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The Jews (Hebrew: ISO 259-3 Yehudim Israeli pronunciation [jehudim]); ( ,

Standard: Bnai Yisrael; Tiberian: Bnai Yirl; ISO 259-3: Bnai Yirael, translated
as: "Children of Israel" or "Sons of Israel"), also known as the Jewish people, are a
nation and ethnoreligious group
[18]
who originate from the Israelites (Hebrews) of the
Ancient Near East.
[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

According to Jewish tradition, Jewish ancestry is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who lived in Canaan around the 18th century BCE. Jacob
and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Joseph (who
rose to the rank of Pharaoh's Vizier) in the Land of Goshen region by Pharaoh himself.
Their descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, which is
commonly dated to the 13th century BCE. Historically, Jews had evolved mostly from
the Tribe of Judah and Simeon, and partially from the Israelite tribes of Binyamin and
Levi, who had all together formed the ancient Kingdom of Judah (alongside the
remnants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who migrated to their Southern counterpart
and assimilated there).
[26]
A closely related group is the Samaritans, who claim descent
from the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, while according to the Bible their
origin is in the people brought to Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and some Cohanim
(Jewish priests) who taught them how to worship the "native God".
[27]
The Jewish
ethnicity, nationality and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional
faith of the Jewish nation.
[28][29][30]
Converts to Judaism typically have a status within
the Jewish ethnos equal to those born into it.
[31]
Conversion is not encouraged by
mainstream Judaism, and is considered a tough task, mainly applicable for cases of
mixed marriages.
[32]

The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish nation-state and defines itself as
such in its Basic Laws. Its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who
requests it.
[33]
Israel is the only country where Jews are a majority of the population.
Jews had also enjoyed political independence twice before in ancient history. The first
of these periods lasted from 1350
[34]
to 586 BCE, and encompassed the periods of the
Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, ending with the destruction of the First Temple. The second was the period of the
Hasmonean Kingdom spanning from 140 to 37 BCE and to some degree under
Herodians from 37 BCE to 6 CE. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE,
most Jews have lived in diaspora.
[35]
As an ethnic minority in every country in which
they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced persecution throughout
history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution
over the centuries.
The world Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II,
[36]

but 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen
again, and as of 2010 was estimated at 13.4 million by the North American Jewish Data
Bank,
[36]
or less than 0.2% of the total world population (roughly one in every 514
people).
[37]
According to this report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel (6 million),
and 39% in the United States (5.36.8 million), with most of the remainder living in
Europe (1.5 million) and Canada (0.4 million).
[36]
These numbers include all those who
self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified so by a
respondent in the same household.
[38]
The exact world Jewish population

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