Do Jews have an actual race or are they just a religious group?

Question

Is there an actual Hebrew ethnicity or are Jews just a religious group?

Well they must have a race because, they have a certain look to their noses (no offense).
They are sometimes insulted and said to have hook noses.

once again I dontmean to offend.

Answer 1

Originally, there was a Hebrew ethnicity, but when they were expelled by the Romans, they scattered to many different parts of the world. Today, Jewish people have some of their old blood line, but the descendants of the European Jews have a lot of Euro blood, the descendants of the Middle Eastern Jews have a lot of Arabic blood and still look similar to the original Jews (who were primarily Arabic with some Mediterranean European). Others have Asiatic blood (the Asian Jews), or even African ancestry (the African Jews). Ironically enough, there is a lot of racism in Israel against non-white Jews (those that are not derived from Europe), along with racism against the Palestinians, who are ethnically very similar to their original ancestors from ancient times. In fact, Jesus Christ probably looked similar to a Palestinian.

All of that being said, the concept of Jewishness is more cultural and religious than ethnic, and it's my understanding that anyone can convert to Judiasm and be accepted by other Jewish people.

Answer 2

You need to get away from the anti-Semitic stereo-types, there is no particular look to Jews as their is no jewish race. The Ethiopian Jews are black, as are some of the Moroccan and Yemenite Jews, and they look completely different to the white Jews from Eastern Europe, or the mediteranean Jews from Greace and Italy, or the Arab Jews from Iran, Iraq. Egypt, or the Jews who are descended from those that have never left Israel and have been there for the last 4000 years, or the Chinese Jews, or the Indian Jews etc.

Answer 3

Judaism is a religion. However, since Jews throughout history have traditionally only married Jews and since Jews are a minority group, a sort of localized Darwinism took place over thousands of years and Jews have started to have certain physical traits in common.

Answer 4

It's just a religion that is derived from Judaism, although most Jewish individuals' ancestry can be traced back to Isreal if the Jewish person is not directly from Isreal. So, even though being a Jew in and of itself is not a race, most Jewish people have some racial ties in Isreal.

Being Jewish is NOT a race, and though I can prove it by research, I am going to give you one simple example: You can convert to being Jewish. Can you convert to being German? African? Italian? - you know the answer is NO. However, you can convert to Catholicism, to being a Protestant, etc. Why is that? Because one is a race, which cannot change, while the other is a religion which can indeed change.

Answer 5

religious - and a political social and economic force - a corporate elite highly organized to spread zionism at the expense of the muslim nations. Take a look at 'any' jewish fundraising for israel - millions in less than an hour - like I mentioned - a race of people? there is no one answer to that -most are middle eastern -slavic - east europan descent / race - slavic - middle eastern races

Answer 6

The United States census says that they are a race.
Which is controversial....
Some Jews will tell you they are a race of people.
Some will tell you it is a relgious group.
I have to feel that they are both.
And uh, the Aquiline nose is not a "racial" feature.
People of various descent can have them....
.

Answer 7

Jews are a tribe and a national group as well as a religious group.

Answer 8

Jews are part of the white race (caucasians). They can be treated as a religious group also.

Answer 9

Jews are just a religious belief. Their is but one human species and we try to group things around us. This segregation cause us to do harm to grouped that seem to different than ourselves. If you were dying and on the operating table do you care who is making you well?

Answer 10

its very complicating but its both. its a culture/ethnicity and a religion. i only understand why its a culture because i see the difference between russian jews and russian non-jews