Are "Jews" really jewish?

[Captain_America]

I keep running into people who call themselves Jews who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend synagogue?

Or is it a political/economic/ethnic identity these days?

 

[Kaninchen]

I keep running into people who call themselves Jews who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend synagogue?

Or is it a political/economic/ethnic identity these days?

It’s funny you should say that . . .

I keep running into people who call themselves Catholics who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend Church?

Or is it a cultural identity these days?

 

[ltwin]

It’s funny you should say that . . .

I keep running into people who call themselves Catholics who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend Church?

Or is it a cultural identity these days?

O Snap!!!

I keep running into people who call themselves Jews who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend synagogue?

Or is it a political/economic/ethnic identity these days?

What makes you think that Jewishness is primarily about religion? The Jews are the descendants of the 12 Tribes (primarily the tribe of Judah with Benjamin and Levi represented as well. The other tribes were mostly “lost” due to diaspora and intermarriage. This is why they are called “Jews” and their religion is called “Judaism.”). As such, they have always been an “ethnic” identity.

Jews are an ethnic group with a religion called Judaism because it is the religion of the Jews. Just because a Jew is not religious does not change their ethnic identity.

 

[scipio337]

Jews are an ethnicity, and a faith. There are some Jews (Beta Israel and in Africa) who are not ethnically Jewish, but are, faith wise.

I was scared a little this was going to be one of those “Jews are really Khazar Turks” threads.

 

[Allegra]

It’s funny you should say that . . .

I keep running into people who call themselves Catholics who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend Church?

Or is it a cultural identity these days?

True dat!

 

[_Abyssinia]

Jews are an ethnicity, and a faith. There are some Jews (Beta Israel and in Africa) who are not ethnically Jewish, but are, faith wise.

I was scared a little this was going to be one of those “Jews are really Khazar Turks” threads.

Why aren’t Beta Israel ethnically Jewish?

It was reported in 1999 in the NYT:

A team of geneticists has found that many Lemba men carry in their male chromosome a set of DNA sequences that is distinctive of the cohanim, the Jewish priests believed to be the descendants of Aaron. The genetic signature of priests—a hereditary caste, different from rabbis but with certain ritual roles—is particularly common among Lemba men who belong to the senior of their 12 groups, known as the Buba clan.

 

[ltwin]

Why aren’t Beta Israel ethnically Jewish?

They consider themselves Jewish, and the Israeli government has granted the “right of return” to Israel.

There has been DNA testing that has been somewhat conclusive. Apparently, the DNA doesn’t match with other Jewish populations. However, there were some matches between the Ethiopian Jews and Yemenite Jews, but this could be an example of reverse migration (Africans crossing Ethiopia into Yemen).

Most scholars think that what happened was that either 1) there was some form of ancient Jewish origin combined with the preservation of Jewish traditions by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church or 2) a group of Ethiopian Christians in the 14th to 16th centuries began to increasingly take on Jewish practices until they came to identify as Jews themselves.

 

[ltwin]

Why aren’t Beta Israel ethnically Jewish?

It was reported in 1999 in the NYT:

The Lemba are in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Beta Israel is in Ethiopia. Two different communities.

 

[_Abyssinia]

The Lemba are in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Beta Israel is in Ethiopia. Two different communities.

I know. I just pointed out the Lemba people because scipio337 pointed out Beta Israel and Africa.

 

[IgnatianPhilo]

It’s funny you should say that . . .

I keep running into people who call themselves Catholics who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend Church?

Or is it a cultural identity these days?

Thats kind of their misinformed belief then isnt it? Which actual knwoledgeable catholic is going to say thje person who doesnt really believe it is actually “catholic.” That being said the same does not seem to be the case for judaism.

 

[coachkfan1]

****What makes you think that Jewishness is primarily about religion? The Jews are the descendants of the 12 Tribes (primarily the tribe of Judah with Benjamin and Levi represented as well. The other tribes were mostly “lost” due to diaspora and intermarriage. This is why they are called “Jews” and their religion is called “Judaism.”). As such, they have always been an “ethnic” identity.

Jews are an ethnic group with a religion called Judaism because it is the religion of the Jews. Just because a Jew is not religious does not change their ethnic identity.****

“Who is a Jew”? This is a question that has been debated for centuries. I basically agree with this answer. as for some saying certain groups claiming to be Jews do not match DNA wise with the Jews of today, some would say (NOT ME SAYING THIS) that the Jews of today are not the real Jews and so therefore the DNA would not match up.

This is a fairly complex question that involves both ethnicity and religion. Remember that Jacob and Esau had the same parents, but one inherited the promises. This is often the argument (along with Isaac and Ishmael) that postulates that the Jews and the Arabs are brothers/cousins.

 

[fastenatingguy]

It’s funny you should say that . . .

I keep running into people who call themselves Catholics who never practice their faith. Any notion of what percentage of this group actually attend Church?

Or is it a cultural identity these days?

Funny how that applies to both situations. I live in an older suburb of Chicago with mostly Jews and Catholics on my block, ranging from the most orthodox of each type to the most secular, and everything in between.

This always makes for interesting parties. My conservative Jewish friend across the street likes to say while leaving: "Gentiles leave and never say goodbye…Jews say goodbye, but never leave!

 

[andrewstx]

I have the food network show “chopped” on as background noise and I keep hearing “kosher shrimp”, lol.

Surely everyone knows regardless that there is no such thing as a “kosher shrimp”.

Anything that lives in the water and lacks scales and fins is trefe.

 

[AbideWithMe]

I have the food network show “chopped” on as background noise and I keep hearing “kosher shrimp”, lol.

Surely everyone knows regardless that there is no such thing as a “kosher shrimp”.

Anything that lives in the water and lacks scales and fins is trefe.

I heard an Israeli scientist has created genetically enhanced shrimp that do have scales and fins.

 

[andrewstx]

I heard an Israeli scientist has created genetically enhanced shrimp that do have scales and fins.

Really? I had no idea. Maybe there is such a thing as kosher shrimp after all .

 

[TEPO]

I’m allergic to shrimp. I don’t eat any sea creatures without scales or fins. I’m probably part Jewish.

BTW, my favorite animal is the Liger. half lion half tiger.

 

[andrewstx]

I’m allergic to shrimp. I don’t eat any sea creatures without scales or fins. I’m probably part Jewish.

BTW, my favorite animal is the Liger. half lion half tiger.

If your Mother is Jewish, then you are Jewish. There is no half.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

If your Mother is Jewish, then you are Jewish. There is no half.

That’s something I never quite understood. 1) If Jewish is an ethnicity why can it only come from the mother unlike all other ethnicities? 2) Why can’t someone be partially Jewish if they can be partially some other ethnicity. Maybe it’s just the semantics of how many people define their ancestry using fractions. For example, three of my nephews are a quarter Irish and a quarter Italian from my sister’s side and are half Polish from my brother-in-law’s side. I realize not everyone will use a mathematical base to describe where they come from, yet no one says you can’t be half-Hungarian.

 

[ltwin]

That’s something I never quite understood. 1) If Jewish is an ethnicity why can it only come from the mother unlike all other ethnicities? 2) Why can’t someone be partially Jewish if they can be partially some other ethnicity. Maybe it’s just the semantics of how many people define their ancestry using fractions. For example, three of my nephews are a quarter Irish and a quarter Italian from my sister’s side and are half Polish from my brother-in-law’s side. I realize not everyone will use a mathematical base to describe where they come from, yet no one says you can’t be half-Hungarian.

It comes from the Old Testament apparently. Courtesy of Judaism 101:Who is a Jew?

About Matrilineal Descent

Many people have asked me why traditional Judaism uses matrilineal descent to determine Jewish status, when in all other things (tribal affiliation, priestly status, royalty, etc.) we use patrilineal descent.

The Torah does not specifically state anywhere that matrilineal descent should be used; however, there are several passages in the Torah where it is understood that the child of a Jewish woman and a non-Jewish man is a Jew, and several other passages where it is understood that the child of a non-Jewish woman and a Jewish man is not a Jew.

In Deuteronomy 7:1-5, in expressing the prohibition against intermarriage, G-d says “he * will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others.” No such concern is expressed about the child of a non-Jewish female spouse. From this, we infer that the child of a non-Jewish male spouse is Jewish (and can therefore be turned away from Judaism), but the child of a non-Jewish female spouse is not Jewish (and therefore turning away is not an issue).

Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man as being “among the community of Israel” (i.e., a Jew).

On the other hand, in Ezra 10:2-3, the Jews returning to Israel vowed to put aside their non-Jewish wives and the children born to those wives. They could not have put aside those children if those children were Jews.

Several people have written to me asking about King David: was he a Jew, given that one of his female ancestors, Ruth, was not a Jew? This conclusion is based on two faulty premises: first of all, Ruth was a Jew, and even if she wasn’t, that would not affect David’s status as a Jew. Ruth converted to Judaism before marrying Boaz and bearing Obed. See Ruth 1:16, where Ruth states her intention to convert. After Ruth converted, she was a Jew, and all of her children born after the conversion were Jewish as well. But even if Ruth were not Jewish at the time Obed was born, that would not affect King David’s status as a Jew, because Ruth is an ancestor of David’s father, not of David’s mother, and David’s Jewish status is determined by his mother.*