Why is Judaism considered an ethnicity or culture, but other religions are just considered religions?

Answer 1

The Jewish people are considered a nation. Our connection is primarily one of faith through the covenant of Israel, yet membership is also conferred by birth, through matrilineal descent.One may also become a part of the nation Israel by adoption of the faith of Judaism and formal procedures of conversion.

One who converts to Judaism is considered as fully Jewish as one born Jewish and their children are Jews. This has been the case since the times of the Torah.

There are different Jewish cultures that have developed over the millenia in Diaspora lands as well as from the Mizrahi (from the Middle East and North Africa) The Sephardi (Spanish) Ashkenazi, (German, Polish, Russian and other Eastern European) are all slightly different, even within those three designations as to cultural practices and foods, but it is the faith and covenant that binds them all together as Klal Yisrael.

We are Klal Yisrael, the community of Israel, and have a shared " destiny" and history, while still having developed throughout history, many DIFFERENT Jewish cultures developed in the Diaspora. The Diaspora refers to the Jewish presence outside of Israel after the destruction of the First and Second Temple periods and the Bar Kochba revolt.

Am Yisrael Chai ( the people Israel live!)

Here are some Jewish sources to discuss this issue that may help you.

http://www.jewfaq.org/judaism.htm

http://www.beingjewish.com/identity/race.html

http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/ < This is always a good place for comparative study, too.

( edit to note that I think a thumbs down fairy has been following me the past couple of days! LOL!)

Answer 2

This isn't the first question like yours to cross this forum. So far, I haven't seen an answer which satisfies me (FWIW, I was born a Conservative Jew, and 60 years later, I still am a practicing Conservative Jew).
Obviously, Judaism is a religion. But we are definitely more than that. We are more than an "ethnicity", way more than a culture (we have several, actually, as someone already remarked). But we are not a "race"!

Here is where I think the other answers, while worthy comments, have missed something important--
Actually, in anthropological terms, Judaism is qualifies as a "tribe". We have all the traits:
1.a protohistoric eponymous ancestor from whom we are all descended ("Children of Israel")
2. a common language
3. a common, shared set of beliefs and practices, including a rule-system by which the tribe defines who is a birth-right member (matrilineal descent)
4. the option of someone becoming a Jew, i.e. an adopted member of the tribe, by demonstrating sufficient knowledge and sharing of our belief-system, world- view and practices, enough to convince a Bet Din, which is essentially a "council of elders", that the potential electee deserves to be adopted. Once adopted, that person is as much a member of the tribe as anyone born into it.
5. a strong pressure to in-marry, and a population-pool big enough that in-marrying isn't interbreeding.
6. not enough genetic similarity to qualify as a "race"
7. the possibility of being a "half-- ". You cannot be half-Episcopalian, but you can be half-Jewish, just as you can be half-Cherokee. And again, if you are merely "part"-Jewish, only the tribe can decide whether you do or do not qualify as a member.
8. the near-impossibility of resigning one's membership...

Okay, before anyone thinks I'm being flippant, I'm not. Fifty years ago, my family's Shabbat dinner-table debates over "who is a Jew" were ongoing, but never resolved. Two degrees in anthropology later, and with another twenty years to think about it, I finally realized that the anthropological definition of "tribe" actually makes a lot of sense and explains "what Judaism is" with elegant parsimony.
Not a race, not a just a culture, more than a religion...
Oh, and are Jews "clannish"?? Nope, we are tribal.

I hope this is a useful concept, or at least food for thought.

Answer 3

Judaism is not an evangelical faith, they do not seek converts. You are born into faith and the faith is carried through the Mother's lineage. You can marry a Jew and convert but Judaism is a relatively closed community. Also because Jews were prejudiced against in the Middle East and Europe they were forced to live in their own special communities as a people apart. Some Jewish communities are as inter married as the Amish of Pennsylvania; a group who see themselves as a religion, a culture and a people separate from the general population.

There are Jews that question the existence of God or even disavow God and still see themselves as "culturally Jewish".
Without question there is a Jewish culture that can exist with or without the religion. There were plenty of non-religious Jews who suffered under the Third Reich only because they had at least one Jewish grandparent. So people both in and out of the Jewish community have defined the the Jews as ethnicity, culture and faith.

There are several other faiths who are also defined as a ethnicity and culture. Most are in Asia, a few in Africa and all them relatively small groups. Many are inconspicuous minorities in places like India. Jews are only the best well known of such groups.

Answer 4

I actually consider it to be both. I know many Jews who are not practicing the religion and I would consider them to be cultural or ethnic Jews. However, there is a Jewish religion which should be considered seperate from the cultural aspects.

BTW, it's not just Judaism that is considered this way. There are many people who simply cultural practice their religion instead of faithfully practice. The difference is that being a Jew is an ethnicity. Being a Christian, for example, is not. But I would say there is a Catholic Culture and a Muslim culture and a Mormon Culture, etc.

Answer 5

As Jews we are a religion, but we are also a people and a 'nation'. We were unusual in that we were a nation before we ever had a homeland; when Abraham made the covenant with G-d, we did not have a land of our own. Mostly throughout history, groups without their own land disperse and disappear, and I could mention some now that don't exist any longer. But our religion and faith held us together.

And yes, there is a distinct and lovely Jewish culture which covers humour, literature, music, food etc. But this is something that many non Jews also enjoy!

But we are not, just to correct an earlier post, a 'race'. There are Jews from all different ethnic groups and races: if you go to Israel you will meet Jews from China, Iceland, UK, Brazil, France, Yemen, Iraq, Japan, Morocco, and so on and so forth.

I know it can be confusing, but I hope this has helped clarify it a bit. If not, do ask more questions! :)

Answer 6

Judaism takes on very few converts. Most Jews are the children of at least one Jew. So there's an unbroken line going back from most Jews to Israel before the Diaspora. A large part of culture is transmitted by family, and Jews as a group are unique, set apart from the larger culture they inhabit, both part of it and not part of it.

Most religions were 'ethnic' religions at one point; it is one of the innovations of Christianity to transfer God's bailiwick from just the Jews to all people. A fair chunk of the New Testament is Paul ironing out that a Christian does not have to be a Jew.

Islam and Buddhism do this too, although Hinduism and most 'traditional' religions are more centered on a particular people.

Answer 7

The history of the people who comprise the Jewish religion is very long and complex...but a short and simple answer is genetics.

Those who are descended from Jews share similar gene traits to their Jewish brethren, whether or not they practice the religious customs.

In addition, the necessity of Jewish populations to stay close-knit and relatively closed off to the rest of the societies in which they lived led to specialized traditions across all forms of expression (from food to music to art to science and so forth) which then became identified with peoples of Jewish origin. To the extent that these traditions remain active within Jewish communities...they continue to define the ethnic cultural identity of the "Jewish people" even though that label can be applied across a variety geographical areas which Diaspora Jews inhabit.

Although there is much overlapping, this description is not meant to describe Israeli culture, which is often confused as Jewish culture. The traditions and customs that were already present in what is now Israel persist for the most part despite its frequently changing official borders and policies. There are more than 1 million Arabic muslims living in Israel, along with various Christian and animist sects...and they all contribute to the culture and ethnicity that can be defined as Israeli...so hopefully that somewhat clarifies a very murky issue...

Answer 8

Judaism is centered around communal life here on earth rather than rewards in a future life. We pray together as an entire community as well as offering personal prayers.

From "Judaism for Everyone" by Shmuley Boteach:
Some people believe that the principal goal of man is personal salvation. To them man’s first concern must always be to climb the mountain of righteousness for himself, to ensure that his every act and thought is just and pure. Judaism rejects this view. From the vantage point of Judaism, it is not personal salvation but world redemption that is man’s first responsibility. Therefore, when man comes before God to express his deepest desires, when he calls forth his most private thoughts, he must do so in the company of the community. For although his words remain private, his prayers must not be only for himself.

THERE IS NO JEWISH RACE. We all belong to the human race! There are MANY converts to Judaism, including many who post here on Y/A!

Reform Jew-by-choice
.

Answer 9

Judaism is a religion, the issue is "once a Jew always a Jew" so you have people who are not so religious who are considered Jews. Jews are of all races

Answer 10

Being a Jew has two connotations. One is religious, and the other IS ethnicity. The Jews are a specific family of peoples, tracing their heritage back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all Semites from the Middle East. .