What is jew? Is it a religion or race? State your opinions.?

Question

I am having a debate over which is it is? I personally think it is a nationality, but my son thinks it a religion. What do you think?

Answer 1

Well, here is how WE, the Jews, usually choose to define it as.

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

It is clear from the discussion above that there is a certain amount of truth in the claims that it is a religion, a race, or an ethnic group, none of these descriptions is entirely adequate to describe what connects Jews to other Jews. And yet, almost all Jews feel a sense of connectedness to each other that many find hard to explain, define, or even understand. Traditionally, this interconnectedness was understood as "nationhood" or "peoplehood," but those terms have become so distorted over time that they are no longer accurate.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has suggested a better analogy for the Jewish people: We are a family. See the third essay in his recent book, We Jews: Who Are We and What Should We Do. But though this is a new book, it is certainly not a new concept: throughout the Bible and Jewish literature, the Jewish people are referred to as "the Children of Israel," a reference to the fact that we are all the physical or spiritual descendants of the Patriarch Jacob, who was later called Israel. In other words, we are part of his extended family.

Answer 2

That very question has been a topic of contention for a long time 50 or so years if you consider WWII to be the beginning of the debates or 2000 years if you consider Rome to be the beginning of the debates.

Judaism is a religion. If you are Judaic then you are Jewish. A Jew is a person who can be considered Jewish, although I find it slightly on the insulting side to say that guy is a jew, that girl is a jew. blah blah blah.

Now it is no secret that Jewish families have been marrying into other jewish families for thousands of years. Certain traits have become evident from the resulting children. These traits, while stereotypical in nature do hold a scientific baring of evidence to be labeled Jewish traits. It's not worth the non PCism of me to define these traits in descriptors, but they are obvious when an individual sees them.

It is those traits that help support the idea that Jewish decendant peoples are a seperate race, but since the other traits are also evident, these Jewish traits are more of a cultural significance. Science calls them Ethnic Traits as oppossed to Racial Traits.

This is an answer you and your debater will have to conceed on until better information is available. A Jew is a person of religious Jewish background, but a jew is also a person of heritage selection. For Governmental reasonings the term Jew is soon to become an option for race on the census for cataloguing, but for humanity issues a jew is not a seperate race, it is an ethnic distinction. Not to confuse you further, but calling a jew a seperate race, is like calling an Arab a seperate race...or even a NY Italian Catholic a seperate race.

While the people of the same ethnicity may look the same in many regards, they are considered not a seperate race, but they can be considered a seperate race for PC reasons and governmental issues.

Clear now? I'm more confused now that I've explained it.

Answer 3

Judaism=religion
Semite=race

Answer 4

Its a religion - there are Jews of every color in the world and you can convert to Judaism - you cant convert race

The first person to say it was a race was Hitler

Answer 5

It started as an ethnic nationality, it became a religion during the Diaspora when they had no nation (and experienced much interbreeding) then with the foundation of Israel they are attempting to be a nation, but one that is not ethnically distinct at all.

Answer 6

Both. Orthodox Jewish Rabbis only consider a person Jewish by descent from a Jewish mother. Therefore, the Jewish religion has a very strong ethnic component. Of course, conversion is also possible, although the process is very arduous and probably accounts for an insignificant proportion of the Jewish population.

EDIT:
BTW, an interesting trivia relating to this question is the fact that mitochondrial DNA analysis of Ethiopian Jews showed very little difference when compared to European Jews.

EDIT:
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3F

Answer 7

A religion and/or a cultural identity. Not really a 'race'-race has very little scientific meaning.

Answer 8

A person.

The fact that some Jews are not Zionists, prove that it cannot be a religion.

When people talk about Judaism as a religion, they are typically talking about the Judaism depicted in the Old Testament. Modern Judaism comes in many flavors, so the fact that someone was born as a 'Jew' doesn't indicate what they accept religiously.

Answer 9

Religion and more like a race because Jews have been killing non Jews for a really long time

Answer 10

Jews are people. but if you belong to the lord we are Jews of the heart Gods people. the real Jews us.