Ashkenazi Jews

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ashkenazi-jews

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What language do people speak in Ashkenazi Jews?Yiddish, a Germanic language with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic influences
2. What is the population dynamics (11th century)?Comprised approximately 3% of the world Jewish population
3. What is the population dynamics (1930 peak)?Represented approximately 92% of the world Jewish population prior to the Holocaust
4. What does the name "Ashkenazi" mean and where did they start?The name comes from the region of the Rhineland in Germany and nearby France, where Jewish communities began in the Early Middle Ages.
5. Why did many Ashkenazi Jews move east to places like Poland?They moved because of persecution, but also for better jobs and invitations from kings who wanted skilled people.

Ashkenazi Jews: A subgroup of Jewish people whose historical origins are in Central and Eastern Europe, characterized by distinct cultural and linguistic traditions.
Yiddish: A historical language developed by Ashkenazi Jews, blending Middle High German with Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic elements, written in Hebrew script.
Diaspora: The dispersion of any people from their original homeland; specifically refers to Jewish communities living outside the Land of Israel.
Haskalah: The Jewish Enlightenment, a 18th and 19th-century intellectual and cultural movement advocating for modernization, secular education, and integration into European society.