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Searching for: Ashkenazi?
Ashkenazi (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי, Standard Hebrew Aškanazi, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzî) Jews or Ashkenazic Jews, also called
Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים,
Standard Hebrew Aškanazim, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzîm), are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of Germany,
Poland, Austria, and Eastern Europe mostly established between the 10th Century and 19th Century AD. In historical
times and through the mid-20th Century, Ashkenazi Jews usually spoke
Yiddish or Slavic languages such as (now extinct) Knaanic, and developed a distinct culture and liturgy influenced by their native countries.
Approximately eighty percent of current world Jewry is of Ashkenazi origin.[2] (http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/sephardic.htm)
Origins and medieval history
Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities[3] (http://homepage.mac.com/harpend/.Public/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf) in the Alps and Pyrenees as early as the 8th and 9th Century, and
potentially dating back to Roman times when these areas and the Kingdom of Judah were
both incorporated under Roman rule. Jews were known to have lived in Cologne and what
is now France between 300 and 600, but they were expelled by King Dagobert of the Franks in 629. Jewish traders from Islamic lands during the
same period may also have been the origin of the Ashkenazi community, but other evidence suggests direct migration of Jews
northward from Italy as the genesis of the ethnically and culturally distinct Ashkenazi
group.
By the early 900s, Jewish populations were well-established in Northern Europe, and
later followed the Norman Conquest into England in 1066, also settling in the Rhineland. 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, 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 Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities by
Jews, and preventing certain financial activities (such as "usurious" loans) between Christians. (Ben-Sasson, H. (1976) A History
of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.)
By the 1400s, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora[4] (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html).
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'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.
However, the word "Ashkenaz" itself 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. The "Ashkuza"
have also been linked to the Oghuz branch of Turks including nearly all Turkic peoples
today from Turkey to Turkmenistan.
Ashkenaz in later Hebrew tradition became identified with
the peoples of Germany, and in particular to the area along the Rhine where the Allemani tribe once lived (compare the
French and Spanish words Allemagne and Alemania, respectively, for Germany).
Medieval references
In the first half of the eleventh 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 eleventh
century refers to both the language of Ashkenaz (Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:9; idem on Talmud tractate Sukkah 17a) and the country of Ashkenaz (Talmud, Hullin 93a). During the twelfth 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 (ib. p. 129).
In the literature of the thirteenth 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.
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, peanuts, corn, millet, and rice, whereas Sephardi Jews typically do not prohibit these foods.
- 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 not glatt may still be acceptable to Ashkenazi Jews as kosher, but are considered
by the Sephardi Jews to be treif (non-kosher). Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the actual slaughter, Sephardi
Jews permit eating the rear portions of an animal after proper Halachic deveining;
Ashkenazi Jews do not. This difference is not due to a strict vs. lenient understanding of the law; rather, Ashkenazi Jews do not
believe they have a reliable tradition as to the proper removal of these veins.
- 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).
- Ashkenazi Jews have a custom not to see their bride/groom one week prior to their wedding.
Relationship to other Jews
The term Ashkenazi also refers to the nusach (Hebrew, "liturgical tradition") 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.
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 Hebrew and in points of ritual.
Several famous people have this as a surname, such as Vladimir
Ashkenazi. Ironically, most people with this surname are in fact Sephardi, and usually of Syrian Jewish background. This family name was
adopted by the families who lived in Sephardic countries and were of Askenazic
origins, after being nicknamed Askenazi by their respective communities. Some have shortened the name to Ash. Other spellings
exist, such as Eskenazi by the Syrian Jews
who relocated to Panama and other South-American Jewish communities.
Literature about the alleged Turkic origin of the Ashkenazi population appeared mainly after 1950.
See also: Jew, Judaism, Rabbenu Gershom
Genetic Traits
The Ashkenazi Jewish population has, like many other endogamous populations, a higher incidence of specific hereditary diseases. 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. A large number of these diseases are neurological. See Jewish Genetics Center (http://www.jewishgeneticscenter.org) for more information on testing programmes.
Diseases with higher incidence in Ashkenazim include:
IQ
A recent study[5] (http://homepage.mac.com/harpend/.Public/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf) published by Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy, and Henry Harpending of the University of Utah suggests that generations of selection for IQ-intensive jobs in finance and trade, combined with comparative reproductive isolation and social
selection for high intelligence, accounts for the controversial observation that Ashkenazi Jews have a substantially higher than
average IQ compared with most general populations, as well as a higher than average proportion of certain genetic disorders. In
the study, the authors note:
"Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average IQ of any ethnic group for which there are reliable data. They score 0.75 to 1.0
standard deviations above the general European average, corresponding to an IQ of 112-115...(Backman 1972, Levinson, 1959,
Romanoff, 1976), although a recent review concludes that the advantage is slightly less, only half a standard deviation. (Lynn,
2004)."
The authors note that while Ashkenazi Jews represented 3% of the population of the United States, they won 27% of the US
Nobel Prizes in science, 25% of the ACM Turing Awards, and have accounted for more than half of world chess champions.
Modern History
In an essay on Sephardic Jewry, Daniel Eleazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public
Affairs[6] (http://www.jcpa.org) summarized the demographic history of Ashkenazai Jews in the last
thousand years, noting that at the end of the 11th Century, 97% of world
Jewry was Sephardic; in the mid-seventeenth 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 as against the Muslim world."[7] (http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/sephardic.htm) By 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for nearly 92 percent of world Jewry.[8] (http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/sephardic.htm)
Ashkenazi Jews developed the Hasidic movement as well as major Jewish academic
centers across Poland, Russia, and Lithuania 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 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[9] (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html).
Ashkenazi cultural growth led to the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment,
and the development of Zionism in modern Europe.
Ashkenazi Jewry and 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 were systematically murdered in The Holocaust; 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews, and 900,000 in Ukraine, as well as 75-90% of the Jews of Germany, the Baltic and Slavic nations, and France.[10] (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/killedtable.html) Many of the surviving
Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as France, the United States, and Israel after the war.
Today, Ashkenazi Jews constitute approximately eighty percent of world Jewry.[11] (http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles3/sephardic.htm)
References
- Beider, Alexander (2001): A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciations, and
Migrations. Avotaynu. ISBN
1886223122.
- Brook, Kevin Alan (1999): The Jews of Khazaria. Jason Aronson. ISBN 0765762129.
- 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. Shocken Books, New York.
- Haumann, Heiko (2001): A History of East European Jews. Central European University Press. ISBN 9639241261.
- Koestler, Arthur (1976): The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and Its Heritage. Random House. ISBN 0394402847. (Most hypotheses in this book
are now considered incorrect by most historians)
- Wexler, Paul (1993): The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity. Columbus: Slavica.
ISBN 0893572411.
External Links
- Ashkenazi history at the Jewish Virtual
Library (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Ashkenazim.html)
- Natural history of Ashkenazi
intelligence (http://harpend.dsl.xmission.com/Documents/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf) High intelligence and
diseases may be evolutionarily linked in Jewish genes, Journal of Biosocial Science, June 2005. Economist (http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4032638) New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/science/03gene.html)
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