So Confused...please help?

Question

I asked the question "Was Jesus White?" and most of the answers were along the lines of "No, he was Jewish". I though Judiasm was a religion not a race. I'm not to keen on the religion of celebrities but I thought Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Steward were Jewish and they look caucasian to me. So, is Judism a race or religion or both?

Answer 1

The classification of humans into races is a scientific fallacy.

Answer 2

Judaism is a religion not inspired by God but by the Jews leaders. The Holy Bible is the Only book that was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus may be considered a white person since Jews color did not differ much between them and the white race. Most likely he had brown hair and hazel Eyes. David was a blond, good looking person and he was a Jew.

Answer 3

The race is Israelite, being Jewish is a religion. people of any race can convert to Judaism and Israelites can convert to others religions. It is stereotyping that causes the confusion. The Jews that you mentioned may not be 100 % Jewish. Goldi Hawn is a Jew and has blonde hair and is as white as they come. Most Israelites are of the Jewish religion because of their strict traditional beliefs but not all of them are, especially if they were born in a different country such as the USA.

Answer 4

My mom and I just had this discussion... is it religion or ethnicity? Here is what I found... basically, its a little bit of both.

Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used. For discussions of the religious views on who is a Jew and how these views differ from each other, please see Who is a Jew?. Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who practice Judaism and have a Jewish ethnic background (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), people without Jewish parents who have converted to Judaism; and those Jews who, while not practicing Judaism as a religion, still identify themselves as Jewish by virtue of their family's Jewish descent and their own cultural and historical identification with the Jewish people.

Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on Halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halachic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the oral tradition into the Babylonian Talmud. Biblical interpretations of sections in the Tanach, such as Deuteronomy 7:1-5, by learned Jewish sages, is used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and non Jews because "[the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man to be "of the community of Israel.", which contrasts with Ezra 10:2-3, where Israelites returning from Egypt, vowed to put aside their gentile wives and their children. Since the Haskalah, these halakhic interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.

Answer 5

Mesopotamian origin. Abraham came from the Land of Ur.

The Land of Ur or Mesopotamia (the Greek word for the land between two rivers - the Euphrates on the west and the Tigris on the east.)

http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/legacy/ur/mesopo_explor.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/mesopotamia.html

Ur was right between Babylon and the Persian Gulf, which would appear to make him what we would now call either Iran or Iraq, mostly Iraq. Way back then it was the "fertile crescent", from which sprang the civilizations of Europe, Middle East and Asia (India, etc).

So there's your answer, Abraham was either Aryan (white) or Arab (Arab).

On the other hand, from the bible testimony, it seems very clear that Jesus was so nondescript that nobody could pick him out of a lineup, mixing with the Jews and Arabs and Greeks/Romans who populated the area at that time.

Being homeless he probably had a pretty good tan.

Answer 6

Judaism is an ethnicity - meaning it is a combination of culture & religion, not race. Modern Jews seem to me to be Caucasian, probably because some of them intermingled with Europeans over the centuries.

I think that the Jews of Jesus' day might have been darker than modern Jews, but I am not really sure.

Answer 7

Judaism is a religion, not a race. However, throughout history, people who follow judaism have either been considered second-class citizens, or have largely chosen to marry (and have children) only within their faith. As a result, people of jewish descent developed a set of distinct characteristics. So you could argue that jewish people are a subset of the larger caucasoid race. Of course, being of jewish descent has nothing to do with being a follower of Judaism.

In answer to your original question, Jesus was born in an arab region, and was of jewish descent. He probably resembled the people from that region today, with light brown skin, dark hair, etc.

Answer 8

Think of biblical times and the places in which these things took place. Israel, Jerusalem, more than likely Jesus had dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. Much like the people of those same places today. Judaism is a religion. And nobody knows for sure what color Jesus was and I would hope that it doesn't matter, I hope this has settled a little of your confusion at least.....

Answer 9

slacksrox,
If you want to get real technical, Jews are decendants of Judah. One of the sons of Jacob. That's why people get confused with some scriptures by making Hebrew and Jew synonymus.

And yes, the can look white.

Jesus was Jewish, by his mother's side. I figure that he looked average for whatever the Jews appeared as in those days. I figure that if he wasn't, there would have been a remark about it somewhere. So I figure he was of average height, and average weight, and average skin color- nothing remarkable. I don't think that he was African or Egyptian in appearance.

Answer 10

Judaism is a religion, Jewish is the race. However, the question as to whether or not Jesus was white is not important. The only question that should be important is whether or not you believe in him and that he died for your sins.

Answer 11

Judism is indeed a religion. If Christ were to have lived I believe that he would have been olive coloured and/or darker skinned individual. I do not believe that he would have been the light skinned replica that he has been made to resemble by mankind through the ages.