Judaism

==Jewish identity==

===Distinction between Jews as a people and Judaism===
According to [[Daniel Boyarin]], the underlying distinction between religion and ethnicity is foreign to Judaism itself, and is one form of the dualism between spirit and flesh that has its origin in [[Plato]]nic philosophy and that permeated [[Hellenistic Judaism]].<ref name="A radical Jew: Paul and the politics of identity" /> Consequently, in his view, Judaism does not fit easily into conventional Western categories, such as religion, ethnicity, or culture. Boyarin suggests that this in part reflects the fact that much of Judaism's more than 3,000-year history predates the rise of Western culture and occurred outside the West (that is, Europe, particularly medieval and modern Europe). During this time, Jews experienced slavery, anarchic and theocratic self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile. In the Jewish diaspora, they were in contact with, and influenced by, ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the Enlightenment (see [[Haskalah]]) and the rise of nationalism, which would bear fruit in the form of a Jewish state in their ancient homeland, the Land of Israel. Thus, Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension."<ref name="A radical Jew: Paul and the politics of identity10" />

In contrast to this point of view, practices such as [[Humanistic Judaism]] reject the religious aspects of Judaism, while retaining certain cultural traditions.

===Who is a Jew?===
{{Main|Who is a Jew?}}
According to [[Rabbinic Judaism]], a Jew is anyone who was either born of a Jewish mother or who [[Conversion to Judaism|converted to Judaism]] in accordance with ''halakha''. [[Reconstructionist Judaism]] and the larger denominations of worldwide [[Reform Judaism|Progressive Judaism]] (also known as Liberal or Reform Judaism) accept the child as Jewish if one of the parents is Jewish, if the parents raise the child with a Jewish identity, but not the smaller regional branches.{{Clarify|date=December 2015}} All mainstream forms of Judaism today are open to sincere converts, although conversion has traditionally been discouraged since the time of the Talmud. The conversion process is evaluated by an authority, and the convert is examined on his or her sincerity and knowledge.<ref name="Who is a Jew?" /> Converts are called "ben Abraham" or "bat Abraham", (son or daughter of Abraham). Conversions have on occasion been overturned. In 2008, Israel's highest religious court invalidated the conversion of 40,000 Jews, mostly from Russian immigrant families, even though they had been approved by an Orthodox rabbi.<ref>Samuel G. Freedman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/us/strains-grow-between-israel-and-many-jews-in-the-us.html "Strains Grow Between Israel and Many Jews in the U.S."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309013811/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/us/strains-grow-between-israel-and-many-jews-in-the-us.html |date=9 March 2021 }} ''[[The New York Times]]'', 6 February 2015</ref>

Rabbinical Judaism maintains that a Jew, whether by birth or conversion, is a Jew forever. Thus a Jew who claims to be an atheist or converts to another religion is still considered by traditional Judaism to be Jewish. According to some sources, the Reform movement has maintained that a Jew who has converted to another religion is no longer a Jew,<ref name="university" /> and the Israeli Government has also taken that stance after Supreme Court cases and statutes.<ref name="Law of Return 5710-1950" /> However, the Reform movement has indicated that this is not so cut and dried, and different situations call for consideration and differing actions. For example, Jews who have converted under duress may be permitted to return to Judaism "without any action on their part but their desire to rejoin the Jewish community" and "A proselyte who has become an apostate remains, nevertheless, a Jew".<ref name="Jacob, Walter (1987). Contemporary American Reform Responsa. Mars, PA: Publishers Choice Book Mfg." />

[[Karaite Judaism]] believes that Jewish identity can only be transmitted by patrilineal descent. Although a minority of modern Karaites believe that Jewish identity requires that both parents be Jewish, and not only the father. They argue that only patrilineal descent can transmit Jewish identity on the grounds that all descent in the Torah went according to the male line.<ref name="JEkaraites" />

The question of what determines Jewish identity in the State of Israel was given new impetus when, in the 1950s, [[David Ben-Gurion]] requested opinions on ''mihu Yehudi'' ("Who is a Jew") from Jewish religious authorities and intellectuals worldwide in order to settle citizenship questions. This is still not settled, and occasionally resurfaces in [[Politics of Israel|Israeli politics]].

Historical definitions of [[Jewish identity]] have traditionally been based on ''halakhic'' definitions of matrilineal descent, and ''halakhic'' conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the Oral Torah into the Babylonian Talmud, around 200 [[Common Era|CE]]. Interpretations of sections of the Tanakh, such as [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]] 7:1–5, by Jewish sages, are used as a warning against [[Interfaith marriage in Judaism|intermarriage]] between Jews and [[Canaanites]] because "[the non-Jewish husband] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods (i.e., idols) of others."<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|7:1–5}}</ref> Leviticus 24 says that the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] man is "of the community of Israel."<ref>{{bibleverse|Leviticus|24:10}}</ref> This is complemented by Ezra 10, where Israelites returning from Babylon vow to put aside their [[gentile]] wives and their children.<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|10:2–3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/10-11.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961018024300/http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/10-11.html|archive-date=18 October 1996|title=What is the origin of Matrilineal Descent?|access-date=9 January 2009|date=4 September 2003|publisher=Shamash.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.torah.org/qanda/seequanda.php?id=318 |title=What is the source of the law that a child is Jewish only if its mother is Jewish? |access-date=9 January 2009 |publisher=Torah.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224205847/http://www.torah.org/qanda/seequanda.php?id=318 |archive-date=24 December 2008 }}</ref> A popular theory is that the rape of Jewish women in captivity brought about the law of Jewish identity being inherited through the maternal line, although scholars challenge this theory citing the Talmudic establishment of the law from the pre-exile period.<ref name="Klein2016">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BC_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|title=Lost Jews: The Struggle for Identity Today|author=Emma Klein|year= 2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-349-24319-8|pages=6–}}</ref><ref name="Schott2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iFx-wHhMJMC&pg=PA67|title=Birth, Death, and Femininity: Philosophies of Embodiment|author=Robin May Schott|year=2010|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-00482-6|pages=67–|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210203459/https://books.google.com/books?id=6iFx-wHhMJMC&pg=PA67|url-status=live}}</ref> Since the anti-religious ''[[Haskalah]]'' movement of the late 18th and 19th centuries, ''halakhic'' interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.<ref>Dosick (2007), pp. 56–57.</ref>

===Jewish demographics===
{{Main|Jewish population by country}}
The total number of Jews worldwide is difficult to assess because the definition of "who is a Jew" is problematic; not all Jews identify themselves as Jewish, and some who identify as Jewish are not considered so by other Jews. According to the ''Jewish Year Book'' (1901), the global Jewish population in 1900 was around 11 million. The latest available data is from the World Jewish Population Survey of 2002 and the Jewish Year Calendar (2005). In 2002, according to the Jewish Population Survey, there were 13.3&nbsp;million Jews around the world. The Jewish Year Calendar cites 14.6&nbsp;million. It is 0.25% of world population.{{sfn|Mendes-Flohr|2005|p=}}

Jewish population growth is currently near zero percent, with 0.3% growth from 2000 to 2001. The overall growth rate of [[Israeli Jews|Jews in Israel]] is 1.7% annually, and is consistently growing through [[natural population growth]] and extensive immigration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164179|title=Data: Arab Growth Slows, Still Higher than Jewish Rate|date=14 January 2013|publisher=Israel National News|access-date=6 September 2014|archive-date=26 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826113031/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164179|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora countries]], by contrast, have low Jewish birth rates, an increasingly elderly age composition, high rates of [[Interfaith marriage in Judaism|interreligious marriage]] and a negative balance of people leaving Judaism versus those joining.<ref>{{Citation|last=DellaPergola|first=Sergio|chapter=World Jewish Population, 2015|date=2016|volume=115|pages=273–364|editor-last=Dashefsky|editor-first=Arnold|publisher=Springer International Publishing|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-24505-8_7|isbn=978-3-319-24503-4|editor2-last=Sheskin|editor2-first=Ira M.|title=American Jewish Year Book 2015}}</ref>

In 2022, the world Jewish population was estimated at 15.2 million, the majority live in one of only two countires: Israel and the United States.<ref>{{cite web|first=Judy|last=Maltz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-04-26/ty-article/world-jewish-population-totals-15-2-million-with-nearly-half-in-israel/00000180-66f6-d5ca-a986-7eff58900000|title=World Jewish Population Totals 15.2 Million – With Nearly Half in Israel|date=26 April 2022|publisher=Haaretz|access-date=26 June 2023|archive-date=26 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626023319/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-04-26/ty-article/world-jewish-population-totals-15-2-million-with-nearly-half-in-israel/00000180-66f6-d5ca-a986-7eff58900000|url-status=live}}</ref> About 46.6% of all Jews resided in [[Israel]] (6.9 million) and another 6 million Jews resided in the United States, with most of the remainder living in Europe, and other groups spread throughout Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-jewish-population-passes-7-million-on-eve-of-rosh-hashanah/|title=Israel's Jewish population passes 7 million on eve of Rosh Hashanah|date=25 April 2022|publisher=Times of israel|access-date=26 June 2023|archive-date=26 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626022400/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-jewish-population-passes-7-million-on-eve-of-rosh-hashanah/|url-status=live}}</ref>