A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
*Jews who settled in Northern France, Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe and their descendants in *Israel, the United States and the British Commonwealth. The Ashkenazim are contrasted with the *Sephardim who had their origins in Spain and North Africa.
The community was aware of the distinction as early as the 11th Century. Separate customs, pronunciations, liturgies and terminology developed although communication was always maintained between the great rabbinic centres of Germany and Spain. *Yiddish was the everyday language of the Ashkenazim before World War II and they were estimated to comprise ninety per cent of World Jewry. Their numbers were decimated in the *holocaust and their main centres are now Israel and the United States.
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