Jews

Religious Jews hold the Torah, Talmud, and Mishnah to be sacred documents. According to the Torah, there are 613 binding commandments that Jews are obliged to follow. Traditionally, Jews believe that the Torah was given by God to the prophet Moses at Mount Sinai, with hundreds of thousands of Israelites witnessing the event.

Many Jews around the world are descended from the ancient Israelites (also known as Hebrews), a part-Semitic people that settled in the land of Israel. A kingship was established under Saul and continued under David and Solomon. King David conquered Jerusalem? (first a Canaanite, then a Jebusite town) and made it his capital. After Solomon's reign the nation split into two kingdoms, Israel (in the south) and Judah (in the north). Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser V in the 8th century BCE. The kingdom of Judah was conquered by a Babylonian army in the early 6th century BCE. The Judahites were exiled to Babylonia, but later many returned to their homeland, henceforth known as Judea. An independent Jewish kingdom led by the Hasmonaean Dynasty existed between 165 and 63 BCE. This was followed by a period of Roman rule. In 66 CE Judeans began to revolt against against the Roman rulers of Judea. The revolt was smashed by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus. The Romans conquered the Temple in Jerusalem and stole the holy menorah. Judeans continued to live in their land in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion, until the 2nd century when Julius Severus ravaged Judea. After 135 CE, Jews were not allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem.

Some Jews were sold into slavery while others became citizens of other parts of the Roman Empire. The Israelite people became dispersed throughout the ancient world to places as diverse as Rome, Crimea?, India, Yemen, and China. Their descendants account for a significant proportion of the ancestry of many Jewish communities. Some contemporary Jews are also descended from converts to Judaism such as the Khazars, Edomites?, and Ethiopians.

The main divisions of Jews in modern times are: Ashkenazim (Central and East European Jews), Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews), Mizrakhim (Oriental Jews from Asia from countries like Kurdistan and Persia), Gruzim (Georgian Jews from the Caucasus), Juhurim (Mountain Jews from Daghestan and Azerbaijan in the eastern Caucasus), Teimanim (Yemenite Jews from southern Arabia), Judeo-Berbers (North African Jews), and Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). Out of these communities, the largest are the Ashkenazim, whose ancestors lived in countries like Germany, Russia, and Poland.

Sects of Jews that survive into modern times include the Rabbinical Jews (followers of the Talmud, a component of the Oral Law), the [Karaite Jews]? (who reject the authority of Rabbinical Oral Law), and the Samaritans (whose temple is located at Mount Gerizim rather than at Jerusalem). Rabbinical Jewish communities are led by rabbis (spiritual leaders) and cantors (singers), whereas the spiritual leader of a Karaite community is often called a hakham.

Today, there are an estimated 13 million Jews worldwide. Of these, around 6 million live in the United States and slightly fewer than 6 million live in Israel. Most of the remainder live in Canada, Hungary, Ukraine, France, Russia.

Israel is the only country in which Jews form a majority of the population. It was established as an independent state on May 14, 1948. The symbol on the Israeli flag is known as the Star of David ("Magen David" in Hebrew).

Despite the small number of Jews worldwide, many of the most influential thinkers in modern times have been Jewish. These include [Karl Marx]?, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, [Ludwig von Mises]?, Ayn Rand, and [Milton Friedman]?.

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