Jews

The Jews (/dʒuːz/;Hebrew: יְהוּדִים ISO 259-3 Yehudim, Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]), also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation, while its observance varies from strict observance to complete nonobservance.

The Jews trace their ethnogenesis to the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel. The discovery of the Merneptah Stele confirms the existence of the people of Israel in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. Since then, while maintaining rule over their homeland during certain periods—such as under the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, the Hasmonean Dynasty, and the Herodian Kingdom—Jews also suffered various exiles and occupations from their homeland—from Ancient Egyptian Occupation of the Levant, to Assyrian Captivity and Exile, to Babylonian Captivity and Exile, to Greek Occupation and Exile, to the Roman Occupation and Exile. These events subjected Jews to slavery, pogroms, cultural assimilation, forced expulsions, genocide, and more, scattering Jews all around the world, in what is known today as the Jewish diaspora.

Middle East

The Middle East (also called the Mid East) is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. Formerly, the Eurocentric synonym Near East (as opposed to Far East) was commonly used. Arabs, Azeris, Kurds, Persians, and Turks constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population, while Armenians, Assyrians, Circassians, Copts, Druze, Jews, Maronites, Somalis, and other ethnic and ethno-religious groups form significant minorities.

The History of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the (geo-political) importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the Baha'i faith, Mandaeism, Unitarian Druze, and numerous other belief systems were also established within the region. The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, with several major rivers providing irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia, and most of what is known as the Fertile Crescent. Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil, with the dictatorships of the Arabian Peninsula in particular benefiting from petroleum exports. In modern times the Middle East remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously sensitive region.

Want To

"Want To" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in August 2006 as the first single from the album Enjoy the Ride. It was their first single not to feature former member Kristen Hall, although Jennifer Nettles had previously been featured on Bon Jovi's Number One country hit, "Who Says You Can't Go Home", the song was also the first regular Number One hit of Sugarland's career in the U.S., spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in late 2006. The duo's members, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, wrote the song along with Bobby Pinson. The song has sold 856,000 copies in the US as of April 2013.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Personnel

Mizrahi Jews

Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahim (Hebrew: מזרחים‎) or Mashriqiyyun (Arabic: الم‍شرقيون‎), also referred to as Edot HaMizrach (עֲדוֹת-הַמִּזְרָח; Communities of the East; Mizrahi Hebrew: ʿEdot(h) Ha(m)Mizraḥ), Ben ha-Mizraḥ; Bene ha-Mizraḥ ("Sons of the East") or Oriental Jews are Jews descended from local Jewish communities of the Middle East. The term Mizrahi is most commonly used in Israel to refer to Jews who trace their roots back to Muslim-majority countries. This includes descendants of Babylonian Jews and Mountain Jews from modern Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Caucasus, Kurdistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also, Yemenite, Turkish and Persian Jews are usually included within the Mizrahi Jewish group. The term Mizrahim often consists of Maghrebi Jews, including Sephardic who lived in North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco).

The use of the term Mizrahi can be somewhat controversial. Before the establishment of the state of Israel, Mizrahi Jews did not identify themselves as a separate ethnic subgroup. Instead, Mizrahi Jews generally characterized themselves as Sephardi, because they follow the traditions of Sephardic Judaism (although with some differences among the minhagim of the particular communities). This has resulted in a conflation of terms, particularly in Israel, and in religious usage, where "Sephardi" is used in a broad sense to include Mizrahi Jews and Maghrebi Jews as well as Sephardim proper. Indeed, from the point of view of the official Israeli rabbinate, any rabbis of Mizrahi origin in Israel are under the jurisdiction of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Mizrahi Jews make up the largest ethnic group in Israel, and as of 2005, over 50% of Israeli Jews are of at least partial Mizrahi ancestry.

I-GO

I-GO was a Chicago-based car sharing organization owned by Enterprise Holdings. I-GO was established in 2002 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and implementing new strategies that make urban communities more livable and environmentally sustainable. I-GO was sold to Enterprise Holdings in May 2013 and re-branded as Enterprise CarShare.

Mission

I-GO’s mission was to reduce car ownership rates, decrease transportation costs, reduce urban congestion and improve air quality in Chicago. From its inception, I-GO worked to catalyze a set of transportation innovations that make it feasible and desirable for Chicago residents to get around conveniently and economically without having to own a car and, at the same time, reduce vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions. By contributing to the environmental improvement of the Chicago area and the decrease in expenses for residents, I-GO's triple bottom line impact provided a significant social return on investment.