Jews

== Demographics ==
{{further|Jewish population by country}}

=== Ethnic divisions ===
{{main|Jewish ethnic divisions}}
[[File:Maurycy Gottlieb - Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ashkenazi Jews]] of late-19th-century [[Eastern Europe]] portrayed in ''[[Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur]]'' (1878), by [[Maurycy Gottlieb]]]]
[[File:1900 photo of a Sephardi couple from Sarajevo.png|thumb|upright|[[Sephardi]] Jewish couple from [[Sarajevo]] in traditional clothing. Photo taken in 1900.]]
[[File:Yemenite Elder Blowing Shofat, February 1, 1949.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Yemenite Jews|Yemenite]] Jew blows [[shofar]], 1947]]

Within the world's [[Jewish population]] there are distinct ethnic divisions, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating [[Israelite]] population, and subsequent independent evolutions. An array of Jewish communities was established by Jewish settlers in various places around the [[Old World]], often at great distances from one another, resulting in effective and often long-term isolation. During the [[millennia]] of the [[Jewish diaspora]] the communities would develop under the influence of their local environments: [[politics|political]], [[culture|cultural]], [[nature|natural]], and populational. Today, manifestations of these differences among the Jews can be observed in [[Jewish culture|Jewish cultural expressions]] of each community, including [[Jewish languages|Jewish linguistic diversity]], culinary preferences, liturgical practices, religious interpretations, as well as degrees and sources of [[genetic admixture]].<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 60.</ref>

Jews are often identified as belonging to one of two major groups: the ''[[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]]'' and the ''[[Sephardi Jews|Sephardim]]''. Ashkenazim are so named in reference to their geographical origins (their ancestors’ culture coalesced in the [[Ashkenazi Jews#etymology|Rhineland]], an area historically referred to by Jews as [[Ashkenaz]]). Similarly, Sephardim ([[Sefarad]] meaning "[[Spain]]" in Hebrew) are named in reference their origins in [[Iberian peninsula|Iberia]]. The diverse groups of Jews of the Middle East and North Africa are often collectively referred to as ''Sephardim'' together with Sephardim proper for liturgical reasons having to do with their [[Nusach (Jewish custom)|prayer rites]]. A common term for many of these non-Spanish Jews who are sometimes still broadly grouped as Sephardim is ''[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]'' (lit. “easterners" in Hebrew). Nevertheless, Mizrahis and Sepharadim are usually ethnically distinct.<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 59.</ref>

Smaller groups include, but are not restricted to, [[Jews in India|Indian Jews]] such as the [[Bene Israel]], [[Bnei Menashe]], [[Cochin Jews]], and [[Bene Ephraim]]; the [[Romaniote Jews|Romaniotes]] of Greece; the [[Italian rite Jews|Italian Jews]] ("Italkim" or "Bené Roma"); the [[Teimanim]] from [[Yemen]]; various [[Jews and Judaism in Africa|African Jews]], including most numerously the [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]]; and [[History of the Jews in China|Chinese Jews]], most notably the [[Kaifeng Jews]], as well as various other distinct but now almost extinct communities.<ref name=EJ571>{{cite EJ|last=Schmelz|first=Usiel Oscar |first2=Sergio|last2=Della Pergola|title=Demography|volume=5|page=571–572}}</ref>

The divisions between all these groups are approximate and their boundaries are not always clear. The Mizrahim for example, are a heterogeneous collection of [[North Africa]]n, [[Central Asia]]n, [[Caucasus (geographic region)|Caucasian]], and Middle Eastern Jewish communities that are no closer related to each other than they are to any of the earlier mentioned Jewish groups. In modern usage, however, the Mizrahim are sometimes termed ''Sephardi'' due to similar styles of liturgy, despite independent development from Sephardim proper. Thus, among Mizrahim there are [[Egyptian Jews]], [[Iraqi Jews]], [[Lebanese Jews]], [[Kurdish Jews]], [[Moroccan Jews]], [[Libyan Jews]], [[Syrian Jews]], [[Bukharian Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], [[Georgian Jews]], [[Iranian Jews]], [[Afghan Jews]], and various others. The [[Teimanim]] from [[Yemen]] are sometimes included, although their style of liturgy is unique and they differ in respect to the admixture found among them to that found in Mizrahim. In addition, there is a differentiation made between Sephardi migrants who established themselves in the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]] after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s and the pre-existing Jewish communities in those regions.<ref name=EJ571 />

Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70&nbsp;percent of Jews worldwide (and up to 90&nbsp;percent prior to [[World War II]] and [[the Holocaust]]). As a result of their [[emigration]] from [[Europe]], Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the [[New World]] continents, in countries such as the [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], and [[Brazil]]. In [[France]], the immigration of Jews from [[Algeria]] (Sephardim) has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim.{{r|EJ571}} Only in [[Israel]] is the Jewish population representative of all groups, a [[melting pot]] independent of each group's proportion within the overall world Jewish population.<ref>Dosick (2007), p. 61.</ref>

=== Genetic studies ===
{{main|Genetic studies on Jews}}
[[Y chromosome|Y DNA]] studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths.<ref name="hammer2000">{{cite journal |last1=Hammer |first1=M. F. |last2=Redd |first2=A. J. |last3=Wood |first3=E. T. |last4=Bonner |first4=M. R. |last5=Jarjanazi |first5=H. |last6=Karafet |first6=T. |last7=Santachiara-Benerecetti |first7=S. |last8=Oppenheim |first8=A. |last9=Jobling |first9=M. A. |last10=Jenkins |first10=T. |last11=Ostrer |first11=H. |last12=Bonne-Tamir |first12=B. |title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=6 June 2000 |volume=97 |issue=12 |pages=6769–6774 |doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997 |pmid=10801975 |pmc=18733 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H |doi-access=free }}</ref> In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly [[Middle East]]ern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in [[Eastern Europe]], [[Germany]], and the French [[Rhine|Rhine Valley]]. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East.<ref name="Nebel 2001">{{cite journal |last1=Nebel |first1=Almut |last2=Filon |first2=Dvora |last3=Brinkmann |first3=Bernd |last4=Majumder |first4=Partha P. |last5=Faerman |first5=Marina |last6=Oppenheim |first6=Ariella |title=The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=November 2001 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=1095–1112 |doi=10.1086/324070 |pmid=11573163 |pmc=1274378 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Frudakis |first1=Tony |chapter=Ashkezani Jews |page=383 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vXeydpj7VkC&pg=PA383 |title=Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA |date=19 July 2010 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-055137-1 }}</ref>

Conversely, the maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at [[mitochondrial DNA]], are generally more heterogeneous.<ref name="Behar2008b">{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Metspalu |first2=Ene |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Rosset |first4=Saharon |last5=Tzur |first5=Shay |last6=Hadid |first6=Yarin |last7=Yudkovsky |first7=Guennady |last8=Rosengarten |first8=Dror |last9=Pereira |first9=Luisa |last10=Amorim |first10=Antonio |last11=Kutuev |first11=Ildus |last12=Gurwitz |first12=David |last13=Bonne-Tamir |first13=Batsheva |last14=Villems |first14=Richard |last15=Skorecki |first15=Karl |title=Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora |journal=PLOS ONE |date=30 April 2008 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=e2062 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002062 |pmid=18446216 |pmc=2323359 |bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2062B |doi-access=free }}</ref> Scholars such as [[Harry Ostrer]] and [[Raphael Falk (academic)|Raphael Falk]] believe this indicates that many Jewish males found new mates from European and other communities in the places where they migrated in the diaspora after fleeing ancient Israel.<ref name="Lewontin">{{Cite journal |last=Lewontin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Lewontin |date=6 December 2012 |title=Is There a Jewish Gene? |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/12/06/is-there-a-jewish-gene/ |journal=New York Review of Books|volume=59 |issue=19 }}</ref> In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40&nbsp;percent of Ashkenazi Jews originate maternally from just four female founders, who were of Middle Eastern origin. The populations of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish communities "showed no evidence for a narrow founder effect."<ref name="Behar2008b" /> Subsequent studies carried out by Feder et al. confirmed the large portion of non-local maternal origin among Ashkenazi Jews. Reflecting on their findings related to the maternal origin of Ashkenazi Jews, the authors conclude "Clearly, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. Hence, differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons."<ref name="Abraham 2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feder |first1=Jeanette |last2=Ovadia |first2=Ofer |last3=Glaser |first3=Benjamin |last4=Mishmar |first4=Dan |title=Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations: lessons of population substructure in a closed group |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |date=April 2007 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=498–500 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201764 |pmid=17245410 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |last1=Ostrer |first1=Harry |last2=Skorecki |first2=Karl |title=The population genetics of the Jewish people |journal=Human Genetics |date=February 2013 |volume=132 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6 |pmid=23052947 |pmc=3543766 }}</ref> A study showed that 7% of Ashkenazi Jews have the haplogroup G2c, which is mainly found in [[Pashtuns]] and on lower scales all major Jewish groups, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese.<ref>{{cite web | title=Sign In | website=Family Tree DNA | url=https://www.familytreedna.com/sign-in?ReturnUrl=%2Fpdf%2FBehar_contrasting.pdf | access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammer |first1=Michael F. |last2=Behar |first2=Doron M. |last3=Karafet |first3=Tatiana M. |last4=Mendez |first4=Fernando L. |last5=Hallmark |first5=Brian |last6=Erez |first6=Tamar |last7=Zhivotovsky |first7=Lev A. |last8=Rosset |first8=Saharon |last9=Skorecki |first9=Karl |title=Extended Y chromosome haplotypes resolve multiple and unique lineages of the Jewish priesthood |journal=Human Genetics |date=8 August 2009 |volume=126 |issue=5 |pages=707–17 |doi=10.1007/s00439-009-0727-5 |pmid=19669163 |pmc=2771134 }}</ref>

Studies of [[Autosome|autosomal DNA]], which look at the entire DNA mixture, have become increasingly important as the technology develops. They show that Jewish populations have tended to form relatively closely related groups in independent communities, with most in a community sharing significant ancestry in common.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Katsnelson |first1=Alla |title=Jews worldwide share genetic ties |journal=Nature |date=3 June 2010 |pages=news.2010.277 |doi=10.1038/news.2010.277 }}</ref> For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]], [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic]], and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Jewish populations show a predominant amount of shared Middle Eastern ancestry. According to Behar, the most parsimonious explanation for this shared Middle Eastern ancestry is that it is "consistent with the historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] and [[Israelites|Israelite]] residents of the [[Levant]]" and "the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the [[Old World]]".<ref name="discovermagazine">{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Yunusbayev |first2=Bayazit |last3=Metspalu |first3=Mait |last4=Metspalu |first4=Ene |last5=Rosset |first5=Saharon |last6=Parik |first6=Jüri |last7=Rootsi |first7=Siiri |last8=Chaubey |first8=Gyaneshwer |last9=Kutuev |first9=Ildus |last10=Yudkovsky |first10=Guennady |last11=Khusnutdinova |first11=Elza K. |last12=Balanovsky |first12=Oleg |last13=Semino |first13=Ornella |last14=Pereira |first14=Luisa |last15=Comas |first15=David |last16=Gurwitz |first16=David |last17=Bonne-Tamir |first17=Batsheva |last18=Parfitt |first18=Tudor |last19=Hammer |first19=Michael F. |last20=Skorecki |first20=Karl |last21=Villems |first21=Richard |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |journal=Nature |date=July 2010 |volume=466 |issue=7303 |pages=238–242 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |pmid=20531471 |s2cid=4307824 |bibcode=2010Natur.466..238B }}</ref> [[North Africa]]n, [[Italian Peninsula|Italian]] and others of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] origin show variable frequencies of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations among the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular [[Moroccan Jews]]), who are closely related, the source of non-Jewish admixture is mainly [[Southern Europe]]an, while Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with other Middle Eastern populations. Behar ''et al.'' have remarked on a close relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and modern [[Italians]].<ref name="discovermagazine"/><ref name=zooss>{{cite journal |last1=Zoossmann-Diskin |first1=Avshalom |title=The origin of Eastern European Jews revealed by autosomal, sex chromosomal and mtDNA polymorphisms |journal=Biology Direct |date=2010 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=57 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-5-57 |pmid=20925954 |pmc=2964539 |bibcode=2010Sci...328.1342B |doi-access=free }}</ref> A 2001 study found that Jews were more closely related to groups of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to their Arab neighbors, whose genetic signature was found in geographic patterns reflective of Islamic conquests.<ref name="Nebel 2001"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Gauguier |first2=Dominique |last3=Youhanna |first3=Sonia |last4=Patterson |first4=Nick |last5=Moorjani |first5=Priya |last6=Botigué |first6=Laura R. |last7=Platt |first7=Daniel E. |last8=Matisoo-Smith |first8=Elizabeth |last9=Soria-Hernanz |first9=David F. |last10=Wells |first10=R. Spencer |last11=Bertranpetit |first11=Jaume |last12=Tyler-Smith |first12=Chris |last13=Comas |first13=David |last14=Zalloua |first14=Pierre A. |title=Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture |journal=PLOS Genetics |date=28 February 2013 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=e1003316 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316 |pmid=23468648 |pmc=3585000 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The studies also show that [[Sephardic Bnei Anusim]] (descendants of the "[[anusim]]" who were [[Forced conversion|forced to convert]] to [[Catholicism]]), which comprise up to 19.8&nbsp;percent of the population of today's [[Iberia]] ([[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]) and at least 10&nbsp;percent of the population of [[Ibero-America]] ([[Hispanic America]] and [[Brazil]]), have Sephardic Jewish ancestry within the last few centuries. The [[Bene Israel]] and [[Cochin Jews]] of [[India]], [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]], and a portion of the [[Lemba people]] of [[Southern Africa]], despite more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, have also been thought to have some more remote ancient Jewish ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/155742/jews-are-a-race-genes-reveal/?p=all |title=Jews Are a 'Race,' Genes Reveal |date=4 May 2012 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref><ref name=discovermagazine/><ref name="in.reuters.com">{{cite news |last1=Begley |first1=Sharon |title=Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa's Jews |url=https://in.reuters.com/article/us-science-genetics-jews/genetic-study-offers-clues-to-history-of-north-africas-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806 |work=Reuters |date=6 August 2012 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=18 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118100801/http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/06/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/> Views on the Lemba have changed and genetic [[Y-DNA]] analyses in the 2000s have established a partially Middle-Eastern origin for a portion of the male Lemba population but have been unable to narrow this down further.<ref name="SpurdleJenkins">{{Citation | title = The origins of the Lemba "Black Jews" of southern Africa: evidence from p12F2 and other Y-chromosome markers. | pmid = 8900243 | pmc=1914832 | volume=59 | issue = 5 | date=November 1996 | journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. | pages=1126–33 | last1 = Spurdle | first1 = AB | last2 = Jenkins | first2 = T}}</ref><ref name="Soodyall">{{cite book|author1=Himla Soodyall|author2=Jennifer G. R Kromberg|editor1-last=Kumar|editor1-first=Dhavendra|editor2-last=Chadwick|editor2-first=Ruth|title=Genomics and Society: Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Socioeconomic Implications|publisher=Academic Press/Elsevier|isbn=978-0-12-420195-8|page=316|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9icBAAAQBAJ&q=Cohen+Modal+Haplotype+Lemba&pg=PA309|chapter=Human Genetics and Genomics and Sociocultural Beliefs and Practices in South Africa|date=29 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Population centers ===
{{main list|Jewish population by city}}
[[File:Purim 2012 Williamsburg Brooklyn 01.jpg|thumb|[[New York City]] is home to 1.1 million Jews, making it the [[Jews in New York City|largest Jewish community]] outside of Israel.]]
Although historically, Jews have been found all over the world, in the decades since World War II and the establishment of Israel, they have increasingly concentrated in a small number of countries.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 529, 560–62.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-jew/|title=Jews|date=18 December 2012}}</ref> In 2021, [[Israel]] and the [[United States]] together accounted for over 85 percent of the global Jewish population, with approximately 45.3% and 39.6% of the world's Jews, respectively.<ref name="JDB" />

According to the [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] there were 13,421,000 Jews worldwide in 2009, roughly 0.2% of the world's population at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton61/st02_27.pdf|title=Jewish population in the world and in Israel|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=18 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026202909/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton61/st02_27.pdf|archive-date=26 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the 2007 estimates of [[The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute]], the world's Jewish population is 13.2&nbsp;million.<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news|title=Percent of world Jewry living in Israel climbed to 41% in 2007|first=Anshel|last=Pfeffer|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/percent-of-world-jewry-living-in-israel-climbed-to-41-in-2007-1.236675|newspaper=Haaretz|date=6 January 2008|access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> This statistic incorporates both practicing Jews affiliated with [[synagogue]]s and the Jewish community, and approximately 4.5&nbsp;million unaffiliated and [[Jewish secularism|secular Jews]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

According to [[Sergio Della Pergola]], a demographer of the [[Jewish population]], in 2021 there were about 6.8 million Jews in Israel, 6 million in the United States, and 2.3 million in the rest of the world.<ref name="JDB" />

==== Israel ====
{{main|Israeli Jews}}
[[File:Mahane Yehuda Market P1020256.JPG|thumb|Jewish people in [[Jerusalem]], Israel]]
[[Israel]], the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=257112|title=Iran must attack Israel by 2014|date=9 February 2012|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=3 April 2012}}</ref> Israel was established as an independent [[Parliamentary democracy|democratic]] and Jewish state on 14 May 1948.<ref name="cia">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/israel/|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|work=The World Factbook|access-date=20 July 2007|date=19 June 2007|title=Israel}}</ref> Of the 120 members in its parliament, the [[Knesset]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm|publisher=The Knesset|access-date=8 August 2007|title=The Electoral System in Israel}}</ref> {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, 14 members of the Knesset are [[Arab citizens of Israel]] (not including the Druze), most representing Arab political parties. One of Israel's [[Supreme Court of Israel|Supreme Court]] judges is also an Arab citizen of Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/israel|title=Israel|work=Freedom in the World|publisher=Freedom House|year=2009|access-date=5 April 2012|archive-date=19 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819061301/http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/israel|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Between 1948 and 1958, the Jewish population rose from 800,000 to two million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=7 August 2007 |year=2006 |title=Population, by Religion and Population Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033403/http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006 |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> Currently, Jews account for 75.4&nbsp;percent of the Israeli population, or 6&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4280028,00.html |title=Jewish New Year: Israel's population nears 8M mark |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=20 June 1995 |access-date=12 April 2013|last1=Drukman |first1=Yaron }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/01/israel-jewish-population-six-million |title=Israel's Jewish population passes 6 million mark |work=Guardian |date=1 January 2013 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> The early years of the State of Israel were marked by the [[Aliyah|mass immigration]] of [[Holocaust survivors]] in the [[aftermath of the Holocaust]] and Jews [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|fleeing Arab lands]].<ref name="persecution">{{harvnb|Dekmejian|1975|p=247}}. "And most [Oriental-Sephardic Jews] came... because of Arab persecution resulting from the very attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine."</ref> Israel also has a large population of [[Ethiopian Jews]], many of whom were airlifted to Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|title=airlifted tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html#operation1/|access-date=7 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/ethiopian-israelis-decry-separation-from-relatives-as-discriminatory/ |title=Ethiopian-Israelis decry separation from relatives as discriminatory |newspaper=Times of Israel |date=10 March 2018 |access-date=20 February 2024 |last1=Goldenberg |first1=Tia }}</ref> Between 1974 and 1979 nearly 227,258 immigrants arrived in Israel, about half being from the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/|script-title=ru:История инакомыслия в СССР|first=Lyudmila|last=Alexeyeva|author-link=Lyudmila Alexeyeva|location=Vilnius|year=1983|language=ru|trans-title=History of Dissident Movement in the USSR|access-date=5 April 2012|archive-date=9 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309152800/http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/books/alexeewa/|url-status=dead}}</ref> This period also saw an increase in [[Aliyah|immigration to Israel]] from [[Western Europe]], [[Latin America]], and [[North America]].<ref>Goldstein (1995) p. 24</ref>

A trickle of immigrants from other communities has also arrived, including [[Indian Jews]] and others, as well as some descendants of [[Ashkenazi]] Holocaust survivors who had settled in countries such as the [[United States]], [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], [[Chile]], and [[South Africa]]. Some Jews have emigrated from Israel elsewhere, because of economic problems or disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing [[Arab–Israeli conflict]]. Jewish Israeli emigrants are known as [[Yerida|yordim]].<ref name="Dosick 2007, p. 340">Dosick (2007), p. 340.</ref>

==== Diaspora (outside Israel) ====
{{main|Jewish diaspora}}
[[File:Happynewyearcard.jpg|thumb|upright|In this [[Rosh Hashana]] greeting card from the early 1900s, Russian Jews, packs in hand, gaze at the American relatives beckoning them to the United States. Over two million Jews fled the [[pogroms]] of the [[Russian Empire]] to the safety of the U.S. between 1881 and 1924.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gurock|first=Jeffrey S.|title=East European Jews in America, 1880–1920: Immigration and Adaptation|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-91924-X|page=54}}</ref>]]

[[File:Birobidjan mainsquare.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]] dominating the main square in [[Birobidzhan]]. An estimated 70,000 [[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union|Jews]] live in [[Siberia]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=136974 |title= Planting Jewish roots in Siberia |publisher= Fjc.ru |date= 24 May 2004 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090827113526/http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=136974 |archive-date= 27 August 2009 |df= dmy-all}}</ref>]]
The waves of [[immigration to the United States]] and elsewhere at the turn of the 19th century, the founding of [[Zionism]] and later events, including [[pogroms]] in Imperial Russia (mostly within the [[Pale of Settlement]] in present-day Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and eastern Poland), the massacre of European Jewry during [[the Holocaust]], and the founding of the [[state of Israel]], with the subsequent [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]], all resulted in substantial shifts in the population centers of world Jewry by the end of the 20th century.<ref>Gartner (2001), p. 213.</ref>

More than half of the Jews live in the Diaspora (see Population table). Currently, the largest Jewish community outside Israel, and either the largest or second-largest Jewish community in the world, is located in the United States, with 5.2&nbsp;million to 6.4&nbsp;million Jews by various estimates. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in [[Canada]] (315,000), [[Argentina]] (180,000–300,000), and [[Brazil]] (196,000–600,000), and smaller populations in [[Mexico]], [[Uruguay]], [[Venezuela]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]] and several other countries (see [[History of the Jews in Latin America]]).<ref name="JPPI2007">{{cite web|title=Annual Assessment|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|year=2007|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|page=15}}, based on {{cite book|title=Annual Assessment 2007|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142|volume=106|year=2006}}</ref> According to a 2010 [[Pew Research Center]] study, about 470,000 people of Jewish heritage live in [[Latin America|Latin-America]] and the [[Caribbean]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/jews/ |title= Jews – Pew Research Center|website= Pew Research Center|date= 2 April 2015|access-date= 28 March 2018}}</ref> Demographers disagree on whether the United States has a larger Jewish population than Israel, with many maintaining that Israel surpassed the United States in Jewish population during the 2000s, while others maintain that the United States still has the largest Jewish population in the world. Currently, a major national Jewish population survey is planned to ascertain whether or not Israel has overtaken the United States in Jewish population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/demographic_duo/item/israel_may_be_main_topic_in_next_national_jewish_population_survey_of_the_u |title=Israel May Be Main Topic In Next National Jewish Population Survey of the U.S. |publisher=Jewish Journal |date=14 March 2013 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref>

[[File:DAVID BEN GURION WITH MEMBERS OF JEWISH ZIONIST YOUTH MOVEMENT IN TALLIN IN ESTONIA. דוד בן גוריון וחברי תנועת הנוער הציונית, בטאלין, אסטוניה.D683-119.jpg|thumb|upright|The Jewish [[Zionism|Zionist]] Youth Movement in [[Tallinn]], [[Estonia]] on 1 September 1933]]
[[Western Europe]]'s largest Jewish community, and the third-largest Jewish community in the world, can be found in [[France]], home to between 483,000 and 500,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African countries such as [[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], and [[Tunisia]] (or their descendants).<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 410–10.</ref> The [[United Kingdom]] has a Jewish community of 292,000. In [[East Europe|Eastern Europe]], the exact figures are difficult to establish. The number of Jews in Russia varies widely according to whether a source uses census data (which requires a person to choose a single nationality among choices that include "Russian" and "Jewish") or eligibility for immigration to Israel (which requires that a person have one or more Jewish grandparents). According to the latter criteria, the heads of the Russian Jewish community assert that up to 1.5 million Russians are eligible for [[aliyah]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mskagency.ru/materials/2716461 |title=Исследование: Около 1,5 млн людей с еврейскими корнями проживают в России |trans-title=Study: About 1.5 Million People with Jewish Roots Live in Russia |date=20 October 2017 |publisher=Moscow Urban News Agency |access-date=28 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=57988 |title=В России проживает около миллиона иудеев |trans-title=In Russia, There Are About a Million Jews |date=26 February 2015 |publisher=[[Interfax]] |access-date=28 October 2017}}</ref> In [[Germany]], the 102,000 Jews registered with the Jewish community are a slowly declining population,<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 December 2013|title=Mitgliederstatistik der jüdischen Gemeinden und Landesverbände: Zu und Abgänge 2012|url=http://www.zwst.org/cms/documents/178/de_DE/ZWST-Mitgliederstatistik-2012-web.pdf|access-date=20 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204213637/http://www.zwst.org/cms/documents/178/de_DE/ZWST-Mitgliederstatistik-2012-web.pdf |archive-date=4 December 2013 }}</ref> despite the immigration of tens of thousands of Jews from the former [[Soviet Union]] since the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|title=Annual Assessment 2007|access-date=3 July 2008|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|pages=40–42}}</ref> Thousands of [[Israelis]] also live in Germany, either permanently or temporarily, for economic reasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jg-berlin.org/en/service/israelis-in-berlin.html|title=Israelis in Berlin|publisher=Jewish Community of Berlin|access-date=11 October 2012}}</ref>

Prior to 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living in lands which now make up the [[Arab world]] (excluding Israel). Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French-controlled [[Maghreb]] region, 15 to 20&nbsp;percent in the [[Kingdom of Iraq]], approximately 10&nbsp;percent in the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] and approximately 7&nbsp;percent in the [[Kingdom of Yemen]]. A further 200,000 lived in [[Pahlavi Iran]] and the [[Republic of Turkey]]. Today, around 26,000 Jews live in Arab countries<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Jerry M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdAdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=The Rebirth of the Middle East|date=28 September 2009|publisher=Hamilton Books|isbn=978-0-7618-4846-2|language=en}}</ref> and around 30,000 in [[Iran]] and [[Turkey]]. A small-scale exodus had begun in many countries in the early decades of the 20th century, although the only substantial [[aliyah]] came from [[Yemen]] and [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Simon |editor1-first=Reeva Spector |editor2-last=Laskier |editor2-first=Michael Menachem |editor3-last=Reguer |editor3-first=Sara |year=2003 |title=The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50759-2 |page=327 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VxEJrEY22egC&pg=PA327 |quote=Before the 1940s only two communities, Yemen and Syria, made substantial aliyah. }}</ref> The [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries|exodus from Arab and Muslim countries]] took place primarily from 1948. The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily in [[Iraq]], Yemen and [[Libya]], with up to 90&nbsp;percent of these communities leaving within a few years. The peak of the exodus from [[Egypt]] occurred in 1956. The exodus in the Maghreb countries peaked in the 1960s. [[Lebanon]] was the only Arab country to see a temporary increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of refugees from other Arab countries, although by the mid-1970s the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. In the aftermath of the exodus wave from Arab states, an additional migration of [[Iranian Jews]] peaked in the 1980s when around 80&nbsp;percent of Iranian Jews left the country.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Outside [[Europe]], the [[Americas]], the [[Middle East]], and the rest of [[Asia]], there are significant Jewish populations in [[Australia]] (112,500) and [[Jewish population of South Africa|South Africa]] (70,000).<ref name="JVIL2010" /> There is also a 6,800-strong community in [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Congress|first=World Jewish|title=World Jewish Congress|url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about/communities/NZ|access-date=20 August 2022|website=World Jewish Congress|language=EN}}</ref>

=== Demographic changes ===
{{main|Historical Jewish population comparisons}}

==== Assimilation ====
{{main|Jewish assimilation|Interfaith marriage in Judaism}}
Since at least the time of the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greeks]], a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their [[Jewish identity]].<ref name=Johnson171>Johnson (1987), p. 171.</ref> Assimilation took place in all areas, and during all time periods,<ref name=Johnson171 /> with some Jewish communities, for example the [[Kaifeng Jews]] of [[China]], disappearing entirely.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shavei.org/communities/kaifeng_jews/articles-kaifeng_jews/chinese-jews-reverence-for-ancestors/ |title=Chinese Jews: Reverence for Ancestors |last=Edinger |first=Bernard |date=15 December 2005 |publisher=Shavei Israel |access-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003094552/http://www.shavei.org/communities/kaifeng_jews/articles-kaifeng_jews/chinese-jews-reverence-for-ancestors/ |archive-date=3 October 2012}}</ref> The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment of the 18th century (see [[Haskalah]]) and the subsequent [[Jewish emancipation|emancipation of the Jewish populations]] of Europe and America in the 19th century, accelerated the situation, encouraging Jews to increasingly participate in, and become part of, [[Secularism|secular society]]. The result has been a growing trend of assimilation, as Jews marry non-Jewish spouses and stop participating in the Jewish community.<ref>Elazar (2003), p. 434.</ref>

Rates of [[Interfaith marriage|interreligious marriage]] vary widely: In the United States, it is just under 50&nbsp;percent,<ref>{{cite web|title=NJPS: Defining and Calculating Intermarriage |url=http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46252 |website=The Jewish Federations of North America |access-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812024158/http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46252 |archive-date=12 August 2011}}</ref> in the United Kingdom, around 53&nbsp;percent; in France; around 30&nbsp;percent,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-prod.akadem.org/medias/documents/Rapport-Erik-Cohen.pdf |title=Les juifs de France: La lente progression des mariages mixtes |trans-title=The Jews of France: The slow progression of mixed marriages |last=Cohen |first=Erik H. |date=November 2002 |publisher=Akadem |language=fr |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416230622/http://www-prod.akadem.org/medias/documents/Rapport-Erik-Cohen.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in Australia and Mexico, as low as 10&nbsp;percent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia|url=http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/2|publisher=World Jewish Congress|access-date=2 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521082932/http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/2|archive-date=21 May 2012}}</ref> In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate with Jewish religious practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Annual%20Assessment%202007.pdf|title=Annual Assessment 2007|access-date=3 July 2008|last=Waxman|first=Chaim I.|year=2007|publisher=Jewish People Policy Planning Institute ([[Jewish Agency for Israel]])|page=61}}</ref> The result is that most countries in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]] have steady or slightly declining religiously Jewish populations as Jews continue to assimilate into the countries in which they live.{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

==== War and persecution ====
{{further|Persecution of Jews|Antisemitism|Jewish military history}}
[[File:The Emperor sends Vespasian with an army to destroy the Jews (f. 177v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The Roman Emperor [[Nero]] sends [[Vespasian]] with an army to destroy the Jews, 69 CE.]]

The Jewish people and [[Judaism]] have experienced various [[persecution]]s throughout [[Jewish history]]. During [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]] the [[Roman Empire]] (in its later phases known as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) repeatedly repressed the [[History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Jewish population]], first by ejecting them from their homelands during the pagan [[Roman era]] and later by officially establishing them as [[Justinian I#Suppression of religions|second-class citizens]] during the Christian Roman era.<ref>Goldenberg (2007), pp. 131, 135–36.</ref><ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 164–65.</ref>

According to [[James P. Carroll|James Carroll]], "Jews accounted for 10% of the total population of the [[Roman Empire]]. By that ratio, if other factors had not intervened, there would be 200&nbsp;million Jews in the world today, instead of something like 13&nbsp;million."<ref>Carroll, James. ''[[Constantine's Sword]]'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) {{ISBN|0-395-77927-8}} p. 26</ref>

Later in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Western Europe, further persecutions of Jews by Christians occurred, notably during the [[Crusades]]—when Jews all over Germany [[Rhineland massacres|were massacred]]—and in a series of expulsions from the [[Edict of Expulsion|Kingdom of England]], Germany, and France. Then there occurred the [[Alhambra Decree|largest expulsion of all]], when Spain and Portugal, after the [[Reconquista]] (the Catholic Reconquest of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]), expelled both unbaptized Sephardic Jews and the ruling Muslim [[Moors]].<ref name="Johnson207-208" /><ref name="Johnson213plus" />

In the [[Papal States]], which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called [[ghetto]]s.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 243–44.</ref>
[[File:The Jews the world over love liberty poster.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[World War I]] poster showing a soldier cutting the bonds from a Jewish man, who says, "You have cut my bonds and set me free—now let me help you set others free!"]]
[[Islam and Judaism]] have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands, known as [[dhimmis]], were allowed to practice their religions and administer their internal affairs, but they were subject to certain conditions.<ref name="Bernard1020">Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20</ref> They had to pay the [[jizya]] (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to the Islamic state.<ref name="Bernard1020" /> Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal [[Disabilities (Jewish)|disabilities]] such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims.<ref>Lewis (1987), pp. 9, 27</ref> Many of the disabilities were highly symbolic. The one described by [[Bernard Lewis]] as "most degrading"<ref name=Lewis131 /> was the requirement of [[Yellow badge|distinctive clothing]], not found in the [[Quran]] or [[hadith]] but invented in [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] Baghdad; its enforcement was highly erratic.<ref name=Lewis131>Lewis (1999), p.131</ref> On the other hand, Jews rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced compulsion to change their religion, and they were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession.<ref>Lewis (1999), p. 131; (1984), pp. 8, 62</ref>

Notable exceptions include the massacre of Jews and forcible conversion of some Jews by the rulers of the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad]] dynasty in [[Al-Andalus]] in the 12th century,<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 52; Stillman (1979), p. 77</ref> as well as in [[Islamic conquest of Persia|Islamic Persia]],<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 17–18, 94–95; Stillman (1979), p. 27</ref> and the forced confinement of Moroccan Jews to walled quarters known as [[mellah]]s beginning from the 15th century and especially in the early 19th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28.</ref> In modern times, it has become commonplace for standard [[Anti-Zionism and antisemitism|antisemitic themes to be conflated with anti-Zionist]] publications and pronouncements of Islamic movements such as [[Hezbollah]] and [[Hamas]], in the pronouncements of various agencies of the [[Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]], and even in the newspapers and other publications of Turkish [[Refah Partisi]]."<ref name=Lewis_MEQ>{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/396/muslim-anti-semitism|title=Muslim Anti-Semitism|first=Bernard|last=Lewis|author-link=Bernard Lewis|journal=Middle East Quarterly|publisher=Middle East Forum|date=June 1998}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}

Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed ranged from [[Deportation|expulsion]] to outright [[genocide]]; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. The [[history of antisemitism]] includes the [[First Crusade]] which resulted in the massacre of Jews;<ref name="Johnson207-208">Johnson (1987), pp. 207–08.</ref> the [[Spanish Inquisition]] (led by [[Tomás de Torquemada]]) and the [[Portuguese Inquisition]], with their persecution and ''[[Auto-da-fé|autos-da-fé]]'' against the [[New Christians]] and [[Marrano]] Jews;<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 226–29.</ref> the [[Bohdan Chmielnicki]] Cossack massacres in [[Ukraine]];<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 259–60.</ref> the [[Pogrom]]s backed by the Russian [[List of Russian rulers|Tsars]];<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–365">Johnson (1987), pp. 364–65.</ref> as well as expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled.<ref name="Johnson213plus">Johnson (1987), pp. 213, 229–31.</ref> According to a 2008 study published in the ''[[American Journal of Human Genetics]]'', 19.8&nbsp;percent of the modern [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry,<ref name="Adams2008">{{cite journal|last=Adams|first=Susan M.|year=2008|title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=83|issue=6|pages=725–36|issn=0002-9297|doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007|pmid=19061982|pmc=2668061}}</ref> indicating that the number of [[converso]]s may have been much higher than originally thought.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/europe/04iht-gene.4.18411385.html|title=DNA study shows 20 percent of Iberian population has Jewish ancestry|newspaper=The New York Times|date=4 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Susan M. |last2=Bosch |first2=Elena |last3=Balaresque |first3=Patricia L. |last4=Ballereau |first4=Stéphane J. |last5=Lee |first5=Andrew C. |last6=Arroyo |first6=Eduardo |last7=López-Parra |first7=Ana M. |last8=Aler |first8=Mercedes |last9=Grifo |first9=Marina S. Gisbert |last10=Brion |first10=Maria |last11=Carracedo |first11=Angel |last12=Lavinha |first12=João |last13=Martínez-Jarreta |first13=Begoña |last14=Quintana-Murci |first14=Lluis |last15=Picornell |first15=Antònia |last16=Ramon |first16=Misericordia |last17=Skorecki |first17=Karl |last18=Behar |first18=Doron M. |last19=Calafell |first19=Francesc |last20=Jobling |first20=Mark A. |title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=December 2008 |volume=83 |issue=6 |pages=725–736 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061 }}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv N 1576 Bild-006, Minsk, Juden.jpg|thumb|Jews in [[Minsk]], 1941. Before World War II, some 40&nbsp;percent of the population was Jewish. By the time the Red Army retook the city on 3 July 1944, there were only a few Jewish survivors.]]
The persecution reached a peak in [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[Final Solution]], which led to [[the Holocaust]] and the slaughter of approximately 6&nbsp;million Jews.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 512.</ref> Of the world's 16&nbsp;million Jews in 1939, almost 40% were murdered in the Holocaust.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 February 2015 |title=The continuing decline of Europe's Jewish population |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |archive-date=1 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401012738/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Holocaust—the state-led systematic [[persecution]] and [[genocide]] of European Jews (and certain communities of North African Jews in [[History of North Africa#European colonization|European controlled North Africa]]) and other [[minority group]]s of Europe during [[World War II]] by Germany and its [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborators]]—remains the most notable modern-day persecution of Jews.<ref>Donald L Niewyk, ''The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust'', [[Columbia University Press]], 2000, p. 45: "The Holocaust is commonly defined as the murder of more than 5,000,000 Jews by the Germans in World War II." However, the Holocaust usually includes all of the different victims who were systematically murdered.</ref> The persecution and [[genocide]] were accomplished in stages. [[Nuremberg Laws|Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society]] was enacted years before the outbreak of [[World War II]].<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 484–88.</ref> [[Nazi concentration camps|Concentration camps]] were established in which inmates were used as [[Slavery|slave labour]] until they died of exhaustion or disease.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 490–92.</ref> Where the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]] conquered new territory in [[Eastern Europe]], specialized units called [[Einsatzgruppen]] murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings.<ref name="BBC-Grave">{{cite news|title=Ukrainian mass Jewish grave found|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6724481.stm|newspaper=BBC News Online|date=5 June 2007|access-date=10 October 2012}}</ref> Jews and [[Romani people|Roma]] were crammed into [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|ghettos]] before being transported hundreds of kilometres by freight train to [[extermination camp]]s where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were murdered in gas chambers.<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 493–98.</ref> Virtually every arm of Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal nation."<ref name=Berenbaum103>Berenbaum, Michael. ''The World Must Know," United States Holocaust Museum'', 2006, p. 103.</ref>

==== Migrations ====
{{further|Expulsions of Jews}}
[[File:Expulsion judios-en.svg|thumb|left|Expulsions of Jews in Europe from 1100 to 1600]]
Throughout Jewish history, Jews have repeatedly been directly or indirectly expelled from both their original homeland, the [[Land of Israel]], and many of the areas in which they have settled. This experience as [[Jewish refugees|refugees]] has shaped [[Jewish identity]] and religious practice in many ways, and is thus a major element of Jewish history.<ref>de Lange (2002), pp. 41–43.</ref> The patriarch [[Abraham]] is described as a migrant to the land of [[Canaan]] from [[Ur of the Chaldees|Ur]] of the [[Chaldea|Chaldees]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 10.</ref> after an attempt on his life by King [[Nimrod]].<ref>{{cite Jewish Encyclopedia|title=NIMROD|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11548-nimrod|first1=Emil G.|last1=Hirsch|author-link1=Emil G. Hirsch|first2=Max|last2=Seligsohn|author-link2=Max Seligsohn|first3=Wilhelm|last3=Bacher|author-link3=Wilhelm Bacher}}</ref> His descendants, the [[Children of Israel]], in the Biblical story (whose historicity is uncertain) undertook [[the Exodus]] (meaning "departure" or "exit" in Greek) from [[ancient Egypt]], as recorded in the [[Book of Exodus]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 30.</ref>

[[File:Vertreibung der Juden 1614.jpg|thumb|upright|Etching of the [[Frankfurter Judengasse#The Fettmilch Uprising|expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt]] in [[Timeline of antisemitism|1614]]. The text says: "1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate".]]
[[File:Jewish refugees Liverpool 1882.jpg|thumb|Jews fleeing pogroms, 1882]]
Centuries later, [[Assyria]]n policy was to deport and displace conquered peoples, and it is estimated some 4,500,000 among captive populations suffered this dislocation over three centuries of Assyrian rule.<ref name="Smith-Christopher" /> With regard to Israel, [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] claims he deported 80% of the population of [[Lower Galilee]], some 13,520 people.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hc1Yp0VcjoC|title=The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-first Century|year=1996 |isbn=9780931464966 |last1=Cooper |first1=Jerrold S. |last2=Schwartz |first2=Glenn M. |publisher=Eisenbrauns }}</ref> Some 27,000 Israelites, 20 to 25% of the population of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]], were described as being deported by [[Sargon II]], and were replaced by other deported populations and sent into permanent exile by Assyria, initially to the Upper Mesopotamian provinces of the Assyrian Empire.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qjkz_8EMoaUC|title=Biblical History and Israel S Past|isbn=9780802862600 |last1=Moore |first1=Megan Bishop |last2=Kelle |first2=Brad E. |date=17 May 2011 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPoQkBwjnVcC|title=Mixing Metaphors|isbn=9780826469694 |last1=Dille |first1=Sarah J. |date=July 2004 |publisher=A&C Black }}</ref> Between 10,000 and 80,000 people from the [[Kingdom of Judah]] were similarly exiled by [[Babylon]]ia,<ref name="Smith-Christopher">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YhMAwAAQBAJ|title=The Religion of the Landless|isbn=9781608994786 |last1=Smith-Christopher |first1=Daniel L. |date=14 January 2015 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref> but these people were then returned to [[Judea]] by [[Cyrus the Great]] of the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]].<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 85–86.</ref>

Many Jews were exiled again by the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 147.</ref> The 2,000 year dispersion of the [[Jewish diaspora]] beginning under the [[Roman Empire]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 May 2005 |title=The Post-Second Temple Period |url=https://archive.jewishagency.org/israel-diaspora-relations/content/23757 |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=The Jewish Agency |language=en}}</ref> as Jews were spread throughout the Roman world and, driven from land to land,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w1wk |title=Next Year in Jerusalem: Exile and Return in Jewish History |date=2019 |publisher=Purdue University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh9w1wk |jstor=j.ctvh9w1wk |isbn=978-1-55753-875-8|s2cid=263234025 }}</ref> settled wherever they could live freely enough to practice their religion. Over the course of the diaspora the center of Jewish life moved from [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 163.</ref> to the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 177.</ref> to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 231.</ref> to the [[Jewish American|United States]]<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 460.</ref> and, as a result of [[Zionism]], back to [[Israel]].<ref name="Gartner431">Gartner (2001), p. 431.</ref>

There were also many expulsions of Jews during the Middle Ages and Enlightenment in Europe, including: 1290, 16,000 Jews were expelled from England, see the ''([[Statute of Jewry]])''; in 1396, 100,000 from France; in 1421,&nbsp;thousands were expelled from Austria. Many of these Jews settled in [[East-Central Europe]], especially Poland.<ref name="Gartner 11-12">Gartner (2001), pp. 11–12.</ref> Following the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in 1492, the Spanish population of around 200,000 [[Sephardi]]c Jews were expelled by the Spanish crown and [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic church]], followed by expulsions in 1493 in Sicily (37,000 Jews) and Portugal in 1496. The expelled Jews fled mainly to the [[Ottoman Empire]], the Netherlands, and [[North Africa]], others migrating to [[Southern Europe]] and the Middle East.<ref name="Johnson229-231">Johnson (1987), pp. 229–31.</ref>

During the 19th century, France's policies of equal citizenship regardless of religion led to the immigration of Jews (especially from Eastern and Central Europe).<ref name="Johnson 1987, p. 306">Johnson (1987), p. 306.</ref> This contributed to the arrival of millions of Jews in the [[New World]]. Over two million Eastern European Jews arrived in the United States from 1880 to 1925.<ref>Johnson (1987), p. 370.</ref>

In summary, the [[pogrom]]s in Eastern Europe,<ref name="Johnson 1987, pp. 364–365"/> the rise of modern [[antisemitism]],<ref name="Gartner 2001, pp. 213–5">Gartner (2001), pp. 213–15.</ref> the Holocaust,<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 357–70.</ref> as well as the rise of [[Arab nationalism]],<ref>Johnson (1987), pp. 529–30.</ref> all served to fuel the movements and migrations of huge segments of Jewry from land to land and continent to continent until they arrived back in large numbers at their original historical homeland in Israel.<ref name="Gartner431" />

In the latest phase of migrations, the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution of Iran]] caused many [[Iranian Jews]] to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly [[Los Angeles, California]], and [[Long Island, New York]]) and Israel. Smaller communities of Persian Jews exist in Canada and Western Europe.<ref>{{cite EJ|last=Netzer|first=Amnon|title=Iran|volume=10|page=13}}</ref> Similarly, when the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)#Dissolution of the USSR|Soviet Union collapsed]], many of the Jews in the affected territory (who had been [[refusenik]]s) were suddenly allowed to leave. This produced a wave of migration to Israel in the early 1990s.<ref name="Dosick 2007, p. 340" />

==== Growth ====
[[File:Western Wall, Jerusalem, (16037897867).jpg|thumb|Praying at the [[Western Wall]]]]
Israel is the only country with a Jewish population that is consistently growing through [[natural population growth]], although the Jewish populations of other countries, in Europe and North America, have recently increased through immigration. In the Diaspora, in almost every country the Jewish population in general is either declining or steady, but [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] and [[Haredi]] Jewish communities, whose members often shun [[birth control]] for religious reasons, have experienced rapid population growth.<ref>Gartner (2001), pp. 400–01.</ref>

Orthodox and [[Conservative Judaism]] discourage [[proselytism]] to non-Jews, but many Jewish groups have tried to reach out to the assimilated Jewish communities of the Diaspora in order for them to reconnect to their Jewish roots. Additionally, while in principle [[Reform Judaism]] favors seeking new members for the faith, this position has not translated into active proselytism, instead taking the form of an effort to reach out to non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples.<ref>Kaplan (2003), p. 301.</ref>

There is also a trend of Orthodox movements reaching out to secular Jews in order to give them a stronger [[Jewish identity]] so there is less chance of intermarriage. As a result of the efforts by these and other Jewish groups over the past 25 years, there has been a trend (known as the [[Baal teshuva movement]]) for secular Jews to become more religiously observant, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9780470758014.ch27 |chapter=The 'Return' to Traditional Judaism at the End of the Twentieth Century: Cross-Cultural Comparisons |title=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism |year=2008 |last1=Danzger |first1=M. Herbert |pages=495–511 |isbn=978-0-470-75801-4 }}</ref> Additionally, there is also a growing rate of conversion to [[Jews by Choice]] of [[gentiles]] who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.<ref>de Lange (2002), p. 220.</ref>
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