To be a jew is it a religeon or an ethnicity?

Question

i was just asking because i found out i had jewish relatives and was wondering if it was a religeon or a race, and fyi Reading Queen they are jewish and they call themselves jews.....what else do you say? you call someone who believes in christianity a christian?

Answer 1

It's a religion and a culture, not an ethnicity.

There are black Jews, white Jews, Hispanic Jews, Asian Jews and so on.

For those who claim that a Jew is a descendant of Jacob or that Judaism is only for the Hebrews or Israelites and their descendants then please read the Torah.

Ruth was from Moav, she was no Hebrew, she converted to Judaism and King David was her descendant, he wrote the Psalms which all Jews read today as prayers and he built Jerusalem, the holiest place for Jews.

A Jew is a soul, not DNA.

Answer 2

A) Anyone and everyone can and do call Jews, Jews.

B) You can be ethnically Jewish but not follow the religion.

C) You can follow the Jewish religion but not be ethnically Jewish

D) By some standards you can only be a Jew if your mother is.

I'm just surprised by the number of people who claim to be Jewish and then proceed to recite nonsense.

Answer 3

As far as common folks go, Jew is BOTH a religion and an ethnicity.  Jewish people are subject to diseases than non-Jews do not get. They have their own language, customs, special diets, the works (although somewhat similar to the Arabs. But that is to be expected: both had Abraham for father.)

Judaism is one of the major religions on earth, being older than Muslimism (which branched off at Abraham) and Christianity (which branched off at Jesus).  All 3 believe in the same God, but it is sometimes hard to tell what with all the animosity and terrorists.

Answer 4

I agree that it is a religion but definitely somewhat of an ethnicity.   How much of a racial element is involved is questionable. Jews have married non Jews down through the ages and have the characteristic of the countries from which the lived.  If the mother wasn't Jewish as long as she converted to Judaism, her children were considered Jewish.

Also, you have to understand how a Jew is defined.  Orthodox and Conservative Judaism defines a Jew soley by the mother.

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. If they don't have a Jewish mother, they aren't considered Jewish.   I understand they feel a Jew that has left Judaism is still a Jew but an apostate.

Reform Judaism defines it soley by the religion and a child being brought up in Reform Judaism is considered a Jew if he only has a Jewish father or a Jewish mother.

See the link under source regarding Ashkenazi Jews.

Edit:  With all the postings below, you can see there are different opinions, even by Jews, as to what defines a Jew.

Answer 5

its a religon. there ethnicity is iraeli normally

Answer 6

First of all only people who are not jewish refer to people who are jewish as being a Jew.

2nd of all it is both a religion and an ethnicity.

Answer 7

As everyone said before, this is a very complicated question.

Judaism, obviously is a religion, anyone may convert to Judaism no matter their ethnicity, and they are considered just as Jewish as any other Jew.

Although, it is also an ethnicity to some extent. A person born to a Jewish mother would be considered Jewish by almost all Jews, even if this person is no longer practicing and indeed converted to another religion, or declares atheism. I'm not speaking religoiusly (because according to the Jewish faith it is virtually impossible to stop being a Jew the Talmud says, roughly translated: "A man of Israel, even though he has sinned, he is still a man of Israel.") rather, socially.

Almost all Jews from all parts of the world (save Ethiopia and Yemen if I'm not mistaken) have a common gene. Jews married mostly within their selves. Many times jews would travel to other countries in order to make a stuiable match, for business, or to study Torah. So there were always ties between communities all over the world.

So the vast majority of Jews do have some common gennetic traits, even though they look very very different. Most converts to Judaism marry Jews who were born into Judaism so their children will already carry the Jewish genetic material.

I think being Jewish is a combination of religious affiliation and a spiritual "specialnous" and ethnic identity.

You might try to research and see if you are also Jewish as well.

Answer 8

OK--Judaism is a religion, period.  Within Judaism there are a number of large ethnic groups--Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Mizrahim, Beta Israel, etc.  Although, for example, all Sephardim are Jewish, not all Jews are Sephardic.  In addition, people who have converted to Judaism typically don't fall into *any* of the typical ethnic groups.

Someone who is "ethnically Jewish" or "culturally Jewish" is really mis-identifying themselves.  What they really mean is, "I'm Jewish but I don't actively practice anything in my religion.  However, my family is part of a particular ethnic group."  The Ashkenazim originally came from Germany and the surrounding areas, while Sephardim are from Spain and Portugal and Beta Israel from Ethiopia.

Answer 9

It's both.

You can be Jewish but not ethnically Jewish and you can be ethnically Jewish but not of the Jewish religion. I have friends who are the latter.

Answer 10

Please, only Jews can refer to themselves as Jews, and it is generally rude for a non-Jew to do so. Stick to Jewish (with a capital J), it's much more respectful. Judaism is a religion, due to the fact that is is only a set of beliefs. Though originally all Jews were descendants of Abraham, now there are many converts, so it can no longer be called an ethnicity or race.

Answer 11

Let us merely transform your term 'ethnicity' to 'nation' making your question "to be a jew is it a religeon or an nation?".  We can agree that the questions are virtually identical, and may be answered indentically.  The reason I did that switch is because there are likely several hundred books crossing several hundred years which deal with that specific question.

Napoleon at one point asked the Jews of France if they were a nation or a people.  It was after the famous debates following the French Revolution of whether or not to grant Jews citizenship, which they did 2-3 years after every else.  Similar discussions were held in virtually every nation prior to granting Jews emancipation.

In reality, the answer is a little of both.  It is impossible to remove one aspect of our identity without mutilating what are identity truly is.

Answer 12

It's simply a religion but people have a tendency to use the word as an ethnicity especially for those who are from Israel  but its not ...

Answer 13

Well there isn't really one answer to this question.

Orthodox jews believe that the definition of who is a jew is dictated by jewish law, which states that one is a jew if their mother was a jew, or they converted by proper standards. They believe there is an aspect to one's soul which makes one jewish, and a convert would receive this aspect of course. Further, they believe that this aspect remains present even if the person converts to another religion, or ceases to practice judaism, and they also believe that one could practice judaism and not be jewish, for example, if the conversion was not done properly or not at all.

Reform jews and reconstructionist jews usually consider you jewish if your mother or father was jewish and you were raised as a practicing jew, or you convert. Orthodox jews do not recognize conversions done by non-orthodox rabbis as valid though, and do not consider such converts, or those who only have a jewish father, as jewish.

The average, secular American who may have one jewish parent will usually simply say "I'm half jewish"

Now, most Americans with jewish heritage descend from the Ashkenazi gene pool, and Ashkenazi IS an ethnicity, as well as being Sephardic is. These are ethnicities which came about due to the practice of judaism, but since not everyone with a significant amount of Ashkenazi or Sephardic heritage have mothers who would fit the orthodox definition of jewish, they may be Ashkenazi or Sephardic but not jewish by orthodox standards.

And of course someone who is chinese, or Japanese, or whatever, could very well be jewish by orthodox standards and have no idea what a bagel is.

So the question isn't really who or what is a jew. It's who or what is a jew in which way according to who's standards.

Answer 14

What does the bible say? "Descendents of Jacob." Plus they say if your mother is Jewish, then you are Jewish by birth. So, how can it be only a religion?

It's the Jewish ethnicity, and Judaism the religion.