Ashkenazi Jews
The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. Early Jewish communities in Europe began to use this term around the 10th century to describe Jews living in the Rhineland valley and neighboring France. By the start of the high medieval period, Hai Gaon referred to questions addressed to him from Ashkenaz, which undoubtedly meant Germany. Talmudic commentators like Rashi used leshon Ashkenaz to describe Yiddish, while Byzantine and Syrian Jewish letters referred to the Crusaders as Ashkenazim. In the 12th century, the word appeared quite frequently in literature such as Solomon ben Aderet's Responsa and the work of his son Jacob ben Asher. The cluster of cities containing the earliest Jewish settlements north of the Alps included Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, known collectively as SHuM cities. These communities played a major role in forming Ashkenazi religious tradition alongside Troyes and Sens in France. Conforming to the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was denominated Sefarad, France was called Tsarefat, and Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan.
Following the Rhineland massacres of 1096, Jewish communities along the Rhine River were devastated by crusader mobs inspired by the preaching of the First Crusade. Expulsions from England in 1290, France in 1394, and parts of Germany during the 15th century gradually pushed Ashkenazi Jewry eastward toward Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. By the 15th century, Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland became the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora. King Casimir III the Great encouraged migration to the Kingdom of Poland, making it the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust. In 1740, a family from Lithuania became the first Ashkenazi Jews to settle in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. Over several hundred years, some have suggested that Jewish economic activity focused on trade, business management, and financial services due to Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth officially invited Jews, granting them special protection through the Statute of Kalisz of 1264. During the 16th century, as conditions for Italian Jews worsened, many Jews from Venice and surrounding areas migrated to Poland and Lithuania.
Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II, about 6 million were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews, representing 91 percent of that population. Approximately 900,000 of 1.5 million Jews in Ukraine perished, accounting for 60 percent of that community. Between 50 and 90 percent of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, Hungary, and the Baltic states were killed. Over 25 percent of the Jews in France also died during this period. As the large majority of victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from an estimate of 92 percent of world Jewry in 1930 to nearly 80 percent today. The Holocaust effectively ended the dynamic development of the Yiddish language, as around 5 million Yiddish speakers were among the Jewish victims. Many surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States after the war. Today, sources place Ashkenazim as making up approximately 83 to 85 percent of Jews worldwide, though some estimates suggest a notably lower figure below 74 percent.
Efforts to identify the origins of Ashkenazi Jews through DNA analysis began in the 1990s using autosomal DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and Y-chromosomal DNA testing. A 2000 study by Hammer and co-authors found that the Y-chromosome of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews contained mutations common among Middle Eastern peoples but uncommon among indigenous Europeans. This suggests that Ashkenazi male ancestors are mostly from the Middle East with less than 0.5 percent male genetic admixture per generation over 80 generations. A 2006 study by Behar and co-authors suggested that about 40 percent of today's Ashkenazim descend from just four women likely from a Hebrew or Levantine mtDNA pool originating in the Middle East during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. However, a 2013 study led by Martin B. Richards argued that more than 80 percent of Ashkenazi maternal ancestry comes from women indigenous to prehistoric Western Europe. A 2025 statistical review found that most Ashkenazi Jews descend maternally from about 150 Near Eastern families, supporting a unified Near Eastern origin for both paternal and maternal lineages. Genome-wide association studies have also been used to examine genetic relationships among all major Jewish groups.
Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, and rice during Pesach, whereas Sephardi Jews typically do not prohibit these foods. Ashkenazi Jews freely mix and eat fish and milk products, while some Sephardi Jews refrain from doing so. In the traditional Ashkenazic rite, tefillin are wound towards the body rather than away from it. Ashkenazim traditionally don tefillin while standing, whereas other Jews generally do so while sitting down. The prayer shawl or tallit is worn by all Ashkenazi men after marriage, except western European Ashkenazi men who wear it from bar mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood. Ashkenazic liturgy refers to Nusach Ashkenaz, the liturgical tradition used in their siddur prayer books. Two other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazic Jews include Nusach Sefard, which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and Nusach Ari used by those in Chabad. Differences are noted in the Shulkhan Arukh itself, particularly in the gloss of Moses Isserles.
Before the Haskalah and emancipation of Jews in Europe, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew and spoke Yiddish in their secular lives. Yiddish emerged as a result of Judeo-Latin language contact with various High German vernaculars in the medieval period. It is a Germanic language written in Hebrew letters, heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic, with some elements of Romance and later Slavic languages. By 1930, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, and many Jews were involved in diverse political movements. The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige in favor of national languages and Hebrew, being stigmatized by assimilationists and later also Zionists. Although a far smaller number of Jews still speak Yiddish today, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, styles of humor, and patterns of association. As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly through aliyah to Israel or immigration to North America, geographic isolation gave way to mixing with other cultures. 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.
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Common questions
What is the origin of the name Ashkenazi Jews?
The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz, who was the first son of Gomer and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. Early Jewish communities in Europe began to use this term around the 10th century to describe Jews living in the Rhineland valley and neighboring France.
When did Ashkenazi Jewish communities move eastward toward Poland and Lithuania?
Expulsions from England in 1290, France in 1394, and parts of Germany during the 15th century gradually pushed Ashkenazi Jewry eastward toward Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. By the 15th century, Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland became the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora.
How many Ashkenazi Jews were murdered during the Holocaust?
About 6 million of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. This included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews, representing 91 percent of that population.
What do DNA studies reveal about the ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews?
A 2000 study by Hammer and co-authors found that the Y-chromosome of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews contained mutations common among Middle Eastern peoples but uncommon among indigenous Europeans. A 2025 statistical review found that most Ashkenazi Jews descend maternally from about 150 Near Eastern families, supporting a unified Near Eastern origin for both paternal and maternal lineages.
Why did Ashkenazi Jews develop distinct religious practices compared to other groups?
Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, and rice during Pesach, whereas Sephardi Jews typically do not prohibit these foods. In the traditional Ashkenazic rite, tefillin are wound towards the body rather than away from it, and prayer shawls are worn differently based on marital status or region.