Jews
Ancient nation and ethnoreligious group from the Levant
Top 10 Jews related articles
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This article is about the Jewish people. For their religion, see Judaism. For the word, see Jew (word).
"Jew" redirects here. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation).
יְהוּדִים (Yehudim) | |
|---|---|
The Star of David which is a common symbol of the Jewish people. | |
| Total population | |
| 14.6–17.8 million Enlarged population (includes full or partial Jewish ancestry): | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
| 6,558,000–6,958,000[1] |
|
| 5,700,000–10,000,000[1] |
|
| 453,000–600,000[1] |
|
| 391,000–550,000[1] |
|
| 290,000–370,000[1] |
|
| 180,000–330,000[1] |
|
| 172,000–440,000[1] |
|
| 116,000–225,000[1] |
|
| 113,000–140,000[1] |
|
| 93,000–150,000[1] |
|
| 69,000–80,000[1] |
|
| 50,000–140,000[1] |
|
| 47,000–100,000[1] |
|
| 40,000–50,000[1] |
|
| 30,000–52,000[1] |
|
| 29,000–40,000[1] |
|
| 28,000–41,000[1] |
|
| 19,000–25,000[1] |
|
| 18,000–26,000[1] |
|
| 17,000–25,000[1] |
|
| 15,000–21,000[1] |
|
| 15,000–25,000[1] |
| Languages | |
| |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים ISO 259-2 Yehudim, Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]) or Jewish people are members of an ethnoreligious group[10] and a nation[11][12] originating from the Israelites[13][14][15] and Hebrews[16][17] of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated,[18][19] as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none.[20][21]
Jews originated as an ethnic and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE,[9] in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel.[22] The Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE (Late Bronze Age).[23][24] The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population,[25] consolidated their hold with the emergence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as 'Hebrews'.[26] Though few sources mention the exilic periods in detail,[27] the experience of diaspora life, from the Babylonian captivity and exile to the Roman occupation and exile, and the historical relations between Jews and their homeland thereafter, became a major feature of Jewish history, identity and memory.[28]
In the millennia following, Jewish diaspora communities coalesced into three, major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled: Ashkenazim (Central and Eastern Europe), Sephardim (initially in the Iberian Peninsula), and Mizrahim (Middle East and North Africa).[29][30] Prior to World War II, the worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million,[31] representing around 0.7 percent of the world population at that time. Approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust.[32][33] Since then the population has slowly risen again, and as of 2018[update] was estimated at 14.6–17.8 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank,[1] less than 0.2 percent of the total world population.[34][note 1]
The modern State of Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. It defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state in the Basic Laws, Human Dignity and Liberty in particular, which is based on the Declaration of Independence. Israel's Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to Jews who have expressed their desire to settle in Israel.[36]
Despite their small percentage of the world's population, Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including philosophy,[37] ethics,[38] literature,[39] politics,[39] business,[39] fine arts and architecture,[39] music, theatre[40] and cinema, medicine,[41][42] and science and technology,[39] as well as religion; Jews authored the Bible,[43][44] founded Early Christianity[45] and had a profound influence on Islam.[46] Jews have also played a significant role in the development of Western Civilization.[47][48]
Jews Intro articles: 330
"...throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and Halacha."More
- History of the Jews in England
- History of the Jews in Scotland
- History of the Jews in Northern Ireland
- History of the Jews in Wales
- Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews living primarily in the Maghreb of North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, as well as Sudan and Egypt. Some were established early in the diaspora; others after the expulsion from Iberia in the late 15th century.
- South African Jews, who are mostly Ashkenazi Jews descended from pre-and post-Holocaust immigrant Lithuanian Jews.
- Beta Israel living primarily in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia and sparsely in Eritrea.
- Berber Jews, the majority of whom were assimilated and converted to Islam, especially during the historical persecutions of the Almohadic Caliphate in the Middle Ages. The modern population of Berber Jews in Africa now numbers about 8,000 people in Morocco, with the majority having emigrated to Israel since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, along with smaller numbers scattered throughout Europe and North America.
- Historical communities which no longer exist in Africa due to assimilation, such as the Jews of Bilad el-Sudan in West Africa, who existed before the introduction of Islam to the region during the 14th century.
- Various relatively modern groups throughout Africa, most of whom claim some form of a Judaic or Israelite identity, and/or ancestry. In 2002 Tudor Parfitt proposed that the generation of Jewish and Israelite identities throughout the African continent was an integral part of the European colonial project. However,in 1992 and 2020 the same author provided proof of ancient Jewish communities in both west and East Africa.
- A Jew is someone who identifies with the history, culture, and future of the Jewish people;
- Judaism is the historic culture of the Jewish people, and religion is only one part of that culture;
- Jewish identity is best preserved in a free, pluralistic environment;
- People possess the power and responsibility to shape their own lives independent of supernatural authority;
- Ethics and morality should serve human needs, and choices should be based upon consideration of the consequences of actions rather than pre-ordained rules or commandments;
- Jewish history, like all history, is a human saga, a testament to the significance of human power and human responsibility. Biblical and other traditional texts are the products of human activity and are best understood through archaeology and other scientific analysis.
- The freedom and dignity of the Jewish people must go hand in hand with the freedom and dignity of every human being.