What Exactly is a "Jew"??????

Question

Me and some people that I know got into a deep argument about alot of racial/ethnicity/nationality labeling things the other day. and a topic about Jews came up.

one person was bring up the argument that a jew is a race.......but i think that when a person say they are jewish that it is a religion..not a race...i may be wrong...i don't know...

when a person says..."Oh I'm Jewish"....what exactly is it SUPPOSED to me.......

Answer 1

it is both a religion and a culture

Answer 2

A Jew (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים, Yehudim; Ladino: ג׳ודיוס, Djudios; Yiddish: ייִדן, Yidn)[1] is a member of the Jewish people who are an ethnic group originating in the Israelites of the ancient Middle East. The Jewish people or the Jewish nation also consists of others who converted to Judaism throughout the millennia. The ethnicity and the religion of Judaism are strongly interrelated, and converts are both included and have been absorbed within the Jewish people.

The Jews have suffered a long history of persecution in many different lands, and their population and distribution per region has fluctuated throughout the centuries. Today, most authorities place the number of Jews between 12 and 14 million,[2] the largest number of whom live in the United States (40.5% in 2002) and Israel (34.4% in 2002), with the remainder distributed in communities of varying sizes in almost every country. The total world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure and is subject to the controversy of secular, halakhic or other parameters of defining who is a Jew.

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

Answer 3

This is real complicated. That guy Jusso nailed it pretty good. Judaism is pretty tribal, over the years the people (non descendants of the orginal Hebrew people) who have converted to Judiasm have immersed themselves into this as well.
But man, I have some hot words for Katrina T. No, a Jew isn't Jewish strictly by blood. The majority of the Jewish population today are the descdents of the Khazars. A people in southern Russia who's King and subsequently his subjects converted to Judaism in the 700-800's CE. These people were eventually forced by hostile neighbors to flee, they mostly settled in various parts of europe and became the Jews you see mostly throughout Europe today as well as the ruling class in Israel. These people's biological link to the original Jews is minimal, if not non existant. But culturally they are as Jewish as you can get.

Answer 4

OK, let someone who's Jewish answer this. A Jew is someone who practices/follows/believes in Judaism. Judaism is a religion, period. Hence, a Jew is someone who follows a particular religion, period. There are Jews of all colors; there are Jews in all parts of the world. This has been true for centuries. Yes, Judaism originated in the mid-East, but that was 2000 years ago. There are strong Jewish communities in China, in Africa, etc., etc.

You are absolutely correct in your own belief. Tell your friends that they can e-mail me if they have any questions.

Answer 5

This is probably one of the most misunderstood topics ever.
The name "Jews" comes from one of the THIRTEEN (13) tribes of Israel, namely "Juda". (There were 12 tribes, plus the tribe of religion, making 13. It is in the Old Testament.)
There are black Jews...
No where does it say that Jews are a race...God did call them His Chosen People. Supposedly, they were all white; some people claim there are 5 races, namely black, white, yellow, red and brown. However, technically there is only one race, because all 5 colors can interbreed one with another (obviously).
So, a Jew can be a descendant of the tribe of Juda; or, a person who practises Judaism (that's why they come in all colors).

Answer 6

^ Your right, Jewish (Judaism) is a religion and there are Jewish people in every part of the world from America to China to Ethiopia and beyond. So Jewish people are many different races.

Answer 7

Jews are part of a race, and most prescribe to a certain theology. Some don't, but they are still Jewish.
IE: A Jewish person who is an atheist is still Jewish.

Answer 8

it's both
real jews are the descendants of the hebrew which are from isreal which is in the middle east. a jew will usually have reall naturally curly hair and a big nose.

they follow God and their own traditions and rituals which are that of a religion

if a black person says im a jew than that's their religion not race

Answer 9

According to the bible a Jew is a race. but people have made it into a religion.

God told Jews(Israelites) (his chosen people) to preach to the world about him and to spread his word to the world. People (not God) separate ourselves into religion. A Jew is only a Jew by blood. Many blacks in Ethiopia are Jews but "white Jews" disregard this even though it was proved by DNA. The Jews were originally black. But they intermarried with whites from Europe that is why Most Jews are dark completion with really curly hair. (Some will say that they have black blood but most won't because of racism)

Answer 10

Well, Jews are all different races, blacks, whites, asians, even a few native americans. So in that respect Jews are not a race, but Judaism is a religion.

On the other hand, Judaism is a tribal religion, begun by the 12 Tribes of the Israelites. So at its core it is/was a race.

Jews themselves say we are not a race, but are people of all races who follow the Jewish religion.

EDIT: Katrina, get a grip. No, Jews weren't originally black. This nonsense has been perpetrated by a certain group of blacks who claim to be the only original Jews, and it's an EXTREMELY racist viewpoint because it attempts to rip away our actual identity of being middle eastern semites.

I once had one of these blacks tell me that my family are not really Jews if we came from Europe because all Jews from Europe descend from the Khazars who converted to Judaism long ago. This has been proven by DNA to be false - European Jews more closely match Middle Eastern Jews AND Arabs than they do Europeans. So when I told them that, then they proceeded to tell me that even if my family only JUST came over from the middle east, we must have lived in caves like the filthy apes we are.

Sorry Katrina, try getting some DNA research under your belt and a bit of an education, ok? Would you also think it was racist if blacks said that they were the original Native Americans, and the Native Americans said they weren't, because it's just plain not true? Same thing. Neither are the Jews originally black. If we were, we'd know it dontcha think?

EDIT 2: Dontcha just love it. Just look at what blacks are being taught. First it was the Christians who tried to wipe us and our religion out and replace us, now its the blacks. Ok guys, GO AND LOOK UP THE DNA RESEARCH that was done specifically to answer the charges that Jews today are all descended from the Khazars thus are not real Jews, and the blacks are. The DNA shows that Jews, even European Jews, are more closely related to the Jews in the Middle East and even the ARABS than to the non-Jewish European population. Stop with the racist replacement attempts. You aren't the original Jews. You aren't Jews at all. Get over it.

Answer 11

excellent question. i was pondering about the same thing. and i think it's most correct if it's reffering to religion rather than race.

It's like saying a christian is a race. It clearly isn't since there are white, black, asian, and even hispanic christians.