Bukharan Jews

Total population
approx. 150,000-200,000
Regions with significant populations
Israel 100,000-120,000  United States 50,000-60,000  European Union 5,000-10,000  Uzbekistan 100-1,000  Tajikistan 50-100  Canada 150  Russia 100
Languages
Traditionally Bukhori (Judeo-Tajik), Tajik, Russian, Hebrew (Israel), English (USA, UK, and Australia), and German (Austria and Germany) spoken in addition and to a lesser extent, Uzbek for those who remain in Uzbekistan.
Religion
Judaism, Islam (see Chala), Agnosticism
Related ethnic groups
Other Jewish groups (Mizrahi, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, etc.)

Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Etymology Who is a Jew? Jewish peoplehood Jewish identity
Religion God in Judaism Names Principles of faith Mitzvot 613 Halakha Shabbat Holidays Prayer Tzedakah Land of Israel Brit Bar and Bat Mitzvah Marriage Bereavement Philosophy Ethics Kabbalah Customs Synagogue Rabbi
Texts Tanakh Torah Nevi'im Ketuvim Targum Talmud Mishnah Gemara Rabbinic Midrash Tosefta Mishneh Torah Tur Shulchan Aruch Zohar
Communities Ashkenazi Sephardi Mizrahi Bukharan Kurdish Mountain Romaniotes Related groups: Lemba Khazars Karaim Krymchaks Samaritans Crypto-Jews Mosaic Arabs
Population Land of Israel Israeli Jews Palestinian Jews Europe Russia Poland Germany Netherlands Austria Hungary Romania United Kingdom France Portugal Spain Italy Greece Bulgaria Asia Iraq Yemen Syria Lebanon Iran Turkey Georgia India Pakistan China Africa Morocco Algeria Tunisia Libya Egypt Ethiopia South Africa North America United States Canada Latin America Argentina Brazil Mexico Oceania Australia New Zealand Judaism by country Lists of Jews Rabbis Historical population comparisons
Denominations Alternative Conservative Humanistic Karaite Liberal Orthodox Haymanot Reconstructionist Reform Renewal Traditional
Culture Minyan Wedding Niddah Pidyon haben Music Cuisine Hiloni Shidduch Zeved habat Conversion to Judaism
Languages Hebrew Biblical Yiddish Juhuri Judæo-Iranian Ladino Judeo-Aramaic Judeo-Arabic
History Timeline Leaders Ancient Kingdom of Judah Temple in Jerusalem Babylonian captivity Yehud Medinata Jerusalem in Judaism Timeline Hasmonean dynasty Sanhedrin Schisms Pharisees Jewish–Roman wars Christianity and Judaism Islamic–Jewish relations Diaspora Middle Ages Sabbateans Hasidism Haskalah Emancipation The Holocaust Aliyah Israel history Arab–Israeli conflict Land of Israel Baal teshuva Persecution Antisemitism history
Politics Zionism Labor Revisionist Religious Green General Bundism World Agudath Israel Feminism Politics of Israel Left Right
Category Portal WikiProject
v t e

Bukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, (Persian: یهودی بخارایی‎ Yahūde-ye Bukhārāī ; Russian: Бухарские евреи Bukharskie evrei ; Hebrew: בוכרים‎ Bukharim ; Tajik and Bukhori Cyrillic: яҳудиёни бухороӣ^{[citation needed]} Yahūdieni bukhoroj (Bukharan Jews) or яҳудиёни Бухоро^{[citation needed]} Yahūdieni Bukhoro (Jews of Bukhara), Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel,^[1] are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language. Their name comes from the former Central Asian Emirate of Bukhara, which once had a sizable Jewish community. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the great majority have emigrated to Israel or to the United States (especially Queens, New York), while others have emigrated to Europe or Australia.^[2]

Background[link]

According to some ancient texts, there were Israelities that began traveling to Central Asia to work as traders during the reign of King David of Jerusalem as far back as the 10th century B.C.E.^[3] There is a tradition among the Bukharan Jews tracing their ancestry to the Tribe of Napthali and to the Tribe of Issachar of the Lost Tribes of Israel^[4] who may have been exiled during the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 7th century BCE.^[5] A third wave of Jews into Central Asia are said to have been descendants of the Israelites who never returned from the Babylonian captivity after exile in the 6th-5th century BCE.

Bukharan girls in Samarkand, ca 1900

The Bukharan Jews of Central Asia were essentially cut off from the rest of the Jewish world for more than 2,500 years but somehow managed to survive and preserve their Israelite identity and heritage in the face of tremendous odds. They are considered one of the oldest ethno-religious groups of Central Asia and over the years they have developed their own distinct culture. Throughout the years, Jews from other Eastern countries such as Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Morocco migrated into Central Asia (usually by taking the Silk Road), as did Jews who were exiled from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition^{[citation needed]}; all these joined the Central Asian Jewish community and were later collectively known as Bukharan Jews. In Central Asia, the Bukharan Jewish community survived for centuries, despite being subject to many conquering influences and much persecution.

Most Bukharan Jews lived in the Emirate of Bukhara (currently Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), while a small number lived in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and some other parts of the former Soviet Union. In the Emirate of Bukhara, the largest concentrations were in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khokand. In Tajikistan, they similarly were mainly concentrated in the capital, Dushanbe.

Prior to the Partition of India, some Bukharan Jews could be found among the Afghan population of Peshawar, a city in what is now Pakistan. After partition and the creation of Israel, nearly all of these Jews left for Israel and other countries. One synagogue still exists in Peshawar, though it is non-functioning.

Name and language[link]

Interior of the Great Synagogue in Bukhara, sketch based on a photograph by Elkan Nathan Adler.

The term Bukharan was coined by European travelers who visited Central Asia around the 16th century. Since most of the Jewish community at the time lived under the Emirate of Bukhara, they came to be known as Bukharan Jews. The name by which the community called itself is "Isro'il" (Israelites).

The appellative Bukharian was adopted by Bukharan Jews who moved to English-speaking countries, in an anglicisation of the Hebrew Bukhari. However, Bukharan was the term used historically by English writers, as it was for other aspects of Bukhara.

Bukharan Jews used the Persian language to communicate among themselves and later developed Bukhori, a distinct dialect of the Tajiki-Persian language with certain linguistic traces of Hebrew. This language provided easier communication with their neighboring communities and was used for all cultural and educational life among the Jews. It was used widely until the area was "Russified" by the Russians and the dissemination of "religious" information was halted. The elderly Bukharan generation use Bukhori as their primary language but speak Russian with a slight Bukharan accent. The younger generation use Russian as their primary language, but do understand or speak Bukhori.

The Bukharan Jews are Mizrahi Jews^[2] and have been introduced to and practice Sephardic Judaism.

History[link]

The first primary written account of Jews in Central Asia dates to the beginning of the 4th century CE. It is recalled in the Talmud by Rabbi Shmuel bar Bisna, a member of the Talmudic academy in Pumbeditha, who traveled to Margiana (present-day Merv in Turkmenistan) and feared that the wine and alcohol produced by local Jews was not kosher.^[6] The presence of Jewish communities in Merv is also proven by Jewish writings on ossuaries from the 5th and 6th centuries, uncovered between 1954 and 1956.^[7]

Having developed over the millennia from Spanish Jewish and northeastern Persian and Arab Jewish communities, this Central Asian community has experienced alternating periods of freedom and prosperity, as well as periods of oppression. With the establishment of the Silk Road between China and the West in the 2nd century BCE that lasted well into the 16th century, many Jews flocked to the Emirate of Bukhara and played a great role in its development. After the Babylonian exile, they came under the Persian Empire, as they prospered and spread through the area. However, around the 5th century, began a period of persecution. Famous Jewish academies in Babylon were closed, while many Jews were killed and expelled (see Mishnah). After Arab Muslim conquest in the early 8th century, Jews (as well as Christians) were considered Dhimmis and were forced, among other things, to pay the jizya head tax. The Mongol invasion in the 13th century also adversely affected the Jews of Bukhara.^{[citation needed]}

Sixteenth to eighteenth centuries[link]

In the beginning of the 16th century, the area was invaded and occupied by nomadic Uzbek tribes who established strict observance of Islamic religious fundamentalism.^{[citation needed]} Confined to city quarters, the Jews were denied basic rights and many were forced to convert to Islam. Under the Uzbeks, they suffered considerable discrimination. They were forced to wear a distinctive black and yellow dress to distinguish themselves from Muslims. Since the Bukharan Jews were considered Dhimmis, their heads of households had to be slapped in the face by Muslims during the annual tax collection.^[8]

Around 1620, the first synagogue had been constructed at Bukhara city. This was done in contravention of the law of Caliph Omar who forbade the construction of new synagogues as well as forbade the destruction of those that existed in the pre-Islamic period. There was a case when Caliph Umar had ordered to destroy a mosque, which was built illegally on Jewish land.^[9] Before the construction of the first synagogue, Jews had shared a place in a mosque with Muslims. This mosque was called the Magoki Attoron (the "Mosque in pit"). Some say that Jews and Muslims worshipped alongside each other in the same place at the same time. Other sources insist that Jews worshipped after Muslims.^[10] The construction of the first Bukhara synagogue was credited to two people: Nodir Divan-Begi, an important grandee, and an anonymous widow, who reportedly outwitted an official.

During the 18th century, Bukharan Jews faced considerable discrimination and persecution. Jewish centers were closed down, the Muslims of the region usually forced conversion on the Jews, and the Bukharan Jewish population dramatically decreased to the point where they were almost extinct.^[11] Due to pressures to convert to Islam, persecution, and isolation from the rest of the Jewish world, the Jews of Bukhara began to lack knowledge and practice of their Jewish religion. They only had three of five books of the Torah, did not know Hebrew, and replaced Bar Mitzvahs with Tefillin-banons.^[5]

By the middle of the 18th century, practically all Bukharan Jews lived in the Bukharan Emirate.

Rabbi Yosef Maimon[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Bukharan Jews celebrating Sukkot, c. 1900.

The borders of the Russian imperial territories of Kiva, Bukhara and Kokand in the time period of 1902–1903.

In 1793, Rabbi Yosef Maimon, a Sephardic Jew from Tetuan, Morocco and prominent kabbalist in Safed, traveled to Bukhara and found the local Jews in a very bad state. He decided to settle there. Maimon was disappointed to see so many Jews lacking knowledge and observance of their religious customs and Jewish law. He became a spiritual leader, aiming to educate and revive the Jewish community's observance and faith in Judaism. He changed their Persian religious tradition to Sephardic Jewish tradition. During this time, the Jews of Bukhara were almost extinct, and Middle Eastern Jews came to Central Asia and joined the Bukharan Jewish community. Maimon's work and the Middle Eastern Jewish move to Central Asia helped revive the almost extinct Bukharan Jewish community. Maimon is an ancestor of Shlomo Moussaieff, author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, and the First Lady of Iceland Dorrit Moussaieff.

Nineteenth century[link]

In 1843 the Bukharan Jews were visited by the so-called "Eccentric Missionary", Joseph Wolff, a Jewish convert to Christianity who had set himself the broad task of finding the Lost Tribes of Israel and the narrow one of seeking two British officers who had been captured by the Emir, Nasrullah Khan. Wolff wrote prolifically of his travels, and the journals of his expeditions provide valuable information about the life and customs of the peoples he travelled amongst, inclluding the Bukharan Jews. In 1843, for example, they collected 10,000 silver tan'ga and purchased land in Samarkand, known as Makhallai Yakhudion, close to Registon.

In the middle of the 19th century, Bukharan Jews began to move to the Land of Israel. The land on which they settled in Jerusalem was named the Bukharan Quarter (Sh'hunat HaBucharim) and still exists today.

In 1865, Russian troops took over Tashkent, and there was a large influx of Jews to the newly created Turkestan Region. From 1876 to 1916, Jews were free to practice Judaism. Dozens of Bukharan Jews held prestigious jobs in medicine, law, and government, and many Jews prospered. Many Bukharan Jews became successful and well-respected actors, artists, dancers, musicians, singers, film producers, and sportsmen. Several Bukharan entertainers became artists of merit and gained the title "People's Artist of Uzbekistan," "People's Artist of Tajikistan," and even (in the Soviet era) "People's Artist of the Soviet Union." Jews succeeded in the world of sport also, with several Bukharan Jews in Uzbekistan becoming renowned boxers and winning many medals for the country.^[12]

Twentieth century[link]

Jewish students with their teacher in Samarkand, ca. 1910.

Prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, the Bukharan Jews were one of the most isolated Jewish communities in the world.^[13]

With the establishment of Soviet rule over the territory in 1917, Jewish life seriously deteriorated.^{[citation needed]} Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of Jews, fleeing religious oppression, confiscation of property, arrests, and repressions, fled to Palestine.^{[citation needed]} In Central Asia, the community attempted to preserve their traditions while displaying loyalty to the government. World War II and the Holocaust brought a lot of Ashkenazi Jewish refugees from the European regions of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through Uzbekistan. Starting in 1972, one of the largest Bukharan Jewish emigrations in history occurred as the Jews of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan emigrated to Israel and the United States, due to looser restrictions on immigration. In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, almost all of the remaining Bukharan Jews left Central Asia for the United States, Israel, Europe, or Australia in the last mass emigration of Bukharan Jews from their resident lands.

After 1991[link]

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and foundation of the independent Republic of Uzbekistan in 1991, there was an abrupt growth of nationalism, chauvinism, and xenophobia in Uzbek public consciousness. The advent of Islamic fundamentalism in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan caused a sudden increase in the level of emigration of Jews (both Bukharan and Ashkenazi). Before the collapse of the USSR, there were 45,000 Bukharan Jews in Central Asia.^[14]

Today, there are about 150,000 Bukharan Jews in Israel (mainly in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area including the neighborhoods of Tel Kabir, Shapira, Kiryat Shalom, HaTikvah and cities like Or Yehuda, Ramla, and Holon), 60,000 in North America (mainly Queens, New York with smaller communities in the USA like Phoenix, South Florida, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver), about less than a few thousand still remain in Uzbekistan, about 500 in Canada (mainly Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec), and almost no Bukharan Jews remain in Tajikistan (compared to the 1989 Jewish population of 15,000 in Tajikistan).

Emigrant populations[link]

United States[link]

Currently, Bukharan Jews are mostly concentrated in the U.S. in New York, Arizona, Atlanta, Denver, South Florida, Los Angeles, San Diego.^[2] New York City's 108th Street in the borough of Queens, is often referred to as "Bukharan Broadway"^[15] or "Bukharian Broadway"^[13] in Forest Hills, Queens, is filled with Bukharan restaurants and gift shops. They have formed a tight-knit enclave in this area that was once primarily inhabited by Ashkenazi Jews (many of the Ashkenazi Jews have assimilated to wider American and American Jewish culture with each successive generation). Congregation Tifereth Israel in Corona, Queens, a synagogue founded in the early 1900s by Ashkenazi Jews, became Bukharan in the 1990s. Kew Gardens, Queens, also has a very large population of Bukharan Jews. Author Janet Malcolm has taken an interest in Bukharan Jews in the U.S., writing at length about Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and, in Iphigenia in Forest Hills: Anatomy of a Murder Trial, about the 2007 contract murder of Daniel Malakov organized by his ex-wife Mazoltuv Borukhova.

In December 1999, the First Congress of the Bukharian Jews of the United States and Canada, led by Boris Kandov convened in Queens, New York City, USA. At the start of the Jewish New Year 5765 (2005), the Bukharan Jewish community of Queens (mainly Rego Park and Forest Hills) celebrated the opening of the Bukharian Jewish Community Center. This establishment further reflects the growing Bukharan community in Queens and their desire to preserve their identity in an ever-changing world.

In 2007, Bukharan-American Jews initiated lobbying efforts on behalf of their community.^[16] Zoya Maksumova, president of the Bukharan women’s organization "Esther Hamalka" said "This event represents a huge leap forward for our community. I am so grateful to God that we are here, that I was able to witness this. Now, for the first time, Americans will know who we are." Senator Joseph Lieberman intoned, "God said to Abraham, 'You'll be an eternal people'… and now we see that the State of Israel lives, and this historic [Bukharan] community, which was cut off from the Jewish world for centuries in Central Asia and suffered oppression during the Soviet Union, is alive and well in America. God has kept his promise to the Jewish people."^[16]

Tajikistan[link]

In early 2006, the still-active Dushanbe synagogue in Tajikistan as well as the city's mikveh (ritual bath), kosher butcher, and Jewish schools were demolished by the government (without compensation to the community) to make room for the new Palace of Nation. After an international outcry, the government of Tajikistan announced a reversal of its decision and publicly claimed that it would permit the synagogue to be rebuilt on its current site. However, in mid-2008, the government of Tajikistan destroyed the whole synagogue and started construction of the Palace of Nation. The Dushanbe synagogue was Tajkistan's only synagogue and the community were therefore left without a centre or a place to pray. As a result, the majority of Bukharan Jews from Tajikistan living in Israel and the United States have very negative views towards the Tajik government and many have cut off all ties they had with the country. In 2009, the Tajik government rebuilt the synagogue in a different location for the small Jewish community.

Culture[link]

Dress Codes[link]

Bukharan Jews had their own dress code, similar to but also different from other cultures (mainly Turco-Mongol) living in Central Asia. On weddings today, one can still observe the bride and the close relatives donning the traditional kaftan (Jomah-ҷома-ג'אמה in Bukhori and Tajik) and the richly embroidered fur-lined hats for the wedding dances.

Music[link]

The Bukharan Jews have a distinct musical tradition called Shashmaqam, which is an ensemble of stringed instruments, infused with Central Asian rhythms, and a considerable klezmer influence as well as Muslim melodies, and even Spanish chords. Shashamqam music "reflect the mix of Hassidic vocals, Indian and Islamic instrumentals and Sufi-inspired texts and lyrical melodies."^[17]

Cuisine[link]

Bukharan cuisine consists of many unique dishes, distinctly influenced by ethnic dishes historically and currently found along the Silk Road and many parts of Central and even Southeast Asia. Shish kabob, or shashlik, as it is often referred to in Russian, are popular, made of chicken, beef or lamb. Pulled noodles, often thrown into a hearty stew of meat and vegetables known as lagman, are similar in style to Chinese lamian, also traditionally served in a meat broth. Sambusa, pastries filled with spiced meat or vegetables, are baked in a unique, hollowed out tandoor oven, and greatly resemble the preparation and shape of Indian samosas.

Plov is a very popular slow-cooked rice dish spiced with cumin and containing carrots, and in some varieties, chick peas, and often topped with beef or lamb. Another popular dish is Baksh which consists of rice, chicken breast and liver cut into small cubes, with cilantro, which adds a shade of green to the rice once it's been cooked. Most Bukharan Jewish communities still produce their traditional breads including non, (lepeshka in Russian), a circular bread with a flat center that has multiple pattern of designs, topped with black and regular sesame seeds, and the other, called Non Toki, bears the dry and crusty features of traditional Jewish matzah, but with a distinctly wheatier taste.

Notable Bukharan Jews[link]

• Yisrael Aharoni – Israeli chef and restaurateur
• Jacob Arabov – Proprietor of Jacob & Co.
• Ari Babakhanov – Musician from Uzbekistan
• Amnon Cohen – Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.
• Rena Galibova – Soviet actress, "People's Artist of Tajikistan" (an awarded title, alluding to national prominence)
• Meirkhaim Gavrielov – Journalist murdered in Tajikistan in 1998
• Shimon Hakham – Bukharan-Israeli Rabbi/ Writer/ One of the founders of the Bukharan Quarter
• Robert Ilatov – Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu
• Barno Itzhakova – vocalist, famous for her rendition of traditional Shashmaqom songs in Tajik and Uzbek
• Lev Leviev – Billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist, president of the World Congress of Bukharian Jews
• Boris Kandov – President of the Bukharian Jewish Congress of the USA and Canada
• Malika Kalontarova – Dancer, "People's Artist of Soviet Union" (Queen of Eastern Dance)
• Fatima Kuinova – Soviet singer, "Merited Artist of the Soviet Union"
• Yosef Maimon – Religious leader
• Ilyas Malayev – Musician and Poet from Uzbekistan, "Honored Artist of Uzbekistan"
• Dorrit Moussaieff – First Lady of Iceland
• Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson – Author
• Shlomo Moussaieff (businessman) – Israeli millionaire businessman
• Shlomo Moussaieff (rabbi) – Co-founder of the Bukharan Quarter in Jerusalem
• Yudik Mullodzhanov – Tenor and teacher. Also known as "Bukharian Pavarotti"
• Rosa Mullodzhanova – Opera Singer "Honored Artist of Tajikistan"
• Shoista Mullodzhanova – Shashmakon singer, "People's Artist of Tajikistan" (Queen of Shashmakom music)
• Gavriel Mullokandov – Popular Shashmakom artist, "People's Artist of Uzbekistan"
• Jacob Nasirov – Bukharan-American Rabbi from Afghanistan (member of the Bukharian Rabbinical Counsel)
• Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich - Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima
• Anthony Yadgaroff – British Businessman, Jewish community leader
• Idan Yaniv – Israeli singer, "2007 Israeli Artist of the Year"
• Suleiman Yudakov – Soviet composer and musician, "People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR"

See also[link]

• Africa Israel Investments
• Bais Yaakov Machon Academy
• Dushanbe synagogue
• Emirate of Bukhara
• History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union
• History of the Jews under Muslim Rule
• Ohr Avner Foundation

References[link]

External links[link]

• BJews.com, Bukharian Jewish Global Portal
• "Alanna's Cooper's publications on Bukharan Jews", kikayon.com
• Elena Neva, "Heavenly Frogs in the Art of Bukharian Jewelers", KUNSTpedia, March 19, 2009.
• "Bukharian Jews protect their culture in a N.Y. enclave", Haaretz (Reuters), October 21, 2009.

Jews
Hebrew: יהודים‎ (Yehudim)

Total population
13,428,300 [1]
Regions with significant populations
Israel 5,703,700 [1]
United States 5,275,000 [1]  France 483,500 [1]  Canada 375,000 [1]  United Kingdom 292,000 [1]  Russia 205,000 [1]  Argentina 182,300 [1]  Germany 119,000 [1]  Australia 107,500 [1]  Brazil 95,600 [1]  Ukraine 71,500 [1]  South Africa 70,800 [1]  Hungary 48,600 [1]  Mexico 39,400 [1]  Belgium 30,300 [1]  Netherlands 30,000 [1]  Italy 28,400 [1]  Chile 20,500 [1]
Languages
Predominant spoken languages: Hebrew · English · Russian · the vernacular languages of other countries in the diaspora Historical languages: Yiddish · Ladino · Judeo-Arabic · others Sacred languages: Biblical Hebrew · Aramaic
Religion
Judaism

Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Etymology Who is a Jew? Jewish peoplehood Jewish identity
Religion God in Judaism Names Principles of faith Mitzvot 613 Halakha Shabbat Holidays Prayer Tzedakah Land of Israel Brit Bar and Bat Mitzvah Marriage Bereavement Philosophy Ethics Kabbalah Customs Synagogue Rabbi
Texts Tanakh Torah Nevi'im Ketuvim Targum Talmud Mishnah Gemara Rabbinic Midrash Tosefta Mishneh Torah Tur Shulchan Aruch Zohar
Communities Ashkenazi Sephardi Mizrahi Bukharan Kurdish Mountain Romaniotes Related groups: Lemba Khazars Karaim Krymchaks Samaritans Crypto-Jews Mosaic Arabs
Population Land of Israel Israeli Jews Palestinian Jews Europe Russia Poland Germany Netherlands Austria Hungary Romania United Kingdom France Portugal Spain Italy Greece Bulgaria Asia Iraq Yemen Syria Lebanon Iran Turkey Georgia India Pakistan China Africa Morocco Algeria Tunisia Libya Egypt Ethiopia South Africa North America United States Canada Latin America Argentina Brazil Mexico Oceania Australia New Zealand Judaism by country Lists of Jews Rabbis Historical population comparisons
Denominations Alternative Conservative Humanistic Karaite Liberal Orthodox Haymanot Reconstructionist Reform Renewal Traditional
Culture Minyan Wedding Niddah Pidyon haben Music Cuisine Hiloni Shidduch Zeved habat Conversion to Judaism
Languages Hebrew Biblical Yiddish Juhuri Judæo-Iranian Ladino Judeo-Aramaic Judeo-Arabic
History Timeline Leaders Ancient Kingdom of Judah Temple in Jerusalem Babylonian captivity Yehud Medinata Jerusalem in Judaism Timeline Hasmonean dynasty Sanhedrin Schisms Pharisees Jewish–Roman wars Christianity and Judaism Islamic–Jewish relations Diaspora Middle Ages Sabbateans Hasidism Haskalah Emancipation The Holocaust Aliyah Israel history Arab–Israeli conflict Land of Israel Baal teshuva Persecution Antisemitism history
Politics Zionism Labor Revisionist Religious Green General Bundism World Agudath Israel Feminism Politics of Israel Left Right
Category Portal WikiProject
v t e

The Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים‎‎ ISO 259-3 Yhudim Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and an ethnoreligious group, originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.^[2][3][4] Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia.

In Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced to the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the second millennium BCE. The modern State of Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its Basic Laws, and Israel's Law of Return states: "Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh."^[5] Israel is the only country where Jews are a majority of the population. Jews achieved political autonomy twice before in ancient history. The first of these periods lasted from 1350^[6] to 586 BCE, and encompassed the periods of the Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, ending with the destruction of the First Temple. The second was the period of the Hasmonean Kingdom spanning from 140 to 37 BCE. Since the destruction of the First Temple, most Jews have lived in diaspora.^[7] A minority in every country in which they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced persecution throughout history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.

As of 2010^[update], the world Jewish population was estimated at 13.4 million by the North American Jewish Data Bank,^[1] or roughly 0.2% of the total world population. According to this report, about 42.5% of all Jews reside in Israel (5.7 million), and 39.3% in the United States (5.3 million), with most of the remainder living in Europe (1.5 million) and Canada (0.4 million).^[1] These numbers include all those who consider themselves Jews, whether or not they are affiliated with a Jewish organization. The total world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure. In addition to issues with census methodology, there are halakhic disputes regarding who is a Jew and secular, political, and ancestral identification factors that may affect the figure considerably.^[8]

Name and etymology[link]

The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, a loan from Old French giu, earlier juieu, ultimately from Latin Iudaeum. The Latin Iudaeus simply means Judaean, "from the land of Judaea". The Latin term itself, like the corresponding Greek Ἰουδαῖος, is a loan from Aramaic Y'hūdāi, corresponding to Hebrew: יְהוּדִי‎‎, Yehudi (sg.); יְהוּדִים, Yehudim (pl.), in origin the term for a member of the tribe of Judah or the people of the kingdom of Judah. The name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob.^[9]

The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced [jehuˈdi], with the stress on the final syllable, in Israeli Hebrew, in its basic form.^[10]

The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio (sg.); ג׳ודיוס, Djudios (pl.); Yiddish: ייִד Yid (sg.); ייִדן, Yidn (pl.).

The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., "Yahoud"/"Yahoudi" (Arabic: يهود/يهودي‎) in Arabic language, "Jude" in German, "judeu" in Portuguese, "juif" in French, "jøde" in Danish, "judío" in Spanish, "joodse" in Dutch, etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g., in Italian (Ebreo), in Persian ("Ebri/Ebrani" (Persian: عبری/عبرانی‎)) and Russian (Еврей, Yevrey).^[11] The German word "Jude" is pronounced [ˈjuːdə], the corresponding adjective "jüdisch" [ˈjyːdɪʃ] (Jewish) is the origin of the word "Yiddish".^[12] (See Jewish ethnonyms for a full overview.)

According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000):

It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun Jew, in phrases such as Jew lawyer or Jew ethics, is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as There are now several Jews on the council, which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like Jewish people or persons of Jewish background may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun.^[13]

Origins[link]

According to their tradition, the Jewish people originated from the Israelites of the Southern Levant, who had several independent states before being overtaken first by the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and later the Roman Empire, with a large portion of the population being scattered throughout the world. According to the Hebrew Bible, all Israelites were descended from Abraham, who was born in the Sumerian city of Ur, and migrated to Canaan (commonly known as the Land of Israel) with his family. Genetic studies on Jews show that most Jews worldwide do indeed bear a common genetic heritage which originates in the Middle East, and that they bear their strongest resemblance to the peoples of the Fertile Crescent, with only minor contribution from their host populations^[14] (historically due to the taboo on intermarriage in Jewish tradition, the low number of converts to Judaism, as well as the general isolations and persecutions of Jews throughout history). According to some Biblical archaeologists, however, Israelite culture did not overtake the region, but rather grew out of Canaanite culture.

Judaism[link]

Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not only a religion, but also a "way of life,"^[15] 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 Hellenic world,^[16] in Europe before and after The Age of Enlightenment (see Haskalah),^[17] in Islamic Spain and Portugal,^[18] in North Africa and the Middle East,^[18] India,^[19] and China,^[20] or the contemporary United States^[21] and Israel,^[22] cultural phenomena have developed that are in some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism, others from the interaction of Jews or specific communities of Jews with their surroundings, others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to from the religion itself. This phenomenon has led to considerably different Jewish cultures unique to their own communities, each as authentically Jewish as the next.^[23]

Who is a Jew?[link]

Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used.^[24] Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion; those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent); and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of the religion.^[25]

Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the oral tradition into the Babylonian Talmud. Interpretations of sections of the Tanakh, such as Deuteronomy 7:1–5, by learned Jewish sages, are used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews because "[the non-Jewish husband] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." Leviticus 24:10 says that the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man is "of the community of Israel." This is complemented by Ezra 10:2–3, where Israelites returning from Babylon vow to put aside their gentile wives and their children.^[26][27] Since the Haskalah, these halakhic interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.^[28]