Jews

=== Languages ===
{{main|Jewish languages}}

[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] is the [[liturgical language]] of Judaism (termed ''lashon ha-kodesh'', "the holy tongue"), the language in which most of the Hebrew scriptures ([[Tanakh]]) were composed, and the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries. By the 5th century BCE, [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], a closely related tongue, joined Hebrew as the spoken language in [[Judea]].<ref name=Grintz>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/3264497|title=Hebrew as the Spoken and Written Language in the Last Days of the Second Temple|first=Jehoshua M.|last=Grintz|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=79|issue=1|date=March 1960|pages=32–47|publisher=The Society of Biblical Literature|jstor=3264497}}</ref> By the 3rd century BCE, some Jews of the diaspora were speaking [[Koine Greek|Greek]].<ref>Feldman (2006), p. 54.</ref> Others, such as in the Jewish communities of [[Asoristan]], known to Jews as Babylonia, were speaking Hebrew and [[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic|Aramaic]], the languages of the [[Babylonian Talmud]]. Dialects of these same languages were also used by the Jews of [[Syria Palaestina]] at that time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

For centuries, Jews worldwide have spoken the local or dominant languages of the regions they migrated to, often developing distinctive [[dialect]]al forms or branches that became independent languages. [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] is the Judaeo-German language developed by [[Ashkenazi Jews]] who migrated to [[Central Europe]]. [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] is the Judaeo-Spanish language developed by [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] Jews who migrated to the [[Iberian peninsula]]. Due to many factors, including the impact of [[the Holocaust]] on European Jewry, the [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries]], and widespread emigration from other Jewish communities around the world, ancient and distinct [[Jewish languages]] of several communities, including [[Judaeo-Georgian]], [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judaeo-Arabic]], [[Judeo-Berber language|Judaeo-Berber]], [[Krymchak language|Krymchak]], [[Judaeo-Malayalam]] and many others, have largely fallen out of use.<ref name=Languages />

[[File:Loew-rabin-tombstone.jpg|thumb|upright|Tombstone of the [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel|Maharal]] in the [[Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague]]. The tombstones are inscribed in Hebrew.]]

For over sixteen centuries Hebrew was used almost exclusively as a liturgical language, and as the language in which most books had been written on Judaism, with a few speaking only Hebrew on the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parfitt |first1=T. V. |title=The Use Of Hebrew In Palestine 1800–1822 |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |date=1972 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=237–252 |doi=10.1093/jss/17.2.237 }}</ref> Hebrew was revived as a spoken language by [[Eliezer ben Yehuda]], who arrived in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] in 1881. It had not been used as a [[mother tongue]] since [[Tannaim|Tannaic]] times.<ref name=Grintz /> [[Modern Hebrew]] is designated as the "State language" of Israel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State Of The Jewish People |url=https://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/BasicLawNationState.pdf |website=The Knesset |publisher=[[Knesset]] of the State of Israel |access-date=3 September 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410191721/http://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basiclawnationstate.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite efforts to revive Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people, knowledge of the language is not commonly possessed by Jews worldwide and [[English language|English]] has emerged as the [[lingua franca]] of the Jewish diaspora.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VnB2Jq3fW4C&pg=PA428|title=International Handbook of Jewish Education|author=Nava Nevo|publisher=Springer|year=2001|page=428|quote=In contrast to other peoples who are masters of their national languages, Hebrew is not the 'common possession' of all Jewish people, and it mainly—if not exclusively—lives and breathes in Israel.... Although there are oases of Hebrew in certain schools, it has not become the Jewish lingua franca and English is rapidly taking its place as the Jewish people's language of communication. Even Hebrew-speaking Israeli representatives tend to use English in their public appearances at international Jewish conventions. |isbn=978-94-007-0354-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEHCW7KnuG8C&pg=PA121|title=Prophets and Profits: Managerialism and the Restructuring of Jewish Schools in South Africa|author=Chaya Herman|publisher=HSRC Press|year=2006|page=121|quote=It is English rather than Hebrew that emerged as the ''lingua franca'' of the Jews towards the late 20th century.... This phenomenon occurred despite efforts to make Hebrew a language of communication, and despite the fact that the teaching of Hebrew was considered the ''raison d'être'' of the Jewish day schools and the 'nerve center' of Jewish learning.|isbn=978-0-7969-2114-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bWmMAgAAQBAJ&q=%22english+as+a+lingua+franca+for+jews+worldwide%22&pg=PA185|title=Negotiating Language Policy in Schools: Educators as Policymakers|author=Elana Shohamy|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|page=185|quote=This priority given to English is related to the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and the current status of English as a ''lingua franca'' for Jews worldwide.|isbn=978-1-135-14621-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUpFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|title=Dynamic Belonging: Contemporary Jewish Collective Identities|author=Elan Ezrachi|publisher=Bergahn Books|year=2012|page=214|quote=As Stephen P. Cohen observes: 'English is the language of Jewish universal discourse.'|isbn=978-0-85745-258-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Worldwide+Community/Connecting+to+Community/Jewish+Languages.htm |title=Jewish Languages&nbsp;– How Do We Talk To Each Other? |publisher=[[Jewish Agency]] |access-date=5 April 2014 |quote=Only a minority of the Jewish people today can actually speak Hebrew. In order for a Jew from one country to talk to another who speaks a different language, it is more common to use English than Hebrew. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307172019/http://www.jafi.org.il/JewishAgency/English/Jewish%2BEducation/Compelling%2BContent/Worldwide%2BCommunity/Connecting%2Bto%2BCommunity/Jewish%2BLanguages.htm |archive-date=7 March 2014}}</ref> Although many Jews once had sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and [[Jewish languages]] like [[Yiddish]] and [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] were commonly used as recently as the early 20th century, most Jews lack such knowledge today and English has by and large superseded most Jewish vernaculars.
The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are Hebrew, English, and [[Russian language|Russian]]. Some [[Romance languages]], particularly [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], are also widely used.<ref name=Languages /> Yiddish has been spoken by more Jews in history than any other language,<ref>Hebrew, Aramaic and the rise of Yiddish. D. Katz. (1985) ''Readings in the sociology of Jewish languages''</ref> but it is far less used today following [[the Holocaust]] and the adoption of [[Modern Hebrew]] by the [[Zionism|Zionist movement]] and the [[Israel|State of Israel]].
In some places, the mother language of the Jewish community differs from that of the general population or the dominant group. For example, in [[Quebec]], the Ashkenazic majority has adopted English, while the Sephardic minority uses French as its primary language.<ref name="forward">{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/5434/quebec-sephardim-make-breakthroughs/|title=Quebec Sephardim Make Breakthroughs |date=2 April 2004 |publisher=forward.com|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYyiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR22|title=Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach|author=Edna Aizenberg|year=2012|page=xxii|publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5165-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIZ6wftL3oQC&pg=PA449|title=Canada's Jews: A People's Journey|author=Gerald Tulchinsky|pages=447–49|isbn=978-0-8020-9386-8|year=2008|publisher=University of Toronto Press }}</ref> Similarly, [[History of the Jews in South Africa|South African Jews]] adopted English rather than [[Afrikaans]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbTFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|title=Institutions, Ethnicity, and Political Mobilization in South Africa|author=Jessica Piombo|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=51|isbn=978-0-230-62382-8|year= 2009}}</ref> Due to both Czarist and Soviet policies,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIMoQbjAmhgC&pg=PA31|title=World War I and the Remaking of Jewish Vilna, 1914–1918|author=Andrew Noble Koss (dissertation)|publisher=Stanford University|year=2010|pages=30–31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ic5Kth7aiusC&pg=PA781|title=Jewish and Non-Jewish Creators of "Jewish Languages"|author=Paul Wexler|chapter=Chapter 38: Evaluating Soviet Yiddish Language Policy Between 1917–1950|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2006|page=780|isbn=978-3-447-05404-1}}</ref> Russian has superseded Yiddish as the language of [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jews]], but these policies have also affected neighboring communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-russian.html|title=Jewish Russian|author=Anna Verschik|publisher=Jewish Languages Research Website|date=25 May 2007|access-date=1 April 2014|archive-date=16 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016171323/http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-russian.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Today, Russian is the first language for many Jewish communities in a number of [[Post-Soviet states]], such as [[Ukraine]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=PA1007|title=Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1|page=1007|isbn=978-1-85109-873-6|last1=Ehrlich|first1=Mark Avrum|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref><ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Ukraine: A History, 4th Edition|author=Subtelny, O.|date=2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division|isbn=978-1-4426-9728-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktyM07I9HXwC|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Multicultural Perspectives in Working with Families|author1=Congress, E.P.|author2=Gonzalez, M.J.|date=2005|publisher=Springer Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8261-3146-1|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780826131454|url-access=registration|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/jerusalem-babylon/.premium-1.579733 |title=The Jews who said 'no' to Putin |author=Anshel Pfeffer |newspaper=Haaretz |date=14 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326082731/http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/jerusalem-babylon/.premium-1.579733 |archive-date=26 March 2014}}</ref> and [[Uzbekistan]],<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary2">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html|title=Bukharan Jews &#124; Jewish Virtual Library|publisher=jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=12 March 2015}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} as well as for Ashkenazic Jews in [[Azerbaijan]],<ref name="Maoz">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA135|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704020626/http://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA135|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 July 2014|title=Muslim Attitudes towards Jews and Israel|author=Moshe Ma'oz|pages=135, 160|isbn=978-1-84519-527-4|year=2011| publisher=Sussex Academic Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/AZ |title=Azerbaijan |quote=Like many immigrant communities of the Czarist and Soviet eras in Azerbaijan, Ashkenazi Jews appear to be linguistically Russified. Most Ashkenazi Jews speak Russian as their first language with Azeri being spoken as the second.}}</ref> Georgia,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNczHm67tjIC&pg=PA72|title=DNA & Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews|author=Yaakov Kleiman|publisher=Devora Publishing|year=2004|page=72|quote=The community is divided between 'native' Georgian Jews and Russian-speaking Ashkenazim who began migrating there at the beginning of the 19th century, and especially during World War II.|isbn=978-1-930143-89-0}}</ref> and [[Tajikistan]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AgkVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA165|title=Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages|author=Joshua A. Fishman|year=1985|pages=165, 169–74|publisher=Brill Archive |quote=Jews in [[Tadzhikistan]] have adopted [[Tajik language|Tadzhik]] as their first language. The number of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews in that region is comparatively low (cf. 2,905 in 1979). Both Ashkenazic and Oriental Jews have assimilated to Russian, the number of Jews speaking Russian as their first language amounting to a total of 6,564. It is reasonable to assume that the percentage of assimilated Ashkenazim is much higher than the portion of Oriental Jews.|isbn=90-04-07237-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idAfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|title=Language in Ethnicity: A View of Basic Ecological Relations|author=Harald Haarmann|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1986|pages=70–73, 79–82|isbn=978-3-11-086280-5}}</ref> Although communities in [[North Africa]] today are small and dwindling, Jews there had shifted from a multilingual group to a monolingual one (or nearly so), speaking French in [[Algeria]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4Mp4qy8lbUC&pg=PA234|title=Transnational Spaces and Identities in the Francophone World|page=234|isbn=978-0-8032-2465-0|last1=Gafaiti|first1=Hafid|year=2009|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}</ref> [[Morocco]],<ref name="Maoz" /> and the city of [[Tunis]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45exFa6wDIIC&pg=PA258|title=Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa|pages=258, 270|isbn=978-0-253-00146-7|last1=Gottreich|first1=Emily Benichou|last2=Schroeter|first2=Daniel J|year= 2011|publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref><ref name="jdc">{{cite web|url=http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/africa/tunisia.html|title=Tunisia|publisher=jdc.org|access-date=12 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016211752/http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/africa/tunisia.html|archive-date=16 October 2013}}</ref> while most North Africans continue to use [[Arabic]] or Berber as their mother tongue.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}