Fellow Jews: do you consider being Jewish a...?

Being Jewish is a religion. So is the only right answer.

B. Ethnicity is an idea that all Jews are Semitic, and we know that is not true.

C. Israeli is a nationality. Most are Jews, but not all. And even the Jews there are not all the same ethnic backgroud.

D. is close to right, but fails because of diverse practices among Jews.

E. Many of us share a culture, but not all. Ask American Jews if they are Jews first or Americans. It becomes a hard question

F. None of us can fly of our own power. We can't sprout wings.

We have a religion, and if you change religions, you are not a Jew. You may have similar conditions to B. on through, but you are not a Jew.

I believe that we could be considered all the above. (Although some might not agree with this and that is perfectly acceptable. ( :

If you ask ten different Jewish people what they think Judaism is about you will get ten different answers. This is the beauty of Judaism and being Jewish, you will get lots of answers to choose from.)

We are first and for most a religion that has been around for over 3,000 years. (Still alive, Baruch HaShem!)

We are considered an ethnic group because we originally all came from the same place: Israel (Palestine or the land of Cainon if you want to get technical about it.) And the people of this area are Semitic (Middle Eastern decent).

The only reason that we do have Jewish people of all different ethnic strands (i.e. African Jew,Indian Jew, European Jew, ect.) is because we have mixed with and converted people of other countries and cultures and had them included into the Jewish fold. (Which is awesome because we have lots of variety to choose from when it comes to dating.) We do all share genetic material that points to Middle Eastern decent. So a Chinese Jew, an African Jew and a European Ashkenazi Jew, may have different customs but they still have the same genetic markers.

And people who were religiously Jewish but became Atheists, do still consider themselves ethnically Jewish, so do Jewish people who decided to follow Buddhism, and a few other religions, too.

Being Jewish is also considered a nationality because in Israel a person who is Jewish, and makes Aliyah automatically becomes a citizen of the land of Israel.

And lastly Judaism is also a cultural identity. One branch of Judaism, the Humanistic/ Reconstructionist movement believes that being Jewish is a cultural thing and that you don't even have to believe in G-d in order to be Jewish and observe Jewish culture.

So being Jewish is really a matter of personal choice, preference, and belief.

It's up for Jew to decide.

Edit: what I meant was, It's up for you to decide.

cute punt, though. ( :

Do you think of it is your man or woman challenge in this earth to antagonize as many Jews as achieveable? on the beginning up, i assumed you have been surely involved, yet now i'm beginning to be certain your actual objective is to (particularly arrogantly) attempt to re-interpret the Jewish faith on your man or woman advantages. the two a variety of comprise 'tolerable' - besides the undeniable fact that, a JEWISH rabbi who will become 'confident that Jesus is the Messiah' won't proceed to call himself a Jew. he will settle for Christianity and pass away the Jews be. according to probability you are able to desire to stick to his occasion. I understand that as a self-defined 'former atheist' you will possibly desire to be certain it as your 'objective' to hold the 'actuality' to those people who're 'defective.' give up. on your head it would desire to look which you're doing something healthy, while incredibly it is the equivalent of... you already know what? it is something so vile and so impolite that i won't be in a position to think of of any equivalents. Edit: JOHN W, do you 'hate your parents'? Luke 14:26 "If absolutely everyone incorporates me and would not hate his parents, his spouse and youngsters, his brothers and sisters—confident, even his own life—he won't be in a position to be my disciple." No? Why? possibly because of the fact the quote is taken out of context, style of like your 'fulfilled prophecies'.

It's a religion, of course. It's also a community/family/tribe. It's not an ethnicity or a nationality or a race. As to a culture, that's partially true. However, you would see differences between Jews brought up in New York City who speak Yiddish and come from Eastern European backgrounds and other Jews (say) in St. Louis who may not know any Yiddish and are still Jews.

A religion, of course, with it's own cultural influences, certainly.

It is not an ethnicity or how would you explain Chinese and South American Jews?

It's certainly not a nationality, though if you can prove you're Jewish you can become a citizen of Israel.

Ethnoreligious? Maybe at one time, but certainly not today, see ethnicity.

Yes, there is a right or wrong answer. It's not a "stance", it's a fact that the goyim can never seem to get through their heads.

And the fact that someone called us "Hebrews" is just ridiculous. That's a language, bozo. I speak English, but I'm obviously not from England.

We are not an 'ethnicity'. No one ethnicity is shared by all Jews; an Indian Jew is different to a Swedish Jew, a Chinese Jew is different to a British Jew, a Black Ethiopian Jew is different to a Yemenite Jew. Also, you can't change your ethnicity - but people convert to and from Judaism.

We're not a 'nationality' - there is no country named 'Judaism'!

We're not a 'culture' - again, there are many different cultures depending on where a Jew lives etc.

We are a religion but above all we are a ***family***. And this is the *objectively* correct answer :)

ALL the above!!

A. It is a religion...the Truth of the ECHAD of our Elohim!

B. It is a Ethnic group cause we stick together through all the evil that has come upon us. The world sees us as a people group because regardless where we live right now....we are citizens of the True Israel! when something happens to one of us, we all feel it!

C. As YHWH said, we are not seen to Him as Orthodox, Conservative, Karaite, but as ISRAEL!!

D. we are a Ethnoreligious group cause not only do we follow our faith, WE LIVE IT!!! from the things we do when we wake, what we eat, how we dress, it becomes our very strong culture!

E. Culture, haha you live in New York and think you are in the ghettos one moment and then walk into a Jewish community and think you just crossed the borders into a different country cause we live what we believe! We are Set-Apart!

F. no one title can describe us...except one.....WE ARE ISRAEL!!! :)

I see that many answerers missed the "Fellow Jews" part of the question!!!

I see it as a religion, a nationality, a culture, but mostly a community/family.

Religion -- but more than a religion

Nationality -- we have a common homeland, laws (Jewish), common languages (Hebrew/Yiddish), common holy days and traditions

Culture -- Common traditions/practices

Community/family -- More than anything else, we are Am Yisrael.

What does religion offer that we lonely human souls need? In a word, it offers COMMUNITY. Our place of worship offers us a refuge, an island of caring in the midst of a hostile, competitive world. In a society that segregates the old from the young, the rich from the poor, the successful from the struggling, the house of worship represents one place where the barriers fall and we all stand equal before God. It promises to be the one place in society where my gain does not have to mean your loss. The man worshiping next to you may be an insurance salesman or the manager of a rival business, but for the hour you spend together he is not trying to sell you anything or get ahead of you.

Durkheim concluded in his findings about primitive religions that the purpose of religion in its earliest manifestations was no so much to bring people to God as to bring people together, to protect them from having to see the world as a lonely, hostile place. In times of famine or flood, war or earthquake, people find comfort in facing the danger together. …When a child is born, when a daughter marries, when a husband dies, our you is increased or our sorrow eased when it is shared with others. There is perhaps nothing sadder than experiencing intense joy or intense grief and having no one to share it with.

I disagree with the televangelists’ privatizing of religion, making it a matter of the individual’s relationship with God rather than calling the individual to become part of a worshiping, celebrating community. And that is why I feel there is something lacking in the life of a person who says, “I believe strongly in God; I don’t need a building or a formal service to find Him.” Religion is COMMUNITY. It is a way people learn to relate to each other and to belong to each other in truly human ways.

The word “religion” comes from the same Latin root as the word “ligament.” It means “to bind.” As Durkheim discovered, what it does best is bind us to the people around us. Religion is not only a set of statements about God. Religion is also the COMMUNITY, the family through which we learn what it means to be human, and by which we are reinforced in our efforts to do what we believe is right. Religion puts our joys and our sorrows into a context. The birth of our children, the death of our parents are not just statistics. They serve as ways of strengthening or diminishing the community through which we make our lives matter.

“Who Needs God?” by Harold Kushner

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Officially it's a religion, but it can also be a nationality, depending on what the official state of Israel would be called. It could also be a culture because of the many things the religion encourages and prohibits, which would affect the way of life of the adherents. Like that some Jews traditionally walk everywhere on Shabbos, (Saturday), and some keep kosher.

I'm not Jewish but I think of it as a religion. Judaism is practiced by many people across the world.