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**KrazyHorse** · December 25, 2001, 21:03

Its interesting how much media attention goes to hannahka (sp?) when there are so few of them, and how we hardly ever hear of Islamic holidays (unless it pertains to a war) when there are infinitely more followers of that religions

It's nice of you to have already answered your own question.

half of them live in the United States

**Gareth Edmunson** · December 26, 2001, 02:16

I know, but thats still only 5 million.

And think about it. You can go to pretty much any town anywhere in the USA or Canada and most other western countries and find a synagogue or some other hint of judism.

It just seems like this Jewish religion has this front of being a much bigger religion than it actually is. Everytime I ask people how many Jews they think are in the world, they say like 100 million. And if you didn't know the actual number, that seems reasonable.

**Dis** · December 26, 2001, 03:10

there are synagagues everywhere because there are jews everywhere. Even if there are only 10 jews in a town, they are likely to have a place to worship. They take their religion seriously.

We have one in my city that I know of. We probably have many more than that. Jewish make up a decent part of my community.

But if you go where I live (Las Vegas), you will see very little mention of the jewish community. They do make mention of it during hanukah times, but it is just a footnote on a newcast compared to christmas coverage.

The reason why it seems so "big" a religion is because of the large jewish community in New York City. and much media coverage in the U.S. still revolves around New York City.

**Gareth Edmunson** · December 26, 2001, 03:32

Originally posted by Dissident
there are synagagues everywhere because there are jews everywhere. Even if there are only 10 jews in a town, they are likely to have a place to worship. They take their religion seriously.

We have one in my city that I know of. We probably have many more than that. Jewish make up a decent part of my community.

But if you go where I live (Las Vegas), you will see very little mention of the jewish community. They do make mention of it during hanukah times, but it is just a footnote on a newcast compared to christmas coverage.

The reason why it seems so "big" a religion is because of the large jewish community in New York City. and much media coverage in the U.S. still revolves around New York City.

I suppose you're right. But I was still shocked to learn how few Jews there are.

**Dis** · December 26, 2001, 03:36

well it does seem like a low number. I would figure there were more in Israel.

although you have to think how many there would be had things been different 60 years ago. You have to think of all the offspring those people would have had...

**Oldenbarnevelt** · December 26, 2001, 10:20

A large part of the attention Judaism gets is due to the fact that Judaism was, as it were, incorporated into Christianity. (Another way to say this, is that Christianity started as a Jewish sect.) First, Christians adopted the Hebrew Bible ("Old Testament") as a holy book, then they devalued it by proclaiming that it was superseded by the New Testament, and that the Jews had lost their status of chosen people to the Church. Whenever a Christian speaks about Abraham, Moses, David, and even Jesus, he can't help "publicizing" Judaism. Christianity could never have existed without Judaism. (The same goes for Islam, which is also based in large part on the Hebrew Bible.) So if it's true that Judaism gets relatively much attention, there is a theological reason for that. Both the first Christians and the first Muslims have tried to woo the Jews over to their new religions, and their failure to do so has been a source of frustration and anti-Semitism to the present day.

**Eli** · December 26, 2001, 14:02

I'm searching for more updated numbers, but Israel now has 5,000,000 Jews, ex-USSR has at least 70-80% less, and Argentina has 200,000 Jews.

Also, those Jews around the world are the key to the survival of Israel. There are no chances for a major improvement in the Arab way/quality/whatever of life, so the birth rate will stay huge, and there is no chance for a Jewish majority to the west of the river in 15-25 years. So those 670,000 Jews in France, who already suffered 180 serious(no one counts the swastika sprayings on synagogues already) anti-semitic attacks in the last year, and the 200,000 Argentinian Jews must come here.
Not to mention the millions of the American Jews, who are assimilating in huge numbers(50% marry non Jews).
So, just like in the last 54 years, the future of Israel depends on the Aliyah.

**August Borms** · December 26, 2001, 16:33

Here's a more recent list:

It is estimated that there were 14,600,000 Jews in the world at the end of the year 2000, dispersed as follows:

United States 5,900,000
Israel 5,150,000
France 600,000
Russia 500,000
Canada 370,000
Ukraine 350,000
Britain 320,000
Argentina 260,000
Brazil 120,000
South Africa 110,000
Australia 110,000
Hungary 80,000
Germany 60,000
Belarus 50,000
Mexico 40,000
Belgium 40,000
Italy 35,000
Uzbekistan 35,000
Venezuela 35,000
Uruguay 33,000
Moldova 30,000
Azerbaijan 30,000
Holland 30,000
Iran 25,000
Turkey 25,000
Switzerland 20,000
Sweden 18,000
Georgia 17,000
Chile 15,000
Kazakstan 15,000
Romania 14,000
Latvia 14,000
Spain 14,000
Austria 10,000
Poland 8,000
Denmark 8,000
Morocco 8,000
Panama 7,000
Czech Republic 6,000
India 6,000
Lithuania 6,000
Slovakia 6,000
Colombia 6,000
Greece 5,000
New Zealand 5,000
Kyrgystan 4,000
Bulgaria 3,000
Estonia 3,000
Peru 3,000
Puerto Rico 3,000
Costa Rica 2,500
Hong Kong 2,500
Yugoslavia 2,500
Croatia 2,000
Japan 2,000
Tunisia 2,000
Tajikistan 2,000
Norway 1,500
Guatemala 1,200
Finland 1,200
Paraguay 1,200
Turkmenistan 1,200
Ireland 1,200
Cuba 1,000
Ecuador 1,000
Monaco 1,000
Portugal 1,000
Zimbabwe 1,000

**Gareth Edmunson** · December 26, 2001, 20:52

the future of Israel depends on the Aliyah

I don't get why Israel is so anal about how many Jews they have. who cares what religion people beleive in as long as they're eating, happy and safe.

I think Israel's policy on allowing people of the Jewish faith to "return" to Israel and get full citizenship is just a little bit backwards and ridiculous. Imagine if some western country did the same thing for Christians. Everyone would be all over them for it. I don't think the holocaust justifies it either.

It may be a shame if the number of Jews in the world dwindles down to nothing, but honestly what difference does it make? "Culture" is kind of an outdated concept. Who cares about culture and religion?

As far as I'm concerned, if everyone in the world only wore Old Navy and ate at McDonalds everyday, I wouldn't care as long as they're safe healthy and happy. It would kind of be a shame that all these cultures were gone, but who cares? Cultural diversity is interesting, but by no means necessary.

**Transcend** · December 26, 2001, 23:57

There are more American Muslims descent than Jews, 8 million vs 6 million! And not every 6 million American Jews do believe in Judaism.

**faded glory** · December 27, 2001, 02:55

Ya...living in Wisconsin, Georgia, New York and Florida. I have heard all the 'Zionist conspiracys'. The most intriguing ones were about how they put radiation in the non-kosher Pareve products to make the rest of us sterile

The usaul economic one also. That is a load of bull of course...Jews had been among the poorest people on earth for centurys. So it aint true...now for the most part, they fare like the rest of us and its suddenly not ok?

Oh yaaaa how could I forget those crazy ZOG's

. Europe, Canada, America, all wealthy nations are controlled! by ISRAEL

Tho I admit orthodox rabbi's look funny, i have nothing against Jews.

**axi** · December 27, 2001, 10:20

Weird, no jews in Australia?

Also beware of those 1000 Cuban Jews! They are part of a devious conspiracy to infiltrate Zionism with Communist elements, in an effort to take over the world!

As for the Israeli effort to bring back all of the world's Jews, I think it's quite stupid. A couple of well placed nukes and they're all history...

Not to mention that if the American Jews drop too much in numbers, the US will probably stop supporting Israel.

**Eli** · December 27, 2001, 10:51

Originally posted by axi
Weird, no jews in Australia?

110,000 according to Assur's numbers.

As for the Israeli effort to bring back all of the world's Jews, I think it's quite stupid. A couple of well placed nukes and they're all history...

Not all of them of course, but as much as possible.

Wait... If we bring the French, Ukrainian and Argentinian Jews to Israel and settle them in the settlements...

[q]Not to mention that if the American Jews drop too much in numbers, the US will probably stop supporting Israel. [/QUOTE]

The ZOG will take over the world by then.

**Drekkus** · December 27, 2001, 12:18

Gareth,

Jews aren't 'followers' of a religion. They are a people. AFAIK you can convert to Judaism, but you can't become a jew. Only if your mother is jewish you are jewish.
The jewish people were scattered all over the world and kept their identity for thousands of years by sticking by their traditions. Keeping up traditions amidst other cultures is likely to cause some xenophobia, so racism by ignorants has been a result.

In the jewish families I know there's much emphasis on discussion and cultural expression. That might be a reason why relatively many jewish people are in media and why an incredible percentage of Noble Prize winners is jewish.

Adolf Hitler probably would have won the second world war had he not been an anti-semite

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