Are There Different Kinds of Jews?

The primary divisions among Jews beginning in theempire as well as in various places in Europe and
medieval period were Sephardim and Ashkenazim. Itseventually to the New World.
quite clear however that dividing Jews into only theseToday four communities are correctly categorized
two categories is incorrect and oversimplification. Theunder the Sephardic label, though the term Sephardic is
term Sephardim is derived from the Hebrew word foroften misused to designate other communities that
Spain, Sepharad.were from North Africa, the Arabian peninsula, or
The term is first used in the Bible, but its connection topresent day Iraq and Iran.
Spain or more correctly the Iberian peninsula at thisThe four communities are Spanish-Portuguese,
time is unlikely.Judeo-Spanish, Moroccan Spanish, and Syrian
Eventually however the term was used for Spain, andcommunities. The number of Jews under all these
hence Sephardim reflects Jews who were orcategories has drastically fallen though communities of
descend from Jewish communities living in Spain andeach continue to exist.
Portugal.The Ashkenazim are Jews which originated in
The existence of Jewish communities in Spain datescommunities in Ashkenaz, the Hebrew name for
to the early centuries of the Common Era during theGermany. The term Ashkenaz appears in the book of
Roman period. Tradition among Spanish Jews datesGenesis in an early genealogy detailing the
the existence of Jewish communities from the time ofdescendants of Noah, and it likely designated a region
the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem inin Europe in later Jewish tradition, though at what time it
the year 70 CE, while some date the existence ofwas specifically connected with Germany is unclear.
communities back the period of the Babylonian exile.Like the term Sephardim, the term Ashkenazim has
The Jewish communities of Spain gained prominencebeen extended to Jewish communities in other regions,
in the Jewish world during the rise of Moorish rule inthough perhaps less inappropriately than the former
Spain, a subject which deserves its own series ofterm. The term correctly covers those Jewish
posts. The historic Jewish communities of Spain andcommunities that lived in medieval France and
Portugal were eventually expelled in the 15th centuryGermany. It was later used in referring to Jews in
which led to a Sephardic Diaspora Spanish andPoland, Russian, as well as other communities of
Portuguese Jewish communities in the OttomanEastern Europe.