Jewish diaspora - wikipedia Jewish diaspora Part of a series on Jews and Judaism Etymology Who is a Jew ? 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In terms of the Hebrew Bible, the term `` Exile '' denotes the fate of the Israelites who were taken into exile from the Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BCE, and the Judahites from the Kingdom of Judah who were taken into exile during the 6th century BCE. While in exile, the Judahites became known as `` Jews '' ( יְהוּדִים, or Yehudim ) -- `` Mordecai the Jew '' from the Book of Esther being the first biblical mention of the term. The first exile was the Assyrian exile, the expulsion from the Kingdom of Israel ( Samaria ) begun by Tiglath - Pileser III of Assyria in 733 BCE. This process was completed by Sargon II with the destruction of the kingdom in 722 BCE, concluding a three - year siege of Samaria begun by Shalmaneser V. The next experience of exile was the Babylonian captivity, in which portions of the population of the Kingdom of Judah were deported in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE by the Neo-Babylonian Empire under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II. Before the middle of the first century CE, in addition to Judea, Syria and Babylonia, large Jewish communities existed in the Roman provinces of Egypt, Cyrene and Crete and in Rome itself ; after the Siege of Jerusalem in 63 BCE, when the Hasmonean kingdom became a protectorate of Rome, emigration intensified. In 6 CE the region was organized as the Roman province of Judea, but the Judean population revolted against the Roman Empire in 66 CE during the period known as the First Jewish -- Roman War which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. During the siege, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and most of Jerusalem. This event marked the beginning of the Roman exile, also called Edom exile. Jewish leaders and elite were exiled from the land, killed, or taken to Rome as slaves. In 132 CE, the remaining Jews, under Bar Kokhba, rebelled against Hadrian, per Cassius Dio, in response to Hadrian 's renaming of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. In 135 CE, Hadrian 's army defeated the Jewish armies and Jewish independence was lost. As punishment, Hadrian exiled more Jews, and forbade the Jews from living in their capital. During the Middle Ages, due to increasing geographical dispersion and re-settlement, Jews divided into distinct regional groups which today are generally addressed according to two primary geographical groupings : the Ashkenazi of Northern and Eastern Europe, and the Sephardic Jews of Iberia ( Spain and Portugal ), North Africa and the Middle East. These groups have parallel histories sharing many cultural similarities as well as a series of massacres, persecutions and expulsions, such as the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the expulsion from England in 1290, and the expulsion from Arab countries in 1948 -- 1973. Although the two branches comprise many unique ethno - cultural practices and have links to their local host populations ( such as Central Europeans for the Ashkenazim and Hispanics and Arabs for the Sephardim ), their shared religion and ancestry, as well as their continuous communication and population transfers, has been responsible for a unified sense of cultural and religious Jewish identity between Sephardim and Ashkenazim from the late Roman period to the present. Contents 1 Origins of the term 2 Pre-Roman diaspora 2.1 Early diaspora populations 3 Roman destruction of Judea 4 Dispersion of the Jews in the Roman Empire 5 Post-Roman period Jewish populations 5.1 Classic period : Jews and Samaritans 5.2 Middle Ages 5.2. 1 Ashkenazi Jews 5.2. 2 Sephardic Jews 5.2. 3 Mizrahi Jews 5.2. 4 Yemenite Jews 5.2. 5 Karaite Jews 5.3 Modern era 5.3. 1 Israeli Jews 5.3. 2 American Jews 5.3. 3 French Jews 5.3. 4 Mountain Jews 5.3. 5 Bukharan Jews 5.3. 6 Kaifeng Jews 5.3. 7 Cochin Jews 5.3. 8 Paradesi Jews 5.3. 9 Georgian Jews 5.3. 10 Krymchaks 5.3. 11 Anusim 5.3. 12 Modern Samaritans 5.3. 13 Genetic studies 6 Zionist `` Negation of the Diaspora '' 7 Mystical explanation 8 In Christian theology 9 Historical comparison of Jewish population 10 Today 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External links Origins of the term Main article : Diaspora The Greek word διασπορά ( dispersion ) first appears in Ancient Greek in Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War. It was later used in the translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint : ἔση διασπορὰ ἐν πάσαις βασιλείαις τῆς γῆς ( thou shalt be a diaspora ( or dispersion ) in all kingdoms of the earth ) ( Deuteronomy xxviii : 25 ). In Talmudic and post-Talmudic Rabbinic literature, this phenomenon was referred to as galut ( exile ), a term with strongly negative connotations, often contrasted with geula ( redemption ). The modern Hebrew concept of Tefutzot תפוצות, `` scattered '', was introduced in the 1930s by the Jewish - American Zionist academic Simon Rawidowicz, who to some degree argued for the acceptance of the Jewish presence outside the Land of Israel as a modern reality and an inevitability. The Greek term for diaspora ( διασπορά ) also appears three times in the New Testament, where it refers to the scattering of Israel, i.e., the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel as opposed to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, although James ( 1 : 1 ) refers to the scattering of all twelve tribes. Pre-Roman diaspora Paths of Jewish deportation In 722 BCE, the Assyrians, under Sargon II, successor to Shalmaneser V, conquered the Kingdom of Israel, and many Israelites were deported to Mesopotamia. After the overthrow of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon ( see Babylonian captivity ) and the deportation of a considerable portion of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, the Jews had two principal cultural centers : Babylonia and the land of Israel. Deportees returned to the Samaria after the Neo-Babylonian Empire was in turn conquered by Cyrus the Great. The biblical book of Ezra includes two texts said to be decrees allowing the deported Jews to return to their homeland after decades and ordering the Temple rebuilt. The differences in content and tone of the two decrees, one in Hebrew and one in Aramaic, have caused some scholars to question their authenticity. The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient tablet on which is written a declaration in the name of Cyrus referring to restoration of temples and repatriation of exiled peoples, has often been taken as corroboration of the authenticity of the biblical decrees attributed to Cyrus, but other scholars point out that the cylinder 's text is specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and makes no mention of Judah or Jerusalem. Professor Lester L Grabbe asserted that the `` alleged decree of Cyrus '' regarding Judah, `` can not be considered authentic '', but that there was a `` general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites ''. He also stated that archaeology suggests that the return was a `` trickle '' taking place over decades, rather than a single event. Although most of the Jewish people during this period, especially the wealthy families, were to be found in Babylonia, the existence they led there, under the successive rulers of the Achaemenids, the Seleucids, the Parthians, and the Sassanians, was obscure and devoid of political influence. The poorest but most fervent of the exiles returned to Judah / the Land of Israel during the reign of the Achaemenids ( c. 550 -- 330 BCE ). There, with the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem as their center, they organized themselves into a community, animated by a remarkable religious ardor and a tenacious attachment to the Torah as the focus of its identity. As this little nucleus increased in numbers with the accession of recruits from various quarters, it awoke to a consciousness of itself, and strove once again for national independence and political enfranchisement and sovereignty. After numerous vicissitudes, and especially owing to internal dissensions within the Seleucid dynasty on the one hand and to the interested support of the pre-Roman Empire, the pre-autocratic Roman Republic on the other, the cause of Jewish independence finally triumphed. Under the Hasmonean princes, who were at first high priests and then kings, the Jewish state displayed even a certain luster and annexed several territories. Soon, however, discord within the royal family and the growing disaffection of the pious, the soul of the nation, towards rulers who no longer evinced any appreciation of the real aspirations of their subjects made the Jewish nation easy prey for the ambitions of the now increasingly autocratic and imperial Romans, the successors of the Seleucids. In 63 BCE Pompey invaded Jerusalem, the Jewish people lost their political sovereignty and independence, and Gabinius subjected the Jewish people to tribute. Early diaspora populations Further information : Hellenistic Judaism The Jewish diaspora in Egypt was already several centuries old. It was as old as that of the East ( Babylon ), but not until the early Hellenistic period did it achieve comparable importance. Alexander the Great 's breathtakingly rapid campaign of conquest led to the swift commercialisation of the Eastern Mediterranean after 333 BCE. In Palestine, under the favourable auspices of the long period of peace - almost a whole century - which followed the advent of the Ptolemies, the new ways were to flourish. By means of all kinds of contacts, and particularly thanks to the development of commerce, Hellenism infiltrated on all sides in varying degrees. The ports of the Mediterranean coast were indispensable to commerce and, from the very beginning of the Hellenistic period, underwent great development. In the Western Diaspora Greek quickly became dominant in Jewish life and little sign remains of profound contact with Hebrew or Aramaic, the latter probably being the more prevalent. The proportion of Jews in the Diaspora in relation to the size of the nation as a whole increased steadily throughout the Hellenistic era and reached astonishing dimensions in the early Roman period, particularly in Alexandria. It was not least for this reason that the Jewish people became a major political factor, especially since the Jews in the diaspora, notwithstanding strong cultural, social and religious tensions, remained firmly united with their homeland. As early as the middle of the 2nd century BCE the Jewish author of the third book of the Oracula Sibyllina addressed the `` chosen people, '' saying : `` Every land is full of thee and every sea. '' The most diverse witnesses, such as Strabo, Philo, Seneca, Luke ( the author of the Acts of the Apostles ), Cicero, and Josephus, all mention Jewish populations in the cities of the Mediterranean basin. See also History of the Jews in India and History of the Jews in China for pre-Roman ( and post - ) diasporic populations. King Agrippa I, in a letter to Caligula, enumerated among the provinces of the Jewish diaspora almost all the Hellenized and non-Hellenized countries of the Orient. This enumeration was far from complete as Italy and Cyrene were not included. The epigraphic discoveries from year to year augment the number of known Jewish communities but must be viewed with caution due to the lack of precise evidence of their numbers. According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, the next most dense Jewish population after the Land of Israel and Babylonia was in Syria, particularly in Antioch, and Damascus, where 10,000 to 18,000 Jews were massacred during the great insurrection. The ancient Jewish philosopher Philo gives the number of Jewish inhabitants in Egypt as one million, one - eighth of the population. Alexandria was by far the most important of the Egyptian Jewish communities. The Jews in the Egyptian diaspora were on a par with their Ptolemaic counterparts and close ties existed for them with Jerusalem. As in other Hellenistic diasporas, the Egyptian diaspora was one of choice not of imposition. To judge by the accounts of wholesale massacres in 115 BCE, the number of Jewish residents in Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia was also large. At the commencement of the reign of Caesar Augustus, there were over 7,000 Jews in Rome ( though this is only the number that is said to have escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition of Archelaus ; compare : Bringmann : Klaus : Geschichte der Juden im Altertum, Stuttgart 2005, S. 202. Bringmann talks about 8,000 Jews who lived in the city of Rome. ). Many sources say that the Jews constituted a full one - tenth ( 10 % ) of the population of the ancient city of Rome itself. Finally, if the sums confiscated by the governor Lucius Valerius Flaccus in the year 62 / 61 BCE represented the tax of a didrachma per head for a single year, it would imply that the Jewish population of Asia Minor numbered 45,000 adult males, for a total of at least 180,000 persons. `` No date or origin can be assigned to the numerous Jewish settlements eventually known in the West. While some were surely founded ( and many certainly greatly increased ) as a result of the dispersal of Judaean Jews from the Land of Israel and their expulsion from Jerusalem after the revolt of CE 66 -- 70 ( The First Jewish -- Roman War, known as the Great Revolt ) and the revolt of 132 -- 135 ( the Second Jewish -- Roman War, known as the Bar Kochba Revolt ), it is also known that there were already many Jews living outside of the Land of Israel before the Roman imperial oppression and decidedly before the Jewish uprisings for independence and freedom from Roman rule in their homeland -- and before their uprisings were crushed. It is reasonable to conjecture that many, such as the settlement in Puteoli attested in 4 BCE went back to the late ( pre-Roman Empire ) Roman Republic or early Empire and originated in voluntary emigration and the lure of trade and commerce. '' Roman destruction of Judea Main article : Jewish -- Roman wars See also : Judea ( Roman province ) Copy of relief panel from the Arch of Titus in the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish People, depicting the triumphal parade of Roman soldiers celebrating `` Judaea Capta '' ( `` Judaea is enslaved / conquered '' ) and leading newly enslaved Jews, while displaying spoils of the siege of Jerusalem. Roman rule, which began in 63 BCE, continued until a revolt from CE 66 -- 70, a Jewish uprising to fight for independence, was eventually crushed after four years, culminating in the capture of Jerusalem and the burning and destruction of the Temple, the centre of the national and religious life of the Jews throughout the world. Jerusalem was also destroyed. The Jewish diaspora at the time of the Temple 's destruction, according to Josephus, was in Parthia ( Persia ), Babylonia ( Iraq ), Arabia, as well as some Jews beyond the Euphrates and in Adiabene ( Kurdistan ). In Josephus ' own words, he had informed `` the remotest Arabians '' about the destruction. Exactly when Roman Anti-Judaism began is a question of scholarly debate, however historian H.H. Ben - Sasson has proposed that the `` Crisis under Caligula '' ( 37 -- 41 ) was the `` first open break between Rome and the Jews ''. The complete destruction of Jerusalem and the settlement of several Greek and Roman colonies in Judah / Judaea and the Land of Israel ( and the changing of its name to Palestina and of Jerusalem 's name to Aelia Capitolina ), indicated the intention of the Roman government to prevent the political regeneration of the Jewish nation and sever the connection to their homeland. Nevertheless, forty years later the Jews put forth efforts to recover their former freedom. With Israel exhausted, they strove to establish commonwealths on the ruins of Hellenism in Cyrene, Cyprus, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. These efforts were suppressed by Trajan ( 115 -- 117 CE ), and under the Emperor Hadrian the same fate befell the attempt of the Jews of Israel in a new uprising to regain their independence ( 133 -- 135 CE ). From this time on, in spite of unimportant movements under Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, the Jews, reduced in numbers, destitute, and crushed, lost their preponderance in their own homeland. Jerusalem had become, under the name `` Ælia Capitolina '', a Roman colony and entirely pagan city. Jews were forbidden entrance on pain of death, except for the day of Tisha B'Av, see also Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire. Yet despite the decree, there has been an almost continual Jewish presence in Jerusalem for 3,300 years, and 43 Jewish communities in Israel remained in the 6th century : 12 on the coast, in the Negev desert, and east of the Jordan, and 31 villages in Galilee ( in the northern Land of Israel ) and in the Jordan Valley. Yavne on the coastal plain, associated with Yochanan ben Zakai, was an important center of Rabbinic Judaism. Dispersion of the Jews in the Roman Empire See also : History of the Jews in the Roman Empire The Jewish diaspora began with the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE. As early as the third century BCE Jewish communities sprang up in the Aegean islands, Greece, Asia Minor, Cyrenaica, Italy and Egypt. While communities in Alexandria and Rome dated back to before the Maccabean Revolt, the population in the Jewish diaspora expanded after the Pompey 's campaign in 62 BCE. In 6 CE the Romans annexed Judaea, leaving the community in Babylon the only major Jewish population outside of the Roman Empire. Unlike the Greek - speaking Hellenized Jews in the west, the Jewish communities in Babylonia and Judea continued the use of Aramaic as a primary language. The military defeats of the Jews in Judaea in 70 CE and again in 135 CE would swell the Diaspora population while simultaneously reducing the Jewish population in Palestine. Meanwhile, the Kitos War led to the destruction of Jewish communities in Crete and North Africa, in 117 CE, and consequently the dispersal of Jews already living outside of Judea to further reaches of the Empire. Following the 1st century Great Revolt and the 2nd century Simon Bar Kochba revolt, the destruction of Judaea exerted a decisive influence upon the Jewish people, both those in Israel and those who were dispersed throughout the world. One of the most significant changes was the shift of the center of religious authority from the Temple Priesthood to Rabbis. Many Jews entered the Diaspora as slaves after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and 135 CE. Such Jews were eventually enfranchised, and often remained in their land of former slavery, establishing communities with other Jews. The 13th - century author Bar Hebraeus gave a figure of 6,944,000 Jews in the Roman world Salo Wittmayer Baron considered the figure convincing. The figure of seven million within and one million outside the Roman world in the mid-first century became widely accepted, including by Louis Feldman. However, contemporary scholars now accept that Bar Hebraeus based his figure on a census of total Roman citizens. The figure of 6,944,000 being recorded in Eusebius ' Chronicon, although this number is seen by modern scholarship as huge exaggeration. Louis Feldman, previously an active supporter of the figure, now states that he and Baron were mistaken. Philo gives a figure of one million Jews living in Egypt. John R. Bartlett rejects Baron 's figures entirely, arguing that we have no clue as to the size of the Jewish demographic in the ancient world. The Romans did not distinguish between Jews inside and outside of the Land of Israel / Judaea. They collected an annual temple tax from Jews both in and outside of Israel. The revolts in and suppression of diaspora communities in Egypt, Libya and Crete in 115 -- 117 CE had a severe impact on the Jewish diaspora. After the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132 - 135 CE, the Romans engaged in mass executions, expulsions, and enslavement, destroying large numbers of Judean towns and forbidding Jews from settling in Jerusalem or its environs ( Dio Cassius, Roman History 69.12 - 14 ) ; there was no further Jewish government or overarching legal system thereafter in Judaea ; this effectively turned the expatriate Jews of the Diaspora into a permanently exiled people, deprived of their homeland. Restrictions ( taxation, discrimination, social exclusions ) further alienated and marginalized remaining Jews in the Negev and Galilee and favored the settlement of culturally pagan Syro - Phoenicians and others. It was at this time that Judaea became normatively known as Syria Palestina. After this failed Jewish uprising, the majority of Jews in Israel were sold as slaves, killed or forced to seek refuge outside Palestine. In addition, Hadrian encouraged non-Jews to settle the land. Although some Jews maintained their presence in Syria - Palestina, they became a disposed and dispersed people. Memory of the Jewish exile was normative in medieval Jewish discourse, and also made its way into Christian and Islamic thought and discourse. Judea and Samaria were renamed by Hadrian to Syria Palaestina ; it is commonly held that this was done as an insult to the Jews and as a means of erasing the land 's Jewish identity, although this is based on circumstantial evidence. A widespread popular belief holds that sudden expulsion of Jews from Judea / Syria Palaestina led to the Diaspora, but historians disagree with that view. Instead, they argue that the growth of diaspora Jewish communities was a gradual process that occurred over the centuries, starting with the Assyrian destruction of Israel, the Babylonian destruction of Judah, the Roman destruction of Judea, and the subsequent rule of Christians and Muslims. After the revolt, the Jewish religious and cultural center shifted to the Babylonian Jewish community and its scholars. For the generations that followed, the destruction of the Second Temple event came to represent a fundamental insight about the Jews who had become a dispossessed and persecuted people for much of their history. Erich S. Gruen explains that focusing on the destruction of the Temple misses the point that already before this, the diaspora was well established. Compulsory dislocation of people can not explain more than a fraction of the eventual diaspora. Avrum Ehrlich also states that already well before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, more Jews lived in the Diaspora than in Israel. According to Israel Yuval, the Babylonian captivity created a promise of return in the Jewish consciousness which had the effect of enhancing the Jewish self - perception of Exile after the destruction of the Second Temple, albeit their dispersion was due to an array of non-exilic factors. David Aberbach argues that much of the Jewish diaspora, by which he means exile or voluntary migration, originated with the Jewish wars which occurred between 66 and 135 CE. Post-roman period Jewish populations Main article : Jewish ethnic divisions During the Middle Ages, due to increasing geographical dispersion and re-settlement, Jews divided into distinct regional groups which today are generally addressed according to two primary geographical groupings : the Ashkenazi of Northern and Eastern Europe, and the Sephardic Jews of Iberia ( Spain and Portugal ), North Africa and the Middle East. These groups have parallel histories sharing many cultural similarities as well as a series of massacres, persecutions and expulsions, such as the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the expulsion from England in 1290, and the expulsion from Arab countries in 1948 -- 1973. Although the two branches comprise many unique ethno - cultural practices and have links to their local host populations ( such as Central Europeans for the Ashkenazim and Hispanics and Arabs for the Sephardim ), their shared religion and ancestry, as well as their continuous communication and population transfers, has been responsible for a unified sense of cultural and religious Jewish identity between Sephardim and Ashkenazim from the late Roman period to the present. By 1764 there were about 750,000 Jews in the Polish -- Lithuanian Commonwealth. The worldwide Jewish population ( comprising the Middle East and the rest of Europe ) was estimated at 1.2 million. Classic period : Jews and Samaritans The Jews ( Hebrew : יְהוּדִים, Yehudim ), also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group who mainly trace their origins to the ancient Israelites of the Levant, as well as other contributory peoples / populations. The Samaritans consider themselves to be the remaining population of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were not expelled during the ten tribes exile, and who joined with the incoming Assyrian populations to form the Samaritan community. Some biblical scholars also consider that parts of the Judean population had stayed to live in their homes during the exilic period and later joined the returning Israelites from Babylon and formed the Jews of the classic and Hasmonean era. After the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE Judah ( Hebrew : יְהוּדָה Yehuda ) became a province of the Persian empire. This status continued into the following Hellenistic period, when Yehud became a disputed province of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria. In the early part of the 2nd century BCE, a revolt against the Seleucids led to the establishment of an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty. The Hasmoneans adopted a deliberate policy of imitating and reconstituting the Davidic kingdom, and as part of this forcibly converted to Judaism their neighbours in the Land of Israel. The conversions included Nabateans ( Zabadeans ) and Itureans, the peoples of the former Philistine cities, the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites. Attempts were also made to incorporate the Samaritans, following takeover of Samaria. The success of mass - conversions is however questionable, as most groups retained their tribal separations and mostly turned Hellenistic or Christian, with Edomites perhaps being the only exception to merge into the Jewish society under Herodian dynasty and in the following period of Jewish - Roman Wars. While there are some references to maintaining the tribal separation among Israelites during the Hasmonean period, the dominant position of the tribe of Judah as well as nationalistic policies of Hasmoneans to refer to residents of Hasmonean Judea as Jews practically erased the tribal distinction, with the exception of the priestly orders of Levites and Kohanim ( tribe of Levi ). The Babylonian Jewish community, though maintaining permanent ties with the Hasmonean and later Herodian kingdoms, evolved into a separate Jewish community, which during the Talmudic period assembled its own practices, the Babylonian Talmud, slightly differing from the Jerusalem Talmud. The Babylonian Jewry is considered to be the predecessor of most Mizrahi Jewish communities. Middle Ages Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews is a general category of Jewish populations who immigrated to what is now Germany and northeastern France during the Middle Ages and until modern times used to adhere to the Yiddish culture and the Ashkenazi prayer style. There is evidence that groups of Jews had immigrated to Germania during the Roman Era ; they were probably merchants who followed the Roman Legions during their conquests. To a larger degree, modern Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of Jews who migrated into northern France and lower Germany around 800 -- 1000 CE, later migrating into Eastern Europe, as well as local Europeans who intermixed with Jews. Many Ashkenazi Jews are also descended from Sephardi Jews exiled from Spain, first during Islamic persecutions ( 11th - 12th centuries ) and later during Christian reconquests ( 13th - 15th centuries ) and the Spanish Inquisition ( 15th - 16th centuries ). In this sense, the modern term `` Ashkenazi '' refers to a subset of Jewish religious practices, adopted over time, rather than to a strict ethno - geographic division, which became erased over time. In 2006, a study by Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Technion and Ramban Medical Center in Haifa, Israel demonstrated that the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews, both men and women, have Middle Eastern ancestry. According to Nicholas Wades ' 2010 Autosomal study Ashkenazi Jews share a common ancestry with other Jewish groups and Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews have roughly 30 % European ancestry with the rest being Middle Eastern. According to Hammer, the Ashkenazi population expanded through a series of bottlenecks -- events that squeeze a population down to small numbers -- perhaps as it migrated from the Middle East after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, to Italy, reaching the Rhine Valley in the 10th century. David Goldstein, a Duke University geneticist and director of the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation, has said that the work of the Technion and Ramban team served only to confirm that genetic drift played a major role in shaping Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA ), which is inherited in a matrilineal manner. Goldstein argues that the Technion and Ramban mtDNA studies fail to actually establish a statistically significant link between modern Jews and historic Middle Eastern populations. This differs from the patrilineal case, where Goldstein said there is no doubt of a Middle Eastern origin. In June 2010, Behar et al. `` shows that most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster with common genetic origin, that overlies Druze and Cypriot samples but not samples from other Levantine populations or paired Diaspora host populations. In contrast, Ethiopian Jews ( Beta Israel ) and Indian Jews ( Bene Israel and Cochini ) cluster with neighboring autochthonous populations in Ethiopia and western India, respectively, despite a clear paternal link between the Bene Israel and the Levant. ''. `` The most parsimonious explanation for these observations is a common genetic origin, which is consistent with an historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant. '' In conclusion the authors are stating that the genetic results are concordant `` with the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the Old World ''. Regarding the samples he used Behar points out that `` Our conclusion favoring common ancestry ( of Jewish people ) over recent admixture is further supported by the fact that our sample contains individuals that are known not to be admixed in the most recent one or two generations. '' A 2013 study of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA by Costa et al., reached the conclusion that the four major female founders and most of the minor female founders had ancestry in prehistoric Europe, rather than the Near East or Caucasus. According to the study these findings ' point to a significant role for the conversion of women in the formation of Ashkenazi communities ``. A study by Haber, et al., ( 2013 ) noted that while previous studies of the Levant, which had focused mainly on diaspora Jewish populations, showed that the `` Jews form a distinctive cluster in the Middle East '', these studies did not make clear `` whether the factors driving this structure would also involve other groups in the Levant ''. The authors found strong evidence that modern Levant populations descend from two major apparent ancestral populations. One set of genetic characteristics which is shared with modern - day Europeans and Central Asians is most prominent in the Levant amongst `` Lebanese, Armenians, Cypriots, Druze and Jews, as well as Turks, Iranians and Caucasian populations ''. The second set of inherited genetic characteristics is shared with populations in other parts of the Middle East as well as some African populations. Levant populations in this category today include `` Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, as well as North Africans, Ethiopians, Saudis, and Bedouins ''. Concerning this second component of ancestry, the authors remark that while it correlates with `` the pattern of the Islamic expansion '', and that `` a pre-Islamic expansion Levant was more genetically similar to Europeans than to Middle Easterners, '' they also say that `` its presence in Lebanese Christians, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, Cypriots and Armenians might suggest that its spread to the Levant could also represent an earlier event ''. The authors also found a strong correlation between religion and apparent ancestry in the Levant : all Jews ( Sephardi and Ashkenazi ) cluster in one branch ; Druze from Mount Lebanon and Druze from Mount Carmel are depicted on a private branch ; and Lebanese Christians form a private branch with the Christian populations of Armenia and Cyprus placing the Lebanese Muslims as an outer group. The predominantly Muslim populations of Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians cluster on branches with other Muslim populations as distant as Morocco and Yemen. Another 2013 study, made by Doron M. Behar of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel and others, suggests that : `` Cumulatively, our analyses point strongly to ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews primarily from European and Middle Eastern populations and not from populations in or near the Caucasus region. The combined set of approaches suggests that the observations of Ashkenazi proximity to European and Middle Eastern populations in population structure analyses reflect actual genetic proximity of Ashkenazi Jews to populations with predominantly European and Middle Eastern ancestry components, and lack of visible introgression from the region of the Khazar Khaganate -- particularly among the northern Volga and North Caucasus populations -- into the Ashkenazi community. '' Sephardic Jews Sephardi Jews are Jews whose ancestors lived in Spain or Portugal. Some 300,000 Jews resided in Spain before the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, when the Reyes Católicos reconquered Spain from the Arabs and ordered the Jews to convert to Catholicism, leave the country or face execution without trial. Those who chose not to convert, between 40,000 and 100,000, were expelled from Spain in 1492 in the wake of the Alhambra decree. Sephardic Jews subsequently migrated to North Africa ( Maghreb ), Christian Europe ( Netherlands, Britain, France and Poland ), throughout the Ottoman Empire and even the newly discovered Latin America. In the Ottoman Empire, the Sephardim mostly settled in the European portion of the Empire, and mainly in the major cities such as : Istanbul, Selânik and Bursa. Selânik, which is today known as Thessaloniki and found in modern - day Greece, had a large and flourishing Sephardic community as was the community of Maltese Jews in Malta. A small number of Sephardic refugees who fled via the Netherlands as Marranos settled in Hamburg and Altona Germany in the early 16th century, eventually appropriating Ashkenazic Jewish rituals into their religious practice. One famous figure from the Sephardic Ashkenazic population is Glückel of Hameln. Some relocated to the United States, establishing the country 's first organized community of Jews and erecting the United States ' first synagogue. Nevertheless, the majority of Sephardim remained in Spain and Portugal as Conversos, which would also be the fate for those who had migrated to Spanish and Portuguese ruled Latin America. Sephardic Jews evolved to form most of North Africa 's Jewish communities of the modern era, as well as the bulk of the Turkish, Syrian, Galilean and Jerusalemite Jews of the Ottoman period. Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus, largely originating from the Babylonian Jewry of the classic period. The term Mizrahi is used in Israel in the language of politics, media and some social scientists for Jews from the Arab world and adjacent, primarily Muslim - majority countries. The definition of Mizrahi includes the modern Iraqi Jews, Syrian Jews, Lebanese Jews, Persian Jews, Afghan Jews, Bukharian Jews, Kurdish Jews, Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews. Some also include the North - African Sephardic communities and Yemenite Jews under the definition of Mizrahi, but do that from rather political generalization than ancestral reasons. Yemenite Jews Main article : Yemenite Jews Temanim are Jews who were living in Yemen prior to immigrating to Ottoman Palestine and Israel. Their geographic and social isolation from the rest of the Jewish community over the course of many centuries allowed them to develop a liturgy and set of practices that are significantly distinct from those of other Oriental Jewish groups ; they themselves comprise three distinctly different groups, though the distinction is one of religious law and liturgy rather than of ethnicity. Traditionally the genesis of the Yemenite Jewish community came after the Babylonian exile, though the community most probably emerged during Roman times, and it was significantly reinforced during the reign of Dhu Nuwas in the 6th century CE and during later Muslim conquests in the 7th century CE, which drove the Arab Jewish tribes out of central Arabia. Karaite Jews Karaim are Jews who used to live mostly in Egypt, Iraq, and Crimea during the Middle Ages. They are distinguished by the form of Judaism which they observe. Rabbinic Jews of varying communities have affiliated with the Karaite community throughout the millennia. As such, Karaite Jews are less an ethnic division, than they are members of a particular branch of Judaism. Karaite Judaism recognizes the Tanakh as the single religious authority for the Jewish people. Linguistic principles and contextual exegesis are used in arriving at the correct meaning of the Torah. Karaite Jews strive to adhere to the plain or most obvious understanding of the text when interpreting the Tanakh. By contrast, Rabbinical Judaism regards an Oral Law ( codified and recorded in the Mishnah and the Talmud ) as being equally binding on Jews, and mandated by God. In Rabbinical Judaism, the Oral Law forms the basis of religion, morality, and Jewish life. Karaite Jews rely on the use of sound reasoning and the application of linguistic tools to determine the correct meaning of the Tanakh ; while Rabbinical Judaism looks towards the Oral law codified in the Talmud, to provide the Jewish community with an accurate understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. The differences between Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism go back more than a thousand years. Rabbinical Judaism originates from the Pharisees of the Second Temple period. Karaite Judaism may have its origins among the Sadducees of the same era. Karaite Jews hold the entire Hebrew Bible to be a religious authority. As such, the vast majority of Karaites believe in the resurrection of the dead. Karaite Jews are widely regarded as being halachically Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. Similarly, members of the rabbinic community are considered Jews by the Moetzet Hakhamim, if they are patrilineally Jewish. Modern era Israeli Jews Jews of Israel comprise an increasingly mixed wide range of Jewish communities making aliyah from Europe, North Africa, and elsewhere in the Middle East. While a significant portion of Israeli Jews still retain memories of their Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi origins, mixed Jewish marriages among the communities are very common. There are also smaller groups of Yemenite Jews, Indian Jews and others, who still retain a semi-separate communal life. There are also approximately 50,000 adherents of Karaite Judaism, most of whom live in Israel, but their exact numbers are not known, because most Karaites have not participated in any religious censuses. The Beta Israel, though somewhat disputed as the descendants of the ancient Israelites, are widely recognized in Israel as Ethiopian Jews. American Jews See also : List of American Jews European Jewish immigrants arriving in New York The ancestry of most American Jews goes back to Ashkenazi Jewish communities that immigrated to the US in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as more recent influxes of Persian and other Mizrahi Jewish immigrants. The American Jewish community is considered to contain the highest percentage of mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews, resulting in both increased assimilation and a significant influx of non-Jews becoming identified as Jews. The most widespread practice in the U.S is Reform Judaism, which does n't require or see the Jews as direct descendants of the ethnic Jews or Biblical Israelites, but rather adherents of the Jewish faith in its Reformist version, in contrast to Orthodox Judaism, the mainstream practice in Israel, which considers the Jews as a closed ethnoreligious community with very strict procedures for conversion. French Jews Expulsion of French Jews, 1182 The Jews of modern France number around 400,000 persons, largely descendants of North African communities, some of which were Sephardic communities that had come from Spain and Portugal -- others were Arab and Berber Jews from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, who were already living in North Africa before the Jewish exodus from the Iberian Peninsula -- and to a smaller degree members of the Ashkenazi Jewish communities, who survived WWII and the Holocaust. Mountain Jews Mountain Jews are Jews from the eastern and northern slopes of the Caucasus, mainly Azerbaijan, Chechnya and Dagestan. They are the descendants of Persian Jews from Iran. Bukharan Jews Bukharan Jews are an ethnic group from Central Asia who historically practised Judaism and spoke Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik - Persian language. Kaifeng Jews The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish community in Kaifeng, in the Henan province of China who have assimilated into Chinese society while preserving some Jewish traditions and customs. Cochin Jews Cochin Jews also called Malabar Jews, are the oldest group of Jews in India, with possible roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the state of Kerala. As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Black Jews in southern India. The Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela, speaking of Kollam ( Quilon ) on the Malabar Coast, writes in his Itinerary : ``... throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and Halacha. '' These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in Kerala beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries. They are known to have developed Judeo - Malayalam, a dialect of the Malayalam language. Paradesi Jews Paradesi Jews are mainly the descendents of Sephardic Jews who originally immigrated to India from Sepharad ( Spain and Portugal ) during the 15th and 16th centuries in order to flee forced conversion or persecution in the wake of the Alhambra Decree which expelled the Jews from Spain. They are sometimes referred to as White Jews, although that usage is generally considered pejorative or discriminatory and it is instead used to refer to relatively recent Jewish immigrants ( end of the 15th century onwards ), who are predominantly Sephardim. The Paradesi Jews of Cochin are a community of Sephardic Jews whose ancestors settled among the larger Cochin Jewish community located in Kerala, a coastal southern state of India. The Paradesi Jews of Madras traded in diamonds, precious stones and corals, they had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda, they maintained trade connections with Europe, and their language skills were useful. Although the Sephardim spoke Ladino ( i.e. Spanish or Judeo - Spanish ), in India they learned to speak Tamil and Judeo - Malayalam from the Malabar Jews. Georgian Jews The Georgian Jews are considered ethnically and culturally distinct from neighboring Mountain Jews. They were also traditionally a highly separate group from the Ashkenazi Jews in Georgia. Krymchaks The Krymchaks are Jewish ethno - religious communities of Crimea derived from Turkic - speaking adherents of Orthodox Judaism. Anusim During the history of the Jewish diaspora, Jews who lived in Christian Europe were often attacked by the local Christian population, and they were often forced to convert to Christianity. Many, known as `` Anusim '' ( ' forced - ones ' ), continued practicing Judaism in secret while living outwardly as ordinary Christians. The best known Anusim communities were the Jews of Spain and the Jews of Portugal, although they existed throughout Europe. In the centuries since the rise of Islam, many Jews living in the Muslim world were forced to convert to Islam, such as the Mashhadi Jews of Persia, who continued to practice Judaism in secret and eventually moved to Israel. Many of the Anusim 's descendants left Judaism over the years. The results of a genetic study of the population of the Iberian Peninsula released in December 2008 `` attest to a high level of religious conversion ( whether voluntary or enforced ) driven by historical episodes of religious intolerance, which ultimately led to the integration of the Anusim 's descendants. Modern Samaritans The Samaritans, who comprised a comparatively large group in classical times, now number 745 people, and today they live in two communities in Israel and the West Bank, and they still regard themselves as descendants of the tribes of Ephraim ( named by them as Aphrime ) and Manasseh ( named by them as Manatch ). Samaritans adhere to a version of the Torah known as the Samaritan Pentateuch, which differs in some respects from the Masoretic text, sometimes in important ways, and less so from the Septuagint. The Samaritans consider themselves Bnei Yisrael ( `` Children of Israel '' or `` Israelites '' ), but they do not regard themselves as Yehudim ( Jews ). They view the term `` Jews '' as a designation for followers of Judaism, which they assert is a related but an altered and amended religion which was brought back by the exiled Israelite returnees, and is therefore not the true religion of the ancient Israelites, which according to them is Samaritanism. Genetic studies Main article : Genetic studies on Jews Y DNA studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths. In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. 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 Valley. This is consistent with Jewish traditions which place most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East. Conversely, the maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at mitochondrial DNA, are generally more heterogeneous. Scholars such as Harry Ostrer and 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. In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40 % 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. '' Subsequent studies carried out by Feder et al. confirmed the large portion of the 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. '' Studies of 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 people in a community sharing significant ancestry in common. For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and 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 Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant '' and `` the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the Old World ''. North African, Italian and others of 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 European, while Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with other Middle Eastern populations and Sub-Saharan Africans. Behar et al. have remarked on an especially close relationship of Ashkenazi Jews and modern Italians. Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent ( Kurds, Turks, and Armenians ) than to Arabs. The studies also show that persons of Sephardic Bnei Anusim origin ( those who are descendants of the `` anusim '' who were forced to convert to Catholicism ) throughout today 's Iberia ( Spain and Portugal ) and Ibero - America ( Hispanic America and Brazil ), estimated that up to 19.8 % of the modern population of Iberia and at least 10 % of the modern population of Ibero - America, has Sephardic Jewish ancestry within the last few centuries. The Bene Israel and the Cochin Jews of India, Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and a portion of the Lemba people of Southern Africa, meanwhile, despite more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, also have some more remote ancient Jewish descent. Zionist `` negation of the diaspora '' Main articles : Negation of the Diaspora and Diaspora Jew Part of a series on Aliyah Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel Concepts Promised Land Gathering of Israel Diaspora Negation Homeland for the Jewish people Zionism Jewish question Law of Return Pre-Modern Aliyah Return to Zion Old Yishuv Perushim Aliyah in modern times First Second during World War I Third Fourth Fifth Aliyah Bet Bricha from Muslim countries Yemen Iraq Morocco Lebanon from the Soviet Union post-Soviet from Ethiopia from Latin America Absorption Revival of the Hebrew language Ulpan Hebraization of surnames Kibbutz Youth village Immigrant camps Ma'abarot Development town Austerity Organizations World Zionist Organization Jewish National Fund Jewish Agency for Israel Youth Aliyah Mossad LeAliyah Bet El Al Ministry of Aliyah and Integration Nefesh B'Nefesh Am Yisrael Foundation Related topics Yishuv Sabra Yerida Jewish refugees History of the Jews in the Land of Israel Demographic history of Palestine ( region ) Historical Jewish population comparisons Yom HaAliyah According to Eliezer Schweid, the rejection of life in the Diaspora is a central assumption in all currents of Zionism. Underlying this attitude was the feeling that the Diaspora restricted the full growth of Jewish national life. For instance the poet Hayim Nahman Bialik wrote : And my heart weeps for my unhappy people... How burned, how blasted must our portion be, If seed like this is withered in its soil... According to Schweid, Bialik meant that the `` seed '' was the potential of the Jewish people. Preserved in the Diaspora, this seed could only give rise to deformed results ; however, once conditions changed the seed could still provide a plentiful harvest. In this matter Sternhell distinguishes two schools of thought in Zionism. One was the liberal or utilitarian school of Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau. Especially after the Dreyfus Affair, they held that anti-Semitism would never disappear and they saw Zionism as a rational solution for Jewish individuals. The other was the organic nationalist school. It was prevalent among the Zionist olim and they saw the movement as a project to rescue the Jewish nation rather than as a project to only rescue Jewish individuals. For them, Zionism was the `` Rebirth of the Nation ''. Contrary to the negation of the diaspora view, the acceptance of Jewish communities outside Israel was postulated by those, like Simon Rawidowicz ( also a Zionist ), who viewed the Jews as a culture which had evolved into a new ' worldly ' entity that had no reason to seek an exclusive return, either physical, emotional or spiritual to its indigenous lands, and who believed that the Jews could remain one people even outside Israel. It was argued that the dynamics of the diaspora which were affected by persecution, numerous subsequent exiles, as well as by political and economic conditions, had created a new Jewish awareness of the World, and a new awareness of the Jews by the World. In effect there are many Zionists today who do not embrace the `` Negation of the Diaspora '' as any kind of absolute, and who see no conflict -- and even a beneficial and worldly and positive symbiosis -- between a diaspora of healthy self - respecting Jewish communities ( such as those which have evolved in the United States, Canada, and several other Western countries ) and a vital and evolving Israeli society and state of Israel. Mystical explanation Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov ( Bnei Yissaschar, Chodesh Kislev, 2 : 25 ) explains that each exile was characterized by a different negative aspect : The Babylonian exile was characterized by physical suffering and oppression. The Babylonians were lopsided towards the Sefirah of Gevurah, strength and bodily might. The Persian exile was one of emotional temptation. The Persians were hedonists who declared that the purpose of life is to pursue indulgence and lusts -- `` Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die. '' They were lopsided towards the quality of Chesed, attraction and kindness ( albeit to the self ). Hellenistic civilization was highly cultured and sophisticated. Although the Greeks had a strong sense of aesthetics, they were highly pompous, and they viewed aesthetics as an end in itself. They were excessively attached to the quality of Tiferet, beauty. This was also related to an appreciation of the intellect 's transcendence over the body, which reveals the beauty of the spirit. The exile of Edom began with Rome, whose culture lacked any clearly defined philosophy. Rather, it adopted the philosophies of all the preceding cultures, causing Roman culture to be in a constant flux. Although the Roman Empire has fallen, the Jews are still in the exile of Edom, and indeed, one can find this phenomenon of ever - changing trends dominating modern western society. The Romans and the various nations who inherited their rule ( e.g., the Holy Roman Empire, the Europeans, the Americans ) are lopsided towards Malchut, sovereignty, the lowest Sefirah, which can be received from any of the others, and can act as a medium for them. The Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel. The Jewish tradition maintains that the Roman exile would be the last, and that after the people of Israel returned to their land, they would never be exiled again. This statement is based on the verse : `` ( You paying for ) Your sin is over daughter of Zion, he will not exile you ( any ) more '' ( `` תם עוונך בת ציון, לא יוסף להגלותך '' ). In Christian theology This section needs expansion with : Requires quotes from early Christian theologians. You can help by adding to it. ( June 2017 ) According to Aharon Oppenheimer, the concept of the exile beginning after the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple was developed by early Christians, who saw the destruction of the Temple as a punishment for Jewish deicide, and by extension as an affirmation of the Christians as God 's new chosen people, or the `` New Israel ''. In actually, in the period that followed the destruction of the Temple, Jews had many freedoms. The people of Israel had religious, economic and cultural autonomy, and the Bar Kochba revolt demonstrated the unity of Israel and their political - military power at that time. Therefore, according to Aharon Oppenheimer, it should be noted that the Jewish exile only started after the Bar Kochba revolt, which devastated the Jewish community of Judea. Despite popular conception, Jews have had a continuous presence in the Land of Israel, despite the exile of the majority of Judeans. The Jerusalem Talmud was signed in the fourth century, hundreds of years after the revolt. Moreover, many Jews remained in Israel even centuries later, including during the Byzantine period ( many remnants of synagogues are found from this period ). Jews have been a majority or a significant plurality in Jerusalem in the millennia since their exile with few exceptions ( including the period following the Siege of Jerusalem ( 1099 ) by the Crusaders and the 18 years of Jordanian occupation of eastern Jerusalem, in which Jerusalem 's historic Jewish quarter was expelled ). Historical comparison of Jewish population Main article : Historical Jewish population comparisons Region Jews, No ( 1900 ) Jews, % ( 1900 ) Jews, No ( 1942 ) Jews, % ( 1942 ) Jews, No ( 1970 ) Jews, % ( 1970 ) Jews, No ( 2010 ) Jews, % ( 2010 ) Europe 8,977,581 2.20 % 9,237,314 3,228,000 0.50 % 1,455,900 0.18 % Austria 1,224,899 4.68 % 13,000 0.06 % Belgium 12,000 0.18 % 30,300 0.28 % Bosnia and Herzegovina 8,213 0.58 % 500 0.01 % Bulgaria / Turkey / Ottoman Empire 390,018 1.62 % 24,300 0.02 % Denmark 5,000 0.20 % 6,400 0.12 % France 86,885 0.22 % 530,000 1.02 % 483,500 0.77 % Germany 586,948 1.04 % 30,000 0.04 % 119,000 0.15 % Hungary 851,378 4.43 % 70,000 0.68 % 52,900 0.27 % Italy 34,653 0.10 % 28,400 0.05 % Luxembourg 1,200 0.50 % 600 0.12 % Netherlands 103,988 2.00 % 30,000 0.18 % Norway / Sweden 5,000 0.07 % 16,200 0.11 % Poland 1,316,776 16.25 % 3,200 0.01 % Portugal 1,200 0.02 % 500 0.00 % Romania 269,015 4.99 % 9,700 0.05 % Russian Empire ( Europe ) 3,907,102 3.17 % 1,897,000 0.96 % 311,400 0.15 % Serbia 5,102 0.20 % 1,400 0.02 % Spain 5,000 0.02 % 12,000 0.03 % Switzerland 12,551 0.38 % 17,600 0.23 % United Kingdom / Ireland 250,000 0.57 % 390,000 0.70 % 293,200 0.44 % Asia 352,340 0.04 % 774,049 2,940,000 0.14 % 5,741,500 0.14 % Arabia / Yemen 30,000 0.42 % 200 0.00 % China / Taiwan / Japan 2,000 0.00 % 2,600 0.00 % India 18,228 0.0067 % 5,000 0.00 % Iran 35,000 0.39 % 10,400 0.01 % Israel 2,582,000 86.82 % 5,413,800 74.62 % Russian Empire ( Asia ) 89,635 0.38 % 254,000 0.57 % 18,600 0.02 % Africa 372,659 0.28 % 593,736 195,000 0.05 % 76,200 0.01 % Algeria 51,044 1.07 % Egypt 30,678 0.31 % 100 0.00 % Ethiopia 50,000 1.00 % 100 0.00 % Libya 18,680 2.33 % Morocco 109,712 2.11 % 2,700 0.01 % South Africa 50,000 4.54 % 118,000 0.53 % 70,800 0.14 % Tunisia 62,545 4.16 % 1,000 0.01 % Americas 1,553,656 1.00 % 4,739,769 6,200,000 1.20 % 6,039,600 0.64 % Argentina 20,000 0.42 % 282,000 1.18 % 182,300 0.45 % Bolivia / Chile / Ecuador / Peru / Uruguay 1,000 0.01 % 41,400 0.06 % Brazil 2,000 0.01 % 90,000 0.09 % 107,329 0.05 % Canada 22,500 0.42 % 286,000 1.34 % 375,000 1.11 % Central America 4,035 0.12 % 54,500 0.03 % Colombia / Guiana / Venezuela 2,000 0.03 % 14,700 0.02 % Mexico 1,000 0.01 % 35,000 0.07 % 39,400 0.04 % Suriname 1,121 1.97 % 200 0.04 % United States 1,500,000 1.97 % 4,975,000 3.00 % 5,400,000 2.63 % 5,275,000 1.71 % Oceania 16,840 0.28 % 26,954 70,000 0.36 % 115,100 0.32 % Australia 15,122 0.49 % 65,000 0.52 % 107,500 0.50 % New Zealand 1,611 0.20 % 7,500 0.17 % Total 11,273,076 0.68 % 15,371,822 12,633,000 0.4 % 13,428,300 0.19 % a. ^ Austria, Czech republic, Slovenia b. ^ Albania, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Syria, Turkey c. ^ Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia d. ^ Baltic states ( Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ), Belarus, Moldova, Russia ( including Siberia ), Ukraine. e. ^ Caucasus ( Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia ), Central Asia ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan ). Today As of 2010 the largest numbers of Jews live in Israel ( 5,703,700 ), United States ( 5,275,000 ), France ( 483,500 ), Canada ( 375,000 ), the United Kingdom ( 269,000 - 292,000 ), Russia ( 205,000 - 1.5 million ), Argentina ( 182,300 ), Germany ( 119,000 ) and Brazil ( 107,329 ). These numbers reflect the `` core '' Jewish population, defined as being `` not inclusive of non-Jewish members of Jewish households, persons of Jewish ancestry who profess another monotheistic religion, other non-Jews of Jewish ancestry, and other non-Jews who may be interested in Jewish matters. '' Significant Jewish populations also remain in Middle Eastern and North African countries outside of Israel, particularly Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen. In general, these populations are shrinking due to low growth rates and high rates of emigration ( particularly since the 1960s ). The Jewish Autonomous Oblast continues to be an Autonomous Oblast of Russia. The Chief Rabbi of Birobidzhan, Mordechai Scheiner, says there are 4,000 Jews in the capital city. Governor Nikolay Mikhaylovich Volkov has stated that he intends to, `` support every valuable initiative maintained by our local Jewish organizations. '' The Birobidzhan Synagogue opened in 2004 on the 70th anniversary of the region 's founding in 1934. An estimated 75,000 Jews live in the vast Siberia region. Metropolitan areas with the largest Jewish populations are listed below, though one source at jewishtemples.org, states that `` It is difficult to come up with exact population figures on a country by country basis, let alone city by city around the world. Figures for Russia and other CIS countries are but educated guesses. '' The source cited here, the 2010 World Jewish Population Survey, also notes that `` Unlike our estimates of Jewish populations in individual countries, the data reported here on urban Jewish populations do not fully adjust for possible double counting due to multiple residences. The differences in the United States may be quite significant, in the range of tens of thousands, involving both major and minor metropolitan areas. '' Gush Dan ( Tel Aviv and surroundings ) -- Israel -- 2,979,900 New York City, New York -- U.S. -- 2,007,850 Jerusalem -- 705,000 Los Angeles, California -- U.S. -- 684,950 Haifa -- Israel -- 671,400 Miami, Florida -- U.S. -- 485,850 Be'er Sheva -- Israel -- 367,600 San Francisco, California -- U.S. -- 345,700 Paris -- France -- 284,000 Chicago, Illinois -- U.S. -- 270,500 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- U.S. -- 263,800 Boston, Massachusetts -- U.S. -- 229,100 Washington, D.C. -- U.S. -- 215,600 London -- United Kingdom -- 195,000 Toronto -- Canada -- 180,000 Atlanta, Georgia -- U.S. -- 119,800 Moscow -- Russia -- 95,000 San Diego, California -- U.S. -- 89,000 Cleveland, Ohio -- U.S. -- 87,000 Phoenix, Arizona -- U.S. -- 82,900 Montreal -- Canada -- 80,000 São Paulo -- Brazil -- 75,000 See also African Jews Ashkenazi Jews Australian Jews Arab Jews Baghdadi Jews Banu Qurayza British Jews Bukharan Jews East Asian Jews Haredi Judaism Hasidic Judaism History of the Jews in Argentina History of the Jews in Brazil Homeland for the Jewish people House of Israel ( Ghana ) Igbo Jews Italian Jews Judaism in Mexico Judaism in Nepal Jewish Agency for Israel Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries Jewish tribes of Arabia Jews and Judaism in Europe Jews by country Jews in Indonesia Jews in Turkey Jews in Zimbabwe Jews of Bilad el - Sudan Mashhadi Jews Mizrahi Jews Moroccan Jews Return to Zion References ^ Jump up to : E. 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Then came Hillel the Babylonian and reestablished it. '' Sukkah 20a Jump up ^ Hersh Goldwurm ( 1982 ) History of the Jewish People : The Second Temple Era p. 143, Mesorah Publications, New York ISBN 978 - 0 - 899 - 06455 - 0 Jump up ^ Bedford, Peter Ross ( 2001 ). Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah. Leiden : Brill. p. 112 ( Cyrus edict section pp. 111 -- 131 ). ISBN 9789004115095. ^ Jump up to : Becking, Bob ( 2006 ). `` '' We All Returned as One ! `` : Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return ''. In Lipschitz, Oded ; Oeming, Manfred. Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period. Winona Lake, IN : Eisenbrauns. p. 8. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57506 - 104 - 7. Jump up ^ Grabbe, Lester L. ( 2004 ). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period : Yehud - A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1. T & T Clark. p. 355. ISBN 978 - 0567089984. ^ Jump up to : Hegermann, Harald ( 2008 ) `` The Diaspora in the Hellenistic Age. '' In : The Cambridge History of Judaism, Vol. 2. Eds. : Davies and Finkelstein. PP. 115 - 166 Jump up ^ E. Mary Smallwood ( 2008 ) `` The Diaspora in the Roman period before A.D. 70. '' In : The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume 3. Editors Davis and Finkelstein. Jump up ^ Kleiner, Fred ( 2010 ). Gardner 's Art Through the Ages : A Global History, Enhanced, Volume I : 1. Wadsworth Publishing. p. 262. ISBN 1439085781. Jump up ^ Josephus. The Jewish War. Translated by Whiston, William. 1.0. 2 -- via PACE : Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement. ( Preface ) Greek : Ἀράβων τε τοὺς πορρωτάτω. Jump up ^ H.H. Ben - Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0 - 674 - 39731 - 2, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254 -- 256 : `` The reign of Gaius Caligula ( 37 -- 41 ) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio - Claudian empire. Until then -- if one accepts Sejanus ' heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus ' banishment -- there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the Empire... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula 's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of * himself * be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem... Only Caligula 's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators ( 41 ), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish - Roman war that might well have spread to the entire East. '' Jump up ^ `` Academies in Palestine ''. JewishEncyclopedia.com. ^ Jump up to : Antonia Tripolitis ( 2002 ). Religions of the Hellenistic - Roman Age. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 61 -- 62. ISBN 9780802849137. Jump up ^ Mark Avrum Ehrlich, ed. ( 2009 ). Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora : Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1. ABC - CLIO. ISBN 9781851098736. Jump up ^ E. Mary Smallwood ( 2001 ). The Jews Under Roman Rule : From Pompey to Diocletian : a Study in Political Relations. BRILL. p. 507. ISBN 9780391041554. ^ Jump up to : `` Diaspora '' entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia 1906 Jump up ^ Salo Wittmayer Baron ( 1937 ). A Social and Religious History of the Jews, by Salo Wittmayer Baron... Volume 1 of A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Columbia University Press. p. 132. ^ Jump up to : John R. Bartlett ( 2002 ). Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities. Routledge. London and New york. ISBN 9780203446348. Jump up ^ Leonard Victor Rutgers ( 1998 ). The Hidden Heritage of Diaspora Judaism : Volume 20 of Contributions to biblical exegesis and theology. Peeters Publishers. p. 202. ISBN 9789042906662. Jump up ^ Louis H. Feldman ( 2006 ). Judaism And Hellenism Reconsidered. BRILL. Jump up ^ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10049.html Jump up ^ Western Civilization : A Brief History, Volume I : To 1789 By Marvin Perry P : 87 Jump up ^ http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/classicdias.htm Jump up ^ Krämer, Gudrun ( 2011 - 02 - 22 ). A History of Palestine : From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691150079. As another element of retaliation, the Romans renamed the province of Judaea `` Syria Palestina '' to erase any linguistic connection with the rebellious Jews. As mentioned earlier, the name `` Palestine '' in itself was not new, having already served in Assyrian and Egyptian sources to designate the coastal plain of the southern Levant. Jump up ^ Davies, William David ; Finkelstein, Louis ; Katz, Steven T. ( 1984 ). The Cambridge History of Judaism : Volume 4, The Late Roman - Rabbinic Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521772488. Hadrian visited Palestine in 130, as part of a tour of the eastern provinces of the Empire. It now seems likely, though not absolutely certain, that it was on this occasion that he announced his intention to restore Jerusalem, not as a Jewish city, but as a Roman colony to be named Aelia Capitolina, after himself ( his full name was Publius Aelius Hadrianus ) and Jupiter Capitolinus, the chief god of the Roman pantheon. This was presumably both intended and understood as a humiliating insult to the defeated God of Israel, who had previously occupied the site, and by extension to the people who persisted in worshiping Him. It also rendered the restoration of His Temple moot. Jump up ^ `` The Bar - Kokhba Revolt ''. Jewish Virtual Library. Jump up ^ Mor, M. The Second Jewish Revolt : The Bar Kokhba War, 132 - 136 CE. Brill, 2016. P471 / Jump up ^ Taylor, J.E. ( 2012 - 11 - 15 ). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199554485. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple 's destruction Jump up ^ H.H. Ben - Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0 - 674 - 39731 - 2, page 334 : `` In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria - Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature. '' Jump up ^ Ariel Lewin. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. `` It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name - one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity ( Palestine ), already known from the writings of Herodotus - Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land. '' ISBN 0 - 89236 - 800 - 4 Jump up ^ The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered by Peter Schäfer, ISBN 3 - 16 - 148076 - 7 Jump up ^ Feldman 1990, p. 19 : `` While it is true that there is no evidence as to precisely who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine and precisely when this was done, circumstantial evidence would seem to point to Hadrian himself, since he is, it would seem, responsible for a number of decrees that sought to crush the national and religious spirit of the Jews, whether these decrees were responsible for the uprising or were the result of it. In the first place, he refounded Jerusalem as a Graeco - Roman city under the name of Aelia Capitolina. He also erected on the site of the Temple another temple to Zeus. '' Jump up ^ Jacobson 2001, p. 44 - 45 : `` Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar - Kokhba Revolt ( the Second Jewish Revolt ) in 135 C.E. ; this is commonly viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, that Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works, suggests that this interpretation of history is mistaken. Hadrian 's choice of Syria Palaestina may be more correctly seen as a rationalization of the name of the new province, in accordance with its area being far larger than geographical Judea. Indeed, Syria Palaestina had an ancient pedigree that was intimately linked with the area of greater Israel. '' Jump up ^ No Return, No Refuge ( Howard Adelman, Elazar Barkan, p. 159 ). `` in the popular imagination of Jewish history, in contrast to the accounts of historians or official agencies, there is a widespread notion that the Jews from Judea were expelled in antiquity after the destruction of the temple and the `` Great Rebellion '' ( 70 and 135 CE, respectively ). Even more misleading, there is the widespread, popular belief that this expulsion created the diaspora. '' Jump up ^ Bartal, Israel ( July 6, 2008 ). `` Inventing an Invention ''. Haaretz. Archived from the original on April 16, 2009. Although the myth of an exile from the Jewish homeland ( Palestine ) does exist in popular Israeli culture, it is negligible in serious Jewish historical discussions. ( Israel Bartal, dean of humanities at the Hebrew University ) Jump up ^ `` Book Calls Jewish People an ' Invention ' ''. The New York Times. November 23, 2009. p. 2. Experts dismiss the popular notion that the Jews were expelled from Palestine in one fell swoop in A.D. 70. Yet while the destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple by the Romans did not create the Diaspora, it caused a momentous change in the Jews ' sense of themselves and their position in the world. Jump up ^ ( `` Focus on the consequences of the Temple 's destruction, however, overlooks a fact of immense significance : the diaspora had a long history prior to Rome 's crushing of Jerusalem. (... ) Compulsory dislocation, however, can not have accounted for more than a fraction of the diaspora '' Erich S. Gruen, `` Diaspora : Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans '', pages 2 - 3 ) Jump up ^ Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora : Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1 p. 126 : `` In fact, well before the destruction of the Second Temple ( 70 CE ), more Jews lived in the Diaspora than in the Land of Israel. '' Jump up ^ The Ten Lost Tribes : A World History ( Zvi Ben - Dor Benite, Oxford University Press 2009 ) pp. 17 -- 18 `` the dispersal of the Jews, even in ancient times, was connected with an array of factors, none of them clearly exilic '' Jump up ^ David Aberbach ( 2012 ). The European Jews, Patriotism and the Liberal State 1789 - 1939 : A Study of Literature and Social Psychology Routledge Jewish Studies Series. Routledge. ISBN 9781136158957. Jump up ^ Ulman, Jane ( June 7, 2007 ). `` Timeline : Jewish life in Poland from 1098 ''. Jewish Journal. Jump up ^ `` Herodian Dynasty '' article in Encyclopædia Britannica ^ Jump up to : Wade, Nicholas ( January 14, 2006 ). `` New Light on Origins of Ashkenazi in Europe ''. The New York Times. ^ Jump up to : Wade, Nicholas ( June 9, 2010 ). `` Studies Show Jews ' Genetic Similarity ''. The New York Times. ^ Jump up to : Doron M. Behar ; Bayazit Yunusbayev ; Mait Metspalu ; Ene Metspalu ; Saharon Rosset ; Jüri Parik ; Siiri Rootsi ; Gyaneshwer Chaubey ; Ildus Kutuev ; Guennady Yudkovsky ; Elza K. Khusnutdinova ; Oleg Balanovsky ; Ornella Semino ; Luisa Pereira ; David Comas ; David Gurwitz ; Batsheva Bonne - Tamir ; Tudor Parfitt ; Michael F. Hammer ; Karl Skorecki ; Richard Villems ( July 2010 ). `` The genome - wide structure of the Jewish people '' ( PDF ). Nature. 466 ( 7303 ) : 238 -- 42. doi : 10.1038 / nature09103. PMID 20531471. Jump up ^ M.D. Costa and 16 others ( 2013 ). `` A substantial prehistoric European ancestry amongst Ashkenazi maternal lineages ''. Nature Communications. 4 : 2543. doi : 10.1038 / ncomms3543. PMC 3806353. PMID 24104924. Jump up ^ * Haber, Marc ; Gauguier, Dominique ; Youhanna, Sonia ; Patterson, Nick ; Moorjani, Priya ; Botigué, Laura R. ; Platt, Daniel E. ; Matisoo - Smith, Elizabeth ; et al. ( 2013 ). Williams, Scott M, ed. `` Genome - Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture ''. PLOS Genetics. 9 ( 2 ) : e1003316. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pgen. 1003316. PMC 3585000. PMID 23468648. Jump up ^ http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=humbiol_preprints Jump up ^ Spain invites descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled 500 years ago to return Jump up ^ http://www.karaite-korner.org/karaite_faq.shtml Jump up ^ `` Mountain Jews - Tablet Magazine -- Jewish News and Politics, Jewish Arts and Culture, Jewish Life and Religion ''. Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2015 - 12 - 27. Jump up ^ The Jews of India : A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. ISBN 965 - 278 - 179 - 7. Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. `` Jews in India. '' in M. Avrum Erlich ( ed. ) Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora, Santa Barbara, USA : ABC CLIO. 2008, 3 : 1204 - 1212. Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. India 's Jewish Heritage : Ritual, Art and Life - Cycle, Mumbai : Marg Publications, 2009. ( first published in 2002 ; 3rd edn ) Katz 2000 ; Koder 1973 ; Menachery 1998 Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. `` Cochin Jews '', in Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember and Ian Skoggard ( eds ) Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement, New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. pp. 78 - 80. Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. `` Cochin Jews '' in Judith Baskin ( ed. ) Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture, New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011. pp. 107. Jump up ^ The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela ( ed. Marcus Nathan Adler ), Oxford University Press, London 1907, p. 65 Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. From Cochin to Israel. Jerusalem : Kumu Berina, 1984. ( Hebrew ) Jump up ^ Weil, Shalva. `` Kerala to restore 400 - year - old Indian synagogue '', The Jerusalem Post. 2009. ^ Jump up to : The Jews of India : A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 28. ISBN 965 - 278 - 179 - 7. Jump up ^ Katz 2000 ; Koder 1973 ; Thomas Puthiakunnel 1973 Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Hammer MF, Redd AJ, Wood ET, et al. ( June 2000 ). `` Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y - chromosome biallelic haplotypes ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 97 ( 12 ) : 6769 -- 6774. Bibcode : 2000PNAS... 97.6769 H. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 100115997. PMC 18733. PMID 10801975. Jump up ^ Nebel Almut ; Filon Dvora ; Brinkmann Bernd ; Majumder Partha P. ; Faerman Marina ; Oppenheim Ariella ( 2001 ). `` The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East ''. The American Journal of Human Genetics. 69 ( 5 ) : 1095 -- 112. doi : 10.1086 / 324070. PMC 1274378. PMID 11573163. Jump up ^ Molecular Photofitting : Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA by Tony Nick Frudakis P : 383 ( 2 ) ^ Jump up to : Behar DM, Metspalu E, Kivisild T ; et al. ( 2008 ). MacAulay, Vincent, ed. `` Counting the Founders : The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora ''. PLoS ONE. 3 ( 4 ) : e2062. Bibcode : 2008PLoSO... 3.2062 B. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0002062. PMC 2323359. PMID 18446216. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Lewontin, Richard ( 6 December 2012 ). `` Is There a Jewish Gene ? ''. New York Review of Books. Jump up ^ Atzmon, G ; Hao, L ; Pe'Er, I ; Velez, C ; Pearlman, A ; Palamara, PF ; Morrow, B ; Friedman, E ; Oddoux, C ( 2010 ). `` Abraham 's children in the genome era : Major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry ''. American Journal of Human Genetics. 86 ( 6 ) : 850 -- 9. doi : 10.1016 / j. ajhg. 2010.04. 015. PMC 3032072. PMID 20560205. Jump up ^ Feder, Jeanette ; Ovadia, Ofer ; Glaser, Benjamin ; Mishmar, Dan ( 2007 ). `` Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations : Lessons of population substructure in a closed group ''. European Journal of Human Genetics. 15 ( 4 ) : 498 -- 500. doi : 10.1038 / sj. ejhg. 5201764. PMID 17245410. ^ Jump up to : Ostrer, H ; Skorecki, K ( 2013 ). `` The population genetics of the Jewish people ''. Human Genetics. 132 ( 2 ) : 119 -- 27. doi : 10.1007 / s00439 - 012 - 1235 - 6. PMC 3543766. PMID 23052947. Jump up ^ Katsnelson, Alla ( 2010 ). `` Jews worldwide share genetic ties ''. doi : 10.1038 / news. 2010.277. Jump up ^ Zoossmann - Diskin, Avshalom ( 2010 ). `` The Origin of Eastern European Jews Revealed by Autosomal, Sex Chromosomal and mtDNA Polymorphisms ''. Biol Direct. 5 ( 57 ) : 57. doi : 10.1186 / 1745 - 6150 - 5 - 57. PMC 2964539. PMID 20925954. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Jump up ^ `` Did Modern Jews Originate in Italy ? ''. Science. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013. Jump up ^ Nebel, A ; Filon, D ; Brinkmann, B ; Majumder, PP ; Faerman, M ; Oppenheim, A ( November 2001 ). `` The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the Middle East ''. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 69 : 1095 -- 112. doi : 10.1086 / 324070. PMC 1274378. PMID 11573163. Jump up ^ `` Jews Are a ' Race, ' Genes Reveal -- ''. Forward.com. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` Genetics & the Jews ( it 's still complicated ) : Gene Expression ''. Blogs.discovermagazine.com. 10 June 2010. doi : 10.1038 / nature09103. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Jump up ^ Begley, Sharon. `` Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa 's Jews Reuters ''. In.reuters.com. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Jump up ^ E. Schweid, `` Rejection of the Diaspora in Zionist Thought '', in Essential Papers on Zionsm, ed. By Reinharz & Shapira, 1996, ISBN 0 - 8147 - 7449 - 0, p. 133 Jump up ^ Schweid, p. 157 Jump up ^ Z. Sternhell, The Founding Myths of Israel, 1998, pp. 3 -- 36, ISBN 0 - 691 - 01694 - 1, pp. 49 -- 51 Jump up ^ `` Lessons from the Dreidel ''. Chabad.org. Jump up ^ Tanakh, Lamentations 4 : 22 Jump up ^ `` The Diaspora ''. Jewish Virtual Library. ^ Jump up to : Singer, Isidore ; et al., eds. ( 1901 -- 1906 ). `` Statistics ''. Jewish Encyclopedia. New York : Funk & Wagnalls Company. ^ Jump up to : Taylor, Myron Charles ( 1942 ). `` Distribution of the Jews in the World ''. Vatican Diplomatic Files. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved March 15, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Fischer, Shlomo ( 2011 ). `` Annual Assessment 2010 '' ( PDF ). Executive Report No. 7. Jerusalem : The Jewish People Policy Institute. ISBN 978 - 9657549025. Retrieved March 15, 2012. ^ Jump up to : DellaPergola, Sergio ( November 2, 2010 ). Dashefsky, Arnold ; Sheskin, Ira, eds. `` World Jewish Population, 2010 '' ( PDF ). Current Jewish Population Reports. Storrs, Connecticut : North American Jewish Data Bank. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on February 9, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012. ^ Jump up to : 2010 Brazilian census Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Retrieved on 2013 - 11 - 13 Jump up ^ Tolts, Mark ( 2014 ). Rebhun, Uzi, ed. `` Sources for the Demographic Study of the Jews in the Former Soviet Union ''. The Social Scientific Study of Jewry : Sources, Approaches, Debates. Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem / Oxford University Press. XXV11 : 170. ISBN 9780199363490. Jump up ^ В России проживает около миллиона иудеев Interfax, 26 февраля 2015 года Jump up ^ STUDY : ABOUT 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE WITH JEWISH ROOTS LIVE IN RUSSIA 20.10 12 : 14 ^ Jump up to : World Jewish Population Study 2010, by Sergio DellaPergola, ed. Dashefsky, Arnold, Sheskin, Ira M., published by Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry ( ASSJ ), North American Jewish Data Bank, The Jewish Federations of North America, November 2010 Jump up ^ `` A Jewish revival in Birobidzhan ? ''. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. October 8, 2004. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Jump up ^ `` From Tractors to Torah in Russia 's Jewish Land ''. Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. June 1, 2007. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Governor Voices Support for Growing Far East Jewish Community ''. Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. November 15, 2004. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Jump up ^ `` Far East Community Prepares for 70th Anniversary of Jewish Autonomous Republic ''. Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. August 30, 2004. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Jump up ^ `` Planting Jewish roots in Siberia ''. Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS. May 24, 2004. Archived from the original on August 27, 2009. Jump up ^ `` Jewish Temples -- World Jewish Population and Temple Directory ''. Archived from the original on 2007 - 09 - 13. Jump up ^ http://www.jewishdatabank.org/study.asp?sid=90195&tp=6 Jump up ^ `` Brazil - Modern - Day Community ''. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/. 2013. Retrieved 2013 - 12 - 22. Bibliography Immigration to Israel from North America hits 22 - Year High CNSNews.com, December 30, 2005 Aviv, Caryn S. ; Schneer, David ( 2005 ). New Jews : The End of the Jewish Diaspora. New York : New York University Press. ISBN 9780814740170. OCLC 60321977. Feldman, Louis H. ( 1990 ). `` Some Observations on the Name of Palestine ''. Hebrew Union College Annual. Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. 61 : 1 -- 23. JSTOR 23508170. Jacobson, David ( 2001 ), `` When Palestine Meant Israel '', Biblical Archeology Review, 27 ( 3 ) External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jewish diaspora. 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Question: what date is traditionally given to the first deportation of exiles from judah into babylon
Answer: 597 BCE