How many Jewish ethnicities are there?

[MD]

I know there are Ashkenazi (European) and Sephardic (North African), I'm wondering about the others.

What countries do Mizrahi Jews fall under? What about Indian Jews or Central Asian Jews? Are Sephardic Jews only North African or do they encompass all of Africa?

Which ethnicity would mixed Jews like Lenny Kravitz and Maya Rudolph fall under?

Thanks

 

[Eliab ben Benjamin]

Sephardic (North African)

I as a Sephardic Hebrew would say your "North African"
is incorrect, rather we are the Hebrews that at the diaspora ended up in Spain, until
Islam invaded Spain and later around the Inquisition the pogroms occurred.

As regards Ethnicity we are Semitic or the original Hebrews

 

[Zardoz]

Also Sephardic, I'd say that the entire Mediterranean region (including Spain & North Africa) would be considered Sephardic.

Ashkenazi would refer to Eastern European Jews almost exclusively.

Any Jews not in these two regions (say Yemen for example) would usually be considered Sephardic by default.

Short answer is there's two basic ethnic blocks, but in actuality many exist; again for example Yemeni Jews are their own culture.

 

[rosends]

I know there are Ashkenazi (European) and Sephardic (North African), I'm wondering about the others.

What countries do Mizrahi Jews fall under? What about Indian Jews or Central Asian Jews? Are Sephardic Jews only North African or do they encompass all of Africa?

Which ethnicity would mixed Jews like Lenny Kravitz and Maya Rudolph fall under?

Thanks

I'm not exactly sure what an ethnicity is. A Jew from Shanghai, no matter what tradition he keeps, is still of a different ethnicity from a Jew from Spain, Germany or Brooklyn. At least according to one definition of ethnicity.

 

[Kirran]

What ethnicity would you use to describe the Beta Israel, Cochin Jews, the Bene Israel, the Kaifeng Jews, etc?

 

[MARCELLO]

And the khazars of course.

 

[Flankerl]

Beta Israel

Ethiopian Jews.

Cochin Jews

Indian Jews.

Bene Israel

Also Indian Jews.

Kaifeng Jews

Chinese Jews.

And the khazars of course.

You do realise they are extinct right?

 

[FearGod]

Do they all follow the same principles of Judaism or there are some differences ?

 

[MARCELLO]

Check jewish library, you will see Japanese jews. Wowwww, a jew containing japaneseness ? Stunning should it be....

 

[Akivah]

Do they all follow the same principles of Judaism or there are some differences ?

There are as many Jewish ethnicities as there are separate ethnic groups in the world. Anyone that properly converts can be Jewish.

And the ethnicity of a person has no correlation to that person's particular observances.

 

[Kirran]

Ethiopian Jews.




Indian Jews.




Also Indian Jews.




Chinese Jews.

Yup

I was just wondering, are there attempts to fit these groups into Ashkenazim/Sephardim, in the way the Mizrahi are often grouped under Sephardim? Or are they generally thought of at distinct sub-divisions of ethnic Jews?

 

[rosends]

Do they all follow the same principles of Judaism or there are some differences ?

Can't it be both?
You can ask the same question about me and my neighbors and have the same answer.

 

[Zardoz]

Much of the ethnic difference has to do with language. Ashkenazim have Yiddish, I have Ladino.
Our prayerbooks are different too. Our Minhag (Tradition) is different as well.

But, fundamental religious principles are pretty much the same.

 

[Akivah]

Much of the ethnic difference has to do with language. Ashkenazim have Yiddish, I have Ladino.
Our prayerbooks are different too. Our Minhag (Tradition) is different as well.

But, fundamental religious principles are pretty much the same.

There are also slight differences in some specific details of religious observances. And some differences in the cooking or ingredients of Jewish dishes.

 

[dantech]

The pronunciation, the prayers' melodies, the accents, the prayer books, the traditions are all different. There are even differences in between cities of origin even though both are from the same country.

Our history, our laws, and our belief system is essentially the same, at least across the three different major denominations (Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reform)

 

[RocketJSquirell]

There is one Jewish ethnicity - Jewish!

 

[metis]

My wife is from an area in n.w. Sicily near Trapani which used to have a large Jewish population at one time, and one thing I learned from a rabbi this last Rosh Hashanah is that they are not either Ashkenazi nor Sephardic.

When we were first married, I was sort of bewildered to watch my mother-in-law rinsing the meat, salting it, and then laying it on a slanted board going towards the sink, which is "kashering", but she was Catholic. This is not the only custom in my wife's Catholic family that paralleled Jewish tradition, and I don't have much doubt that there was an influence there.