Ashkenazim

Ashkenazim, or Ashkenazi Jews, are a Jewish ethnic and cultural group whose historical heartland was the medieval Rhine valley in what is now Germany and nearby regions, with later settlement across Central and Eastern Europe. The name Ashkenaz derives from a biblical term used by rabbinic writers to refer to Germany, and it became associated with the German-speaking Jewish communities and their descendants in Yiddish.

Language and culture have been defining features. The Ashkenazim developed Yiddish, a High German–based vernacular written in Hebrew script, enriched with Hebrew and Slavic elements. They established distinct religious rites, scholarly traditions, and communal structures, with notable early centers in Mainz, Speyer, and Worms, and later in Poland-Lithuania. Over time, movements such as Hasidism and various rabbinic currents influenced religious practice, education, and social life.

Geographically, Ashkenazi communities grew from medieval Europe into large populations in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland, Lithuania, and parts of the Russian Empire. Beginning in the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Ashkenazim emigrated to North America and the United Kingdom, and to Israel, driven by persecution, economic pressures, and political upheaval. The Holocaust severely reduced Ashkenazi communities in Europe, leading to significant demographic and cultural shifts worldwide.

Today, Ashkenazim constitute a major portion of Jewish communities in Israel and North America and are diverse in religious observance, including Orthodox, Hasidic, Conservative, Reform, and secular groups. They remain linked by historical experiences, language, liturgy, and shared cultural memoria, even as they interact with Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities.