Are all Jews Semitic?

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DB-T- DH Smith #1 Fan

No, not all Jews are from a Semitic lineage. Being Jewish has become a religion term which anyone who converts to Judaism can become a Jew.

You are right when you said not all Jews are Semitic.

Mostly those that are Jewish descendants and who have a long history with the Jewish people are Semitic.

The Hebrew language is Semitic and so is the Arabic and that makes Arabs Semitic also.

Judaism is not a race, it's a religion. There are Jews of all races.

I don't think that European Jews can really be considered Semitic. There are Arab Jews, European Jews, Persian Jews, and Chinese Jews. European, Persian and Chinese people are not Semitic. Hebrews and/or Arab Jews are probably the only Semitic Jews.

Duke of Tudor

Semitic, term first used toward the end of the 18th century for peoples listed in the Bible (see Bereshith (Genesis) 10:21-32) as descended from Shem, the eldest son of the biblical patriarch Noah. Today, however, the term Semite is a linguistic, not a racial, classification; it refers to peoples who spoke or speak any of the Semitic languages. Ancient peoples grouped under this term include those who inhabited Aram, Assyria, Babylonia, Canaan (including the Hebrews), and Phoenicia. Among modern peoples speaking Semitic languages are the Arabs and Jews, particularly in Israel.

The original homeland of the Semites is not definitely known. Scholars think it probably was in southwestern Asia, and some even locate it specifically in Arabia. Evidence uncovered by archaeologists indicates that Semitic-speaking peoples were scattered over Mesopotamia before the establishment of urban culture there; and it is thought that waves of Semitic nomads, beginning presumably in prehistoric times, successively swept over the deserts westward into the Fertile Crescent. Today, the Semitic-speaking peoples (chiefly Arabs) are concentrated in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Their influence has been extended in recent historic times, howeverā€”by the Jews as far as Europe and America, and by the Arabs into Africa south of the Sahara and eastward to the subcontinent of India.

Semitic peoples have been credited with inventing the alphabet.

Misty Blue

No.

Nikki

Hardly any. Arabs are entirely a Semitic people. DNA ethnological studies have fund that less than 10% of self-identified jews have any trace of semitic ancestry whatsoever. Of those that do,it is in the vicinity of one over 50 million. In other words,a Russian jew is an ethnic Russian,a Polish jew is an ethnic Pole,and so on. They are a European people. The ancient hebrews have long since assimilated and from a genetic point of view ceased to exist. That is why it is so absurb for self-described jews to claim they are descended from the ancient henrews and can therefore walk into palestine and boot out the Palestinians.

Shay p

Semites are peoples who speak Semitic languages; the group includes Arabs, Aramaeans, Jews, and many Ethiopians. In a Biblical sense, Semites are peoples whose ancestry can be traced back to Shem, Noah's eldest son. The ancient Semitic populations were pastoral Nomads who several centuries before the Christian Era were migrating in large numbers from Arabia to Mesopotamia, the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, and the Nile River delta. Jews and other Semites settled in villages in Judea, southern Palestine.

Present day speakers of Semitic languages are as diverse in physical, psychological, cultural, and sociological characteristics as are speakers of Indo European languages. The most prominent Semites today are Arabs and Jews. They are different in many ways, and they have absorbed a variety of European traits through centuries of migration and trade. The origin of Semitic languages, however, and many similarities in the stories of Islam and Judaism reflect a common ancient history.

A Semite is someone descended from Sem or Shem, the eldest son of Noah. (See the article from the 1912 Edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, presented below.)

A HEBREW is someone descended from Heber (or, "Eber"), one of the great-grandsons of Shem. So all Hebrews are Semites, but not all Semites are Hebrews. (Both Sunnite Arabs and Jews are Semites, and Hebrews, as well as Jews.)

Six generations after Heber, Abraham was born to his line, so Abraham was both a Hebrew and a Semite, born of the line of Heber and Shem.

Ishmael was born of Abraham, and (Sunnite) Arabs (and specifically Muslims) consider themselves to be descendants of him, so they are both Semitic and Hebrews. Isaac was born of Abraham, then Jacob of Isaac. Jacob's name was changed to "Israel," and he fathered 12 sons. His sons and their descendants are called Israelites, and they would therefore be both Semitic and Hebrew. However, this would not make either Abraham or Isaac "Israelites." Those who poorly use the words "Jew" and Israelite, call Abraham a Jew, even though Abraham was not even an Israelite, and where the word "Jew" is not used in the Bible until 1,000 years AFTER Abraham.

One of Jacob-Israel's children was Judah (Hebrew - Yehudah). His descendants were called Yehudim ("Judahites"). In Greek this reads Ioudaioi ("Judeans"). The confusing thing here is that almost all Bible translations employ the word "Jew," which is a modern, shortened form of the word "Judahite." Every time you come to the word "Jew" in the Old Scriptures, you should read "Judahite;" and every time you come to the word "Jew" in the New Scriptures, you should read it as "Judean."

Jdriven
THANK YOU.

Commander MJ

This is quite a common thing thrown at jews by anti-semites, ironically, that they are not really semitic. However DNA research has shown that around 80-100% of jewish dna in ALL jewish populations is middle-eastern.... That includes Lidvaks, Italkin, Beta Israel and even the Lemba of South Africa. Of course there will be other genetic material but in 3000 years of hstory that would be unavoidable. Remember there are only about 14 million jews in the world, a drop in the ocean so they are a relatively small nation.... but what a nation eh?
I am not Jewish but have a lot of respect for the Jewish people and much of their culture.

Galahad

Arabs are semitic. jews are European.

tamarindwalk

No. Only those who can trace their blood line back to the area of Palestine / Israel are.

gribela

Are all Semites Jews?

bgood26

The phrase *anti-Semite* was coined in Germany to mean *Jew hatred.* At the time, it was assumed that Semites were Jews and vice versa. However, Semites are all peoples of MidEast descent, including Arabs.

Some Arabs and their sympathizers claim that they can't possibly be anti-Semitic because they are Semitic, which is why I have replaced *anti-Semite* with "Jew hater." Still, the term still carries the same meaning.

Free Palestine

All the jews who are originally semite are arabs by race.
All those who are not palestine/israeli born are not.
Nowadays if u speak hebrew or arabic u are considered semite too

Freedom F

No, of course not.

Hatikvah JPA

A Semite is a native speaker of an Arabic language, i.e. Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, etc. There are MANY. The word anti-Semite has come to mean anti-Jewish, but Semite has nothing to do with blood lines.

We Jews come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. What we all have in common is the language of our Bible -- Hebrew.
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paperback writer

It's irrelevant, because we have always pointed out that we are NOT a race, we are a religion, a people and a family. A person is Jewish if their mother is Jewish or if they have converted. It does not matter if they are black, white, or sky-blue pink. If they are born to a Jewish woman or they convert, they are JEWISH.

And the hilarious aspect of so called 'Palestinians' accusing Jews of not being 'Jewish' enough is that they are not 'Palestinian' - their parents and grandparents came from the surrounding Arab nations. So it's really a case of pot calling kettle black.

RŠµdisca

(I would love to see an Arab prove to me that he is Semitic. PROVE your ancestry for the past 3000 years, por favor -- by the kind of evidence that would be admissible in court.)

More to the point: I love it how people who imply, basically, that Jews do not exist as a people, nevertheless ascribe to Jews -- not to "ethnic Russians" or "ethnic Poles", but to JEWS -- peculiarly "Jewish" characteristics, invariably in the nature of old medieval blood libels. I also find it amusing how people who have never lived in Russia or Poland adamantly claim what makes an "ethnic Russian" or an "ethnic Polack". I have a suggestion on how to break this Gordian knot: Let's go to the Russian section and ask whether Russian Jews are ethnically Russian; and to the Polish section to ask whether Polish Jews are ethnically Polish. I guarantee you, virtually everyone who identifies himself as Russian or Polish will answer in the negative -- and some will surely be insulted by the very suggestion.

Anti-Semites have made Jewishness into an ethnic issue and continue treating it as such -- the fact that they do so only when it suits their sick, twisted ideology is just another example of their hypocrisy.

Mark S, JPAA

This has nothing to do with Israel. It has to do with general ignorance. I think the Beta Israel (black) and Kaifeng (Asian) Jews would take great exception to this incorrect generality.

And it's certainly not taught in any Jewish school of which I am familiar.

leonard s

that's like asking if all blacks are black.Jews are Semites except for the converts from other races

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