According to the Bible, the Tribe of Levi is one of the tribes of Israel , traditionally descended from Levi , son of Jacob . The descendants of Aaron , who was the first High Priest of Israel , were designated as the priestly class , the Kohanim .
29-615: [REDACTED] Look up يهود in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Yahud may refer to: Yehud ( יהוד ), Yehudi ( יהודי ), and Yehudim ( יהודים ), the Hebrew word for Jews Yahud or Yahudy ( يهود ), the Arabic word for Jews Yehud ( יהוד ), a city in Israel located near
58-747: A Jew, e.g., Ebreo in Italian and Spanish, Ebri / Ebrani ( Persian : عبری/عبرانی ) in Persian and Еврей Yevrey in Russian . (See List of Jewish ethnonyms for a full overview.) The German word Jude ( [ˈjuːdə] ) is cognate with the Yiddish word for "Jew", Yid . According to the Klein dictionary by rabbi Ernest Klein , the Hebrew word for Jew, Judean, or Jewish Hebrew : יְהוּדִי which
87-569: A covenant with the Kohanim and Levites, connecting it with the covenant with the seed of King David: The Book of Malachi also spoke of a covenant with Levi: Malachi connected a purification of the "sons of Levi" with the coming of God's messenger : Critical scholars who follow the documentary hypothesis propose that those parts of the Torah attributed to the Elohist seem to treat Levite as
116-470: A descriptive attribute for someone particularly suited to the priesthood, rather than as a firm designation of a tribe, and believe that Moses and Aaron are being portrayed as part of the Joseph group rather than being part of a tribe called Levi . Jahwist passages have more ambiguous language; traditionally interpreted as referring to a person named Levi , they could also be interpreted as just referring to
145-567: A generic aspect, in this case referring to a man from the tribe of Benjamin : The name appears in the Bible as a verb in Esther 8:17 which states: In some places in the Talmud the word Israel(ite) refers to somebody who is Jewish but does not necessarily practice Judaism as a religion : "An Israel(ite) even though he has sinned is still an Israel(ite)" (Tractate Sanhedrin 44a). More commonly
174-474: A neutral fashion, as it underwent a process known as reappropriation . Even today some people are wary of its use, and prefer to use "Jewish". Indeed, when used as an adjective (e.g. "Jew lawyer") or verb (e.g. "to Jew-down someone" ), the term Jew is purely pejorative. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , Fourth Edition (2000): It is widely recognized that
203-545: A social position titled levi . In the Blessing of Jacob , Levi is treated as a tribe, cursing them to become scattered; critics regard this as an aetiological postdiction to explain how a tribe could be so scattered, the simpler solution being that the priesthood was originally open to any tribe, but gradually became seen as a distinct tribe to themselves. The Priestly source and the Blessing of Moses , which critical scholars view as originating centuries later, portray
232-601: Is " yehudi " in Hebrew orig. meant 'member of the tribe Judah', later also 'member of the Kingdom of Judah'. When after the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. only the Kingdom of Judah survived, yehudi יֽהוּדִי came to denote 'Jew', resp. 'Jewish'. cp. 'Judaic', 'Jew', 'Chueta' and 'Yiddish'. According to rabbi Marcus Jastrow 's dictionary, yehudi is defined as "worshipper of one God" and rejecting idolatry. Meg. 12 קרי ליה י׳ אלמא מיהודה וכ׳ he
261-406: Is called Y'hudi (Esth. II, 5), which would indicate that he belongs to the tribe of Judah, and yet he is called ish y'mini &c.?, v. נִימוֹס. Ib. 13 ... ואמאי י׳ ... שכל הכופר בע"ז נקרא י׳ but why is he designated as Y'hudi? Because he disowned idolatry; for whosoever disowns idolatry, is called a Jew (ref. to Dan. III, 12); Esth. R. to II, 5 לפי שייחד ... נקרא י׳ לומר י׳ יחירי because he professed
290-685: Is derived from Old French. The modern French term is "Juif/Juive" (m/f). Most European languages have retained the letter "d" in the word for "Jew". Etymological equivalents are in use in other languages, e.g. Jude in German , judeu in Portuguese , jøde in Danish and Norwegian , judío in Spanish , jood in Dutch . In some languages, derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe
319-540: Is used as an ethno-religious designation. The word Jew has been used often enough in a disparaging manner by antisemites that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was frequently avoided altogether, and the term Hebrew was substituted instead (e.g. Young Men's Hebrew Association ). The German counterpart Jude was extensively used during the Nazi period as a part of its anti-semitic campaign (eventually leading to genocide ). The word has become more often used in
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#1732783670544348-638: The Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. The plural, Yehudim ( הַיְּהוּדִים ) first appears in 2 Kings 16:6 where it refers to a defeat for the Yehudi army or nation, and in 2 Chronicles 32:18 , where it refers to the language of the Yehudim ( יְהוּדִית ). Jeremiah 34:9 has the earliest singular usage of the word Yehudi . In Esther 2:5–6 , the name "Yehudi" ( יְהוּדִי ) has
377-515: The Torah , the tribe is named after Levi , one of the twelve sons of Jacob (also called Israel ). Levi married a woman named Adinah—according to the Book of Jasher —and had three sons: Gershon , Kohath , and Merari ( Genesis 46:11 ). Levi also had a daughter named Jochebed ( Exodus 6:20 ). Kohath's son Amram was the father of Miriam, Aaron and Moses . The descendants of Aaron, the Kohanim, had
406-558: The 'h' sound. The Latin term, following the Greek version, is Iudaeus , and from these sources the term passed to other European languages. The Old French giu , earlier juieu , had elided (dropped) the letter "d" from the Latin Iudaeus . The Middle English word Jew derives from Old English where the word is attested as early as 1000 in various forms, such as Iudeas , Gyu , Giu , Iuu , Iuw , Iew . The Old English name
435-652: The Ben Gurion Airport Yehud Medinata , the Levantine province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire See also [ edit ] Yehudi (disambiguation) Yahudi , a 1958 Indian film Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Yahud . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
464-605: The Hebrew Bible The English term Jew is originally derived from the Hebrew term Yehudi ( lit. ' of Judah ' ), which passed into Greek as Ioudaios and into Latin as Iudaeus , in turn evolving into the Old French term giu after the letter "d" was dropped. A variety of related forms are found in early English from about the year 1000, including Iudea , Gyu , Giu , Iuu , Iuw , and Iew , which eventually developed into
493-676: The Kohanim, the priests working in the Temple in Jerusalem , particularly the first tithe . The Levites who were not Kohanim played music in the Temple or served as guards. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan , the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed land tenure ; Joshua 13 :33, "But no portion was assigned by Moses to
522-539: The Mosaic law in the face of those worshipping the golden calf , which may have been a reason for their priestly status. Although the Levites were not counted in the census among the children of Israel, they were numbered separately as a special army. In the Book of Numbers the Levites were charged with ministering to the Kohanim and keeping watch over the Tabernacle: The Book of Jeremiah speaks of
551-464: The Talmud uses the term Bnei Yisrael , i.e. "Children of Israel", ("Israel" being the name of the third patriarch Jacob , father of the sons that would form the twelve tribes of Israel, which he was given and took after wrestling with an angel, see Genesis 32:28–29 ) to refer to Jews. According to the Talmud then, there is no distinction between "religious Jews" and "secular Jews." In modern Hebrew ,
580-577: The Temple, serving as guards, and performing other services. Levites also served as teachers and judges, maintaining cities of refuge in biblical times. The Book of Ezra reports that the Levites were responsible for the construction of the Second Temple and also translated and explained the Torah when it was publicly read. During the Exodus the Levite tribe were particularly zealous in protecting
609-412: The attributive use of the noun Jew , in phrases such as Jew lawyer or Jew ethics , is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as There are now several Jews on
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#1732783670544638-445: The council , which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like Jewish people or persons of Jewish background may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun. Tribe of Levi The Tribe of Levi served particular religious duties for the Israelites and had political responsibilities as well. In return, the landed tribes were expected to give tithes to
667-427: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yahud&oldid=1227001134 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Hebrew-language text Articles containing Arabic-language text Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Jew (word)#Yehudi in
696-564: The modern English word for the Jewish people . According to the Book of Genesis , Judah ( יְהוּדָה , Yehudah ) was the name of the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob . During the Exodus, the name was given to the Tribe of Judah , descended from the patriarch Judah. After the conquest and settlement of the land of Canaan , Judah also referred to the territory allocated to the tribe. After
725-623: The same word is still used to mean both Jews and Judeans ("of Judea"). In Arabic the terms are yahūdī (sg.), al-yahūd (pl.), and بَنُو اِسرَائِيل banū isrāʼīl . The Aramaic term is Y'hūdāi . The Septuagint (reputedly a product of Hellenistic Jewish scholarship) and other Greek documents translated יְהוּדִי , Yehudi and the Aramaic Y'hūdāi using the Koine Greek term Ioudaios ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἰουδαῖος ; pl. Ἰουδαῖοι Ioudaioi ), which had lost
754-598: The special role as priests in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also in the Temple in Jerusalem . The remaining Levites were divided into three groups: Gershonites (descended from Gershon), Kohathites (from Kohath), and Merarites (from Merari). Each division filled different roles in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple services. Levites' principal roles in the Temple included singing Psalms during Temple services, performing construction and maintenance for
783-530: The splitting of the united Kingdom of Israel , the name was used for the southern kingdom of Judah . The kingdom now encompassed the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon , along with some of the cities of the Levites . With the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria) , the kingdom of Judah became the sole Jewish state and the term y'hudi ( יהודי ) was applied to all Israelites. The term Yehudi ( יְהוּדִי ) occurs 74 times in
812-565: The tribe of Levi; YHWH God of Israel is their portion—as [God] spoke concerning them." Some Biblical traditions point to the alien aspects of the Levites and their role as military troops. In this context, the etymology linking the term Levi with the Mycenaean Greek term la-wo (the people / armed people) was proposed. Notable descendants of the Levite lineage according to the Bible include Moses , Aaron , Miriam , Samuel , Jeremiah , Ezekiel , Ezra , and Malachi . According to
841-581: The unity of God, he was called Y'hudi, meaning to say, a Y'hudi, a believer in One God. In modern English and other contemporary languages, the term "Israelite" was used to refer to contemporary Jews as well as to Jews of antiquity until the mid-20th-century. Since the foundation of the State of Israel , it has become less common to use "Israelite" of Jews in general. Instead, citizens of the state of Israel, whether Jewish or not, are called "Israeli", while "Jew"
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