In early Jewish history, a member of the 12 tribes of Israel.
After the establishment (930 &BC;) of two Jewish kingdoms (Israel and Judah) in Palestine, only the ten northern tribes constituting the kingdom of Israel were known as Israelites. When Israel was conquered by the Assyrians (721 &BC;), its population was absorbed by other peoples, and the term Israelite came to refer to those who were still distinctively Jewish—the descendants of the kingdom of Judah. In liturgical usage, an Israelite is a Jew who is neither a cohen nor a Levite (&see; Levi).
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