아슈케나지 유대인들은 아브라함의 자손이 맞는가?

[하토브]

아슈케나지 유대인은 아브라함의 자손들인가? 

이 의문은 오늘날 상당히 많은 사람들이 현재 이스라엘 땅에 거주하고 있는 유대인들은 대부분이 아슈케나지 유대인들인데 이들은 실제로는 진정한 유대인들이 아니며, 우랄산맥 남부, 코카서스 산맥 지대와 동부 아랄해 지역까지 그리고 서쪽으로 드네프르 강유역에 걸쳐 살았던 카자르인들이 유럽으로 이동하여 유대인 행세를 해온 이방민족이라는 주장할 하고 있으며 그 주장이 상당히 많이 보급되었고 또 한국의 인터넷 사이트에도 많이 알려져 있기 때문에 상당히 중요한 문제로 분별됩니다.

이 주장에 따르면 우랄산맥 남부, 볼고그라드 부근에 수도를 둔 카자르 왕국은 터키계의 위구르인들 혹은 스키타이인들이었으며 그들은 520년경부터 시작하여 1200년경 몽고제국에 망하기까지 한때 강대한 국가를 형성하였고 그들이 패망할 무렵 많은 수가 유럽으로 들어와서 유대인 행세를 하게 되었고 그들이 유럽에서 핍박받던 유대인들로서 나중에 이스라엘 땅으로 들어가서 오늘날 이스라엘 국민의 90%를 형성하게 되었으며 그들은 진정한 성경상의 이스라엘 민족이 아니라는 것입니다.

이 주장은 상당부분 역사적 사실들을 포함하고 있으며 과연 카자르 왕국도 실재하였고 그 왕국이 기이하게도 스키타이인들로서 이스라엘 민족이 아니지만 유대교를 국교로 삼은 적이 있음도 확인되고 있습니다.

그런데 이 주장을 하는 사람들은 오늘날의 이스라엘 국민들은 진정한 아브라함의 자손도 아니며, 이스라엘 민족도 아니므로 현재의 이스라엘 땅에 대한 영유권을 주장할 아무런 근거나 권리가 없으므로 세계 곳곳으로 흩어버리고, 차라리 이스라엘 주변에 있는 아랍인들이 셈족으로서 이스라엘 민족에 가장 가까우므로 그 땅을 아랍국가들에 돌려주어야만이 장당하다는 것을 서슴치 않고 주장하고 있습니다.

지금까지 많은 그리스도인들은 오늘날의 이스라엘 국민들이 진정한 아브라함의 자손들이고, 그들이 이스라엘 국가를 수립한 것은 하나님의 섭리에 의해 하나님이 돌아오게 하시고 그 민족을 보존하신 까닭에 이루어진 일이라고 믿고 하나님의 역사하심을 믿고 신뢰하게 되었습니다. 이스라엘 민족의 귀환은 구약 성경과 신약에 여러 번 예언되었으나 특히 에스겔서 37-39장과 아모스9장에 잘 나와 있습니다.

그러나 이 아슈케나지 유대인 이론과 주장에 따르면 지금까지 알아왔던 하나님의 유대민족 보존과 이스라엘 귀환은 사실이아니며, 현재의 이스라엘 민족은 어디론가 흩어지고 다시 세계 어디선가 여호와 하나님을 섬기는 이스라엘 민족이 돌아와야 한다는 것입니다.

그러므로 이 문제는 매우 심각한 사안이 아닐 수 없습니다. 그리하여 이 문제에 관하여 많은 학자들이 연구하고 반박한 자료들이 있음을 발견하고 제가 그중 하나를 불러왔습니다만 시간상 여기서는 간단히 요지만을 설명하고자 합니다.

우선 아슈케나지 유대인이란 아슈케나지 지역에 살던 유대인이라는 뜻이며, 아슈케나지는 창세기 70민족들 중 야펫의 자손이며 고멜의 아들 족속으로 창세기 10장 3절에 나오는 아스그낫을 말합니다. 이 아스그낫 족속은 나중에 독일 서부지역 라인강변에 정착합니다. 아스그낫 유대인이란 바로 이들 틈에 살던 유대인들을 의미합니다.

그들은 실제로는 로마제국내에 살다가 유대인 핍박을 피해 북쪽으로 이동하였고 당시 거주하던 게르만 민족 아슈케나지 틈에 살게 되었던 것입니다. 로마제국은 게르만족 용병대장 오도아케르에 의해 476년 멸망당했습니다. 성경에도 바울이 로마서를 쓸때에나, 로마에 재판받으러 갈때에 유대인들이 이미 로마에 거주하고 있었음을 엿볼수 있습니다.(사도행전 28장, 로마서 16장).

그런데 다른 한 무리의 유대인들은 이스라엘 동쪽으로 이동하여 시리아와 쿠르드 족지역과 이라크 지역 그리고 이란 지역에 흩어지게 되었습니다. 그것은 66-70년의 유대전쟁이후에도 많은 이동이 있었지만 135년 경 바코바의 반란이후 더욱 많이 흩어지게 되었습니다. 그러던중 510년경 이란의 사산왕조의 반역사건에 유대인들이 연루되면서 그들이 북쪽으로 이동하기 시작하였고 그들이 카자르 왕국에 정착하였던 것입니다. 그러나 그들의 수는 전체 카자르인에 비하면 수가 극히 적었으며 다만 상류층과 협력관계를 이루며 공존하였던 것입니다. 그 이후 740년경 이 카자르 왕국이 남쪽의 사라센 칼리프 왕국과 충돌하고 서쪽의 비잔틴 왕국으로부터 기독교를 받아들이라는 압력을 받자 절충안으로 유대교를 받아들임으로서 사라센과 비잔틴 모두로부터 적대관계를 누그러뜨릴 수 있게 되었습니다. 당시 카자르 왕국에는 이 유대교 외에도, 수많은 샤머니즘과 이슬람, 정교회 등의 종교들이 공존했으며 상류층은 유대교를 받아들이고 있었습니다.

그들 중에 거주하던 유대인들은 그 수가 극히 미미하였으나 전세계 유대인들과 상통하여 무역업을 영위하는 한편 여러 정보들로 왕족들을 돕는 관계에 있었습니다. 그리하여 그들의 소식은 스페인에 거주하던 유대인들 곧 Sephradic Jews 에게도 많이 알려졌고 스페인에는 오늘날에도 이 카자르 왕국에 관한 자료들이 발견되기도 합니다.

그런데 이 카자르 왕국은 10세기에 들어서면서 그 왕국의 국민을 구성하던 헝가리인들(마자르인)이 서쪽으로 이동하여 오늘날의 헝가리로 빠져 나가면서 국력이 쇠약해지고, 또 북쪽에서 러시아가 건국되어 남진하자 차츰 국력이 쇠하여 졌습니다. 그리하여 대략 1100년 이후에는 국가가 명맥을 유지하다가 1200년 이후 몽고의 침략등으로 카자르 왕국은 완전 소멸되었던 것입니다.

이 카자르 왕국은 유대인들이 아니면서도 모세 율법을 지켰던 유대교 국가였으며, 그 민족이 유대인 행세를 하다가, 나중에 유럽으로 들어와서 오늘날의 아슈케나지 유대인이 되었다는 것이 아슈케나지 유대인설 주장자들의 주장입니다. 그러나 실제는 카자르 왕국의 국민 전체가 유대교만을 받아들인 것이 아니라, 이슬람과 샤머니즘 또한 주요 종교였으며 유대교는 상류층만이 주로 받아들였으며 그 민족들 전체나, 유대교를 믿은 사람들 전부가 서쪽으로 이동한 것이 아니라, 그들 중 유대인들만이 헝가리 인들이 이동할 때 서쪽으로 이동하여 유럽내의 기존 유대인들과 합류하였다는 것이 지금까지 확인된 사실들입니다.

요지는 카자르 왕국이 분명히 존재하였는데 대체로 인종적으로는 스키티아 인으로 분류하는 것으로 보입니다. 스키티아 인들은 터키인들과 흡사하고 골로새서 3장11절에서 스구디아 인으로  나옵니다.

500년 경 이란의 사산왕조에서 반란이 발생하여 유대인들이 가담하자 그들을 추방하게 되며 몇 몇 유대인들이 이 카자르 왕국에 가서 율법을 가르쳐 주었고,카자르는 유대인들을 옹호해주었습니다. 나중에 이슬람이 발생하자, 비잔틴의 정교회와 이슬람 사이에서 유대교를 택하였습니다. 그 이후로 수백년간 카자르는 강대한 국가로 지냈지만 10세기 러시아의 부상과 함께 쇠퇴해지고 그 일부 세력이던 헝가리인들이 오늘날의 헝가리로 이동하자 더 쇠약하여졌고 러시아의 공격 등으로 사라졌습니다. 그러나 그 유민들은 대체[로 1200년 몽고의 침공시까지 추적되지만 이후로는 자연히 사라진 것으로 보입니다.

여기서 유대인들이 얼마나 그 왕국에 있었는지는 분명치 않으나, 어떤 이는 극소수이고 왕족만 유대교를 받아들였다는 주장과 대다수가 유대교를 받아들였다는 주장이  있어 극과 극을 이루고 있지만 유대인들은 카자르 왕국의 극소수 주민을 형성하였으며 마자르(헝가리) 족의 서진 이동과 함께 유럽쪽으로 이동한 것으로 보인다는 것입니다.

카자르 왕국은 유대인들을 보호하였으므로 많은 유대인들은 스페인에서부터 이란까지 거주하면서 이 카자르 왕국을 여러 정보들로 도왔습니다. 카자르에 거주하던 유대인들은 유럽쪽으로 이동하여 로마지역으로 부터 이미 올라와 있던 유대인들과 합류하였습니다.

이제  아슈케나지 유대인이 비이스라엘인들이라는 주장과 그들이 진정한 아브라함의 자손들이라는 주장 사이에서 누구의 주장이 옳은지를 밝히기 위해서 부득이 유전자 검사가 동원됩니다.

유대인들의 유전자 검사 결과는 스페인, 북아프리카, 이티오피아, 예멘, 쿠르드 지역, 이란 지역과 독일 리투아니아, 폴란드, 러시아, 우크라이나, 모든 지역에 걸쳐 동일하게 중동계의 유전자들을 갖고 있는 것으로 드러났고, 그들이 거주하던 국가들의 민족 유전자들과는 판이한 반면 세계 어디에 있거나 같은 유대인끼리 유전자가 동일한 것으로 나타났습니다. 다만 유전형질 중에 동유럽 유전자 R1a 가 나타난 것은 11.5% 미만으로서 이는 세대당 0.5% 미만의 혼혈이 80세대에 걸쳐 있었음을 말해줍니다. 이 정도는 하나님의 섭리에 의한 놀라운 민족보전이라 할수 있습니다!

그러므로 아슈케나지 유대인들이 비 유대인들이라는 주장은 근거를 잃습니다. 

유대인들이 2천년 동안 수없이 박해를 받은 사실을 알고 믿는 사람들은 누가 유대인이 아닌데도 스스로 유대인이라고 하여 박해받기를 자청하겠는가? 하고 반문합니다. 설사 처음에는 유대인이 아닌데도 유대인 행세를 하다가도 나중에는 철회할 것입니다. 한 예로215년부터 363년까지 있었던 로마제국내의 모든 유대인들은 인두세를 내야 한다고 하였을 때 유대인 아닌 사람들은 스스로 유대인이기를 철회하지 않았겠습니까? 유대인들은 로마제국내에서 특별세를 내야 했습니다. 예를들면 충북에 사는 사람들이 스스로 유대인들이라고 자칭하였다고 합시다. 그런데 정부에서 유대인들은 일인당 20만원씩 가구당 80만원씩 매달 세금을 내야한다고 하면 유대인 아닌 충북인들이 계속해서 스스로를 유대인이니까, 우리로 세금을 제발 계속 내게 해주십시오, 그리하여 일년에 특별히 별도의 세금으로 가구당 1천만원씩 내기 원하나이다 할 사람들이 있겠습니까?

중세 내내 카톨릭 교회의 교회법은 유대인들은 땅을 소유하지 못하게 하였습니다. 또 유대인들에게 땅을 팔아서도 안되었습니다. 그리하여 유대인들은 농사짓는 일은 하지 못하였습니다. 그것은 유대인들에게는 불리한 제도였습니다. 아마 그들에게 농토가 허용되었다면 그들은 열심히 일하여 많은 땅을 소유한 지주들이 되었을 것입니다. 그러나 그런 규제는 다시 유대인들에게 축복으로 나타났습니다. 그들은 농업대신 상공업과 기술사업에 몰두하였으며 그것이 수많은 과학자들을 낳았던 것입니다. 이런 과정에서 유대인들에게는 수없이 수많은 박해가 일어났으며 그중 대표적인 것이 십자군 운동이었습니다. 많은 사람들은 그것이 이슬람교도들의 박해를 막기 위해 카톨릭이 일으킨 것으로 알고 있습니다만 실제는 그들이 알비파 기독교인(침례교도로서 반카톨릭 저항세력)들과 유대인들을 살육함이 주목적이었습니다. 그런 과정에서 비유대인이 스스로 자기들은 유대인이라고 주장하겠습니까?

이렇게 유대민족으로 하여금 핍박을 받게 하여 아무도 비유대인이 유대인이라고 스스로 감히 주장하지 못하게 함으로서 하나님은 그 민족을 구분하여 보전하셨던 것입니다. 그런 박해가 없었더라면 유대인들은 세계 각국에서 동화되어 그 민족의 흔적도 없이 사라졌을 것입니다. 그러나 유대인들은 성경을 지켰으며 또한 여러가지 예배서와 탈굼을 보전하여 지켰습니다. 다른 민족이 유대인 행세하여 그토록 목숨을 걸고 토라(율법)를 보전하며 민족 전통과 아브라함까지의 역사를 지키려고 하였겠습니까? 유대민족중 랍비 가문, 코헌(제사장)가문들은 집에 불이나면 우선 적으로 꺼내가는 것이 있습니다. 그것은 성경이었습니다. 나머지는 불에 타더라도 다시 시작할 수 있는데 오직 성경 한 질이면 된다하여 벽장의 성경 두루마리들을 우선적으로 대피시켰습니다. 그 덕택에 오늘날 우리는 잘 보전된 히브리어 성경을 갖고 있는 것입니다.

오늘 날 이스라엘 국민이 아브라함의 자손이 아니라고 주장하는 자들은 이스라엘 민족을 그땅에서 쫓아내려는 세력들입니다. 또한 그들은 하나님이 성경에서 약속하신 그 약속을 믿지도 않는 사람들이며, 성경의 예언성취를 인정하지 않는 사람들입니다. 그들에게 예수 그리스도를 진심으로 믿는지 물어보십시오! 그들에게 성경 예언이 반드시 성취되는지를 물어보십시오! 성경 예언은 성취되었습니다. 그리고 앞으로도 계속 더 성취될 것입니다! 만일 시리아인들이나 레바논인들, 이집트인들에게 성경을 맡겼더라면 그것이 보전되었겠습니까? 오늘날 팔레스타인인들이 더욱 그 이스라엘 땅에 대한 영유권이 있고 이스라엘을 상속할 권리가 있다면 오늘날 팔레스타인인들이 앞으로 성경도 더 잘 보존하고 이스라엘에 대하여 하나님이 약속하신 바와 그분께 대한 언약을 잘지키며 스스로가 이스라엘의 후손이라고 더 잘 주장하며 민족 유산을 더 잘 보존할 것같습니까?

이 아슈케나지 이론을 반박하는 글들은 수없이 많습니다만 이상하게도 한국에는 소개되지 않은 것을 보고 기이히 여기고 있습니다. 아래에 글 하나를 가져왔으며 그 요지는 위에 설명한 바와 같습니다.

이 글에서는 아슈케나지 유대인들이 카자르 비 유대인들의 후손이라는 주장이 1883년 경부터 나왔음을 지적하고 그것은 대개 반유대, 반이스라엘 주장자들이 유대인들은 오늘날 이스라엘 땅에 대한 소유권이 없다는 것을 주장하기 위해 개발되고 만들어진 이론이라는 것을 지적합니다. 또 이 글에서는 유대인들이 세계를 정복하기 위해 일들을 꾸며내고 있다는 음모설에 대해서도 전혀 근거없는 조작임을 언급합니다.

오늘날 이스라엘 국가의 국민들 중 이 아슈케나지 유대인들의 비중은 조금 낮아진 것으로 보입니다. 예컨대 스페인, 예멘, 이티오피아, 이란 등지에서 들어온 유대인들의 비중이 높아졌기 때문입니다. 그들 중에는 예수 그리스도를 메시아로 받아들이고 인정하는 사람들이 많아지고 있습니다. 제가 나가는 토론토 모임에는 이러한 흑인 유대인들이 많이 참여하고 있습니다. 그들의 유전자검사 결과는 다른지역의 유대인들의 유전자 검사 결과와 많은 공통점을 갖고 있습니다.

그러므로 결론은 아슈케나지 유대인들은 바로 성경에서 말한 아브라함의 자손들이며 성경상의 이스라엘 자손들이라는 것입니다.

아래 글에서는 이점에 관하여 많이 설명하고 있습니다. 

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Ashkenazi Jews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazic_Jews

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"Ashkenazi" redirects here. For the surname, see Ashkenazi (surname).

Ashkenazi Jews
(יהודי אשכנז Yehudei Ashkenaz)

Rashi • Moses Isserles • Vilna Gaon
Heinrich Heine • Sigmund Freud • Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Theodore Herzl • Gustav Mahler • Albert Einstein
Emmy Noether • Lise Meitner • Franz Kafka
Golda Meir • George Gershwin • John von Neumann
Leonard Bernstein • Anne Frank

Total population

8^[1]–11.2^[2] million

Regions with significant populations

United States	5–6 million[3]
Israel	2.8–4 million[3][4]

Languages

Historical: Yiddish
Modern: Local languages, primarily: English, Hebrew, Russian

Religion

primarily Judaism

Related ethnic groups

Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions.

The Jews in Central Europe (1881)

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים‎, pronounced [ˌaʃkəˈnazim], singular: [ˌaʃkəˈnazi]; also יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכֲּנָז, Yehudei Ashkenaz, "the Jews of Ashkenaz"), are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany. Thus, Ashkenazim or Ashkenazi Jews are literally "German Jews." Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe came to be called "Ashkenaz" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany. (See Usage of the name for the term's etymology.) Ashkenaz is also a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10).

Many Ashkenazi Jews later migrated, largely eastward, forming communities in non German-speaking areas, including Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere between the 11th and 19th centuries. With them, they took and diversified Yiddish, a basically Germanic language with Hebrew influence (see Jewish language). It had developed in medieval times as the lingua franca among Ashkenazi Jews. The Jewish communities of three cities along the Rhine: Speyer, Worms and Mainz, created the SHUM league (SHUM after the first Hebrew letters of Spira, Warmatia and Magentza). The SHUM-cities are considered the cradle of the distinct Ashkenazi culture and liturgy.

Although in the 11th century, they comprised only 3 percent of the world's Jewish population, at their peak in 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for 92 percent of the world's Jews. Today they make up approximately 80 percent of Jews worldwide.^[5] Most Jewish communities with extended histories in Europe are Ashkenazim, with the exception of those associated with the Mediterranean region. The majority of the Jews who migrated from Europe to other continents in the past two centuries are Ashkenazim, Eastern Ashkenazim in particular. This is especially true in the United States, where most of the 5.3 million American Jewish population^[6] is Ashkenazi, representing the world's single largest concentration of Ashkenazim.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Definition
• 1.1 By religion
• 1.2 By culture
• 1.3 By ethnicity
• 1.4 Realignment in Israel
• 2 Origins
• 2.1 Background in the Roman Empire
• 2.2 Rabbinic Judaism moves to Ashkenaz
• 2.3 DNA clues
• 2.3.1 Male lineages: Y chromosomal DNA
• 2.3.2 Female lineages: Mitochondrial DNA
• 2.3.3 Genome-wide association study
• 3 High and Late Middle Ages migrations
• 3.1 Usage of the name
• 3.2 Medieval references
• 4 Customs, laws and traditions
• 5 Relationship with other Jews
• 6 Medical genetics
• 7 Modern history
• 7.1 The Holocaust
• 7.2 In Israel
• 7.3 Achievements
• 8 Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis in the Yishuv and Israel
• 9 See also
• 10 Notes
• 11 References
• 11.1 References for "Who is an Ashkenazi Jew?"
• 11.2 Other references
• 12 External links

// Definition

The exact definition of Jewishness is not universally agreed upon—neither by religious scholars (especially across different denominations); nor in the context of politics (as applied to those who wish to make Aliyah); nor even in the conventional, everyday sense where 'Jewishness' may be loosely understood by the casual observer as encompassing both religious and secular Jews, or religious Jews alone. This makes it especially difficult to define who is an Ashkenazi Jew. The people have been defined differently from religious, cultural, or ethnic perspectives.

Since the overwhelming majority of Ashkenazi Jews no longer live in Eastern Europe, the isolation that once favored a distinct religious tradition and culture has vanished. Furthermore, the word Ashkenazi is being used in non-traditional ways, especially in Israel. By conservative and orthodox philosophies, a person can only be considered a Jew if his or her mother was Jewish (meaning, more specifically, either matrilineal descent from a female believed to be present at Mt. Sinai when the ten commandments were given, or else descent from a female who was converted to Judaism before the birth of her children), or if he or she has personally converted to Judaism. This means that a person can be Ashkenazi but not considered a Jew by some of those within the Jewish communities, making the term "Ashkenazi" more applicable as broad ethnicity which evolved from the practice of Judaism in Europe.

By religion

Religious Jews have Minhagim, customs, in addition to Halakha, or religious law, and different interpretations of law. Different groups of religious Jews in different geographic areas historically adopted different customs and interpretations. On certain issues, Orthodox Jews are required to follow the customs of their ancestors, and do not believe they have the option of picking and choosing. Therefore, observant Jews at times find it important for religious reasons to ascertain who their household's religious ancestors are in order to know what customs their household should follow. These times include, for example, when two Jews of different ethnic background marry, when a non-Jew converts to Judaism and determines what customs to follow for the first time, or when a lapsed or less observant Jew returns to traditional Judaism and must determine what was done in his or her family's past. In this sense, "Ashkenazic" refers both to a family ancestry and to a body of customs binding on Jews of that ancestry.

In a religious sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is any Jew whose family tradition and ritual follows Ashkenazi practice. Until the Ashkenazi community first began to develop in the Early Middle Ages, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad and in Islamic Spain. Ashkenaz (Germany) was so distant geographically that it developed a minhag of its own. Ashkenazi Hebrew came to be pronounced in ways distinct from other forms of Hebrew.

In this respect, the counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic, since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they are ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi woman who marries into an Orthodox or Haredi Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her children to be Ashkenazi Jews; conversely an Ashkenazi woman who marries a Sephardi or Mizrahi man is expected to take on Sephardic practice and the children inherit a Sephardic identity, though in practice many families compromise. A convert generally follows the practice of the beth din that converted him or her.

With the integration of Jews from around the world in Israel, North America, and other places, the religious definition of an Ashkenazi Jew is blurring, especially outside Orthodox Judaism. Many Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews have joined liberal movements that originally developed within Ashkenazi Judaism. In recent decades, the congregations which they have joined have often embraced them, and absorbed new traditions into their minhag. Rabbis and cantors in most non-Orthodox movements study Hebrew in Israel, where they learn Sephardic rather than Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation. Ashkenazi congregations are adopting Sephardic or modern Israeli melodies for many prayers and traditional songs. Since the middle of the 20th century, there has been a gradual syncretism and fusion of traditions. This is affecting the minhag of all but the most traditional congregations.

New developments in Judaism often transcend differences in religious practice between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. In North American cities, social trends such as the chavurah movement, and the emergence of "post-denominational Judaism"^[7][8] often bring together younger Jews of diverse ethnic backgrounds. In recent years, there has been increased interest in Kabbalah, which many Ashkenazi Jews study outside of the Yeshiva framework. Another trend is the new popularity of ecstatic worship in the Jewish Renewal movement and the Carlebach style minyan, both of which are nominally of Ashkenazi origin.^[9]

By culture

In a cultural sense, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, a word that literally means “Jewishness” in the Yiddish language. Of course, there are other kinds of Jewishness. Yiddishkeit is simply the Jewishness of Ashkenazi Jews.

Before the Haskalah and the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of Torah and Talmud for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men and women. From the Rhineland to Riga to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, and spoke Yiddish in their secular lives.

But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now encompasses not just Orthodoxy and Hasidism, but a broad range of movements, ideologies, practices, and traditions in which Ashkenazi Jews have participated and somehow retained a sense of Jewishness. Although a far smaller number of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association. Broadly speaking, a Jew is one who associates culturally with Jews, supports Jewish institutions, reads Jewish books and periodicals, attends Jewish movies and theater, travels to Israel, visits ancient synagogues in Prague, and so forth. It is a definition that applies to Jewish culture in general, and to Ashkenazi Yiddishkeit in particular.

Contemporary population migrations have contributed to a reconfigured Jewishness among Jews of Ashkenazi descent that transcends Yiddishkeit and other traditional articulations of Ashkenazi Jewishness. As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Eastern Europe, settling mostly in Israel, North America, and other English-speaking areas, the geographic isolation which gave rise to Ashkenazim has given way to mixing with other cultures, and with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales. For Ashkenazi Jews living in Eastern Europe, chopped liver and gefilte fish were archetypal Jewish foods. To contemporary Ashkenazi Jews living both in Israel and in the diaspora, Middle Eastern foods such as hummus and falafel, neither traditional to the historic Ashkenazi experience, have become central to their lives as Ashkenazi Jews in the current era. Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews, although many Hasidic and Hareidi groups continue to use Yiddish in daily life.

France's blended Jewish community is typical of the cultural recombination that is going on among Jews throughout the world. Although France expelled its original Jewish population in the Middle Ages, by the time of the French Revolution, there were two distinct Jewish populations. One consisted of Sephardic Jews, originally refugees from the Inquisition and concentrated in the southwest, while the other community was Ashkenazi, concentrated in formerly German Alsace, and speaking mainly Yiddish. The two communities were so separate and different that the National Assembly emancipated them separately in 1791.

But after emancipation, a sense of a unified French Jewry emerged, especially when France was wracked by the Dreyfuss affair in the 1890s. In the 1920s and 1930s, Ashkenazi Jews from eastern Europe arrived in large numbers as refugees from antisemitism, the Russian revolution, and the economic turmoil of the Great Depression. By the 1930s, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, and many Jews were involved in radical political movements. After the Vichy years and the Holocaust, the French Jewish population was augmented once again, first by refugees from Eastern Europe, and later by immigrants and refugees from North Africa, many of them francophone.

Then, in the 1990s, yet another Ashkenazi Jewish wave began to arrive from countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The result is a pluralistic Jewish community that still has some distinct elements of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic culture. But in France, it is becoming much more difficult to sort out the two, and a distinctly French Jewishness has emerged.^[10]

By ethnicity

In an ethnic sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is one whose ancestry can be traced to the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. For roughly a thousand years, the Ashkenazim were a reproductively isolated population in Europe, despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Human geneticists have identified genetic variations that have high frequencies among Ashkenazi Jews, but not in the general European population. This is true for patrilineal markers (Y-chromosome haplotypes) as well as for matrilineal markers (mitochondrial haplotypes).^[11]

Since the middle of the 20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews have intermarried, both with members of other Jewish communities and with people of other nations and faiths, while some Jews have also adopted children from other ethnic groups or parts of the world and raised them as Jews. Conversion to Judaism, rare for nearly 2,000 years, has become more common. Jewish women and families who choose artificial insemination often choose a biological father who is not Jewish, to avoid common autosomal recessive genetic diseases.

A study by Michael Seldin, a geneticist at the University of California Davis School of Medicine, found Ashkenazi Jews to be a clear, relatively homogenous genetic subgroup. Strikingly, regardless of the place of origin, Ashkenazi Jews can be grouped in the same genetic cohort — that is, regardless of whether an Ashkenazi Jew's ancestors came from Poland, Russia, Hungary, Lithuania, or any other place with a historical Jewish population, they belong to the same ethnic group. The research demonstrates the endogamy of the Jewish population in Europe and lends further credence to the idea of Ashkenazi Jews as an ethnic group. Moreover, though intermarriage among Jews of Ashkenazi descent has become increasingly more common, many Ultra-Orthodox Jews, particularly members Hasidic or Hareidi sects, continue to marry exclusively fellow Ashkenazi Jews. This trend keeps Ashkenazi genes preval‎ent and also helps researchers further study the genes of Ashkenazi Jews with relative ease. It is noteworthy that these Ultra-Orthodox Jews often have extremely large families.^[12]

Realignment in Israel

In Israel, the term Ashkenazi is now used in ways that have nothing to do with its original meaning; it is often applied to all Jews of European background living in Israel, including sometimes for those whose ethnic background is actually Sephardic. Jews of any non-Ashkenazi background, including Mizrahi, Yemenite, Kurdish and others who have no connection with the Iberian Peninsula, have similarly come to be lumped together as Sephardic. Jews of mixed background are increasingly common, partly because of intermarriage between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi, and partly because many do not see such historic markers as relevant to their life experiences as Jews.

Religious Ashkenazi Jews living in Israel are obliged to follow the authority of the chief Ashkenazi rabbi in halakhic matters. In this respect, a religiously Ashkenazi Jew is an Israeli who is more likely to support certain religious interests in Israel, including certain political parties. These political parties result from the fact that a portion of the Israeli electorate votes for Jewish religious parties; although the electoral map changes from one election to another, there are generally several small parties associated with the interests of religious Ashkenazi Jews. The role of religious parties, including small religious parties which play important roles as coalition members, results in turn from Israel's composition as a complex society in which competing social, economic, and religious interests stand for election to the Knesset, a unicameral legislature with 120 seats.

Origins

Although the historical record is very limited, there is a scholarly consensus of cultural, linguistic, and genetic evidence that the Ashkenazi Jewish population originated in the Middle East. Jews have lived in Germany, or "Ashkenaz", at least since the early 4th century. They brought with them both Rabbinic Judaism and the Babylonian Talmudic culture that underlies it. Yiddish, once spoken by the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jewry, is a Germanic language that developed from the Middle High German vernacular, heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic.

Background in the Roman Empire

After the Roman empire had overpowered the Jewish resistance in the First Jewish–Roman War in Judea and destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the complete Roman takeover of Judea followed the Bar Kochba rebellion of 132-135 CE. Jews continued to be a majority of the population in Palestine for several hundred years. However, the Romans no longer recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin or any other Jewish body, and Jews were prohibited from living in Jerusalem. Outside the Roman Empire, a large Jewish community remained in Mesopotamia. Other Jewish populations could be found dispersed around the Mediterranean region, with the largest concentrations in the Levant, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, including Rome. Smaller communities are recorded in southern Gaul (France), Spain, and North Africa.^[13]

Jews were denied full Roman citizenship until 212 CE, when Emperor Caracalla granted all free peoples this privilege. But, as a penalty for the first Jewish Revolt, Jews were required to pay a poll tax until the reign of Emperor Julian in 363. In the late Roman Empire, Jews were free to form networks of cultural and religious ties and enter into various local occupations. But, after Christianity became the official religion of Rome and Constantinople in 380, Jews were increasingly marginalized, and brutally persecuted.

In Palestine and Mesopotamia, where Jewish religious scholarship was centered, the majority of Jews were still engaged in farming, as demonstrated by the preoccupation of early Talmudic writings with agriculture. In diaspora communities, trade was a common occupation, facilitated by the easy mobility of traders through the dispersed Jewish communities.

Throughout this period and into the early Middle Ages, some Jews assimilated into the dominant Greek and Latin cultures, mostly through conversion to Christianity.^[14] In Palestine and Mesopotamia, the spoken language of Jews continued to be Aramaic, but elsewhere in the diaspora, most Jews spoke Greek. Conversion and assimilation were especially common within the Hellenized or Greek-speaking Jewish communities, amongst whom the Septuagint and Aquila of Sinope (Greek translations and adaptations of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible) were the source of scripture. A remnant of this Greek-speaking Jewish population (the Romaniotes) survives to this day.

The Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century by tribes such as the Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, and Vandals caused massive economic and social instability within the western Empire, contributing to its decline. In the late Roman Empire, Jews are known to have lived in Cologne and Trier, as well as in what is now France. However, it is unclear whether there is any continuity between these late Roman communities and the distinct Ashkenazi Jewish culture that began to emerge about 500 years later. King Dagobert I of the Franks expelled the Jews from his Merovingian kingdom in 629. Jews in former Roman territories now faced new challenges as harsher anti-Jewish Church rulings were enforced.

Rabbinic Judaism moves to Ashkenaz

In Mesopotamia, and in Persian lands free of Roman imperial domination, Jewish life fared much better. Since the conquest of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar II, this community had always been the leading diaspora community, a rival to the leadership of Palestine. After conditions for Jews began to deteriorate in Roman-controlled lands, many of the religious leaders of Judea and the Galilee fled to the east. At the academies of Pumbeditha and Sura near Babylon, Rabbinic Judaism based on Talmudic learning began to emerge and assert its authority over Jewish life throughout the diaspora. Rabbinic Judaism created a religious mandate for literacy, requiring all Jewish males to learn Hebrew and read from the Torah. This emphasis on literacy and learning a second language would eventually be of great benefit to the Jews, allowing them to take on commercial and financial roles within Gentile societies where literacy was often quite low.

After the Islamic conquest of the Middle East and North Africa, new opportunities for trade and commerce opened between the Middle East and Western Europe. The vast majority of Jews in the world now lived in Islamic lands. Urbanization, trade, and commerce within the Islamic world allowed Jews, as a highly literate people, to abandon farming and live in cities, engaging in occupations where they could use their skills.^[15] The influential, sophisticated, and well organized Jewish community of Mesopotamia, now centered in Baghdad, became the center of the Jewish world. In the Caliphate of Baghdad, Jews took on many of the financial occupations that they would later hold in the cities of Ashkenaz. Jewish traders from Baghdad began to travel to the west, renewing Jewish life in the western Mediterranean region. They brought with them Rabbinic Judaism and Babylonian Talmudic scholarship.

Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire around 800, including northern Italy and Rome, brought on a brief period of stability and unity in Western Europe. This created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle once again north of the Alps. Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire. Returning once again to Frankish lands, many Jewish merchants took on occupations in finance and commerce, including money lending, or usury. (Church legislation banned Christians from lending money in exchange for interest.) From Charlemagne's time to the present, there is a well-documented record of Jewish life in northern Europe, and by the 11th century, when Rashi of Troyes wrote his commentaries, Ashkenazi Jews had emerged also as interpreters and commentators on the Torah and Talmud.

DNA clues

Main article: Genetic studies on Jews

Efforts to identify the origins of Ashkenazi Jews through DNA analysis began in the 1990s. In fact, it was from this research, prompted by an observation of the different physical features between Ashkenazi Jews and other of the world's Jewish ethnic divisions, that modern genetic genealogy was born. Dr. Karl Skorecki, a Canadian nephrologist of Ashkenazi parentage, noticed that a fellow-congregant of Sephardi parentage, who was a Kohen like him, had completely different physical features. According to Jewish tradition, all Kohanim are descended from the priest Aaron, brother of Moses. Skorecki reasoned that if Kohanim were indeed the descendants of only one man, they should, at least on the paternal line, have a common set of genetic markers and should perhaps preserve some family resemblance to each other.

Like most DNA studies of human migration patterns, these studies have focused on two segments of the human genome, the Y chromosome (passed on only by males), and the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA, passed on only by females). Both segments are unaffected by recombination, thus, they provide an indicator of paternal and maternal origins, respectively. Genome-wide association studies have also been employed to yield findings relevant to genetic origins.

Male lineages: Y chromosomal DNA

A study of haplotypes of the Y chromosome, published in 2000, addressed the paternal origins of Ashkenazi Jews. Hammer et al.^[16] found that the Y chromosome of some Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews contained mutations that are also common among Middle Eastern peoples, but uncommon in the general European population. This suggested that the male ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews could be traced mostly to the Middle East. The proportion of male genetic admixture in Ashkenazi Jews amounts to less than 0.5% per generation over an estimated 80 generations, with "relatively minor contribution of European Y chromosomes to the Ashkenazim," and a total admixture estimate "very similar to Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5%." This supported the finding that "Diaspora Jews from Europe, Northwest Africa, and the Near East resemble each other more closely than they resemble their non-Jewish neighbors."

A 2001 study by Nebel et al. showed that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish populations share the same overall paternal Near Eastern ancestries. The authors also report on Eu 19 chromosomes, which are very frequent in Eastern Europeans (54%-60%) at elevated frequency (12.7%) in Ashkenazi Jews. They hypothesized that these chromosomes could reflect low-level gene flow from surrounding Eastern European populations, or, alternatively, that both the Ashkenazi Jews with Eu 19, and to a much greater extent Eastern European populations in general, might partly be descendants of Khazars. Again, this study suggested a total male admixture estimation that is no larger than ~12.5%.^[17]

A 2005 study by Nebel et al., based on Y chromosome polymorphic markers, showed that Ashkenazi Jews are more closely related to other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than to their host populations in Europe. However, 11.5% of male Ashkenazim were found to belong to R-M17, the dominant Y chromosome haplogroup in Eastern Europeans, suggesting possible gene flow. The authors hypothesized that "R-M17 chromosomes in Ashkenazim may represent vestiges of the mysterious Khazars". They concluded "However, if the R-M17 chromosomes in Ashkenazi Jews do indeed represent the vestiges of the mysterious Khazars then, according to our data, this contribution was limited to either a single founder or a few closely related men, and does not exceed ~ 12% of the present-day Ashkenazim.^[18]

A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. points to multiple origins for Ashkenazi Levites, a priestly class who comprise approximately 4% of Ashkenazi Jews. It found that Haplogroup R1a, uncommon in the Middle East or among Sephardic Jews, originating in Central Asia and dominant in Eastern Europe, is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of Middle Eastern origin. Behar suggests a founding event, probably involving one or very few European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation. Ashkenazi and Sephardic Cohanim and Israelites, on the other hand, were found to share the same genetic signature, originating in the Middle East 2000 years earlier.^[19]

Female lineages: Mitochondrial DNA

Before 2006, geneticists largely attributed the genesis of most of the world's Jewish populations, including Ashkenazi Jews, to founding effects by males who migrated from the Middle East and "by the women from each local population whom they took as wives and converted to Judaism." In line with this model of origin, David Goldstein, now of Duke University, reported in 2002 that, unlike male lineages, the female lineages in Ashkenazi Jewish communities "did not seem to be Middle Eastern", and that each community had its own genetic pattern and even that "in some cases the mitochondrial DNA was closely related to that of the host community." In his view this suggested "that Jewish men had arrived from the Middle East, taken wives from the host population and converted them to Judaism, after which there was no further intermarriage with non-Jews."^[20]

However, a 2006 study by Behar et al.,^[1] based on high-resolution analysis of haplogroup K(mtDNA), suggested that about 40% of the current Ashkenazi population is descended matrilineally from just four women, or "founder lineages", that were "likely from a Hebrew/Levantine mtDNA pool" originating in the Middle East in the first and second centuries CE. Although Haplogroup K is common throughout western Eurasia, "the observed global pattern of distribution renders very unlikely the possibility that the four aforementioned founder lineages entered the Ashkenazi mtDNA pool via gene flow from a European host population:

"..Both the extent and location of the maternal ancestral deme from which the Ashkenazi Jewry arose remain obscure. Here, using complete sequences of the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), we show that close to one-half of Ashkenazi Jews, estimated at 8,000,000 people, can be traced back to only four women carrying distinct mtDNAs that are virtually absent in other populations, with the important exception of low frequencies among non-Ashkenazi Jews. We conclude that four founding mtDNAs, likely of Near Eastern ancestry, underwent major expansion(s) in Europe within the past millennium.."^[1][20]

In addition, Behar et al. have suggested that the rest of Ashkenazi mtDNA is originated from ~150 women, most of those likely of Middle Eastern origin.^[1]

Genome-wide association study

In genetic epidemiology, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS) is an examination of genetic variation across a given genome, designed to identify genetic associations with observable traits. In human studies, this might include traits such as blood pressure or weight, or why some people get a disease or condition.^[21]

A 2007 study by Bauchet et al.. found that Ashkenazi Jews were most closely clustered with Arabic North African populations, and in the European structure analysis, they share similarities only with Greeks and Southern Italians, reflecting their East Mediterranean origins.^[22]

High and Late Middle Ages migrations

Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities north of the Alps and Pyrenees as early as the 8th and 9th century. By the end of the first millenum, Jewish populations were well-established in Western Europe, later followed the Norman Conquest into England in 1066, and settled in many cities of the Rhine area by the end of the 11th century. With the onset of the Crusades, and the expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany (1400s), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Russia. Over this period of several hundred years, some have suggested, Jewish economic activity was focused on trade, business management, and financial services, due to several presumed factors: Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities by Jews, preventing certain financial activities (such as "usurious" loans)^[23] between Christians, high rates of literacy, near universal male education, and ability of merchants to rely upon and trust family members living in different regions and countries.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent.

By the 1400s, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora.^[24] This area, which eventually fell under the domination of Russia, Austria, and Prussia (Germany), would remain the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.

The answer to why there was so little assimilation of Jews in Eastern Europe for so long would seem to lie in part in the probability that the alien surroundings in Eastern Europe were not conducive, though contempt did not prevent some assimilation. Furthermore, Jews lived almost exclusively in shtetls, maintained a strong system of education for males, heeded rabbinic leadership, and scorned the life-style of their neighbors; and all of these tendencies increased with every outbreak of antisemitism.^[25]

Usage of the name

In reference to the Jewish peoples of Northern Europe and particularly the Rhineland, the word Ashkenazi is often found in medieval rabbinic literature. References to Ashkenaz in Yosippon and Hasdai ibn Shaprut's letter to the king of the Khazars would date the term as far back as the tenth century, as would also Saadia Gaon's commentary on Daniel 7:8.

The word Ashkenaz first appears in the genealogy in the Tanakh (Genesis 10) as a son of Gomer and grandson of Japheth. It is thought that the name originally applied to the Scythians (Ishkuz), who were called Ashkuza in Assyrian inscriptions, and lake Ascanius and the region Ascania in Anatolia derive their names from this group.

Ashkenaz in later Hebrew tradition became identified with the peoples of Germany, and in particular to the area along the Rhine.

Ashkenaz and the Ashkenazi contrast to the land of Knaan, a geo-ethnological term denoting the Jewish populations living east of the Elbe river as opposed to the Ashkenazi Jews living to the West of it, and the Sephardic Jews of Iberian Peninsula.^[26]

The autonym was usually Yidn, however.

Medieval references

In the first half of the 11th century, Hai Gaon refers to questions that had been addressed to him from Ashkenaz, by which he undoubtedly means Germany. Rashi in the latter half of the 11th century refers to both the language of Ashkenaz^[27] and the country of Ashkenaz.^[28] During the 12th century, the word appears quite frequently. In the Mahzor Vitry, the kingdom of Ashkenaz is referred to chiefly in regard to the ritual of the synagogue there, but occasionally also with regard to certain other observances.^[29]

In the literature of the 13th century, references to the land and the language of Ashkenaz often occur. See especially Solomon ben Aderet's Responsa (vol. i., No. 395); the Responsa of Asher ben Jehiel (pp. 4, 6); his Halakot (Berakot i. 12, ed. Wilna, p. 10); the work of his son Jacob ben Asher, Tur Orach Chayim (chapter 59); the Responsa of Isaac ben Sheshet (numbers 193, 268, 270).

In the Midrash compilation Genesis Rabbah, Rabbi Berechiah mentions Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah as German tribes or as German lands. It may correspond to a Greek word that may have existed in the Greek dialect of the Palestinian Jews, or the text is corrupted from "Germanica." This view of Berechiah is based on the Talmud (Yoma 10a; Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 71b), where Gomer, the father of Ashkenaz, is translated by Germamia, which evidently stands for Germany, and which was suggested by the similarity of the sound.

In later times the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern and Western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of Eastern Germany and Poland. Thus the prayer-book of Isaiah Horowitz, and many others, give the piyyutim according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz and Poland.

According to 16th century mystic Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, Ashkenazi Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century. The story is told that a German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed Dolberger. So when the knights of the First Crusade came to siege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger’s family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to Worms to repay the favor.^[30] Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakhic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the eleventh century.^[31]

Customs, laws and traditions

The Halakhic practices of Ashkenazi Jews may differ from those of Sephardi Jews, particularly in matters of custom. Differences are noted in the Shulkhan Arukh itself, in the gloss of Moses Isserles. Well known differences in practice include:

• Observance of Pesach (Passover): Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, and rice (quinoa, however, has become accepted as foodgrain in the North American communities), whereas Sephardi Jews typically do not prohibit these foods.
• Ashkenazi Jews freely mix and eat fish and milk products; some Sephardic Jews refrain from doing so.
• Ashkenazim are more permissive toward the usage of wigs as a hair covering for married and widowed women.
• In the case of kashrut for meat, conversely, Sephardi Jews have stricter requirements—this level is commonly referred to as Beth Yosef. Meat products which are acceptable to Ashkenazi Jews as kosher may therefore be rejected by Sephardi Jews. Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the actual slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit the rear portions of an animal after proper Halakhic removal of the sciatic nerve, while many Ashkenazi Jews do not. This is not because of different interpretations of the law; rather, slaughterhouses could not find adequate skills for correct removal of the sciatic nerve and found it more economical to separate the hindquarters and sell them as non-kosher meat.
• Ashkenazi Jews frequently name newborn children after deceased family members, but not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews, on the other hand, often name their children after the children's grandparents, even if those grandparents are still living (See Sephardi Names). A notable exception to this generally reliable rule is among Dutch Jews, where Ashkenazim for centuries used the naming conventions otherwise attributed exclusively to Sephardim (See Chuts).
• Ashkenazi tefillin bear some differences from Sephardic tefillin. In the traditional Ashkenazic rite, the tefillin are wound towards the body, not away from it. Ashkenazim traditionally don tefillin while standing, whereas other Jews generally do so while sitting down.
• Ashkenazic traditional pronunciations of Hebrew differ from those of other groups. The most prominent consonantal difference from Sephardic and Mizrahic Hebrew dialects is the pronunciation of the Hebrew letter tav in certain Hebrew words (historically, in postvocalic undoubled context) as an /s/ and not a /t/ or /θ/ sound.

Further information: Ashkenazi Hebrew

• The prayer shawl, or tallit (or tallis in Ashkenazi Hebrew), is worn by the majority of Ashkenazi men after marriage, but western European Ashkenazi men wear it from Bar Mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.^[32]

Relationship with other Jews

The term Ashkenazi also refers to the nusach Ashkenaz (Hebrew, "liturgical tradition", or rite) used by Ashkenazi Jews in their Siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition's choice of prayers, order of prayers, text of prayers and melodies used in the singing of prayers. Two other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazic Jews are Nusach Sphard (not to be confused with Sephardi), which is the same as the general Polish (Hasidic) Nusach; and Nusach Chabad, otherwise known as Lubavitch Chasidic, Nusach Arizal or Nusach ha'Ari.

This phrase is often used in contrast with Sephardi Jews, also called Sephardim, who are descendants of Jews from Spain and Portugal. There are some differences in how the two groups pronounce certain Hebrew letters and in points of ritual.

Several famous people have Ashkenazi as a surname, such as Vladimir Ashkenazy. Ironically, most people with this surname hail from within Sephardic communities, particularly from the Syrian Jewish community. The Sephardic carriers of the surname would have some Ashkenazi ancestors since the surname was adopted by families who were initially of Ashkenazic origins who move to Sephardi countries and joined those communities. Ashkenazi would be formally adopted as the family surname having started off as a nickname imposed by their adopted communities. Some have shortened the name to Ash.

The theory that the majority of Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of the non-Semitic converted Khazars was advocated by various racial theorists and antisemitic sources in the late-19th and 20th centuries, especially following the publication of Arthur Koestler's The Thirteenth Tribe.^[33][34][35] Despite recent genetic evidence to the contrary,^[1] and a lack of any real mainstream scholarly support,^[36] this belief is still popular among antisemites.^[37][38]

Medical genetics

Main article: Medical genetics of Jewish people

There are many references to Ashkenazi Jews in the literature of medical and population genetics. Indeed, much awareness of "Ashkenazi Jews" as an ethnic group or category stems from the large number of genetic studies of disease, including many that are well reported in the media, that have been conducted among Jews. Jewish populations have been studied more thoroughly than most other human populations, for a variety of reasons:

• Geneticists are intrinsically interested in Jewish populations as a disproportionate percentage of genetics researchers are Jewish. Israel in particular has become an international center of such research.
• Jewish populations, and particularly the large Ashkenazi Jewish population, are ideal for such research studies, because they exhibit a high degree of endogamy, yet they are sizable.
• Jewish populations are overwhelmingly urban, and are concentrated near biomedical centers where such research has been carried out. Such research is especially easy to carry out in Israel, where cradle-to-grave medical insurance is available, together with universal screening for genetic disease.
• Jewish communities are comparatively well informed about genetics research, and have been supportive of community efforts to study and prevent genetic diseases.
• Participation of Jewish scientists and support from the Jewish community alleviates ethical concerns that sometimes hinder such genetic studies in other ethnic groups.

The result is a form of ascertainment bias. This has sometimes created an impression that Jews are more susceptible to genetic disease than other populations.^[39]

A study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine examines a particular genetic trait that increases the lifespan of the Ashkenazi population. The study focuses on telomerase, the enzyme responsible for maintaining telomeres at the ends of chromosomes during cell division.^[40][41]

Genetic counseling and genetic testing are recommended for couples where both partners are of Ashkenazi ancestry. Some organizations, most notably Dor Yeshorim, organize screening programs to prevent homozygosity for the genes that cause these diseases. E. L. Abel's book Jewish Genetic Disorders: A Layman's Guide (McFarland, 2008: ISBN 0-7864-4087-2) is a comprehensive reference text on the topic; also see The Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders for more information.

Modern history

In an essay on Sephardi Jewry, Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs^[5] summarized the demographic history of Ashkenazi Jews in the last thousand years, noting that at the end of the 11th century, 97% of world Jewry was Sephardic and 3% Ashkenazi; in the mid-17th century, "Sephardim still outnumbered Ashkenazim three to two", but by the end of the 18th century, "Ashkenazim outnumbered Sephardim three to two, the result of improved living conditions in Christian Europe versus the Ottoman Muslim world."^[5] By 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for nearly 92% of world Jewry.^[5]

Ashkenazi Jews developed the Hasidic movement as well as major Jewish academic centers across Poland, Russia, and Belarus in the generations after emigration from the west. After two centuries of comparative tolerance in the new nations, massive westward emigration occurred in the 1800s and 1900s in response to pogroms in the east and the economic opportunities offered in other parts of the world. Ashkenazi Jews have made up the majority of the American Jewish community since 1750.^[24]

Ashkenazi cultural growth led to the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment, and the development of Zionism in modern Europe.

The Holocaust

Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II, the majority of whom were Ashkenazi, about 6 million — more than two-thirds — were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews (91%); 900,000 of 1.5 million in Ukraine (60%); and 50–90% of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, France, Hungary, and the Baltic states. Sephardi communities suffered similar depletions in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia.^[42] As the large majority of the victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from nearly 92% of world Jewry in 1931 to nearly 80% of world Jewry today.^[5] Many of the surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and the United States after the war.

In Israel

Today, Ashkenazi Jews constitute the largest group among Jews,^[5] and among Israeli Jews as well. They have played a prominent role in the economy, media, and politics of Israel since its founding. During the first decades of Israel as a state, strong cultural conflict occurred between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (mainly east European Ashkenazim). The roots of this conflict, which still exists to a much smaller extent in present day Israeli society, are chiefly attributed to the concept of the "melting pot".^{[citation needed]} That is to say, all Jewish immigrants who arrived in Israel were strongly encouraged to "melt down" their own particular exilic identities within the general social "pot" in order to become Israeli.^{[citation needed]}

Achievements

Ashkenazi Jews have a noted history of achievement in western societies.^[43] They have won a large number of the Nobel awards.^[44][45] In those societies where they have been free to enter any profession, they have a record of high occupational achievement, entering professions and fields of commerce where higher education is required.^[46] For example, during the 20th century in the United States, Ashkenazi Jews represented approximately 3% of the population, but won 27% of the US Nobel Prizes in science, and 25% of the ACM Turing Awards (the Nobel-equivalent in computer science).^[47]

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis in the Yishuv and Israel

• Abraham Isaac Kook: (23 February 1921 – 1 September 1935)
• Isaac Halevi Herzog: (1937 – 25 July 1959)
• Isser Yehuda Unterman: (1964–1972)
• Shlomo Goren: (1972–1983)
• Avraham Shapira: (1983–1993)
• Israel Meir Lau: (1993 – 3 April 2003)
• She'ar Yashuv Cohen (acting): (3 April 2003 – 14 April 2003)
• Yona Metzger: (14 April 2003 – present)

See also

• Jews and Judaism in Europe
• History of the Jews in Germany
• Jewish ethnic divisions
• Oberlander Jews
• Ashkenazi intelligence - The theory that Ashkenazi Jews statistically have higher IQs than much of the general population.
• Nusach Ashkenaz

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Behar, Doron M.; Ene Metspalu, Toomas Kivisild, Alessandro Achilli, Yarin Hadid, Shay Tzur, Luisa Pereira, Antonio Amorim, Lluı's Quintana-Murci, Kari Majamaa, Corinna Herrnstadt, Neil Howell, Oleg Balanovsky, Ildus Kutuev, Andrey Pshenichnov, David Gurwitz, Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Antonio Torroni, Richard Villems, and Karl Skorecki (March 2006). "The Matrilineal Ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a Recent Founder Event" (PDF). The American Journal of Human Genetics 78 (3): 487–97. doi:10.1086/500307. PMID 16404693. PMC 1380291. http://www.ftdna.com/pdf/43026_Doron.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-30. 
2. ^ John Hopkins Gazette, September 8, 1997.
3. ^ ^{a b} Gabriel E. Feldman, Do Ashkenazi Jews have a Higher than expected Cancer Burden?PDF (650 KiB) , Israel Medical Association Journal, Volume 3, 2001.
4. ^ "Ashkenazi Jews", Hebrew University of Jerusalem website. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Elazar, Daniel J.. "Can Sephardic Judaism be Reconstructed?". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/sephardic.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
6. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel. "Jewish Agency: 13.2 million Jews worldwide on eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5768". Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/903585.html. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
7. ^ Rosenthal, Rachel (2006). "What's in a name?". Kedma (Winter 2006). 
8. ^ Greenberg, Richard and Debra Nussbaum Cohen (2005). "Uncovering the Un-Movement" (PDF). http://jewschool.com/THE_NEW_JEW.pdf. 
9. ^ Donadio, Rachel (August 10, 2001). "Any Old Shul Won't Do for the Young and Cool". http://www.kehilathadar.org/Aboutus/forward08-10-01.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
10. ^ Wall, Irwin. (2002) "Remaking Jewish Identity in France", in Howard Wettstein, Diaspora's and Exiles. University of California Press, pages 164-190.
11. ^ "New Light on Origins of Ashkenazi in Europe", New York Times, 14 Jan 2006
12. ^ One Big, Happy Family - Forward.com"
13. ^ Schwartz, Seth (2001). "Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 BCE to 640 CE. Princeton University Press. pp. 103–128. ISBN 0-691-11781-0. 
14. ^ Shaye J. D. Cohen (2001). The Beginnings of Jewishness. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22693-3. 
15. ^ Botticini, Maristella; Zvi Eckstein (March 2006). "From Farmers to Merchants, Voluntary Conversions and Diaspora: A Human Capital Interpretation of Jewish History". http://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/5571.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
16. ^ Hammer, M. F.; A. J. Redd, E. T. Wood, M. R. Bonner, H. Jarjanazi, T. Karafet, S. Santachiara-Benerecetti, A. Oppenheim, M. A. Jobling, T. Jenkins, H. Ostrer, and B. Bonné-Tamir (May 9 2000). "Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97 (12): 6769. doi:10.1073/pnas.100115997. PMID 10801975. 
17. ^ Almut Nebel, Dvora Filon, Bernd Brinkmann, Partha P. Majumder, Marina Faerman, Ariella Oppenheim. "The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East", The American Journal of Human Genetics (2001), Volume 69, number 5. pp. 1095–112
18. ^ Almut Nebel, Dvora Filon, Marina Faerman, Himla Soodyall and Ariella Oppenheim. "Y chromosome evidence for a founder effect in Ashkenazi Jews", (European Journal of Human Genetics (2005) 13, 388–391. doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201319 Published online 3 November 2004).
19. ^ http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/400971.pdf
20. ^ ^{a b} Wade, Nicholas (January 14 2006). "New Light on Origins of Ashkenazi in Europe". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/science/14gene.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
21. ^ Pearson TA, Manolio TA (2008). "How to interpret a genome-wide association study". JAMA 299 (11): 1335–44. doi:10.1001/jama.299.11.1335. PMID 18349094. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/299/11/1335. 
22. ^ Rosenberg et al. 2002, Bauchet et al. 2007
23. ^ Ben-Sasson, Hayim (1976). A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press. 
24. ^ ^{a b} Schoenberg, Shira. "Ashkenazim". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
25. ^ Feldman, Louis H. Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World : Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian. Ewing, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, 1996. p 43.
26. ^ (Polish) various authors; Szymon Datner (1983). Witold Tyloch. ed. Z dziejów Żydów w Polsce. Warsaw: Interpress. pp. 6. ISBN 83-223-2095-7. 
27. ^ Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:9; idem on Talmud tractate Sukkah 17a
28. ^ Talmud, Hullin 93a
29. ^ ib. p. 129
30. ^ Seder ha-Dorot", p. 252, 1878 ed.
31. ^ Epstein, in "Monatsschrift," xlvii. 344; Jerusalem: Under the Arabs
32. ^ Tallit: Jewish Prayer Shawl, Religion Facts. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
33. ^ Michael Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, UNC Press, ISBN 0-8078-4638-4, pp. 137-142.
34. ^ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan cults, esoteric nazism, and the politics of identity, NYU Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8147-3155-4, p. 237.
35. ^ Paul F. Boller, Memoirs of an Obscure Professor and Other Essays, TCU Press, 1992, pp. 5-6.
36. ^ "This theory… is supported by no evidence whatsoever. It has long since been abandoned by all serious scholars in the field, including those in Arab countries, where the Khazar theory is little used except in occasional political polemics." Lewis, Bernard. Semites and Anti-Semites, W.W. Norton and Company, ISBN 0-393-31839-7, p. 48.
37. ^ "Of course an anti-Zionist (as well as an anti-Semitic) point is being made here: The Palestinians have a greater political right to Palestine than the Jews do, as they, not the modern-day Jews, are the true descendants of the land's Jewish inhabitants/owners." Morris, Benny. The Road to Jerusalem: Glubb Pasha, Palestine and the Jews, I.B.Tauris, 2003, ISBN 1-86064-989-0, p. 22.
38. ^ "Arab anti-Semitism might have been expected to be free from the idea of racial odium, since Jews and Arabs are both regarded by race theory as Semites, but the odium is directed, not against the Semitic race, but against the Jews as a historical group. The main idea is that the Jews, racially, are a mongrel community, most of them being not Semites, but of Khazar and European origin." Yehoshafat Harkabi, "Contemporary Arab Anti-Semitism: its Causes and Roots", in Helen Fein, The Persisting Question: Sociological Perspectives and Social Contexts of Modern Antisemitism, Walter de Gruyter, 1987, ISBN 3-11-010170-X, p. 424.
39. ^ Carmeli, Daphna Birenbaum (2004). "Preval‎ence of Jews as subjects in genetic research: Figures, explanation, and potential implications". American Journal of Medical Genetics 130a (1): 76–83. doi:10.1002/ajmg.a.20291. PMID 15368499. 
40. ^ "Longenity - Longevity Genes Project". Albert Einstein College of Medicine. http://www.einstein.yu.edu/longenity/page.aspx. Retrieved 2009-11-13. 
41. ^ Britt, Robert Roy (2009-11-12). "One Key Found for Living to 100". LiveScience.com. http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091112/sc_livescience/onekeyfoundforlivingto100;_ylt=AivdX7AIbXJS0sOf5A9X1_BzfNdF. Retrieved 2009-11-13. 
42. ^ "Estimated Number of Jews Killed in The Final Solution". Jewish Virtual Library. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/killedtable.html. Retrieved 2006-05-24. 
43. ^ Murray, Charles (April 2007). "Jewish Genius". Commentary Magazine. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all. Retrieved 2007-12-23. "Disproportionate Jewish accomplishment in the arts and sciences continues to this day." 
44. ^ Murray, Charles (April 2007). "Jewish Genius". Commentary Magazine. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all. Retrieved 2007-12-23. "In the first half of the 20th century...Jews won 14 percent of Nobel Prizes in literature, chemistry, physics, and medicine/physiology." 
45. ^ Pinker, Steven (2006-06-17). "THE LESSONS OF THE ASHKENAZIM:Groups and Genes". The New Republican. http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2006_06_17_thenewrepublic.html. Retrieved 2007-12-23. "Though never exceeding 3 percent of the American population, Jews account for 37 percent of the winners of the U.S. National Medal of Science, 25 percent of the American Nobel Prize winners in literature, 40 percent of the American Nobel Prize winners in science and economics, and so on." 
46. ^ Murray, Charles (April 2007). "Jewish Genius". Commentary Magazine. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all. Retrieved 2007-12-23. "From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times." 
47. ^ G. Cochran, J. Hardy, H. Harpending, Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence, Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (5), pp. 659–693 (2006).

References

References for "Who is an Ashkenazi Jew?"

• Goldberg, Harvey E. (2001). The Life of Judaism. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21267-3. 
• Silberstein, Laurence (2000). Mapping Jewish Identities. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-9769-5. 
• Wettstein, Howard (2002). Diasporas and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22864-2. 
• Wex, Michael (2005). Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30741-1. 

Other references

• Beider, Alexander (2001): A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciations, and Migrations. Avotaynu. ISBN 1-886223-12-2.
• Biale, David (2002): Cultures of the Jews: A New History. Schoken Books. ISBN 0-8052-4131-0.
• Brook, Kevin Alan (2003): "The Origins of East European Jews" in Russian History/Histoire Russe vol. 30, nos. 1-2, pp. 1–22.
• Gross, N. (1975): Economic History of the Jews. Schocken Books, New York.
• Haumann, Heiko (2001): A History of East European Jews. Central European University Press. ISBN 963-9241-26-1.
• Lewis, Bernard (1984): The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05419-3.
• Vital, David (1999): A People Apart: A History of the Jews in Europe. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821980-6.

External links

• "Jewish legacy inscribed on genes?". Los Angeles Times. 18 April 2009. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-jewish-iq18-2009apr18,0,2228388.story. Retrieved 23 December 2009. 
• Ashkenazi history at the Jewish Virtual Library
• "The Matrilineal Ancestry of Ashkenazi Jewry: Portrait of a Recent Founder Event"PDF (2.02 MB)
• "Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations: lessons of population substructure in a closed group" (European Journal of Human Genetics - 2007)
• "Analysis of genetic variation in Ashkenazi Jews by high density SNP genotyping"
• Nusach Ashkenaz, and Discussion Forum
• Ashkenaz Heritage

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토론 카페:

http://cafe.daum.net/Eliyahu?t__nil_cafemy=item

[고헌]

제가 성경을 해석하고 이해하는 방법이 하토브님과 비슷함을 느낍니다..실은 이 정도의 일치를 보이는 것도 흔치 않은 일입니다..저는 세대주의자가 아닙니다..칼빈주의자도 아닙니다..좀 코리타분하게도, 원죄와 죄의 유전을 지지합니다..유아세례를 반대합니다..세례보다는 침례가 맞다고 생각하며 확실한 믿음과 간증이 없으면 세례를 주어서는 안 된다고 생각합니다..커버링은 하라는 것으로 분별합니다..보이지 않는 교회를 인정합니다..삼위일체라는 표현을 싫어합니다..제 가운데 성령이 내주하고 있음을 늘 느끼고 있습니다..시간이 날 때마다 전도에 힘을 씁니다..누가 성경말씀에 대해 물으면 제가 아는데까지 가르쳐주고 싶어합니다.

[고헌]

저는 누구보고 함부로 이단소리를 안 합니다..성경에 잘 모르는 구절이 있으면 전화로, 말씀을 잘 아는 분들에게 물어봅니다..이 정도가 제 신앙의 스타일입니다..이런 내용은 새삼스러운 것이 아니고 여기저기 저의 게시글과 댓글에 그대로 녹아 있습니다.

[하토브]

고헌님의 간단한 신앙고백이 참 좋습니다. 삼위일체는 어쩔수 없는 인간의 표현이라 생각합니다. 누구도 하나님의 신성의 관계들을 어떤 인간 언어로 정확히 표현할 수는 없을 것입니다. KJV 가 쟁점 구절들에서 정당하고 정확한 것은 사실입니다. 반면에 수많은 사람들이 이미 있던 개역한글 성경을 통해 구원을 얻었습니다. 그들의 구원이 무효인 것이 아닙니다. 그 많은 영혼들이 구원얻을 때 KJV 성경지지자들은 어디에서 무엇했을까요? 예컨대 KJV가 99.5%의 정확도를 갖는다면 한글 성경은 92% 정확도를 갖는다고 할 것입니다. 8% 의 오류때문에 구원을 못받는 것이 아니라, 92%의 정확한 부분 때문에 구원을 얻습니다.