Jews were able to make great advances in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry and philology.<ref>Cowling (2005), p. 265</ref> This era is sometimes referred to as the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula]].<ref name = "Poliakov741">Poliakov (1974), pg.91-6</ref>

During early Islam, [[Leon Poliakov]] writes, Jews enjoyed great privileges, and their communities prospered. There was no legislation or social barriers preventing them from conducting commercial activities. Many Jews migrated to areas newly conquered by Muslims and established communities there. The [[vizier]] of [[Baghdad]] entrusted his capital with Jewish bankers. The Jews were put in charge of certain parts of maritime and slave trade. [[Siraf]], the principal port of the caliphate in the 10th century CE, had a Jewish governor.<ref>Poliakov (1974), pg.68-71</ref>

Throughout history, there have been numerous instances of pogroms against Jews.<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_(gen).html The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries]</ref> Examples include the [[1066 Granada massacre]], where the razing of the entire Jewish quarter in the [[Al-Andalus|Andalucian]] city of [[Granada]] in 1066.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=412&letter=G&search=Granada Granada] by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''. 1906 ed. </ref> In [[North Africa]], there were cases of violence against Jews in the [[Middle Ages]],<ref> {{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/morocjews.html|title=The Jews of Morocco}}</ref> and in other Arab lands including [[Egypt]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/egjews.html|title=The Jews of Egypt}}</ref> [[Syria]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/syrianjews.html|title=The Jews of Syria}}</ref> and [[Yemen]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/yemenjews.html|title=The Jews of Yemen}}</ref>

The [[Almohad]]s, who had taken control of much of Islamic Iberia by 1172, far surpassed the [[Almoravides]] in fundamentalist outlook, and they treated the ''dhimmis'' harshly. Jews and Christians were expelled from [[Morocco]] and [[Islamic Spain]].<ref>[http://www.theforgottenrefugees.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=39 The Forgotten Refugees]</ref> Faced with the choice of either death or conversion, some Jews, such as the family of [[Maimonides]], fled south and east to the more tolerant Muslim lands, while others went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms.<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html Sephardim]</ref><ref> Kraemer, Joel L., ''Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait'' in ''The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides'' pp. 16-17 (2005) </ref>

===Enlightenment and emancipation===
{{main|Haskalah}}

[[Image:Napoleonandjews.jpg|thumb|250px|Napoleon [[Jewish Emancipation|emancipating]] the Jews, represented by the woman with the [[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]], an 1804 French print.]]

During the [[Age of Enlightenment]], significant changes occurred within the Jewish community. The [[Haskalah]] movement paralleled the wider Enlightenment, as Jews began in the 1700s to abandon their exclusiveness and acquiring the knowledge, manners, and aspirations of the wider European society. Secular and scientific education was added to the traditional religious instruction received by students, and interest in a national Jewish identity, including a revival in the study of Jewish history and Hebrew, started to grow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=350&letter=H |title=Haskalah |accessdate=2008-02-09 |last=Rosenthal |first=Herman |coauthors= |date=2002 |work= |publisher=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>

The Haskalah movement influenced the birth of all the modern Jewish denominations, and planted the seeds of [[Zionism]]. At the same time, it contributed to encouraging cultural assimilation into the countries in which Jews resided, as well as the nineteenth century [[Reform movement in Judaism]]. At around the same time another movement was born, one preaching almost the opposite of Haskalah, [[Hasidic Judaism]]. Hasidic Judaism began in the 1700s by Israel ben Eliezer, the [[Baal Shem Tov]], and quickly gained a following with its exuberant, mystical approach to religion. These two movements, and the traditional orthodox approach to Judaism from which they spring, formed the basis for the modern divisions within Jewish observance.

At the same time, the outside world was changing. France was the first country to [[Jewish Emancipation|emancipate]] its Jewish population in 1796, granting them equal rights under the law. [[Napoleon]] further spread emancipation, inviting Jews to leave the [[Ghetto#Jewish ghettos in Europe|Jewish ghettos in Europe]] and seek refuge in the newly created tolerant political regimes (see [[Napoleon and the Jews]]). Other countries such as [[Denmark]], [[England]], and [[Sweden]] also adopted liberal policies toward Jews during the period of Enlightenment, with some resulting immigration. By the mid-19th century, almost all Western European countries had [[Jewish Emancipation|emancipated]] their Jewish populations, with the notable exception of the [[Papal States]], but persecution continued in Eastern Europe including massive [[pogroms]] at the end of the 19th century and throughout the [[Pale of Settlement]]. The persistence of anti-semitism, both violently in the east and socially in the west, led to a number of [[Jewish political movements]], culminating in [[Zionism]].

===Zionism and emigration from Europe===
[[Image:Tarbut.jpg|thumb|right|Poster from the Zionist Tarbut schools of [[Poland]] in the 1930s. Zionist parties were very active in [[Poland|Polish]] politics. In the 1922 Polish elections, Zionists held 24 seats of a total of 35 Jewish parliament members.]]
{{main|Zionism}}
'''Zionism''' is an international [[Jewish political movements|political movement]] that supports a [[homeland for the Jewish People]] in the [[Land of Israel]].<ref>Zionism On The Web, [http://www.zionismontheweb.org/zionism_definitions.htm "Definitions of Zionism"], a compiled collection, Accessed January 10, 2007.</ref>
Although its origins are earlier, the movement was formally established by the Austrian journalist [[Theodor Herzl]] in the late nineteenth century. The international movement was eventually successful in establishing the [[Israel|State of Israel]] in 1948, as the world's first and only modern [[Jewish State]]. It continues primarily as support for the state and government of Israel and its continuing status as a homeland for the Jewish people.<ref>"An international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel." ("Zionism," Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary). See also [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9078399/Zionism "Zionism"], ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', which describes it as a "Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”)," and The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, which defines it as "A Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to growing anti-Semitism and sought to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Modern Zionism is concerned with the support and development of the state of Israel." </ref> Described as a "[[diaspora]] [[nationalism]],"<ref>[[Ernest Gellner]], 1983. Nations and Nationalism (First edition), p 107-108.</ref> its proponents regard it as a [[national liberation movement]] whose aim is the [[self-determination]] of the Jewish people.<ref>A national liberation movement:
*"Zionism is a modern national liberation movement whose roots go far back to Biblical times." (Rockaway, Robert. [http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=111 Zionism: The National Liberation Movement of The Jewish People], [[World Zionist Organization]], [[January 21]], [[1975]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]]).
*"The aim of Zionism was principally the liberation and self-determination of the Jewish people...", [[Shlomo Avineri]]. ([http://www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1551 Zionism as a Movement of National Liberation], Hagshama department of the [[World Zionist Organization]], [[December 12]], [[2003]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]]).
*"Political Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, emerged in the 19th century within the context of the liberal nationalism then sweeping through Europe." (Neuberger, Binyamin. [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/8/Zionism%20-%20an%20Introduction Zionism - an Introduction], Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [[August 20]], [[2001]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]]).
*"The vicious diatribes on Zionism voiced here by Arab delegates may give this Assembly the wrong impression that while the rest of the world supported the Jewish national liberation movement the Arab world was always hostile to Zionism." ([[Herzog, Chaim|Chaim Herzog]], [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1974-1977/129%20Statement%20in%20the%20General%20Assembly%20by%20Ambassado Statement in the General Assembly by Ambassador Herzog on the item "Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination", [[10 November]] [[1975]].], Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [[November 11]], [[1975]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]]).
*[http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/WUPJ-2004-Items%205%20and%209.htm Zionism: one of the earliest examples of a national liberation movement], written submission by the World Union for Progressive Judaism to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Sixtieth session, Item 5 and 9 of the provisional agenda, [[January 27]], [[2004]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]].
*"Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the state of Israel is its political expression." ([[Shlaim, Avi|Avi Shlaim]], [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/04/edshlaim_ed3_.php A debate: Is Zionism today the real enemy of the Jews?], ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', [[February 4]], [[2005]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]].
*"But Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people." ([[Melanie Phillips|Philips, Melanie]]. [http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/Zionism%20MP.pdf Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews’: opposed by Melanie Phillips], www.melaniephilips.com, accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]].
*"Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future." ([http://www.hadassah.org/pageframe.asp?section=education&page=jerusalem_program.html&header=jerusalem_program&size=60 What is Zionism (The Jerusalem Program)], [[Hadassah]], accessed [[August 17]], [[2006]].
*"Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people." (Harris, Rob. [http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/ire_1.html Ireland's Zionist slurs like Iran, says Israel], ''[[Jewish Telegraph]]'', December 16, 2005, accessed August 17, 2006.</ref>

While Zionism is based in part upon [[Judaism|religious tradition]] linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, where the concept of Jewish [[nationhood]] is thought to have first evolved somewhere between 1200 BCE and the late [[Second Temple]] era (i.e. up to 70 AD),<ref>"...from Zion, where King David fashioned the first Jewish nation" (Friedland, Roger and Hecht, Richard ''To Rule Jerusalem'', p. 27).</ref><ref>"By the late Second Temple times, when widely held Messianic beliefs were so politically powerful in their implications and repercussions, and when the significance of political authority, territorial sovereignty, and religious belief for the fate of the Jews as a people was so widely and vehemently contested, it seems clear that Jewish nationhood was a social and cultural reality". (Roshwald, Aviel. "Jewish Identity and the Paradox of Nationalism", in Berkowitz, Michael (ed.). ''Nationalism, Zionism and Ethnic Mobilization of the Jews in 1900 and Beyond'', p. 15).</ref> the modern movement was mainly [[Secularism|secular]], beginning largely as a response by [[Ashkenazi Jews|European Jewry]] to rampant [[antisemitism]] across Europe.<ref>Largely a response to anti-Semitism:
*"A Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to growing anti-Semitism and sought to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Palestine." ("Zionism", The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition).
*"The Political Zionists conceived of Zionism as the Jewish response to anti-Semitism. They believed that Jews must have an independent state as soon as possible, in order to have a place of refuge for endangered Jewish communities." (Wylen, Stephen M. ''Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism'', Second Edition, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 392).
*"Zionism, the national movement to return Jews to their homeland in Israel, was founded as a response to anti-Semitism in Western Europe and to violent persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe." (Calaprice, Alice. ''The Einstein Almanac'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, p. xvi).
*"The major response to anti-semitism was the emergence of Zionism under the leadership of [[Theodor Herzl]] in the late nineteenth century." (Matustik, Martin J. and Westphal, Merold. ''Kierkegaard in Post/Modernity'', Indiana University Press, 1995, p. 178).
*"Zionism was founded as a response to anti-Semitism, principally in Russia, but took off when the worst nightmare of the Jews transpired in Western Europe under Nazism." (Hollis, Rosemary. {{PDFlink|[http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/int_affairs/inta_378.pdf The Israeli-Palestinian road block: can Europeans make a difference?]|57.9&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 59386 bytes -->}}, ''[[International Affairs]]'' 80, 2 (2004), p. 198).</ref>

In addition to responding politically, during the late 19th century, Jews began to flee the persecutions of Eastern Europe in large numbers, mostly by heading to the United States, but also to Canada and Western Europe. By 1924, almost two million Jews had emigrated to the US alone, creating a large community in a nation relatively free of the persecutions of rising European [[antisemitism]] (see [[History of the Jews in the United States]]).

===The Holocaust===
{{Main|The Holocaust}}
[[Image:Einsatzgruppen-Killingfull.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A member of [[Einsatzgruppe D]] is about to shoot a man sitting by a mass grave in [[Vinnitsa]], [[Ukraine]], in 1942. Present in the background are members of the [[Wehrmacht|German Army]], the German Labor Service, and the [[Hitler Youth]].<ref name=Berenbaum93>[[Michael Berenbaum|Berenbaum, Michael]]. ''The World Must Know''. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2nd edition, 2006, p. 93.</ref> The back of the photograph is inscribed "The last Jew in Vinnitsa".]]
This antisemitism reached its most destructive form in the policies of [[Nazi Germany]], which made the destruction of the Jews a priority, culminating in the killing of approximately six million Jews during [[the Holocaust]] from 1941 to 1945.<ref name="www_ushmm_org1">{{cite web | url = http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005394 | title = ushmm.org | accessdate = 2007-08-15 | publisher = }}</ref> Originally, the Nazis used death squads, the [[Einsatzgruppen]], to conduct massive open-air killings of Jews in territory they conquered. By 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the [[Final Solution]], the [[genocide]] of the Jews of Europe, and to increase the pace of the Holocaust by establishing [[extermination camps]] specifically to kill Jews.<ref> Manvell, Roger ''Goering'' New York:1972 Ballantine Books--War Leader Book #8 Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century</ref><ref name = "BBC-Grave">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6724481.stm Ukrainian mass Jewish grave found]</ref> This was an industrial method of genocide. Millions of Jews who had been confined to diseased and massively overcrowded [[Ghettos]] were transported (often by train) to [[extermination camps|"Death-camps"]] where some were herded into a specific location (often a [[gas chamber]]), then either gassed or shot. Afterwards, their remains were buried or burned. Others were interned in the camps where they were given little food and disease was common.<ref name=Berenbaum103>Berenbaum, Michael. ''The World Must Know," United States Holocaust Museum'', 2006, p. 103.</ref>

===Israel===
{{main|Israel}}
In 1948, the Jewish state of [[Israel]] was founded,<ref name="npr">{{cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history3.html |publisher=National Public Radio |title=Part 3: Partition, War and Independence |work=The Mideast: A Century of Conflict |accessdate=2007-07-13 |date=[[2002-10-02]]}}</ref> creating the first Jewish nation since the Roman destruction of [[Jerusalem]]. After the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], the majority of the 850,000 Jews previously living in North Africa and the Middle East fled to Israel,<ref> {{cite news |last=Bermani |first= Daphna|url=http://wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/law/jlsa/jews_arab_lands.htm|title= Sephardi Jewry at odds over reparations from Arab world |date= November 14, 2003|}}</ref> joining an increasing number of immigrants from post-War Europe (see [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]]). By the end of the 20th century, Jewish population centers had shifted dramatically, with the United States and Israel being the centers of Jewish secular and religious life.

[[Image:Western Wall - by Jacob Rask.jpg|thumb|right|Jewish prayer at the [[Western Wall]]]]

==Persecution==
{{main|Persecution of Jews}}
:''Related articles: [[Antisemitism]], [[History of antisemitism]], [[New antisemitism]]''

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 non-Christian religions|second-class citizens]] during the Christian Roman era. Later in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews in the name of Christianity occurred, notably during the [[Crusades]]&mdash;when Jews all over Germany were massacred&mdash;and a series of expulsions from England, Germany, France, and, in the largest expulsion of all, [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] after the [[Reconquista]] of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] from [[Muslim]] [[Moors]]. In the [[Papal States]], which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called [[ghetto]]s. In the 19th and (before the end of the second World War) 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>[http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/timeline.htm "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"]</ref>

[[Islam and Judaism]] have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews living in Muslim lands, known as [[dhimmis]], were allowed to practice their religion and to administer their internal affairs, but subject to certain conditions.<ref name="Bernard1020">Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20 {{citequote}}</ref> They had to pay the [[jizya]] (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to Muslims.<ref name="Bernard1020"/> Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal 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 most degrading one was the requirement of [[Yellow badge|distinctive clothing]], not found in the Qur'an or hadith but invented in [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] [[Baghdad]]; its enforcement was highly erratic.<ref>Lewis (1999), p.131</ref> 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> The notable examples of massacre of Jews include the killing or forcibly conversion of them by the rulers of the [[Almohad]] dynasty in [[Al-Andalus]] in the 12th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 52; Stillman (1979), p.77 {{citequote}}</ref> Notable examples of the cases where the choice of residence was taken away from them includes confining Jews to walled quarters ([[mellah]]s) in Morocco beginning from the 15th century and especially since the early 19th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28 {{citequote}}</ref> There were some forced conversions in the 12th century under the [[Almohad]] dynasty of North Africa and [[al-Andalus]] as well as in Persia.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 17-18, 94-95; Stillman (1979), p. 27 {{citequote}}</ref> Standard antisemitic themes have become commonplace in the propaganda of Arab 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 [[Refah Partisi]]."<ref name=Lewis_MEQ>[http://www.meforum.org/article/396 Muslim Anti-Semitism] by Bernard Lewis (Middle East Quarterly) June 1998</ref>

The most notable modern day persecution of Jews remains the [[Holocaust]] &mdash; the state-led systematic [[persecution]] and [[genocide]] of the Jews (and other [[minority group]]s) of Europe and [[History of North Africa#European colonization|European Colonial North Africa]] during [[World War II]] by [[Nazi Germany]] and its [[Non-German cooperation with nazis during World War 2|collaborators]]<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. [[Nazi concentration camps|Concentration camp]]s were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease. 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"/> Jews and Roma were crammed into [[Ghettos in occupied Europe 1939 - 1944|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. 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>

==Jewish leadership==
{{main|Jewish leadership}}

There is no single governing body for the Jewish community, nor a single authority with responsibility for religious doctrine. 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.

==Famous Jews==
{{main|List of Jews|List of Jews by country}}

Jews have made contributions in a broad range of human endeavors, including the sciences, arts, politics, business, etc. The number of Jewish [[Nobel prize]] winners (approximately 160 in all), is far out of proportion to the percentage of Jews in the world's population.<ref>"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." Stephen Mark Dobbs. [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/17015/edition_id/335/format/html/displaystory.html As the Nobel Prize marks centennial, Jews constitute 1/5 of laureates], ''[[j.]]'', [[October 12]], [[2001]].</ref>

==See also==

A full guide to topics related to the Jews is available from the [[template:Jew|guide at the top of this page]]. Additional topics of interest include:
*[[Jewish identity]]
*[[Israelites]]
*[[Jewish population]]
*[[List of Jews]]
*[[List of Jewish American actors in television]]
*[[Jewish intermarriage]]
*[[Jews for Judaism]]
*[[Antisemitism]]
*[[Halakha]]
*[[Law of Return]]
*[[Ashkenazi Jews]]
*[[Sephardi Jews]]
* [[Judaism]], for information on the Jewish religion
*[[Israel]]
**[[Basic Laws of Israel]]
**[[Politics of Israel]]
*[[:Category:Jewish ethnic groups]]
*[[:Category:Jewish history by country]]

==References==
*{{cite book | first=Geoffrey | last=Cowling | title=Introduction to World Religions | publisher=First Fortress Press | location=Singapore | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0-8006-3714-3}}
*{{citation|title=Patterns of Political Leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon|last=Dekmejian|first=R. Hrair|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1975|isbn=087395291X}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldstien |first=Joseph |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Jewish History in Modern Times
|year=1995 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |location= |isbn=1898723060 }}
*{{cite book |last=Katz |first=Shmuel |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine |year=1974 |publisher=Taylor Productions |location= |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}}
*{{cite book |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |title=Studying Classical Judaism: a primer |year=1991 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |language=English |isbn=0664251366 }}
*[[Leon Poliakov|Poliakov, Leon]] (1974). ''The History of Anti-semitism.'' New York: The Vanguard Press.
*[[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

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{external links|October 2006}}
{{sisterlinks}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
===General===
* [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567959/Jews.html#s1 Encarta Encyclopedia entry on Jews]
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org Jewish Virtual Library] - collection of many articles on many topics, including Jewish history
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.jta.org Jewish Telegraphic Agency] - news bureau reporting on contemporary Jewish news and issues
* [http://www.book-lover.com/legendsofthejews/ Legends of the Jews] - online text of classic work by Louis Ginzberg
* [http://www.jewfaq.org Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion]
*[http://omedia.org/Show_Article.asp?DynamicContentID=1889&MenuID=726&ThreadID=1014017 The Future of the Jewish People 2006: The Problem and the Tasks] Omedia
* [[:s:The New Student's Reference Work/Jews|The New Student's Reference Work/Jews]]
* [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1202742130771&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Genetics and the Jewish identity]

===Maps===
* [http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/indi.asp Map collection] related to Jewish history and culture from Routledge Publishing
===Photos===
* [http://www.ZionOzeri.com Zion Ozeri Photography] - photos of many Jewish communities worldwide (requires [[Macromedia Flash]] player)
{{col-end}}
===Major Jewish secular organizations===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.ajc.org American Jewish Committee]
* [http://www.ajcongress.org American Jewish Congress]
* [http://www.adl.org Anti-Defamation League]
* [http://www.bnaibrith.org B'nai B'rith International]
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.eujs.org/ European Union of Jewish Students]
* [http://www.hillel.org Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Life on Campus]
* [http://www.ujc.org United Jewish Communities: The Federations of North America]
* [http://www.wujs.org.il/ World Union of Jewish Students]
{{col-end}}

===Global Jewish communities===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.bneimenashe.com/ Bnei Menashe Jews (Northeast India)]
* [http://www.boardofdeputies.org.uk/ Board of Deputies of British Jews]
* [http://www.cjc.ca Canadian Jewish Congress]
* [http://www.col.fr La Communauté Juive (France)]
* [http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/index.aspx The Database of Jewish Communities]
* [http://www.fjc.ru/default.asp Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (Russia)]
* [http://www.chabad.org/centers/default.asp?AID=6268 International Chabad-Lubavitch Centers and Institutions Directory]
* [http://www.haruth.com/JewsArgentina.html Jewish Argentina]
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.haruth.com/JewsoftheWorld.html Jewish Communities of the World]
* [http://www.jewishweb.co.za/ Jewish Web South Africa]
* [http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/jews/ Jews in Estonia]
* [http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/index.htm Jews of Africa]
* [http://www.jewsofchina.org/communities/index.asp Jews of China]
* [http://www.jewsofindia.org Jews of India]
* [http://comunidadjudiamurcia.blogspot.com] Jews in Murcia, Spain
* [http://www.ujc.org/ir_category_listing.html?nt=0&amp;id=200 List of International Jewish Organizations]
* [http://www.mosaiske.dk/ Det Mosaiske Troessamfund (Denmark)]
*[http://www.jewishtraveladvisor.com/jewish-community.php?cities=all Global list of Jewish communities]
{{col-end}}

===Zionist organizations===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.ameinu.net/ Ameinu]
* [http://www.hadassah.org Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America]
* [http://www.rza.org/ Religious Zionists of America]
* [http://www.upzshalom.org/ Union of Progressive Zionists]
* [http://www.towizo.org/htmls/Home.aspx Women's International Zionist Organization]
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.mizrachi.org/ World Mizrachi Movement]
* [http://www.wzo.org.il/en/default.asp World Zionist Organization]
* [http://www.zfa.org.il Zionist Freedom Alliance]
* [http://www.zoa.org Zionist Organization of America]
{{col-end}}

===Israeli institutions===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.bh.org.il/index.html Beth Hatefutsoth – The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora]
* [http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/HTMLs/Home.aspx The Israel Museum]
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.jafi.org.il The Jewish Agency for Israel]
* [http://www.yadvashem.org/ Yad Vashem – The Holocaust Martyrs'and Heroes' Remembrance Authority]
{{col-end}}

===Notable Jews===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.jinfo.org The Jewish Contribution to World Civilization]
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.science.co.il/Nobel.asp Jewish Nobel Prize Laureates]
{{col-end}}

===Religious links===
{{Further|[[Judaism#External links|Judaism → External links]]}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.aish.com Aish HaTorah] ([[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]])
* [https://www.aleph.org/ ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal] ([[Jewish Renewal|Renewal]])
* [http://www.americansephardifederation.org American Sephardi Federation] ([[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]])
* [http://www.chabad.org Chabad Lubavitch] ([[Chabad]])
* [http://www.jrf.org Jewish Reconstructionist Federation] ([[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]])
{{col-2}}
* [http://www.karaite-korner.org The Karaite Korner] ([[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]])
* [http://www.shj.org Society for Humanistic Judaism] ([[Humanistic Judaism|Humanistic]])
* [http://ou.org The Orthodox Union] ([[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]])
* [http://urj.org Union for Reform Judaism] ([[Reform Judaism|Reform]])
* [http://www.uscj.org United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism] ([[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]])
{{col-end}}

{{Judaismfooter}}

[[Category:Jews|*]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Nations belonging to haplogroup J (Y-DNA)]]

{{Link FA|fr}}
<!-- interwiki -->
[[af:Jood]]
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[[zh:犹太人]]

Revision as of 17:44, 6 May 2008

ryan sucks at life

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