praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire around 800, including northern Italy and Rome, brought on a brief period of stability and unity in Francia. This created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle again north of the Alps. Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire. In addition, Jews from southern Italy, fleeing religious persecution, began to move into central Europe.[citation needed] Returning to Frankish lands, many Jewish merchants took up occupations in finance and commerce, including money lending, or usury. (Church legislation banned Christians from lending money in exchange for interest.) From Charlemagne's time to the present, Jewish life in northern Europe is well documented. By the 11th century, when Rashi of Troyes wrote his commentaries, Jews in what came to be known as "Ashkenaz" were known for their halakhic learning, and Talmudic studies. They were criticized by Sephardim and other Jewish scholars in Islamic lands for their lack of expertise in Jewish jurisprudence (dinim) and general ignorance of Hebrew linguistics and literature. Yiddish emerged as a result of language contact with various High German vernaculars in the medieval period. It was written with Hebrew letters, and heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic.

question: Did Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire bring about a brief period of upheaval or stability in Francia? 

answer: a brief period of stability

question: Charlemagne's expansion of the Frankish empire created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle where? 

answer: north of the Alps

question: Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those enjoyed under which previous empire? 

answer: Roman Empire

question: When Jews began to return to Frankish lands many took up occupations in which two fields? 

answer: finance and commerce

question: Which language emerged as a result of language contact with various High German vernaculars during the medieval period? 

answer: Yiddish
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: The answer to why there was so little assimilation of Jews in central and eastern Europe for so long would seem to lie in part in the probability that the alien surroundings in central and eastern Europe were not conducive, though contempt did not prevent some assimilation. Furthermore, Jews lived almost exclusively in shtetls, maintained a strong system of education for males, heeded rabbinic leadership, and scorned the life-style of their neighbors; and all of these tendencies increased with every outbreak of antisemitism.

question: The lack of assimilation of Jews in central and eastern Europe lies in part to the fact that they lived almost exclusively in what? 

answer: shtetls

question: A lack of assimilation of Jews in central and eastern Europe is also attributed to males taking part in what type of system? 

answer: a strong system of education

question: In central and eastern Europe it is thought that Jewish scorn for the life-style of their neighbors increased due to what? 

answer: increased with every outbreak of antisemitism

question: Besides living in shtetls, maintaining a strong system of education for males, and scorning the life-style of their neighbors, Jews in central and eastern Europe also did what? 

answer: heeded rabbinic leadership
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: According to 16th-century mystic Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, Ashkenazi Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century. The story is told that a German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed Dolberger. So when the knights of the First Crusade came to siege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger's family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to Worms to repay the favor. Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakhic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the 11th century.

question: Who noted that Ashkenazi Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century? 

answer: Rabbi Elijah of Chelm

question: Another piece of evidence of German communities in the holy city in the second half of the 11th century is due to what items being sent from Germany to Jerusalem? 

answer: halakhic questions

question: Mystic Rabbi Elijah of Chelm is from what century? 

answer: 16th-century

question: In the story told by mystic Rabbi Elijah of Chelm, one of the German's family members rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to where in order to repay a previous favor? 

answer: Worms
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: 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 – more than two-thirds – were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews (91%); 900,000 of 1.5 million in Ukraine (60%); and 50–90% of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, Hungary, and the Baltic states, and over 25% of the Jews in France. Sephardi communities suffered similar depletions in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia. As the large majority of the victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from nearly 92% of world Jewry in 1931 to nearly 80% of world Jewry today. The Holocaust also effectively put an end to the dynamic development of the Yiddish language in the previous decades, as the vast majority of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, around 5 million, were Yiddish speakers. Many of the surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and the United States after the war.

question: At the beginning of World War II, about how many Jews lived in Europe? 

answer: 8.8 million

question: Of the large number of Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II, about how many were Ashkenazi? 

answer: about 6 million

question: What percentage of Polish Jews were killed during the Holocaust? 

answer: 91%

question: The percentage of Ashkenazi Jews went from being close to 92% of all Jews in the world in 1931 prior to WWII to what percentage today? 

answer: nearly 80%

question: The vast majority of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust spoke which language? 

answer: Yiddish
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: Religious Jews have Minhagim, customs, in addition to Halakha, or religious law, and different interpretations of law. Different groups of religious Jews in different geographic areas historically adopted different customs and interpretations. On certain issues, Orthodox Jews are required to follow the customs of their ancestors, and do not believe they have the option of picking and choosing. For this reason, observant Jews at times find it important for religious reasons to ascertain who their household's religious ancestors are in order to know what customs their household should follow. These times include, for example, when two Jews of different ethnic background marry, when a non-Jew converts to Judaism and determines what customs to follow for the first time, or when a lapsed or less observant Jew returns to traditional Judaism and must determine what was done in his or her family's past. In this sense, "Ashkenazic" refers both to a family ancestry and to a body of customs binding on Jews of that ancestry. Reform Judaism, which does not necessarily follow those minhagim, did nonetheless originate among Ashkenazi Jews.

question: For religious Jews, what does Minhagim mean? 

answer: customs

question: What type of Jew is required to follow the customs of their ancestors without the option of picking and choosing? 

answer: Orthodox Jews

question: For religious Jews, what does Halakha mean? 

answer: religious law

question: For religious Jews, "Ashkenazic" refers to what two things? 

answer: a family ancestry and to a body of customs binding on Jews of that ancestry

question: Reform Judaism originated among what type of Jew? 

answer: Ashkenazi Jews
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly in the form of aliyah to Israel, or immigration to North America, and other English-speaking areas; and Europe (particularly France) and Latin America, the geographic isolation that gave rise to Ashkenazim has given way to mixing with other cultures, and with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales. Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews, although many Hasidic and Hareidi groups continue to use Yiddish in daily life. (There are numerous Ashkenazi Jewish anglophones and Russian-speakers as well, although English and Russian are not originally Jewish languages.)

question: Most of the Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe either immigrating to North America, or other English speaking areas but most to which place? 

answer: Israel

question: For most Ashkenazi Jews, Yiddish was replaced with what language? 

answer: Hebrew

question: What two groups continue to use Yiddish in daily life? 

answer: many Hasidic and Hareidi groups
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: A 2006 study found Ashkenazi Jews to be a clear, homogeneous genetic subgroup. Strikingly, regardless of the place of origin, Ashkenazi Jews can be grouped in the same genetic cohort – that is, regardless of whether an Ashkenazi Jew's ancestors came from Poland, Russia, Hungary, Lithuania, or any other place with a historical Jewish population, they belong to the same ethnic group. The research demonstrates the endogamy of the Jewish population in Europe and lends further credence to the idea of Ashkenazi Jews as an ethnic group. Moreover, though intermarriage among Jews of Ashkenazi descent has become increasingly common, many Haredi Jews, particularly members of Hasidic or Hareidi sects, continue to marry exclusively fellow Ashkenazi Jews. This trend keeps Ashkenazi genes prevalent and also helps researchers further study the genes of Ashkenazi Jews with relative ease. It is noteworthy that these Haredi Jews often have extremely large families.

question: A 2006 study found Ashkenazi Jews to be a what? 

answer: a clear, homogeneous genetic subgroup

question: Ashkenazi Jews, regardless of their place of origin, belong to the same what? 

answer: ethnic group

question: Members of which two Haredi Jewish sects continue to marry exclusively within the Ashkenazi Jewish population? 

answer: Hasidic or Hareidi sects

question: Do Haredi Jews tend to have large or small families? 

answer: Haredi Jews often have extremely large families
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: Ashkenazi Jews have a noted history of achievement in Western societies in the fields of exact and social sciences, literature, finance, politics, media, and others. In those societies where they have been free to enter any profession, they have a record of high occupational achievement, entering professions and fields of commerce where higher education is required. Ashkenazi Jews have won a large number of the Nobel awards. While they make up about 2% of the U.S. population, 27% of United States Nobel prize winners in the 20th century, a quarter of Fields Medal winners, 25% of ACM Turing Award winners, half the world's chess champions, including 8% of the top 100 world chess players, and a quarter of Westinghouse Science Talent Search winners have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.

question: What percentage of the US population is comprised of Ashkenazi Jews? 

answer: 2%

question: What percentage of the top 100 world chess players come from the Ashkenazi Jewish community? 

answer: 8%

question: What percentage of Nobel award winners from the United States in the 20th century have been Ashkenazi Jews?  

answer: 27%

question: About how many Fields Medal winners have been Ashkenazi Jews? 

answer: a quarter

question: About how many of the world's chess champions come from the Ashkenazi Jewish community? 

answer: half the world's chess champions
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: Although the Jewish people in general were present across a wide geographical area as described, genetic research done by Gil Atzmon of the Longevity Genes Project at Albert Einstein College of Medicine suggests "that Ashkenazim branched off from other Jews around the time of the destruction of the First Temple, 2,500 years ago ... flourished during the Roman Empire but then went through a 'severe bottleneck' as they dispersed, reducing a population of several million to just 400 families who left Northern Italy around the year 1000 for Central and eventually Eastern Europe."

question: Researcher Gil Atzmon suggests that Ashkenazim branched off from other Jews around the time of what? 

answer: the destruction of the First Temple

question: The destruction of the First Temple was how many years ago? 

answer: 2,500 years ago

question: It is estimated that 400 families left Northern Italy around what year? 

answer: 1000

question: Ashkenazi families that left Northern Italy went where? 

answer: Central and eventually Eastern Europe
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: A 2001 study by Nebel et al. showed that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish populations share the same overall paternal Near Eastern ancestries. In comparison with data available from other relevant populations in the region, Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent. The authors also report on Eu 19 (R1a) chromosomes, which are very frequent in Central and Eastern Europeans (54%–60%) at elevated frequency (12.7%) in Ashkenazi Jews. They hypothesized that the differences among Ashkenazim Jews could reflect low-level gene flow from surrounding European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation. A later 2005 study by Nebel et al., found a similar level of 11.5% of male Ashkenazim belonging to R1a1a (M17+), the dominant Y-chromosome haplogroup in Central and Eastern Europeans.

question: A 2001 study by Nebel et al. showed that which two populations share the same overall paternal Near Eastern ancestries? 

answer: Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish populations

question: Levels of the Eu 19 (R1a) chromosome are typically seen between what two percentages in Central and Eastern Europeans? 

answer: 54%–60%

question: Levels of the Eu 19 (R1a) chromosome were seen in what percentage of the Ashkenazi Jewish population? 

answer: 12.7%

question: The difference in percentages of the levels of Eu 19 (R1a) chromosomes between Central and Eastern Europeans and the Ashkenazi population would indicate what? 

answer: low-level gene flow from surrounding European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: They established communities throughout Central and Eastern Europe, which had been their primary region of concentration and residence until recent times, evolving their own distinctive characteristics and diasporic identities. In the late Middle Ages the center of gravity of the Ashkenazi population, and its traditional cultural life, shifted steadily eastward, out of the German lands into Poland and Lithuania (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine). In the course of the late 18th and 19th centuries, those Jews who remained in or returned to the German lands experienced a cultural reorientation; under the influence of the Haskalah and the struggle for emancipation, as well the intellectual and cultural ferment in urban centers, they gradually abandoned the use of Yiddish, while developing new forms of Jewish religious life and cultural identity.

question: In the late Middle Ages, the Ashkenazi population shifted in which direction? 

answer: shifted steadily eastward

question: In the late Middle Ages, as the Ashkenazi population shifted it moved from what location? 

answer: German lands

question: In the late Middle Ages, as the Ashkenazi population shifted it moved into which location? 

answer: Poland and Lithuania (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine)

question: In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Jews who returned to German lands experienced what? 

answer: a cultural reorientation
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer, son of Khaphet, son of Noah, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10). The name of Gomer has often been linked to the ethnonym Cimmerians. Biblical Ashkenaz is usually derived from Assyrian Aškūza (cuneiform Aškuzai/Iškuzai), a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates, whose name is usually associated with the name of the Scythians. The intrusive n in the Biblical name is likely due to a scribal error confusing a waw ו with a nun נ.

question: The name of Ashkenazi derives from which biblical figure? 

answer: Ashkenaz

question: Ashkenaz was the first son of whom? 

answer: Gomer

question: The name of Gomer has often been linked to what ethnonym? 

answer: Cimmerians

question: Assyrian Aškūza expelled which group from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates? 

answer: Cimmerians
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: The genome-wide genetic study carried out in 2010 by Behar et al. examined the genetic relationships among all major Jewish groups, including Ashkenazim, as well as the genetic relationship between these Jewish groups and non-Jewish ethnic populations. The study found that contemporary Jews (excluding Indian and Ethiopian Jews) have a close genetic relationship with people from the Levant. The authors explained that "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".

question: Recent studies have found that contemporary Jews (excluding Indian and Ethiopian Jews) have a close genetic relationship to the people of what area? 

answer: the Levant

question: The genome-wide genetic study carried out in 2010 by Behar et al. examined the genetic relationships among which Jewish groups? 

answer: all major Jewish groups

question: The genome-wide genetic study carried out in 2010 by Behar et al. examined the genetic relationship between Jewish groups and what other population? 

answer: non-Jewish ethnic populations
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: The history of Jews in Greece goes back to at least the Archaic Era of Greece, when the classical culture of Greece was undergoing a process of formalization after the Greek Dark Age. The Greek historian Herodotus knew of the Jews, whom he called "Palestinian Syrians", and listed them among the levied naval forces in service of the invading Persians. While Jewish monotheism was not deeply affected by Greek Polytheism, the Greek way of living was attractive for many wealthier Jews. The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is dated to the period between 267 and 396 CE. The Stobi Synagogue in Macedonia, was built on the ruins of a more ancient synagogue in the 4th century, while later in the 5th century, the synagogue was transformed into Christian basilica.

question: The history of Jews in Greece goes back to which era? 

answer: Archaic Era of Greece

question: Which Greek historian knew of the Jews? 

answer: Herodotus

question: The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is dated to the period between which two dates? 

answer: 267 and 396 CE

question: What did the Greek historian Herodotus refer to the Jews as? 

answer: "Palestinian Syrians"

question: The Greek historian Herodotus listed the Jews as the levied naval forces in service to whom? 

answer: the invading Persians
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: In an essay on Sephardi Jewry, Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs summarized the demographic history of Ashkenazi Jews in the last thousand years, noting that at the end of the 11th century, 97% of world Jewry was Sephardic and 3% Ashkenazi; by the end of XVI century, the: 'Treaty on the redemption of captives', by Gracian of the God's Mother, Mercy Priest, who was imprisoned by Turks, cites a Tunisian Hebrew, made captive when arriving to Gaeta, who aided others with money, named: 'Simon Escanasi', in the mid-17th 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 versus the Ottoman Muslim world." By 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for nearly 92% of world Jewry. These factors are sheer demography showing the migration patterns of Jews from Southern and Western Europe to Central and Eastern Europe.

question: According to Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, at the end of the 11th century, what percentage of the world's Jewry was Sephardic? 

answer: 97%

question: According to Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, at the end of the 11th century, what percentage of the world's Jewry was Ashkenazi? 

answer: 3%

question: By 1931, Ashkenazi Jews were what percentage of the world Jewry? 

answer: 92%
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: In Israel, the term Ashkenazi is now used in a manner unrelated to its original meaning, often applied to all Jews who settled in Europe and sometimes including those whose ethnic background is actually Sephardic. Jews of any non-Ashkenazi background, including Mizrahi, Yemenite, Kurdish and others who have no connection with the Iberian Peninsula, have similarly come to be lumped together as Sephardic. Jews of mixed background are increasingly common, partly because of intermarriage between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi, and partly because many do not see such historic markers as relevant to their life experiences as Jews.

question: In Israel, the term Ashkenazi is now used in what manner? 

answer: in a manner unrelated to its original meaning

question: In Israel, the term Ashkenazi is now used to refer to whom? 

answer: all Jews who settled in Europe and sometimes including those whose ethnic background is actually Sephardic

question: Are Jews of mixed backgrounds more or less common today? 

answer: Jews of mixed background are increasingly common
Title: Ashkenazi_Jews
Context: In this respect, the counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic, since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they are ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi woman who marries into an Orthodox or Haredi Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her children to be Ashkenazi Jews; conversely an Ashkenazi woman who marries a Sephardi or Mizrahi man is expected to take on Sephardic practice and the children inherit a Sephardic identity, though in practice many families compromise. A convert generally follows the practice of the beth din that converted him or her. With the integration of Jews from around the world in Israel, North America, and other places, the religious definition of an Ashkenazi Jew is blurring, especially outside Orthodox Judaism.

question: By tradition, when a Sephardic or Mizrahi woman marries into an Orthodox or Haredi Ashkenazi Jewish family she raises her children to be which type of Jew? 

answer: Ashkenazi Jews

question: When an Ashkenazi woman marries a Sephardi or Mizrahi man it is expected that her children will take on which kind of identity? 

answer: children inherit a Sephardic identity

question: A convert generally follows which practice? 

answer: the practice of the beth din that converted him or her