JEWS 



3149 



JEWS 



mens of this family have been found to weigh 

 100 pounds, and some weighing 500 pounds 

 have been recorded. The smaller specimens, 

 weighing a few pounds and commonly called 

 black sea bass, command a price higher than 

 that of most sea fishes because of the excellent 

 quality of their flesh. 



JEWS, the common designation of the de- 

 scendants of the ancient Hebrews, also known 

 as ISRAELITES. For the older period the name 

 Hebrew is the correct form, but for the period 

 after the final destruction of national inde- 

 pendence, the term JEW, designating a religious 

 body of a common racial descent, is the proper 

 designation. This name is from that of Judah, 

 one of the Hebrew tribes. Judah became a 

 general designation because the tribe of Judah 

 formed the chief factor in the so-called south- 

 ern kingdom of the Hebrews ; and since through 

 this kingdom, surviving the fall of the kingdom 

 of Israel in the north, the Jewish religion was 

 preserved, the term Judah, or Jew, was applied 

 to all those who professed the religion that 

 became known as Judaism. 



The Hebrews belong to the Semitic branch 

 of the human family, but since their dispersion 

 throughout the world a considerable mixture 

 with other ethnic groups has taken place. De- 

 spite the mixture, however, the Jews have 

 retained on the whole their racial identity and 

 many of their physical characteristics. While 

 the dark skin, hair and eyes predominate 

 among the Jews, there are several other types 

 to be found among them. In ancient times 

 the Hebrews were an agricultural people, but 

 owing to their spread throughout the world 

 and in lands where they were either forbidden 

 to hold landed estates or where it was impos- 

 sible for them to do so, they took up largely 

 commercial pursuits; and in addition to com- 

 merce they have always distinguished them- 

 selves in intellectual and artistic attainments. 

 The Jews have produced, wherever they have 

 settled, a large number of musicians, artists, 

 scholars and men and women in public life. 



The total Jewish population of the world, 

 according to the Jewish Year-Book for 1914, 

 was 13,277,500, distributed as follows: 



Africa 413,259 



North America 2,500,054 



Asia 356,617 



Australia 19,415 



Europe 9,988,197 



History. The history of the Hebrews proper 

 begins with the organization of a number of 

 related tribes into a united group under the 



leadership of Moses (which see). Previous to 

 the date of Moses there were a number of clans 

 forming a part of the later Hebrew Confed- 

 eracy, of whom merely tribal stories of no 

 particular historical value have survived, and 

 these are chiefly interesting because of the 

 picture they unfold of the life of the Bedouins 

 and of the pastoral nomads in early Palestine. 

 The generation that followed upon Moses 

 (1200 B.C.) began to move forward from their 

 settlements in the wilderness around Sinai to 

 the fertile fields on the west and partly to the 

 east of the Jordan, occupied by the Canaanites. 

 Several generations passed, however, before 

 the Hebrews succeeded in dispossessing the 

 Canaanites altogether. 



During this period the tribes, while forming 

 theoretically a confederacy, came together only 

 for common defense against an enemy. Politi- 

 cal necessity, however, led in the course of time 

 to the formation of a kingdom composed of all 

 the tribes, with a permanent ruler to exercise 

 sovereignty over all. The first ruler of this 

 character was Saul, who belonged to the tribe 

 of Benjamin. He was succeeded by David, of 

 ,the tribe of Judah, and David in turn by his 

 son Solomon, under whom the little kingdom 

 expanded to such an extent as to seem to later 

 generations to have been the very climax in 

 the political growth of the Hebrews. After the 

 death of Solomon a serious break between the 

 north and south occurred, which was never re- 

 paired. 



The northern kingdom became the more 

 powerful of the two, and being also the more 

 ambitious, exhausted its vitality in struggles 

 with surrounding nations and in endeavors to 

 resist the progress of mighty Assyria. The 

 northern kingdom, known as the kingdom of 

 Israel, fell in 722 B. c. In that year the capital, 

 Samaria, was taken, and Israel became tribu- 

 tary to Assyria. The southern kingdom sur- 

 vived until the year 586 B. c., when Nebuchad- 

 nezzar, king of Babylonia, fired by the martial 

 ambitions of the Assyrian kings, succeeded in 

 bringing all the kingdoms lying to the west 

 of Babylonia up to the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean under his control. The city of Jerusalem 

 was stormed, and in accordance with Assyrian 

 and Babylonian custom, a large number of the 

 influential inhabitants of the country were car- 

 ried away into captivity so as to diminish the 

 possibility of an uprising. 



The Prophets. Before Jerusalem fell, how- 

 ever, a remarkable religious movement had 

 set in under the guidance of a group of men 



