Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Places
  4. / The Middle East
  5. / Israel
  6. / Israel (General)

by AB-Joel on March 29th, 2004

AB-Joel

Question

Help answer this question below.

Strictly speaking, if someone is said to be Jewish, does that refer to their religion or their nationality?

  • Like
  • Report
Share:
Other

Answers. Showing one answer.

  • by TShilo12 on April 28th, 2004

    TShilo12

    It is important to understand, when approaching an answer to this question, that "nation" has not always had the meaning and connotations it has acquired in the past century. Because of the association with the word "nation" with "geopolitical entity", I will avoid its use in my response, preferring "ethnicity" or "people" in its stead. That said, the answer to your question is quite complex--in fact, the existence of the modern "denominational" structure of American Judaism is predicated upon a struggle to define ourselves in such a context...which context? To quote Shakespeare, (hmmm...was he in fact, Jewish???) "there's the rub"...

    The Reform movement http://www.rj.org/ developed out of a desire to cast Judaism and Jewishness in new terms. Why "new"? Because within Judaism, the word for Judaism, in Hebrew, is "Yehadut", which is most accurately translated as "Jewishness"! The Reform movement set about to excise from "Jewishness" what it saw as "extraneous trappings": understandings of what is acceptable as "modest apparel", proper interaction with gentiles, etc. The result ended up being a rejection of all of what before then was "Jewishness" but the liturgical, which was itself modified, not only by its adaptation of the local vernacular [originally German, more recently, for the vast majority of its adherents, English]. What remains therefore, cannot be called "Jewish" in the sense by which Jews have traditionally defined themselves, but only in the loosest of definitions, "Jewish Religion". Without the context of Jewish Law, however, this "Jewish Religious" approach is viewed as utterly un-Jewish by adherents of more traditional forms of Judaism...so much so that, on the occasion of the first ordination of Reform rabbis, so great is the rejection of Jewish Law by the Reform movement [although this rejection has lessened in PRACTICE, if not in DOGMA (itself a concept alien to Judaism)], non-kosher food was served, as a direct result of which, the Conservative movement http://uscj.org/ was formed.

    The Conservative movement holds that Jewish Law is NOT rejectable wholesale [the Reform movement reject Jewish Law as authoritative, giving liberty to its adherents to adopt for themselves whatever parts thereof they deem applicable or appropriate to their lives]... At the same time, however, it holds that interpretations of Jewish Law are mutable, more specifically, time-specific...that each aspect of Jewish Law should be evaluated in light of the present. Out of the Conservative movement developed the Reconstructionist movement http://www.jrf.org/ which is in some ways more "liberal" than the Reform movement, yet in other ways more traditionalist than the Conservative movement.

    Then there are the myriad groups who are dismissively lumped together as "The Orthodox Movement", which is not actually a "movement" so much as it is the expression of Judaism just as it has existed, in its many various forms, for centuries. [disclaimer: I am "orthodox", whatever that means] Orthodoxy is not a movement, especially not in any way analogous to which "reform", "reconstructionist" and "conservative" are "movement"s, in fact "orthodox" was originally used by the Reform movement as a slur against anyone who didn't agree with their "reforms".

    Now. Given that background on Jewish RELIGIOUS groups, we finally get around to answering the question: Is "Jewish" a religion or a nationality?

    For the Reform, Judaism is exclusively a religion.

    For the Reconstructionist, Judaism is almost exclusively a national identity, to the extent that most are irreligious, yet observe Jewish rituals.

    For the Conservative, Judaism is a dichotomy, religious on the one hand, and cultural on the other...you will find a wide range of belief and practice, in fact, encompassing the entire spectrum from Orthodox to Reconstructionist [or Reform, depending on whom you decide to place at the other "end" of the spectrum.]...

    Within Orthodoxy, however, "Jewish" is exclusively "(legitimate) identification as a member of the Jewish people". What constitutes "legitimate"? Anyone who is born to a Jewish woman or who converts [under orthodox auspices of whatever sort] to Judaism.

    Given this definition, it is inappropriate to apply the term "nationality" based on the geopolitical context which the term has taken on in the past 90 years, and it is likewise inappropriate to ascribe a religious connotation to the term, since someone who is Jewish can be Orthodox, Reform or even Atheist, and still be Jewish.

    To better understand it, consider a[n admittedly weak] example [especially in light of the fact that I just got done saying that it shouldn't be thought of in geopolitical terms!]: An American [USian, whatever] is an American, how? by being born to American parents or by "converting", altho this is called "naturalization" in this example. How does one cease to be American? By leaving and renouncing their American citizenship. This is likewise the only way to stop being Jewish if you happen to be born to a Jewish mother and wish to not be Jewish (altho, according to Jewish law, you are still Jewish, you are not counted from then on, in a minyan, etc.)...in fact, here American law and Jewish law diverge a bit, if you renounce your citizenship, you aren't American...if you renounce your Jewishness, you're technically still Jewish, you're just not able to participate in Jewish events as a Jew...there is a "back door" for your descendants however, while no such back door exists in American immigration law.

    So, "Judaism" in the modern sense of the word is "Jewish Religion", and "Jew" is a member of the ethnicity who are the exclusive practitioners of that religion. Not everyone who is a Jew practices Jewish religion, but every practitioner of Jewish religion is Jewish.

    "Nationality" as we understand it in 2004 is very different from what it meant even 100 years ago. Given that, Jewishness is a nationality, a "membership" in a people. It is not a reference to "nation" in the sense of "nation state", but only to "a people", in the same sense that the Kurds are a nation/people, and the Ainu, and the Navaho, and the Yupik and the Xhosa. You don't need an independent nation state, or even an autonomous region to be a people.

    The claim that it is refers to religion is patently incorrect. There are many (even prominent) Jewish atheists. Ayn Rand comes immediately to mind. Atheism is not, in any way, a "part" of Judaism, the religion of the Jews. On the other hand, the only way for non-Jews to BECOME Jewish, is by converting to Judaism. (In this response, I'll avoid delving into addressing the presently contentious situation surrounding who is capable of determing the parameters for conversion...)

    So, as Mr. Harryman says, if you want to know what someone Jewish means when they call themselves Jewish, you'll hafta ask them. :-)

    Comments
    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading Strictly speaking, if someone is said to be Jewish, does that refer to their religion or their nationality?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

Answerbag

a Demand Media company