Israeli Jews

Israeli Jews
יהודים ישראלים‎
Total population
Jewish citizens only:
7,208,000 (73.2%)[1]
Jews and non-Jewish relatives:
7,762,000 (78.9%)
Regions with significant populations
 Israel (incl. occupied territories)       7,208,000[a]
 United States500,000[6][7][8]
 Russia100,000 (80,000 in Moscow)[9][10]
 Canada10,755[11]–30,000[12]
 United Kingdom≈30,000[13]
 Australia15,000[14]
 Germany≈10,000[15][16][17]
Languages
Predominant:
Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, English, French
Historical:
Yiddish, Amharic, other Jewish languages
Related ethnic groups
Diaspora Jews, Samaritans, Arabs, etc. (Middle Eastern peoples)
שָׁלוֹם
This article contains Hebrew text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hebrew letters.
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See also: Demographics of Israel

Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis (Hebrew: יהודים ישראלים Yêhūdīm Yīśrāʾēlīm) comprise Israel's largest ethnic and religious community. The core of their demographic consists of those with a Jewish identity and their descendants, including ethnic Jews and religious Jews alike. Approximately 99% of the global Israeli Jewish population resides in Israel; yerida is uncommon and is offset exponentially by aliyah, but those who do emigrate from the country typically relocate to the Western world. As such, the Israeli diaspora is closely tied to the broader Jewish diaspora.

The country is widely described as a melting pot for the various Jewish ethnic divisions, primarily consisting of Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Mizrahi Jews, as well as many smaller Jewish communities, such as the Beta Israel, the Cochin Jews, the Bene Israel, and the Karaite Jews, among others. Likewise, over 25% of Jewish children and 35% of Jewish newborns in Israel are of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardic or Mizrahi descent, and these figures have been increasing by approximately 0.5% annually: over 50% of Israel's entire Jewish population identifies as having Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi admixture.[18] The integration of Judaism in Israeli Jewish life is split along four categories: the secularists (33%), the traditionalists (24%), the Orthodox (9%), and the Ultra-Orthodox (7%). In addition to religious influences, both Jewish history and Jewish culture serve as important aspects defining Israel's Jewish society, thereby contributing significantly to Israel's identity as the world's only Jewish-majority country.[19][20][21]

In 2018, Israel's Knesset narrowly voted in favour of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. As the Israeli government considers a person's Jewish status to be a matter of nationality and citizenship, the definition of Jewishness in the Israeli Law of Return includes patrilineal Jewish descent; this does not align with the stipulations of Judaism's halakha, which defines Jewishness through matrilineality. As of 1970, all Jews by blood and their non-Jewish spouses automatically qualify for the right to immigrate to the country and acquire Israeli citizenship.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israeli Jewish population stood at 7,208,000 people in 2023, comprising approximately 73% of the country's total population.[22] The addition of any non-Jewish relatives (e.g., spouses) increased this figure to 7,762,000 people, comprising approximately 79% of the country's total population. In 2008, a study conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that a plurality of Israeli Jews (47%) identify as Jews first and as Israelis second, and that 39% consider themselves to be Israelis first and foremost.[23]

Upon the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, the Palestinian Jews of the Yishuv in the British Mandate for Palestine became known as Israeli Jews due to their adoption of a new national identity. The former term has since fallen out of use in common speech.

  1. ^ "2024 אוכלוסיית ישראלבפתחהשל שנת" (PDF). www.cbs.gov.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  2. ^ Yoram Ettinger (5 April 2013). "Defying demographic projections". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Jewish Demographic Policies" (PDF). The Jewish People Policy Institute. 2011.
  4. ^ DellaPergola, Sergio (2011). "Jewish Demographic Policies" (PDF). The Jewish People Policy Institute.
  5. ^ "Israel (people)". Encyclopedia.com. 2007.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Everyculture.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ PINI HERMAN (25 April 2012). "Rumors of mass Israeli emigration are much exaggerated". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  8. ^ Gallya Lahav; Asher Arian (2005). Rey Koslowski (ed.). 'Israelis in a Jewish diaspora: The multiple dilemmas of a globalized group' in International Migration and the Globalization of Domestic Politics. London: Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-415-25815-9.
  9. ^ "100,000 Former Soviet Jews In Israel Return To Russia", by Michael Mainville, The Toronto Star
  10. ^ Israelis Find A Lively Jewish Niche in Moscow by Rena Greenberg – Moscow, Russia, 19 March 2014.
  11. ^ "Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada – Data table". 2.statcan.ca. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference jewishagency.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Broadening the picture – beyond America: The United Kingdom". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  14. ^ Goldberg, Dan (3 July 2012). "Jews Down Under Are on the Rise, but for How Long?". Haaretz.
  15. ^ Hagin, Adi (16 September 2011). "Why are Israelis moving to Germany?". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  16. ^ Assaf Uni (3 September 2012). "Israelis in Berlin buying their strudel with welfare". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  17. ^ Doron Halutz (21 January 2011). "Unkosher Nightlife and Holocaust Humor: Israelis Learn to Love the New Berlin". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  18. ^ My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit, (London 2014)
  19. ^ Tabory, Ephraim (2004) [1990]. "Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel". In Goldscheider, Calvin; Neusner, Jacob (eds.). Social Foundations of Judaism (Reprint ed.). Eugene, Or: Wipf and Stock Publ. pp. 240–258. ISBN 978-1-59244-943-9.
  20. ^ Tabory, Ephraim (2004). "The Israel Reform and Conservative Movements and the Marker for the Liberal Judaism". In Rebhum, Uzi; Waxman, Chaim I. (eds.). Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns. Brandeis University Press. pp. 285–314.
  21. ^ Deshen, Shlomo; Liebman, Charles S.; Shokeid, Moshe, eds. (2017) [1995]. "Americans in the Israeli Reform and Conservative Denominations". Israeli Judaism: The Sociology of Religion in Israel. Studies of Israeli Society, 7 (Reprint ed.). London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-56000-178-2.
  22. ^ "ישראל במספרים ערב ראש השנה תשפ". www.cbs.gov.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  23. ^ "Poll: Most Israelis see themselves as Jewish first, Israeli second – Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews". Ynet.co.il. Retrieved 26 May 2012.


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