Editing Jewish diaspora (section)

==Post-Roman period Jewish diaspora populations==
{{Main|Jewish ethnic divisions}}
During the [[Middle Ages]], due to increasing geographical dispersion and re-settlement, Jews divided into [[Jewish ethnic divisions|distinct regional groups]] which today are generally addressed according to two primary geographical groupings: the [[Ashkenazi]] of Northern and Eastern Europe, and the [[Sephardic]] Jews of [[Iberia]] (Spain and Portugal), [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]]. These groups have parallel histories sharing many cultural similarities as well as a series of massacres, persecutions and expulsions, such as the [[Edict of Expulsion|expulsion from England in 1290]], the [[Alhambra Decree|expulsion from Spain in 1492]], and the [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|expulsion from Arab countries in 1948–1973]]. Although the two branches comprise many unique ethno-cultural practices and have links to their local host populations (such as [[Central Europe]]ans for the Ashkenazim and [[Hispanics]] and [[Arabs]] for the Sephardim), their shared religion and ancestry, as well as their continuous communication and population transfers, has been responsible for a unified sense of cultural and religious [[Jewish peoplehood|Jewish identity]] between Sephardim and Ashkenazim from the late Roman period to the present.

By 1764 there were about 750,000 Jews in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. The worldwide Jewish population (comprising the Middle East and the rest of Europe) was estimated at 1.2 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/timeline_jewish_life_in_poland_from_1098_20070608/ |title=Timeline: Jewish life in Poland from 1098 |publisher=Jewish Journal |first=Jane |last=Ulman |date=June 7, 2007 |access-date=October 31, 2008 |archive-date=May 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529184446/http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/timeline_jewish_life_in_poland_from_1098_20070608/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Classical period===
After the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Judah ({{lang|he|יְהוּדָה}} {{transliteration|he|Yehuda}}) became a [[Yehud Medinata|province of the Persian empire]]. This status continued into the following [[Hellenistic period]], when Yehud became a disputed province of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria. In the early part of the 2nd century BCE, a revolt against the Seleucids led to the establishment of an independent Jewish kingdom under the [[Hasmonean]] dynasty. The Hasmoneans adopted a deliberate policy of imitating and reconstituting the Davidic kingdom, and as part of this [[Forced conversion#Judaism|forcibly converted to Judaism]] their neighbours in the Land of Israel. The conversions included [[Nabatean]]s ([[Zabadeans]]) and [[Itureans]], the peoples of the former [[Philistine]] cities, the [[Moabites]], [[Ammon]]ites and [[Edomites]]. Attempts were also made to incorporate the [[Samaritans]], following takeover of Samaria. The success of mass-conversions is however questionable, as most groups retained their tribal separations and mostly turned Hellenistic or Christian, with [[Edomites]] perhaps being the only exception to merge into the Jewish society under Herodian dynasty and in the following period of [[Jewish–Roman Wars]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBcheched/topic/263498/Herodian-dynasty|title=Herodian Dynasty |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

===Middle Ages===

====Ashkenazi Jews====
[[Ashkenazi Jews]] is a general category of Jewish populations who immigrated to what is now Germany and northeastern France during the [[Middle Ages]] and until modern times used to adhere to the [[Yiddishkeit|Yiddish culture]] and the [[Nusach Ashkenaz|Ashkenazi prayer style]]. There is evidence that groups of Jews had immigrated to [[Germania]] during the [[Roman Empire|Roman Era]]; they were probably merchants who followed the Roman Legions during their conquests. However, for the most part, modern Ashkenazi Jews originated with Jews who migrated or were forcibly taken from the Middle East to southern Europe in antiquity, where they established Jewish communities before moving into northern France and lower Germany during the [[High Middle Ages|High]] and [[Late Middle Ages]]. They also descend to a lesser degree from Jewish immigrants from Babylon, Persia, and North Africa who migrated to Europe in the Middle Ages. The Ashkenazi Jews later migrated from Germany (and elsewhere in Central Europe) into Eastern Europe as a result of persecution.<ref>Ben-Jacob, Abraham (1985), "The History of the Babylonian Jews".</ref><ref>Grossman, Abraham (1998), "The Sank of Babylon and the Rise of the New Jewish Centers in the 11th Century Europe"</ref><ref>Frishman, Asher (2008), "The First Asheknazi Jews".</ref><ref name=britannica>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashkenazi Ashkenazi] - Definition, ''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> Some Ashkenazi Jews also have minor ancestry from [[Sephardi Jews]] exiled from Spain, first during [[Persecution by Muslims|Islamic persecutions]] (11th–12th centuries) and later during Christian reconquests (13th–15th centuries) and the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (15th–16th centuries). Ashkenazi Jews are of mixed Middle Eastern and European ancestry, as they derive part of their ancestry from non-Jewish Europeans who intermixed with Jews of migrant Middle Eastern origin.

In 2006, a study by Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Technion and Ramban Medical Center in Haifa, Israel demonstrated that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews, both men and women, have Middle Eastern ancestry.<ref name="Wade">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/science/14gene.html |work=The New York Times |first=Nicholas |last=Wade |title=New Light on Origins of Ashkenazi in Europe |date=January 14, 2006}}</ref> According to Nicholas Wades' 2010 Autosomal study Ashkenazi Jews share a common ancestry with other Jewish groups and Ashkenazi and [[Sephardi Jews]] have roughly 30% European ancestry with the rest being Middle Eastern.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/science/10jews.html?adxnnl=1&ref=homepage&src=me&adxnnlx=1276466486-+ZqzWCnAH+wZr3wU9gONXw |work=The New York Times |first=Nicholas |last=Wade |title=Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity |date=June 9, 2010}}</ref> According to Hammer, the Ashkenazi population expanded through a series of bottlenecks—events that squeeze a population down to small numbers—perhaps as it migrated from the Middle East after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, to Italy, reaching the [[Rhine|Rhine Valley]] in the 10th century.

David Goldstein, a Duke University geneticist and director of the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation, has said that the work of the Technion and Ramban team served only to confirm that genetic drift played a major role in shaping Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is inherited in a matrilineal manner. Goldstein argues that the Technion and Ramban mtDNA studies fail to actually establish a statistically significant maternal link between modern Jews and historic Middle Eastern populations. This differs from the patrilineal case, where Goldstein said there is no doubt of a Middle Eastern origin.<ref name="Wade" />

In June 2010, Behar et al. "shows that most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster with common genetic origin, that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews ([[Beta Israel]]) and [[Indian Jews]] (Bene Israel and [[Cochin Jews|Cochini]]) cluster with neighboring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively, despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant."<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref name="Behar2010">{{cite journal |author1=Doron M. Behar |author2=Bayazit Yunusbayev |author3=Mait Metspalu |author4=Ene Metspalu |author5=Saharon Rosset |author6=Jüri Parik |author7=Siiri Rootsi |author8=Gyaneshwer Chaubey |author9=Ildus Kutuev |author10=Guennady Yudkovsky |author11=Elza K. Khusnutdinova |author12=Oleg Balanovsky |author13=Ornella Semino |author14=Luisa Pereira |author15=David Comas |author16=David Gurwitz |author17=Batsheva Bonne-Tamir |author18=Tudor Parfitt |author19=Michael F. Hammer |author20=Karl Skorecki |author21=Richard Villems |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44657170 |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |journal=Nature |date=July 2010 |volume=466 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |issue=7303 |pages=238–42 |pmid=20531471|bibcode=2010Natur.466..238B|s2cid=4307824|issn=0028-0836}}</ref> "The most parsimonious explanation for these observations is a common genetic origin, which is consistent with an historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant." In conclusion the authors are stating that the genetic results are concordant "with the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the Old World". Regarding the samples he used Behar points out that "Our conclusion favoring common ancestry (of Jewish people) over recent admixture is further supported by the fact that our sample contains individuals that are known not to be admixed in the most recent one or two generations."

A 2013 study of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA by Costa et al., reached the conclusion that the four major female founders and most of the minor female founders had ancestry in prehistoric Europe, rather than the Near East or Caucasus. According to the study these findings 'point to a significant role for the conversion of women in the formation of Ashkenazi communities" and their intermarriage with Jewish men of Middle Eastern origin.<ref name=Costa>{{cite journal |author=M. D. Costa and 16 others |title=A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages |journal=Nature Communications |year=2013 |doi=10.1038/ncomms3543 |volume=4 |pages=2543 |pmid=24104924 |pmc=3806353|bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2543C }}</ref>

A study by Haber, et al., (2013) noted that while previous studies of the Levant, which had focused mainly on diaspora Jewish populations, showed that the "Jews form a distinctive cluster in the Middle East", these studies did not make clear "whether the factors driving this structure would also involve other groups in the Levant". The authors found strong evidence that modern Levant populations descend from two major apparent ancestral populations. One set of genetic characteristics which is shared with modern-day Europeans and Central Asians is most prominent in the Levant amongst "Lebanese, Armenians, Cypriots, Druze and Jews, as well as Turks, Iranians and Caucasian populations". The second set of inherited genetic characteristics is shared with populations in other parts of the Middle East as well as some African populations. Levant populations in this category today include "Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, as well as North Africans, Ethiopians, Saudis, and Bedouins". Concerning this second component of ancestry, the authors remark that while it correlates with "the pattern of the Islamic expansion", and that "a pre-Islamic expansion Levant was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners," they also say that "its presence in Lebanese Christians, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, Cypriots and Armenians might suggest that its spread to the Levant could also represent an earlier event". The authors also found a strong correlation between religion and apparent ancestry in the Levant:

<blockquote>all Jews (Sephardi and Ashkenazi) cluster in one branch; Druze from Mount Lebanon and Druze from Mount Carmel are depicted on a private branch; and Lebanese Christians form a private branch with the Christian populations of Armenia and Cyprus placing the Lebanese Muslims as an outer group. The predominantly Muslim populations of Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians cluster on branches with other Muslim populations as distant as Morocco and Yemen.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Gauguier |first2=Dominique |last3=Youhanna |first3=Sonia |last4=Patterson |first4=Nick |last5=Moorjani |first5=Priya |last6=Botigué |first6=Laura R. |last7=Platt |first7=Daniel E. |last8=Matisoo-Smith |first8=Elizabeth |last9=Soria-Hernanz |first9=David F. |last10=Wells |first10=R. Spencer |last11=Bertranpetit |first11=Jaume |last12=Tyler-Smith |first12=Chris |last13=Comas |first13=David |last14=Zalloua |first14=Pierre A. |title=Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture |journal=PLOS Genetics |date=28 February 2013 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=e1003316 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316 |pmid=23468648 |pmc=3585000 |doi-access=free }}</ref></blockquote>

Another 2013 study, made by Doron M. Behar of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel and others, suggests that: "Cumulatively, our analyses point strongly to ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews primarily from European and Middle Eastern populations and not from populations in or near the Caucasus region. The combined set of approaches suggests that the observations of Ashkenazi proximity to European and Middle Eastern populations in population structure analyses reflect actual genetic proximity of Ashkenazi Jews to populations with predominantly European and Middle Eastern ancestry components, and lack of visible introgression from the region of the Khazar Khaganate—particularly among the northern Volga and North Caucasus populations—into the Ashkenazi community."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron |last2=Metspalu |first2=Mait |last3=Baran |first3=Yael |last4=Kopelman |first4=Naama |last5=Yunusbayev |first5=Bayazit |last6=Gladstein |first6=Ariella |last7=Tzur |first7=Shay |last8=Sahakyan |first8=Havhannes |last9=Bahmanimehr |first9=Ardeshir |last10=Yepiskoposyan |first10=Levon |last11=Tambets |first11=Kristiina |last12=Khusnutdinova |first12=Elza |last13=Kusniarevich |first13=Aljona |last14=Balanovsky |first14=Oleg |last15=Balanovsky |first15=Elena |last16=Kovacevic |first16=Lejla |last17=Marjanovic |first17=Damir |last18=Mihailov |first18=Evelin |last19=Kouvatsi |first19=Anastasia |last20=Traintaphyllidis |first20=Costas |last21=King |first21=Roy |last22=Semino |first22=Ornella |last23=Torroni |first23=Antonio |last24=Hammer |first24=Michael |last25=Metspalu |first25=Ene |last26=Skorecki |first26=Karl |last27=Rosset |first27=Saharon |last28=Halperin |first28=Eran |last29=Villems |first29=Richard |last30=Rosenberg |first30=Noah |title=No Evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews |journal=Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints |date=1 December 2013 |volume=85 |issue=6 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/41/}}</ref>

A 2014 study by Fernández et al. found that Ashkenazi Jews display a frequency of haplogroup K in their maternal (mitochondrial) DNA, suggesting an ancient Near Eastern matrilineal origin, similar to the results of the Behar study in 2006. Fernández noted that this observation clearly contradicts the results of the 2013 study led by Costa, Richards et al. that suggested a European source for 3 exclusively Ashkenazi K lineages.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Cite journal |title=Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands |author1=Eva Fernández |author2=Alejandro Pérez-Pérez |author3=Cristina Gamba |author4=Eva Prats |author5=Pedro Cuesta |author6=Josep Anfruns |author7=Miquel Molist |author8=Eduardo Arroyo-Pardo |author9=Daniel Turbón |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=10 |number=6 |date=5 June 2014 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004401 |pages=e1004401 |pmid=24901650 |pmc=4046922 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Sephardic Jews====
[[Sephardi Jews]] are Jews whose ancestors lived in Spain or Portugal. Some 300,000 Jews resided in Spain before the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, when the [[Catholic Monarchs|Reyes Católicos]] reconquered Spain from the Arabs and ordered the Jews to convert to Catholicism, leave the country or face execution without trial. Those who chose not to convert, between 40,000 and 100,000, were expelled from Spain in 1492 in the wake of the [[Alhambra decree]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10631714/Spain-invites-descendants-of-Sephardic-Jews-expelled-500-years-ago-to-return.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10631714/Spain-invites-descendants-of-Sephardic-Jews-expelled-500-years-ago-to-return.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Spain invites descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled 500 years ago to return|website=www.telegraph.co.uk|date=11 February 2014 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Sephardic Jews subsequently migrated to North Africa (Maghreb), Christian Europe (Netherlands, Britain, France and Poland), throughout the [[Ottoman Empire]] and even the newly discovered [[Latin America]]. In the Ottoman Empire, the Sephardim mostly settled in the European portion of the Empire, and mainly in the major cities such as: [[Istanbul]], [[Thessaloniki|Selânik]] and [[Bursa]]. Selânik, which is today known as Thessaloniki and found in modern-day Greece, had a large and flourishing Sephardic community as was the community of Maltese Jews in [[Malta]].

A small number of Sephardic refugees who fled via the Netherlands as [[Marrano]]s settled in Hamburg and Altona Germany in the early 16th century, eventually appropriating Ashkenazic Jewish rituals into their religious practice. One famous figure from the Sephardic Ashkenazic population is [[Glückel of Hameln]]. Some relocated to the United States, establishing the country's first organized community of Jews and erecting the United States' first synagogue. Nevertheless, the majority of Sephardim remained in Spain and Portugal as [[Converso]]s, which would also be the fate for those who had migrated to Spanish and Portuguese ruled Latin America. Sephardic Jews evolved to form most of North Africa's Jewish communities of the modern era, as well as the bulk of the Turkish, Syrian, Galilean and Jerusalemite Jews of the Ottoman period.

====Mizrahi Jews====
[[Mizrahi Jews]] are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus, largely originating from the [[Babylonian Jewry]] of the classic period. The term Mizrahi is used in Israel in the language of politics, media and some social scientists for Jews from the Arab world and adjacent, primarily Muslim-majority countries. The definition of Mizrahi includes the modern [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Syrian Jews]], [[Lebanese Jews]], [[Persian Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Afghanistan|Afghan Jews]], [[Bukharian Jews]], [[Kurdish Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], [[Georgian Jews]]. Some also include the North-African Sephardic communities and Yemenite Jews under the definition of Mizrahi, but do that from rather political generalization than ancestral reasons.

====Yemenite Jews====
{{main|Yemenite Jews}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2021}}
[[Temanim]] are Jews who were living in [[Yemen]] prior to immigrating to Ottoman Palestine and Israel. Their geographic and social isolation from the rest of the Jewish community over the course of many centuries allowed them to develop a liturgy and set of practices that are significantly distinct from those of other Oriental Jewish groups; they themselves comprise three distinctly different groups, though the distinction is one of religious law and liturgy rather than of ethnicity. Traditionally the genesis of the Yemenite Jewish community came after the Babylonian exile, though the community most probably emerged during Roman times, and it was significantly reinforced during the reign of [[Dhu Nuwas]] in the 6th century CE and during later Muslim conquests in the 7th century CE, which drove the Arab Jewish tribes out of central Arabia.

====Karaite Jews====
[[Karaite Judaism|Karaim]] are Jews who used to live mostly in Egypt, Iraq, and [[Crimean Karaites|Crimea]] during the [[Middle Ages]]. They are distinguished by the form of Judaism which they observe. [[Rabbinic Jews]] of varying communities have affiliated with the Karaite community throughout the millennia. As such, Karaite Jews are less an ethnic division, than they are members of a particular branch of Judaism. [[Karaite Judaism]] recognizes the [[Tanakh]] as the single religious authority for the Jewish people. Linguistic principles and contextual exegesis are used in arriving at the correct meaning of the Torah. Karaite Jews strive to adhere to the plain or most obvious understanding of the text when interpreting the Tanakh. By contrast, [[Rabbinical Judaism]] regards an [[Oral Law]] (codified and recorded in the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Talmud]]) as being equally binding on Jews, and mandated by God. In Rabbinical Judaism, the Oral Law forms the basis of religion, morality, and Jewish life. Karaite Jews rely on the use of sound reasoning and the application of linguistic tools to determine the correct meaning of the Tanakh; while Rabbinical Judaism looks towards the Oral law codified in the Talmud, to provide the Jewish community with an accurate understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The differences between Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism go back more than a thousand years. Rabbinical Judaism originates from the [[Pharisees]] of the Second Temple period. Karaite Judaism may have its origins among the [[Sadducees]] of the same era. Karaite Jews hold the entire Hebrew Bible to be a religious authority. As such, the vast majority of Karaites believe in the [[resurrection of the dead]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.karaite-korner.org/karaite_faq.shtml|title = Karaite FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions About Karaism}}</ref> Karaite Jews are widely regarded as being halachically Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. Similarly, members of the rabbinic community are considered Jews by the Moetzet Hakhamim, if they are patrilineally Jewish.{{citation needed|date=October 2009}}

===Modern era===

====Israeli Jews====
Jews of Israel comprise an increasingly mixed wide range of Jewish communities making [[aliyah]] from Europe, North Africa, and elsewhere in the Middle East. While a significant portion of [[Israeli Jews]] still retain memories of their Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi origins, mixed Jewish marriages among the communities are very common. There are also smaller groups of Yemenite Jews, Indian Jews and others, who still retain a semi-separate communal life. There are also approximately 50,000 adherents of [[Karaite Judaism]], most of whom live in Israel, but their exact numbers are not known, because most Karaites have not participated in any religious censuses. The [[Beta Israel]], though somewhat disputed as the descendants of the ancient Israelites, are widely recognized in Israel as Ethiopian Jews.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

====American Jews====
{{See also|List of American Jews}}
[[File:Welcome to the land of freedom.png|thumb|250px|European Jewish immigrants arriving in New York]]
The ancestry of most [[American Jews]] goes back to [[Ashkenazi Jewish]] communities that immigrated to the US in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as more recent influxes of Persian and other Mizrahi Jewish immigrants. The American Jewish community is considered to contain the highest percentage of mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews, resulting in both increased assimilation and a significant influx of non-Jews becoming identified as Jews. The most widespread practice in the U.S. is [[Reform Judaism]], which does not require members to prove, or consider the Jews to possess direct descent from the ethnic Jews or Biblical Israelites.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How does Reform Judaism define who is a Jew? |url=https://reformjudaism.org/learning/answers-jewish-questions/how-does-reform-judaism-define-who-jew |website=Reform Judaism.org}}</ref> These attitudes had been present in Reform Judaism for many years but were codified in a 1983 decree by the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]], ''On Patrilineal Descent''. Among other assertions, the 1983 decree holds that [[Matrilineality in Judaism|matrilineal descent]] is not necessary for a person to be considered Jewish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=On Patrilineal Descent Archives |url=https://www.ccarnet.org/responsa-topics/on-patrilineal-descent/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Central Conference of American Rabbis |language=en-US}}</ref> This is in marked contrast to [[Orthodox Judaism]], whose adherents represent around 30% of the Jews in Israel. Orthodox Judaism considers the Jewish people to be a closed ethnoreligious community and consequently possesses very strict procedures for conversion, a practice that it does not generally encourage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=adubin |title=Home |url=https://judaismconversion.org/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Judaism Conversion |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Conversions - RabbiDov.com |url=https://rabbidov.com/conversions#:~:text=Orthodox%20Jewish%20practice%20does%20not%20encourage%20conversions%20to%20Judaism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125095658/https://rabbidov.com/conversions#:~:text=Orthodox%20Jewish%20practice%20does%20not%20encourage%20conversions%20to%20Judaism |archive-date=2024-01-25 |access-date=2024-12-29 |work=RabbiDov.com |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref>

====French Jews====
[[File:1182 french expulsion of jews.jpg|thumb|Expulsion of French Jews, 1182]]
The Jews of modern France number around 400,000 persons, largely descendants of North African communities, some of which were Sephardic communities that had come from Spain and Portugal—others were Arab and [[Berber Jews]] from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, who were already living in North Africa before the Jewish exodus from the Iberian Peninsula—and to a smaller degree members of the Ashkenazi Jewish communities, who survived WWII and the [[Holocaust]].

====Mountain Jews====
{{Main|Mountain Jews}}
Mountain Jews are [[Jew]]s from the eastern and northern slopes of the [[Caucasus]], mainly [[Azerbaijan]], [[Chechnya]] and [[Dagestan]]. They are the descendants of [[Persian Jews]] from [[Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = Mountain Jews - Tablet Magazine – Jewish News and Politics, Jewish Arts and Culture, Jewish Life and Religion|url = http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/42649/mountain-jews|website = Tablet Magazine|date = 26 August 2010|access-date = 2015-12-27}}</ref>

====Bukharan Jews====
{{Main|Bukharan Jews}}
Bukharan Jews are an ethnic group from Central Asia who historically practised Judaism and spoke Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language.

====Kaifeng Jews====
{{Main|Kaifeng Jews}}
The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small [[History of the Jews in China|Jewish]] community in [[Kaifeng]], in the [[Henan]] province of [[China]] who have assimilated into Chinese society while preserving some Jewish traditions and customs.

====Cochin Jews====
{{Main|Cochin Jews}}
Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews, are the oldest group of [[Indian Jews|Jews in India]], with possible roots that are claimed to date back to the time of [[King Solomon]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qhKGPprbQaYC&q=two+millennia ''The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities''] by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. {{ISBN|965-278-179-7}}.</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "Jews in India." in M. Avrum Erlich (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora'', Santa Barbara, USA: ABC CLIO. 2008, 3: 1204-1212.</ref> The Cochin Jews settled in the [[Kingdom of Cochin]] in [[South India]],<ref>Weil, Shalva. ''India's Jewish Heritage: Ritual, Art and Life-Cycle,'' Mumbai: Marg Publications, 2009. [first published in 2002; 3rd edn] Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Menachery 1998</ref> now part of the state of [[Kerala]].<ref>Weil, Shalva. "Cochin Jews", in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard (eds) ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement'', New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. pp. 78-80.</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva.  "Cochin Jews" in Judith Baskin (ed.)'' Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. pp. 107.</ref> As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Black Jews in southern India. The Jewish traveler, [[Benjamin of Tudela]], speaking of [[Kollam]] (Quilon) on the Malabar Coast, writes in his ''Itinerary'': "...throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the [[law of Moses]] and the prophets, and to a small extent the [[Talmud]] and [[Halacha]]."<ref>''The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela'' (ed. Marcus Nathan Adler), Oxford University Press, London 1907, p. 65</ref> These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in [[Kerala]] beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries.<ref name="isjm">Weil, Shalva. ''From Cochin to Israel''. Jerusalem: Kumu Berina, 1984. (Hebrew)</ref><ref>Weil, Shalva. "Kerala to restore 400-year-old Indian synagogue", ''The Jerusalem Post''. 2009.</ref> They are known to have developed [[Judeo-Malayalam]], a dialect of the [[Malayalam]] language.

====Paradesi Jews====
{{Main|Paradesi Jews}}
Paradesi Jews are mainly the descendants of [[Sephardic]] Jews who originally immigrated to India from Sepharad (Spain and Portugal) during the 15th and 16th centuries in order to flee forced conversion or persecution in the wake of the [[Alhambra Decree]] which expelled the Jews from Spain. They are sometimes referred to as White Jews, although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and it is instead used to refer to relatively recent Jewish immigrants (end of the 15th century onwards), who are predominantly Sephardim.<ref name="Orpa Slapak"/>

The Paradesi Jews of Cochin are a community of Sephardic Jews whose ancestors settled among the larger [[Cochin Jews|Cochin Jewish]] community located in [[Kerala]], a coastal southern state of India.<ref name="Orpa Slapak">The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 28. {{ISBN|965-278-179-7}}.</ref>

The Paradesi Jews of [[Madras]] traded in diamonds, precious stones and corals, they had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda, they maintained trade connections with Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] (i.e. Spanish or Judeo-Spanish), in India they learned to speak [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Judeo-Malayalam]] from the Malabar Jews.<ref name=Katz-Koder-Puthiakunnel>Katz 2000; Koder 1973; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2016}}

====Georgian Jews====
{{Main|Georgian Jews}}
The Georgian Jews are considered ethnically and culturally distinct from neighboring Mountain Jews. They were also traditionally a highly separate group from the Ashkenazi Jews in Georgia.

====Krymchaks====
{{Main|Krymchaks}}
The Krymchaks are Jewish ethno-religious communities of Crimea derived from Turkic-speaking adherents of Orthodox Judaism.

====Anusim====
{{Main|Anusim}}
During the history of the Jewish diaspora, Jews who lived in Christian Europe were often attacked by the local Christian population, and they were often [[forced to convert to Christianity]]. Many, known as "Anusim" ('forced-ones'), continued practicing Judaism in secret while living outwardly as ordinary Christians. The best known Anusim communities were the [[Jews of Spain]] and the [[Jews of Portugal]], although they existed throughout Europe. In the centuries since the rise of [[Islam]], many Jews living in the [[Muslim world]] were [[forced to convert to Islam]],{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}} such as the [[Mashhad]]i Jews of [[Persia]], who continued to practice Judaism in secret and eventually [[aliyah|moved to Israel]]. Many of the Anusim's descendants left Judaism over the years. The results of a genetic study of the population of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] released in December 2008 "attest to a high level of religious conversion (whether voluntary or enforced) driven by historical episodes of religious intolerance, which ultimately led to the integration of the Anusim's descendants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Susan M. |last2=Bosch |first2=Elena |last3=Balaresque |first3=Patricia L. |last4=Ballereau |first4=Stéphane J. |last5=Lee |first5=Andrew C. |last6=Arroyo |first6=Eduardo |last7=López-Parra |first7=Ana M. |last8=Aler |first8=Mercedes |last9=Grifo |first9=Marina S. Gisbert |last10=Brion |first10=Maria |last11=Carracedo |first11=Angel |last12=Lavinha |first12=João |last13=Martínez-Jarreta |first13=Begoña |last14=Quintana-Murci |first14=Lluis |last15=Picornell |first15=Antònia |last16=Ramon |first16=Misericordia |last17=Skorecki |first17=Karl |last18=Behar |first18=Doron M. |last19=Calafell |first19=Francesc |last20=Jobling |first20=Mark A. |title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=12 December 2008 |volume=83 |issue=6 |pages=725–736 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061}}</ref>

====Modern Samaritans====
{{Main|Samaritans}}
The Samaritans, who comprised a comparatively large group in classical times, now number 745 people, and today they live in two communities in [[Israel]] and the [[West Bank]], and they still regard themselves as descendants of the tribes of Ephraim (named by them as ''Aphrime'') and Manasseh (named by them as ''Manatch''). Samaritans adhere to a version of the [[Torah]] known as the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]], which differs in some respects from the [[Masoretic text]], sometimes in important ways, and less so from the [[Septuagint]].

The Samaritans consider themselves ''Bnei Yisrael'' ("Children of Israel" or "Israelites"), but they do not regard themselves as ''Yehudim'' (Jews). They view the term "Jews" as a designation for followers of Judaism, which they assert is a related but an altered and amended religion which was brought back by the exiled Israelite returnees, and is therefore not the true religion of the ancient Israelites, which according to them is [[Samaritanism]].