European Jews whose daily language was Yiddish (often in addition to the languages of the countries and regions in which they lived during the Diaspora).

Ashkenazim is the plural of Ashkenazi, a term derived from the Hebrew name Ashkenaz, a great-grandson of the biblical Noah. The Ashkenazim are Jews whose Middle East ancestors migrated to Germany (called Ashkenaz by medieval Jews) and the surrounding areas, where they spoke Middle High German during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and that evolved into Jüdisch Diutsch, or Yiddish. Their liturgical Hebrew differs markedly in both rhythm and pronunciation from that of today's Middle Eastern Jews or of the Sephardic Jews of Southern Europe and North Africa.

In modern Israel, the Ashkenazim were, until recently, a minority, outnumbered by Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jews; as large numbers of refugees from the former Soviet Union arrive, however, the Ashkenazim may become the majority of the Jewish population.

Although the Hebrew language taught in Israel's public schools uses the Sephardic pronunciation, Ashkenazic Hebrew can be heard during services in East and Central European congregations. Small but strongly cohesive communities of Ashkenazic pietists - particularly in the United States, Jerusalem, and B'nei B'rak - speak Yiddish, regarding Hebrew as too sacred for secular matters and daily conversation. In the modern Middle East, outside Israel, only Turkey has a small but viable Ashkenazic community.

Bibliography

Avruch, Kevin, and Zenner, Walter P., eds. Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Religion and Government. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.

Baron, Salo Wittmayer. A Social and Religious History of theJews, 2d edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952 - .

Shafir, Gershon, and Peled, Yoav. Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

— ARNOLD BLUMBERG