Editing Jewish ethnic divisions

{{short description|Jewish subgroups}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Jews and Judaism sidebar|ethnicities}}
'''Jewish ethnic divisions''' refer to many distinctive communities within the world's [[Jewish population]]. Although "Jewish" is considered an ethnicity itself, there are distinct ethnic subdivisions among [[Jews]], most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating [[Israelite]] population, [[Gerim|mixing with local communities]], and subsequent independent evolutions.<ref name="hammer">{{cite journal |vauthors=Hammer MF, Redd AJ, Wood ET, Bonner MR, Jarjanazi H, Karafet T, Santachiara-Benerecetti S, Oppenheim A, Jobling MA, Jenkins T, Ostrer H, Bonne-Tamir B |title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=97 |issue=12 |pages=6769–74 |date=June 2000 |pmid=10801975 |pmc=18733 |doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H |display-authors=1|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sephardic-ashkenazic-mizrahi-jews-jewish-ethnic-diversity/ |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=My Jewish Learning |language=en-US}}</ref>

During the millennia of the [[Jewish diaspora]], the communities would develop under the influence of their local environments; [[Politics|political]], [[Culture|cultural]], [[Nature|natural]] and [[demographic]]. Today, the manifestation of these differences among the Jews can be observed in [[Jewish culture|Jewish cultural expressions]] of each community, including [[Jewish languages|Jewish linguistic diversity]], culinary preferences, liturgical practices, religious interpretations, and degrees and sources of [[Genetic studies on Jews|genetic]] admixture.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kopelman |first1=Naama M. |last2=Stone |first2=Lewi |last3=Hernandez |first3=Dena G. |last4=Gefel |first4=Dov |last5=Singleton |first5=Andrew B. |last6=Heyer |first6=Evelyne |last7=Feldman |first7=Marcus W. |last8=Hillel |first8=Jossi |last9=Rosenberg |first9=Noah A. |date=2020 |title=High-resolution inference of genetic relationships among Jewish populations |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |language=en |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=804–814 |doi=10.1038/s41431-019-0542-y |issn=1018-4813 |pmc=7253422 |pmid=31919450}}</ref>

==Historical background==
===Ancient Israel and Judah===
{{Main|History of ancient Israel and Judah}}
The full extent of the cultural, linguistic, religious or other differences among the Israelites in antiquity is unknown. Following the defeat of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] in the 720s BCE and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] in 586 BCE, the Jewish people became dispersed throughout much of the [[Middle East]] and [[Africa]], especially in [[Egypt]] and North Africa to the west, as well as in [[Yemen]] to the south, and in [[Mesopotamia]] to the east. The Jewish population in ancient Israel was severely reduced by the [[Jewish–Roman wars]] and by the later hostile policies of the [[Byzantine Empire|Christian emperors]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
 |url=http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#337-640 
 |title=337–640: Late Antique Palestine 
 |access-date=June 7, 2009 
 |last=Lehmann 
 |first=Clayton Miles 
 |date=Summer 1998 
 |encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces 
 |publisher=University of South Dakota 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090811054625/http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm 
 |archive-date=August 11, 2009 
}}
</ref> against non-Christians, but the Jews always retained a presence in the [[Levant]].
[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]] writes of this time: "Wherever towns survived, or urban communities sprang up, Jews would sooner or later establish themselves. The near-destruction of Palestinian Jewry in the second century turned the survivors of Jewish rural communities into marginal town-dwellers. After the Arab conquest in the seventh century, the large Jewish agricultural communities in [[Babylonia]] were progressively wrecked by high taxation, so that there too the Jews drifted into towns and became craftsmen, tradesmen, and dealers. Everywhere these urban Jews, the vast majority literate and numerate, managed to settle, unless penal laws or physical violence made it impossible."<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul Johnson |title=A history of the Jews |page=171}}</ref>

[[File:Jewish_ethnic_cultural_divisions_map.png|500px|thumb|right|Jewish ethnic/cultural divisions map]]
Jewish communities continued to exist in Palestine in relatively small numbers: during the early Byzantine 6th century there were 43 communities; during the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic period]] and the intervening [[Crusades]] there were 50 (including [[Jerusalem]], [[Tiberias]], [[Ramla|Ramleh]], [[Ashkelon]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], and [[Gaza City|Gaza]]); and during the early Ottoman 14th century there were 30 (including [[Haifa]], [[Nablus|Shechem]], [[Hebron]], Ramleh, [[Jaffa]], Gaza, Jerusalem, and [[Safed]]). The majority of the Jewish population during the High Middle Ages lived in [[Iberia]] (what is now [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]) and in the region of Mesopotamia and [[Persia]] (what is now [[Iraq]] and [[Iran]]), the former known as the Sefardim and the latter known as the [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]. A substantial population existed also in central Europe, the so-called [[Ashkenazi]]m.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/anti-semitism/medieval-anti-judaism/who-and-where-were-medieval-jews/#.WA-NnbP4dvs | title=Who and where were the medieval Jews? | website=The Holocaust Explained | date=February 24, 1920 | access-date=25 Oct 2016}}</ref> Following the [[Alhambra Decree|expulsion]] of [[Sephardim]] from Iberia during the 15th century, a mass migration into the Ottoman Empire swelled the size of many eastern communities including those in Palestine; the town of Safed reached 30,000 Jews by end of the 16th century. The 16th century saw many Ashkenazi [[Kabbalists]] drawn to the mystical aura and teachings of the Jewish holy city. Johnson notes that in the Arab-Muslim territories, which included most of Spain, all of North Africa, and the Near East south of Anatolia in the Middle Ages, the Jewish condition was easier as a rule, than it was in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul Johnson |title=A history of the Jews |page=175}}</ref>

Over the centuries following the [[Crusades]] and [[Inquisition]], Jews from around the world began emigrating in increasing numbers. Upon arrival, these Jews adopted the customs of the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities into which they moved.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

===Diaspora===
[[File:Jewottoman.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Painting of a Jewish man from the [[Ottoman Empire]], 1779]]
Following the failure of the second revolt against the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and the [[Jewish diaspora|exile]], Jewish communities could be found in nearly every notable center throughout the Roman Empire, as well as scattered communities found in centers beyond the Empire's borders in northern Europe, in eastern Europe, in southwestern Asia, and in Africa. Farther to the east along trade routes, Jewish communities could be found throughout [[Persia]] and in empires even farther east including in India and China. In the [[Early Middle Ages]] of the 6th to 11th centuries, the [[Radhanite]]s traded along the overland routes between Europe and Asia earlier established by the Romans, dominated trade between the Christian and the Islamic worlds, and used a trade network that covered most areas of Jewish settlement.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In the middle Byzantine period, the khan of [[Khazaria]] in the northern Caucasus and his court converted to Judaism, partly in order to maintain neutrality between Christian Byzantium and the Islamic world. This event forms the framework for [[Yehuda Halevi]]'s work ''The [[Kuzari]]'' (c.1140), but how much the traces of Judaism within this group survived the collapse of the Khazar empire is a matter of scholarly debate. [[Arthur Koestler]], in his book ''[[The Thirteenth Tribe]]'' (1976), and more recently [[Shlomo Sand]] in his book ''[[The Invention of the Jewish People]]'' (2008) theorized that East-European Jews are more ethnically Khazar than they are Semitic.<ref name=GoldsteinWSJ2009>Goldstein, Evan R. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703746604574464023091024180 "Where Do Jews Come From?"], ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', 29 October 2009.</ref><ref>[[Steven Plaut|Plaut, Steven]]. [http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/21499/ "The Khazar Myth and the New Anti-Semitism"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325135452/http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/21499/ |date=25 March 2011 }}, ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', 9 May 2007.</ref><ref>Rossman, Vadim. ''Russian Intellectual Antisemitism in the Post-Communist Era'', [[University of Nebraska Press]], 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-8032-3948-7}}, p. 86.</ref><ref name=Scammell2009p547>[[Michael Scammell|Scammell, Michael]]. ''Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic'', [[Random House]], 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-394-57630-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bO7ANkFkH0UC&pg=PA547 p. 547.]</ref><ref name=Judt20091207>{{cite web
|url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f8fafee-e366-11de-8d36-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1| title = Israel Must Unpick Its Ethnic Myth| author = Judt, Tony | date = 2009-12-07| access-date = 2010-03-07
| publisher = The Financial Times}}</ref><ref name = "Bartal">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/999386.html
| title       = Inventing an invention
| first       = Israel
| last        = Bartal
| date        = July 6, 2008
| publisher   = [[Haaretz]]
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090303150903/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/999386.html
| access-date  = October 22, 2009
| archive-date = March 3, 2009
}}
</ref><ref>Myths of the Exile and Return: The History of History, David Finkel, May–June 2010. [http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2805] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321103032/http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2805|date=March 21, 2013}}</ref><ref name = "Goldstein">{{cite web
| url         = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703746604574464023091024180?
| title       = Where Do Jews Come From?
| first       = Evan R.
| last        = Goldstein
| date        = October 29, 2009
| work        = [[The Wall Street Journal]]
| access-date  = November 17, 2009
}}
</ref><ref name=Strenger>{{cite news|last=Carlo Strenge|title=Shlomo Sand's 'The Invention of the Jewish People' is a success for Israel|url=http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/shlomo-sand-s-the-invention-of-the-jewish-people-is-a-success-for-israel-1.3247|access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref><ref name = "Haatz Stampfer">{{Cite news |last = Aderet |first = Ofer |date = 26 June 2014 |title = Jews are not descended from Khazars, Hebrew University historian says |url = http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/1.601287 |work = haaretz.com |access-date= 1 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/973|title=The Invention of the Jewish People book review|last=Berkowitz|first=Michael|date=October 2010|work=Revies in History|access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref> Genetic studies have not supported this theory.<ref name="Nebel 1095–112">{{cite journal |title=The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East|first=Almut|last=Nebel|author2=Dvora Filon |author3=Bernd Brinkmann |author4=Partha P. Majumder |author5=Marina Faerman |author6=Ariella Oppenheim |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=November 2001 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=1095–112 |pmid=11573163 |pmc=1274378 |doi=10.1086/324070 }}</ref><ref name="Atzmon2010">{{cite journal |first1=Gil |last1=Atzmon |first2=Li |last2=Hao |first3=Itsik |last3=Pe'Er |first4=Christopher |last4=Velez |first5=Alexander |last5=Pearlman |first6=Pier Francesco |last6=Palamara|first7=Bernice |last7=Morrow |first8=Eitan |last8=Friedman |first9=Carole |last9=Oddoux |first10=Edward |last10=Burns |first11=Harry |last11 =Ostrer |name-list-style=amp |title=Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=850–59 |year=2010 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 |pmid=20560205 |pmc=3032072}}</ref><ref name="Doron M. Behar">{{cite journal |author=Doron M. Behar |author2=Mait Metspalu |author3=Yael Baran |author4=Naama Kopelman |author5=Bayazit Yunusbayev |journal=Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints |title=No evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews |date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=Wayne State University |url=http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=humbiol_preprints |access-date=November 17, 2014|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=Bruce |date=2013-12-20 |title=New genetic study: More evidence for modern Ashkenazi Jews' ancient Hebrew patrimony |url=https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/12/20/new-genetic-study-more-evidence-for-modern-ashkenazi-jews-ancient-hebrew-patrimony/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=Scope |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Costa |first1=Marta D. |last2=Pereira |first2=Joana B. |last3=Pala |first3=Maria |last4=Fernandes |first4=Verónica |last5=Olivieri |first5=Anna |last6=Achilli |first6=Alessandro |last7=Perego |first7=Ugo A. |last8=Rychkov |first8=Sergei |last9=Naumova |first9=Oksana |last10=Hatina |first10=Jiři |last11=Woodward |first11=Scott R. |last12=Eng |first12=Ken Khong |last13=Macaulay |first13=Vincent |last14=Carr |first14=Martin |last15=Soares |first15=Pedro |date=2013-10-08 |title=A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=2543 |doi=10.1038/ncomms3543 |pmid=24104924 |pmc=3806353 |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2543C |issn=2041-1723|hdl=10216/109253 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Metspalu |first2=Ene |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Rosset |first4=Saharon |last5=Tzur |first5=Shay |last6=Hadid |first6=Yarin |last7=Yudkovsky |first7=Guennady |last8=Rosengarten |first8=Dror |last9=Pereira |first9=Luisa |last10=Amorim |first10=Antonio |last11=Kutuev |first11=Ildus |last12=Gurwitz |first12=David |last13=Bonne-Tamir |first13=Batsheva |last14=Villems |first14=Richard |last15=Skorecki |first15=Karl |date=2008-04-30 |title=Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=e2062 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002062 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=2323359 |pmid=18446216|bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2062B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Agranat-Tamir |first1=Lily |last2=Waldman |first2=Shamam |last3=Martin |first3=Mario A. S. |last4=Gokhman |first4=David |last5=Mishol |first5=Nadav |last6=Eshel |first6=Tzilla |last7=Cheronet |first7=Olivia |last8=Rohland |first8=Nadin |last9=Mallick |first9=Swapan |last10=Adamski |first10=Nicole |last11=Lawson |first11=Ann Marie |last12=Mah |first12=Matthew |last13=Michel |first13=Megan |last14=Oppenheimer |first14=Jonas |last15=Stewardson |first15=Kristin |date=2020-05-28 |title=The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant |journal=Cell |volume=181 |issue=5 |pages=1146–1157.e11 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024 |pmid=32470400 |pmc=10212583 |issn=0092-8674}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coghlan |first=Andy |date=2010-06-09 |title=Jewish genetic ancestry traced to Levant |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0262407910614121 |journal=New Scientist |volume=206 |issue=2764 |pages=10 |doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(10)61412-1 |bibcode=2010NewSc.206T..10C |issn=0262-4079}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kopelman |first1=Naama M. |last2=Stone |first2=Lewi |last3=Wang |first3=Chaolong |last4=Gefel |first4=Dov |last5=Feldman |first5=Marcus W. |last6=Hillel |first6=Jossi |last7=Rosenberg |first7=Noah A. |date=2009-12-08 |title=Genomic microsatellites identify shared Jewish ancestry intermediate between Middle Eastern and European populations |journal=BMC Genetics |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=80 |doi=10.1186/1471-2156-10-80 |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2156 |pmc=2797531 |pmid=19995433}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kopelman |first1=Naama M |last2=Stone |first2=Lewi |last3=Hernandez |first3=Dena G |last4=Gefel |first4=Dov |last5=Singleton |first5=Andrew B |last6=Heyer |first6=Evelyne |last7=Feldman |first7=Marcus W |last8=Hillel |first8=Jossi |last9=Rosenberg |first9=Noah A |date=2020-01-09 |title=High-resolution inference of genetic relationships among Jewish populations |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |language=en |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=804–814 |doi= 10.1038/s41431-019-0542-y|pmid=31919450 |pmc=7253422 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ferragut |first1=J. F. |last2=Bentayebi |first2=K. |last3=Pereira |first3=R. |last4=Castro |first4=J. A. |last5=Amorim |first5=A. |last6=Ramon |first6=C. |last7=Picornell |first7=A. |date=2017-11-01 |title=Genetic portrait of Jewish populations based on three sets of X-chromosome markers: Indels, Alu insertions and STRs |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1872497317301965 |journal=Forensic Science International: Genetics |volume=31 |pages=e5–e11 |doi=10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.09.008 |pmid=28951006 |issn=1872-4973}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-30 |title=Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into Ashkenazi Jewish History {{!}} Harvard Medical School |url=https://hms.harvard.edu/news/ancient-dna-provides-new-insights-ashkenazi-jewish-history |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=hms.harvard.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Landmark Study Proves 90% of Jews Are Genetically Linked to the Levant |url=https://technionuk.org/news-post/landmark-study-proves-90-of-jews-are-genetically-linked-to-the-levant/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=Technion UK |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siegel-Itzkovich |first=Judy |date=2006-01-01 |title=Gene tests show that two fifths of Ashkenazi Jews are descended from four women |journal=British Medical Journal |language=en |volume=332 |issue=7534 |page=140 |doi=10.1136/bmj.332.7534.140-a |pmc=1336798 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-22 |title=The Genetic Origins of Ashkenazi Jews |url=https://avotaynuonline.com/2020/03/the-genetic-origins-of-ashkenazi-jews/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=Avotaynu |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Martinez-Laso |first1=J. |last2=Gazit |first2=E. |last3=Gomez-Casado |first3=E. |last4=Morales |first4=P. |last5=Martinez-Quiles |first5=N. |last6=Alvarez |first6=M. |last7=Martin-Villa |first7=J. M. |last8=Fernandez |first8=V. |last9=Arnaiz-Villena |first9=A. |date=1996 |title=HLA DR and DQ polymorphism in Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jews: comparison with other Mediterraneans |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-0039.1996.tb02515.x |journal=Tissue Antigens |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=63–71 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-0039.1996.tb02515.x |pmid=8929714 |issn=1399-0039}}</ref>

In western Europe, following the collapse of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in 476, and especially after the re-orientation of trade caused by the [[Moorish conquest of Iberia]] in the early 8th century, communications between the Jewish communities in northern parts of the former western empire became sporadic. At the same time, rule under Islam, even with [[dhimmi]] status, resulted in freer trade and communications within the Muslim world, and the communities in Iberia remained in frequent contact with Jewry in North Africa and the Middle East, but communities further afield, in central and south Asia and central Africa, remained more isolated, and continued to develop their own unique traditions. For the Sephardim in Spain, it resulted in a "[[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|Hebrew Golden Age]]" in the 10th to 12th centuries.<ref>Gregory B. Kaplan, Review of: ''The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain'', Ross Brann, Johns Hopkins UP, 1991. ''[[Hispanic Review]]'', Vol. 61, No. 3 (Summer, 1993), pp. 405–407. Available [https://www.jstor.org/stable/475075 here], from [[Jstor]]</ref> The 1492 [[Alhambra Decree|expulsion from Spain]] by the [[Catholic Monarchs]] however, made the Sephardic Jews [[Marrano|hide]] and disperse to France, Italy, England, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, parts of what is now northwestern Germany, and to other existing communities in Christian Europe, as well as to those within the [[Ottoman Empire]], to the [[Maghreb]] in North Africa and smaller numbers to other areas of the Middle East, and eventually to the Americas in the early 17th century.

In northern and Christian Europe during this period, financial competition developed between the authority of the [[Pope]] in Rome and nascent states and empires. In western Europe, the conditions for Jewry differed between the communities within the various countries and over time, depending on background conditions. With both pull and push factors operating, Ashkenazi emigration to the Americas would increase in the early 18th century with German-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, and end with a tidal wave between 1880 and the early 20th century with [[Yiddish]]-speaking ''Ashkenazim'', as conditions in the east deteriorated under the failing [[Russian Empire]]. After [[the Holocaust]], which resulted in the murder of more than 6 million Jews living in Europe, North America became the place where the majority of Jews live.<ref>{{cite web|title= Jewish Population by Country|publisher= Pew Religious Foundation|url= http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/religions/jews|access-date= April 13, 2021|archive-date= May 10, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210510190427/http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/religions/jews|url-status= dead}}</ref>

==Modern divisions==
[[File:Chassériau, Théodore - Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine - 1851.jpg|thumb|Jewish women in Algeria, 1851]]
Historically, European Jews have been classified as belonging to two major groups: the ''Ashkenazim'', or "Germanics" (''Ashkenaz'' meaning "[[Germany]]" in [[Medieval Hebrew]]), denoting their [[Central Europe]]an base, and the ''Sephardim'', or "Spaniards" (''Sefarad'' meaning "[[Hispania]]" or "[[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]" in Hebrew), denoting their [[Spain|Spanish]] and [[Portugal|Portuguese]] base. A third historic term ''Mizrahim'', or "Easterners" (''Mizrach'' being "east" in Hebrew) has been used to describe other non-European Jewish communities which have bases which are located further to the east, but its usage has changed both over time and relative to the location where it was used. One definition is the Jews who never left the Middle East, in contrast to the Sephardim who went west to Spain, Portugal, and North Africa. A similar three-part distinction in the Jewish community of 16th-century Venice is noted by Johnson as being "divided into three nations, the Penentines from Spain, the Levantines who were Turkish subjects, and the Natione Tedesca or Jews of German origin..."<ref>Johnson, ''A History of the Jews'', p.237</ref> The far more recent meaning of the term, to include both Middle Eastern and North African Jews in a single term, developed within [[Zionism]] in the mid-1940s, when Jews from these countries were all combined in one category as the target of [[One Million Plan|an immigration plan]]. According to some sources, the current sense of the term, as an ethnic group which is distinct from European-born Jews, was invented at this time.<ref>{{citation|title=The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State|first=Gil|last=Eyal|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780804754033|chapter=The “One Million Plan” and the Development of a Discourse about the Absorption of the Jews from Arab Countries|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5d3iEECpQSoC&pg=PA86|pages=86–90}} p. 86: "The principal significance of this plan lies in the fact, noted by [[Yehuda Shenhav]], that this was the first time in Zionist history that Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries were all packaged together in one category as the target of an immigration plan. There were earlier plans to bring specific groups, such as the Yemenites, but the "one million plan" was, as Shenhav says, "the zero point," the moment when the category of Mizrahi Jews in the current sense of this term, as an ethnic group distinct from European-born Jews, was invented."<br />p. 89—90 "... Shehav's argument that the one million plan led to the invention of the category of Mizrahi Jews and gave the term the meaning it has today, because the plan treated all Jews who originated in these countries as belonging to a single category of candidates for immigration. ... it added another layer of meaning to the newly minted and still crystallizing Mizrahi category, that is, as implying a quasi-racial division between those who had an "oriental appearance" and those who did not."</ref> The term constitutes a third major layer to some, and following the partition of [[Mandatory Palestine]] and Israeli independence, the Mizrahim's [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|often-forced migration]], led to their establishment of communities in the newly constructed Israel.

The divisions between these major groups are rough and their boundaries are not solid. The Mizrahim for example, are a heterogeneous collection of [[North Africa]]n and [[Middle East]]ern Jewish communities which are often as unrelated to each other as they are to any of the earlier mentioned Jewish groups. In traditional religious usage and sometimes in modern usage, however, Mizrahim overlap with termed ''Sephardi'' due to factors including the similar styles of liturgy, despite independent evolutions from Sephardim proper.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Roniger |first=Luis |date=2019 |title=The Western Sephardic Diaspora: Ancestral Birthplaces and Displacement, Diaspora Formation and Multiple Homelands |journal=Latin American Research Review |language=en |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=1031–1038 |doi=10.25222/larr.600 |issn=0023-8791|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Thus, among such Mizrahim there are [[Iranian Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraqi Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Egyptian Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Sudan|Sudanese Jews]], [[Tunisian Jews]], [[Algerian Jews]], [[Moroccan Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Lebanon|Lebanese Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Libya|Libyan Jews]], [[History of the Jews in Syria|Syrian Jews]], and various others. Other Asian groups that evolved separately from Sephardim include the [[Georgian Jews|Georgian]] and [[Mountain Jews]] from the [[Caucasus (geographic region)|Caucasus]], [[Jews in India|Indian Jews]] including the [[Cochin Jews|Malabar Yehuddim]] (Cochin Jews), [[Bene Israel]], [[Bnei Menashe]] and [[Bene Ephraim]], the [[History of the Jews in Afghanistan|Afghan Jews]] and [[Bukharan Jews]] of [[Central Asia]], and [[History of the Jews in China|Chinese Jews]], most notably the [[Kaifeng Jews]]. [[File:Suleiman_ben_Pinhas_Cohen_family,_Sana'a_ca._1944.jpg|thumb|right|The Suleiman ben Pinchas Cohen family of Yemen, ''circa'' 1944]] [[Yemenite Jews]] ("Teimanim") from [[Yemen]] and [[Kurdish Jews]] are sometimes included, although their style of liturgy is unique and they differ in respect to the admixture found among them to that found in Mizrahim. Additionally, there is a difference between the pre-existing Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities as distinct from the descendants of those Sephardi migrants who established themselves in the Middle East and North Africa after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by the [[Catholic Monarchs]] in 1492, and in 1497 from the expulsion decreed in [[Portugal]].<ref name=":1" />

Distinct smaller Jewish groups include the [[Italian Jews#Italian Rite Jews|Italian rite Jews]] (i.e. only descendants of ancient Italian Jewish community without later migrants to Italy); the [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniotes]] of [[Greece]]; various [[Jews and Judaism in Africa|African Jews]], including most numerously the [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]]; as well as various other distinct but now extinct communities.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Despite this diversity, Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, estimated at between 70% and 80% of all Jews worldwide;<ref name="adherents">{{cite web |title=Separatists, continued... |publisher=Adherents.com |url=http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_588.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030923000736/http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_588.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 23, 2003 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref> prior to [[World War II]] and [[the Holocaust]] however, it was 90%.<ref name="adherents"/> Ashkenazim developed in Europe, but underwent massive emigration in search of better opportunities and during periods of civil strife and warfare. As a result of this, they became the overwhelming majority of Jews in the [[New World]] continents and countries, which previously were without native European or Jewish populations. These include the [[History of the Jews in the United States|United States]], [[Judaism in Mexico|Mexico]], [[History of the Jews in Canada|Canada]], [[History of the Jews in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], [[History of the Jews in Argentina|Argentina]], [[History of the Jews in Australia|Australia]], [[History of the Jews in Brazil|Brazil]] and [[History of the Jews in South Africa|South Africa]], but with [[History of the Jews in Venezuela|Venezuela]] and [[Panama]] being exceptions since Sephardim still compose the majority of the Jewish communities in these two countries. In [[History of the Jews in France|France]], more recent Sephardi Jewish immigrants from North Africa and their descendants now outnumber the pre-existing Ashkenazim.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liphshiz |first=Cnaan |title=A Sephardi challenge to the last bastion of Ashkenazi power in France |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-sephardi-challenge-to-the-last-bastion-of-ashkenazi-power-in-france/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=DellaPergola |first=Sergio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJguDwAAQBAJ&q=Most+French+jews+Mizrahi+Sephardic |title=Jewish Intermarriage Around the World |date=2017-07-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-51090-5 |language=en}}</ref>

===Genetic studies===
{{Main|Genetic studies on Jews}}
{{See also|Y-chromosomal Aaron|Genealogical DNA test|Matrilineality|Gerim}}

Despite the evident diversity displayed by the world's distinctive Jewish populations, both culturally and physically, [[DNA|genetic]] studies have demonstrated most of these to be genetically related to one another, having ultimately originated from a common ancient [[Israelite]] population that underwent geographic branching and subsequent independent [[evolution]]s.<ref name="hammer"/>

A study published by the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] stated that "The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora."<ref name="hammer"/> Researchers expressed surprise at the remarkable genetic uniformity they found among modern Jews, no matter where the [[diaspora]] has become dispersed around the world.<ref name="hammer"/>

Moreover, [[DNA]] tests have demonstrated substantially less inter-marriage in most of the various Jewish ethnic divisions over the last 3,000 years than in other populations.<ref name="New York Times Y Chromosome" /> The findings lend support to traditional Jewish accounts accrediting their founding to exiled Israelite populations, and counters theories that many or most of the world's Jewish populations were founded by entirely [[Gerim|gentile populations that adopted the Jewish faith]], as in the notable case of the historic [[Khazars]].<ref name="New York Times Y Chromosome">{{cite journal|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E0D71338F93AA35756C0A9669C8B63 |title=Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of the Jewish Diaspora |date=May 9, 2000 |journal=The New York Times |first=Nicholas |last=Wade |access-date=May 6, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/Genetics-and-the-Jewish-identity |title=Genetics and the Jewish identity |author=Diana Muir Appelbaum |author2=Paul S. Appelbaum |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=February 11, 2008 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref> Although groups such as the Khazars could have been absorbed into modern Jewish populations – in the Khazars' case, absorbed into the Ashkenazim – it is unlikely that they formed a large percentage of the ancestors of modern Ashkenazi Jews, and much less that they were the genesis of the Ashkenazim.<ref name="Nebel 1095–112"/>

Previously, the Israelite origin identified in the world's Jewish populations was attributed only to the men who had migrated from the Middle East and then forged the current known communities with "the women from each local population whom they took as wives and converted to Judaism".<ref name="wade">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/science/14gene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin| title=New Light on Origins of Ashkenazi in Europe|first=Nicholas|last=Wade|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 14, 2006|access-date=2006-05-24}}</ref> Research in Ashkenazi Jews has suggested that, in addition to the male founders, significant female founder ancestry might also derive from the Middle East, with about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population descended matrilineally from just four women, or "founder lineages", that were "likely from a [[Hebrews|Hebrew]]/[[Levant]]ine mtDNA pool" originating in the Near East in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.<ref name="wade" />

Points in which Jewish groups differ are the source and proportion of [[Gerim|genetic contribution from host populations]].<ref name="Richards">{{cite journal |last=Richards |first=Martin |author2=Chiara Rengo |author3=Fulvio Cruciani |author4=Fiona Gratrix |author5=James F. Wilson |author6=Rosaria Scozzari |author7=Vincent Macaulay |author8=Antonio Torroni |date=April 2003 |title=Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=1058–1064 |issn=0002-9297 |pmid=12629598 |doi=10.1086/374384 |url=http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v72n4/024771/024771.web.pdf |access-date=2007-06-06 |pmc=1180338}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref name=Oppenheim&Hammer>{{cite web|title=Jewish Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries|author1=Ariella Oppenheim |author2=Michael Hammer |publisher=Khazaria InfoCenter|url=http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html}}</ref> For example, the [[Teimanim]] differ to a certain extent from other Mizrahim, as well as from Ashkenazim in the proportion of [[sub-Saharan Africa]]n gene types which have entered their [[gene pool]]s.<ref name="Richards" /> Among [[Yemenite Jews]], the average stands at 5–10%, due to the relative genetic isolation of Yemenite Jews this is only a quarter of the frequency of the non-Jewish Yemenite sample, which can reach 35%.<ref name="Richards" /> In Ashkenazi Jews, the proportion of male indigenous European genetic admixture amounts to around 0.5% per generation over an estimated 80 generations, and a total admixture estimate around 12.5%.<ref name="hammer" /> The only exception to this among Jewish communities is in the [[Beta Israel]] (Ethiopian Jews); a 1999 genetic study came to the conclusion that "the distinctiveness of the Y-chromosome [[haplotype]] distribution of Beta Israel Jews from conventional Jewish populations and their relatively greater similarity in haplotype profile to non-Jewish Ethiopians are consistent with the view that the Beta Israel people descended from ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia who converted to Judaism."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Lucotte G, Smets P |title=Origins of Falasha Jews studied by haplotypes of the Y chromosome |journal=Hum. Biol. |volume=71 |issue=6 |pages=989–93 |date=December 1999 |pmid=10592688 |last2=Smets}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethioguide.com/aa-ethioguide/ethioguide/News_Archive/1299/origin%20of%20falasha_jews122399.htm|title=Study: Falasha's Not Genetically Jewish|access-date=November 12, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126184648/http://www.ethioguide.com/aa-ethioguide/ethioguide/News_Archive/1299/origin%20of%20falasha_jews122399.htm|archive-date=January 26, 2009}}</ref> Another 2001 study did, however, find a possible genetic similarity between 11 Ethiopian Jews and 4 Yemenite Jews from the [[Sampling (statistics)|population samples]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Distinctive genetic signatures in the Libyan Jews |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=858–63 |date=January 2001 |pmid=11158561 |pmc=14674 |doi=10.1073/pnas.98.3.858 |bibcode=2001PNAS...98..858R |display-authors=1 |vauthors=Rosenberg NA, Woolf E, Pritchard JK, Schaap T, Gefel D, Shpirer I, Lavi U, Bonne-Tamir B, Hillel J, Feldman MW|doi-access=free}}</ref>

DNA analysis further determined that modern Jews of the priesthood tribe—"[[Kohen|Cohanim]]"—share a common ancestor dating back about 3,000 years.<ref name="hammer2"/> This result is consistent for all Jewish populations around the world.<ref name="hammer2">{{cite journal|vauthors=Skorecki K, Selig S, Blazer S, Bradman R, Bradman N, Waburton PJ, Ismajlowicz M, Hammer MF |title=Y chromosomes of Jewish priests |journal=Nature |volume=385 |issue=6611 |pages=32 |date=January 1997 |pmid=8985243 |doi=10.1038/385032a0 |url=http://www.familytreedna.com/nature97385.html |bibcode=1997Natur.385...32S |s2cid=5344425 |display-authors=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209230313/http://www.familytreedna.com/nature97385.html |archive-date=February 9, 2007|doi-access=free }}</ref> The researchers estimated that the most recent common ancestor of modern Cohanim lived between 1000 BCE (roughly the time of [[The Exodus|the Biblical Exodus]]) and 586 BCE, when the [[Babylonia]]ns destroyed the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]].<ref name="American Society For Technion"/> They found similar results analyzing DNA from Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews.<ref name="American Society For Technion">{{cite journal|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/07/980714071409.htm|title=Priestly Gene Shared By Widely Dispersed Jews |journal=American Society for Technion, Israel Institute of Technology |date=July 14, 1998}}</ref> The scientists estimated the date of the original priest based on genetic mutations, which indicated that the priest lived roughly 106 generations ago, between 2,650 and 3,180 years ago depending whether one counts a generation as 25 or 30 years.<ref name="American Society For Technion"/>

A study of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA by Richards et al. (2013) suggested that, though Ashkenazi paternal lineages were of Middle Eastern origin, the four main female Ashkenazi founders had descent lines that were established in Europe 10,000 to 20,000 years in the past<ref name=NYTimesEuropeanWomen>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/science/ashkenazi-origins-may-be-with-european-women-study-finds.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Genes Suggest European Women at Root of Ashkenazi Family Tree |author=Nicholas Wade |date=October 8, 2013}}</ref> while most of the remaining minor founders also have a deep European ancestry. The majority of Ashkenazi maternal lineages were not brought from the Levant, nor recruited in the Caucasus, but were assimilated within Europe. The study estimated that 80 percent of Ashkenazi maternal ancestry comes from women indigenous to Europe, 8 percent from the Near East, and the remainder undetermined.<ref name=NYTimesEuropeanWomen /> According to the study these findings 'point to a significant role for the conversion of women in the formation of Ashkenazi communities.' Some geneticists, such as Doron Behar, a geneticist at Gene by Gene in Houston, US, and Karl Skorecki, at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, are skeptical of these results.<ref name=Costa>{{cite journal |author=M. D. Costa and 16 others |title=A substantial prehistoric European ancestry among 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><ref>{{cite news |author=Ofer Aderet |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.551825 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |title=Study traces Ashkenazi roots to European women who probably converted to Judaism - The genetic analysis traced the lineage of many Ashkenazi Jews to four maternal founders in Europe |date=October 11, 2013 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24442352 |work=[[BBC News]] |title=European link to Jewish maternal ancestry |author=Melissa Hogenboom |date=October 9, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/most-ashkenazi-jews-are-genetically-europeans-surprising-study-finds-f8C11358210 |publisher=NBC News |title=Most Ashkenazi Jews are genetically Europeans, surprising study finds |author=Tia Ghose |date=October 8, 2013 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/did-modern-jews-originate-italy |work=Science Magazine |title=Did Modern Jews Originate in Italy? |author=Michael Balter |date=October 8, 2013 |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref>

A 2014 study by Fernández et al. found that Ashkenazi Jews display a frequency of haplogroup K in their maternal 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 Richards that suggested a European source for 3 exclusively Ashkenazi K lineages.<ref>{{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>

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 among "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 |title=Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture |first1=Marc |last1=Haber |first2=Dominique |last2=Gauguier |first3=Sonia |last3=Youhanna |first4=Nick |last4=Patterson|first5=Priya |last5=Moorjani |journal=PLOS Genetics|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316|year=2013|editor1-last=Williams|editor1-first=Scott M|last6=Botigué|first6=Laura R.|last7=Platt|first7=Daniel E.|last8=Matisoo-Smith|first8=Elizabeth|last9=Soria-Hernanz|first9=David F. |display-authors=8|volume=9|issue=2|pages=e1003316|pmid=23468648|pmc=3585000 |doi-access=free }}
</ref></blockquote>

A 2013 study by Doron M. Behar, Mait Metspalu, Yael Baran, Naama M. Kopelman, Bayazit Yunusbayev et al. using integration of genotypes on newly collected largest data set available to date (1,774 samples from 106 Jewish and non-Jewish populations) for assessment of Ashkenazi Jewish genetic origins from the regions of potential Ashkenazi ancestry:(Europe, the Middle East, and the region historically associated with the Khazar Khaganate) concluded that "This most comprehensive study... does not change and in fact reinforces the conclusions of multiple past studies, including ours and those of other groups (Atzmon and others, 2010; Bauchet and others, 2007; Behar and others, 2010; Campbell and others, 2012; Guha and others, 2012; Haber and others; 2013; Henn and others, 2012; Kopelman and others, 2009; Seldin and others, 2006; Tian and others, 2008). We confirm the notion that the Ashkenazi, North African, and Sephardi Jews share substantial genetic ancestry and that they derive it from Middle Eastern and European populations, with no indication of a detectable Khazar contribution to their genetic origins."{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The authors also reanalyzed the 2012 study of Eran Elhaik, and found that "The provocative assumption that Armenians and Georgians could serve as appropriate proxies for Khazar descendants is problematic for a number of reasons as the evidence for ancestry among Caucasus populations do not reflect Khazar ancestry". Also, the authors found that "Even if it were allowed that Caucasus affinities could represent Khazar ancestry, the use of the Armenians and Georgians as Khazar proxies is particularly poor, as they represent the southern part of the Caucasus region, while the Khazar Khaganate was centered in the North Caucasus and further to the north. Furthermore, among populations of the Caucasus, Armenians and Georgians are geographically the closest to the Middle East, and are therefore expected a priori to show the greatest genetic similarity to Middle Eastern populations." Concerning the similarity of South Caucasus populations to Middle Eastern groups which was observed at the level of the whole genome in one recent study (Yunusbayev and others, 2012). The authors found that "Any genetic similarity between Ashkenazi Jews and Armenians and Georgians might merely reflect a common shared Middle Eastern ancestry component, actually providing further support to a Middle Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Jews, rather than a hint for a Khazar origin". The authors claimed "If one accepts the premise that similarity to Armenians and Georgians represents Khazar ancestry for Ashkenazi Jews, then by extension one must also claim that Middle Eastern Jews and many Mediterranean European and Middle Eastern populations are also Khazar descendants. This claim is clearly not valid, as the differences among the various Jewish and non-Jewish populations of Mediterranean Europe and the Middle East predate the period of the Khazars by thousands of years".<ref name="Doron M. Behar"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Study Finds No Evidence of Khazar Origin for Ashkenazi Jews |author=Yori Yanover |date=February 23, 2014 |newspaper=The Jewish Press |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/study-finds-no-evidence-of-khazar-origin-for-ashkenazi-jews/2014/02/23/ |access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref>

A 2014 study by Carmi et al. published by [[Nature Communications]] found that the Ashkenazi Jewish population originates from an approximately even mixture of Middle Eastern and European ancestry. According to the authors, that mixing likely occurred some 600–800 years ago, followed by rapid growth and genetic isolation (rate per generation 16–53%;). The study found that all Ashkenazi Jews descent from around 350 individuals, and that the principal component analysis of common variants in the sequenced AJ samples, confirmed previous observations, namely, the proximity of Ashkenazi Jewish cluster to other Jewish, European and Middle Eastern populations".<ref>{{cite news |title=Genetics: Roots of the Ashkenazi Jewish population |work=Nature Communications |date=September 10, 2014 |url=http://www.natureasia.com/en/research/highlight/9440 |access-date=September 29, 2014 |archive-date=April 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423212639/http://www.natureasia.com/en/research/highlight/9440 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Shai Carmi |author2=Ken Y. Hui |author3=Ethan Kochav |author4=Xinmin Liu |author5=James Xue |author6=Fillan Grady |author7=Saurav Guha |author8=Kinnari Upadhyay |author9=Dan Ben-Avraham |author10=Semanti Mukherjee |author11=B. Monica Bowen |author12=Tinu Thomas |author13=Joseph Vijai |author14=Marc Cruts |author15=Guy Froyen |author16=Diether Lambrechts |author17=Stéphane Plaisance |author18=Christine Van Broeckhoven |author19=Philip Van Damme |author20=Herwig Van Marck |title=Sequencing an Ashkenazi reference panel supports population-targeted personal genomics and illuminates Jewish and European origins |journal=Nature Communications |volume=5 |doi=10.1038/ncomms5835 |date=September 9, 2014 |display-authors=etal |bibcode=2014NatCo...5.4835C |pages=4835 |pmid=25203624 |pmc=4164776}}</ref>

==Geographic distribution==
[[File:JewishmalteseFamily.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[History of the Jews in Malta|Maltese Jews]] in [[Valletta]], 19th century]]
[[File:Sephardic family in Bosnia, 19th century.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Sephardi Jew]]ish family descendants of [[Alhambra decree|Spanish expellees]] in [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]], 19th century]]
[[File:Ashkenazic-Family.jpg|thumb|An [[Galician Jews|Eastern Ashkenazic]] family living in the [[Shtetl]] of [[Romanivka, Bereznehuvate settlement hromada, Bashtanka Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast|Romanivka]], circa 1905]]
[[File:Yemenite Jews, Sa'dah.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Yemenite Jews in [[Sa'dah]], smoking [[Hookah|Nargile]].]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Karaime aus Traken Bild 5.jpg|200px|thumbnail|right|A [[Crimean Karaites|Crimean Karaite]] Teenager with a traditional robe and a 'Kisiu-rosh' (Head cover).]] -->
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[File:Jews of Iran film.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Persian Jews]] praying in a [[Tehran]] [[Synagogue]], [[Iran]], 2005]] -->
[[File:Women at kotel.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Ethiopian Jew]]ish women at [[Jerusalem]]'s [[Western Wall]], 2006]]
[[File:Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Bukharan Jew]]ish teacher and students in [[Samarkand]], modern-day [[Uzbekistan]], circa 1910]]
[[File:Berber Jews.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Berber Jews]] from the [[Atlas Mountains]] of [[Morocco]], circa 1900]]
[[File:Jews of Kai-Fung-Foo, China.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Kaifeng Jews|Chinese Jews]] from the city of [[Kaifeng]], [[China]], circa 1900]]
[[Image:KurdJewwomenRowendez905.jpg|200px|thumb|right|[[Kurdish Jews]] in [[Rawanduz]], [[Iraqi Kurdistan]], 1905]]
[[File:Jewish Girls of the Caucasus, 1913.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Juhur Imuni ([[Mountain Jews]]) girls of the [[Caucasus]], 1913]]
[[File:Bnei Menashe01 Jusmine.JPG|200px|thumbnail|right|[[Bnei Menashe]] Jews from [[Northeastern India]], celebrating [[Purim]], in [[Karmiel]], [[Israel]].]]

Because of the independence of local communities, Jewish ethnic divisions, even when they circumscribe differences in liturgy, language, cuisine and other cultural accoutrements, are more often a reflection of geographic and historical isolation from other communities. It is for this reason that communities are referred to by referencing the historical region in which the community cohered when discussing their practices, regardless of where those practices are found today.[[File:Cochin Jews.jpg|200px|thumb|right|A [[Malabar Jewish]] family in [[Cochin]], [[India]], circa 1900]]The smaller groups number in the hundreds to tens of thousands, with the [[Georgian Jews]] (also known as ''Gruzinim'' or ''Qartveli Ebraeli'') and [[Beta Israel]] being most numerous at somewhat over 100,000 each. Many members of these groups have now emigrated from their traditional homelands, largely to Israel. For example, only about 10 percent of the ''Gruzinim'' remain in Georgia.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

A brief description of the extant communities, by the geographic regions with which they are associated, is as follows:

===Europe===
[[Ashkenazi Jews]] (plural ''Ashkenazim'') are the descendants of Jews who migrated into northern [[History of the Jews in France|France]] and [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]] around 800–1000, and later into [[Eastern Europe]].

Among the Ashkenazim there are a number of major subgroups:
* [[Yekke]]s, or [[German Jews]], stemming from the [[Northern European Lowlands|Lowlands]], historical [[Germany]], [[History of the Jews in Switzerland|Switzerland]], and [[Scandinavia]]. They originally spoke [[Yiddish dialects|Western Yiddish]], which had less Slavic influence than other Yiddish dialects. By the early 20th century, Yiddish was in decline in this population, and assimilation was proceeding rapidly.
* [[Litvaks]], or [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuanian Jews]], emerged as a distinct group in the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] (present-day [[Lithuania]], [[Belarus]], [[Ukraine]], [[Latvia]] and the northeastern [[Suwałki]] region of [[Poland]]). They have historically spoken the [[Eastern Yiddish]] dialect ''Litvish'' ([[Lithuanian Yiddish]]).
* [[Galitzianers]], or [[Galician Jews]], trace their origins to [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], [[Western Ukraine]] (current [[Lvivska|Lviv]], [[Ivano-Frankivska|Ivano-Frankivsk]], and [[Ternopilska|Ternopil]] regions) and [[Lesser Poland|South-Eastern Poland]].
* [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jews from central Poland]] (origins from former [[Congress Poland]]), while having fewer specificities and innovations in local cultures than neighboring Litvaks or Galitzianers, nevertheless have had a significant coherent Ashkenazi culture for centuries, and the ''Poylish'' dialect of [[Eastern Yiddish]].
* [[Oberlander Jews|Oberlanders]], originating in the [[Upper Hungary|Oberland]] region of [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungary]] and the district surrounding [[Bratislava]] in [[Slovakia]], originally spoke [[Western Yiddish]]. In modern times before the Holocaust, many Oberlander Jews migrated to urban centers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and adopted German or Hungarian as their first language.
* [[Unterlander Jews|Unterlanders]], who resided in the northeastern region of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] (present-day [[Slovakia]], [[Zakarpattia Oblast]] in [[Ukraine]] and [[Northern Transylvania]].)
* According to some sources, [[Jews in Udmurtia and Tatarstan]] can be seen as ethnic group - ''dos udmurtishe yidntum''.
* [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jews]], who have had a presence in [[Russia]] and [[Territorial evolution of Russia|areas connected to it]] since the times of the [[Kievan Rus]].

[[Sephardi Jews]] (plural ''Sephardim'') are Jews whose ancestors lived in [[Iberia]] prior to 1492.

There are multiple subgroups among the Sephardim:
* [[Western Sephardim]], or the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews]] are a distinct subgroup of [[Iberian Jews]]. They are largely descended from Jews who lived as [[New Christians]] in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] during the immediate generations following the forced expulsion of unconverted Jews [[Expulsion of the Jews from Spain|from Spain in 1492]] and [[Expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Portugal|from Portugal in 1497]].
* [[Eastern Sephardim]] are a subgroup of [[Iberian Jews]] descended from families exiled from Iberia in the 15th century. Most of them settled in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, while some settled as far as the [[Malabar coast]], importing their culture and customs to the local [[Cochin Jews]].
* [[North African Sephardim]] descend from exiled [[Iberian Jews|Iberic Jewish]] families of the late 15th century and North African [[Maghrebi Jews|Maghrebi Jewish]] communities already settled in [[Moroccan Jews|Morocco]], [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algeria]], [[History of the Jews in Tunisia|Tunisia]] and [[History of the Jews in Libya|Libya]]. They have historically spoken [[Haketia]], a [[Judaeo-Spanish]] language derived from [[Old Spanish]], [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]].
* [[Belmonte Jews]] are a Jewish community in [[Belmonte, Portugal|Belmonte]] that lived in Portugal as [[Crypto-Jews]] for centuries. They survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of [[endogamy]] and hiding all external signs of their faith. 
* [[Xuetes]], or [[Majorcan Jews]], are descendants of Jews who were forcibly [[Conversos|converted to Christianity]] and today live in the [[Balearic Islands]]. Some [[Crypto-Judaism|maintained their faith]], while others observed a [[syncretist]] form of Christian worship known as [[Xueta Christianity]].

Jewish communities in Europe that are neither Ashkenazic nor Sephardic:
*[[Italkim]] trace their origins as far back as the 2nd century BCE. It is thought that some families descend from Jews deported from Judaea in 70 CE. They have traditionally spoken a variety of [[Judeo-Italian languages]] ([[Italkian]]) and used [[Italian Hebrew]] as a pronunciation system.
* [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniotes]] are a distinct Jewish community that has resided in [[Greece]] and neighboring areas for over 2,000 years. They have historically spoken the [[Judæo-Greek]] dialect [[Yevanic]], although due to the majority of them being murdered in the [[Holocaust]], combined with assimilation post-WW2 there are no longer any speakers of it.
* [[San Nicandro Jews]] – A group of mid-20th century [[Gerim|converts]] from Italy.

===The Caucasus and the Crimea===
* [[Juhurim]], better known as the [[Mountain Jews]], are descendants of Persian Jews from Iran and Babylonian Jews from [[Baghdad]] who settled in the eastern and northern Caucasus (modern [[Azerbaijan]], [[Chechnya]], [[Dagestan]] and [[Ingushetia]]). It's believed that they had reached Persia from Ancient Israel as early as the 8th century BCE. The [[Juhuro]] survived numerous historical vicissitudes by settling in extremely remote and mountainous areas. They were known to be accomplished warriors and horseback riders. Their language is [[Judeo-Tat]], an ancient Southwest Iranian language which integrates many elements of [[Biblical Hebrew|Ancient Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]].
*[[Gruzim]], or the [[Georgian Jews]], are one of the oldest surviving Jewish communities tracing back to the [[Babylonian captivity]] in the 6th century BCE. The 2,600-year history of the Georgian Jews was unique in its complete absence of [[antisemitism]] prior to Russia's annexation of Georgia. They have traditionally spoken [[Kivruli]], a [[Judaeo-Georgian]] dialect with a lot of [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]] loan words. As a result of the [[1990s Post-Soviet aliyah|Post-Soviet aliyah]], the vast majority of [[Georgian Jews in Israel|Georgian Jews now live in Israel]].
* [[Krymchaks]] and [[Crimean Karaites]] are Turkic-speaking Jews of the [[Crimea]] and [[Eastern Europe]]. The Krymchaks practice [[Rabbinic Judaism]], while the Karaim practice [[Karaite Judaism]]. Whether they are primarily the descendants of Israelite Jews who adopted Turkic language and culture, or the descendants of Turkic converts to Judaism, is still debated, although the question is irrelevant as far as [[Halakhah|Jewish law]] is concerned, according to which they are Jews, regardless of whether by Israelite descent or by conversion.
* [[Subbotniks]] are a dwindling group of Jews from Azerbaijan and Armenia, whose ancestors were Russian peasants who [[Gerim|converted to Judaism]] for unknown reasons in the 19th century.<ref>[http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/090806JTA_Armenia.shtml ncsj.org] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929152507/http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/090806JTA_Armenia.shtml |date=September 29, 2006 }}</ref>

===North Africa===
Mostly Sephardi Jews and collectively known as [[Maghrebi Jews]] and sometime considered part of the wider [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] group:
* [[Moroccan Jews]] migrated to this area after the destruction of the [[First Temple|First Temple in Jerusalem]] and settled among the [[Berbers]]. They were later met by a second wave of migration from the [[Iberian Peninsula]] in the period immediately preceding and following the 1492 Alhambra Decree, when the Jews were expelled from [[Kingdom of Spain|kingdoms of Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. Their descendants in the [[Amazon basin]] are known as [[Amazonian Jews]], many of whom remain in traditional Jewish communities<ref name=amazon>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazoniajudaica.com.br/ |title=Portal Amazônia Judaica |trans-title=Jewish Amazon Portal |language=pt}}</ref><ref name=museum>{{cite web |url=http://www.museudainquisicao.org.br/artigos/duzentos-anos-de-miscigenacao-judaica-na-amazonia/ |title=Duzentos anos de miscigenação judaica na Amazônia |trans-title=Two hundred years of Jewish miscegenation in the Amazon |author=Simão Arão Pecher |publisher=Museum of Inquisition History |language=pt}}</ref><ref name=haketia>{{cite web |url=http://www.catedra-alberto-benveniste.org/_fich/17/utima_versao.pdf |title=Línguas em extinção: o haketia em Belém do Pará |trans-title=Languages in extinction: Haketia in Belém, Pará |author=Cássia Scheinbein |publisher=Federal University of Minas Gerais |date=2006 |language=pt |access-date=December 11, 2022 |archive-date=November 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113135639/http://www.catedra-alberto-benveniste.org/_fich/17/utima_versao.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> but others mixed into the local population and developed a separate [[ethnic identity]], often with [[syncretism|mixed religious practices]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.556547|title=For the Jews of the Amazon, Israel Is a Whole Different Kind of Jungle|last=Maltz|first=Judy|date=2013-11-06|newspaper=Haaretz|language=en|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jewishfilmfestivals.org/films/2008/fire-within-jews-amazonian-rainforest/|title=The Fire Within: Jews in the Amazonian Rainforest - Jewish Film Festivals and Films|website=Jewish Film Festivals and Films|language=en-US|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishgen.org/Sephardic/amazon.HTM|title=Moroccan Jews in the Amazon|website=www.jewishgen.org|access-date=2016-04-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/36174/film-uncovers-amazonian-jews-who-want-to-make-aliyah/|title=Film uncovers Amazonian Jews who want to make aliyah|newspaper=J|access-date=2016-04-06|date=November 14, 2008}}</ref>
* [[Algerian Jews]]: There is evidence of Jewish settlements in [[Algeria]] since at least the late Roman period, followed by Jewish immigrants came to North Africa after fleeing from the persecutions of the [[Visigothic]] king [[Sisebut]], and  finally the largest segment which were Sephardic Jews forced from Spain due to the [[Inquisition]].
* [[Libyan Jews]] stretch back to the 3rd century BCE, when Cyrenaica was under Greek rule. The Jewish population of Libya, a part of the Berber Jewish community, continued to populate the area continuously until the modern times.
* [[Tunisian Jews]]: similar to the Libyan Jews
* [[Berber Jews]]: Jewish communities of the [[Atlas Mountains]]
* [[History of the Jews in Sudan|Sudanese Jews]] are Jewish community that lived in Sudan, and was concentrated in the capital [[Khartoum]], they were mainly of [[Sephardic]] background, who had constructed a [[synagogue]] and a [[Jewish school]].
* [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Egyptian Jews]] are generally Jews thought to have descended from the great Jewish communities of Hellenistic Alexandria, mixed with many more recent groups of immigrants. These include Babylonian Jews following the Muslim conquest; Jews from Palestine following the Crusades; Sephardim following the expulsion from Spain; Italian Jews settling for trading reasons in the 18th and 19th centuries; and Jews from Aleppo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

=== West Asia ===
Jews originating from West Asia are generally called by the catch-all term [[Mizrahi Jews]], more precise terms for particular groups are:
* [[Babylonian Jews]], also known as [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraqi Jews]], are descendants of the Jewish people whom have lived in [[Mesopotamia]] since the time of the [[Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem|Assyrian conquest of Samaria]].
* [[Kurdish Jews]] from [[Kurdistan]], as distinct from the Persian Jews of central and eastern [[Persia]], as well as from the lowland [[Babylonian Jews]] of Mesopotamia.
* [[Persian Jews]] from Iran (commonly called ''Parsim'' in Israel, from the Hebrew) have a 2700-year history. One of the oldest Jewish communities of the world, Persian Jews constitute the largest Jewish community in West Asia outside Israel.
* [[Yemenite Jews]] (called ''Temanim'', from the Hebrew), as well as [[Adeni Jews]] are Oriental Jews whose geographic and social isolation from the rest of the Jewish community allowed them to maintain a [[liturgy]] and set of practices that are significantly distinct from 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.
* [[Palestinian Jews]] are Jewish inhabitants of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] throughout certain periods of Middle Eastern history. After the modern State of Israel was born, nearly all native Palestinian Jews became citizens of Israel, and the term "Palestinian Jews" largely fell into disuse.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
* [[History of the Jews in Lebanon|Lebanese Jews]] are the Jews that lived around [[Beirut]]. After the [[Lebanese Civil War]], the community's emigration appears to have been completed; few remain in Lebanon today.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}
* [[History of the Jews in Oman|Omani Jews]] are the early Jewish community of [[Sohar]]. They are thought to be descendants of Ishaq bin Yahuda, a Sohari merchant around the first millennium. This community is believed to have disappeared by 1900.
* [[History of the Jews in Syria|Syrian Jews]] are generally divided into two groups: those who inhabited Syria from ancient times (according to their own traditions, from the time of King David (1000 BC)), and those who fled to the Ottoman Empire after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492), at the invitation of the Ottoman sultan. There were large communities in both Aleppo and [[Damascus]] for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews emigrated to the U.S., South America, and Israel. Today, there are almost no Jews left in Syria. The largest Syrian-Jewish community is located in Brooklyn, New York, and is estimated at 40,000.

=== Sub-Saharan Africa ===
{{Main|Jews and Judaism in Africa}}
* [[Beta Israel]] or [[Falasha|Falashim]] of [[Ethiopia]], tens of thousands migrated to Israel during [[Operation Moses]] (1984), [[Operation Joshua|Operation Sheba]] (1985) and [[Operation Solomon]] (1991).<ref>Ephraim Isaac, "[http://www.binacf.org/files/ETH-JEWS02-01-05.pdf The Question of Jewish Identity and Ethiopian Jewish Origins] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218202932/http://www.binacf.org/files/ETH-JEWS02-01-05.pdf |date=December 18, 2011 }}", 2005; Amaleletch Teferi, "About the Jewish identity of the Beta Israel" in Tudor Parfitt & Emanuela Trevisan Semi (Editors), ''Jews of Ethiopia: The Birth of an Elite'', Routledge, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-415-31838-9}}, pp. 173–192</ref> There are now over 160,000 [[Ethiopian Jews in Israel]], making up approximately 2% of the total Israeli population.<ref name="The Population of Ethiopian Origin in Israel">{{cite web|publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]]|url= https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2020/358/11_20_358e.docx |title=The Population of Ethiopian Origin in Israel|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref>
* Descendants of the [[Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa)]]. Jews whose ancestry was derived from the communities that once existed in the Ghana, Mali, and Songhay Empire. [[Anusim]] in and around Mali who descend from Jewish migrations from North Africa, East Africa, and Spain.
* The [[Lemba people]] in [[Malawi]] which number as many as 40,000. This group claims descent from ancient Israelite tribes that migrated down to southern Africa via southern Arabia. [[Genetic testing]] has partially upheld these claims. Genetic testing suggests some males have Middle Eastern Ancestry but could not confirm Jewish ancestry.<ref name="Soodyall">{{cite book|author1=Himla Soodyall|author2=Jennifer G. R Kromberg|editor1-last=Kumar|editor1-first=Dhavendra|editor2-last=Chadwick|editor2-first=Ruth|title=Genomics and Society: Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Socioeconomic Implications|publisher=Academic Press/Elsevier|isbn=978-0-12-420195-8|page=316|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9icBAAAQBAJ&q=Cohen+Modal+Haplotype+Lemba&pg=PA309|chapter=Human Genetics and Genomics and Sociocultural Beliefs and Practices in South Africa|date=October 29, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.3389/fgene.2014.00384| pmid=25431579| pmc=4229899| title=Mitochondrial and y chromosome haplotype motifs as diagnostic markers of Jewish ancestry: A reconsideration| journal=Frontiers in Genetics| volume=5| pages=384| year=2014| last1=Tofanelli| first1=Sergio| last2=Taglioli| first2=Luca| last3=Bertoncini| first3=Stefania| last4=Francalacci| first4=Paolo| author5-link=Klyosov| last5=Klyosov| first5=Anatole| last6=Pagani| first6=Luca| doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[History of the Jews in South Africa|South African Jews]] make up the largest community of Jews in Africa. Dutch Sephardic Jews were among the first permanent residents of [[Cape Town]] when the city was founded by the [[Dutch East India Company|VOC]] in 1652. Today, however, most of South Africa's Jews are Ashkenazi and, in particular, of Lithuanian descent.
*Communities also existed in [[São Tomé e Príncipe]], descended from Portuguese Jewish youths expelled during the Inquisition.

=== South, East, and Central Asia ===
{{main|History of the Jews in India|Indian Jews in Israel|Synagogues in India|List of synagogues in India}}
* [[Cochin Jews]] are [[Indian Jews]] from [[Malabar Coast|Malabar]] in south-western India, and one of the oldest extant groups in India. Most of them now reside in Israel. The community spoke [[Judeo-Malayalam]] language. They also constructed [[List of synagogues in Kerala|synagogues across the Malabar coast]].
* [[Bene Israel]] are the [[History of the Jews in Mumbai|Jews of Mumbai]] or [[Bombay Jews]], most of whom now reside in Israel. The community believes that their ancestors fled [[Judea]] during the persecution under [[Antiochus Epiphanes]]. They spoke [[Judeo-Marathi]] language. A number of [[List of synagogues in Maharashtra|synagogues in Mumbai]] are still operating.
* [[Bukharan Jews]] are descendants of Iranian and Babylonian Jews who settled in Central Asia. They get their name from the former [[Central Asian]] [[Emirate of Bukhara]], which once had a large Jewish population.
* [[Baghdadi Jews]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Jews in India: Baghdadi Jews |publisher=adaniel's info site |url=http://adaniel.tripod.com/baghdadi.htm}}</ref> are those Jews who came from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Arab countries and settled in India in the 18th century. Most of these [[History of the Jews in Kolkata|Jews settled in Calcutta]]. They spoke [[Judeo-Urdu]] language. 
* [[Bnei Menashe]] is a community of Jews living in [[Manipur]] and [[Mizoram]] in north-eastern India, claiming descent from the dispersed Biblical [[Tribe of Menasseh]] since 1951.
* [[Bene Ephraim]] are [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-speaking Jews of [[Kottareddipalem]] in [[Andhra Pradesh]], India. They claim to be descendants of the [[Tribe of Ephraim]], one of the [[Ten Lost Tribes]].
* [[Paradesi Jews]] are Jews who immigrated to the Indian subcontinent during the 15th and 16th centuries following the [[expulsion of Jews from Spain]]. The word ''Pardesi'' means foreign in Indian languages.
* [[Desi Jews]] is the term used to refer to communities of Bene Israel and Cochin Jews that had been integrated into South Asian culture and society. The Desi Jewish communities are some of the oldest in world, with more than 2000 years of continuity in the Indian subcontinent.
* [[History of the Jews in China|Chinese Jews]]: most prominent were the [[Kaifeng Jews]], an ancient Jewish community in [[History of the Jews in China|China]], descended from merchants living in China from at least the era of the [[Tang dynasty]]. Today functionally extinct, although several hundred descendants have recently begun to explore and reclaim their heritage.
* [[Sephardic Jews in India|Goan Jews]] were Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who fled to [[Goa]] in India after the commencement of the Inquisition in those countries. They were the primary targets of the [[Goa Inquisition]].
* [[History of the Jews in Pakistan|Pakistani Jews]]: There was a thriving Jewish community in Pakistan particularly around the city of [[Karachi]] but also in other urban areas up north such as in [[Peshawer]], [[Rawalpindi]] and [[Lahore]]. The origins of the Jewish community was mixed with some being [[Bene Israel]], [[Bukharan Jews]] and [[Baghdadi Jews]]. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Jewish refugees from Iran had also came via Pakistan's Balochistan province and reached Karachi until the Iranian government closed down the operation. Most of Pakistan's Jewish community has not relocated to Israel and Pakistan's Jewish population is believed to number around 700. Also the Jews of [[Allahdad]] have residence in this area.
* [[History of the Jews in Bangladesh|Bangladeshi Jews]] areJews of [[Bangladesh]] who are reported to have been Baghdadi Jews, Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel. Most of these Jews emigrated by the 1960s. Now, only a few Jewish families live in Bangladesh (practicing [[Crypto-Judaism]]) due to government policy towards Israel.
* [[History of the Jews in Afghanistan|Afghan Jews]]: Records of a Jewish population in Afghanistan go back to the 7th century. Before the arrival of Islam in [[Kabul]], Kabul and [[Gandhara]] were trading places for Jewish merchants. The Afghan Jewish community has disappeared since the 1950s due to gradual emigration to Israel. Since the Mughal period, there had also been a historiographical tradition of the [[theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites|Afghans themselves being descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel]].<ref>Sir Henry Yule, "Afghanistan" article in the 1902 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'': "The Afghan chroniclers call their people Bani-Israil (Arab. For Children of Israel), and claim descent from King Saul (whom they call by the Mahommedan corruption Talut) through a son whom they ascribe to him, called Jeremiah, who again had a son called Afghana. [...] This story is repeated in great and varying detail in sundry books by Afghans, the oldest of which appears to be of the 16th century; nor do we know that any trace of the legend is found of older date."</ref>
* [[History of the Jews in Sri Lanka|Tamil Thattar Jews]] in [[Sri Lanka]] are Jews who have had a presence on the island nation since at least the 9th century.

===Americas===
Most Jewish communities in the Americas are descendants of Jews who found their way there at different times of modern history. The first Jews to settle in the Americas were of Spanish/Portuguese origin. Today, however, the great majority of recognized Jews on both the North American and South American continents are Ashkenazi, particularly among [[American Jews|Jews in the United States]]. There are also Mizrahim and other diaspora groups represented (as well as mixes of any or all of these) as mentioned above. Some unique communities associated with the Americas include:

* [[Sephardic Bnei Anusim]] are the descendants of Sephardi Jewish nominal converts ([[converso]]s) to Catholicism who immigrated to the [[New World]] escaping the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in Spain and Portugal. Following the establishment of the Inquisition in the Iberian colonies, again they hid their ancestry and beliefs. Their numbers are difficult to ascertain as most are at least nominally [[Catholic]], having been converted by force or coercion, or married into the religion. Collectively, people of Sephardic Bnei Anusim Jewish descent in Latin America is in the millions. Most would be of mixed ancestry, although a few claim some communities may have been able to maintain a degree of [[endogamy]] (marrying only other Crypto-Jews) throughout the centuries. They may or may not consider themselves Jewish, some may continue to preserve some of their Jewish heritage in secrecy, many others may not even be aware of it. The majority would not be [[halakha|halakhically]] Jewish, but small numbers of various communities have formally returned to Judaism over the past decade, legitimizing their status as Jews. See also [[Anusim]].
* [[Amazonian Jews]] are mainly the descendants of [[Moroccan Jews]] who migrated to the [[Amazon basin]] in the 19th and early 20th centuries. While many remain in traditional Jewish communities in the region, mostly in the northern [[Brazil]]ian cities of [[Belém]] and [[Manaus]], or as part of larger Jewish communities in other Brazilian cities, others scattered in the region and mixed into the local population.<ref name=amazon/><ref name=museum/><ref name=haketia/>
** Iquitos Jews are mostly the mixed descendants of Moroccan Jewish traders who arrived in the [[Peru]]vian city of [[Iquitos]] during the [[rubber boom]] of the 1880s and the local [[mestizo]] or [[Amerindian]] population. In the late 20th century they began to explore their Jewish heritage, and as most of them lacked a Jewish matrilineal descent, a formal conversion would be required for them to be recognized as Jews under [[halakha|religious law]]. After years of study, with the help of [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] rabbis from [[Lima]], the [[United States]], [[Argentina]] and [[Chile]], most of them converted to Judaism and moved to Israel between 2003 and 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.535711 |title=New Group of 'Amazon Jews' Arrives in Israel |publisher=Haaretz |date=14 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://jewishlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SaccalText2017.pdf |title=The Jews of Iquitos (Peru) |author=Rita Saccal |publisher=Association of Jewish Libraries Conference Proceedings |date=June 2017}}</ref>
* [[B'nai Moshe]] are [[Gerim|converts to Judaism]] originally from [[Trujillo, Peru]]. They are also known as ''Inca Jews'', a name derived from the fact that they can trace indigenous [[Amerindian]] descent, as most are [[mestizo]]s (persons of both Spanish and Amerindian descent) though none with any known ancestors from other Jewish communities. Again, there is no interaction between Peru's small Ashkenazi population and the Inca Jews. At the neglect of the Ashkenazi community, the conversions were conducted under the auspices of the [[Chief Rabbinate]] of Israel. Most have made [[aliyah]] and now live in Israel, while a few hundred more of the same community are awaiting conversions.
* Veracruz Jews are a recently emergent community of Jews in [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]], Mexico. Whether they are gentile converts to Judaism or descendants of [[anusim]] returning to Judaism is speculative. Most claim they descend from anusim.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}
* [[Melungeon Jews]]

===Israel===
{{Further|Israeli Jews}}
The state of Israel was proclaimed as being a home state for all Jews.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/docs/eng/megilat_eng.htm|title=Proclamation of Independence|website=www.knesset.gov.il}}</ref> Although the state’s founders strived towards this goal, the lived experience of Jews differed greatly. At the time when the establishment of the [[Israel|State of Israel]] was proclaimed, the majority of the Jews who lived in both the state and the region were [[Ashkenazi Jews in Israel|Ashkenazi]]. However, by the 1990s, the majority of [[Mizrahi Jews in Israel|Israeli Jews were Mizrahi]].<ref>''My Promised Land'', by [[Ari Shavit]], (London 2014), page 288</ref> As of 2005, 61% of Israeli Jews are of Mizrahi ancestry.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Jews, Arabs, and Arab Jews: The Politics of Identity and Reproduction in Israel'',  Ducker, Clare Louise, [[Institute of Social Studies]], The Hague, Netherlands</ref>

[[File:Karaite synagogue in Jerusalem 18.jpg|thumb|Chief [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] rabbi, Moshe Fairouz (left) and vice chairman, Eli Eltahan. [[Jerusalem]], Israel.]]
Following the establishment of the state, a flood of Jewish migrants and refugees entered Israel [[Jewish exodus from the Muslim world|from the Arab world]] in particular and the [[Muslim world]] in general. Most of them were Sephardim and Mizrahim, and they included Jews from the [[Maghreb]], [[Teimanim|Yemenite Jews]], [[Bukharan Jews]], [[Persian Jews]], [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Kurdish Jews]], as well as smaller communities, principally those from [[History of the Jews in Libya|Libya]], [[History of the Jews in Egypt|Egypt]] and [[History of the Jews in Turkey|Turkey]]. Many immigrants from these communities coming to Israel were met with harsh living conditions, as the fledgling state did not yet have sufficient financial resources to house the influx of its residents. Thus, many immigrants were temporarily housed in tents until spaces of more adequate living means were developed.<ref name=JewishStudiesPodcast>{{cite AV media |people=Jeremy Shere |date= |title=Adventures in Jewish Studies (Episode 3) |trans-title= |language= |url=https://www.associationforjewishstudies.org/podcasts/the-yemenite-children-affair-and-the-story-of-the-mizrahi-jews-in-the-development-of-the-state-of-israel-transcript |format=podcast |time= |location= |publisher=The Association for Jewish Studies}}</ref> An additional challenge for non-Ashkenazi Jews was that of a spoken language. [[Yiddish]] was the spoken language within Jewish communities in the eastern portion of the European continent, but groups outside of this—who constituted a minority of the population of Israel—spoke other languages. For example, some Sephardic communities spoke [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] and many Mizrahi Jews spoke Arabic. Hebrew, which was then a language mostly reserved for religious purposes, was the language that Jewish communities had in common. Hebrew was already spoken conversationally among tradespeople living in the region of Palestine, and its full revival as a spoken language that could be used by all residents of Israel was spearheaded by [[Eliezer Ben-Yehuda]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/This-week-in-history-Revival-of-the-Hebrew-language|title = This week in history: Revival of the Hebrew language| date=15 October 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/eliezer-ben-yehuda/|title=Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and the Making of Modern Hebrew}}</ref>

More recently, other communities have also arrived, including [[Beta Israel|Ethiopian Jews]] and [[History of the Jews in India|Indian Jews]]. Because of the relative homogeneity of Ashkenazic Jewry, especially in comparison to the diversity of the many smaller Jewish communities, over time in Israel, ''all'' [[History of the Jews in Europe|Jews from Europe]] came to be called "''Ashkenazi''" in Israel (even those Jews from Europe who did not have any connection to [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]]) while [[History of the Jews in Africa|Jews from Africa]] and Asia have come to be called "Sephardi" (even those Jews from Africa and Asia who did not have any connection to [[History of the Jews in Spain|Spain]]). One reason for this categorization is due to many African and Asian Jewish communities performing the Sephardic prayer ritual, and also abiding by the rulings of the Sephardic rabbinic authorities. As a result, they consider themselves "Sephardim" in the broader sense of the term "Jews of the Spanish rite" because they do not consider themselves "Sephardim" in the narrower sense of the term "Spanish Jews". Similarly, the term "Ashkenazim" has the broader sense of the term "Jews of the German rite".

Aspects of these differing experiences among Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jewry still linger a half-century later, according to studies which were conducted by the [[Adva Center]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://adva.org/en/|title=Home|website=Adva Center}}</ref> a think tank on social equality, and by other Israeli academic research<ref name="ha-keshet.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.ha-keshet.org.il/index.html |title=ha-keshet.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321154938/http://www.ha-keshet.org.il/index.html |archive-date=March 21, 2007 |df=mdy-all |language=he |last=Shenhav |first=Yehuda }}</ref> Every Israeli prime minister has been Ashkenazi, although Sephardim and Mizrahim have attained the 
presidency, generally considered a ceremonial position,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://embassies.gov.il/san-francisco/AboutIsrael/State/Pages/Israeli-democracy.aspx |title=Israeli Democracy and Elections |publisher=Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest San Francisco}}</ref> and other high positions. The student bodies of Israel's universities remain overwhelmingly European in origin, despite the fact that roughly half the country's population is non-European. Scattered over areas on the border of the Negev Desert and the Galilee, far from Israel's major cities, most of these towns never had the critical mass or ingredients to succeed as places to live, and reports have emerged that document their residents suffering from high unemployment and inadequate schools.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Prof. [[Smadar Lavie]], [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] U.S.-Israeli anthropologist, has documented and analyzed the discriminatory treatment Mizrahi single mothers endure from the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]]-majority Israeli government, suggesting that Israeli bureaucracy is based on a theological notion that inserts the categories of religion, gender, and race into the foundation of citizenship. Lavie connects intra-Jewish racial and gendered dynamics to the 2014 Gaza War in her widely reviewed book, ''Wrapped in the Flag of Israel: Mizrahi Single Mothers and Bureaucratic Torture'',<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Feldman|first1=Keith|url=https://www.academia.edu/38525554|title=Tikkun Magazine, Winter 2019 pp. 127-130. Review of Wrapped in the Flag of Israel. Keith Feldman.|last2=Lavie|first2=Smadar|journal=Tikkun Magazine|date=March 8, 2019|language=en}}</ref> and analyzes the racial and gender justice protest movements in the State of Israel from the 2003 Single Mothers’ March to the 2014 New Black Panthers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496205544|title=Wrapped in the Flag of Israel - University of Nebraska Press|website=Nebraska Press|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>

[[Exogamy|Intermarriage]] between members of all of these regathered Jewish ethnic groups was initially uncommon, partially as a result of the distances which separated each group's settlement in Israel, and partially because of cultural and/or racial biases. In recent generations, however, the barriers were lowered by the state-sponsored assimilation of all of the Jewish ethnic groups into a common [[Sabra (person)|Sabra]] (native-born Israeli) identity, a policy which facilitated extensive mixed-marriages.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

==See also==
{{cleanup|reason=Reduce list to most pertinent cross-references only!|date=June 2024}}
* [[Demographics of Israel]]
* [[Gerim|Gerim (Jewish converts)]]
* [[Expulsions and exoduses of Jews]]
* [[Genetic history of the Middle East]]
* [[Genetic studies on Jews]]
* [[Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites]]
* [[History of ancient Israel and Judah]]
* [[History of Israel]]
* [[History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel]]
* [[Israelites]]
* [[Jewish culture]]
* [[Jewish diaspora]]
* [[Jewish history]]
* [[Jewish identity]]
* [[Jewish population by country]]
* [[Racism in Israel]]
* [[Racism in Jewish communities]]
* [[Ten Lost Tribes]]
* [[Who is a Jew?]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{Israeli Jews by ethnic or national origin in Israel}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish Ethnic Divisions}}
[[Category:Jewish ethnic groups| ]]