Ashkenazi
/ˌaʃkəˈnɑːzi
/noun (plural Ashkenazim /ˌaʃkəˈnɑːzɪm/)
A Jew of central or eastern European descent. More than 80 per cent of Jews today are Ashkenazim; they preserve Palestinian rather than Babylonian Jewish traditions and some still use Yiddish. Compare with Sephardi.Many felt discriminated against once they went to Israel, which was dominated by Ashkenazim or European Jews...
- The American love of gherkins comes from the Russian, Eastern European and Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora.
- It was necessary also that they be freshly instructed in the Mosaic law and the Jewish observances by the Ashkenazi rabbis of Amsterdam, who were deeply suspicious of the Sephardic traditions of Spain.
Derivatives
Ashkenazic
/ adjective ...- In addition, the Ashkenazic Jews speak Yiddish, which is a peculiarly Eastern European mixture of German and Hebrew, while the Sephardic Jews speak Ladino.
- Over the last decade, much has been written about the class and racial difference between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews.
- This marked the emergence of the first Ashkenazic European community in Israel.
Origin
From modern Hebrew, from Ashkenaz, grandson of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah (Gen. 10:3).