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

Originally posted by In nothing we trust
Judism is neither a race, ethnicity, nor a nationality.

It's an idea.

It's a bunch of people who don't believe in Jesus.

Athiests, Pagans, Homo-sexuals, Masons, Lawyers, Government workers, Rich people who inhierited thier money, Pornograpghers, Actors, Single mothers, Minorities on state assistance, Greedy people, Intrevenious drug users, People who hate american families and all other assorted liberals are all Jewish.

Women have a natural propensity towards favoring judaism mostly because of thier inhierient lesbian leanings.

[edit on 28-9-2009 by In nothing we trust]

Please say you’re kidding with this statement. You can’t really believe this ignorance spewing forth from your fingertips to the keys on your keyboard.

reply to post by Gools


I took your suggestion and went back to read your old thread. It's really great, by the way.

Between that thread and this thread, I have finally arrived at the answer to the question we all ponder:

[size=four]The answer is there is no answer.

reply to post by Donnie Darko


I am not sure Jewry originated from Atlantis. Not as a group. They are tied with Syrian influences in esoteric folklore - which may have some truth in it. But then so are Islamic peoples.

Another geopolitical thought on modern Israel is that lately many Russians and Ukrainians, Byelorussians immigrated there, who are clearly Ashkenazi. There are even masses of people who went to Israel and not Jews, only claimed they were. To get a better life. Russian is spoken in many enclaves and quarters in Israel. So one can look at this phenomenon and say, Russia is splintering into two by this emigration movement, millions of people who have come to a hard place with the Russian collective. There are even a few Nazis among them, I learn, russian Israelis who turned out to be non-Jewish.

So we are facing Russia's schizophrenia in a way, geopolitically, and also the Russian Empire had a perhaps more cruel persecution and discrimination against Jewry than Hitler, in that it was very long-standing and it was full with episodes of extreme cruelty. It is obvious that the founders of Israel brought some Holocaust karma with them, that is why the Pal question is so tough. However, now this is added to the karma of heving been victims of Russian oppression and pogroms in Eastern Europe predating and postdating Nazism. I think it gives rise to a divided collective identity along hazy lines. While most Russian Israelis are very antagonistic to Russia politically, they have attachments there too.
Iran is clearly in the Russian sphere if influence as it was up to World War 2. (Vying with the British crown).
So there is an underlying motivation for Russian Jewry in Israel to attack the former empire they or their ancestors grew up in. Since Iran is anti-Israel, and Russian-backed, a smaller country - drew your own conclusions... The schizophrenia would prompt one to attack Iran at all costs, because their new life is Israel, while Iran represents a Russian influence over a hostile Middle Eastern country. Clearly a mirror psychologically.

Back to spirituality and roots: the Hebrew language has so resonant sounds that Kabbalists - even christians -use it in and as mantras, charms (godnames etc.) Aside from arabic, there is no such major and systematic use of a Western language (West compared to India, China, Tibet and Japan.)
There is a veritable source of most Western mysticism, astrology, Tarot etc in Hebrew. The origins of these were once simply Western Semitic - similar to Egyptian. Kabbala I think is older than codified Judaism - probably comes from Egypt and Mesopotamia, though I have no doubt that its essential operations were discovered by Hebrew-speaking or Aramaic-speaking people, mostly religious Jewry.

In this sense, a religious Jew is anti-atlantean. But in my brand of astrology, I can see that entrie generations have been born, mostly from 1969 to 1980 who could all have had Atlantean lives. That is why they have to sift through magic and technology, and that is why this age group tends to have a magical outlook on life. I am sure the Internet existed on Atlantis, much as sci fi movies, e.g. Stargate series show the Ancients. But also magic, codes for reaching special effects.

Originally posted by Donnie Darko
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.

I am not about to read through all the replies so if someone has helped you to understand already, then here is a recap for those coming in late to the discussion.

Judaism is a religion. The Jewish subscribe to this religion. It is a religion that one can be born into if their mother is a Jewess, but not born into if their father is a Jew but their mother is not.

A Jew can also lose their Jewishness by subscribing to another religion, but they don't lose their Jewishness by being human and questioning (even and especially there own religion).

So the Jewish are those who make up Israel, the People (not the state). It is no longer a tribal system .. thus, assuming it is based on race is a misconception.

Another misconception is that an Israeli and a Jew is one in the same. They are not, necessarily. Most of the distaste toward the Jewish People comes from this particular misunderstanding.

Whereas the Jewish Person (though dedicated to the Land and the People) is rather peaceful and able to dwell so among those of other nationalities and religions, an Israeli is one who is given over to the mindset of Nationalism (which, when taken to the extreme, is actually opposite of what is written in the Tanakh).



[edit on 29-9-2009 by justamomma]

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
Is it possible that Jewish people perceive being called simply "a Jew" offensive due to the previous association of greed?

It is not offensive to us whatsoever to be called Jewish, even though this is a common way for people to perceive us.

Is it greedy to earn one's way in life and to use it in order to further your children? No! If so, then there are far more Gentiles who should be called greedy.

A question: Is a person required to give their money away to those who have less just because they have more?

When others call those who have more money than they do greedy just because they are not giving it away, it is an issue of jealousy within the accuser.

It's a bit like the Shinto/Japanese tie. One is a religion, the other is a nationality, but the two are so closely wedded that in many cases there are blurry areas...for example, can a shinto shrine exist outside of Japan? Can a non-Japanese be ordained as a Shinto priest? These questions are not exactly "hotly debated" (mostly because these days very few people on either side of the fence care at all), but there is certainly room for rhethorical argument.

In ancient times, most people in a tribe or area had their own religion, which may have differed slightly or radically from that of their neighbors. It was part of their identity as a people. Later the Kings of European (and many Asian) nations were seen as leaders by virtue of their "divine, God-given right" to rule.

The idea of totally seperating religion from government is a very new one in overall terms (barely a few centuries old)...and still nonexistant in more than one place. Give poor old humanity a little more time; we are still sorting through this ones. Lots of strands in the old dooder's head, as it were...

There is a new book that may be pertinent to sorting out truth. In addition to the well-known book The 13th Tribe, which was perhaps the first formal research on the issue of the Khazars, there is a recent book by an Israeli professor Shlomo Sand: The Invention of the Jewish People.

I will put a link below to a lecture he gave recently at a University in NY. I hope I am summing up correctly some of what he says as the following:

(1) 80% of Jews are from Russia and other Easter European countries and are descendents of Khazarian converts to Judaism; (2) contrary to popular belief, there was no diasporia after the Roman sacking of Jerusalem in 70AD; (3) the direct descendents of Jews/Hebrews are likely the peasants, i.e. so-called Palestinians who have lived for generations-unbroken in the same place since those ancient times; (4) modern Israel is an Israeli nation state, but cannot be called a Jewish state or a Jewish homeland as the majority of modern Israeli citizens have no blood heritage to the area and are supressing those who do; (5) founders of modern day Israel were knowledgeable regarding these facts; (6) DNA research that was done established all these facts, but that evidence was subsequently reversed and supressed in Israel; (7) these findings do not negate Jewish identity, solidarity, experience, cohesion, etc but are pertinent to the difficult/impossible task of maintaining an Israeli nation that is based solely on incorrect ascertains regarding blood rights to the land.

Sorry, will try again to post this YouTube link:

www.youtube.com...

Due to eons of interbreeding within the Jewish community, there are two dominant Jewish ethnic groups : Askenazim (or Askenazi Jews) making up about 80% of the total Jewish population and Sepdardim (or Sephardic Jews) making up about 20%. Therefore, Jews and antisemites alike tend to characterise Jews on an ethnic base, whereas other gentiles prefer a religious definition.