Ashkenazi Jews: Difference between revisions

-->{{Script/Hebrew|אשכנזישע יידן}} ({{lang|he-Latn|AshkhnzisheAshkenazishe eydnYidn}})

* {{hlist|[[Modern Hebrew|Hebrew]] ([[Ashkenazi Hebrew]], liturgical)|English|Russian|German|French|and others}}

| related-c = [[Sephardi Jews]], [[Mizrahi Jews]], other [[Jewish ethnic divisions]] and [[Samaritans]]; various [[Ethnic groups in the Middle East|Middle Eastern]] and [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European ethnic groups]]

'''Ashkenazi Jews''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑː|ʃ|k|ə|ˈ|n|ɑː|z|i|,_|ˌ|æ|ʃ|-}} {{respell|A(H)SH|kə|NAH|zee}};<ref name=longman>{{cite book |last=Wells|first=John |author-link=John C. Wells |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |publisher=[[Pearson plc|Pearson]] [[Longman]] |edition=3rd |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref> {{lang-he|יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז|translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz}}, {{Literal translation|[[Jews]] of [[Germania]]}}; {{lang-yi|אַשכּנזישע ייִדן|Ashkenazishe Yidn}}), also known as '''Ashkenazic Jews''' or '''''Ashkenazim''''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑː|ʃ|k|ə|ˈ|n|ɑː|z|ɪ|m|,_|ˌ|æ|ʃ|-}} {{respell|AHSH|kə|NAH|zim|,_|ASH|-}};<ref name=longman/> {{lang-he|אַשְׁכְּנַזִּים}}, <small>Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation:</small> {{IPA-he|ˌaʃkəˈnazim|}}, singular: {{IPA-he|ˌaʃkəˈnazi|}}, <small>Modern Hebrew:</small> {{IPA-he|(ʔ)aʃkenaˈzim, (ʔ)aʃkenaˈzi|}}<ref>Ashkenaz, based on {{cite Josephus|PACEJ=1|text=anti|NorW=W|bookno=1|chap=6|sec=1 |Perseus=1|1=J.|2=AJ|3=1.6.1 |show-translator=no |show-source=no |abbr=yes}} and his explanation of {{bibleverse|Genesis|10:3}}, is considered to be the progenitor of the ancient [[Gaul]]s (the people of Gallia, meaning, mainly the people from modern France, Belgium, and the [[Alps|Alpine]] region) and the ancient [[Franks]] (of, both, France, and Germany). According to Gedaliah ibn Jechia the Spaniard, in the name of ''Sefer Yuchasin'' (see: Gedaliah ibn Jechia, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/6618 ''Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513031902/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/6618 |date=13 May 2021 }}, Jerusalem 1962, p. 219; p. 228 in PDF), the descendants of Ashkenaz had also originally settled in what was then called [[Bohemia]], which today is the present-day Czech Republic. These places, according to the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] (Megillah 1:9 [10a], were also called simply by the diocese "Germamia". ''Germania'', ''Germani'', ''Germanica'' have all been used to refer to the group of peoples comprising the Germanic tribes, which include such peoples as Goths, whether Ostrogoths or Visigoths, Vandals and Franks, Burgundians, Alans, Langobards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi and Alamanni. The entire region east of the [[Rhine]] river was known by the Romans as "Germania" (Germany).</ref>}}, constitute a [[Jewish diaspora]] population that [[Ethnogenesis|emerged]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] around the end of the first millennium CE.<ref name="Mosk">{{cite book |last= Mosk |first= Carl |title= Nationalism and economic development in modern Eurasia |publisher= [[Routledge]] |location= New York |year= 2013 |isbn =978-0-415-60518-2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rH9c5JSo1Y4C&pg=PA143 |page= 143 |quote= In general the Ashkenazi originally came out of the Holy Roman Empire, speaking a version of German that incorporates Hebrew and Slavic words, Yiddish.}}</ref> They traditionally spoke [[Yiddish]]<ref name="Mosk" /> and largely migrated towards [[Northern Europe#UN geoscheme classification|northern]] and [[eastern Europe]] during the late [[Middle Ages]] due to [[Antisemitism in Europe|persecution]].<ref>Mosk (2013), p. 143. "Encouraged to move out of the Holy Roman Empire as persecution of their communities intensified during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Ashkenazi community increasingly gravitated toward Poland."</ref><ref>Harshav, Benjamin (1999). ''The Meaning of Yiddish''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 6. "From the fourteenth and certainly by the sixteenth century, the center of European Jewry had shifted to Poland, then&nbsp;... comprising the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Byelorussia), Crown Poland, Galicia, the Ukraine and stretching, at times, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the approaches to Berlin to a short distance from Moscow."</ref> Hebrew was primarily used as a [[Literary language|literary]] and [[sacred language]] until its 20th-century [[Revival of the Hebrew language|revival as a common language]] in Israel.

Throughout the centuries, Ashkenazim made significant contributions to Europe's [[WesternEuropean philosophy|Europe's philosophy]], scholarship, [[Western literature|literature]], [[Art of Europe|art]], [[European music|music]], and [[Science and technology in Europe|science]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Henry L. Feingold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ts5lKWho2YwC&pg=PA36 |title=Bearing Witness: How America and Its Jews Responded to the Holocaust |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-8156-2670-1 |page=36 |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224213604/https://books.google.com/books?id=ts5lKWho2YwC&pg=PA36%20 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Eric Hobsbawm |title=Interesting Times: A Twentieth Century Life |publisher=Abacus Books |year=2002 |page=25 |author-link=Eric Hobsbawm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Abramson |first1=Glenda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rr_qaE0a8rsC |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture |date=March 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-42864-9 |page=20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blanning |first1=T. C. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhrXAJye1cEC |title=The Oxford History of Modern Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-285371-4}}</ref>

As a proportion of the [[Jewish population by country|world Jewish population]], Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930 near the population's peak.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqaI9mpIjMkC&pg=PA197|title=Demographie – Demokratie – Geschichte: Deutschland und Israel|last=Brunner|first=José|date=2007|publisher=Wallstein Verlag|isbn=978-3-8353-0135-1|page=197|language=de|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216180449/https://books.google.com/books?id=lqaI9mpIjMkC&pg=PA197|url-status=live}}</ref> The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by [[the Holocaust]] carried out by [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]] which killed some [[Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe|six million Jews]], affecting almost every European Jewish family.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Rafael|first1=Eliezer Ben|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FCriMwwYPV4C&pg=PA186|title=Contemporary Jewries: Convergence and Divergence|last2=Gorni|first2=Yosef|last3=Ro'i|first3=Yaacov|date=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-12950-4|language=en|page=186|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=29 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429084140/https://books.google.com/books?id=FCriMwwYPV4C&pg=PA186|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ehrlich|first=M. Avrum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=RA1-PA803|title=Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture|date=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-873-6|language=en|pages=193ff [195]|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=22 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422050849/https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=RA1-PA803|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1933, prior to World War II, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Israelis|Israeli]] demographer and statistician [[Sergio Della Pergola|Sergio D. Pergola]] implied that Ashkenazim comprised 65%–7065–70% of Jews worldwide in 2000,<ref name="books.google.com.au">{{cite book |author=Sergio DellaPergola |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df8KrZMW09oC&pg=PA14 |chapter="Sephardic and Oriental" Jews in Israel and Countries: Migration, Social Change, and Identification |editor=Peter Y. Medding |title=Sephardic Jewry and Mizrahi Jews |volume=X11 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |pages=3–42 |isbn=978-0-19-971250-2 |author-link=Sergio DellaPergola |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414033929/https://books.google.com/books?id=df8KrZMW09oC&pg=PA14 |url-status=live }} Della Pergola does not analyze or mention the Ashkenazi statistics, but the figure is implied by his rough estimate that in 2000, Oriental and Sephardi Jews constituted 26% of the population of world Jewry.</ref> while other estimates suggest more than 75%.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Focus on Genetic Screening Research'', ed. Sandra R. Pupecki, p. 58</ref> {{As of |2013}}, the population was estimated to be between 10 million<ref name="Ashkenazi-jews-hugr" /> and 11.2 million.<ref name="Jhu.edu" />

The Biblical ''Ashkenaz'' is usually derived from [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]] ''{{Lang|aii|Aškūza''}} ([[cuneiform]] ''Aškuzai/Iškuzai''), a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper [[Euphrates]];<ref name="Gmirkin">{{Cite book|last=Gmirkin|first=Russell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noKI6AsqnhMC&pg=PA148|title=Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch|date=2006|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-02592-0|language=en|pages=148–149|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=31 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031023118/https://books.google.com/books?id=noKI6AsqnhMC&pg=PA148|url-status=live}}</ref> the name ''{{Lang|aii|Aškūza}}'' is identified with the [[Scythians]].<ref name="Bøe" >{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcKW4VBqYr8C|title=The Origin of Ashkenazi Jewry|isbn=978-3-11-023605-7 |access-date=20 August 2022|archive-date=19 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819045432/https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Origin_of_Ashkenazi_Jewry.html?id=wcKW4VBqYr8C|url-status=live|last1=Straten |first1=Jits van |year=2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref><ref name="Vladimir Shneider">Vladimir Shneider, ''Traces of the Ten''. Beer-sheva, Israel 2002. p. 237</ref> The intrusive ''n'' in the Biblical name is likely due to a scribal error confusing a ''vav'' [[vav (letter)|{{script/Hebrew|ו}}]] with a ''nun'' [[Nun (letter)|{{script/Hebrew|נ}}]].<ref name="Vladimir Shneider"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bøe|first=Sverre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vettpBoVOX4C&pg=PA48|title=Gog and Magog: Ezekiel 38–39 as Pre-text for Revelation 19,17–21 and 20,7–10|date=2001|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=978-3-16-147520-7|language=en|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329025905/https://books.google.com/books?id=vettpBoVOX4C&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kriwaczek" >{{Cite book|last=Kriwaczek|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNKG-U6ym-0C&pg=PT173|title=Yiddish Civilisation: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation|date=2011|publisher=Orion|isbn=978-1-78022-141-0|language=en|access-date=13 August 2015|archive-date=3 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003073412/https://books.google.com/books?id=JNKG-U6ym-0C&pg=PT173|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Jewish-RomanJewish–Roman Wars ===

The first and second centuries CE saw a series of unsuccessful large-scale [[Jewish–Roman wars|Jewish revolts against Rome]]. The Roman suppression of these revolts led to wide-scale destruction, a very high toll of life and enslavement. The [[First Jewish–Roman War|First Jewish-Roman War]] (66–73 CE) resulted in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple]]. Two generations later, the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar Kokhba Revolt]] (132–136 CE) erupted. Judea's countryside was devastated, and many were killed, displaced or sold into slavery.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=J. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA243 |title=The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea |date= 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955448-5 |quote=These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. 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 |access-date=15 August 2022 |archive-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612135958/https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA243 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Werner Eck, "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen," Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Raviv |first1=Dvir |last2=Ben David |first2=Chaim |date=2021 |title=Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account? |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=585–607 |doi=10.1017/S1047759421000271 |issn=1047-7594 |quote=Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio's account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio's figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136 CE). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio's demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation. |s2cid=245512193 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Mor |first=Menahem |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004314634 |title=The Second Jewish Revolt |date=2016 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-31463-4 |pages=483–484 |doi=10.1163/9789004314634 |quote=Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the [[Sicaricon|sikarikon laws]] were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it. |access-date=15 August 2022 |archive-date=20 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820074251/https://brill.com/view/title/32073 |url-status=live }}</ref> Jerusalem was rebuilt as a [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman colony]] under the name of [[Aelia Capitolina]], and the province of Judea was renamed [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0-674-39731-6}}, p. 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."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">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|978-0-89236-800-6}}</ref> Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death. Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt.<ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. ''Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society''. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref>

Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities north of the [[Alps]] and [[Pyrenees]] as early as the 8th and 9th centuries. By the 11th century, Jewish settlers moving from southern European and Middle Eastern centers (such as [[Babylonian Jews]]<ref>Ben-Jacob, Abraham (1985), "The History of the Babylonian Jews".</ref> and [[Persian Jews]]<ref>Grossman, Abraham (1998), "The Sank of Babylon and the Rise of the New Jewish Centers in the 11th Century Europe"</ref>) and [[North AfricanMaghrebi Jews|Maghrebi Jewish]] traders from North Africa who had contacts with their Ashkenazi brethren and had visited each other from time to time in each's domain<ref>Frishman, Asher (2008), "The First Asheknazi Jews".</ref> appear to have begun to settle in the north, especially along the Rhine, often in response to new economic opportunities and at the invitation of local Christian rulers. Thus [[Baldwin V, Count of Flanders]], invited Jacob ben Yekutiel and his fellow Jews to settle in his lands; and soon after the [[Norman conquest of England]], [[William the Conqueror]] likewise extended a welcome to continental Jews to take up residence there. Bishop [[Rüdiger Huzmann]] called on the Jews of [[Mainz]] to relocate to [[Speyer]]. In all of these decisions, the idea that Jews had the know-how and capacity to jump-start the economy, improve revenues, and enlarge trade seems to have played a prominent role.<ref name="Rowe" >{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nD4hAwAAQBAJ|title=The Jew, the Cathedral and the Medieval City|isbn=978-1-107-37585-7 |access-date=20 August 2022|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124012115/https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Jew_the_Cathedral_and_the_Medieval_C.html?id=nD4hAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live|last1=Rowe |first1=Nina |date= 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> Typically, Jews relocated close to the markets and churches in town centres, where, though they came under the authority of both royal and ecclesiastical powers, they were accorded administrative autonomy.<ref name="Rowe" />

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 devastation in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/killedtable.html|title=Estimated Number of Jews Killed in The Final Solution|encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=24 May 2006| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060428075345/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/killedtable.html| archive-date= 28 April 2006 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}} As the large majority of the victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from an estimate of 92% of world Jewry in 1930<ref name=":0" /> to nearly 80% of world Jewry today. The Holocaust also effectively put an end to the dynamic development of the Yiddish language in the [[Yiddish Renaissance|previous decades]], as the vast majority of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, around 5 million, were Yiddish speakers.<ref>[[Solomon Birnbaum|Solomo Birnbaum]], ''Grammatik der jiddischen Sprache'' (4., erg. Aufl., Hamburg: Buske, 1984), p. 3.</ref> Many of the surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina, [[history of the Jews in Australia|Australia]], and the United States after the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Refugees |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/refugees |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref>

* The prayer shawl, or [[tallit]] (or tallis in Ashkenazi Hebrew), is worn by the majority ofall Ashkenazi men after marriage, butexcept western European Ashkenazi men, who wear it from [[Bar Mitzvahand bat mitzvah|bar mitzvah]]. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Tallit: Jewish Prayer Shawl'' |url=http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/things/tallit.htm |title=''Tallit: Jewish Prayer Shawl'' |publisher=Religionfacts.com |accessurl-datestatus=24 July 2013 |archive-date=22 December 2008live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222012455/http://www.religionfacts.com/judaism/things/tallit.htm |urlarchive-statusdate=live22 December 2008 |access-date=24 July 2013 |website=Religionfacts.com}}</ref>

The term ''Ashkenazi'' also refers to the ''[[nusachNusach Ashkenaz]]'' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], "the liturgical tradition", or rite) used by Ashkenazi Jews in their ''[[Siddursiddur]]'' (prayer book). A ''nusach'' is defined by a liturgical tradition's choice of prayers, the order of prayers, the text of prayers, and melodies used in the singing of prayers.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Two other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazic Jews are [[Nusach Sefard]] (not to be confused with [[Sephardic law and customs|the Sephardic ritual]]), which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and [[Nusach Ari]], as used by Lubavitchthose Hasidimin [[Chabad]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangel |first=Nissen |title=The Chassidic Prayerbook |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2089176/jewish/The-Chassidic-Prayerbook.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912064853/https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2089176/jewish/The-Chassidic-Prayerbook.htm |archive-date=12 September 2015 |access-date=26 April 2024 |website=Chabad}}</ref>

Ashkenazi Jews have a notable history of achievement in Western societies<ref>{{cite news|first=Charles |last=Murray |title=Jewish Genius |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all |work=Commentary Magazine |date=April 2007 |access-date=23 December 2007 |quote=Disproportionate Jewish accomplishment in the arts and sciences continues to this day. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130145053/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all |archive-date=30 November 2007 }}</ref> in the fields of natural and social sciences, mathematics, 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.<ref>{{cite news|first=Charles |last=Murray |title=Jewish Genius |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all |work=Commentary Magazine |date=April 2007 |access-date=23 December 2007 |quote=From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130145053/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/Jewish-Genius-10855?page=all |archive-date=30 November 2007 }}</ref> Though Ashkenazi Jews have never exceeded 3% of the American population, Jews account for 37% of the winners of the U.S. National Medal of Science, 25% of the American Nobel Prize winners in literature, and 40% of the American Nobel Prize winners in science and economics .<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Steven |last=Pinker |author-link=Steven Pinker |title=The Lessons of the Ashkenazim: Groups and Genes |url=http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2006_06_17_thenewrepublic.html |magazine=The New Republic |date=17 June 2006 |access-date=23 December 2007 |quote=Though never exceeding 3 percent of the American population, Jews account for 37 percent of the winners of the U.S. National Medal of Science, 25 percent of the American Nobel Prize winners in literature, 40 percent of the American Nobel Prize winners in science and economics, and so on. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105135315/http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2006_06_17_thenewrepublic.html |archive-date=5 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

A 2010 study of Jewish ancestry by Atzmon-Ostrer ''et al.'' identified two major groups: Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews, by using "principal component, phylogenetic, and identity by descent (IBD) analysis". "The IBD segment sharing and the proximity of European Jews to each other and to southern European populations suggested similar origins for European Jewry and refuted large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry", as the two groups share ancestors in the Middle East about 2500 years ago. The study examines genetic markers spread across the entire genome and finds that the Jewish groups (Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi) share large swaths of DNA, indicating close relationships, and that each studied Jewish group (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek and Ashkenazi) has its own genetic signature but is more closely related to the other Jewish groups than to their fellow non-Jewish countrymen.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/59938/title/Tracing_Jewish_roots |title=Tracing Jewish roots |first=Tina Hesman |last=Saey |work=ScienceNews |date=3 June 2010 |access-date=25 January 2011 |archive-date=1 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501112339/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/59938/title/Tracing_Jewish_roots |url-status=live }}</ref> Atzmon's team found that the SNP markers in genetic segments of 3 million DNA letters or longer were 10 times more likely to be identical among Jews than non-Jews. Results of the analysis also tally with biblical accounts of the fate of the Jews. The study also found that with respect to non-Jewish European groups, the population most closely related to Ashkenazi Jews are modern-day Italians. The study speculated that this similarity may be due to inter-marriage and conversions in during the Roman Empire. It was also found that any two Ashkenazi Jewish participants shared about as much DNA as fourth or fifth cousins.<ref name="Atzmon2010">{{cite journal |first1=Gil |last1=Atzmon |first2=Li |last2=Hao |first3=Itsik |last3=Pe'Er |first4=Christopher |last4=Velez |first5=Alexander |last5=Pearlman |first6=Pier Francesco |last6=Palamara|first7=Bernice |last7=Morrow |first8=Eitan |last8=Friedman |first9=Carole |last9=Oddoux |first10=Edward |last10=Burns |first11=Harry |last11 =Ostrer |name-list-style=amp |title=Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=850–59 |year=2010 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 |pmid=20560205 |pmc=3032072}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Genes Set Jews Apart, Study Finds|url=http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/-674|access-date=8 November 2013|newspaper=[[American Scientist]]|archive-date=9 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109005918/http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/-674|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2010 study by Bray ''et al.'', using [[SNP array|SNP]] [[DNA microarray|microarray]] techniques and [[linkage analysis]], found that when assuming [[Druze]] and [[Palestinian Arabs|Palestinian Arab]] populations to represent the reference to world Jewry ancestor genome, 35% to 55% of the modern Ashkenazi genome may be of European origin, and that European "admixture is considerably higher than previous estimates by studies that used the Y chromosome" with this reference point.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kaplan |first1=Karen |title=DNA ties Ashkenazi Jews to group of just 330 people from Middle Ages |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-ashkenazi-jews-dna-diseases-20140909-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=9 September 2014 |access-date=21 February 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221193214/https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-ashkenazi-jews-dna-diseases-20140909-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The authors interpreted this linkage disequilibrium in the Ashkenazi Jewish population as matching signs "of interbreeding or 'admixture' between Middle Eastern and European populations".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Signatures of founder effects, admixture, and selection in the Ashkenazi Jewish population |first1=Steven M. |last1=Bray |first2=Jennifer G. |last2=Mulle |first3=Anne F. |last3=Dodd |first4=Ann E. |last4=Pulver |first5=Stephen |last5=Wooding |first6=Stephen T. |last6=Warren |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=107|issue=37 |pages=16222–27 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1004381107 |year=2010 |pmid=20798349|bibcode=2010PNAS..10716222B |pmc=2941333|doi-access=free }}</ref> On the Bray ''et al.'' tree, Ashkenazi Jews were found to be a genetically more divergent population than [[Russians]], [[Orcadians]], French, [[Basques]], [[Sardinians]], Italians and [[Tuscany|Tuscans]]. The study also observed that Ashkenazim are more diverse than their Middle Eastern relatives, which was counterintuitive because Ashkenazim are supposed to be a subset, not a superset, of their assumed geographical source population. Bray ''et al.'' therefore suggest that these results reflect a history of mixing between genetically distinct populations in Europe. However, it is possible that Ashkenazim's high heterozygocity was due to a relaxation of marriage prescription in their ancestors, while the low heterozygocity in te Middle East is due to maintenance of [[Cousin marriage in the Middle East|FBD marriage]] there. Therefore, Ashkenazim distinctiveness as found in the Bray ''et al.'' study may come from their ethnic endogamy (ethnic inbreeding), which allowed them to "mine" their ancestral gene pool in the context of relative reproductive isolation from European neighbors, and not from clan endogamy (clan inbreeding). Consequently, their higher diversity compared to Middle Easterners stems from the latter's marriage practices, not necessarily from the former's admixture with Europeans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anthropogenesis.kinshipstudies.org/2012/07/how-to-interpret-patterns-of-genetic-variation-admixture-divergence-inbreeding/ |title=How to Interpret Patterns of Genetic Variation? Admixture, Divergence, Inbreeding, Cousin Marriage |publisher=Anthropogenesis |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=19 July 2013 |archive-date=10 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310161611/http://anthropogenesis.kinshipstudies.org/2012/07/how-to-interpret-patterns-of-genetic-variation-admixture-divergence-inbreeding/ |url-status=live }}</ref>