My Grandfather was half Jewish. In terms of nationality, ican I assume this is half Israeli?

Question

He was not half Jewish by religion - if it was based solely on religion, he would not just be half - is anyone half a Christian?! He was half Jewish by nationality, how do i find out what country this was?

Answer 1

I don't see how.

Can you be half Christian or half Muslim or half Buddhist??

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Answer 2

Being Jewish is an ethnicity as well as a religion.  An ethnic Jew doesn't have to practise the religion to be Jewish.  Israel came along in 1948.  Most people of writing age's grandfathers were born before then.

Answer 3

no! if im half cathlic, can i presume im from a stereotypical catholic country? religions have spread throughout the world by means of emigration and breeding. just because somebody is a certain faith doesnt mean they are of a nationality stereotypical to that faith

Answer 4

Jadaism is a religion. Israel is a nation. You can be of the Jewish faith anywhere in the world. You can only be an Israeli if you are a citizen of Israel. You can also be an Israeli but not Jewish.

Answer 5

The Jewish race is recorded historically in the Bible.  Whether or not it is historically valid, may be argued, but I for one believe in it or at least am assuming that it is basically true - maybe not on all points, but based on facts.  

In any case, it says that Jews were a family, and equal to or more literally, a subset of the house of Israel, a family that was given a Law and thus was religiously as well as racially a family.  Converts can enter, this is usually based on them choosing to commit to the laws of the Jewish faith, and for them choosing to be part of the family.  

I have thought of converting to it myself, at least religiously it is what I believe, although I am mostly british.

The Bible clearly states that the Jews would be dispersed to the nations if they didn't obey the Law... The Bible records that the Jews were getting punished and thus dispersed to Greece, and in the middle Ages to Europe, and a long time ago to Spain, and various places in the world, even China.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  They were commanded to take over the land that now is similar to "Israel" to inherit it as a possession for the family of Israel.  Joshua led the house of Israel to do this, and sometime close to passover one year, they entered the land (and became an actual country rather than nomads exiting from Egypt).  The house of Israel was promised by God to the progenitors Avraham, Yitzkhaq, and Ya`aqov (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,in English) to inherit the land of Canaan, aka Palestine, Lebanon, and maybe more (Turkey?).  Thus Israel was created by Joshua, and now, around 1948 or 1949, recreated in terms of modern politics to be owned by Jewish government. (Actually there were Jews there the whole time, but I guess they were just a non-official race of the land, or something).

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And one more thing.  Depending on where that ancestor is in your ancestry, determines whether you are naturally Jewish and naturally obligated to follow it as a religion; this is if your ancestor is in a maternal line (mother's line I guess.  I'm not sure about several generations ago if it still applies).  (Some believe in the patrilineal line, if you want to think of it that way); if the ancestor who is Jewish is in another line of your ancestry you are not automatically Jewish (although you may still have rights to move to Israel, under the Law of Return, if you have it closely enough...I don't think they limit it politically to the religious definition).  Religiously you would need to convert to be Jewish as far as the religion is concerned.  

Jews that aren't religious, are still considered Jews, at least because that's the way that it is, that God's promise and covenant still applies to Jews even if the ancestors are not righteous.  Converting requires religious commitment though unless you go with the lenient movements (disrecommended by me, since I don't want that).  

*Israeli originally had the meaning of Israelite i.e. the race whether in Israel or not.  At this point in time the political State of Israel probably has its place for the word Israeli.

Answer 6

No, you cannot.  Jews could be from anywhere.  One of the big debates they have had and which has never been laid to rest is whether jewishness is a race or a religion.  They'd like to see themselves as a totally separate surperior race,  but then they run into the religion issue and the whole thing degenerartes into a shouting match.

Answer 7

Your grandfather may have been 1/2 Jewish but born in France. It means that one of his parents was of the Jewish faith.  

A comparison is that one of your grandparents was 1/2 CATHOLIC but was born in Ireland.  The other grandparent may have been Baptist.

When a person is described as "1/2 Jewish".. the definition is that one of his parents was Jewish, but the other parent was maybe Lutheran. The "1/2" refers to his parents.

Nationality is the place of birth.  Since Israel did not exist until 1948, he could NOT have been born in Israel, unless he was born after that date. You have not said where he was born, which would be his nationality.

Since I was born in the US, my nationality is American.. my ANCESTRY is from Poland, since that is where my grandparents came from.

Religion has to do with the church you (or parents) went to.  Nationality is the place where a person is born (or becomes a citizen).  Ancestry/heritage has to do with where your ancestors came from.  Your ethnicity has to do with race (caucasian, black, asian).

All of these are specific terms... and can all apply to the same person.  Example.. a black person (ethnic) can be a citizen of the US (nationality), with ancestors who came from Kenya (ancestry) and have one parent who was Jewish and one parent who was Baptist (religion).  

Get grandpa's death certificate or birth certificate, to find out where he was born.

edit

you got it.  One thing to add is the term cultural, which is also one more way that Jewish persons are seen. the key word that is most accepted is religion.  

Now, since you have France for his birth place, next step is find if his parents also were both French. *smiles*

Answer 8

Israel is just an artificial country, created by UN after the WWII. It is not a nationality, unless you're Israeli citizen and even so, it could be argued, specially by Palestinians. As somebody before me wrote, there are also arguments whether Jewishness is a religion or nationality. "Jewishness", however, is passed by the women's blood line of the family (e.g. you're a Jew if your mother is a Jew). Yes, Jews live in Israel but before the state was found, there were 2 big branches living everywhere - Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, etc. In this sense, we cannot discuss such thing as nationality, unless we speak about somebody born in Israel after 1950's.

Answer 9

"Jewish" is NOT a nationality.  It is ONLY a religion.  To be a nationality means it has to be a country.  "Jew" is not a country.  Israel is a country.  The nationality of those from Israel is Israeli, not Jewish.  You can be Jewish and be from any country.  Likewise, to be from Israel, although is heavy in the Jewish faith, does not mean you have to be Jewish.  No, you cannot assume because he is of the Jewish faith means that he is from Israel.  He can be Jewish and be from anywhere.  If he is not of the Jewish faith, he could also be from Israel or anywhere else.

Answer 10

Israeli is a nationality. Jewish is not.  It is a religion and can be an ethnic group but not a nationality.

Also, Jews do not agree on what is a Jew. There are 3 branches of Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.  

A Reform Jew states you must be of the Jewish faith.

Orthodox and Conservative Judaism defines a Jew by the mother only.  They state they get the nation from the mother and the tribe from the father and if they don't have a Jewish father they belong to the tribe of the nearest male relative on the mother's side of the family.  Whereas if they don't have a Jewish mother they aren't Jewish unless they convert.  They also state that those who have discarded their Jewish faith and even become atheist are still Jews as long as they have a Jewish mother.

Now, there are 2 types of Jews Ashkenazi and Sephardic.  The link below gives a good explanation regarding Ashkenazi Jews.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi

Answer 11

Well you can if you want thought it will do you head in if you think about it too much. I have jewish, Scots, Welsh, English, Cornish, Irish and germanic blood coarsing through my veins. So just refer to myself as to the place of my birth...England, Berkshire even though I've spent most of my life in Scotland...so I guess really I'm a true Brit as most of us living in the UK are of foreign ancestory.

Even Boris Johnson.....he is of Turkish, English, Jewish and  German ascent.