religion

Out of context: Reply #2424

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  • _niko-2

    Question for our Jewish friends.

    Can you be Jewish without being religious? It's been said that "Jew" isn't an ethnicity or a culture but a religion.

    But take it away and what are you then? If you live in Israel, I suppose you can be Israeli, but for the diaspora who hasn't lived in Israel for generations can you not practice or adhere to Judaism and still be Jewish?

    I say that because Jewish people tend to have strong family, cultural and historical bonds, a strong Jewish "Identity" that have kept them going through the centuries, so I guess I'm asking if you are encouraged to be religious in order to belong.

    _niko -2Permalink
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    • oh and happy Hanukkah :)_niko
    • I'm not Jewish, but my father was. I don't associate as Jewish, so when someone says I am because my dad was, it kinda bothers me.monospaced
    • Not that being Jewish bothers me, but the assumption, or assertion, is what gets me. I was not taught anything religious, so it actually confuses me too.monospaced
    • According to Talmud, nodrgs
    • question level: things i asked jewish mates when i was 13, in ireland.kingsteven
    • It shows up in DNA tests. I'm 50% Jewish with mostly scottish/norwegian taking up the other half12xu
    • Have plenty of culturally Jewish friends who are non-religious too... think Seinfeld12xu
    • Most ideas about Jewish cultural identity in the US are shaped by the Ashkenazi in NYC. There are other groups of course, just not as influential12xu
    • snarkiness level: things i said when i was 10 to prove how smart i was._niko
    • David Cross had a great bit about this... can't find it though.ben_
    • yeah 12xu, it is the DNA, .2% of the world population but 20% of nobel winners, 40% of oscar winning directors and 60% of chess champions_niko
    • so them not being practising Jews or religious doesn't' make them any less Jewish is my point I think._niko
    • the CBC just released an interesting doc that may answer some of my questions:
      https://gem.cbc.ca/m…      _niko
    • https://gem.cbc.ca/m…_niko
    • @niko, regardless of what you think, if someone doesn’t identify with Judaism or practice it you can’t just say they are. That’s fucking racist AF.monospaced
    • I don’t know the first thing about Judaism. If you tried telling me I’m Jewish I’d probably consider you a pompous ignorant fuck.monospaced
    • Because it’s a religion. It’s nothing more.monospaced
    • yeah mono for sure, but there's got to be something tying you back to your ancestors. If you look at ancient peoples, Persians are Muslims but they still consid_niko
    • themselves Persians, Greeks are christians but they consider themselves Greeks first and foremost, they are ethnically or culturally Greeks or Persians, so if_niko
    • I was to refer to you as jewish, it's for lack of a better ethnic/cultural term not that i'm trying to say you're religious. I guess that's the issue_niko
    • because pretty much every jewish family that I know, isn't religious, but they have a strong "Jewish" identity._niko
    • and mono my intention isn't to label anyone, living in a multicultural city, you learn to respect and love one another and respecting self-identity is part of i_niko
    • Also your little freak out pretty much sealed that I’ll now refer to you as mono, my little Jewish qbn friend lol_niko
    • Can you be Jewish without being religious? From a biblical perspective, and by biblical I mean rabbinical, the whole concept of "non-religious Jew" doesn't makecherub
    • sense. It's like saying "dry water" or "cold fire." Because to discard the religious element and keep everything else is the opposite of what Judaism is teachescherub
    • If you do that, what you are left with is zionism. So yes the biblical perspective says no(mostly), but IRL isn't based on the bible. Colloquial use of "Jewish"cherub
    • is usually describing "culturally Jewish." Look up Theodore Herzl on wikipedia, and see how he transformed most Jews on this planet to Zionists.cherub
    • Judaism isn’t ethnicity. It’s a belief system. If your ancestors were Muslim I wouldn’t be an arrogant and insist it’s your ethnicity. Cmon.monospaced
    • The ONLY reason people call it ethnicity is because they are insanely ignorant and can’t look past racist urges to label people as other.monospaced
    • If someone doesn’t believe in or follow Judaic teachings, then they aren’t Jewish. It’s as simple as that.monospaced
    • Just because they came from one place once and congregated somewhere doesn’t make a race or ethnicity.monospaced
    • At one point a huge amount of Jews were Russian. But most Russians aren’t Jewish. That’s because Russian isn’t a fucking race.monospaced
    • Middle eastern Jews are middle eastern. They aren’t the same ethnicity as Russian Jews. The very implication is beyond ignorant. Sounds like 30s Germany in heremonospaced
    • But even the Russian or European Jews were descendants of Israelites as emetic peoples, so they’re not ethnically or culturally Russian necessarily._niko
    • Also don’t know why your flying off the handle with racist accusations, I’m asking out of a place of respect and simple curiosity_niko
    • Thanks cherub for your input :)_niko
    • It’s not a simple question it turns out:
      https://www.google.c…      _niko
    • One clue is the word itself. I had to write a paper on this subject at Uni. Here is what I found. We can thank the French-for the modern word "Jew" comes fromcherub
    • their version (juiu) of the Hebrew word yĕhūḏāh which along with yĕhūḏī means "Judah" and "(geographical citizen) of Judah" respectively. They are both nouns,cherub
    • one is the name of one of the 12 tribes of Jacob(later renamed Israel), and the other is an inhabitant or I guess citizen of Judah. We have come in modern timescherub
    • to extend the 2nd one past the usage of a noun when we say in English "Jewish" because we are describing something as having certain qualities, and clearly thatcherub
    • goes beyond the meaning of yĕhūḏī in the bible which just means "inhabitant of the land of Judah." Final note: I don't remember where I read it but at one pointcherub
    • it was foretold to Judah that all the other tribes would call themselves by his name. Which later came true. To this day, the descendants of Jacob/Israelcherub
    • call themselves Jews, after his name.cherub
    • And if some of them don’t associate with what they see as purely a meaningless belief system, they are no longer Jews regardless of what some dude said Long agomonospaced
    • as a half jew i can tell you this: if you're born jewsih (your mom is jewish) you're jewish according to the halakha. no escaping that.renderedred
    • According to some irrelevant, made up opinion of some dudes thousands of years ago. Hilarious hogwash. What a freakin' joke.monospaced
    • of course mono, but that's how it works ;)renderedred
    • i am not religious, still i was and am regraded as jewish both by jews and gentiles alike.renderedred
    • just because someone wrote it doesn't mean that's how it works. Biology and theology are different.monospaced
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