Jews
| Jews (Yehoudim) | |||
 | |||
| Populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total population | 13 428 300 (2010) | ||
| Regions with significant populations | |||
 Israel | 5,703,700 (est.) (2010) | ||
 United States | 5 275 000 (2010) | ||
 United Kingdom | 292,000 (2010) distinguishes between Jews (with a capital letter - "people descended from ancient people of Israel ") and Jews (not capitalized -" person who professes Judaism "). Jews are therefore being religious, ethnic and cultural heterogeneity largely because of the plurality of its diaspora. They also match part of the usual categories of national community. The total number of contemporary Jews is difficult to estimate with precision, and is the subject of controversy, but according to an estimate made in 2010 would be approximately 13.4 million . The Aramaic word said as yehouda , who became then IVDVS . In the tenth century CE Old French developed this Latin word in the form Judeu, which then turns into juiu then juieu the twelfth century CE . The feminine form of Jewish latter word is derived, from the thirteenth century CE, the French word male "Jew" that reaches our days under both spellings "Jewish" (belonging to the Jewish religion) and "Jew" (belonging to the Jewish people). Other ethnonyms designating the Jews in various contemporary languages based on the same etymology "Judean", for example , "Jew" is spelled with a capital letter when referring to Jews as members of the Jewish people (and thus points to their Jewishness), but spelled with an initial lowercase when referring to Jews as believers who practice Judaism (in this case and insists on their Jewishness). Judahites, Judeans, JewsThe first book of the Bible presents the lineage of the Hebrew patriarchs: Abraham , Isaac and Jacob who also gets to name Israel and whose descendants form all Israelites. Jacob-Israel generates twelve son, eponymous ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. The name of his fourth son, Judah (, "praise YHWH"), refers to the Bible man, his tribe ), and the land inhabited by his descendants (the land of Judah). Its inhabitants are called Judahites ( According to the Hebrew Bible, was born seven centuries later, the tribe of Judah, King David . The unified kingdom of David and his son Solomon , comprising the twelve tribes of Israel split about 930 BCE into two rival Jewish kingdoms . Judah means when the kingdom of Judah , whose capital is Jerusalem residents Judah, the king a member of the Davidic dynasty and the official language Yehudit , in opposition to the kingdom of Israel , whose capital is Samaria. In the first century before the current era, under the dynasty of Hasmonean , the restored Jewish state as the kingdom of Judea includes, throughout the Land of Israel, Judea and Samaria which together form for the Romans, provincia romana they called Judaea, Judea, whose inhabitants are yehoudim that French also reflected Judeans. After the destruction of the first temple in -587, the yehoudim are spread around the world (what they call the Galusa or, in Greek, the diaspora ). The French called these Jews yehoudim emigrants and their descendants of the first two millennia of the current era. The semantic evolution of the word yehoudim covers genealogical sense (son of Yehudah) social (members of the tribe of Judah) and geographical (inhabitants of the land of Judah), rendered into French by Judahites, which complement the national sense by ( the kingdom of Judah was founded by David) and political (in the kingdom of Judea under the Hasmonean), rendered into French by Judeans. Finally, the destruction of the Second Temple until today added the ethnic and cultural meaning to the word yehoudim that French Jews translated by now. These three words emphasize the Jewishness of Another semantic evolution gives the word a religious Jewish yehoudim that makes French the word "Jews" (followers of Judaism), meaning ignored by the biblical account for periods prior to their exile in Babylon. The Bible says that non-Judahites practice the cult of YHWH , or that of the Israelites from the north, Judah or Samaritans are polytheists or practice other religions . Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman suggests, in their book The Bible Unearthed , marked religious differences between the inhabitants of the kingdom of Samaria in the north and south of Judah, that the framers of the Hebrew Bible would be mitigated to affirm the religious unity of "the people of Israel" . Judaism was born to return from exile under the leadership of the scribe Ezra and promoters of the second temple of Jerusalem. From that time until today yehoudim goes by "Jews" in French to show their Jewishness (religious identity) and the Jewishness of their concepts and their religious rites. Formation and evolution of Jewish identity Main articles: History of the Jewish people and Jewish identity. The notion of a Jew was structured through history. Over the past three millennia passed since King David , she has undergone changes or shifts. At that time the oldest, the Jews appear as a population with very diverse religious practices ., defined mainly by their supposed common origin , their language, their territory and their two states. After the disappearance of polytheism and the exile to Babylon , to -600, Jews replace the Israelites. The religious definition becomes clearer, but still expressed through the teeming diversity of sects of the Second Temple. The ideas of the people and kingdom are reaffirmed. After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans (in 70), with the final destruction of the kingdom of Judah ( first century ), then with the drafting of the Talmud ( second century - V century ), religion is unified. The restoration of the Jewish state is abandoned, returned to the messianic era. Finally, from the nineteenth century , under the influence of ideas secular and nationalist western redefining political and national Jewish identity is highlighted by some communities. The Israelite kingdoms  The oldest documentary source on the extra-biblical Israelites is the Merneptah Stele , dated to -1207 and found in 1896 in the south of modern Israel. In the stele, the Pharaoh Merneptah proclaims: "Israel is destroyed, the seed is even more". The determinative hieroglyphic meaning Israel (one man, one woman and the three lines marking the plural), said that the word refers to a population. It is unknown the exact location of this population, its ethnic or religious boundaries, its political status, but the stele confirms the existence of a rather old human group of this name in the landscape of the Canaanite era. It is unknown the exact date of writing the books of the Bible. According to all biblical literalists not in the seventh century BC. AD for Deuteronomy , and the fifth - sixth century for the following books. The Bible is not necessarily a reliable witness to history, especially for earlier periods. However, it expresses the vision of the community prior to his editors. From the earliest books of the Bible , "children of Israel "are both presented as a religious group (practicing the cult of YHWH ) and as a people, "the people of Israel " YHWH also called "My people . At this stage, however, the "people of Israel" is not presented as a nation state within the meaning of the term. This notion appears in the Bible until the story of the kingship of Saul , whose coming is supposed to have occurred around the year -1000, "Samuel told all the people you see one the Lord has chosen? . In practice, these principles are only partially implemented. On the one hand, the unified kingdom of Israel broke from the Bible to -930 into two rival Jewish States . The kingdom of Israel , or Samaria (named after its capital) dominates the northern Canaan. The kingdom of Judah (named after the royal tribe ) dominates the South. The two kingdoms are defined ambiguously in relation to one another. They were part of a single Jewish community, but they were also competing territorial, political and religious in the end. The Bible (written apparently it in the kingdom of Judah ) "we invariably portrayed the northern tribes . On the other hand, polytheism is very present within Israelite society. In the north, "the children of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that are not good. . In the south, King Josiah , about -630 "ordered ). one also finds the word " YHWH and his Asherah "in an inscription dating to the late monarchy (to -600) in the region Shefelah ( Judah ) . The Israelites, after a change from the Genesis to the first book of Samuel is well equipped with a triple feature of the Bible: they are a religious group, a people and a nation, or rather a kingdom (rapidly divided ).
The first exile of the Jews and the emergence Main article: The Babylonian exile. The kingdom of Samaria was invaded and destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC. BC, who made one of its provinces. The kingdom of Judah survived until destroyed by the Babylonians in -586 and deportation of a portion of its population to Babylon (probably mainly the elite). "The sixth century BC. AD has been decisive in the history of the Jews. In fact, one can say he is the real beginning, because he sees effected a fundamental change: the end time of the Hebrews and Judaism, the birth time of the Jews and Judaism ". The fate of Jews in the South, especially the elite deported to Mesopotamia becomes totally separate from that of the northern Israelites. The population living in Babylon seems to have broken definitively with polytheism. Indeed, the Bible ceases its regular charges on this topic. The basic forms of Jewish monotheism seems to have finally imposed in the event of exile. The Jews will no longer be independent before the Hasmonean monarchy , to -140. They no longer live only in Judea , but gradually spread across the Middle East from Babylonia. After the liberation of the exiles by the Persian emperor Cyrus II to -537 , it gives them permission to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem destroyed in -586. The populations of the ancient kingdom of Samaria then offer their help. It is rejected , and the Samaritans are accused of not being pure Israelites, but Assyrian immigrants imitating the Israelites: "The king of Assyria brought people . Exile has indeed changed the ethno-religious identities. For former exiles from Babylon , the land of Israel is unclear. The old definitions are reinterpreted. The Babylonian captivity the Jews created the modern sense. People claiming the ancient Israelites are now divided into two groups using similar religions: the Judeans and the Samaritans, both under Persian rule, and later Seleucid. Two factors seem significant in the break:
Another accusation is Jewish, that of practicing polytheism. It does not seem sufficient to justify the discrepancy. Indeed, the Treaty minor Massekhet Koutim of the Talmud of Jerusalem admits that the Samaritans are not polytheists . But the accusation of not being Jewish ancestry remains. With the centrality of Mount Gerizim, it appears as central in the release. It is both the religion, politics and the notion of people who therefore based the rejection of the Samaritans and the structuring of a distinct Jewish identity. It is not only that of monotheistic after the Bible (eg Samaritans), but also say at least three highly specific best practices religious (such as the centrality of the Temple of Jerusalem), a political loyalty and "national" in the kingdom Judean and belonging to a people clearly differentiated by its supposed origin (the "true" Israelites). The time of the TalmudThe Jews of Palestine became a minority in the overall Judaism. Thirty percent of Jews in the Roman empire live according to a census in Palestine dating from the Emperor Claudius in the midst of the first century . Many communities living east of the empire, especially in Mesopotamia and Persia , the Jewish population in Palestine is thus not likely that 25% of the total community . The cards are spread across the Middle East and especially Egypt , where Jews Hellenized thrive. The definition of strictly national "Jewish people" (language, territory, political leadership) then fades. Despite some general principles (centrality of Jerusalem , One and Only God, special destiny of the Jewish people), Judaism's Second Temple (from -515 to 70) and bursts dissolves into a multitude of currents and sects. Some identify with the Rabbanim , others in the priests of the temple, some accept the oral Torah , some not, some accept the books of the Bible that others reject (See books accepted by version Greek of the Septuagint and rejected by the Tanakh Hebrew books "intertestamental", the Deuterocanonical books ), some professing the eternity of the world when others are creationists, some professed the immortality of the soul ( Pharisees ) than others reject ( Sadducees ), some are open to the converted when others reject them, some are open to the Hellenistic culture (dominant in the Middle East at the time), others are a point of honor to refuse. After the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70 , Judaism broke it loses its central authority. The Jewish people also gradually loses its state, first reduced to the status of vassal kingdom by the Romans , and finally removed to become a mere province. Finally, a new religion is Christianity. Deriving from Judaism, which he tempers the strict rules (respect of the Sabbath , circumcision , dietary laws , prohibition of images ...) the early Christian universalism puts forward. References to the "Jewish people" and " Judah "(whose recovery was expected by the Jews) disappear from the late first century. Pharisee Judaism, we can now describe as Orthodox (the term will be used only nineteenth century ), act in parallel, and purposes of the national dimension of a Jew: it is forbidden, after the end of the Zealots ( in 67 - 73 EC) and the crushing of the revolt of Bar Kokhba (in 132 - 135 CE), to fight for the restoration of a Jewish state , . These defeats are interpreted as a manifestation of divine refusal to restore Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land. In theory the national idea is retained, however, since the creation of a new kingdom of Israel is expected for the advent of messianic times. Probably by offsetting these developments, the Orthodox Judaism has preserved and even strengthened against defining Jews as a people, severely hindering conversions to Judaism , seen as a dilution factor. Numerous enough in antiquity , they become marginal, reinforcing the ethnic particularism. Centrality of private religious and political threat by the proselytizing Christian, Judaism will fundamentally restructure.  Faced with the threat of dilution and forgetfulness of tradition, the Wise Pharisees decided to put the oral Torah writing, breaking a taboo former . The Mishnah is then written, in the second century , by tannaim. It "presents itself as a code of law, somehow the decrees of the Biblical law. It is divided into six parts . Between the Second and the Fifth Century , each section of the Mishnah is discussed in detail in the Gemara . "It all Mishnah (laws) and Gemara (commentary on the laws , which has two versions: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian , from the religious academies of the two major centers of study, and completed the Fourth and Fifth centuries. Following this work, the face of Judaism has changed, the differences of interpretation between sects pretending to belong to the past for the benefit of a strong unified body of religious rules. With its modifications at the destruction of the Jewish state is Orthodox Judaism that will be the main ideological structuring of the two thousand years of Jewish post-exilic. From England to ChinaJews were widely scattered over the planet, England or Morocco to China , from Poland to Ethiopia. However, most of this dispersion is after the triumph of the religious Pharisees, between Second and fourth centuries. At that time, Jews were still largely prevalent in the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin . You can have an idea of the distribution of Jews in Western Europe before the great expulsion from the late Middle Ages by visiting street map of the Jews in Western Europe. When expanding into Europe, India or China starts, the different Jewish sects have disappeared in favor of Pharisee Judaism , new Orthodox Judaism. Thus, highly structured by the Talmud , communities increasingly dispersed did not burst into rival religious group, practices remaining fairly homogeneous in space and time. One can cite the exception of Falasha , which no one clearly knows the origin, or groups being assimilated at their rediscovery by Judaism (such as Bene Israel of India), the "deviation" was more of forgetting that a willingness to religious innovation. The only real internal opposition to Judaism unified by the Pharisees is that of Karaism , an influential religious movement especially among eighth and eleventh centuries , challenging the validity of the Oral Torah. If the religious characteristics of dispersed populations have remained relatively stable, their ethnic characteristics (physical appearance), however, were modified by conversion, intermarriage or rape, but not significantly alter the traditional definition of Judaism. The Haskalah and its consequences Before the HaskalahThe culture of the Jews of the ghetto that was long and dhimmitude (status of dhimmi ). The tangible markers of politics and religion were destroyed, they had moved to the fields of study and religion. Persecutions, expulsions and massacres alternated with periods of relative calm were perceived as the fulfillment of the words of Deuteronomy "And the LORD shall scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other . The failure of revolts led by the Zealots and Bar Kochba had strengthened the people in this perception of an exile wanted by God and the Messiah son of David, a political figure he was, had been transmuted into a character eschatological. The Jews saw themselves thus as a "people within nations," maintained by Judaism (Orthodox was not yet called), waiting patiently for his deliverance from God. The HaskalahUnder the influence of the Enlightenment , a Jewish intellectual current appears at the end of the eighteenth century. The basic idea of the Haskalah is leaving the ghetto , the entry into Western modernity, through not exclusively religious education, introduction to the modern economy, and thanks to the improving relations between Jews and peoples in which they live. This current will cause several reactions among Jews, sometimes leading to profound changes in the perception of their identity. Reform JudaismThe Reform movement appeared in Germany in the first half of the nineteenth century. Strongly influenced by the Haskalah , it is actually composed of various currents, whereas Judaism as a moral core formed to preserve, and a bark ritual to repeal or reform. The notion of "Jewish people" itself is limited, see challenged in the name of better integration into Western societies. Jews must behave, speak, educate and dress like their fellow citizens to renounce their cultural distinctiveness, their languages (like Yiddish ), their traditional clothing, their specific neighborhoods, and Judaism must become a private religion, in agreement with the company and its values. Worship is then reformed on the Protestant model, the kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) is mostly forgotten and the abandonment of traditional practices in some will offer up to the abandonment of the Sabbath and circumcision. The liturgy is simplified, prayer books ( siddur ) are written in German , not Hebrew , the service abstracts, enriched with a sermon and a musical accompaniment. This redefinition of religious Jewish oriented internalized commitment to religion, it is clear that the dimension of "separate people" must disappear or be mitigated. The impact of the reform then causes the formation of new religious movements, support or oppose it. It first generates the ultra-orthodox Jews , who preaches the exact opposite values of the reform by adopting a quite strict separatism, and strengthening the practice of Judaism in the price of a rupture with modernity. NationalismHaskala originally expressed a desire to make Jews like other citizens. But one of his performances will be in the second half of the nineteenth century to a people like others, that is to say with a state. Historically, the prophets of the exile in Babylon (including Ezekiel ) were the first to express nostalgia for Zion. Under their religious influence, a small nucleus of Jews still remained in the land of Israel , and small groups of religious Jews " rose "in the Land of Israel regularly since antiquity, often after bouts of anti-Jewish persecution, especially to the holy cities of Safed , Tiberias , Hebron and Jerusalem. However, hope was summed up most often at a prayer at Passover , "Next year in Jerusalem". These movements did not involve any political project. The Jewish eschatology hopes the revival of the kingdom of Israel, but it is referred to the coming of a Messiah at the end of time . The Zionism is the beginnings of another nature. Under the influence of the French Revolution , the nationalist modern spread throughout Europe during the nineteenth century, particularly among people stateless national ( Polish , Irish or Hungarian ), or divided into several states ( Germans , Italians ). The nationalist idea finally reach the Jews, deprived of state, and even territory. It became particularly popular in Eastern Europe , where Jews are in the early twentieth century not yet emancipated, more subject to pressure from the anti-Semitism and pogroms. In the late nineteenth century , the old religious theme of "return to Zion" become a political project. The first organization we can call "Zionist", the Lovers of Zion , was founded in 1881.  The Dreyfus affair sees antisemitism touch sharply France of the 1890s , yet the first Western country to have emancipated the Jews in 1791. The disappointment and shock among Westernized Jews are important and strongly catalyze the development of the new ideology. The World Zionist Organization is created in 1897 by Theodore Herzl. This secular political messianism without messiah personified, irritates all Orthodox Jews as supporters of assimilation. In return, Zionism appears to be relatively indifferent to religion, some left currents ( anarcho-Zionism , Poale sion , Hashomer Hatzair ) there are even strongly opposed. The small current ultra-nationalist Canaanite go even further, claiming to be pagan , Jewish and non Jewish identity . Based on the ambitions colonial British Middle East , the Zionist movement achieved by the Balfour Declaration (1917), the San Remo Conference (1920) and the mandate of the League of Nations (1922) a "Jewish national home "Palestine, against the advice of the Palestinian Arabs who fear being eventually dispossessed. Palestine was then under British mandate: it speaks for this period of " Mandatory Palestine. " From 1918 to 1948, the Zionist immigration is important, and the Jewish population increased from 83,000 to 650,000 people. The growth is due less to a high birth rate as high immigration, due to anti-Semitism and political unrest in Europe. However, the Holocaust , mass destruction of Jewish diasporic European strongly alter the course of things. In it, the Jew is defined by criteria racial than religious. One can read in this trend of anti-Semitism modern, as opposed to Judaism religious tradition, the influence of European nationalism born in the late eighteenth century , willingly lay. In its own way, anti-Semitism is the slope and hostile radical redefinition of national and ethnic Judaism, redefining common to European nationalism of Zionism to anti-Jewish ultra-nationalism. Following the Holocaust, the ultra-orthodox Jewish splits into Agudat Israel , accepting Zionism but not officially join, and the Edah Haredit , rejecting radical Zionism and the State of Israel . The creation of the State of Israel Main article: Partition Plan for Palestine , the Palestine War of 1948 , History of Israel and the Law of Return.  On May 15, 1948 was proclaimed the State of Israel. The declaration of independence on May 14 indicates " Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people. This is where formed their spiritual, religious and national. . References to the "Jewish people" (term used eight times in the text) are essentially made from a national perspective: the terms "nation", "national", "country" or "State" applied to "Jewish people" or the "land of Israel" are used 39 times. Conversely, references to the Jewish religion are limited to three passages. It was initially referred to "spiritual, religious and national" of the Jewish people, who made "gift of the Bible to the world." It is further stated that "the Jewish people remained faithful to the land of Israel through all the dispersions, praying constantly to return, but the notion of prayer can be interpreted here as religious or secular. The last reference to religion is also the most supported, since it states that the signatories of the Declaration of Independence are "confident in the Lord Almighty." The declaration of independence takes the approach that was mostly that of Zionism since its inception: strengthen significantly the national dimension of a Jew (the concept of people leading to the Zionists so closely on the concept of nation), and mitigate its religious dimension but without denying it. The first version of the Law of Return (1950), states that every Jew has the right to emigrate to Israel , but does not specify what is a Jew. The first ministerial direction data showed also that any person claiming in good faith as a Jew would be accepted. The Jewish state refused to return and in a religious definition of Jewishness, and insisted instead on a more nationalistic: the common sense of belonging. Since 1970, the State is in conflict with the orthodox creeping about this amendment, the latter claiming, unsuccessfully, it was stated in the law that only conversions made under the Halacha Orthodox are accepted. This would represent a break with the powerful American Jewry, mostly reformed. In addition to this refusal, the state also agreed to recognize as Jews the Samaritans and the Karaites , small communities rejected by the Orthodox. In the tension between old definition of Jews as a people / nation , and that of the Jews as a religion, the State of Israel / A> therefore promotes a clear national vision of a Jew, refusing to respect the strict application of religious laws, but also taking good care not to break with the Jewish religion. It also keeps an official status: the Orthodox rabbinate is a state institution, and the rabbis of the Orthodox monopoly on marriage of Jews living in Israel , even non-believers. Who is a Jew: Judaism and JewishnessUntil the second half of the eighteenth century , the terms "Jews" and "adherents to Judaism" were virtually synonymous . Similarly, the halacha (Orthodox Jewish religious law) does not belong to religious practice to the Jewish people, because for her, even a Jewish convert to another religion is Jewish . However, these ideas remained marginal or theoretical. The "people of Israel" is supposed to have been willed by God for His precepts, to separate the two concepts had little meaning in societies marked by very traditional religion. The forms taken by this religion throughout history and space, however, were diverse ( Orthodox Judaism , Karaism , Falasha ). As the eighteenth century , appears in the West the Enlightenment. The latter, under the influence of French philosophers, argues found a clear social and political thought of the religious (but not necessarily anti-religious). From the late eighteenth century is the slope of the Jewish movement, Haskalah. Advocating secular values, it raises new questions, among Jews and among non-Jews, on any non-religious definition of a Jew. Jews as a religion Main articles: Currents of Judaism and conversion to Judaism.  Although it has long been considered crucial trait for the Jews, Judaism is not a monolithic entity, nor unitary. Before the sixth century FAC, the Bible speaks of Israelites polytheists, syncretistic, idolaters, praying only Baal gods or other "outsiders", which is at least partly confirmed by archeology (see above). It is therefore not at the time of unified religion, and the fact is more like Jewish "national" than strictly religious. After the return of exiles from Babylon , the Mosaic religion broke out between Judah (Jews) and Samaritans , the latter rejecting the interpretation of the prophets and the centrality of Jerusalem. After the religious unification achieved through the Talmud by the Pharisees (who sleep in writing the oral law basing their specificity), between Second and fifth centuries , Judaism seems to be more unified. This unified Judaism is known, however, from the eighth century , the challenge of Karaites , totally rejected the Pharisaic oral law. Meanwhile, isolated communities, forgetting or ignoring the Talmud and the rabbis , like Jews of India or the Beta Israel (Falasha, a derogatory term) of Ethiopia developed a high specificity. As the nineteenth century , the Haskalah leads one hand the reform of Judaism, which calls into question the validity of the Oral Law or the statute itself, the other's claim to nationalism Jewish greatly minimizes the religious dimension of a Jew, many Jews claimed, even nationalist , thus denying any religion. Judaism broke out again: the term "orthodox" is to define what had hitherto dominant form of Judaism. Within the Orthodox Judaism itself, different patterns emerge (but without breaking official), since the absolute fideism Haredim until the opening of "Modern Orthodox," often regarded with suspicion by the former. Between the radicalism of the ultra-orthodox and reformed first, Jews, seeking to modernize their traditions without abandoning them, form the Liberal Judaism and Conservative Judaism , and other smaller streams, such as Reconstructionist Judaism.  The historical Judaism is not embodied in a single stream. There are also several versions of the Bible, somewhat different: the Hebrew Bible (which contains 24 pounds), the Samaritan Bible (which recognizes no authority as the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua), the Septuagint (which includes books Deuterocanonical ), and versions less "canonical" as the Dead Sea Scrolls , the Bible of the Essene. Additional traditions ( Talmud and Midrash of Rabbinic Judaism , and he sevel ha-yrh of Karaite Judaism , Memari Markah of Samaritans ) further accentuate the differences. The sources of some are rejected by others, and the degree of their authority, absolute or relative, may also debate among those who recognize them. In this diversity of interpretation of texts last added particularities related to the dispersion of the population consider themselves as descendants of ancient Israelites for 2500 years over a large part of the planet. Divergent texts, differences over the interpretation of texts, lack of centralized religious diversity of ages and diversity of the countries have produced significant religious differences. Judaism, though that justified the continuance of a Jewish character in the Jewish diaspora , is neither unitary nor the only form of Judaism for all Jews claimed. Jews as a peopleBoth senses of the word Jew or Jewish, are already perceived in the eighteenth century as the Encyclopedia of D'Alembert and Diderot defines the word Jew as a "follower of the Jewish religion", but said two paragraphs later he This is a people's history well known:  According to the encyclopedic dictionary of 1987 people is a "set of men living or not the same territory and constituting a social or cultural community." There is one big difference between the modern notion of people appeared on the idea of nation in the late eighteenth century and the feeling of belonging that could exist in rural populations living three thousand years ago. The idea of the permanence of a "Jewish people"Long before the modern definition, the Bible had defined the Jews as a people. Occurrences of the term "people of Israel, following that of" Children of Israel , "emphasizing a common origin, are particularly numerous, and this from the Deuteronomy , a book that most advocates of critical Bible scholar believe was the first formed, the late seventh century BC. AD. References to designate a group endogamous (not blending with other people) "You shall not incur the point of marriage with these people, you shall not give your daughters to their son, and thou shalt not take their daughters for your son "having a direct relationship with God," Forgive, O Lord! thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed , and occupying a territory, "the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess . In the later books of the Bible is a new concept, that of "Jewish people". Strictly speaking, the Jews or Judeans, Israelites are the South, living in the kingdom of Judah. It is therefore not a religious notion, religious rules are supposed to apply indiscriminately to Jews of North and South, but a geographical and political. In practice, the Israelites have disappeared from the north (thesis of ten lost tribes ) or having converted Samaritans (thesis Samaritans rejected by the Jews), Jews are considered the last of Israel, the words "Jewish people" became for them (and their followers for Christians) which means "people of Israel," synonymy rejected by Samaritans. Thus, although each group claims to "people of Israel," the mutual rejection of the two communities has resulted in practice the creation of two distinct peoples, each with its territory, its customs and its management. After the dispersal of Jews throughout the world, the feeling of being a people has remained a religious obligation. Unlike Christianity, itself derived from Judaism, he refused any religious universalism, and in particular any mass conversion of "nations" (goyim) in the biblical sense, that is to say non-Jews. Critics of the idea of Jews as a peopleIn a rare exception in Jewish history, part of the first Reform Jews of nineteenth-century has fostered an approach is essentially religious Jew wishing to promote integration among the peoples of the countries of residence (this sentiment has also led but outside the perimeter of the reformers, a current conversion to Christianity, relatively large in the nineteenth century until the Second World War ). For this current, which eventually disappear even among Protestants, Jews are not a people, but only a religious community. Some Karaites in Eastern Europe have also redefined the nineteenth century as part of the Turkish people, not the Jewish people, but while remaining faithful to their particular version of Judaism (though they stop calling it that). This development is not related here to a critique of the principle of "Jewish people", but a strong Turkish culture, a desire to escape anti-Jewish laws of the Tsarist empire, and probably also to hostility between former Rabbinites and Karaites. Although the traditional definition of Jews as a people has been challenged by some groups from Judaism, as they seek a partial assimilation (reformed) or total assimilation (converted). Groups claiming the religion of the Hebrew Bible, without necessarily refuse others define themselves as Jews as a people, have established themselves as separate groups with a specific identity ( Karaite European Samaritans ). Some contemporary Israeli historians in the wake of the " history-cons ", also focus on changes in service experienced by the term Hebrew Am (people) in history. At the tribal identity of antiquity the oldest was followed by a religious vision of the term ("people of the Alliance), allowing the conversion of the ancient , , , until made to redefine policy in the late nineteenth century by the early Zionists. This usually leads to a critical vision of political and nationalistic interpretation of the idea of "Jewish people", leading ultimately this thinking to criticize Zionism itself . Beyond these discussions the vast majority of religious Jews and many non-believers, have remained very attached to the idea of "Jewish people" (whether seen or not as the people of the Covenant and of the Torah ) because of the centrality of this notion in religious instruction in Judaism. The Holocaust has been instrumental in strengthening this dimension of people, whether religious, socialists, Zionists, assimilated, converted, and whatever their nationality, the Jews were then regarded as a homogeneous extinction, this greatly strengthened the feeling of having a common destiny. Jews as a nationBefore the French Revolution, the term nation was virtually synonymous with that of people. We are talking about often ( Voltaire , notably ), the "Jewish nation" within the meaning of the Jewish people. From the French Revolution , " Nation "takes on more political significance. A nation becomes part of a State (as in the phrase " United Nations "), and other people with the political objective of maintaining or creating a state. In this second meaning, a nation is a nation which in practice at least some of the members goals nationalists. The concept of the Jewish nation (in the political sense) is at the time of the revolution to Jews abroad. Indeed, the cult has been reorganized since the end of the kingdom of Judah in the Messianic expectations, more eschatological than politics, and exile is seen as fulfilling the predictions of Deuteronomy. The Jews still consider that their destiny is to live in a specific state (the promise of land given by God ), but they expect that it brings them, as he had done during the ' Babylonian exile , and this expectation is reflected in the study and prayers. One school of thought emerged in the nineteenth century among some philosophers. It aims to achieve "objective" definition of a people (or nation), based not on sense of belonging, but on objective criteria: common language, common history, common territory . From the perspective of this school, two approaches are possible because Jewish: Jews may no longer be a nation (since their dispersal) if it insists on the notion of common territory. They are the cons if it favors the concept of shared past, though the conversions past and current diversity of physical appearance on this point may also raise objections . For school "subjective", which emphasizes the feeling of belonging , the majority of Jews are a nation (at least those who want it). The school "objective" territorial dominance refuses defining Jews as a nation, even as a people. The new national idea has emerged that only gradually within the Jewish masses. Four major Jewish opposition to Zionism were identified: The opposition of the majority of Orthodox, whereas only the Messiah can rebuild the Jewish state, the opposition of members of nationalism in the country of residence (French, German, ... ) whereas a dual national loyalty is impossible, the anti-nationalist opposition in principle , usually far-left supporters of a nationalist separatist specifically Yiddish , as the Bund or folkistes. Gradually, Zionism, at first somewhat marginal, has become increasingly important, particularly in response to political turmoil in Eastern Europe and anti-Semitism. The rise of the latter, then its peak during the Holocaust , also reduces the strong opposition between Zionist Jews and Zionists. Developed partly to combat the Zionist , the party ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel even ends up working with them under pressure from the rise of anti-Semitism of the 1930s , then accept the creation of Israel in 1947 following the trauma the genocide. These discussions are still not closed, some religious Jews (the Edah Haredit ) continuing to firmly reject the idea of a Jewish state policy, and many anti-Zionist policies still refusing to claim the Zionist Palestine. However, despite the prevailing anti-Zionism of the Soviet regime, it had recognized the Jews as a "nationality" Soviet full, and supported the creation of Israel at the UN in 1947. Within Israeli society, the debate on the 'Jewish nation' has led to develop approaches appreciably different from those of religion. Thus, the Samaritans or Karaites , groups rejected by the perimeter of the Orthodox Judaism were accepted as part of the offspring of "the people of Israel" origins, and in that capacity as members of the "nation "(thus benefiting from the law of return ). The converted by Reform rabbis (especially American) are also accepted despite the refusal of the Orthodox, their conversion being considered by the state as the assertion of a clear will to change "nation." The State prefers and, to some extent, the sense of national and not just the perceived religious affiliation. Regardless of Zionism, we can also note the existence of a non-Zionist nationalism, especially embodied by the Bund , the Jewish workers' party founded in 1897. Although defining itself as Jewish nationalism of the Bund was mainly focused on identity Yiddish , and was addressed not to the Jews of other communities. Jews as an ethnic Main article: Conversion to Judaism.     An ethnic group is a human population whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestral , and with cultural traits, behavioral, language, rituals and / or common religious. According to these criteria, especially the claim to a common ancestry, Jews could be considered an ethnicity : the Greek translation of "Jewish people" is also ethnos tn Ioudain . Ethnic Jew the term used in English (especially U.S.) to denote a person of Jewish descent established but not connected to Judaism nor culture nor religion or acceded to another faith. Cultural or religious dimension in this approach is totally obscured in favor of a strict definition in terms of ancestry. This vision can be shared by converts. For example, Benjamin Disraeli , although baptized as a child and Anglican practitioner replied to Daniel O'Connell in 1835 yes, I'm Jewish, and while the ancestors of the honorable gentleman were brutes wild on an uncharted island, mine were priests in the Temple of Solomon. " It can also be by non-Jews, according to their own criteria. Thus, the Nazis cared less to define the Jews in terms of "religion" that "influence", which depended on the one hand the number of ancestors' presumed Jews ", and secondly the" membership confessional " . Many "non-Jewish Jews" (that is to say, Jews who converted to other religions as Edith Stein or Irene Nemirovsky ) and were exterminated during the Holocaust and Wittgenstein brothers, whose mother was not Jewish, were worried . The Halacha (Jewish religious law, dictated by Orthodox Judaism ), also a definition of the Jews is expressed partly in terms of ancestry: a Jew (regardless of their religion) who was born of a Jewish mother or who has converted to Judaism. According to the religious claim of a "presumed common ancestral," Jews are an ethnicity rather, the conversion to Judaism is supposed to be limited. The term "ethnicity" is however rarely used in French, having acquired a negative connotation recalling the anti-Semitic discrimination and criteria Nazis' Jewish racialit. Claim a common origin is also offset by the extreme divergence between the physical types Jewish communities. This is partly explained by the phenomenon of conversion. Thus, already in Roman times, the writings of Dion Cassius and the Satires of Juvenal indicate quite a few conversions. Estimates that 10% of the Roman population was Jewish can not be explained without conversion.
Even after the Middle Ages, crossing en masse to Judaism, like those of subbotnik Russia have occasionally occur , . Main article: Genetic studies on Jews. Many studies on the genetics of population have been conducted on the impact of conversion on the history of Jewish populations. Although further studies are still waiting to clarify or resolve some debates between authors , the general lines that emerge in favor of a clear domination Middle East (including Palestinian territories, Syrian and Turkish) , in the origins of Y chromosomes of Jewish populations present (transmitted only by men). This ruling does not settle the issue of male weight conversions in this area, because the studies do not differentiate the Y chromosome of Jewish populations from that of non-Jewish populations in the area, who are very close. But they can indicate that the weight of male influences outside the Middle East is clearly a minority (which, however, go up an estimated 23% for the Ashkenazi population). In contrast, existing studies look pretty much an origin predominantly non-middle eastern for the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted only by women) , . These contributions have different geographical origins, but few , which suggests that the conversions were localized and rare in Jewish history, even if the overall weight of these inputs is ultimately dominant. In the Bene Israel of Bombay , the origin is clear-cut: Middle Eastern men for genetic markers and genetic markers for local women . However, it is noteworthy that in the case of Ashkenazi at least, some authors have advocated a predominantly Middle Eastern origin of mitochondrial genetic markers . Ultimately, these studies show that current Jewish population origin (at least those not living in the modern era in the Middle East) is located significantly outside the area of original dispersion of the Jews. But the weight of genetic markers from this region remains very important, especially for genetic markers of male origin, which suggests an impact relatively ad conversion events. But some scholarly debate still to be decided, and the current positions of the research may evolve. These common points have a certain continuity endogamous , but are however not contradictory with significant differences, acquired over centuries of immersion in other people through conversions, rape or adultery. The physical types of Jews in China , the Jews of India , the Ashkenazi Jews , or Falasha are thus very different and show a level of ethnically mixed high enough. Among the current major Jewish populations, only the Jews of Ethiopia does not show evidence of Syrian-Palestinian origin , . Instead, their genetic markers indicate an origin exclusively or overwhelmingly local, and thus a phenomenon of large-scale conversion. As part of an approach by genetics, and despite some commonalities, Jews are not a homogeneous ethnic group. Beyond the genetic approach and the true origin, the question of ancestry is important in the definition of a Jew, since it usually becomes a Jewish mother. But this rule is, even today, many exceptions or problematic applications. So is there any Jewish converts to other religions. For the Talmud , they remain Jews. But the state of Israel has rejected this approach purely ethnic, and imposed the law of return a more "national" also based on the feeling of belonging together. As such, Jews converted to other religions are not accepted as Jews . The population of African Lemba , who claim Jewish ancestry, and that genetic studies have confirmed that she was a carrier of genes in common with those of Cohanim Jews , is not recognized as Jewish. Conversely, people converted to Judaism, although they are most often not "ethnically" Jewish (except when returning to Judaism), are considered Jewish. This integration gradually diluted the gene pool. Genetic studies have even shown that Jewish groups, such as Falasha , showed no traces of Canaanite origin, either because they never had, or that it has dissolved completely. Finally, ethnicity is not a necessary nor a sufficient condition for belonging to Judaism, although the question of ancestry will be important. The fact that Jewish is characterized by Shmuel Trigano , much more by the culture, ritual, or languages . Jews as a culture Main article: Jewish diaspora. ir_Teacher_in_Samarkand.jpg/220px-Jewish_Children_with_their_Teacher_in_Samarkand.jpg "width =" 220 "height =" 197 "class =" thumbimage "/> Many Jewish cultures have existed throughout the millennia and the countries of residence. The Jewish cultural issue is complex in that maintaining a specific identity through the centuries has undoubtedly been helped by the very specific cultures, such as the Ashkenazi culture, or Judeo-Arabic. Their members had a strong sense of support for these crops, especially on specific languages (local languages influenced by the Hebrew), but also on literature or philosophy Jewish special. But despite strong Jewish cultures, there is no Jewish cultural unity beyond religion (at least for the Orthodox) and its liturgical language of Hebrew. Eventually, Jews were not around the time a culture, but rather a community particularism, which produced regularly new Jewish culture specific. Often highly autonomous, these groups have, however, matched them to maintain a Jewish identity relatively stable. Sephardic ritual has thus spread from the Spanish throughout the Mediterranean basin , while the Jews of Cochin (India) were traditionally bring their holy books of Yemen. Very remote communities, like Jews of China , the Bene Israel of Bombay (India) or Falasha of Ethiopia, eventually assimilate fully (Jews of China), widely (Bene Israel), or develop very specific religious forms (Falasha). The largest cultural complexes in Jewish history are the Jews of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic , the Hellenized Jews, who have a decisive influence on theological early Christianity, and Jews of Persian culture. Languages The Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism, the language of the people of Israel. Many words and expressions West Semitic (Canaanite) close to the Hebrew of the Bible already exist in the Amarna letters , diplomatic texts of the fourteenth century BCE, written in Akkadian , which confirms the antiquity this language. Its importance as a national language is attested in the Book of Judges . Those who are still Jews dispersed in part through the Middle East (first in Babylonia , and beyond), starting the destruction of the First Temple in -586. The Hebrew is practiced throughout the Middle Ages by scholars . This rabbinic Hebrew possessed own twists, and often borrowed the Aramaic. Two of these dialects stand out as having been spoken by large sections of the Jewish community: the Yiddish , practiced initially by the Ashkenazim and the Judeo-Spanish by the Sephardim (not to be confused with Ladino ). In the nineteenth century , the organizers of the Haskalah want to remove the Yiddish , the language of the ghetto , to teach the Jews living in Germany German and Hebrew. They developed the first modern secular literature in Hebrew, and publish newspapers in that language. The attempt backfired, however, the masses prefer to learn German and clerics condemning any use of profane "language of holiness." However, an initial modernization of the language liturgical language is emerging, adding new words to describe concepts exist in the language of religion.  The second attempt at revival of Hebrew is carried out in 1881 by a schoolteacher, Eliezer Ben-Yehudah , who devoted all his energy. Hundreds of words are created on the basis of Hebrew roots. Largely derived from his work, the modern Hebrew became the official language of the Zionist movement, then one of those in the State of Israel (with Arabic ). Because of the massive immigration of Jews to Israel during the twentieth century , modern Hebrew and Israeli culture - almost nonexistent a century ago - it is bound, appear today as the crucible in which assimilate and eventually disappear number of ancient Jewish culture of the Jewish diaspora. If the Orthodox have come to accept modern Hebrew, some communities Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) marginal living in Israel, such as Neturei Karta of Mea Shearim still refuse to talk, focusing on Yiddish. All dialects Jews also tends to disappear in favor of languages where the resident Jews of the Diaspora. Yiddish remains the language of everyday use as in some Orthodox communities, including the United States, Israel and Antwerp. However, the United States where the largest communities yiddishisantes this Yiddish evolves, mingling with one hand to form the English Yinglish, and having the other gave birth to a jargon almost exclusively in Talmudic academies, hence its name Yeshivish. However, due to several factors, including the Holocaust, the Jewish exodus from Arab countries, emigration, assimilation and others, many Jewish dialects, including the Judeo-Spanish, have fallen into disuse, whilst Others, like the Judeo-Provencal, disappeared . Jewishness and Judaism: Overview The Judaism is the original meaning "the doctrine or those converted by rabbis Protestants , are not recognized as Jews by the latter. Moreover, if the Reform Judaism Jew considers only an individual whose father is Jewish, if he has been raised in Judaism, this is absolutely not the case with Orthodox Judaism . This apparent contradiction comes from the non-exclusively religious definition of a Jew. A Jew is indeed based on the Bible, a member of "the people of Israel," by birth (or, more rarely, by his conversion) and the ultra-Orthodox themselves superimposed this definition to their religious definition. Finally, the concept of people and the memory of the Jewish state of antiquity have resulted in contact with the European nationalism of the nineteenth century a nationalist Jew, Zionism , claiming a nation for Jews a state. This claim is not accepted by all Jews. The superposition of these three concepts (religion, tribe and nation), with their boundaries do not coincide, leading to many problems of definition. There is thus, in addition to what was mentioned above, Jews nationalist and anti-religious, Jewish religious nationalists, but not ( Edah Haredit ), Jews recognized by the State of Israel but not by Orthodox Jews ( Karaite or those converted by Reform rabbis), groups wanting to Jews and non Jews, but legally recognized as Jews by the State of Israel ( Samaritans ), Orthodox Jews recognized by some Orthodox groups but not others ( Beta Israel ). The 13 or 14 million Jews currently known, but also those of the past, are at the crossroads of the three concepts of nation, religion and nation, and neither Jews nor non-Jews are fully in agreement on these concepts or their exact scope. These problems of definition and boundaries, although very real, concern, however, that relatively small groups, allowing the existence of a "Jewish community" relatively stable. Demography and GeographyIn 1939 , there were 17 million Jews worldwide. Around 1945 , there were only 11 million. Jews are now 13.3 million . Professor Sergio DellaPergola , a demographer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , stated in 2002 that the Jewish population growth worldwide was around 0%. More precisely, from 2000 to 2001 , it rose to 0.3%, compared to world population growth of 1.4% during the same period . The changes are fine, however, mixed. Today, in Israel and the Diaspora , the Haredim (ultra-orthodox) population is growing fast enough. There were Jews among Israeli Haredim 6% in 2002 , 8% in 2004 , and 13% in 2006 alone among Israeli Jews born in Israel . Unless medical cases, families have between 5 and 10 children (7 children per family on average in Israel in 2005 ). This is for the Haredim an important religious commandment: "Be fruitful and multiply" ( Genesis 1:28, 9:1,7). Conversely, the less devout Jewish populations, often with low socio-economic skills, have a more classically Western population, a relatively low level, which does not make enough of intermarriage outside of Israel. The same differences can be observed between countries: the Jewish population of the former Soviet Union is falling fast, by emigration, while for the same reasons and because of relatively high fertility, the Israeli Jewish population is increasing quite quickly. The country of residenceHistorically, there are three main regions (but not exclusive) in which formed the three major Jewish cultures.
According to Professor Sergio Della Pergola, 37% of world Jewry lived in Israel in 2001: 8.3 million Jews in the Diaspora, and 5 million in Israel (5.1 million in 2003 ). Of the 8.3 million Jews living outside Israel, North America (Canada and U.S.) were in the early 2000s 6060000 , including 5.3 million in only United States , France about 550 000 and England about 400 000. Evolution of assimilationSergio Della Pergola demographer stated in 2003 that mixed marriages were exploding in the Jewish diaspora.
If community members ultra-Orthodox do not practice a mixed marriage, it is much more developed among the Jews with a religious practice less. In Europe, where the Reform rabbis are few, very few non-Jewish spouses to convert. Orthodox rabbis have traditionally been hostile to conversion for marriage, and it is rarely practiced. For the U.S. , the liberals ( reformers and conservatives ) convert willingly to their spouses or children who are not Jews. But even the United States, only about 10% of spouses were converted. Finally, demographers expect a sharp decrease in the number of Jews living outside Israel, mainly by assimilation. From the perspective of religious practice, the trends are more mixed. There is both a growing number of lay people (Jews without religious leader) and an increase in regular churchgoers. Both are growing at the expense of partial practitioners, said traditionalists, whose number decreases. Thus, in France, in 2003 , "more people say attend synagogue regularly (22% against 9% in 1975 ), but most people never attend 49% against 30% in 1975 ) . In Israel, the trend is identical . See alsoRelated ArticlesHistoricalFundamental
Jewish communities (and relatives)
Jewish languages (non-exhaustive list)
HistoryMiscellaneousBibliography History of the Jews by Heinrich Graetz is available on Wikisource. Also on Wikibooks the quotes "Jews".
External LinksJewish history
Jewish identity and Jewish people
About the emancipation of the Jews
Notes and references
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