Are the Jews a race or a religion?

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Michael J

A religion definately. A race more or less. What I mean by that is that a person need not be racially Jewish to be a Jew. One who converts to Judaism is a Jew no less than one born a Jew, so Jews cannot be seen as a race in a pure sense. On the other hand, Jews are overwhelmingly Semitic, and the majority claim direct descent from Jacob. I would put it this way: Jews are practically a race.

LadySuri

This page has by far the best explanation on this issue:
http://www.jewfaq.org/judaism.htm

The last section of the page is as follows:

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.

Like a family, we don't always agree with each other. We often argue and criticize each other. We hold each other to the very highest standards, knowing that the shortcomings of any member of the family will be held against all of us. But when someone outside of the family unfairly criticizes a family member or the family as a whole, we are quick to join together in opposition to that unfair criticism.

When members of our "family" suffer or are persecuted, we all feel their pain. For example, in the 1980s, when Africa was suffering from droughts and famines, many Jews around the world learned for the first time about the Beta Israel, the Jews of Ethiopia. Their religion, race and culture are quite different from ours, and we had not even known that they existed before the famine. And yet, our hearts went out to them as our fellow Jews during this period of famine, like distant cousins we had never met, and Jews from around the world helped them to emigrate to Israel.

When a member of our "family" does something illegal, immoral or shameful, we all feel the shame, and we all feel that it reflects on us. As Jews, many of us were embarrassed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, or the Jack Abramoff affair, because Lewinsky and Abramoff are Jews. We were shocked when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was killed by a Jew, unable to believe that one Jew would ever kill another member of the "family."

And when a member of our "family" accomplishes something significant, we all feel proud. A perfect example of Jews (even completely secular ones) delighting in the accomplishments of our fellow Jews is the perennial popularity of Adam Sandler's Chanukkah songs, listing famous people who are Jewish. We all take pride in scientists like Albert Einstein or political leaders like Joe Lieberman (we don't all agree with his politics or his religious views, but we were all proud to see him on a national ticket). And is there a Jew who doesn't know (or at least feel pride upon learning) that Sandy Koufax declined to pitch in a World Series game that fell on Yom Kippur?

Peace

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

MikeInRI

The answer is a religion. There is no one ethnic group or race that is Jewish.

Good Luck!!!

HopelessZ00

Are Jews a Race?
In the 1980s, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Jews are a race, at least for purposes of certain anti-discrimination laws. Their reasoning: at the time these laws were passed, people routinely spoke of the "Jewish race" or the "Italian race" as well as the "***** race," so that is what the legislators intended to protect. But many Jews were deeply offended by that decision, offended by any hint that Jews could be considered a race. The idea of Jews as a race brings to mind nightmarish visions of Nazi Germany, where Jews were declared to be not just a race, but an inferior race that had to be rounded up into ghettos and exterminated like vermin. But setting aside the emotional issues, Jews are clearly not a race. Race is a genetic distinction, and refers to people with shared ancestry and shared genetic traits. You can't change your race; it's in your DNA. I could never become black or Asian no matter how much I might want to. Common ancestry is not required to be a Jew. Many Jews worldwide share common ancestry, as shown by genetic research; however, you can be a Jew without sharing this common ancestry, for example, by converting. Thus, although I could never become black or Asian, blacks and Asians have become Jews (Sammy Davis Jr. and Connie Chung).

Sherman D

It is a religion. Don't believe it is a race. As an example, there are Indian Jews, Arab Jews and of course German and Russian (actually ethnically the same) Jews.

paperback writer

We are a nation; one of the strangest, or most unique things about Jews is that we were a people, a nation, when we did not have a homeland.

We are also a religion, yes, you are quite right. We are not a 'race' though. You know that people convert to Judaism? So, you can't convert to become a 'race'.
We are a culture, and a distinct ethnic group. Also within the Jewish people, you will find black and white people, Asian people, Oriental people, and so on.

BUSH/ISRAEL =warcriminal

B4 Israel was formed, jews are classied from the respective countries they came from, eg arabs, europeans.

Soon when the illegal nation of Israel was formed all the jews,
white,black. asian all became known as 1 single race.

technically jew is a religion, soon it became a FALSE race.

uglybob39

Religion

Rich V

religion

mark

If some one call him/herself a Jew that is a religion but when it comes to the race question nationality come first. You maybe a Jew but to the rest of the world you are an American/French/Iranian/Moroccan/ Israeli Jew and the list can go on forever. So the question should be Are the Jews nationality or a religion? You can not have it both ways. So it is a religion not race or nationality.

....???

Wow!!! First time I see answers that make sense about what we are... I don't consider myself a religion. I consider myself part of the human race... I understand Judaism is a religion and many have converted but there are many of us who can trace our Jewish heritage from great grandparents to great, great grandparents and we are not even religious...

When my grandmother passed away a few years ago... She left behind Jewish books from late 1800's and early 1900's that when I read them... They always refer to being Jewish as "A Race"

The modern books from around 1960's tend to describe being Jewish as a religion...

Yet there are still some modern books that describe us as a race...

Billy B

The so called Jews are the descendants of Abraham,whose son was Isaac,whose son was Jacob. From whom the 12 tribes of Israel through his 12 sons.The Nation of Israel was established by these 12 tribes and it was called Israel because that was one of Jacobs names. The Jewish religion originated from the Levital laws given to Moses by God as a guide for the Jewish people to live by.

riviva

I think that the Jews are a race, and Jewish people are of a religious group... however, this is a semantic issue. The fundamental answer is both.

DANIEL W

Both. Judaism is a relgion. As Jews tend to marry within the religion and bring up their children as Jewish and this has been done for millenia the Jews are also classified as a race.

annvictorblue

Both.

Admiral

they are both

YHC

Both and some people call themselves a religion and others a race.

I know some who get offended when told they are a race and others get offended when told they are a religion because they are not religious and don't believe in G-d. So Jews are both.

moneymaker

Religion+race. Final answer.

toda1

This questions has been the reason for many a debate. Personally--I think it is both but more a religion than a race.
Or should I say--a race based on a religion.

shanti_g

good question...
both.

a long history of deliberate isolation made us a seperate race.
i cen say :
i am jew and jewish.
actually we are a sub-race from the Semite's

Ultra N

Idiots. Both.
And if not, its people who converted. But since Judaism doesn't convert people, the vast majority of Jews are of the same race--Semitic.
So you can say as a whole, Jews are a race also, excluding the few converts in Judaism. So I'd say yes, in general Jews are a race and a religion.

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