click here to jump to start of article Join Our Newsletter  Join
400,000 Aish subscribers  The Term "Jew"  Our nation was
historically called Israelites or Hebrews. I am wondering why
always you refer to the Israelite or the Hebrew Nation as "Jew"
when only after the captivity of 722 BCE that the people of the
Tribe of Judah were called "Jews." Nowadays, “Jew” is the common
term for any believer or follower of the "Jewish" belief. Am I
wrong?  The Aish Rabbi Replies:  From the time of the prophet
Joshua, when the Jewish people came into the Land of Israel,
each of the 12 Tribes settled a different area of land. The area
that each tribe settled became known by the tribe's name – for
example, the region around Jerusalem is known as Judah. At this
time, when the term "Judah-ite" was used, it only referred to
those who came from that tribe.  In the late 700s BCE,
approximately two-thirds of the Jewish nation was taken into
captivity. The only parts of the Land of Israel that remained
were the portions of Judah an