|
Population - Ethnic
Divisions - Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic
Jews or Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים Standard Hebrew,
Aškanazi,Aškanazim, Tiberian Hebrew), are Jews descended from the Jewish
communities of Germany, Poland, Austria, and Eastern Europe mostly
established between the 10th and 19th centuries. In historical times and
through the mid-20th Century, Ashkenazi Jews usually spoke Yiddish or
Slavic languages such as the (now extinct) Knaanic, and developed a
distinct culture and liturgy influenced by their native countries.
Although in the 11th century they comprised only 3% of the world's
Jewish population, today Ashkenazi Jews account for approximately 80% of
world Jewry.
Origins and medieval history
Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities[4] in the Alps
and Pyrenees as early as the 8th and 9th Century, and potentially dating
back to Roman times when these areas and the Kingdom of Judah were both
incorporated under Roman rule. Jews were known to have lived in Cologne
and what is now France between 300 and 600, but they were expelled by
King Dagobert of the Franks in 629. Jewish traders from Islamic lands
during the same period may also have been the origin of the Ashkenazi
community, but other evidence suggests direct migration of Jews
northward from Italy as the genesis of the ethnically and culturally
distinct Ashkenazi group.
By the early 900s, Jewish populations were well-established in Northern
Europe, and later followed the Norman Conquest into England in 1066,
also settling in the Rhineland. With the onset of the Crusades, and the
expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany
(1400s), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland, Lithuania, and
Russia. Over this period of several hundred years, some have suggested,
Jewish economic activity was focused on trade, business management, and
financial services, due to Christian European prohibitions restricting
certain activities by Jews, and preventing certain financial activities
(such as "usurious" loans) between Christians. (Ben-Sasson, H. (1976) A
History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.)
By the 1400s, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the
largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora[5].
Usage of the name
In reference to the Jewish peoples of Northern Europe and particularly
the Rhineland, the word Ashkenazi is often found in medieval rabbinic
literature. References to Ashkenaz in Yosippon and Hasdai's letter to
the king of the Khazars would date the term as far back as the tenth
century, as would also Saadia Gaon's commentary on Daniel 7:8.
The word "Ashkenaz" first appears in the genealogy in the Tanakh
(Genesis 10) as a son of Gomer and grandson of Japheth. It is thought
that the name originally applied to the Scythians (Ishkuz), who were
called Ashkuza in Assyrian inscriptions, and lake Ascanius and the
region Ascania in Anatolia derive their names from this group. The "Ashkuza"
have also been linked to the Oghuz branch of Turks including nearly all
Turkic peoples today from Turkey to Turkmenistan.
Ashkenaz in later Hebrew tradition became identified with the peoples of
Germany, and in particular to the area along the Rhine where the
Allemanni tribe once lived (compare the French and Spanish words and
Alemania, respectively, for Germany).
Medieval references
In the first half of the eleventh century, Hai Gaon refers to questions
that had been addressed to him from "Ashkenaz", by which he undoubtedly
means Germany. Rashi in the latter half of the eleventh century refers
to both the language of Ashkenaz (Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:9; idem on
Talmud tractate Sukkah 17a) and the country of Ashkenaz (Talmud, Hullin
93a). During the twelfth century the word appears quite frequently. In
the Mahzor Vitry, the kingdom of Ashkenaz is referred to chiefly in
regard to the ritual of the synagogue there, but occasionally also with
regard to certain other observances (ib. p. 129).
In the literature of the thirteenth century references to the land and
the language of Ashkenaz often occur. See especially Solomon ben
Aderet's Responsa (vol. i., No. 395); the Responsa of Asher ben Jehiel
(pp. 4, 6); his Halakot (Berakot i. 12, ed. Wilna, p. 10); the work of
his son Jacob ben Asher, Tur Orach Chayim (chapter 59); the Responsa of
Isaac ben Sheshet (numbers 193, 268, 270).
In the Midrash compilation Genesis Rabbah, Rabbi Berechiah mentions "Ashkenaz,
Riphath, and Togarmah" as German tribes or as German lands. It may
correspond to a Greek word that may have existed in the Greek dialect of
the Palestinian Jews, or the text is corrupted from "Germanica." This
view of Berechiah is based on the Talmud (Yoma 10a; Jerusalem Talmud
Megillah 71b), where Gomer, the father of Ashkenaz, is translated by
Germamia, which evidently stands for Germany, and which was suggested by
the similarity of the sound.
In later times the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern and
western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that
of eastern Germany and Poland. Thus the prayer-book of Isaiah Horowitz,
and many others, give the piyyutim according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz
and Poland.
Customs, laws and traditions
The halakhic practices of Ashkenazi Jews may differ from those of
Sephardi Jews, particularly in matters of custom. Differences are noted
in the Shulkhan Arukh itself, in the gloss of Moses Isserles. Well known
differences in practice include:
* Observance of Pesach (Passover): Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain
from eating legumes, peanuts, corn, millet, and rice, whereas Sephardi
Jews typically do not prohibit these foods.
* In the case of kashrut for meat, conversely, Sephardi Jews have
stricter requirements - this level is commonly referred to as Beth Yosef.
Meat products which are not glatt may still be acceptable to Ashkenazi
Jews as kosher, but are considered by the Sephardi Jews to be treif
(non-kosher). Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the actual
slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit eating the rear portions of an animal
after proper Halachic deveining; Ashkenazi Jews do not. This difference
is not due to a strict vs. lenient understanding of the law; rather,
Ashkenazi Jews do not believe they have a reliable tradition as to the
proper removal of these veins.
* Ashkenazi Jews frequently name newborn children after deceased family
members, but not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews, on the other
hand, often name their children after the children's grandparents, even
if those grandparents are still living. (See Sephardi Names).
* Ashkenazi Jews have a custom for the bride and groom to refrain from
meeting one week prior to their wedding.
The term Ashkenazi also refers to the nusach (Hebrew, "liturgical
tradition") used by Ashkenazi Jews in their Siddur (prayer book). A
nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition's choice of prayers, order
of prayers, text of prayers and melodies used in the singing of prayers.
This phrase is often used in contrast with Sephardi Jews, also called
Sephardim, who are descendants of Jews from Spain and Portugal. There
are some differences in how the two groups pronounce Hebrew and in
points of ritual.
Several famous people have this as a surname, such as Vladimir
Ashkenazi. Ironically, most people with this surname are in fact
Sephardi, and usually of Syrian Jewish background. This family name was
adopted by the families who lived in Sephardic countries and were of
Askenazic origins, after being nicknamed Askenazi by their respective
communities. Some have shortened the name to Ash. Other spellings exist,
such as Eskenazi by the Syrian Jews who relocated to Panama and other
South-American Jewish communities.
Literature about the alleged Turkic origin of the Ashkenazi population
appeared mainly after 1950.
See also: Jew, Judaism, Rabbenu Gershom
Genetics
Specific diseases
The Ashkenazi Jewish population has, like many other endogamous
populations, a higher incidence of specific hereditary diseases. Genetic
counseling and genetic testing are recommended for couples where both
partners are of Ashkenazi ancestry. Some organizations, most notably Dor
Yeshorim, organize screening programs to prevent homozygosity for the
genes that cause these diseases. A large number of these diseases are
neurological. See Jewish Genetics Center for more information on testing
programmes.
Diseases with higher incidence in Ashkenazim include, in alphabetical
order:
* Bloom syndrome
* Breast cancer and ovarian cancer (due to higher distribution of BRCA1
and BRCA2).
* Canavan disease
* Colorectal cancer due to hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC).
* Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (non-classical form)
* Crohn's disease (the NOD2/CARD15 locus appears to be implicated)
* Cystic fibrosis
* Familial dysautonomia (Riley-Day Syndrome)
* Fanconi anemia
* Gaucher's disease
* Hemophilia C
* Mucolipidosis IV
* Niemann-Pick disease
* Tay-Sachs disease
* Torsion dystonia
* Von Gierke disease
IQ
According to many studies, Ashkenazi Jews have among the highest average
intelligence of any ethnic group as measured by IQ, leading East Asians,
who also perform highly in IQ. This result is often used to explain some
of the intellectual achievements of Ashkenazi Jews. For example, while
Ashkenazi Jews represent 3% of the population of the United States, they
have won 27% of the US Nobel Prizes in science, 25% of the ACM Turing
Awards, and have accounted for more than half of world chess champions.
Whether this difference in IQ and achievement is due entirely to a
culture of study and vocational training (environment), or partially to
a difference in genetic variables, is presently unknown and
controversial. (See Race and intelligence)
"Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence"
See also Race and intelligence
A controversial 2005 paper[6] to be published in Cambridge's Journal of
Biosocial Science,[7] hypothesises that European Jews' history of
persecution created social selection for high intelligence, leaving a
positive effect on the genetic component of their IQ.
The paper, by Gregory Cochran, Jason Hardy, and Henry Harpending[8] of
the University of Utah, notes that European Jews were forbidden to work
in many of the common jobs of the middle-ages from AD800 to 1700, such
as agriculture, and subsequently worked in high proportion in
meritocratic, IQ-intensive jobs, such as finance and trade, some of
which were forbidden to gentiles by the church. Cochran et al point out
that those who performed better raised more children to adulthood, thus
passing on their (higher-IQ) genes in greater proportion than those who
performed poorer. The Jews rarely married outside of their faith, which
created a reproductively isolated population, allowing, according to
Cochran et al, a change in gene frequency to occur relatively rapidly in
the 35 generations during these 9 centuries.
Cochran et al hypothesize that in this environment the social selection
for intelligence was strong enough that mutations that created higher
intelligence but created disease when inherited from both parents would
still be selected for, which may be responsible for the unusual pattern
of genetic diseases, such as Tay-Sachs and other sphingolipid diseases,
that is found in the Ashkenazi population. Some of these diseases, for
example, have been shown to correlate with high IQ, and others cause
neurons to make relatively many connections with neighboring neurons.
In a June 3, 2005 New York Times article[9], Cochran comments that he
was drawn to the question when he noted that patients with torsion
dystonia, relatively common in Ashkenazi Jews, had an average IQ of 122.
The Harvard Psychologist Steven Pinker states that the results are bound
to be controversial but hard to ignore. Geneticist Andrew Clark and
mathematician Montgomery Slatkin comment that the study is far-fetched
and unsupported by direct evidence.
Alternative explanations along these lines include, for example, that
for Jews to be socially successful in their peer group, expertise at
Torah study has traditionally been an advantage (Murray 2003, Shafran
2005). Since the Enlightenment, those Jews lacking the intellectual
skills for this endeavour may have been more prone to assimilate into
general culture and leave the reproductively-isolated Jewish population.
Modern History
In an essay on Sephardic Jewry, Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center
for Public Affairs[10] 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% Ashkenazic; in the
mid-seventeenth century, "Sephardim still outnumbered Ashkenazim three
to two," but by the end of the 18th Century "Ashkenazim outnumbered
Sephardim three to two, the result of improved living conditions in
Christian Europe as against the Muslim world."[11] By 1931, Ashkenazi
Jews accounted for nearly 92 percent of world Jewry.
Ashkenazi Jews developed the Hasidic movement as well as major Jewish
academic centers across Poland, Russia, and Lithuania in the generations
after emigration from the west. After two centuries of comparative
tolerance in the new nations, massive westward emigration occurred in
the 1800s and 1900s in response to pogroms and the economic
opportunities offered in other parts of the world. Ashkenazi Jews have
made up the majority of the American Jewish community since 1750.
Ashkenazi cultural growth led to the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment,
and the development of Zionism in modern Europe.
Ashkenazi Jewry and the Holocaust
Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of
World War II, the majority of whom were Ashkenazi, about 6 million were
systematically murdered in The Holocaust; 3 million of 3.3 million
Polish Jews, and 900,000 in Ukraine, as well as 50-90% of the Jews of
Germany, the Baltic and Slavic nations, and France. Many of the
surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as France, the
United States, and Israel after the war.
Today, Ashkenazi Jews constitute approximately eighty percent of world
Jewry.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi
Back to Ethnic Divisions
|
|
