Concept

Ashkenazi Jews

Overview

Ashkenazi Jews ( A(H)SH-kə-NAH-zee; also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim) form a distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish diaspora, emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (western Germany) and in northern France, having migrated there from centers such as the Italian Peninsula and the Southern Levant. After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th–13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire and the favorable policies of Casimir III the Great and others. This migration ramped up after the persecution during the Black Death of the 14th century, such that by the 16th century, the bulk of the Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to the Kingdom of Poland, which includes modern Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Russia. This area became the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.

Ashkenazim adapted their traditions, rites and customs to Europe. They traditionally follow the German rite synagogue ritual and until the Holocaust primarily spoke Yiddish, an offshoot of Middle High German written in a variety of the Hebrew script, with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic influence. From the late 18th century onwards, Ashkenazi communities underwent significant religious and cultural transformations, under the influence of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) and the struggle for Jewish emancipation in European states that restricted their rights. Among other things, Maskilim (adherents of the Haskalah) advocated the adoption of national languages instead of Yiddish, as well as increased study and usage of the Hebrew language, in order to modernize Jewish religious practice and identity. The Hebrew language, whose usage until then had been primarily liturgical and clerical, was progressively revived as a common language starting from the 19th century, fueled by these aspirations of both religious and national revival. The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige, in favor of national languages and Hebrew, being stigmatized by both assimilationists and Zionists, though it remained spoken by over 11 million people worldwide prior to the Holocaust. The Yiddishist movement, which sought to preserve and revive the language, faded through the 20th century but is enjoying a revival in the 21st.

Starting from the 19th century, millions of Ashkenazi Jews emigrated from Europe, fleeing an increase in violent anti-Jewish bigotry that occurred, in part, as a reactionary response to Jewish emancipation. Ashkenazi Jews emigrated both to Ottoman Palestine, as part of the "Aliyah" movement, and to the United States, which today houses the largest Ashkenazi community in the world.

Throughout the centuries, Ashkenazim made significant contributions to Western philosophy, scholarship, literature, art, music, and science. As a proportion of the world Jewish population, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930 near the population's peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II, which killed around six million Jews, affecting practically every European Jewish family. Prior to World War II, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3–16.7 million, with 92% being Ashkenazi. Israeli demographer Sergio D. Pergola published statistics showing that Ashkenazim comprised 74% of Jews worldwide in 2000. As of 2023, the population of Ashkenazim was estimated to be around 10–13 million out of 15.8 million total Jews.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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The established religion of this country has, ever since the eleventh century, been that of the Greek church, so called in opposition to the Latin; though there were always a greater number of Mahometan and Pagan provinces, than of those inhabited by Christians. Siberia, as far as China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they were utter strangers to all kind of religion. Perry, the engineer…
Voltaire, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
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28:3; and as angels are also described by the Psalmist, when he says, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire," Ps. 104:4. And again, it is said, Luke 2:9, "That when the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds, the glory of the Lord shone round about them." Of the same description also was the countenance of Christ at his transfiguration on Mount Tabor, of whom it is said, "And his face did…
Martin Luther, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1
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You are all alone there, left alone with the Universe; by day a fierce sun blazing down on it with intolerable radiance; by night the great deep Heaven with its stars. Such a country is fit for a swift-handed, deep-hearted race of men. There is something most agile, active, and yet most meditative, enthusiastic in the Arab character. The Persians are called the French of the East; we will call the Arabs Oriental…
Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
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