PSA: Jews are a racial group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that Hitler and other white supremacists have used the notion of a Jewish race as fuel for their fire does not obviate the fact that anthropologists and geneticists have established genetic strains that are distinct enough to establish an Ashkenazi (and potentially Sephardic) genetic group.

Genetic group is not a race, it can be mildly defined as ethnicity
Tay Sachs is found among other ethnicities too

My ancestry results also said I was 98%
That does not give me a race
It is more about what you identify yourself with. I am surprised so many take this seriously

Yes but Tay Sachs is much more common among Ashkenazi Jews. That’s why my husband and I had to have the Ashkenazi Jew genetic panel when I was pregnant.

Tay Sachs is also common among the French Canadian and Cajun

[Anonymous]

I'm Jewish and have always thought I was white. Who knew?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and have always thought I was white. Who knew?

It’s weird, right? But really, white people—to the extent it’s a category that can be defined—fundamentally have meant European Christians. Think about it — we’ve always been ostracized from that world historically. Most of us can ultimately trace our roots back to Semitic people and until the 20th century there was little intermarriage with Christians. A lot of us might be able to pass as white, but in a lot of countries, you can pick Jewish as a separate racial/ethnic group on forms asking for demographic information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and have always thought I was white. Who knew?

It’s weird, right? But really, white people—to the extent it’s a category that can be defined—fundamentally have meant European Christians. Think about it — we’ve always been ostracized from that world historically. Most of us can ultimately trace our roots back to Semitic people and until the 20th century there was little intermarriage with Christians. A lot of us might be able to pass as white, but in a lot of countries, you can pick Jewish as a separate racial/ethnic group on forms asking for demographic information.

Where
In Soviet Union it was under nationality, but then it was a union of republic's with a multitude of languages

Are you ostracized now, if so where
Europe was ruled by feudal Lord's who ostracized even their own serfs

[Anonymous]

Bullshite.

[Anonymous]

The pure ignorance on display in this thread is overwhelming. Let me try to over-simplify this for the simple: Once upon a time there were a group of tribes we refer to in English as Jews and they practice a religion we call Judaism. This group of people has since spread out all over the world (like most). Some continued to practice Judaism and some didn't. Some intermarried and some didn't. Some new people came along and began practicing Judaism at various points in time. Today people who are descendants of those long ago tribe members are still Jewish by DNA, although they may or may not practice the religion. Those who are "racially" Jewish can take a DNA test and see that relationship to those long-ago tribe members. They may have Jewish last names, brown curly hair and brown eyes, the stereo-typical Jewish nose, or other features associated with descendants of the tribe. So yes, Jewish is a race. Most of us who are Jewish know we are Jewish like others know they are German or Russian or African. But we may or may not be religious. You can't choose not to be Jewish if you are. The Nazis certainly didn't give anyone that choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and have always thought I was white. Who knew?

Jews have only been white for about 50-60 years. Before that they actually were not considered white. Seems like these days we are less white than we thought we had become.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since race is a social construct, I hardly think “Jews are a race” to be without question and undebatable.
Your statement doesn’t even make sense. Are you saying that the ashkenazi and Sephardim are separate racial groups? You realize that there are Jews who fit into neither category?
Are Muslims a race? Hindus?

Just stop.

I don’t know about Muslims or Hindus, but yes — Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (as well as some others) are considered racial groups. I had the Ashkenazi Jew genetic screening panel done when I was pregnant. My 23 and me results say “50% Ashkenazi Jewish.”

You don’t know what you’re talking about.

I think the real answer is that:

- Of course there are a number of well-established Jewish ethnic communities, such as the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities. Atheists who convert to Catholicism but have four Ashkenzic Jewish grandparents can have the Tay Sachs gene just as easily as an Ashkenazic Jewish rabbi.

- Whether "Judaism" as a whole is just a religion or also a race is a painful and controversial issue.

Some Jewish people will say that there is a Jewish race.

More will say that there isn't and get mad at anyone who suggests that there is such a thing. I think that there are a lot of Jewish people, me included, who instinctively feel as if calling Judaism, or even the Sephardic community or the Ashkenazic community, a race sounds terribly offensive, partly because Hitler made such a point of killing people who had even a little bit of Jewish ancestry, no matter what their religion was.

Maybe someone can talk about a "Jewish race" or "Ashan kenazic Jewish race" in a medical anthropology context, or something like that. But I think that anyone non-Jewish talking about "the Jewish race" in a political kind of context is likely to come off as alt-right, or alt-left.

It is not a "painful and controversial issue." It is simply a FACT that Jewish is an ancestry one can trace and a also a religion one can choose to practice or not practice. There is nothing controversial about it except that some people don't understand the difference between fact and what they want to believe.

[Anonymous]

Stupid Americans. In almost any other country you cannot be both Jewish and the nationality of that country. Jews are considered ethnic Jews, regardless of religion. In Eastern Europe they have it stamped on their passports. And not by choice.