Recently I had a discussion with a Russian-Jewish friend about Chanukah and the history surrounding it. Yea, I know what you’re thinking… Wow gasmonso, you sure have an exciting life… but please bear with me. We talked about what Chanukah represents and so on.
The discussion then turned to Christmas and how it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which has a very apparent religious meaning. I pointed out that Chanukah seems to be more of a historical account of a group of people. Now here is where it got a little interesting.
Now my friend is a Russian Jew and was brought up under the Soviet system where religion and the belief in God were all but squashed. As a result, many Russian Jews don’t believe in God. But I know that according to Judaism, there is a belief in God. When I mentioned that, my friend said I understand that… however my mother was Jewish and therefore I too am Jewish.
I of course responded and said that Jews believe in God though. How could you be Jewish and not believe in God? From there it got a little hazy and we both were a little stumped.
So I pose the question to the religious collective that is Religious Freaks. Are Jews a race, a religion, or both?
If you chose to respond, please include your religion or belief system so I see how others perceive Judaism.
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Sirs/Madame:
By spirit, I am a JEW..it is really sad and hurting that until now the Jewish People suffers because of their belief…that GOD really exist…the creator that we strongly believe will be the only one that will help us in times wherein nobody cares…such belief stays/resides in our heart and mind….will that belief harm those unbeliever? why…The Jewish People’s teaching were to obey the law…respect …love…and many other positive characters that made the Jews people overcome the pressures imposed upon them…by …..
it is a religion and not a race.
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It’s a religion. So many ethnicities are jews today, it can only be seen as a religious group.
Wonderful points=D Will require a good amout of time to toy with your article=)
I believe it is both to some degree. It is a religion first and foremost, but you can have jewish heritage in your lineage. I have a man in my church who was born into a jewish house and raised to be jewish, he is now a christian. One sermon we had we were discussing what was the difference between a jew and a gentile and he still considers himself Jewish. This is just what I’ve experienced and am still confused myself.
Modern genetics has shown that the term “race” as it is used here doesn’t have a firm grounding in the reality of our genetic makeup and lineage. We are all genetic hybrids, though.
Recently I had a discussion with a Russian-Jewish friend about Chanukah and the history surrounding it. Yea, I know what you
Okay… Race is an ambiguous word to begin with. I understand that most everyone here in the USA believe that race separates us in skin color and background. Unfortunately, a clear line between “Ethnicity” and “Race” has not been established. I am not here claiming to set the record straight. I do believe I can clarify some aspects of the argument.
First, Judaeism is indeed a religion. I has a collaborative system of believe structures that follow a sacred text and believe in a diety. Most all people in the debate believe it’s a religion so i am preaching to the proverbial synagogue or choir.
Second item is races are genealogical. Which mean it’s passed on through DNA. As much as some people like to think there is a Jewish gene, there isn’t. Simply put, being Jewish is not a matter of it being passed through your genetic code.
I have lost many of you I know, but I do believe you can pass “being Jewish” from generation to generation. Allow me to explain.
My own beliefs are not based in western theological practices. I am an American Taoist. But I have studied seminary Programs and world religions quite extensively. Religion isn’t the common factor here.
It’s culture…
Culture can be passed from one individual to another, from one group to another and from a group to an individual. Culture has no genetic identity, I am ethnically; Irish, Scottish, and Danish. My nationality (where I was born) is American. But my culture is multi-faceted. I am married to a Deaf Jewish woman. I consider myself culturally deaf and hearing, as well and embrace the cultural values of many cultures.
Last point of contention comes from our dear old mass murdering f**knead, Adolf Hitler. Mr crazy person led the world to believe something, and his idiocy has prevailed even to today. While he was trying to make the world over in his image and destroy the so-called lesser “race” he used the term incorrectly and doomed many people to ignorance.
I am sorry for the long post. But I hope this shed light on a somewhat murky debate.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Jay
Please email me any questions you may have or comments.
I stem from a
jewish background but as Im an atheist i dont class my self as a jew to me its a religon so in that case i dont see it as a race of people.
I can say I had a Judo Christian influence from the country i grew up in im sure that has impacted on my moral beliefs.
If there was never a Nation of Israel in ancient times then I would agree that Judaism is just a religion.
If one believes the Bible or even does not, historically, Jews were a people with a nation.
This nation was of 12 tribes thought to be from the sons of Jacob the grandson of Abraham. But modern Jews come from only two or three tribes. The other tribes were dispersed and did not retain either their religion or ethnicity and were absorbed into the bloodlines of other nations. One must have a very
good grasp of Biblical history to understand this.
But Judaism is passed through the Jewish mother in a blood line, which can and has been somewhat infiltrated by conversion and marriage with other groups but has not been eradicated.The ancient Israeli Nation which built the Temple in Jerusalem were a theocratic nation, so therefore the religion came with the nationality. Now Jews are more likely to choose to practice the religious aspect of being Jewish which is the religion of Judaism or choose not to practice. They are by all standards still Jewish.
In 70 CE the temple was destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were dispersed into the nations. They have found a group of people in Africa with DNA that matches those of other Jews and who have practices very similar to the Jews.
I think recent DNA suggest that Jews do have a common paternal ancestor. Jews are not a race as in the true definition of race, but more of a nationality. My grandparents were Hungarian Jews. I believe there are only 4 true races. The word race is often used to define Jews.
The fact is that Jewishness is more than a religion and one does not have to practice Judaism to claim being Jewish. For some people it is more like an ethnicity or heritage.
The state of Israel requires people who immigrate to Israel to prove that they are Jewish, the minimum being a Jewish mother.
Of course, Arab peoples, understandably, deny that Jews are a nationality because that diminishes their claim to Israel.
Judaism NOW is both Race and Religion, some claim is only race olthers only religion
I am from a Jewish family but Catholic
and I think is tie to clarify the missunderstanding of some
a pwrson ca be Jew by race or colnvertion case the Kasharian
Seriously? Are you people mental? Judaism is a religion and only a religion, caucasian, african, chinese, japanese, korean, indian, those are races, Jewish is a religion and ONLY a religion. Catholic, Buddhist, Islamic, etc are not races, therefore Jewish is NOT a race at all no matter how stupid some of them are to think it is.
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