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211 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

211

German and Arabic. Persian is the language of the Jews not only in Persia proper, but in a part of Turkestan and

in the Caucasus, with exception of a small Georgian guages. group which uses Kartvelian. In these countries the knowledge of Hebrew has persisted up to the present time chiefly

Lan-

the

—

in

Yemen and

Palestine,

where

in certain places

it

bids fair to become a living language. The case is quite different in farther Asia. In India, Mahratti is the language of the ritual in China, about the middle of the century, no one knew how to read the Bible, and the name "Israel" was corrupted to " Yeseloni." Owing to the absence or the scarcity of precise

statistics on the subject, it is impossiDisble to give definite information contribution cerning the different groups of Jews of Jews in in Asia. The figures in the followAsia. ing table are approximately correct;

Jews in Asia.

Asia Asia Minor