Jewish--Ethnicity or religion?

[McLaren]

Judaism is a religion. How can people say that they are for example "quarter Jew" when being Jewish is a religious choice?

People convert to Judaism and are then labelled Jewish. It follows that people born Jewish do not have to be Jewish.

So what is "Jewish"? Is it an ethnicity or just a religion?

[yep]

Both. Most Jews originated from the same place.

[postdiluvium]

i think people mistakenly make jew synonymous with israelite. not the israel of today, but israel the patriarch of the original nomadic jewish tribes.

there really is no such thing as being a quarter jew or half jew. you are either jewish or not. either you have converted into it or your mother is jewish. i think western civilization just does this percentage jewish thing because it is somehow trendy to be part of a certain religion. like madonna with her mysticism or tom cruise and scientology.

[Graemy]

quote:Originally posted by postdiluvium:

i think people mistakenly make jew synonymous with israelite. not the israel of today, but israel the patriarch of the original nomadic jewish tribes.

there really is no such thing as being a quarter jew or half jew. you are either jewish or not. either you have converted into it or your mother is jewish. i think western civilization just does this percentage jewish thing because it is somehow trendy to be part of a certain religion. like madonna with her mysticism or tom cruise and scientology.

agrees

[King_Cotton]

And Richard Gere.

[KRJ]

I always just figured with how many times they've been misplaced in history,some jews would atleast start calling themselves exclusively jewish because of no true stability in living surroundings & the such.Let's take someone who's been in a massive diaspora of sorts,such as WW2,& was forced to evacuate because of whatever reason.They didn't have thier citizenship to that particular motherland no more,but they did have thier religion to hold on to.So they kept it at that.

My honest opinion,whereever those people move off to,they should call themselves a part of that country & drop the jew part altogether to make things less confusing.Who wants to know or really gives a shit to that your great grandparent was a part of something you may/want not to be into?

[shorelinetrance]

* opens oven *



No im kidding, i'm not sure i always wondered the same question.

[Myke]

quote:Originally posted by yep:

Both. Most Jews originated from the same place.

Lol, I read that as "Outer space."

[FunkyZombie]

I'm going to have to say religion. Just because Jews share some cultural attributes does not make them an ethnicity. Catholics share cultural attributes doesn't make them an ethnic group.

Now Jewish subgroups like Ashkenazi and Sephardic are another story. They do qualify as ethnic groups.

[AeroDynamic]

Judaism = religion

Jewish = nation

Ashkenazi/Sephardic/Mizrahi = ethnicity