Jew
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
In general, a Jew is someone who belongs to the religion called Judaism. Some people who come from a Jewish family or a part-Jewish family think of themselves as Jewish even when they do not practice Judaism. According to the Jewish Halakha, someone is Jewish if their mother was Jewish.
The word Jew originally meant people from the ancient Kingdom of Judea (where Israel is today). After most Judeans were forced out by the Romans, the word started to mean people of the Jewish religion, and not just those from Judea.
Israel is the only Jewish country, but there are Jewish minorities in many large cities in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
Jews were also the main victims of a genocide during World War II (known as the Holocaust).
Jewish Ethnic Groups
There are different Jewish ethnic groups. The two biggest are called Ashkenazi (European Jews) and Sephardic (Jews from the lands around the Mediterranean Sea). There are also African Jews (Beta Israel), Indian Jews (Bene Israel) and even some Chinese Jews (Kai-feng Jews).
