Are the Jewish people a religion, race, or nationality?

I don't think you can call them a race, because you have converts who are considered to be just as Jewish as born Jews, and even born Jews are a mix of Israelite and local ancestry.

I think it's a religion and a nationality. When one converts to Judaism, it is comparable to gaining citizenship of another country.

Judaism

a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism in accord with Jewish Law.

It is not a race, but you can be born into it.

im not jewish as in the religion... nor is my dad... but his parents were jewish so i guess that means if either of us wanted to convert to judaism we could?

yeah i get confused by it too.

Originally posted by calihan_12
im not jewish as in the religion... nor is my dad... but his parents were jewish so i guess that means if either of us wanted to convert to judaism we could?

yeah i get confused by it too.

anyone can become Jewish. even a Gentile can, though a Rabbi has to approve them.

It's a religion.Semites are not all jewish.Even then i personally don't class semites as a race.Think it's quite silly...I may be wrong on that account but i am of the belief there is only race ie homosapiens.

Originally posted by Choronzon
Judaism

a Jew is anyone born of a Jewish mother or converted to Judaism in accord with Jewish Law.

It is not a race, but you can be born into it.

If your mother was a convert, would you be considered a born Jew, even though none of your lineage came from Israel?

Judaism is a religion. It's like Christianity without a Christ.

Basically the Torah (their religious book) is the old testament. Same god, main difference is that Christians beleive Jesus is the messiah and Jews believe the messiah hasn't come yet.

Originally posted by Solomons
It's a religion.Semites are not all jewish.Even then i personally don't class semites as a race.Think it's quite silly...I may be wrong on that account but i am of the belief there is only race ie homosapiens.

Race is a real thing to some extent, for example you can't transplant a white person's kidney into a black person, but basically I agree with you - seeing race only divides us.

My theory is that the ETs who created us populated the Earth by taking humans from Africa, genetically modifying them into several different races and dispersing them throughout the world.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko

Originally posted by calihan_12
im not jewish as in the religion... nor is my dad... but his parents were jewish so i guess that means if either of us wanted to convert to judaism we could?

yeah i get confused by it too.

anyone can become Jewish. even a Gentile can, though a Rabbi has to approve them.

so then if my ancestors are jewish... did they originate from the middle east or isreal area?

i do know anyone can convert.. but my dad is very middle eastern looking. so i guess what im asking is do most jewish people, especially hundreds of years ago, originate all from the same area? i mean if someone asks me my race, do i say im half jewish? or do i say im half middle eastern?

reply to post by Donnie Darko

If your mother was a convert, would you be considered a born Jew, even though none of your lineage came from Israel?

Yes, one would be considered a Jew if his/her mother was a convert before the birth.
And on general,Jews are ethnic/religious group.

[edit on 24-9-2009 by ZeroKnowledge]

Jewish can be a nationality or religion. If someone asked a Jew's nationality, they might say Hebrew or Jewish, unless they became Jewish from another nationality. A Jew asked on their religion would say Jewish, unless they converted away.

So really, there is a difference what you're asking about.

Originally posted by calihan_12

Originally posted by Donnie Darko

Originally posted by calihan_12
im not jewish as in the religion... nor is my dad... but his parents were jewish so i guess that means if either of us wanted to convert to judaism we could?

yeah i get confused by it too.

anyone can become Jewish. even a Gentile can, though a Rabbi has to approve them.

so then if my ancestors are jewish... did they originate from the middle east or isreal area?

i do know anyone can convert.. but my dad is very middle eastern looking. so i guess what im asking is do most jewish people, especially hundreds of years ago, originate all from the same area? i mean if someone asks me my race, do i say im half jewish? or do i say im half middle eastern?

your dad is probably around half Middle Eastern, if his ancestors came from Europe. Many European Jews resemble other Europeans a lot because of mixing with the local population. so probably about a quarter of your lineage is from the Middle East.

from what I understand, the Jewish people originated in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and moved west to Israel.

okay i see. yeah i only ask because my dad was adopted and the only thing he was told about his "real" family is that they were jewish

so i only assume his family is from the middle east or possibly even greece because of his looks, but whenever anyone asks me my background i just say im half jewish since i really dont know where his family originated from.

Originally posted by calihan_12
okay i see. yeah i only ask because my dad was adopted and the only thing he was told about his "real" family is that they were jewish

so i only assume his family is from the middle east or possibly even greece because of his looks, but whenever anyone asks me my background i just say im half jewish since i really dont know where his family originated from.

a LOT of greeks converted to Judaism, so that could explain his looks. greece and israel are pretty close anyway, so i'd imagine there would be similarity to begin with.

true... yeah i didnt know a lot of greeks converted to judaism. Hmmm thats really interesting. i want to look more into this.

I'm curious to find out the ethnicity of my dad's dad. His last name was Miller, which makes me think he's probably English ... but it's also a Jewish surname. I look slightly Middle Eastern but that's probably just because most Europeans have a trace of Middle Eastern ancestry due to migration.

[edit on 24-9-2009 by Donnie Darko]

reply to post by Donnie Darko


I always considered the label 'Ethnoreligious' to be fitting. In Judaism, you can either be born into it (based on your mother) or converted (based on your choice). There is also such a thing as 'Jewish Atheism' so I don't understand why they'd label themselves that if it was strictly religion-based. It's a gray area.

It's definitely not solid, though. You have Semitic people who are Jewish, you have non Semitic people who are Jewish, and you have people that identify with the Jewish people who are not religious.

Hmmm, are Catholics also ethno-religious? I know some ex-Catholics who still call themselves Catholic because they grew up Catholic.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
I'm curious to find out the ethnicity of my dad's dad. His last name was Miller, which makes me think he's probably English ... but it's also a Jewish surname. I look slightly Middle Eastern but that's probably just because most Europeans have a trace of Middle Eastern ancestry due to migration.

[edit on 24-9-2009 by Donnie Darko]

hmm yeah you may or may not be of middle eastern descent. do you know if any of your ancestors were jewish?

now that i am really thinking about it, i think i look more greek, as does my brother. he looks extremely greek.

Originally posted by calihan_12

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
I'm curious to find out the ethnicity of my dad's dad. His last name was Miller, which makes me think he's probably English ... but it's also a Jewish surname. I look slightly Middle Eastern but that's probably just because most Europeans have a trace of Middle Eastern ancestry due to migration.

[edit on 24-9-2009 by Donnie Darko]

hmm yeah you may or may not be of middle eastern descent. do you know if any of your ancestors were jewish?

now that i am really thinking about it, i think i look more greek, as does my brother. he looks extremely greek.

i don't. my dad never knew his dad, and i've never met him either. my dad has really pale skin but dark/Mediterranean features. He looks Basque/Spanish of anything actually.

Is your avatar you? If it is, you do look Greek. You're quite attractive too btw. Like I said though, Israel and Greece are close together, and have a similar climate, so that could be why, or it's also possible you're descended from Greek Jews.