Jews and Judaism
Jewish religion (Judaism)
Jewish principles of faith
Etymology of "Jew"  · Who is a Jew?
Jewish leadership  · Jewish culture
Jewish ethnic divisions
Ashkenazi  · Sephardi  · Mizrahi
Temani  · Bene Israel  · Beta Israel
Jewish populations
Israel · United States · Russia/USSR
Canada  · Germany  · France
England  · Latin America  · Poland
Famous Jews by country
Jewish languages
Hebrew  · Yiddish  · Ladino  · Dzhidi
Judeo-Aramaic · Judeo-Arabic
Jewish denominations
Orthodox · Conservative  · Reform
Reconstructionist  · Karaite  · Other
Jewish political movements
Zionism: (Labor / General / Revisionist)
The Bund Union · Kibbutz movement
Jewish history
Jewish history timeline  · Schisms
Ancient Israel and Judah
Temples in Jerusalem
Babylonian captivity
Hasmoneans and Greece
Jewish-Roman wars · Era of Pharisees
Diaspora · The Talmudic Era
Middle Ages · Muslim Lands
Enlightenment/Haskalah · Hasidism
The Holocaust · Modern Israel
Persecution of Jews
Anti-Semitism: (History / "New")
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From the end of the 16th century until World War II, The Netherlands played a pivotal role in world Jewry. Download high resolution version (1024x1180, 21 KB)Created from Image:Wikipedia blue star of david. ... Jump to: navigation, search Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ... Jump to: navigation, search Judaism affirms a number of basic principles of faith that one is expected to uphold in order to be said to be in consonance with the Jewish faith. ... Look up Jew on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Jump to: navigation, search Who is a Jew? (Hebrew: מיהו יהודי?; transliterated as mihu yehudi) can be a complicated question because Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary depending on whether a religious, sociological... Jewish leadership: Since 70 AD and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem there has been no single body that has a leadership position over the entire Jewish community. ... Secular Jewish culture embraces several related phenomena; above all, it is the culture of secular communities of Jewish people, but it can also include the cultural contributions of individuals who identify as secular Jews, or even those of religious Jews working in cultural areas not generally considered to be connected... Jewish ethnic divisions: The most commonly used terms to describe ethnic divisions among Jews presently are: Ashkenazi (meaning German in Hebrew, denoting the Central European base of Jewry); and Sephardi (meaning Spanish in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish and North African location). ... Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים Standard Hebrew, AÅ¡kanazi,AÅ¡kanazim, Tiberian Hebrew, ʾAÅ¡kănāzî, ʾAÅ¡kănāzîm, pronounced sing. ... Sephardim (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew SÉ™fardi, Tiberian Hebrew ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Sfaradim, Tiberian Hebrew ) are a subgroup of Jews, generally defined in contrast to Ashkenazim and/or . ... This article deals with those Jewish communities indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. ... Yemenite Jews (תֵּימָנִי, Standard Hebrew Temani, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānî; plural תֵּימָנִים, Standard Hebrew Temanim, Tiberian Hebrew Têmānîm) are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen (תֵּימָן far south, Standard Hebrew Teman, Tiberian Hebrew Têmān), on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. ... The Bene Israel (Sons of Israel) are a group of Jews who, in the mid-twentieth century, lived primarily in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and parts of Pakistan. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Beta Israel (or House of Israel), known by outsiders by the term Falasha or Falash Mura (exiles or strangers), a term that they consider to be pejorative, are Jews of Ethiopian origin. ... Jump to: navigation, search The number of Jews in the world is difficult to calculate, especially given the constant debates of the definition of Jew. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Early History Tradition places Jews in southern Russia, Armenia, and Georgia since before the days of the First Temple, and records exist from the fourth century showing that there were Armenian cities possessing Jewish populations ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 along with substantial Jewish... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the history of the Jewish people in England. ... History of the Jews in Latin America. ... Jump to: navigation, search Main article: List of Jews. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jewish languages are a set of languages that developed in various Jewish communities, in Europe, southern and south-western Asia, and northern Africa. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Jump to: navigation, search Yiddish (Yid. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ladino is a Romance language, derived mainly from Old Castilian (Spanish) and Hebrew. ... Jump to: navigation, search Dzhidi, or Judæo-Persian, is the Jewish language spoken by the Jews living in Iran. ... Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used to describe several Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages. ... The Judeo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Arabic-speaking countries; the term also refers to more or less classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages. ... Jewish denominations: Over time, the Jewish community has become divided into a number of religious denominations, also called branches or movements. Each denomination has a different understanding of what principles of belief a Jew should hold, and how one should live as a Jew. ... Jump to: navigation, search Orthodox Judaism is the stream of Judaism which adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmud (The Oral Law) and later codified in the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law). It is governed by these works... Conservative Judaism (or Masorti Judaism) is a denomination of Judaism characterized by: A positive attitude toward modern culture The belief that traditional rabbinic modes of study, and modern scholarship and critical text study, are both valid ways to learn about and from Jewish religious texts. ... Reform Judaism is the first modern branch of Judaism; it developed in Germany and is now international, and the largest in North America. ... Reconstructionist Judaism is a denomination of Judaism with a relatively liberal set of beliefs: an individuals personal autonomy should generally override traditional Jewish law and custom, yet also take into account communal consensus, modern culture is accepted, traditional rabbinic modes of study, as well as modern scholarship and critical... Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by reliance on the Tanakh as the sole scripture, and rejection of the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds) as halakha (Legally Binding, i. ... Alternative Judaism refers to several varieties of modern Judaism which fall outside the common Orthodox/Non-Orthodox (Reform/Conservative/Reconstructionist) classification of the four major streams of todays Judaism. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jewish political movements refer to the organized efforts of Jews to build their own political parties or otherwise represent their interest in politics outside of the Jewish community. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other meanings, please see Zionism (disambiguation) Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s:Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian) 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ... General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement. ... Revisionist Zionism is a right wing tendency within the Zionist movement. ... Jump to: navigation, search A Bundist demonstration, 1917 The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, in Yiddish the Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland (אַלגמײַנער ײדישער אַרבײטערסבונד אין ליטאַ, פוילין און רוסלאַנד), generally called The Bund (בונד) or the Jewish Labor Bund, was a Jewish political party operating in several European countries between... Jump to: navigation, search Kibbutz Dan, near Qiryat Shemona, in the Upper Galilee, 1990s A kibbutz (plural: kibbutzim) is an Israeli collective community. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jewish history is the history of the Jewish people, faith (Judaism) and culture. ... This entry contains a timeline of the development of Judaism and the Jewish people. ... Schisms among the Jews: // First Temple era Based on the historical narrative in the Bible and archeology, Levantine civilization at the time of Solomons Temple was prone to idol worship, astrology, worship of reigning kings, and paganism. ... Jump to: navigation, search In compiling the history of ancient Israel and Judah, there are many available sources, including the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament) and other Jewish texts such as the Talmud, the Ethiopian book of history known as the Kebra Nagast, the writings of historians such as Nicolaus... Jump to: navigation, search The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash בית המקדש in Hebrew) was built in ancient Jerusalem and was the center of Israelite and Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot. ... Jump to: navigation, search Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, is the name generally given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. ... The Hasmonean Kingdom (pronunciation) in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BC to 37 BC was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BC. Origin of the Hasmonean dynasty The origin of the Hasmonean dynasty is... Jewish-Roman War can refer to several revolts by the Jews of Judea against the Roman Empire: The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the First Jewish Revolt. ... The Pharisees (from the Hebrew perushim, from parash, meaning to separate) were, depending on the time, a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era (536 BCE–70 CE). ... Jump to: navigation, search Jewish diaspora (Hebrew: Tefutzah, or Galut, exile) refers to the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout the world. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Talmud (תלמוד) is considered an authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia == Jews in the Middle Ages : The history of Jews in the Middle Ages (approximately 500 CE to 1750 CE) can be divided into two categories. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Haskalah (Hebrew: השכלה; enlightenment, intellect, from sekhel, common sense) was a religious movement among European Jews in the late 18th century that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew, and Jewish history. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hasidic Judaism (from the Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious, from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... Jump to: navigation, search Children survivors of the Holocaust before their liberation The Holocaust is the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. ... Main article: Israel. ... Jump to: navigation, search Related articles: anti-Semitism; history of anti-Semitism; modern anti-Semitism This article deals with various persecutions that the Jewish people have experienced throughout history. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Jump to: navigation, search This is a partial chronology of hostilities towards or discrimination against the Jews as a religious or ethnic group. ... Jump to: navigation, search The new anti-Semitism refers to the contemporary international resurgence of anti-Jewish incidents and attacks on Jewish symbols, as well as the acceptance of anti-Semitic beliefs and their expression in public discourse. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ...

The area now known as The Netherlands was once part of the Spanish empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence. A principal motive was a wish to practise Protestant Christianity, then forbidden under Spanish rule, and so religious tolerance was effectively an important constitutional element of the newly-independent state. This inevitably attracted the attention of Jews who were religiously suppressed in many parts of the world. Jump to: navigation, search Spain was the center of one of the first Global Empires. ... Events January 16 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism April 4 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. July 26 - The Northern Netherlands proclaim their independence from Spain in the Oath of Abjuration. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Jump to: navigation, search Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ...

The Sephardim (so-called Spanish Jews) had been expelled from Spain and Portugal years earlier, but many remained in the Iberian peninsular practising Judaism in secret. (See crypto-Jews.) The newly independent Dutch provinces provided an ideal opportunity for the crypto-Jews to re-establish themselves and practise their religion openly, and they migrated, most notably to Amsterdam. Collectively, they brought immense wealth and trading influence to the city and they established Amsterdam as the world's major Jewish cultural centre for centuries to come. In the strictest sense, a Sephardi (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Səfardim, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardîm) is a Jew original to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal: ספרד, Standard Hebrew Səfárad, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄áraḏ / Səp̄āraḏ), or whose ancestors were among the Jews expelled from... Crypto-Judaism is secret practicing of Judaism while publicly pretending to be of another faith. ... Jump to: navigation, search Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,295 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 4°54E - 52°22N Website www. ...

Many Ashkenazim (so-called German Jews) were also attracted to the newly independent Dutch provinces. However, the majority were displaced migrants escaping persecution in other parts of northern Europe and being poor, they were less welcome. Their arrival in considerable number threatened the economic status of Amsterdam in particular, and with few exceptions they were turned away. Generally, they settled in rural areas where they subsisted typically as pedlars and hawkers. The result was that a large number of small Jewish communities existed throughout the Dutch provinces. Ashkenazi (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי, Standard Hebrew Aškanazi, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzî) Jews or Ashkenazic Jews, also called Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, Standard Hebrew Aškanazim, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzîm), are Jews who are descendants of Jews from Germany, Poland, Austria and Eastern Europe. ...

Initially, at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, all Dutch Jewish communities were small and they congregated for prayer in private houses. Amsterdam’s first formal Ashkenazi community was eventually established in 1635, and the Sephardim finished building their “Portuguese Synagogue” a few years later. Other major Jewish communities were established early in Amersfoort, Nijmegen and Rotterdam, and many more were to follow. Events February 10 - The Académie française in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite. ... Amersfoort is also a town in South Africa. ... Jump to: navigation, search Nijmegen (obsolete spellings: Nijmwegen, Nymegen, Nieumeghen — known in German as Nimwegen, French as Nimègue, and Spanish as Nimega) is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other places named Rotterdam, see Rotterdam (disambiguation) Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam), located in the province of Zuid Holland. ...

Cultural distinctions

Uniquely in The Netherlands, Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities coexisted in close proximity. Having different cultural traditions, the communities remained generally separate but their geographical closeness resulted in cross-cultural influences not found elsewhere. Notably, in the early days when small groups of Jews were attempting to establish communities, they were bound to use the services of rabbis and other officials from either culture, depending on who was available. Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished,. In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi or Rebbi...

The close proximity of the two cultures inevitably led to intermarriage at a higher rate than was known elsewhere, and in consequence many Jews of Dutch descent have family names that seem to belie their religious affiliation. Particularly unusual, all Dutch Jews have for centuries named children after the children’s grandparents, which is otherwise considered exclusively a Sephardi tradition. (Ashkenazim elsewhere traditionally avoid naming a child after a living relative.)

In 1812, while The Netherlands was under Napoleonic rule, all Dutch Jews were obliged to register surnames with the civic authorities, a practice which had previously been followed only by Sephardim. As a result of the compulsory registration and other extant records, it became clear that while the Ashkenazim had been avoiding civic registration, many had nevertheless been using an unofficial system of surnames for hundreds of years. 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... ...

Also under Napoleonic rule, in 1809 a law was passed obliging Dutch Jewish schools to teach in Dutch and Hebrew. This effected the exclusion of other languages and in due course, Yiddish, the lingua franca of Ashkenazim, and Ladino, the lingua franca of Sephardim, practically ceased to be spoken among Dutch Jews. 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... This article deals with the Judaeo-Spanish language. ...

Economic influences

Jews played a major role in the development of Dutch colonial territories and international trade, and many Jews in former colonies have Dutch ancestry. However, all the major colonial powers were competing fiercely for control of trade routes; the Dutch were relatively unsuccessful and during the 18th century, their economy went into decline. Many of the Ashkenazim in the rural areas were no longer able to subsist and they migrated to the cities in search of work. This caused a large number of small Jewish communities to collapse completely (ten adult males were required for major religious ceremonies). Entire communities then migrated to the cities where the Jewish populations swelled explosively. In 1700, the Jewish population of Amsterdam was 6,200, with Ashkenazim and Sephardim in almost equal numbers. By 1795 the figure was 20,3335, the vast majority being poor Ashkenazim. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Because Jews were obliged to live in specified Jewish quarters, there was severe overcrowding. By the mid-nineteenth century, many were migrating to other countries where the advancement of emancipation offered better opportunities (see Chuts). Emancipation — Oh, Edwin dear! Heres Tom Jones. ... Jump to: navigation, search Name applied to Jews who migrated to London from The Netherlands during the latter part of the 19th century. ...

Recent history

The Netherlands and Amsterdam in particular remained a major Jewish population centre until World War II. In 1939 there were some 140,000 Dutch Jews but in 1945 only about 35,000 survived. (See Shoah.) Jump to: navigation, search 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Shoah (denoting a catastrophic upheaval) is the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. ...

In contrast to many other countries where all aspects of Jewish communities and culture were eradicated during the Shoah, a remarkably large proportion of rabbinic records survived in Amsterdam, making the history of Dutch Jewry unusually well documented.

Some notable Dutch Jews

• Jacob Abendana
• Manasseh ben Israel
• Isaac Orobio
• Baruch Spinoza

Jacob Abendana (1630-1695) was rabbi (haham) of the Spanish Jews in London from 1681. ... Menasseh Ben Israel (1604-1657), Jewish Rabbi, scholar, writer, diplomat, printer and publisher, founder of the first Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam in 1626. ... Jump to: navigation, search Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), was named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Spinoza or Bento dEspiñoza in his native Amsterdam. ...

External links

• Jewish Historical Museum (Amsterdam): http://www.jhm.nl/
• Center for Research on Dutch Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: http://dutchjewry.huji.ac.il/