The Three Jewish sects: Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Karaite

 

The Ashkenazi Jews or Ashkenazim hail from Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and those communities close to these European countries.

The origin of the Sephardic Jews or the Sephardim is Spain.  However, when Muslims and Jews left Spain together (in 1492 AD) due to their expulsion, the Sephardic Jews spread to several eastern countries, the most important of which were Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt.

As for the Karaite Jews, who are fewer in number than the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim, the majority of them lived in Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and Russia.

The number of Jews in our world today is estimated at 16-17 million, among which approximately 11-12 million are Ashkenazim, 5-6 million are Sephardim, and only one hundred thousand are Karaites.

Between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim, there are differences regarding a large number of issues within the law (halakhah). However, the differences between them (together) and between the Karaites are much greater.  The Ashkenazim and the Sephardim (together called the Rabbinic Jews) believe in the Torah and the rest of the chapters of the Bible (the Tanakh) as well as the “Talmud” (its two parts: the Mishna and the Gemara) and the Midrash. In contradistinction, the Karaite Jews follow only the 5 chapters comprising the Torah, i.e., Genesis and Exodus, the Book of Leviticus, the Book of Numbers, and the Book of Deuteronomy.

As for the "Mizrahi Jews," they are not a religious sect but rather are Oriental Jews. Their number represents one-fifth of the world's Jewish population as well as half the Jews within the State of Israel. The origin of the word Mizrahim--מִזְרָחִים is derived from the name of Egypt in the Hebrew language: Mizraim: מִצְרַיִם‎. Note that the Mizrahi Jew may be from either the Sephardic tradition or from the Karaite.