View source for Jews

{{Short description|Ethnoreligious group and nation from the Levant}}
{{Hatgrp|{{Redirect|Jew|the word|Jew (word){{!}}''Jew'' (word)|other uses}}
{{Redirect|People of Israel|the people who live in modern-day Israel|Israelis}}}}
{{pp-move}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Jews
| native_name      = {{Script/Hebrew|יְהוּדִים{{popdf}}}}&nbsp;({{lang|he-Latn|Yehudim}})
| native_name_lang = he
| rawimage         = [[File:Star of David.svg|150px]]
| image            = 
| image_caption    = The [[Star of David]], a common symbol of the Jewish people
| total            = '''15.2 million'''<br/>'''Enlarged population (includes anyone with a Jewish parent):'''<br />'''20 million'''{{efn|The global core Jewish population was estimated at approximately 15,263,500 in 2022. When including individuals who identify as partly Jewish and anyone with one or two Jewish parents increases the estimate to 20,028,800. Adding individuals with a Jewish background but without Jewish parents, and non-Jewish household members living with Jews, yields an enlarged estimate of 22,720,400.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-33406-1 |title=American Jewish Year Book 2022 |date=2023 |volume=122 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-33406-1|isbn=978-3-031-33405-4 }}</ref>}}
| total_year       = 2022
| total_source     = estimate
| total_ref        = <ref name="JDB">{{cite report |editor1-last=Dashefsky |editor1-first=Arnold |editor-link1=Arnold Dashefsky |editor2-last=Della-Pergola |editor2-first=Sergio |editor-link2=Sergio Della Pergola |editor3-last=Sheskin |editor3-first=Ira |date=2021 |title=World Jewish Population|url=https://www.jewishdatabank.org/api/download/?studyId=1185&mediaId=bjdb%5c2021_World_Jewish_Population_AJYB_(DellaPergola)_DB_Public.pdf|publisher=[[Berman Jewish DataBank]]|access-date=4 September 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Jewish people around the world.svg|center|frameless|260x260px]]
| region1          = Israel (incl. [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupied territories]])
| pop1             = 7,300,000–7,455,200
| ref1             = <ref name="TOI2">{{Cite web |date=2 October 2024 |title=World's Jewish population hits 15.8 million, on eve of Rosh Hashanah |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/worlds-jewish-population-hits-15-8-million-on-eve-of-rosh-hashanah/ |website=The Times of Israel}}</ref>
| region2          = United States
| pop2             = 6,300,000–7,500,000
| ref2             = <ref name="TOI2"/>
| region3          = France
| pop3             = 438,500–550,000
| ref3             = <ref name="TOI2"/>
| region4          = Canada
| pop4             = 400,000–450,000
| ref4             = <ref name="TOI2"/>
| region5          = United Kingdom
| pop5             = 312,000–330,000
| ref5             = <ref name="JDB"/><ref name="TOI">{{cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/global-jewish-population-hits-15-7-million-ahead-of-new-year-46-of-them-in-israel/amp/ | title=Global Jewish population hits 15.7 million ahead of new year, 46% of them in Israel | website=[[The Times of Israel]] }}</ref>
| region6          = Argentina
| pop6             = 171,000–240,000
| ref6             = <ref name="JDB"/><ref name="TOI"/>
| region7          = Russia
| pop7             = 132,000–290,000
| ref7             = <ref name="JDB"/><ref name="TOI"/>
| region8          = Germany
| pop8             = 125,000–175,000
| ref8             = <ref name="JDB"/><ref name="TOI"/>
| region9          = Australia
| pop9             = 117,200–130,000
| ref9             = <ref name="JDB"/><ref name="TOI"/>
| region10         = Brazil
| pop10            = 90,000–120,000
| ref10            = <ref name=":7" /><ref name="TOI"/>
| region11         = South Africa
| pop11            = 51,000–75,000
| ref11            = <ref name="JDB"/>
| region12         = Ukraine
| pop12            = 40,000–90,000
| ref12            = <ref name=":7" />
| region13         = Hungary
| pop13            = 46,500–75,000
| ref13            = <ref name=":7" />
| region14         = Mexico
| pop14            = 40,000–45,000
| ref14            = <ref name=":7" />
| region15         = Netherlands
| pop15            = 29,700–43,000
| ref15            = <ref name=":7" />
| region16         = Belgium
| pop16            = 28,800–35,000
| ref16            = <ref name=":7" />
| region17         = Italy
| pop17            = 27,000–34,000
| ref17            = <ref name=":7" />
| region18         = Switzerland
| pop18            = 18,800–22,000
| ref18            = <ref name=":7" />
| region19         = Uruguay
| pop19            = 16,300–20,000
| ref19            = <ref name=":7" />
| region20         = Chile
| pop20            = 15,800–20,000
| ref20            = <ref name=":7" />
| region21         = Sweden
| pop21            = 14,900–20,000
| ref21            = <ref name=":7" />
| region22         = Turkey
| pop22            = 14,300–17,500
| ref22            = <ref name=":7" />
| region23         = Spain
| pop23            = 12,900–16,000
| ref23            = <ref name=":7" />
| region24         = Austria
| pop24            = 10,300–14,000
| ref24            = <ref name=":7" />
| region25         = Panama
| pop25            = 10,000–11,000
| ref25            = <ref name=":7" />
| languages        = {{plainlist|
* '''Predominantly spoken:'''<ref name=Languages>{{cite web|url=http://www.bh.org.il/links.aspx |title=Links |access-date=2 April 2012 |publisher=[[Beth Hatefutsoth]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326102214/http://www.bh.org.il/links/jewishlangs.asp |archive-date=26 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* {{hlist|[[Modern Hebrew]]|[[English language|English]]|[[Russian language|Russian]]|[[French language|French]]|[[Spanish language|Spanish]]}}
* '''Historical:'''
* {{hlist|[[Yiddish]]|[[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]]|[[Judeo-Arabic]]|[[Jewish languages|others]]}}
* '''Sacred:'''
* {{hlist|[[Biblical Hebrew]]|[[Biblical Aramaic]]|[[Talmudic Aramaic]]}}
}}
| religions        = Majority: {{ubl| [[Judaism]] |Minority:<br /> [[Jewish atheism|Irreligion]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=New Poll Shows Atheism on Rise, With Jews Found to Be Least Religious |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2012-08-20/ty-article/jews-least-observant-intl-poll-finds/0000017f-e2b6-d7b2-a77f-e3b7be450000 |url-status=live |access-date=25 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719095822/https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/jews-least-observant-int-l-poll-finds-1.5287579 |archive-date=19 July 2018}}</ref>}}
| related-c        = {{plainlist|
* [[Samaritans]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Genes, Polymorphisms and the Making of Societies: How Genetic Behavioral Traits Influence Human Cultures |last=Kiaris|first= Hippokratis|publisher=Universal Publishers|year=2012 |isbn=978-1-61233-093-8 |page=21}}</ref><ref name="evolutsioon" /><ref name=DigitalSamaritans>{{Cite book |title=Digital Samaritans: Rhetorical Delivery and Engagement in the Digital Humanities |last=Ridolfo |first=Jim |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-472-07280-4 |page=69}}</ref> [[Arabs]],<ref name="evolutsioon">{{cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Peidong |last2=Lavi |first2=Tal |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Chou |first4=Vivian |last5=Sengun |first5=Deniz |last6=Gefel |first6=Dov |last7=Shpirer |first7=Issac |last8=Woolf |first8=Eilon |last9=Hillel |first9=Jossi |last10=Feldman |first10=Marcus W. |last11=Oefner |first11=Peter J. |title=Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence Variation |journal=Human Mutation |date=September 2004 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=248–260 |doi=10.1002/humu.20077 |pmid=15300852 |s2cid=1571356 | issn = 1059-7794 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity|first= Nicholas|last= Wade|date=9 June 2010|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/science/10jews.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |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. |title=High-resolution Y chromosome haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap with haplotypes of Jews |journal=Human Genetics |date=December 2000 |volume=107 |issue=6 |pages=630–641 |doi=10.1007/s004390000426 |pmid=11153918 |s2cid=8136092 }}</ref><ref name="sciencedaily">{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/05/000509003653.htm |title=Jews Are the Genetic Brothers of Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese |publisher=Sciencedaily.com |date=9 May 2000 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]],<ref name="Abraham 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Atzmon |first1=Gil |last2=Hao |first2=Li |last3=Pe'er |first3=Itsik |last4=Velez |first4=Christopher |last5=Pearlman |first5=Alexander |last6=Palamara |first6=Pier Francesco |last7=Morrow |first7=Bernice |last8=Friedman |first8=Eitan |last9=Oddoux |first9=Carole |last10=Burns |first10=Edward |last11=Ostrer |first11=Harry |title=Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=June 2010 |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=850–859 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 |pmid=20560205 |pmc=3032072 }}</ref> and [[Genetic studies of Jews|others]]
}}
}}
{{Contains special characters|Hebrew}}

{{Jews and Judaism sidebar}}

'''Jews''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebr|יְהוּדִים}}}}, {{small|[[ISO 259#ISO 259-2|ISO 259-2]]:}} {{transliteration|he|''Yehudim''}}, {{small|[[Modern Hebrew|Israeli pronunciation]]:}} {{IPA|he|jehuˈdim|}}), or the '''Jewish people''', are an [[ethnoreligious group]]<ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group" /> and [[nation]],<ref>*{{cite book |author=M. Nicholson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvI8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |title=International Relations: A Concise Introduction |publisher=NYU Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8147-5822-9 |pages=19–|quote=The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel}}
*{{cite book |author=Jacob Neusner |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju0000neus |title=An Introduction to Judaism: A Textbook and Reader |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-664-25348-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju0000neus/page/375 375]– |url-access=registration|quote=That there is a Jewish nation can hardly be denied after the creation of the State of Israel}}
*{{cite book |author=Alan Dowty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL8r4U1FKSQC&pg=PA3 |title=The Jewish State: A Century Later, Updated With a New Preface |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-520-92706-3 |pages=3–|quote=Jews are a people, a nation (in the original sense of the word), an ethnos}}
*{{cite web|last=Brandeis|first=Louis|author-link=Louis Brandeis|title=The Jewish Problem: How To Solve It|date=25 April 1915|publisher=University of Louisville School of Law|access-date=2 April 2012|quote=Jews are a distinctive nationality of which every Jew, whatever his country, his station or shade of belief, is necessarily a member|url=https://louisville.edu/law/library/special-collections/the-louis-d.-brandeis-collection/the-jewish-problem-how-to-solve-it-by-louis-d.-brandeis}}
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Edward Henry|author-link1=Edward Henry Palmer|title=A History of the Jewish Nation: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishn00palm|access-date=2 April 2012|year= 2002|orig-year=First published 1874|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=978-1-931956-69-7|oclc=51578088}}</ref> originating from the [[Israelites]] of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel and Judah]].<ref>*{{cite book |author=Facts On File, Incorporated |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |pages=337–|quote=The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history |isbn=978-1-4381-2676-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&pg=PA337}}
*{{Cite book |last=Spielvogel |first=Jackson J. |title=Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=9780495502883 |pages=36 |quote=The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism, the religion of Yahweh, the Israelite God.}}
*{{cite book |author= Scheindlin, Raymond P. |title=A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |pages=1–|quote=Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites |isbn=978-0-19-513941-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bfsuicMmrE0C&pg=PA1}}
*{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54913803 |title=Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-472-11313-5 |location=Ann Arbor |pages=33 |oclc=54913803 |quote=Few would seriously challenge the belief that most modern Jews are descended from the ancient Hebrews |author-link=Eric H. Cline}}
*{{cite book |author=Harry Ostrer MD |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RayZR3V1SFwC&pg=PT26 |title=Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-997638-6 |pages=19–22}}</ref> They also traditionally adhere to [[Judaism]].<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |title=Jew &#124; History, Beliefs, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jew-people |access-date=20 August 2022 |website=Britannica |quote= any person whose religion is Judaism. 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 Bible (Old Testament). |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901033920/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jew-people |archive-date= 1 September 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/jew |title=Jew |publisher=Cambridge Dictionary |quote="a member of a people whose traditional religion is Judaism" |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706024026/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/jew |archive-date= 6 July 2021 }}<br />{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/jew |title=Jew |publisher=Oxford Dictionary |quote="a member of the people and cultural community whose traditional religion is Judaism and who come from the ancient Hebrew people of Israel; a person who believes in and practises Judaism" |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213075948/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/jew |archive-date= 13 February 2023 }}<br />{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jew |title=Jew |publisher=Collins |quote="a person whose religion is Judaism", "a member of the Semitic people who claim descent from the ancient Hebrew people of Israel, are spread throughout the world, and are linked by cultural or religious ties" |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722022904/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jew |archive-date= 22 July 2023 }}</ref> Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated,<ref name="Lederhendler20012">{{cite book |author=Eli Lederhendler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wvahJv83AgC&pg=PA101 |title=Studies in Contemporary Jewry: Volume XVII: Who Owns Judaism? Public Religion and Private Faith in America and Israel |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-534896-5 |pages=101–|quote=Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, the practice of Jewish (religious) law and the study of ancient religious texts}}</ref><ref name="Yee20052">{{cite book |author=Tet-Lim N. Yee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4OwXhMOn5cC&pg=PA102 |title=Jews, Gentiles and Ethnic Reconciliation: Paul's Jewish identity and Ephesians |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-139-44411-8 |pages=102–|quote=This identification in the Jewish attitude between the ethnic group and religious identity is so close that the reception into this religion of members not belonging to its ethnic group has become impossible.}}</ref> as Judaism is their [[ethnic religion]],<ref name="Nicholson20022">{{cite book |author=M. Nicholson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvI8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |title=International Relations: A Concise Introduction |publisher=NYU Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8147-5822-9 |pages=19–|quote=The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel}}</ref><ref name="Dowty19982">{{cite book |author=Alan Dowty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL8r4U1FKSQC&pg=PA3 |title=The Jewish State: A Century Later, Updated With a New Preface |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-520-92706-3 |pages=3–|quote=Jews are a people, a nation (in the original sense of the word), an ethnos}}</ref> though it is not practiced by many ethnic Jews.<ref name="KrauszTulea2">{{cite book |author1=Ernest Krausz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnxv-Mlz0JIC&pg=PA90 |title=Jewish Survival: The Identity Problem at the Close of the Twentieth Century; &#91;... International Workshop at Bar-Ilan University on the 18th and 19th of March, 1997&#93; |author2=Gitta Tulea |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4128-2689-1 |pages=90–|quote=A person born Jewish who refutes Judaism may continue to assert a Jewish identity, and if he or she does not convert to another religion, even religious Jews will recognize the person as a Jew}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|website=Institute for Jewish Policy Research|url=https://www.jpr.org.uk/insights/belonging-without-believing-british-jewish-identity-and-god|title=Belonging without believing: British Jewish identity and God|date=20 March 2024|quote=Only a third of Jews living in the UK have faith in God, as described in the Bible, yet 'non-believers' make up more than half of paid-up synagogue memberships, according to data from the JPR National Jewish Identity Survey}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|website=[[Pew Research Center]]|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/13/jews-in-u-s-are-far-less-religious-than-christians-and-americans-overall-at-least-by-traditional-measures|title=Jews in U.S. are far less religious than Christians and Americans overall, at least by traditional measures|date=13 May 2021}}</ref> Despite this, religious Jews regard [[Gerim|converts to Judaism]] as members of the Jewish nation, pursuant to the [[Conversion to Judaism|long-standing conversion process]].<ref name="KrauszTulea2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - Religions - Judaism: Converting to Judaism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/beliefs/conversion.shtml |access-date=29 September 2023 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>

The Israelites emerged from the pre-existing [[Canaanite peoples]] to establish [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] in the [[Southern Levant]] during the [[Iron Age]].<ref name= Day>[[John Day (Old Testament scholar)|John Day]] (2005), ''In Search of Pre-Exilic Israel'', Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 47.5 [48] 'In this sense, the emergence of ancient Israel is viewed not as the cause of the demise of Canaanite culture but as its upshot'.</ref> Originally, Jews referred to the inhabitants of the [[kingdom of Judah]]<ref name="auto4">Cf. [[Marcus Jastrow]]'s ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature'', and the source he used: [[Megillah (Talmud)|Megilla]] 13a:2 (Talmud).</ref> and were distinguished from the [[gentile]]s and the [[Samaritans]].<ref name=":4">Amy-Jill Levine. ''The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus''. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, page 162</ref> According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], these inhabitants predominately originate from the [[tribe of Judah]], who were descendants of [[Judah (Bible)|Judah]], the fourth son of [[Jacob]].<ref name=":0">"Jew", ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref> The [[tribe of Benjamin]] were another significant demographic in Judah and were considered Jews too.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web |date=3 July 2024 |title=Jew {{!}} History, Beliefs, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jew-people |access-date=6 July 2024 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>  By the late 6th century BCE, Judaism had evolved from the Israelite religion, dubbed [[Yahwism]] (for [[Yahweh]]) by modern scholars,<ref name="MINDELL2009">{{cite book |author=David P Mindell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s8kA6eaz7hsC&pg=PA224 |title=The Evolving World |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-04108-0 |page=224}}</ref> having a theology that religious Jews believe to be the expression of the [[Mosaic covenant]] between [[God in Judaism|God]] and the Jewish people.<ref name="Knowledge Resources: Judaism">{{cite web |title=Knowledge Resources: Judaism |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/traditions/judaism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827210045/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/traditions/judaism |archive-date=27 August 2011 |access-date=22 November 2011 |publisher=[[Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs]]}}</ref> After the [[Babylonian exile]], Jews referred to followers of [[Judaism]],<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name=":21">{{Cite journal |last=Lau |first=Peter H.W. |date=2009 |title=Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra - Nehemiah? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42614919 |journal=Peeters Publishers |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=356–373 |jstor=42614919}}</ref> descendants of the Israelites,<ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-991445-6 |pages=87–110}}</ref><ref name=":54">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=https://brill.com/display/title/12543?language=en |title=Judaism in the Roman World |date=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-47-41061-4}}</ref><ref name=":332">{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199914456 |pages=87–110}}</ref><ref>Josephus, ''[[The Jewish War]]'' iv. 4, § 5</ref> citizens of [[Judea]], <ref name="Penner">{{cite book |author=Todd Penner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qnv7CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |title=De-Introducing the New Testament: Texts, Worlds, Methods, Stories |author2=Davina Lopez |author-link2=Davina Lopez |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-118-43296-9 |pages=71–74}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel R. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 |title=Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442648395 |pages=3–10|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 }}</ref> or allies of the Judean state.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520226937}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel R. |date=2021 |title=Judea versus Judaism: Between 1 and 2&nbsp;Maccabees |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/judea-versus-judaism-between-1-and-2-maccabees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316100256/https://www.thetorah.com/article/judea-versus-judaism-between-1-and-2-maccabees |archive-date=16 March 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Yarden |first=Ophir |date=10 March 2022 |title=Jewish Not Judean: The Diaspora in the Book of Esther |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/jewish-not-judean-the-diaspora-in-the-book-of-esther |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250530045830/https://www.thetorah.com/article/jewish-not-judean-the-diaspora-in-the-book-of-esther |archive-date=30 May 2025 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref> Jewish migration within the Mediterranean region during the [[Hellenistic period]], followed by [[Population transfer|population transfers]], caused by events like the [[Jewish–Roman wars]], gave rise to the [[Jewish diaspora]], consisting of diverse Jewish communities that maintained their sense of [[Jewish history]], [[Jewish identity|identity]], and [[Jewish culture|culture]].<ref>* {{cite book |author=Marvin Perry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2pnv0Aoh2EC |title=Western Civilization: A Brief History, Volume I: To 1789 |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-111-83720-4 |page=87}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Botticini |first1=Maristella |last2=Eckstein |first2=Zvi |date=1 September 2007 |title=From Farmers to Merchants, Conversions and Diaspora: Human Capital and Jewish History |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=885–926 |doi=10.1162/JEEA.2007.5.5.885}} "The death toll of the Great Revolt against the Roman empire amounted to about 600,000 Jews, whereas the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 caused the death of about 500,000 Jews. Massacres account for roughly 40 percent of the decrease of the Jewish population in Palestine. Moreover, some Jews migrated to Babylon after these revolts because of the worse economic conditions. After accounting for massacres and migrations, there is an additional 30 to 40 percent of the decrease in the Jewish population in Palestine (about 1–1.3 million Jews) to be explained" (p. 19).
* [http://nes.berkeley.edu/Web_Boyarin/BoyarinArticles/69%20Diaspora%20(1993).pdf Boyarin, Daniel, and Jonathan Boyarin. 2003. Diaspora: Generation and the Ground of Jewish Diaspora. p. 714] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011234750/https://nes.berkeley.edu/Web_Boyarin/BoyarinArticles/69%20Diaspora%20(1993).pdf|date=11 October 2020}} "...it is crucial to recognize that the Jewish conception of the Land of Israel is similar to the discourse of the Land of many (if not nearly all) "indigenous" peoples of the world. Somehow the Jews have managed to retain a sense of being rooted somewhere in the world through twenty centuries of exile from that someplace (organic metaphors are not out of place in this discourse, for they are used within the tradition itself). It is profoundly disturbing to hear Jewish attachment to the Land decried as regressive in the same discursive situations in which the attachment of native Americans or Australians to their particular rocks, trees, and deserts is celebrated as an organic connection to the Earth that "we" have lost" p. 714.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=OcY0Oy5VpGIC&q=greek&pg=PA24 Cohen, Robin (1997), Global Diasporas: An Introduction. p. 24 London: UCL Press.] "...although the word Babylon often connotes captivity and oppression, a rereading of the Babylonian period of exile can thus be shown to demonstrate the development of a new creative energy in a challenging, pluralistic context outside the natal homeland. When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70, it was Babylon that remained as the nerve- and brain-centre for Jewish life and thought...the crushing of the revolt of the Judaeans against the Romans and the destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman general Titus in AD 70 precisely confirmed the catastrophic tradition. Once again, Jews had been unable to sustain a national homeland and were scattered to the far corners of the world" (p. 24).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=YBarWAR2qVkC&pg=PA159 Johnson, Paul ''A History of the Jews'' "The Bar Kochba Revolt," (HarperPerennial, 1987) pp. 158–61]: Paul Johnson analyzes Cassius Dio's ''Roman History: Epitome of Book LXIX'' para. 13–14 (Dio's passage cited separately) among other sources: "Even if Dio's figures are somewhat exaggerated, the casualties amongst the population and the destruction inflicted on the country would have been considerable. According to Jerome, many Jews were also sold into slavery, so many, indeed, that the price of Jewish slaves at the slave market in Hebron sank drastically to a level no greater than that for a horse. The economic structure of the country was largely destroyed. The entire spiritual and economic life of the Palestinian Jews moved to Galilee. Jerusalem was now turned into a Roman colony with the official name ''Colonia Aelia Capitolina'' (''Aelia'' after Hadrian's family name: P. Aelius Hadrianus; ''Capitolina'' after Jupiter Capitolinus). The Jews were forbidden on pain of death to set foot in the new Roman city. Aelia thus became a completely pagan city, no doubt with the corresponding public buildings and temples... We can...be certain that a statue of Hadrian was erected in the centre of Aelia, and this was tantamount in itself to a desecration of Jewish Jerusalem." p. 159.
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html Cassius Dio's ''Roman History: Epitome of Book LXIX'' para. 13–14]: "13 At first the Romans took no account of them. Soon, however, all Judaea had been stirred up, and the Jews everywhere were showing signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by overt acts; 2 many outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness for gain, and the whole earth, one might almost say, was being stirred up over the matter. Then, indeed, Hadrian sent against them his best generals. First of these was Julius Severus, who was dispatched from Britain, where he was governor, against the Jews. 3 Severus did not venture to attack his opponents in the open at any one point, in view of their numbers and their desperation, but by intercepting small groups, thanks to the number of his soldiers and his under-officers, and by depriving them of food and shutting them up, he was able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively little danger, to crush, exhaust and exterminate them. Very few of them in fact survived. Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out. 2 Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate, a result of which the people had had forewarning before the war. For the tomb of Solomon, which the Jews regard as an object of veneration, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed, and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their cities. 3 Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors, 'If you and our children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health'" (para. 13–14).
* {{cite journal |last1=Safran |first1=William |date=2005 |title=The Jewish Diaspora in a Comparative and Theoretical Perspective |journal=Israel Studies |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=36–60 |doi=10.2979/ISR.2005.10.1.36 |jstor=30245753 |s2cid=144379115 |id={{Project MUSE|180371}}}} "...diaspora referred to a very specific case—that of the exile of the Jews from the Holy Land and their dispersal throughout several parts of the globe. Diaspora [galut] connoted deracination, legal disabilities, oppression, and an often painful adjustment to a hostland whose hospitality was unreliable and ephemeral. It also connoted the existence on foreign soil of an expatriate community that considered its presence to be transitory. Meanwhile, it developed a set of institutions, social patterns, and ethnonational and/or religious symbols that held it together. These included the language, religion, values, social norms, and narratives of the homeland. Gradually, this community adjusted to the hostland environment and became itself a center of cultural creation. All the while, however, it continued to cultivate the idea of return to the homeland." (p. 36).
* {{cite journal |last1=Sheffer |first1=Gabriel |date=2005 |title=Is the Jewish Diaspora Unique? Reflections on the Diaspora's Current Situation |journal=Israel Studies |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.2979/ISR.2005.10.1.1 |jstor=30245752 |s2cid=143958201 |id={{Project MUSE|180374}}}} "...the Jewish nation, which from its very earliest days believed and claimed that it was the "chosen people," and hence unique. This attitude has further been buttressed by the equally traditional view, which is held not only by the Jews themselves, about the exceptional historical age of this diaspora, its singular traumatic experiences its singular ability to survive pogroms, exiles, and Holocaust, as well as its "special relations" with its ancient homeland, culminating in 1948 with the nation-state that the Jewish nation has established there... First, like many other members of established diasporas, the vast majority of Jews no longer regard themselves as being in ''Galut'' [exile] in their host countries....Perceptually, as well as actually, Jews permanently reside in host countries of their own free will, as a result of inertia, or as a result of problematic conditions prevailing in other hostlands, or in Israel. It means that the basic perception of many Jews about their existential situation in their hostlands has changed. Consequently, there is both a much greater self- and collective-legitimatization to refrain from making serious plans concerning "return" or actually "making Aliyah" [to emigrate, or "go up"] to Israel. This is one of the results of their wider, yet still rather problematic and sometimes painful acceptance by the societies and political systems in their host countries. It means that they, and to an extent their hosts, do not regard Jewish life within the framework of diasporic formations in these hostlands as something that they should be ashamed of, hide from others, or alter by returning to the old homeland" (p. 4).
* {{Cite book |last1=Davies |first1=William David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjtWLZhhMoYC |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |last2=Finkelstein |first2=Louis |last3=Katz |first3=Steven T. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |quote=Although Dio's figure of 985 as the number of villages destroyed during the war seems hyperbolic, all Judaean villages, without exception, excavated thus far were razed following the Bar Kochba Revolt. This evidence supports the impression of total regional destruction following the war. Historical sources note the vast number of captives sold into slavery in Palestine and shipped abroad. ... The Judaean Jewish community never recovered from the Bar Kochba war. In its wake, Jews no longer formed the majority in Palestine, and the Jewish center moved to the Galilee. Jews were also subjected to a series of religious edicts promulgated by Hadrian that were designed to uproot the nationalistic elements with the Judaean Jewish community, these proclamations remained in effect until Hadrian's death in 138. An additional, more lasting punitive measure taken by the Romans involved expunging Judaea from the provincial name, changing it from Provincia Judaea to Provincia Syria Palestina. Although such name changes occurred elsewhere, never before or after was a nation's name expunged as the result of rebellion.}}
* Dalit Rom-Shiloni, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ffE3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PR15 Exclusive Inclusivity: Identity Conflicts Between the Exiles and the People who Remained (6th–5th Centuries BCE)]'', A&C Black, 2013 p. xv n.3: 'it is argued that biblical texts of the Neo-Babylonian and the early Persian periods show a fierce adversarial relationship(s) between the Judean groups. We find no expressions of sympathy to the deported community for its dislocation, no empathic expressions towards the People Who Remained under Babylonian subjugation in Judah. The opposite is apparent: hostile, denigrating, and denunciating language characterizes the relationships between resident and exiled Judeans throughout the sixth and fifth centuries.' (p. xvii)</ref>

In the following millennia, Jewish diaspora communities [[Coalescent theory|coalesced]] into three major [[Jewish ethnic divisions|ethnic subdivisions]] according to where their ancestors settled: the ''[[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]]'' ([[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]), the ''[[Sephardic Jews|Sephardim]]'' ([[Iberian Peninsula]]), and the ''[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]'' ([[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eban|first=Abba Solomon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkzdBDuhoRgC&pg=PA87|title=Heritage: Civilization and the Jews|date=1984|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-44103-6|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Dosick">Dosick (2007), pp. 59, 60.</ref> While these three major divisions account for most of the world's Jews, there are other smaller Jewish groups outside of the three.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews - Judaism 101 (JewFAQ) |url=https://www.jewfaq.org/ashkenazic_and_sephardic |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=www.jewfaq.org |language=en}}</ref> Prior to [[World War II|World War&nbsp;II]], the [[Jewish population by country|global Jewish population]] reached a peak of 16.7&nbsp;million,<ref name="JVIL2010">{{cite web|url = https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html|title = The Jewish Population of the World (2014)|work = [[Jewish Virtual Library]]|access-date = 30 June 2015}}, based on {{cite book|title = American Jewish Year Book|publisher = [[American Jewish Committee]]|url = http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142}}</ref> representing around 0.7% of the world's population at that time. During World War&nbsp;II, approximately six&nbsp;million Jews throughout [[History of the Jews in Europe|Europe]] were systematically murdered by [[Nazi Germany]] in a genocide known as [[the Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite web|title = The Holocaust|url = http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust|website = HISTORY.com| date=14 October 2009 |access-date = 10 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Travis |title=What Americans Know About the Holocaust |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/01/22/what-americans-know-about-the-holocaust/ |work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=16 January 2023 |date=22 January 2020}}</ref> Since then, the population has slowly risen again, and {{as of|2021|lc=y}}, was estimated to be at 15.2&nbsp;million by the demographer [[Sergio Della Pergola]]<ref name="JDB" /> or less than 0.2% of the total world population in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4291987,00.html|title= Jews make up only 0.2% of mankind|newspaper=[[ynetnews]]|date=October 2012|last1= Silverman|first1= Anav}}</ref>{{efn|The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure. In addition to issues with census methodology, disputes among proponents of ''[[halakhic]]'', secular, political, and ancestral identification factors regarding [[who is a Jew]] may affect the figure considerably depending on the source.<ref name="Pfeffer">{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319024731/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html |archive-date=19 March 2009 |title=Jewish Agency: 13.2 million Jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768 |access-date=24 January 2009 |last=Pfeffer |first=Anshel |date=12 September 2007 |newspaper=Haaretz |url-status=dead}}</ref>}} Today, over 85% of Jews live in [[Israel]] or the [[History of the Jews in the United States|United States]]. Israel, whose population is 73.9% Jewish, is the only country where Jews comprise more than 2.5% of the population.<ref name="JDB" />

Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to the development and growth of human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including in [[Jewish culture#Science and technology|science and technology]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> [[Jewish philosophy|philosophy]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/maimonid/|title=Maimonides – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|work=utm.edu|access-date=26 August 2015}}</ref> [[Jewish ethics|ethics]],<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last1=Sekine |first1=Seizo |title=A Comparative Study of the Origins of Ethical Thought: Hellenism and Hebraism |date=20 January 2005 |publisher=Sheed & Ward |isbn=978-1-4616-7459-7 }}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}</ref> [[Jewish literature|literature]],<ref name="Daly2013">{{cite book|author=Jonathan Daly|title=The Rise of Western Power: A Comparative History of Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9aZPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|year= 2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-1851-6|pages=21–}}"Upon the foundation of Judaism, two civilizations centered on monotheistic religion emerged, Christianity and Islam. To these civilizations, the Jews added a leaven of astonishing creativity in business, medicine, letters, science, the arts, and a variety of other leadership roles."</ref> [[Jewish political movements|governance]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> [[Jewish culture#Economic activity|business]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> [[Jewish art|art]], [[Jewish music|music]], [[Jewish humor|comedy]], [[Jewish theatre|theatre]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dctheatrescene.com/2013/06/25/broadway-musicals-a-jewish-legacy/|title=Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy|work=DC Theatre Scene}}</ref> [[Jewish culture#Cinema|cinema]], [[Architecture of Israel|architecture]],<ref name="Daly2013" /> [[Jewish cuisine|food]], [[Jewish medicine|medicine]],<ref name="Rabin">{{Cite news|last=Rabin|first=Roni Caryn|date=14 May 2012|title=Tracing the Path of Jewish Medical Pioneers|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/health/exhibition-traces-the-emergence-of-jews-as-medical-innovators.html|access-date=20 August 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Shatzmiller, Joseph 1995">Shatzmiller, Joseph. Doctors to Princes and Paupers: Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society. Berkeley: U of California, 1995. Print.</ref> and [[Jewish religious movements|religion]]. Jews founded [[Jewish Christianity|Christianity]]<ref name="BarclaySweet1996">{{cite book|author1=John M. G. Barclay|author2=John Philip McMurdo Sweet|title=Early Christian Thought in Its Jewish Context|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN0t06-wVvoC&pg=PA20|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-46285-3|pages=20–}}"Early Christianity began as a Jewish movement in first-century Palestine"</ref> and had [[Islamic–Jewish relations|an indirect but profound influence on Islam]].<ref name="Paterson2009">{{cite book|author=Dr. Andrea C. Paterson|title=Three Monotheistic Faiths – Judaism, Christianity, Islam: An Analysis and Brief History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuuys4HxSzcC&pg=PA41|year=2009|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4520-3049-4|pages=41–}} "Judaism also contributed to the religion of Islam for Islam derives its ideas of holy text, the Qur'an, ultimately from Judaism. The dietary and legal codes of Islam are based on those of Judaism. The basic design of the mosque, the Islamic house of worship, comes from that of the early synagogues. The communal prayer services of Islam and their devotional routines resembles those of Judaism."</ref> In these ways and others, Jews have played a significant role in the development of [[Western culture]].<ref name="Cambridge University Historical Series">Cambridge University Historical Series, ''An Essay on Western Civilization in Its Economic Aspects'', p. 40: "Hebraism, like Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of Western Civilization; Judaism, as the precursor of Christianity, has indirectly had much to do with shaping the ideals and morality of Western nations since the Christian era."</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web|title=Judaism – The Judaic tradition &#124; Britannica|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/The-Judaic-tradition|access-date=20 August 2022|language=en|quote=Judaism has played a significant role in the development of Western culture because of its unique relationship with Christianity, the dominant religious force in the West}}</ref>

== Name and etymology ==
{{main|Jew (word)}}
{{main list|List of Jewish ethnonyms}}
The term "Jew" is derived from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word {{lang|he|יְהוּדִי}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudi}}, with the [[plural]] {{lang|he|יְהוּדִים}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudim}}.<ref name="EJ253">{{cite EJ|last=Grintz|first=Yehoshua M.|title=Jew|volume=11|page=253}}</ref> [[Endonym]]s in other [[Jewish language]]s include the [[Ladino language|Ladino]] {{lang|lad|ג׳ודיו}} {{transliteration|lad|Djudio}} (plural {{lang|lad|ג׳ודיוס}}, {{transliteration|lad|Djudios}}) and the [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] {{lang|yi|ייִד}} {{transliteration|yi|Yid}} (plural {{lang|yi|ייִדן}} {{transliteration|yi|Yidn}}).  

Though Genesis 29:35 and 49:8 connect "Judah" with the verb {{transliteration|he|yada}}, meaning "praise", scholars generally agree that "Judah" most likely derives from the name of a [[Levant]]ine geographic region dominated by gorges and ravines.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pcAkKMECPKIC&pg=PA483 |title=Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8028-2329-8 |editor1-last=Botterweck |editor1-first=G. Johannes |editor1-link=G. Johannes Botterweck |volume=V |location=Grand Rapids, Mich. |pages=483–84 |translator-last=Green |translator-first=David E. |editor2-last=Ringgren |editor2-first=Helmer |editor2-link=Helmer Ringgren}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Julia Phillips Berger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zese2C-fDTEC&q=when+was+the+term+jew+first+used&pg=PA41 |title=Teaching Jewish History |author2=Sue Parker Gerson |publisher=Behrman House, Inc |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-86705-183-4 |page=41}}</ref> The gradual [[ethnonym]]ic shift from "[[Israelites]]" to "Jews", regardless of their descent from Judah, although not contained in the [[Torah]], is made explicit in the [[Book of Esther]] (4th century BCE) of the [[Tanakh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chouraqui |first=André |url=http://archive.org/details/peoplefaith00andr |title=The people and the faith of the Bible |date=1975 |publisher=Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87023-172-8 |page=43}}</ref> Some modern scholars disagree with the conflation, based on the works of [[Josephus]], [[Philo]] and [[Apostle Paul]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Staples |first=Jason A. |date=2021 |title=The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108906524 |journal=Cambridge University Press |pages=25–53 |doi=10.1017/9781108906524 |isbn=9781108906524 |s2cid=235573883 |via=Cambridge Core|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The English word "Jew" is a derivation of [[Middle English]] ''{{lang|enm|Gyw, Iewe}}''. The latter was loaned from the [[Old French]] ''{{lang|fro|giu}}'', which itself evolved from the earlier ''{{lang|fro|juieu}}'', which in turn derived from ''{{lang|fro|judieu/iudieu}}'' which through [[elision]] had dropped the letter "d" from the [[Medieval Latin]] ''Iudaeus'', which, like the New Testament [[Koine Greek|Greek]] term ''[[Ioudaios]]'', meant both "Jew" and "[[Judean]]" / "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 a loan from [[Middle Aramaic|Aramaic]] ''{{transliteration|arc|*yahūdāy}}'', corresponding to Hebrew {{lang|he|יְהוּדִי}} {{transliteration|he|Yehudi}}.<ref name=":0" />

Some scholars prefer translating ''Ioudaios'' as "Judean" in the Bible since it is more precise, denotes the community's origins and prevents readers from engaging in antisemitic [[eisegesis]].<ref>Adele Reinhartz,  [http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/ "The Vanishing Jews of Antiquity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822181415/http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/vanishing-jews-antiquity-adele-reinhartz/|date=22 August 2017}} "Marginalia", ''L.A. Review of Books'', 24 June 2014.</ref><ref>Danker, Frederick W. ''"Ioudaios"'', in ''A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.'' third edition University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226039336}}</ref> Others disagree, believing that it erases the Jewish identity of Biblical characters such as [[Jesus]].<ref name=":4" /> Daniel R. Schwartz distinguishes "Judean" and "Jew". Here, "Judean" refers to the inhabitants of Judea, which encompassed southern [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. Meanwhile, "Jew" refers to the descendants of Israelites that adhere to [[Judaism]]. Converts are included in the definition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Daniel R. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 |title=Judeans and Jews: Four Faces of Dichotomy in Ancient Jewish History |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442648395 |pages=3–10|jstor=10.3138/j.ctt1287s34 }}</ref> But [[Shaye J. D. Cohen|Shaye J.D. Cohen]] argues that "Judean" is inclusive of believers of the Judean God and allies of the Judean state.<ref name=":7"/>

The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., يَهُودِيّ ''yahūdī'' (sg.), ''al-yahūd'' (pl.), in [[Arabic]], "Jude" in [[German language|German]], "judeu" in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], "Juif" (m.)/"Juive" (f.) in [[French language|French]], "jøde" in [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], "judío/a" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], "jood" in [[Dutch language|Dutch]], "żyd" in [[Polish language|Polish]] 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" ({{langx|fa|عبری/عبرانی}})) and [[Russian language|Russian]] (''Еврей, Yevrey'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Falk |first=Avner |author-link=Avner Falk |title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-8386-3660-8 |location=Madison, N.J. |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 |year=2004 |title=Yiddish |encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |location=Springfield, Massachusetts |url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6/page/1453 |edition=11th |page=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6/page/1453 1453] |isbn=0-87779-809-5}}</ref>

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 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 book|title=The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style|at=Jew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb6ie6PqYhwC&pg=PA269|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=2005|isbn=978-0-618-60499-9|editor1-last=Kleinedler|editor1-first=Steven|editor2-last=Spitz|editor2-first=Susan|display-editors=etal}}</ref></blockquote>

== Identity ==
{{main|Who is a Jew?|Jewish identity}}
[[File:A map of Canaan (8343807206).jpg|thumb|Map of [[Canaan]]]]
[[Judaism]] shares some of the characteristics of a [[nation]],<ref name="Nicholson2002">{{cite book|author=M. Nicholson|title=International Relations: A Concise Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvI8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|year=2002|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-5822-9|pages=19–}} "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel"</ref><ref name="Neusner1991">{{cite book|author=Jacob Neusner|title=An Introduction to Judaism: A Textbook and Reader|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju0000neus|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-25348-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju0000neus/page/375 375]–}} "That there is a Jewish nation can hardly be denied after the creation of the State of Israel"</ref><ref name="Dowty1998">{{cite book|author=Alan Dowty|title=The Jewish State: A Century Later, Updated With a New Preface|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL8r4U1FKSQC&pg=PA3|year=1998|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92706-3|pages=3–}} "Jews are a people, a nation (in the original sense of the word), an ethnos"</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://louisville.edu/law/library/special-collections/the-louis-d.-brandeis-collection/the-jewish-problem-how-to-solve-it-by-louis-d.-brandeis|title=The Jewish Problem: How To Solve It|first=Louis|last=Brandeis|author-link=Louis Brandeis|date=25 April 1915|publisher=University of Louisville School of Law|access-date=2 April 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 name=":3">{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Edward Henry|author-link1=Edward Henry Palmer|title=A History of the Jewish Nation: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewishn00palm|access-date=2 April 2012|year= 2002|orig-year=First published 1874|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=978-1-931956-69-7|oclc=51578088}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://press.princeton.edu/einstein/materials/jewish_nationality.pdf|title=How I Became a Zionist|first=Albert|last=Einstein|author-link=Albert Einstein|work=[[Einstein Papers Project]]|quote=The Jewish nation is a living fact|date=21 June 1921|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|access-date=5 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105012335/http://press.princeton.edu/einstein/materials/jewish_nationality.pdf|archive-date=5 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> an [[ethnicity]],<ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group" /> a [[religion]], and a [[culture]],<ref name="GordisHeller2012">{{cite book|author1=David M. Gordis|author2=Zachary I. Heller|title=Jewish Secularity: The Search for Roots and the Challenges of Relevant Meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QWrSy8Ckd5UC&pg=PA1|year=2012|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-7618-5793-8|pages=1–}}: "Judaism is a culture and a civilization which embraces the secular as well"</ref><ref name="Kunin2000">{{cite book|author=Seth Daniel Kunin|title=Themes and Issues in Judaism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=St_TAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year= 2000|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-304-33758-3|pages=1–}}: Although culture - and Judaism is a culture (or cultures) as well as religion - can be subdivided into different analytical categories..."</ref><ref name="Mendes-Flohr1991">{{cite book|author=Paul R. Mendes-Flohr|title=Divided Passions: Jewish Intellectuals and the Experience of Modernity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBuFygk2C-AC&pg=PA421|year=1991|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0-8143-2030-9|pages=421–}}: "Although Judaism is a culture - or rather has a culture - it is eminently more than a culture"</ref> making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/whojew1.html|title=Who is a Jew?|access-date=6 October 2007|last=Weiner|first=Rebecca|year=2007|encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} 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=[https://archive.org/details/worldreligionsin0000unse/page/7 7]|url=https://archive.org/details/worldreligionsin0000unse/page/7}}</ref> In the context of biblical and classical literature, Jews could refer to inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah,<ref name="auto4"/><ref name=":4"/><ref name=":0"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/> or the broader [[Judea|Judean]] region,<ref name="Penner"/><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Snyder |first=Glenn E. |date=2015 |title=Paul Beyond the Jew/Gentile Dichotomy: A Perspective from Benjamin |url=https://expositions.journals.villanova.edu/article/view/1957/1790 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601052304/https://expositions.journals.villanova.edu/article/view/1957/1790 |archive-date=1 June 2025 |website=Expositions}}</ref> allies of the Judean state,<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":8" /> or anyone that followed Judaism.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Troy W. |date=2003 |title=The Covenant of Circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14) and the Situational Antitheses in Galatians 3:28 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268093 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=122 |issue=1 |pages=111–125 |doi=10.2307/3268093 |jstor=3268093 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":21" />

Historical definitions of [[Jewish identity]] have traditionally been based on ''[[halakha|halakhic]]'' definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions. These definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the [[Oral Torah]] into the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]], around 200&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]]. Interpretations by Jewish sages of sections of the Tanakh – such as {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|7:1–5}}, which forbade intermarriage between their [[Israelites|Israelite ancestors]] and seven non-Israelite nations: "for that [i.e. giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,] would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods"<ref name= Day/>{{Failed verification|date=July 2022}} – are used as a warning against [[Interfaith marriage in Judaism|intermarriage]] between Jews and gentiles. {{bibleverse|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 {{bibleverse|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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961018024300/http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/10-11.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 1996|title=What is the origin of Matrilineal Descent?|access-date=9 January 2009|date=4 September 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? |access-date=9 January 2009 |publisher=Torah.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224205847/http://www.torah.org/qanda/seequanda.php?id=318 |archive-date=24 December 2008}}</ref> A popular theory is that the rape of Jewish women in captivity brought about the law of Jewish identity being inherited through the maternal line, although scholars challenge this theory citing the Talmudic establishment of the law from the pre-exile period.<ref name="Klein2016" /> Another argument is that the rabbis changed the law of patrilineal descent to matrilineal descent due to the widespread rape of Jewish women by Roman soldiers.<ref name="Schott2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iFx-wHhMJMC&pg=PA67|title=Birth, Death, and Femininity: Philosophies of Embodiment|author=Robin May Schott|year=2010|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-00482-6|pages=67–}}</ref> Since the anti-religious ''[[Haskalah]]'' movement of the late 18th and 19th centuries, ''halakhic'' interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.<ref>Dosick (2007), pp. 56–57.</ref>

According to historian [[Shaye J. D. Cohen]], the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined [[Patrilineality|patrilineally]] in the Bible. He brings two likely explanations for the change in [[Mishnah|Mishnaic]] times: first, the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures (''[[Kil'ayim (prohibition)|Kil'ayim]]''). 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=305–06|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" /> Rabbi Rivon Krygier follows a similar reasoning, arguing that Jewish descent had formerly passed through the patrilineal descent and the law of matrilineal descent had its roots in the Roman legal system.<ref name="Klein2016">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BC_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|title=Lost Jews: The Struggle for Identity Today|author=Emma Klein|year=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-349-24319-8|pages=6–}}</ref>

== Origins ==
{{further|Canaan|Israelites| Yahwism|Origins of Judaism|History of ancient Israel and Judah}}
[[File:Procession of the Aamu, Tomb of Khnumhotep II (composite).jpg|thumb|upright=2|right|Egyptian depiction of the visit of Western Asiatics in colorful garments, labeled as ''[[Aamu]]''. The painting is from the tomb of a 12th dynasty official [[Khnumhotep II|Khnumhotep&nbsp;II]] at [[Beni Hasan]], and dated to c. 1900&nbsp;BCE. Their nearest Biblical contemporaries were the earliest of Hebrews, such as [[Abraham]] and [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mieroop |first1=Marc Van De |title=A History of Ancient Egypt |date=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-6070-4 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JADDYAZ9GIIC&pg=PA131 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bard |first1=Kathryn A. |author-link=Kathryn A. Bard |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-89611-2 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFscBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="archaeology.org">{{cite journal |last1=Curry |first1=Andrew |title=The Rulers of Foreign Lands |journal= [[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology Magazine]] |date=2018 |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/309-1809/features/6855-egypt-hyksos-foreign-dynasty}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kamrin |first1=Janice |title=The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan |journal=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections |date=2009 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=22–36 |url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/jaei/article/view/28 |s2cid=199601200 }}</ref>]]
[[File:Jehu on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.jpg|thumb|upright|Depiction of King [[Jehu]], tenth [[king]] of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|northern Kingdom of Israel]], on the [[Black Obelisk]] of [[Shalmaneser III|Shalmaneser&nbsp;III]], 841–840 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuan |first1=Jeffrey Kah-Jin |title=Neo-Assyrian Historical Inscriptions and Syria-Palestine: Israelite/Judean-Tyrian-Damascene Political and Commercial Relations in the Ninth-Eighth Centuries BCE |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-8143-0 |pages=64–66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMOqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |language=en}}</ref> This is "the only portrayal we have in ancient Near Eastern art of an Israelite or Judaean monarch".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ada |last2=Kangas |first2=Steven E. |title=Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography |date=2010 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-58465-817-7 |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRKU0YXBWtgC&pg=PA127 |language=en}}</ref>]]

The prehistory and ethnogenesis of the Jews are closely intertwined with archaeology, biology, historical textual records, mythology, and religious literature. The ethnic origin of the Jews lie in the [[Israelites]], a confederation of Iron Age [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]-speaking tribes that inhabited a part of [[Canaan]] during the [[history of ancient Israel and Judah|tribal and monarchic periods]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People |last=Ostrer |first=Harry |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-537961-7 |publication-date=8 May 2012}}</ref> Modern Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Killebrew|first=Ann E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC|title=Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanite|date=October 2005|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit|isbn=978-1-58983-097-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Schama2014">{{cite book |last=Schama |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Schama |title=The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC–1492 AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHIpAgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-233944-7}}</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 the 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&nbsp;BC)."
[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303358/Jew Jew] at [https://www.britannica.com/ Encyclopædia Britannica]</ref><ref name="Ostrer2012">{{cite book |last=Ostrer |first=Harry |title=Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIloAgAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-970205-3}}</ref><ref name="Brenner2010">{{cite book |last=Brenner |first=Michael |title=A Short History of the Jews|url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofje00bren|url-access=registration |year=2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14351-4}}</ref><ref name="Adams1840">{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Hannah |title=The History of the Jews: From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time|url=https://archive.org/details/historyjewsfrom00adamgoog|year=1840|publisher=London Society House}}</ref>
[[Gary A. Rendsburg]] links the early Canaanite [[Nomadic pastoralism|nomadic pastoralists]] confederation to the [[Shasu]] known to the Egyptians around the 15th century BCE.<ref>{{Citation |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |title=1 Israel Without the Bible |date=31 December 2022 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814733080.003.0005 |work=The Hebrew Bible |pages=1–23 |access-date=7 December 2023 |publisher=New York University Press |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814733080.003.0005 |isbn=978-0-8147-3308-0|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

According to the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] narrative, Jewish history begins with the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Biblical patriarchs]] such as [[Abraham]], his son [[Isaac]], Isaac's son [[Jacob]], and the Biblical matriarchs [[Sarah]], [[Rebecca]], [[Leah]], and [[Rachel]], who lived in [[Canaan]]. The twelve sons of Jacob subsequently gave birth to the [[Twelve Tribes]]. Jacob and his family migrated to [[Ancient Egypt]] after being invited to live with Jacob's son [[Joseph (son of Jacob)|Joseph]] by the [[Pharaohs in the Bible|Pharaoh]] himself. Jacob's descendants were later enslaved until the [[The Exodus|Exodus]], led by [[Moses]]. Afterwards, the Israelites conquered Canaan under Moses' successor [[Joshua]], and went through the period of the [[Biblical judges]] after the death of Joshua. Through the mediation of [[Samuel]], the Israelites were subject to a king, [[Saul]], who was succeeded by [[David]] and then [[Solomon]], after whom the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]] ended and was split into a separate [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and a [[Kingdom of Judah]]. The Kingdom of Judah is described as comprising the tribes of [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]], [[Tribe of Benjamin|Benjamin]] and partially, [[Tribe of Levi|Levi]]. They later assimilated remnants of other tribes who migrated there from the northern Kingdom of Israel.<ref name="Broshi 2001 174">{{cite book |last=Broshi |first=Maguen |title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etTUEorS1zMC&pg=PA174|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2001 |page=174 |isbn=1-84127-201-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Judah |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judah-Hebrew-tribe |access-date=1 April 2018 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-israelite-refugees-found-high-office-in-judah-seals-found-in-jerusalem-show-1.5448092|title=Israelite refugees found high office in Kingdom of Judah, seals found in Jerusalem show|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

In the extra-biblical record, the Israelites become visible as a people between 1200 and 1000&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spielvogel |first1=Jackson J. |title=Western civilization |date=2012 |publisher=Wadsworth/Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-495-91324-5 |edition=8th |location=Australia |page=33 |quote=What is generally agreed, however, is that between 1200 and 1000 B.C.E., the Israelites emerged as a distinct group of people, possibly united into tribes or a league of tribes}}</ref> There is well accepted archeological evidence referring to "Israel" in the [[Merneptah Stele]], which dates to about 1200&nbsp;BCE,<ref name="NollMerneptah">{{Cite book|last=Noll|first=K. L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMeRK7B1EsMC&pg=PA139|title=Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: A Textbook on History and Religion: Second Edition|date=7 December 2012|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-44117-1|language=en}}</ref><ref name="ThompsonMerneptah">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Thomas L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwrrUuHFb6UC&pg=PA275|title=Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written & Archaeological Sources|date=1 January 2000|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11943-7|language=en|quote=They are rather a very specific group among the population of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the first time that at a much later stage in Palestine's history bears a substantially different signification.|pages=137ff}}</ref> and in the Mesha stele from 840&nbsp;BCE. It is debated whether a period like that of the [[Biblical judges]] occurred<ref name="Yoder2015">{{Cite book |last=Yoder |first=John C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7kFCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5%257CYEAR=2015%257CPUBLISHER=FORTRESS |title=Power and Politics in the Book of Judges: Men and Women of Valor |date=2015 |publisher=Augsburg Fortress Publishers |isbn=978-1-4514-9642-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Brettler2002">{{cite book |author=Marc Zvi Brettler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9j9Jbcl6g38C&pg=PA107 |title=The Book of Judges |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-16216-6 |page=107}}</ref><ref name="Thompson2000">{{cite book |author=Thomas L. Thompson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwrrUuHFb6UC&pg=PA96 |title=Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written & Archaeological Sources |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |isbn=90-04-11943-4 |page=96}}</ref><ref name="HjelmThompson2016">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmOaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |title=History, Archaeology and The Bible Forty Years After "Historicity": Changing Perspectives |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-42815-2 |editor-last=Hjelm |editor-first=Ingrid |page=4 |editor-last2=Thompson |editor-first2=Thomas L}}</ref><ref name="Davies1995">{{cite book |author=Philip R. Davies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5D5GNju1-ggC&pg=PA26 |title=In Search of "Ancient Israel": A Study in Biblical Origins |publisher=A&C Black |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-85075-737-5 |page=26}}</ref> and if there ever was a [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]].<ref name="lipschits">{{cite book |last1=Lipschits |first1=Oded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |title=The Jewish Study Bible |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Adele |edition=2nd |language=en |chapter=The History of Israel in the Biblical Period |editor2-last=Brettler |editor2-first=Marc Zvi}}</ref><ref name="Finkelstein">{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |title=The Bible unearthed : archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-86912-8 |edition=1st Touchstone |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="Kuhrtp438">{{cite book |last=Kuhrt |first=Amiele |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/438 |title=The Ancient Near East |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-415-16762-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/438 438]}}</ref><ref name="Wright">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Jacob L. |date=July 2014 |title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel) |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |publisher=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> There is further disagreement about the earliest existence of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their extent and power. Historians agree that a [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] existed by {{Circa|900 BCE}},<ref name="Finkelstein" />{{rp|169–95}}<ref name="Kuhrtp438" /><ref name="Wright" /> there is a consensus that a [[Kingdom of Judah]] existed by c.&nbsp;700&nbsp;BCE at least,<ref name="Pitcher">{{Cite book |last1=Holloway |first1=Steven W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu02muKUVJ0C&pg=PA229 |title=The Pitcher is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gösta W. Ahlström |last2=Handy |first2=Lowell K. |date=1 May 1995 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-63671-3 |language=en |quote=For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date.}}</ref> and recent excavations in [[Khirbet Qeiyafa]] have provided strong evidence for dating the Kingdom of Judah to the 10th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Yosef |last2=Ganor |first2=Saar |date=31 December 2008 |title=Khirbet Qeiyafa: Sha'arayim |url=https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/6220 |journal=Journal of Hebrew Scriptures |volume=8|doi=10.5508/jhs.2008.v8.a22 |doi-access=free }}</ref>  In 587&nbsp;BCE, [[Nebuchadnezzar II|Nebuchadnezzar&nbsp;II]], King of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]], [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged Jerusalem]], destroyed the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]] and deported parts of the Judahite population.<ref name="us-israel-archaeology">{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Luke |date=3 February 2017 |title=Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon |newspaper=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203}}</ref>

Scholars disagree regarding the extent to which the Bible should be accepted as a historical source for early Israelite history. [[Gary A. Rendsburg|Rendsburg]] states that there are two approximately equal groups of scholars who debate the [[Historicity of the Bible|historicity of the biblical narrative]], the [[Biblical minimalism|minimalists]] who largely reject it, and the maximalists who largely accept it, with the minimalists being the more vocal of the two.<ref>Rendsburg, Gary A.. "1 Israel Without the Bible". ''The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship'', edited by Frederick E. Greenspahn, New York, USA: New York University Press, 2007, p. 7. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814733080.003.0005: "I am not sure I can quantify the schools, that is, tell you that the majority of biblical scholars today are maximalist or minimalist - I suppose the divide is about 50-50 - But I can tell you this: there is no doubt that the minimalists are more vocal, and they are the ones who set the agenda, publish books at a very rapid pace, organize conferences to present their views (especially in Europe) and take advantage of the popular press. The maximalists, in turn, frequently are left to respond to these diatribes, often needing to take time away from their own research to counter the views expressed in the many publications emanating from the pens of minimalist scholars."</ref>

Some of the leading minimalists reframe the biblical account as constituting the [[Israelites]]' inspiring [[national myth]] narrative, suggesting that according to the modern archaeological and historical account, the Israelites and their culture  did not overtake the region by force, but instead branched out of the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite peoples]] and culture through the development of a distinct [[monolatrism|monolatristic]]—and later [[monotheism|monotheistic]]—religion of [[Yahwism]] centered on [[Yahweh]], one of the gods of the Canaanite pantheon. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of cultic practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite [[ethnic group]], setting them apart from other Canaanites.{{sfn|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}<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 (c. 1200–1000&nbsp;BCE). 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> According to [[William G. Dever|Dever]], modern [[archaeology|archaeologists]] have largely discarded the search for evidence of the biblical narrative surrounding the patriarchs and the exodus.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? |year=2001 |publisher=Eerdmans |isbn=3-927120-37-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC |pages=98–99 |quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref>

According to the maximalist position, the modern archaeological record independently points to a narrative which largely agrees with the biblical account. This narrative provides a testimony of the Israelites as a [[nomad]]ic people known to the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|Egyptians]] as belonging to the [[ʿApiru|Shasu]]. Over time these nomads left the desert and settled on the central mountain range of the land of Canaan, in simple semi-nomadic settlements in which pig bones are notably absent. This population gradually shifted from a [[Tribe|tribal]] lifestyle to a monarchy. While the archaeological record of the ninth century BCE provides evidence for two monarchies, one in the south under a dynasty founded by a figure named David with its capital in [[Jerusalem]], and one in the north under a dynasty founded by a figure named [[Omri]] with its capital in [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]]. It also points to an early monarchic period in which these regions shared [[material culture]] and religion, suggesting a common origin. Archaeological finds also provide evidence for the later cooperation of these two kingdoms in their coalition against [[Aram-Damascus|Aram]], and for their destructions by the [[Assyria]]ns and later by the Babylonians.<ref>Rendsburg, Gary A.. "1 Israel Without the Bible". ''The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship'', edited by Frederick E. Greenspahn, New York, USA: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 7-23. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814733080.003.0005</nowiki></ref>

[[Genetic studies on Jews]] show that most Jews worldwide bear a common genetic heritage which originates in the [[Middle East]], and that they share certain genetic traits with other Gentile peoples of the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref name="WhoAreTheJews">{{cite web |author=Jared Diamond |year=1993 |title=Who are the Jews? |url=http://ftp.beitberl.ac.il/~bbsite/misc/ezer_anglit/klali/05_123.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721133548/http://ftp.beitberl.ac.il/~bbsite/misc/ezer_anglit/klali/05_123.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 |access-date=8 November 2010}} Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12–19.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammer |first1=MF |last2=Redd |first2=AJ |last3=Wood |first3=ET |display-authors=etal |date=June 2000 |title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=97 |issue=12 |pages=6769–74 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H |doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997 |pmc=18733 |pmid=10801975 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wade |first=Nicholas |date=9 May 2000 |title=Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of the Jewish Diaspora |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/09/science/y-chromosome-bears-witness-to-story-of-the-jewish-diaspora.html |access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> The genetic composition of different Jewish groups shows that Jews share a common gene pool dating back four millennia, as a marker of their common ancestral origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Balter |first=Michael |date=3 June 2010 |title=Tracing the Roots of Jewishness |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/tracing-roots-jewishness-rev2 |access-date=4 October 2018 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]}}</ref> Despite their long-term separation, Jewish communities maintained their unique commonalities, propensities, and sensibilities in culture, tradition, and language.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFtYAgAAQBAJ&q=the+importance+of+ancestral+origin+box+5-1&pg=PT116 |title=Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment:: Moving Beyond the Nature ...By Committee on Assessing Interactions Among Social, Behavioral, and Genetic Factors in Health, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Institute of Medicine, Lyla M. Hernandez |date=2006 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-10196-7 |page=100 |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==
{{main|Jewish history}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Jewish history}}

{{Tribes of Israel}}

=== Israel and Judah ===
{{further|History of ancient Israel and Judah|}}
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the [[Merneptah Stele]], which dates to around 1200&nbsp;BCE. The majority of scholars agree that this text refers to the [[Israelites]], a group that inhabited the central highlands of [[Canaan]], where archaeological evidence shows that hundreds of small [[Israelite highland settlement|settlements were constructed]] between the 12th and 10th centuries BCE.{{sfn|Stager|1998|p=91}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC&dq=What+did+the+biblical+writers+know&pg=PA102 |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3 |language=en}}</ref> The Israelites differentiated themselves from neighboring peoples through various distinct characteristics including [[Yahwism|religious practices]], [[Endogamy|prohibition on intermarriage]], and an emphasis on genealogy and family history.{{sfn|McNutt|1999|p=35}}{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=206}}{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=206}}  

In the 10th century BCE, two neighboring Israelite kingdoms—the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and the southern [[Kingdom of Judah]]—emerged. Since their inception, they shared ethnic, cultural, [[Biblical Hebrew|linguistic]] and [[Yahwism|religious]] characteristics despite a complicated relationship. Israel, with its capital mostly in [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]], was larger and wealthier, and soon developed into a regional power.{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2002|pp=146–7|ps=Put simply, while Judah was still economically marginal and backward, Israel was booming. [...] In the next chapter we will see how the northern kingdom suddenly appeared on the ancient Near Eastern stage as a major regional power}} In contrast, Judah, with its capital in [[Jerusalem]], was less prosperous and covered a smaller, mostly mountainous territory. However, while in Israel the royal succession was often decided by a military coup d'état, resulting in several dynasty changes, political stability in Judah was much greater, as it was ruled by the [[Davidic line|House of David]] for the whole four centuries of its existence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lemaire |first=André |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1017604304 |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land |date=2018 |others=Robert G. Hoyland, H. G. M. Williamson |isbn=978-0-19-872439-1 |edition=1st  |pages=61–85 |chapter=Israel and Judah |publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=1017604304}}</ref> Scholars also describe Biblical Jews as a 'proto-[[nation]]', in the modern nationalist sense, comparable to [[Classical Greece|classical Greeks]], the [[Gauls]] and the [[British Iron Age|British Celts]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Anthony D. |title=National Identity |date=1993 |publisher=University of Nevada Press |isbn=978-0-87417-204-1 |edition=Reprint |series=Ethnonationalism in comparative perspective |location=Reno Las Vegas |pages=48–50}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Goodblatt |first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/68B5269393825257297A43E197C94A12 |title=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8 |location=Cambridge |pages=11–12 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067}}</ref><ref>Tom Garvin, “Ethnic Markers, Modern Nationalisms, and the Nightmare of History,” in Kruger, ed., ¨ Ethnicity and Nationalism, p. 67.</ref><ref name="auto3">{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Adrian |title=The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-59391-3 |location=Cambridge |pages=186–187}}</ref>

Around 720&nbsp;BCE, Kingdom of Israel was destroyed when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which came to dominate the ancient Near East.<ref name="Broshi 2001 174" /> Under the [[Resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian resettlement policy]], a significant portion of the northern Israelite population was [[Assyrian captivity|exiled to Mesopotamia]] and replaced by immigrants from the same region.{{sfn|Tobolowsky|2022|pp=69–70; 73–75}} During the same period, and throughout the 7th century BCE, the Kingdom of Judah, now under Assyrian [[Vassal state|vassalage]], experienced a period of prosperity and witnessed a significant population growth.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0674397316 |editor-last=Ben-Sasson |editor-first=Haim Hillel |editor-link=H.H. Ben-Sasson |page=142 |quote=Sargon's heir, Sennacherib (705–681), could not deal with Hezekiah's revolt until he gained control of Babylon in 702 BCE. |access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref> This prosperity continued until the Neo-Assyrian king [[Sennacherib]] [[Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant|devastated the region of Judah]] in response to a rebellion in the area, ultimately halting at [[Jerusalem]].<ref>Finkelstein, Israel and Mazar, Amihai. ''The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel''. Leiden: Brill, 2007. p. 166.</ref> Later in the same century, the Assyrians were defeated by the rising [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]], and Judah became its vassal. In 587&nbsp;BCE, following a [[Judah's revolts against Babylon|revolt in Judah]], the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar&nbsp;II [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|besieged and destroyed Jerusalem]] and the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]], putting an end to the kingdom. The majority of Jerusalem's residents, including the kingdom's elite, were [[Babylonian captivity|exiled to Babylon]].{{sfn|Lipiński|2020|p=94}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipschits |first=Oded |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/j.ctv1bxh5fd |title=The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem: Judah under Babylonian Rule |date=2005 |publisher=Penn State University Press |isbn=978-1-57506-297-6 |pages=367 |doi=10.5325/j.ctv1bxh5fd|jstor=10.5325/j.ctv1bxh5fd }}</ref>

=== Second Temple period ===
{{further|Second Temple period|Jewish–Roman wars}}
According to the [[Book of Ezra]], the Persian [[Cyrus the Great]] ended the [[Babylonian exile]] in 538&nbsp;BCE,<ref name="rennert">{{cite web|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html |title=Second Temple Period (538 BCE. to 70 CE) Persian Rule |publisher=Biu.ac.il |access-date=15 March 2014}}</ref> the year after he captured Babylon.<ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103</ref> The exile ended with the return under [[Zerubbabel]] the Prince (so called because he was a descendant of the royal line of [[David]]) and Joshua the Priest (a descendant of the line of the former [[High Priest of Israel|High Priests of the Temple]]) and their construction of the [[Second Temple]] circa 521–516 BCE.<ref name="rennert" /> As part of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]], the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah (''[[Yehud Medinata]]''),<ref>Yehud being the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew Yehuda, or "Judah", and "medinata" the word for province</ref> with a smaller territory<ref name="Grabbe355">{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MnE5T_0RbMC&q=gave+the+Jews+permission+to+return+to+Yehud+province+and+to+rebuild+the&pg=PA355 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud – A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1 |publisher=T & T Clark |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |page=355}}</ref> and a reduced population.<ref name="Finkelstein" />

Judea was under control of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]] until the fall of their empire in c.&nbsp;333&nbsp;BCE to [[Alexander the Great]]. After several centuries under foreign imperial rule, the [[Maccabean Revolt]] against the [[Seleucid Empire]] resulted in an independent [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean kingdom]], under which the Jews once again enjoyed political independence for a period spanning from 110 to 63&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="BangScheidel2013">{{cite book |author1=Peter Fibiger Bang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCj09AmtvvwC&pg=PAPA184 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean |author2=Walter Scheidel |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-518831-8 |pages=184–187 |access-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160404/https://books.google.com/books?id=GCj09AmtvvwC&pg=PAPA184 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under Hasmonean rule the boundaries of their kingdom were expanded to include not only the land of the historical [[kingdom of Judah]], but also the [[Galilee]] and [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]].<ref>Stern, Menahem. (2007). "Hasmoneans". In Skolnik, Fred (ed.). Encyclopaedia Judaica Volume 8 Gos–Hep (2nd ed.). Michigan: Thompson Gale. p. 446.</ref> In the beginning of this process the [[Idumeans]], who had infiltrated southern Judea after the destruction of the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]], were converted en masse.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Yigal |date=24 September 2020 |title=The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=10 |pages=487 |doi=10.3390/rel11100487 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>[[Strabo]], ''Geography'' Bk.16.2.34</ref> In 63&nbsp;BCE, Judea was conquered by the Romans. From 37&nbsp;BCE to 6&nbsp;CE, the Romans allowed the Jews to maintain some degree of independence by installing the [[Herodian dynasty]] as [[Vassal state|vassal kings]]. However, Judea eventually came directly under Roman control and was incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]] as the [[Judaea (Roman province)|province of Judaea]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Peter Fibiger Bang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCj09AmtvvwC&pg=PA184 |title=The Oxford Handbook of the State in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean |author2=Walter Scheidel |publisher=OUP USA |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-518831-8 |pages=184–87}}</ref><ref name="Malamat1976">{{cite book |author=Abraham Malamat |url={{Google books|2kSovzudhFUC|page=PA223|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-674-39731-6 |pages=223–239}}</ref>

The [[Jewish–Roman wars]], a series of unsuccessful revolts against Roman rule during the first and second centuries CE, had significant and disastrous consequences for the Jewish population of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Zissu |first=Boaz |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/988856967 |title=Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries: The Interbellum 70‒132 CE |date=2018 |others=Joshua Schwartz, Peter J. Tomson |isbn=978-90-04-34986-5 |pages=19 |chapter=Interbellum Judea 70-132 CE: An Archaeological Perspective |publisher=Brill |oclc=988856967}}</ref><ref name="FahlbuschBromiley2005">{{cite book |author1=Erwin Fahlbusch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5V7oyy69zgC&pg=PAPA15 |title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity |author2=Geoffrey William Bromiley |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8028-2416-5 |pages=15– |access-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409160412/https://books.google.com/books?id=C5V7oyy69zgC&pg=PAPA15 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[First Jewish–Roman War|First Jewish-Roman War]] (66–73 CE) culminated in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple]]. The severely reduced Jewish population of Judaea was denied any kind of political self-government.<ref name="AHJ-GM">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |title=A History of Judaism |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18127-1 |location=Princeton Oxford |pages=21, 232}}</ref> A few generations later, the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–136 CE) erupted, and its brutal suppression by the Romans led to the depopulation of [[Judea]]. Following the revolt, Jews were forbidden from residing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and the Jewish demographic center in [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]] shifted to [[Galilee]].<ref name="Mor, M. 2016. P471">Mor, M. ''The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE''. Brill, 2016. P471/</ref><ref name="raviv2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Raviv |first1=Dvir |last2=Ben David |first2=Chaim |date=27 May 2021 |title=Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account? |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=585–607 |doi=10.1017/S1047759421000271 |issn=1047-7594 |s2cid=236389017 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>Powell, ''The Bar Kokhba War AD 132-136'', Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ç2017, p.80</ref> Similar upheavals impacted the Jewish communities in the empire's eastern provinces during the [[Diaspora Revolt]] (115–117 CE), leading to the near-total destruction of Jewish diaspora communities in [[Roman Libya|Libya]], [[Roman Cyprus|Cyprus]] and [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]],<ref name=":52">{{Citation |last1=Kerkeslager |first1=Allen |title=The Diaspora from 66 to c. 235 ce |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=62–63 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/diaspora-from-66-to-c-235-ce/5AECAD54BE6CA31C7968EED92D6CA36A |access-date=10 September 2024 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.004 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |last2=Setzer |first2=Claudia |last3=Trebilco |first3=Paul |last4=Goodblatt |first4=David|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Zeev-2006">{{Citation |last=Zeev |first=Miriam Pucci Ben |title=The uprisings in the Jewish Diaspora, 116–117 |date=22 June 2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism |pages=98 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139055130A007/type/book_part |access-date=8 September 2024 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.005 |isbn=978-1-139-05513-0|url-access=subscription }}</ref> including the highly influential community in [[Alexandria]].<ref name="AHJ-GM" /><ref name=":52" />
[[File:Iudaea_capta_reverse_of_Vespasian_sestertius.jpg|thumb|A Roman coin inscribed ''[[Judaea Capta coinage|Ivdaea Capta]],'' or "captive Judea" (71&nbsp;CE), representing Judea as a seated mourning woman (right), and a Jewish captive with hands tied (left)]]The destruction of the Second Temple in 70&nbsp;CE brought profound changes to Judaism. With the Temple's central place in Jewish worship gone, religious practices shifted towards [[Jewish prayer|prayer]], [[Torah study]] (including [[Oral Torah]]), and communal gatherings in [[synagogue]]s. Judaism also lost much of its [[sectarian]] nature.<ref name="Magness">{{cite book |author=Jodi Magness |title=Was 70 CE a Watershed in Jewish History?: On Jews and Judaism before and after the Destruction of the Second Temple |publisher=Brill |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-21744-7 |editor1=Daniel R. Schwartz |chapter=Sectarianism before and after 70 CE |editor2=Zeev Weiss |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VecxAQAAQBAJ&q=diaspora+70+ce&pg=PA189}}</ref>{{rp|69}} Two of the three main sects that flourished during the late Second Temple period, namely the [[Sadducees]] and [[Essenes]], eventually disappeared, while [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] beliefs became the foundational, liturgical, and ritualistic basis of [[Rabbinic Judaism]], which emerged as the prevailing form of Judaism since late antiquity.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |year=2006 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=978-1-78785-171-9 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.}}</ref>

=== Babylon and Rome ===
{{further|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Talmudic academies in Babylonia}}

The [[Jewish diaspora]] existed well before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and had been ongoing for centuries, with the dispersal driven by both forced expulsions and voluntary migrations.<ref>[[Erich S. Gruen]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=t1IR4WtFjGUC&pg=PA3 Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans] [[Harvard University Press]], 2009 pp. 3–4, 233–34: 'Compulsory dislocation, ....cannot have accounted for more than a fraction of the diaspora. ... The vast bulk of Jews who dwelled abroad in the Second Temple Period did so voluntarily.' (2)' .Diaspora did not await the fall of Jerusalem to Roman power and destructiveness. The scattering of Jews had begun long before-occasionally through forced expulsion, much more frequently through voluntary migration.'</ref><ref name="AHJ-GM"/> In Mesopotamia, a testimony to the beginnings of the Jewish community can be found in [[Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets|Joachin's ration tablets]], listing provisions allotted to the exiled Judean king and his family by [[Nebuchadnezzar II|Nebuchadnezzar&nbsp;II]], and further evidence are the [[Al-Yahudu Tablets|Al-Yahudu tablets]], dated to the 6th–5th centuries BCE and related to the exiles from Judea arriving after the destruction of the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]],<ref name="us-israel-archaeology" /> though there is ample evidence for the presence of Jews in Babylonia even from 626&nbsp;BCE.<ref>Zadok R. Judeans in Babylonia–Updating the Dossier. in U.Gabbay and Sh.Secunda. (eds.). ''Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians and Babylonians in Antiquity'', Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 160. Tübingen: MohrSiebeck. pp. 109–110.</ref> In Egypt, the [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca|documents from Elephantine]] reveal the trials of a community founded by a Persian Jewish garrison at two fortresses on the frontier during the 5th–4th centuries BCE, and according to [[Josephus]] the Jewish community in Alexandria existed since the founding of the city in the 4th century BCE by [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>Josephus Flavius, ''Against Appion''. 4.II</ref> By 200&nbsp;BCE, there were well established Jewish communities both in [[Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] ("[[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]]" in Jewish sources) and in the two centuries that followed, Jewish populations were also present in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Greece]], [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]], and, beginning in the middle of the first century BCE, in the city of [[Rome]].<ref name="Smallwood">{{cite book |author=E. Mary Smallwood |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: The early Roman period, Volume 3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0521243773 |editor1=William David Davies |chapter=The Diaspora in the Roman period before AD 70 |editor2=Louis Finkelstein |editor3=William Horbury |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW2BuWcalXIC&q=Diaspora+before+70&pg=PA168}}</ref><ref name="AHJ-GM"/> Later, in the first centuries CE, as a result of the [[Jewish–Roman wars|Jewish-Roman Wars]], a large number of Jews were taken as captives, sold into slavery, or compelled to flee from the regions affected by the wars, contributing to the formation and expansion of Jewish communities across the [[Roman Empire]] as well as in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowersock |first=G. W. |author-link=G. W. Bowersock |title=The Crucible of Islam |date=2017 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-23772-8 |edition= |pages=102}}</ref> and Mesopotamia.

After the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], the Jewish population in [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]], now significantly reduced in size, made efforts to recover from the revolt's devastating effects, but never fully regained its previous strength.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Ehrlich |first=Michael |title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800 |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 |location=Leeds, UK |pages=3–4 |oclc=1302180905 |quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref><ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. ''Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society''. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref> In the second to fourth centuries CE, the region of [[Galilee]] emerged as the new center of Jewish life in [[Syria Palaestina]], experiencing a cultural and demographic flourishing. It was in this period that two central rabbinic texts, the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], were composed.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Leibner |first=Uzi |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43969 |title=Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee |date=2009 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-151460-9 |pages=321–324; 362–371; 396–400; 414–416 |hdl=20.500.12657/43969 |language=English}}</ref> However, as the Roman Empire was replaced by the [[Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire|Christianized]] Byzantine Empire under [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], Jews came to be persecuted by the church and the authorities, and many immigrated to communities in the diaspora. In the fourth century CE, Jews are believed to have lost their position as the majority in [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="Kessler20102">{{cite book |author=Edward Kessler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87Woe7kkPM4C&pg=PA72 |title=An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-70562-2 |page=72 |quote=Jews probably remained in the majority in Palestine until some time after the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. [...] In Babylonia, there had been for many centuries a Jewish community which would have been further strengthened by those fleeing the aftermath of the Roman revolts.}}</ref><ref name=":12" />

The long-established Jewish community of Mesopotamia, which had been living under [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and later [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] rule, beyond the confines of the Roman Empire, became an important center of [[Jewish studies|Jewish study]] as Judea's Jewish population declined.<ref name="Kessler20102" /><ref name=":12" /> Estimates often place the Babylonian Jewish community of the 3rd to 7th centuries at around one million, making it the largest Jewish diaspora community of that period.<ref name=":53">{{Citation |last=Gafni |first=Isaiah |title=The Political, Social, and Economic History of Babylonian Jewry, 224–638 CE |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=805 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/political-social-and-economic-history-of-babylonian-jewry-224638-ce/A4A6DB049FA37EE462757A705703A62F |access-date=10 September 2024 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.033 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Under the political leadership of the [[exilarch]], who was regarded as a royal heir of the House of David, this community had an autonomous status and served as a place of refuge for the Jews of [[Syria Palaestina]]. A number of significant [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia|Talmudic academies]], such as the [[Nehardea Academy|Nehardea]], [[Pumbedita Academy|Pumbedita]], and [[Sura Academy|Sura]] academies, were established in Mesopotamia, and many important ''[[Amoraim]]'' were active there. The [[Babylonian Talmud]], a centerpiece of Jewish religious law, was compiled in Babylonia in the 3rd to 6th centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Talmud and Midrash (Judaism) :: The making of the Talmuds: 3rd–6th century |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581644/Talmud-and-Midrash/34869/The-making-of-the-Talmuds-3rd-6th-century#ref=ref24372 |access-date=28 October 2013}}</ref>

=== Middle Ages ===
{{further|History of the Jews in Europe|History of European Jews in the Middle Ages|Mizrahi Jews|Sephardi Jews}}
Jewish diaspora communities are generally described to have [[Coalescent theory|coalesced]] into three major [[Jewish ethnic divisions|ethnic subdivisions]] according to where their ancestors settled: the ''[[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]]'' (initially in the Rhineland and France), the ''[[Sephardi Jews|Sephardim]]'' (initially in the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews|Iberian Peninsula]]), and the ''[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]'' ([[History of the Jews under Muslim rule|Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel |title=Jewish society through the ages |publisher=Schocken Books |year=1972 |editor=Ettinger, Samuel |oclc=581911264 |orig-year=1969}}</ref> [[Romaniote Jews]], [[Tunisian Jews]], [[Yemenite Jews]], [[Egyptian Jews]], [[Ethiopian Jews]], [[Bukharan Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], and other groups also predated the arrival of the Sephardic diaspora.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/simo10796 |title=The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |jstor=10.7312/simo10796 }}</ref>

Despite experiencing repeated waves of persecution, Ashkenazi Jews in Western Europe worked in a variety of fields, making an impact on their communities' economy and societies. In [[Francia]], for example, figures like [[Isaac the Jew|Isaac Judaeus]] and [[Armentarius (moneylender)|Armentarius]] occupied prominent social and economic positions. However, Jews were frequently the subjects of discriminatory laws, [[Jewish ghettos in Europe|segregation]], [[blood libel]]s and [[pogrom]]s, which culminated in events like the [[Rhineland massacres|Rhineland Massacres]] (1066) and the [[expulsion of Jews from England]] (1290). As a result, Ashkenazi Jews were gradually pushed eastwards to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]], [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]] and [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]].<ref>Harshav, Benjamin (1999). ''The Meaning of Yiddish''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 6. "From the fourteenth and certainly by the sixteenth century, the center of European Jewry had shifted to Poland, then ... comprising the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Byelorussia), Crown Poland, Galicia, the Ukraine and stretching, at times, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the approaches to Berlin to a short distance from Moscow."</ref>

During the same period, Jewish communities in the Middle East thrived under Islamic rule, especially in cities like [[Baghdad]], [[Cairo]], and [[Damascus]]. In Babylonia, from the 7th to 11th centuries the [[Pumbedita Academy|Pumbedita]] and [[Sura Academy|Sura]] academies led the Arab and to an extant the entire Jewish world. The deans and students of said academies defined the [[Geonim|Geonic period]] in Jewish history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GAON – JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6511-gaon |access-date=23 June 2020 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Following this period were the [[Rishonim]] who lived from the 11th to 15th centuries. Like their European counterparts, Jews in the Middle East and North Africa also faced periods of persecution and discriminatory policies, with the [[Almohad Caliphate]] in [[North Africa]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] issuing forced conversion decrees, causing Jews such as [[Maimonides]] to seek safety in other regions.

Initially, under [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigoth rule]], Jews in the Iberian Peninsula faced persecutions, but their circumstances changed dramatically under [[Al-Andalus|Islamic rule]]. During this period, they thrived in a [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|golden age]], marked by significant intellectual and cultural contributions in fields such as philosophy, medicine, and literature by figures such as [[Samuel ibn Naghrillah]], [[Judah Halevi]] and [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]]. However, in the 12th to 15th centuries, the Iberian Peninsula witnessed a rise in antisemitism, leading to persecutions, anti-Jewish laws, massacres and forced conversions ([[Massacre of 1391|peaking in 1391]]), and the establishment of the [[Spanish Inquisition]] that same year. After the completion of the [[Reconquista]] and the issuance of the [[Alhambra Decree]] by the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic Monarchs]] in 1492, the Jews of Spain were forced to choose: convert to Christianity or be expelled. As a result, around 200,000 Jews were [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expelled from Spain]], seeking refuge in places such as the [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]], [[North African Sephardim|North Africa]], [[History of the Jews in Italy#Early Modern period|Italy]], the [[Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands|Netherlands]] and [[Sephardic Jews in India|India]]. A [[Persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of Portugal|similar fate]] awaited the Jews of Portugal a few years later. Some Jews chose to remain, and pretended to practice [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]. These Jews would form the members of [[Crypto-Judaism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schloss |first=Chaim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OV9jKGJzg3QC |title=2000 Years of Jewish History: From the Destruction of the Second Bais Hamikdash Until the Twentieth Century |date=2002 |publisher=Feldheim Publishers |isbn=978-1-58330-214-9 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Modern period ===
{{further|Zionism|The Holocaust|History of Israel (1948–present)|}}
In the 19th century, when Jews in [[Western Europe]] were increasingly granted [[Jewish emancipation|equality before the law]], Jews in the [[Pale of Settlement]] faced growing persecution, legal restrictions and widespread [[pogrom]]s. Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] as a national revival movement, aiming to re-establish a Jewish polity in the Land of Israel, an endeavor to restore the Jewish people back to their ancestral homeland in order to stop the exoduses and persecutions that have plagued their history. This led to waves of Jewish migration to [[Ottoman Syria|Ottoman-controlled Palestine]]. [[Theodor Herzl]], who is considered the father of political Zionism,<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Kornberg|1993}} "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"</ref> offered his vision of a future Jewish state in his 1896 book ''[[Der Judenstaat]]'' (''The Jewish State''); a year later, he presided over the [[First Zionist Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |date=21 July 2005 |title=Chapter One |url=http://www.jewishagency.org/israel/content/23396 |access-date=21 September 2015 |website=The Jewish Agency for Israel1 |archive-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210124104/http://www.jewishagency.org/israel/content/23396 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The antisemitism that inflicted Jewish communities in Europe also triggered a mass exodus of more than two million Jews to the [[United States]] between 1881 and 1924.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lewin |first=Rhoda G. |date=1979 |title=Stereotype and reality in the Jewish immigrant experience in Minneapolis |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i07p258-273.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Minnesota History |volume=46 |issue=7 |page=259 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721002023/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i07p258-273.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2020 |access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref> The Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were [[Albert Einstein]] and [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]. Many [[Nobel Prize]] winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case.<ref name="Jewish Nobel Prize Winners">{{cite web |title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners |url=http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224211039/http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html |archive-date=24 December 2018 |access-date=7 October 2011 |publisher=jinfo.org}}</ref>[[File:Jewish people around the world.svg|thumb|Map of the Jewish diaspora:<br/>
{{Legend|#000000|Israel}}
{{Legend|#00216bff|+ 1,000,000}}
{{Legend|#0038b8ff|+ 100,000}}
{{Legend|#578bffff|+ 10,000}}
{{Legend|#b3cbffff|+ 1,000}}|301x301px]]When [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazism|Nazis]] came to power in [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] in 1933, the situation for Jews deteriorated rapidly. Many Jews fled from Europe to [[Mandatory Palestine]], the United States, and the [[Soviet Union]] as a result of racial anti-Semitic laws, economic difficulties, and the fear of an impending war. [[World War II|World War&nbsp;II]] started in 1939, and by 1941, Hitler occupied almost all of Europe. Following the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941, the [[Final Solution]]—an extensive, organized effort with an unprecedented scope intended to annihilate the Jewish people—began, and resulted in the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe and [[North Africa]]. In Poland, three million were murdered in [[gas chambers]] in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the [[Auschwitz]] camp complex alone. The [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] is the name given to this genocide, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered.

Before and during the Holocaust, enormous numbers of Jews immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. On 14 May 1948, upon the termination of the mandate, [[David Ben-Gurion]] declared the creation of the [[Israel|State of Israel]], a [[Jewish and democratic state]] in the Land of Israel. Immediately afterwards, all neighboring Arab states invaded, yet the newly formed [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] resisted. In 1949, the war ended and Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of [[Aliyah]] from all over the world.

== Culture ==
{{Main|Jewish culture}}

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Judaism}}
{{See also|Jewish atheism|Jewish secularism}}
{{Judaism}}
The Jewish [[ethnicity|people]] and the [[religion]] of [[Judaism]] are strongly interrelated. [[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 |access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> However, several converts to Judaism, as well as ex-Jews, have claimed that converts are treated as second-class Jews by many born Jews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.interfaithfamily.com/spirituality/conversion/Are_Converts_Treated_as_Second_Class.shtml |title=Are Converts Treated as Second Class? |work=InterfaithFamily |date=2 May 2011 |access-date=29 August 2016 |archive-date=8 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808163226/http://www.interfaithfamily.com/spirituality/conversion/Are_Converts_Treated_as_Second_Class.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Conversion is not encouraged by mainstream Judaism, and it is considered a difficult task. A significant portion of conversions are undertaken by children of mixed marriages, or would-be or current spouses of Jews.<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 |date=31 March 2011 |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref>

The [[Hebrew Bible]], a religious interpretation of the traditions and early history of the Jews, established the first of the [[Abrahamic religions]], which are now practiced by 54&nbsp;percent of the world. [[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|author-link=Raphael Patai|title=[[The Jewish Mind]]|year=1996|orig-year=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=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195100716/page/145 145]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195100716/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. 42–43.</ref> [[History of the Jews in China|China]],<ref>Sharot (1997), p. 42.</ref> or the contemporary [[American Jews|United States]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Fishman|first=Sylvia Barack|title=Jewish Life and American Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/jewishlifeameric0000fish|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|isbn=0-7914-4546-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/jewishlifeameric0000fish/page/38 38]}}</ref> and [[Israel]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Kimmerling|first=Baruch|title=The Israeli State and Society: Boundaries and Frontiers|url=https://archive.org/details/israelistatesoci00kimm|url-access=limited|year=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, N.Y.|isbn=0-88706-849-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/israelistatesoci00kimm/page/n178 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, and still 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 culture]]s unique to their own communities.<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>

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

[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] is the [[liturgical language]] of Judaism (termed ''lashon 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 language|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> By the 3rd century BCE, some Jews of the diaspora were speaking [[Koine Greek|Greek]].<ref>Feldman (2006), p. 54.</ref> Others, such as in the Jewish communities of [[Asoristan]], known to Jews as Babylonia, were speaking Hebrew and [[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic|Aramaic]], the languages of the [[Babylonian Talmud]]. Dialects of these same languages were also used by the Jews of [[Syria Palaestina]] at that time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

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 Judaeo-German language developed by [[Ashkenazi Jews]] who migrated to [[Central Europe]]. [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] is the Judaeo-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 and Muslim countries]], and widespread emigration from other Jewish communities around the world, ancient and distinct [[Jewish languages]] of several communities, including [[Judaeo-Georgian]], [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judaeo-Arabic]], [[Judeo-Berber language|Judaeo-Berber]], [[Krymchak language|Krymchak]], [[Judaeo-Malayalam]] and many others, have largely fallen out of use.<ref name=Languages />

[[File:Loew-rabin-tombstone.jpg|thumb|upright|Tombstone of the [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel|Maharal]] in the [[Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague]]. The tombstones are inscribed in Hebrew.]]

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. |title=The Use Of Hebrew In Palestine 1800–1822 |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |date=1972 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=237–252 |doi=10.1093/jss/17.2.237 }}</ref> Hebrew was revived as a spoken language by [[Eliezer ben Yehuda]], who arrived in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] in 1881. It had not been used as a [[mother tongue]] since [[Tannaim|Tannaic]] times.<ref name=Grintz /> [[Modern Hebrew]] is designated as the "State language" of Israel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State Of The Jewish People |url=https://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/BasicLawNationState.pdf |website=The Knesset |publisher=[[Knesset]] of the State of Israel |access-date=3 September 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410191721/http://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basiclawnationstate.pdf |url-status=dead }}</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 language|English]] has emerged as the [[lingua franca]] of the Jewish diaspora.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VnB2Jq3fW4C&pg=PA428|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. |isbn=978-94-007-0354-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEHCW7KnuG8C&pg=PA121|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.|isbn=978-0-7969-2114-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWmMAgAAQBAJ&q=%22english+as+a+lingua+franca+for+jews+worldwide%22&pg=PA185|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.|isbn=978-1-135-14621-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUpFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|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.'|isbn=978-0-85745-258-0}}</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]] |access-date=5 April 2014 |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. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307172019/http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish%2BEducation/Compelling%2BContent/Worldwide%2BCommunity/Connecting%2Bto%2BCommunity/Jewish%2BLanguages.htm |archive-date=7 March 2014}}</ref> Although many Jews once had sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and [[Jewish languages]] like [[Yiddish]] and [[Judaeo-Spanish|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.
The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are Hebrew, English, and [[Russian language|Russian]]. Some [[Romance languages]], particularly [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], are also widely used.<ref name=Languages /> 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 [[Zionism|Zionist movement]] and the [[Israel|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 name="forward">{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/5434/quebec-sephardim-make-breakthroughs/|title=Quebec Sephardim Make Breakthroughs |date=2 April 2004 |publisher=forward.com|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYyiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR22|title=Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach|author=Edna Aizenberg|year=2012|page=xxii|publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5165-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIZ6wftL3oQC&pg=PA449|title=Canada's Jews: A People's Journey|author=Gerald Tulchinsky|pages=447–49|isbn=978-0-8020-9386-8|year=2008|publisher=University of Toronto Press }}</ref> Similarly, [[History of the Jews in South Africa|South African Jews]] adopted English rather than [[Afrikaans]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbTFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|title=Institutions, Ethnicity, and Political Mobilization in South Africa|author=Jessica Piombo|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=51|isbn=978-0-230-62382-8|year= 2009}}</ref> Due to both Czarist and Soviet policies,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIMoQbjAmhgC&pg=PA31|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|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ic5Kth7aiusC&pg=PA781|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|isbn=978-3-447-05404-1}}</ref> Russian has superseded Yiddish as the language of [[History of the Jews in Russia|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=25 May 2007|access-date=1 April 2014|archive-date=16 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016171323/http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-russian.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Today, Russian is the first language for many Jewish communities in a number of [[Post-Soviet states]], such as [[Ukraine]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=PA1007|title=Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1|page=1007|isbn=978-1-85109-873-6|last1=Ehrlich|first1=Mark Avrum|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref><ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Ukraine: A History, 4th Edition|author=Subtelny, O.|date=2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division|isbn=978-1-4426-9728-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktyM07I9HXwC|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Multicultural Perspectives in Working with Families|author1=Congress, E.P.|author2=Gonzalez, M.J.|date=2005|publisher=Springer Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8261-3146-1|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780826131454|url-access=registration|access-date=12 March 2015}}</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 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=14 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326082731/http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/jerusalem-babylon/.premium-1.579733 |archive-date=26 March 2014}}</ref> and [[Uzbekistan]],<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary2">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html|title=Bukharan Jews &#124; Jewish Virtual Library|publisher=jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} as well as for Ashkenazic Jews in [[Azerbaijan]],<ref name="Maoz">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA135|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704020626/http://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA135|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 July 2014|title=Muslim Attitudes towards Jews and Israel|author=Moshe Ma'oz|pages=135, 160|isbn=978-1-84519-527-4|year=2011| publisher=Sussex Academic Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/AZ |title=Azerbaijan |quote=Like many immigrant communities of the Czarist and Soviet eras in Azerbaijan, Ashkenazi Jews appear to be linguistically Russified. Most Ashkenazi Jews speak Russian as their first language with Azeri being spoken as the second.}}</ref> Georgia,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNczHm67tjIC&pg=PA72|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.|isbn=978-1-930143-89-0}}</ref> and [[Tajikistan]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AgkVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA165|title=Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages|author=Joshua A. Fishman|year=1985|pages=165, 169–74|publisher=Brill Archive |quote=Jews in [[Tadzhikistan]] have adopted [[Tajik language|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.|isbn=90-04-07237-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idAfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|title=Language in Ethnicity: A View of Basic Ecological Relations|author=Harald Haarmann|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1986|pages=70–73, 79–82|isbn=978-3-11-086280-5}}</ref> Although communities in [[North Africa]] today are small and dwindling, Jews there had shifted from a multilingual group to a monolingual one (or nearly so), speaking French in [[Algeria]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4Mp4qy8lbUC&pg=PA234|title=Transnational Spaces and Identities in the Francophone World|page=234|isbn=978-0-8032-2465-0|last1=Gafaiti|first1=Hafid|year=2009|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}</ref> [[Morocco]],<ref name="Maoz" /> and the city of [[Tunis]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45exFa6wDIIC&pg=PA258|title=Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa|pages=258, 270|isbn=978-0-253-00146-7|last1=Gottreich|first1=Emily Benichou|last2=Schroeter|first2=Daniel J|year= 2011|publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref><ref name="jdc">{{cite web|url=http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/africa/tunisia.html|title=Tunisia|publisher=jdc.org|access-date=12 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016211752/http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/africa/tunisia.html|archive-date=16 October 2013}}</ref> while most North Africans continue to use [[Arabic]] or Berber as their mother tongue.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

=== 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|url=https://archive.org/details/explorationsjewi00eise|url-access=limited|year=2004|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=90-04-13693-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/explorationsjewi00eise/page/n89 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> Today, many countries have a [[Chief Rabbi]] who serves as a representative of that country's Jewry. Although many [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jews]] follow a certain hereditary [[List of Hasidic dynasties|Hasidic dynasty]], there is no one commonly accepted leader of all Hasidic Jews. Many Jews believe that the [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]] will act a unifying leader for Jews and the entire world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Messiah – Key beliefs in Judaism – GCSE Religious Studies Revision – Eduqas|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zjbyb82/revision/5|access-date=20 August 2022|website=BBC Bitesize|language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Theories on ancient Jewish national identity===
[[File:Hebrew Bible MET DP-15507-001.jpg|thumb|Bible manuscript in Hebrew, 14th century. Hebrew language and alphabet were the cornerstones of the Jewish national identity in antiquity.]]

A number of modern scholars of nationalism support the existence of Jewish national identity in antiquity. One of them is David Goodblatt,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/goodblatt.html|title=David Goodblatt|website=history.ucsd.edu}}</ref> who generally believes in the existence of nationalism before the modern period. In his view, the Bible, the parabiblical literature and the Jewish national history provide the base for a Jewish collective identity. Although many of the ancient Jews were illiterate (as were their neighbors), their national narrative was reinforced through public readings. The Hebrew language also constructed and preserved national identity. Although it was not widely spoken after the 5th century BCE, Goodblatt states:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodblatt |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afEhCsbbFlgC |title=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46057-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bakhos |first=Carol |date=2007 |title=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.10.56/ |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review}}</ref><ref>Adam L. Porter, [http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews/reviews_new/review357.htm Review of Goodblatt, David M., Elements of ancient Jewish nationalism, 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209082632/http://jhsonline.org/reviews/reviews_new/review357.htm|date=9 February 2020}}, in Journal of Hebrew Scriptures – Volume 9 (2009)</ref>

{{Blockquote|the mere presence of the language in spoken or written form could invoke the concept of a Jewish national identity. Even if one knew no Hebrew or was illiterate, one could recognize that a group of signs was in Hebrew script. ... It was the language of the Israelite ancestors, the national literature, and the national religion. As such it was inseparable from the national identity. Indeed its mere presence in visual or aural medium could invoke that identity.}}

[[Anthony D. Smith]], an historical sociologist considered one of the founders of the field of [[nationalism studies]], wrote that the Jews of the late Second Temple period provide "a closer approximation to the ideal type of the [[nation]] [...] than perhaps anywhere else in the ancient world." He adds that this observation "must make us wary of pronouncing too readily against the possibility of the nation, and even a form of [[religious nationalism]], before the onset of modernity."<ref name="auto1"/> Agreeing with Smith, Goodblatt suggests omitting the qualifier "religious" from Smith's definition of ancient Jewish nationalism, noting that, according to Smith, a religious component in national memories and culture is common even in the modern era.<ref name=":23"/> This view is echoed by political scientist [[Tom Garvin]], who writes that "something strangely like modern nationalism is documented for many peoples in medieval times and in classical times as well," citing the ancient Jews as one of several "obvious examples", alongside the [[Classical Greece|classical Greeks]] and the [[Gauls|Gaulish]] and [[Celtic Britons|British Celts]].<ref>Tom Garvin, "Ethnic Markers, Modern Nationalisms, and the Nightmare of History," in Kruger, ed., ¨ Ethnicity and Nationalism, p. 67.</ref>

[[Fergus Millar]] suggests that the sources of Jewish national identity and their early nationalist movements in the first and second centuries CE included several key elements: the Bible as both a national history and legal source, the Hebrew language as a national language, a system of law, and social institutions such as schools, synagogues, and Sabbath worship.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Millar |first=Fergus |date=1987 |title=Empire, Community and Culture in the Roman near East: Greeks, Syrians, Jews and Arabs |url=https://doi.org/10.18647/1337/JJS-1987 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=147–148|doi=10.18647/1337/JJS-1987 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Adrian Hastings]] argued that Jews are the "true proto-nation", that through the model of ancient Israel found in the Hebrew Bible, provided the world with the original concept of nationhood which later influenced Christian nations. However, following [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|Jerusalem's destruction]] in the first century CE, Jews ceased to be a political entity and did not resemble a traditional nation-state for almost two millennia. Despite this, they maintained their national identity through collective memory, religion and sacred texts, even without land or political power, and remained a nation rather than just an ethnic group, eventually leading to the rise of [[Zionism]] and the establishment of Israel.<ref name="auto3"/>

It is believed that Jewish nationalist sentiment in antiquity was encouraged because under foreign rule (Persians, Greeks, Romans) Jews were able to claim that they were an ancient nation. This claim was based on the preservation and reverence of their scriptures, the Hebrew language, the Temple and priesthood, and other traditions of their ancestors.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link1=Steven P. Weitzman | last1 = Weitzman | first1 = Steven | year = 2008| title = On the Political Relevance of Antiquity: A Response to David Goodblatt's Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism | journal = Jewish Social Studies | volume = 14 | issue = 3| page = 168 | jstor = 40207028 }}</ref>

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

=== Ethnic divisions ===
{{main|Jewish ethnic divisions}}
[[File:Ashkenazim Jews American colony 1900 to 1920.jpg|thumb|211x211px|[[Ashkenazi Jews]] residing in the American colony. Photo taken between 1900 and 1920.]]
[[File:1900 photo of a Sephardi couple from Sarajevo.png|thumb|upright|[[Sephardic Jews|Sephardi Jewish]] couple from [[Sarajevo]] in traditional clothing. Photo taken in 1900.|250x250px]]
[[File:Yemenite Elder Blowing Shofat, February 1, 1949.jpg|thumb|230x230px|[[Yemenite Jews|Yemenite Jew]] blows [[shofar]], 1947]]
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 evolutions. 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. 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 populational. Today, manifestations 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>

Jews are often identified as belonging to one of two major groups: the ''[[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]]'' and the ''[[Sephardi Jews|Sephardim]]''. Ashkenazim are so named in reference to their geographical origins (their ancestors' culture coalesced in the [[Ashkenazi Jews#etymology|Rhineland]], an area historically referred to by Jews as [[Ashkenaz]]). Similarly, Sephardim ([[Sefarad]] meaning "[[Spain]]" in Hebrew) are named in reference their origins in [[Iberian peninsula|Iberia]]. The diverse groups of Jews of the Middle East and North Africa are often collectively referred to as ''Sephardim'' together with Sephardim proper for liturgical reasons having to do with their [[Nusach (Jewish custom)|prayer rites]]. A common term for many of these non-Spanish Jews who are sometimes still broadly grouped as Sephardim is ''[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]'' ({{lit|easterners}} in Hebrew). Nevertheless, Mizrahis and Sepharadim are usually ethnically distinct.<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 [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniotes]] of Greece; the [[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 EJ|last=Schmelz|first=Usiel Oscar |first2=Sergio|last2=Della Pergola|title=Demography|volume=5|page=571–572}}</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 no closer related to each other than 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]], [[Moroccan Jews]], [[Libyan Jews]], [[Syrian Jews]], [[Bukharian Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], [[Georgian Jews]], [[Iranian Jews]], [[Afghan 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 />

Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70&nbsp;percent of Jews worldwide (and up to 90&nbsp;percent prior to [[World War II|World War&nbsp;II]] and [[the 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]], the immigration of Jews from [[Algeria]] (Sephardim) has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim.{{r|EJ571}} 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>

=== 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 |last1=Hammer |first1=M. F. |last2=Redd |first2=A. J. |last3=Wood |first3=E. T. |last4=Bonner |first4=M. R. |last5=Jarjanazi |first5=H. |last6=Karafet |first6=T. |last7=Santachiara-Benerecetti |first7=S. |last8=Oppenheim |first8=A. |last9=Jobling |first9=M. A. |last10=Jenkins |first10=T. |last11=Ostrer |first11=H. |last12=Bonne-Tamir |first12=B. |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 |date=6 June 2000 |volume=97 |issue=12 |pages=6769–6774 |doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997 |pmid=10801975 |pmc=18733 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H |doi-access=free }}</ref> In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly [[Middle East]]ern. 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|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 |last1=Nebel |first1=Almut |last2=Filon |first2=Dvora |last3=Brinkmann |first3=Bernd |last4=Majumder |first4=Partha P. |last5=Faerman |first5=Marina |last6=Oppenheim |first6=Ariella |title=The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=November 2001 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=1095–1112 |doi=10.1086/324070 |pmid=11573163 |pmc=1274378 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frudakis |first1=Tony |chapter=Ashkezani Jews |page=383 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vXeydpj7VkC&pg=PA383 |title=Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA |date=19 July 2010 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-055137-1 }}</ref>

Conversely, the maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at [[mitochondrial DNA]], are generally more heterogeneous.<ref name="Behar2008b">{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Metspalu |first2=Ene |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Rosset |first4=Saharon |last5=Tzur |first5=Shay |last6=Hadid |first6=Yarin |last7=Yudkovsky |first7=Guennady |last8=Rosengarten |first8=Dror |last9=Pereira |first9=Luisa |last10=Amorim |first10=Antonio |last11=Kutuev |first11=Ildus |last12=Gurwitz |first12=David |last13=Bonne-Tamir |first13=Batsheva |last14=Villems |first14=Richard |last15=Skorecki |first15=Karl |title=Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora |journal=PLOS ONE |date=30 April 2008 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=e2062 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002062 |pmid=18446216 |pmc=2323359 |bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2062B |doi-access=free }}</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">{{Cite journal |last=Lewontin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Lewontin |date=6 December 2012 |title=Is There a Jewish Gene? |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/12/06/is-there-a-jewish-gene/ |journal=New York Review of Books|volume=59 |issue=19 }}</ref> In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40&nbsp;percent 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 name="Abraham 2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feder |first1=Jeanette |last2=Ovadia |first2=Ofer |last3=Glaser |first3=Benjamin |last4=Mishmar |first4=Dan |title=Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations: lessons of population substructure in a closed group |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |date=April 2007 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=498–500 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201764 |pmid=17245410 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |last1=Ostrer |first1=Harry |last2=Skorecki |first2=Karl |title=The population genetics of the Jewish people |journal=Human Genetics |date=February 2013 |volume=132 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6 |pmid=23052947 |pmc=3543766 }}</ref> However, a 2025 genetic study on the Ashkenazi Jewish founder population supports the presence of a substantial Near Eastern component in the maternal lineages. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) indicate that the core founder lineages, estimated at around 54, likely originated from the Near East, with these founder signatures appearing in multiple copies across the population. While later admixture introduced additional mtDNA lineages, these absorbed lineages are distinguishable from the original founders. The findings are consistent with genome-wide Identity-by-Descent and Lineage Extinction analyses, reinforcing the Near Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi maternal founders.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Livni |first=Joseph |last2=Skorecki |first2=Karl |date=2025-06-28 |title=Distinguishing between founder and host population mtDNA lineages in the Ashkenazi population |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2773044125000713 |journal=Human Gene |pages=201445 |doi=10.1016/j.humgen.2025.201445 |issn=2773-0441}}</ref> A study showed that 7% of Ashkenazi Jews have the haplogroup G2c, which is mainly found in [[Pashtuns]] and on lower scales all major Jewish groups, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese.<ref>{{cite web | title=Sign In | website=Family Tree DNA | url=https://www.familytreedna.com/sign-in?ReturnUrl=%2Fpdf%2FBehar_contrasting.pdf | access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammer |first1=Michael F. |last2=Behar |first2=Doron M. |last3=Karafet |first3=Tatiana M. |last4=Mendez |first4=Fernando L. |last5=Hallmark |first5=Brian |last6=Erez |first6=Tamar |last7=Zhivotovsky |first7=Lev A. |last8=Rosset |first8=Saharon |last9=Skorecki |first9=Karl |title=Extended Y chromosome haplotypes resolve multiple and unique lineages of the Jewish priesthood |journal=Human Genetics |date=8 August 2009 |volume=126 |issue=5 |pages=707–17 |doi=10.1007/s00439-009-0727-5 |pmid=19669163 |pmc=2771134 }}</ref> 

Studies of [[Autosome|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>{{cite journal |last1=Katsnelson |first1=Alla |title=Jews worldwide share genetic ties |journal=Nature |date=3 June 2010 |pages=news.2010.277 |doi=10.1038/news.2010.277 }}</ref> For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]], [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic]], 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 [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] and [[Israelites|Israelite]] residents of the [[Levant]]" and "the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the [[Old World]]".<ref name="discovermagazine">{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Yunusbayev |first2=Bayazit |last3=Metspalu |first3=Mait |last4=Metspalu |first4=Ene |last5=Rosset |first5=Saharon |last6=Parik |first6=Jüri |last7=Rootsi |first7=Siiri |last8=Chaubey |first8=Gyaneshwer |last9=Kutuev |first9=Ildus |last10=Yudkovsky |first10=Guennady |last11=Khusnutdinova |first11=Elza K. |last12=Balanovsky |first12=Oleg |last13=Semino |first13=Ornella |last14=Pereira |first14=Luisa |last15=Comas |first15=David |last16=Gurwitz |first16=David |last17=Bonne-Tamir |first17=Batsheva |last18=Parfitt |first18=Tudor |last19=Hammer |first19=Michael F. |last20=Skorecki |first20=Karl |last21=Villems |first21=Richard |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |journal=Nature |date=July 2010 |volume=466 |issue=7303 |pages=238–242 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |pmid=20531471 |s2cid=4307824 |bibcode=2010Natur.466..238B }}</ref> [[North Africa]]n, [[Italian Peninsula|Italian]] and others of [[Iberian Peninsula|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 closely related, the source of non-Jewish admixture is mainly [[Southern Europe]]an, while Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with other Middle Eastern populations. Behar ''et al.'' have remarked on a close relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and modern [[Italians]].<ref name="discovermagazine"/><ref name=zooss>{{cite journal |last1=Zoossmann-Diskin |first1=Avshalom |title=The origin of Eastern European Jews revealed by autosomal, sex chromosomal and mtDNA polymorphisms |journal=Biology Direct |date=2010 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=57 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-5-57 |pmid=20925954 |pmc=2964539 |bibcode=2010Sci...328.1342B |doi-access=free }}</ref> A 2001 study found that Jews were more closely related to groups of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to their Arab neighbors, whose genetic signature was found in geographic patterns reflective of Islamic conquests.<ref name="Nebel 2001"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Gauguier |first2=Dominique |last3=Youhanna |first3=Sonia |last4=Patterson |first4=Nick |last5=Moorjani |first5=Priya |last6=Botigué |first6=Laura R. |last7=Platt |first7=Daniel E. |last8=Matisoo-Smith |first8=Elizabeth |last9=Soria-Hernanz |first9=David F. |last10=Wells |first10=R. Spencer |last11=Bertranpetit |first11=Jaume |last12=Tyler-Smith |first12=Chris |last13=Comas |first13=David |last14=Zalloua |first14=Pierre A. |title=Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture |journal=PLOS Genetics |date=28 February 2013 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=e1003316 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316 |pmid=23468648 |pmc=3585000 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The studies also show that [[Sephardic Bnei Anusim]] (descendants of the "[[anusim]]" who were [[Forced conversion|forced to convert]] to [[Catholicism]]), which comprise up to 19.8&nbsp;percent of the population of today's [[Iberia]] ([[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]) and at least 10&nbsp;percent of the population of [[Ibero-America]] ([[Hispanic America]] and [[Brazil]]), have Sephardic Jewish ancestry within the last few centuries. The [[Bene Israel]] and [[Cochin Jews]] of [[India]], [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]], and a portion of the [[Lemba people]] of [[Southern Africa]], despite more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, have also been thought to have some more remote ancient Jewish ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/155742/jews-are-a-race-genes-reveal/?p=all |title=Jews Are a 'Race,' Genes Reveal |date=4 May 2012 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref><ref name=discovermagazine/><ref name="in.reuters.com">{{cite news |last1=Begley |first1=Sharon |title=Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa's Jews |url=https://in.reuters.com/article/us-science-genetics-jews/genetic-study-offers-clues-to-history-of-north-africas-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806 |work=Reuters |date=6 August 2012 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118100801/http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/06/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/> Views on the Lemba have changed and genetic [[Y-DNA]] analyses in the 2000s have established a partially Middle-Eastern origin for a portion of the male Lemba population but have been unable to narrow this down further.<ref name="SpurdleJenkins">{{Citation | title = The origins of the Lemba "Black Jews" of southern Africa: evidence from p12F2 and other Y-chromosome markers. | pmid = 8900243 | pmc=1914832 | volume=59 | issue = 5 | date=November 1996 | journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. | pages=1126–33 | last1 = Spurdle | first1 = AB | last2 = Jenkins | first2 = T}}</ref><ref name="Soodyall">{{cite book|author1=Himla Soodyall|author2=Jennifer G. R Kromberg|editor1-last=Kumar|editor1-first=Dhavendra|editor2-last=Chadwick|editor2-first=Ruth|title=Genomics and Society: Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Socioeconomic Implications|publisher=Academic Press/Elsevier|isbn=978-0-12-420195-8|page=316|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9icBAAAQBAJ&q=Cohen+Modal+Haplotype+Lemba&pg=PA309|chapter=Human Genetics and Genomics and Sociocultural Beliefs and Practices in South Africa|date=29 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Population centers ===
{{main list|Jewish population by city}}
[[File:Purim 2012 Williamsburg Brooklyn 01.jpg|thumb|[[New York City]] is home to 960,000 Jews, making it the [[Jews in New York City|largest Jewish community]] outside of Israel.]]
Although historically, Jews have been found all over the world, in the decades since World War&nbsp;II and the establishment of Israel, they have increasingly concentrated in a small number of countries.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 529, 560–62.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-jew/|title=Jews|date=18 December 2012}}</ref> In 2021, [[Israel]] and the [[United States]] together accounted for over 85 percent of the global Jewish population, with approximately 45.3% and 39.6% of the world's Jews, respectively.<ref name="JDB" /> More than half (51.2%) of world Jewry resides in just ten metropolitan areas. As of 2021, these ten areas were [[Gush Dan|Tel Aviv]], [[New York metropolitan area|New York]], [[Greater Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], [[Haifa metropolitan area|Haifa]], [[Greater Los Angeles|Los Angeles]], [[Miami metropolitan area|Miami]], [[Delaware Valley|Philadelphia]], [[Paris metropolitan area|Paris]], [[Washington metropolitan area|Washington]], and [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]]. The Tel Aviv metro area has the highest percent of Jews among the total population (94.8%), followed by Jerusalem (72.3%), Haifa (73.1%), and Beersheba (60.4%), the balance mostly being Israeli Arabs. Outside Israel, the highest percent of Jews in a metropolitan area was in New York (10.8%), followed by Miami (8.7%), Philadelphia (6.8%), San Francisco (5.1%), Washington (4.7%), Los Angeles (4.7%), Toronto (4.5%), and Baltimore (4.1%).<ref name="JDB" />

As of 2010, there were nearly 14&nbsp;million Jews around the world, roughly 0.2% of the world's population at the time.<ref name=":6" /> According to the 2007 estimates of [[The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute]], the world's Jewish population is 13.2&nbsp;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|access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> This statistic incorporates both practicing Jews affiliated with [[synagogue]]s and the Jewish community, and approximately 4.5&nbsp;million unaffiliated and [[Jewish secularism|secular Jews]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

According to [[Sergio Della Pergola]], a demographer of the [[Jewish population]], in 2021 there were about 6.8&nbsp;million Jews in Israel, 6&nbsp;million in the United States, and 2.3&nbsp;million in the rest of the world.<ref name="JDB" />

==== Israel ====
{{main|Israeli Jews}}
[[File:Mahane Yehuda Market P1020256.JPG|thumb|Jewish people in [[Jerusalem]], Israel]]
[[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=9 February 2012|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=3 April 2012}}</ref> Israel was established as an independent [[Parliamentary democracy|democratic]] and Jewish state on 14 May 1948.<ref name="cia">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/israel/|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|work=The World Factbook|access-date=20 July 2007|date=19 June 2007|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|access-date=8 August 2007|title=The Electoral System in Israel}}</ref> {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, 14 members of the Knesset are [[Arab citizens of Israel]] (not including the Druze), 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|access-date=5 April 2012|archive-date=19 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819061301/http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/israel|url-status=dead}}</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 |access-date=7 August 2007 |year=2006 |title=Population, by Religion and Population Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033403/http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006 |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> Currently, Jews account for 75.4&nbsp;percent of the Israeli population, or 6&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4280028,00.html |title=Jewish New Year: Israel's population nears 8M mark |newspaper=Ynetnews |date=20 June 1995 |access-date=12 April 2013|last1=Drukman |first1=Yaron }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/01/israel-jewish-population-six-million |title=Israel's Jewish population passes 6 million mark |work=Guardian |date=1 January 2013 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> The early years of the State of Israel were marked by the [[Aliyah|mass immigration]] of [[Holocaust survivors]] in the [[aftermath of the Holocaust]] and Jews [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|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/|access-date=7 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/ethiopian-israelis-decry-separation-from-relatives-as-discriminatory/ |title=Ethiopian-Israelis decry separation from relatives as discriminatory |newspaper=Times of Israel |date=10 March 2018 |access-date=20 February 2024 |last1=Goldenberg |first1=Tia }}</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|author-link=Lyudmila Alexeyeva|location=Vilnius|year=1983|language=ru|trans-title=History of Dissident Movement in the USSR|access-date=5 April 2012|archive-date=9 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309152800/http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/|url-status=dead}}</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]] 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 [[Yerida|yordim]].<ref name="Dosick 2007, p. 340">Dosick (2007), p. 340.</ref>

==== Diaspora (outside Israel) ====
{{main|Jewish diaspora}}
[[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>]]

[[File:Birobidjan mainsquare.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]] dominating the main square in [[Birobidzhan]]. An estimated 70,000 [[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union|Jews]] live in [[Siberia]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=136974 |title= Planting Jewish roots in Siberia |publisher= Fjc.ru |date= 24 May 2004 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090827113526/http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=136974 |archive-date= 27 August 2009 |df= dmy-all}}</ref>]]
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 Imperial Russia (mostly within the [[Pale of Settlement]] in present-day Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and eastern Poland), 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>

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 6 million to 7.5&nbsp;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}}, 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> According to a 2010 [[Pew Research Center]] study, about 470,000 people of Jewish heritage live in [[Latin America]] and the [[Caribbean]].<ref name=":6">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/jews/ |title= Jews – Pew Research Center|website= Pew Research Center|date= 2 April 2015|access-date= 28 March 2018}}</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=14 March 2013 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref>

[[File:DAVID BEN GURION WITH MEMBERS OF JEWISH ZIONIST YOUTH MOVEMENT IN TALLIN IN ESTONIA. דוד בן גוריון וחברי תנועת הנוער הציונית, בטאלין, אסטוניה.D683-119.jpg|thumb|upright|The Jewish [[Zionism|Zionist]] Youth Movement in [[Tallinn]], Estonia, on 1 September 1933]]
[[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 countries such as [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], and [[Tunisia]] (or their descendants).<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 410–10.</ref> The [[United Kingdom]] has a Jewish community of 292,000. In [[East Europe|Eastern Europe]], the exact figures are difficult to establish. The number of Jews in Russia varies widely according to whether a source uses census data (which requires a person to choose a single nationality among choices that include "Russian" and "Jewish") or eligibility for immigration to Israel (which requires that a person have one or more Jewish grandparents). According to the latter criteria, the heads of the Russian Jewish community assert that up to 1.5&nbsp;million Russians are eligible for [[aliyah]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mskagency.ru/materials/2716461 |title=Исследование: Около 1,5 млн людей с еврейскими корнями проживают в России |trans-title=Study: About 1.5 Million People with Jewish Roots Live in Russia |date=20 October 2017 |publisher=Moscow Urban News Agency |access-date=28 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=57988 |title=В России проживает около миллиона иудеев |trans-title=In Russia, There Are About a Million Jews |date=26 February 2015 |publisher=[[Interfax]] |access-date=28 October 2017}}</ref> In [[Germany]], the 102,000 Jews registered with the Jewish community are a slowly declining population,<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 December 2013|title=Mitgliederstatistik der jüdischen Gemeinden und Landesverbände: Zu und Abgänge 2012|url=http://www.zwst.org/cms/documents/178/de_DE/ZWST-Mitgliederstatistik-2012-web.pdf|access-date=20 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204213637/http://www.zwst.org/cms/documents/178/de_DE/ZWST-Mitgliederstatistik-2012-web.pdf |archive-date=4 December 2013 }}</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|access-date=3 July 2008|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|pages=40–42}}</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|access-date=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 to 20&nbsp;percent in the [[Kingdom of Iraq]], approximately 10&nbsp;percent in the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] and approximately 7&nbsp;percent 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>{{Cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Jerry M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdAdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=The Rebirth of the Middle East|date=28 September 2009|publisher=Hamilton Books|isbn=978-0-7618-4846-2|language=en}}</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>{{cite book |editor1-last=Simon |editor1-first=Reeva Spector |editor2-last=Laskier |editor2-first=Michael Menachem |editor3-last=Reguer |editor3-first=Sara |year=2003 |title=The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50759-2 |page=327 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VxEJrEY22egC&pg=PA327 |quote=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&nbsp;percent 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&nbsp;percent of Iranian Jews left the country.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Outside [[Europe]], the [[Americas]], the [[Middle East]], and the rest of [[Asia]], there are significant Jewish populations in [[Australia]] (112,500) and [[Jewish population of South Africa|South Africa]] (70,000).<ref name="JVIL2010" /> There is also a 6,800-strong community in [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Congress|first=World Jewish|title=World Jewish Congress|url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/NZ|access-date=20 August 2022|website=World Jewish Congress|language=EN}}</ref>

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

==== Assimilation ====
{{main|Jewish assimilation|Interfaith marriage in Judaism}}
Since at least the time of the [[Ancient Greece|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=15 December 2005 |publisher=Shavei Israel |access-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003094552/http://www.shavei.org/communities/kaifeng_jews/articles-kaifeng_jews/chinese-jews-reverence-for-ancestors/ |archive-date=3 October 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, [[Secularism|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 [[Interfaith marriage|interreligious marriage]] vary widely: In the United States, it is just under 50&nbsp;percent;<ref>{{cite web|title=NJPS: Defining and Calculating Intermarriage |url=http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46252 |website=The Jewish Federations of North America |access-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812024158/http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46252 |archive-date=12 August 2011}}</ref> in the United Kingdom, around 53&nbsp;percent; in France, around 30&nbsp;percent;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-prod.akadem.org/medias/documents/Rapport-Erik-Cohen.pdf |title=Les juifs de France: La lente progression des mariages mixtes |trans-title=The Jews of France: The slow progression of mixed marriages |last=Cohen |first=Erik H. |date=November 2002 |publisher=Akadem |language=fr |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416230622/http://www-prod.akadem.org/medias/documents/Rapport-Erik-Cohen.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in Australia and Mexico, as low as 10&nbsp;percent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/2|publisher=World Jewish Congress|access-date=2 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521082932/http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/2|archive-date=21 May 2012}}</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|access-date=3 July 2008|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

==== War and persecution ====
{{further|Persecution of Jews|Antisemitism|Jewish military history}}
[[File:The Emperor sends Vespasian with an army to destroy the Jews (f. 177v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The Roman Emperor [[Nero]] sends [[Vespasian]] with an army to destroy the Jews, 69&nbsp;CE.]]

The Jewish people and [[Judaism]] have experienced various [[persecution]]s throughout [[Jewish history]]. During [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]], the [[Roman Empire]] (in its later phases known as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) repeatedly repressed the [[History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|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, 135–36.</ref><ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 164–65.</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&nbsp;million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13&nbsp;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 by Christians occurred, notably during the [[Crusades]]—when Jews all over Germany [[Rhineland massacres|were massacred]]—and in a series of expulsions from the [[Edict of Expulsion|Kingdom of England]], Germany, and France. Then there occurred the [[Alhambra Decree|largest expulsion of all]], when Spain and Portugal, after the [[Reconquista]] (the Catholic Reconquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]), expelled both unbaptized Sephardic Jews and the ruling Muslim [[Moors]].<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. 243–44.</ref>
[[File:The Jews the world over love liberty poster.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[World War I|World War&nbsp;I]] poster showing 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!"]]
[[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), pp. 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 forcible conversion of some Jews by the rulers of the [[Almohad Caliphate|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. 17–18, 94–95; 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 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 [[Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]], and even in the newspapers and other publications of Turkish [[Refah Partisi]]."<ref name=Lewis_MEQ>{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/396/muslim-anti-semitism|title=Muslim Anti-Semitism|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|author-link=Bernard Lewis|journal=Middle East Quarterly|publisher=Middle East Forum|date=June 1998}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}

Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed ranged from [[Deportation|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. 207–08.</ref> the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (led by [[Tomás de 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. 226–29.</ref> the [[Bohdan Chmielnicki]] Cossack massacres in [[Ukraine]];<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 259–60.</ref> the [[Pogrom]]s backed by the Russian [[List of Russian rulers|Tsars]];<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–365">Johnson (1987), pp. 364–65.</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&nbsp;percent 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=725–36|issn=0002-9297|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=https://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=4 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Susan M. |last2=Bosch |first2=Elena |last3=Balaresque |first3=Patricia L. |last4=Ballereau |first4=Stéphane J. |last5=Lee |first5=Andrew C. |last6=Arroyo |first6=Eduardo |last7=López-Parra |first7=Ana M. |last8=Aler |first8=Mercedes |last9=Grifo |first9=Marina S. Gisbert |last10=Brion |first10=Maria |last11=Carracedo |first11=Angel |last12=Lavinha |first12=João |last13=Martínez-Jarreta |first13=Begoña |last14=Quintana-Murci |first14=Lluis |last15=Picornell |first15=Antònia |last16=Ramon |first16=Misericordia |last17=Skorecki |first17=Karl |last18=Behar |first18=Doron M. |last19=Calafell |first19=Francesc |last20=Jobling |first20=Mark A. |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 |date=December 2008 |volume=83 |issue=6 |pages=725–736 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061 }}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1576 Bild-006, Minsk, Juden.jpg|thumb|Jews in [[Minsk]], 1941. Before World War&nbsp;II, some 40&nbsp;percent 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.]]
The persecution reached a peak in [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[Final Solution]], which led to [[the Holocaust]] and the slaughter of approximately 6&nbsp;million Jews.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 512.</ref> Of the world's 16&nbsp;million Jews in 1939, almost 40% were murdered in the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 February 2015 |title=The continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401012738/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Holocaust—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|World War&nbsp;II]] by Germany and its [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|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&nbsp;II.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 484–88.</ref> [[Nazi concentration camps|Concentration camps]] were established in which inmates were used as [[Slavery|slave labour]] until they died of exhaustion or disease.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 490–92.</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|access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> Jews and [[Romani people|Roma]] were crammed into [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghettos]] before being transported hundreds of kilometres by freight train to [[extermination camp]]s where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were murdered in gas chambers.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 493–98.</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 ====
{{further|Expulsions of Jews}}
[[File:Expulsion judios-en.svg|thumb|left|Expulsions of Jews in Europe from 1100 to 1600]]
Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their original homeland, the [[Land of Israel]], 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. 41–43.</ref> In summary, the [[pogrom]]s in Eastern Europe,<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–365"/> the rise of modern [[antisemitism]],<ref name="Gartner 2001, pp. 213–5">Gartner (2001), pp. 213–15.</ref> the Holocaust,<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 357–70.</ref> as well as 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 patriarch [[Abraham]] is described as a migrant to the land of [[Canaan]] from [[Ur of the Chaldees|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|author-link1=Emil G. Hirsch|first2=Max|last2=Seligsohn|author-link2=Max Seligsohn|first3=Wilhelm|last3=Bacher|author-link3=Wilhelm Bacher}}</ref> His descendants, the [[Children of Israel]], in the Biblical story (whose historicity is uncertain) undertook [[the Exodus]] (meaning "departure" or "exit" in Greek) from [[ancient Egypt]], as recorded in the [[Book of Exodus]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 30.</ref>

[[File:Vertreibung der Juden 1614.jpg|thumb|upright|Etching of the [[Frankfurter Judengasse#The Fettmilch Uprising|expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt]] in [[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|Jews fleeing pogroms, 1882]]
Centuries later, [[Assyria]]n policy was to deport and displace conquered peoples, and it is estimated some 4,500,000 among captive populations suffered this dislocation over three centuries of Assyrian rule.<ref name="Smith-Christopher" /> With regard to Israel, [[Tiglath-Pileser III|Tiglath-Pileser&nbsp;III]] claims he deported 80% of the population of [[Lower Galilee]], some 13,520 people.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC|title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century|year=1996 |isbn=9780931464966 |last1=Cooper |first1=Jerrold S. |last2=Schwartz |first2=Glenn M. |publisher=Eisenbrauns }}</ref> Some 27,000 Israelites, 20 to 25% of the population of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], were described as being deported by [[Sargon II|Sargon&nbsp;II]], and were replaced by other deported populations and sent into permanent exile by Assyria, initially to the Upper Mesopotamian provinces of the Assyrian Empire.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qjkz_8EMoaUC|title=Biblical History and Israel S Past|isbn=9780802862600 |last1=Moore |first1=Megan Bishop |last2=Kelle |first2=Brad E. |date=17 May 2011 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPoQkBwjnVcC|title=Mixing Metaphors|isbn=9780826469694 |last1=Dille |first1=Sarah J. |date=July 2004 |publisher=A&C Black }}</ref> Between 10,000 and 80,000 people from the [[Kingdom of Judah]] were similarly exiled by [[Babylon]]ia,<ref name="Smith-Christopher">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YhMAwAAQBAJ|title=The Religion of the Landless|isbn=9781608994786 |last1=Smith-Christopher |first1=Daniel L. |date=14 January 2015 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref> but these people were then returned to [[Judea]] by [[Cyrus the Great]] of the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]].<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 85–86.</ref>

Many Jews 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]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 May 2005 |title=The Post-Second Temple Period |url=https://archive.jewishagency.org/israel-diaspora-relations/content/23757 |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=The Jewish Agency |language=en}}</ref> as Jews were spread throughout the Roman world and, driven from land to land,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w1wk |title=Next Year in Jerusalem: Exile and Return in Jewish History |date=2019 |publisher=Purdue University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh9w1wk |jstor=j.ctvh9w1wk |isbn=978-1-55753-875-8|s2cid=263234025 }}</ref> 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>

There were also many expulsions of Jews 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 [[East-Central Europe]], especially Poland.<ref name="Gartner 11-12">Gartner (2001), pp. 11–12.</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 [[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> This contributed to the arrival of millions of Jews in the [[New World]]. Over two million Eastern European Jews arrived in the United States from 1880 to 1925.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 370.</ref>

In the latest phase of migrations, the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution of Iran]] caused many [[Iranian Jews]] to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly [[Los Angeles, California]], and [[Long Island, New York]]) and Israel. Smaller communities of Persian Jews exist in Canada and Western Europe.<ref>{{cite EJ|last=Netzer|first=Amnon|title=Iran|volume=10|page=13}}</ref> Similarly, 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:Western Wall, Jerusalem, (16037897867).jpg|thumb|Praying at the [[Western Wall]]]]
Israel is the only country with a Jewish population that is consistently growing through [[natural population growth]], although 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. 400–01.</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]] favours 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 reaching out to 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>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9780470758014.ch27 |chapter=The 'Return' to Traditional Judaism at the End of the Twentieth Century: Cross-Cultural Comparisons |title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism |year=2008 |last1=Danzger |first1=M. Herbert |pages=495–511 |isbn=978-0-470-75801-4 }}</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>
{{Clear}}

== Contributions ==
{{see also|Lists of Jews}}
Jewish individuals have played a significant role in the development and growth of [[Western culture]],<ref name="Cambridge University Historical Series"/><ref name="britannica.com"/> advancing many fields of thought, [[Jewish culture#Science and technology|science and technology]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> both historically and in modern times,<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> including through discrete trends in [[Jewish philosophy]], [[Jewish ethics]]<ref name="auto2"/> and [[Jewish literature]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> as well as specific trends in [[Jewish culture]], including in [[Jewish art]], [[Jewish music]], [[Jewish humor]], [[Jewish theatre]], [[Jewish cuisine]] and [[Jewish medicine]].<ref name="Rabin"/><ref name="Shatzmiller, Joseph 1995"/> Jews have established various [[Jewish political movements]],<ref name="Daly2013"/> [[Jewish religious movements|religious movements]], and, through the [[Authorship of the Bible|authorship of the Hebrew Bible]] and parts of the [[New Testament]],<ref name="Dimont2004">{{cite book|author=[[Max I. Dimont]]|title=Jews, God, and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lm5U0YSPmBUC&pg=PT102|year= 2004|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-14225-7|pages=102–}} "During the subsequent five hundred years, under Persian, Greek and Roman domination, the Jews wrote, revised, admitted and canonized all the books now comprising the Jewish Old Testament"</ref><ref name="Galambush2011">{{cite book|author=Julie Galambush|title=The Reluctant Parting: How the New Testament's Jewish Writers Created a Christian Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52nkWb8GNMAC&pg=PA3|year=2011|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-210475-5|pages=3–}}"The fact that Jesus and his followers who wrote the New Testament were first-century Jews, then, produces as many questions as it does answers concerning their experiences, beliefs, and practices"</ref> provided the foundation for [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]].<ref name="BarclaySweet1996"/><ref name="Paterson2009"/> More than 20&nbsp;percent<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&nbsp;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|access-date=3 April 2012|last=Dobbs|first=Stephen Mark|date=12 October 2001|newspaper=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]]|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|access-date=25 November 2011|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019170057/http://www.jewishbiography.com/biographies/list-of-jews/jewish-nobel-prize-winners/index.html|url-status=dead}}</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.|author1=Ted Falcon |author2=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 1880s 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!|author1=Jonathan B. Krasner |author2=Jonathan D. Sarna}}</ref> of the awarded [[Nobel Prize]] have gone to individuals of [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates|Jewish descent]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Jewish Nobel Prize Winners|url=http://www.jinfo.org/Nobel_Prizes.html|website=Jinfo.org|access-date=16 March 2016|quote=At least 194 Jews and people of half- or three-quarters-Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2015, and constituting 36% of all US recipients during the same period. In the scientific research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 26% and 38%, respectively. Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 33% and 50%, respectively. Of organizations awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 22% were founded principally by Jews or by people of half-Jewish descent. Since the turn of the century (i.e., since the year 2000), Jews have been awarded 25% of all Nobel Prizes and 28% of those in the scientific research fields.}}</ref>  Philanthropic giving is a widespread core function among Jewish organizations.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Nissim |first1=Hanna |last2=Rooney |first2=Patrick |date=July 2023 |title=American Jewish Philanthropy: Overview of Research between 2000 and 2020 |url=https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/fd5b1555-2d8e-42cf-9e33-3c72f93a9bcf/content |publisher=Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="Jews-are-ethnoreligious-group">
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=V4qhTL61nXEC&dq=jew+ethnic+mandla&pg=PA43 Ethnic minorities in English law]. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved on 23 December 2010.
* {{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=328–32|doi=10.2307/2573430}}
* {{cite book|author=Craig R. Prentiss|title=Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ze30q1hm8uUC&pg=PA85|year=2003|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-6700-9|pages=85–}}
* {{cite book|author=The Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Eli Lederhendler Stephen S. Wise Professor of American Jewish History and Institutions|title=Studies in Contemporary Jewry : Volume XVII: Who Owns Judaism? Public Religion and Private Faith in America and Israel: Volume XVII: Who Owns Judaism? Public Religion and Private Faith in America and Israel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wvahJv83AgC&pg=PA101|year= 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-534896-5|pages=101–}}
* {{cite book|author1=Ernest Krausz|author2=Gitta Tulea|title=Jewish Survival: The Identity Problem at the Close of the Twentieth Century; &#91;... International Workshop at Bar-Ilan University on the 18th and 19th of March, 1997&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnxv-Mlz0JIC&pg=PA90|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-2689-1|pages=90–}}
* {{cite book|author=John A. Shoup III|title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN5yv3-U6goC&pg=PA133|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-363-7|page=133}}
* {{cite book|author=Tet-Lim N. Yee|title=Jews, Gentiles and Ethnic Reconciliation: Paul's Jewish identity and Ephesians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4OwXhMOn5cC&pg=PA102|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-44411-8|pages=102–}}
</ref>
}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Coogan|editor-first=Michael D.|title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C|isbn=978-0-19-513937-2|access-date=4 April 2018|archive-date=15 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115173430/https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C|url-status=live}}
* {{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=Dever |first=William |title=Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WkbUkKeqcoC |isbn=978-0-8028-0975-9 |access-date=4 April 2018 |archive-date=21 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421082836/https://books.google.com/books?id=8WkbUkKeqcoC |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book| title = The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts
| last1 = Finkelstein | first1 = Israel
| last2 = Silberman | first2 = Neil Asher
| publisher = Simon and Schuster
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lu6ywyJr0CMC
| date = 2002
| isbn = 978-0-7432-2338-6
}}
* {{cite book|title=Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism|last=Kornberg|first=Jacques|isbn=978-0-253-33203-5|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1993}}
* {{Cite book |title=A History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Judah |last=Lipiński |first=Edward |publisher=Peeters |year=2020 |isbn=978-90-429-4212-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGy6zQEACAAJ |series=Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta |volume=287}}
* {{Cite book |last=McNutt |first=Paula |title=Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-664-22265-9 }}
* {{harvc |last=Stager |first=Lawrence |c=Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel |in=Coogan |year=1998}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tubb |first=Jonathan |title=Canaanites (Peoples of the Past) |edition=Hardback |year=1998 |place=London |publisher=British Museum Press |isbn=978-0-7141-2089-8}}
* {{Cite book |chapter=The Tribes That Were Not Lost: The Samaritans |last=Tobolowsky |first=Andrew |year=2022 |title=The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel: New Identities Across Time and Space |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/myth-of-the-twelve-tribes-of-israel/tribes-that-were-not-lost/BAEE997B6F05C26B49864979B0705E9D |pages=69–70; 73–75 |doi=10.1017/9781009091435.003 |isbn=978-1-316-51494-8}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links |wikt=Jew |s=Portal:Judaism |v=Portal:Jewish Studies |d=Q7325}}
* [https://www.jewishdatabank.org/databank Official website] of the [[Berman Jewish DataBank]]
* [https://www.jewishagency.org/ Official website] of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel]]
* [https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Official website] of ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]''
* [https://www.jta.org/ Official website] of the [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]
* [http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/indi.asp Maps related to Jewish history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323194258/http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/indi.asp |date=23 March 2012 }}
* [https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/ Official website] of the [[World Jewish Congress]]

{{Jews and Judaism|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Jews| ]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of the Near East]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in East Africa]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in North Africa]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in South Asia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Central Asia]]
[[Category:Ethno-cultural designations]]
[[Category:Ethnoreligious groups]]
[[Category:Israelites]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism| ]]
[[Category:Religious identity]]
[[Category:Semitic-speaking peoples]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of West Asia]]