Jewish people, I have a question for you...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are Jewish if your mother is Jewish. Jews are not white. Jews are Jews.

Jews are Jews and Jews are Caucasian, i.e., white

Like people who are Christian and English, or Christian and French are Christian and Caucasian

Nope. Ashkenazi Jews you (and many modern progressives) probably would consider white, but Hitler and modern neo-Nazis would not. But Mizrahi Jews, including Ethiopian Jews, you would likely not.

In any case, people who argue this particular point are generally trying to justify something ugly.

I too find the original post to be highly unlikely. The fact that ALL of OP’s ancestors on both sides are Jewish and not a single one of them knows it seems… odd.

Not odd for Jews, especially during WWII, to hide their family history. It was a matter of life or death and if you could hide your ancestry, you did. I've heard stories of Blond Blue eyed Jews who "passed" as Christian during WWII. I've also hear of European Jewish men affiliating, if they could, with the US army in Europe, because all American baby boys, irrespective of religion, were circumcised in the hospital after birth.

Then there's Tom Stoppard, the famous British playwright who didn't find out that he was Jewish until late in life. He wrote a play about it -Leopoldstadt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are clearly a lot of Jews responding here that are not reform. My husband is over 99% Ashkenazi, I converted years ago and our kids are in the middle of their bar and bat mitzvah prep. They are Jewish, regardless of my DNA, both half of their DNA and as practicing Jews. Very antiquated to keep saying the Mom must be Jewish. Our synagogue is almost half interfaith, raising Jewish children.

Reform is reform for a reason. orthodox says mom

[Anonymous]

I don’t think ancestry tells the story. Lot of Sicilians for example have Arab/North African dna. That doesn’t mean they’re Arab. Lot of Arabs have Jewish or italian dna. That doesn’t mean they’re Jewish or italian.

Your immediate relatives and how you were raised determines who you are

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think ancestry tells the story. Lot of Sicilians for example have Arab/North African dna. That doesn’t mean they’re Arab. Lot of Arabs have Jewish or italian dna. That doesn’t mean they’re Jewish or italian.

Your immediate relatives and how you were raised determines who you are

Correct. I look just like one of my European predecessors. When I go to that country, people think I'm one of them, unless I speak. Many times I've seen the shock when people realize I'm American.

[Anonymous]

My Dad’s ethnically Jewish but an atheist. I have been told:

1) I am not Jewish bc my mother is not a Jewish
2) I am Jewish bc Hitler would have sent me to a death camp and I self hate bc I do not say I’m Jewish.
3) of course I am not Jewish but I am Russian (this is my Dad’s PoV, he is of Ukrainian Jewish ancestry btw)

To be honest I cannot figure this out. All I know is I do not believe in God and think that religion has caused way too much death over the centuries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:99% and nobody knew is surprising. My parents were 95% and 85% and if anything I would have expected higher from them. OP, the basic answer is that if you want to go to a reform temple and say you are Jewish you will be welcome. If you want Israeli citizenship you're going to be asked for documents. If you want to be Jewish you can be, no matter what the DNA results say. But being Jewish is more than DNA...if you want to know more, there are intro classes at many JCCs or Anita diamont has a good introductory book.

We had a big shock when my family did 23andme and found out my mom's dad was 90+% Ashkenazi. No one had any idea. His parents were from Calabria, Italy. We reached out to some second cousins who were big into genealogy and they confirmed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:99% and nobody knew is surprising. My parents were 95% and 85% and if anything I would have expected higher from them. OP, the basic answer is that if you want to go to a reform temple and say you are Jewish you will be welcome. If you want Israeli citizenship you're going to be asked for documents. If you want to be Jewish you can be, no matter what the DNA results say. But being Jewish is more than DNA...if you want to know more, there are intro classes at many JCCs or Anita diamont has a good introductory book.

We had a big shock when my family did 23andme and found out my mom's dad was 90+% Ashkenazi. No one had any idea. His parents were from Calabria, Italy. We reached out to some second cousins who were big into genealogy and they confirmed it.

Wow - My guess is that your grandfather's parents knew very well that they were Jewish and also knew that Calabria, where many people are dark, was a good place to hide it.

In those days, before genealogy tests, you could hide your true identity by just adopting the local language and religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Dad’s ethnically Jewish but an atheist. I have been told:

1) I am not Jewish bc my mother is not a Jewish
2) I am Jewish bc Hitler would have sent me to a death camp and I self hate bc I do not say I’m Jewish.
3) of course I am not Jewish but I am Russian (this is my Dad’s PoV, he is of Ukrainian Jewish ancestry btw)

To be honest I cannot figure this out. All I know is I do not believe in God and think that religion has caused way too much death over the centuries.

If your father is 100% ethnically Jewish, then you are at least 50% ethnically Jewish. Nothing can change your DNA. It's not a belief system. Also, nothing can make you identify as Jewish if you choose not to.

Jewish religious groups (like synagogues) would say you aren't entitled to claim membership in the Jewish religion (and do Jewish religious-y stuff) because your mother was not Jewish. However, most would welcome you happily and let you have a bar mitzvah or whatever if you'll jump through a few religious hoops, which they have a convenient program for.

What Hitler would have done is no longer relevant, as he's dead and you don't live in Nazi Germany.

Russians would say you are not Russian because you are Jewish, but would completely understand if you chose to call yourself Russian and not mention the Jewish part, as they wouldn't want to be Jewish either (they legit hate Jews in Russia). At one time, Soviet passports identified Jewish people as Jewish rather than Russian, but since that practice stopped, many Russian Jews simply stopped mentioning it and "became" Russian in order to avoid persecution and discrimination. Many Americans have done the same thing over the years, as well as many other Jews throughout history who had the option to do so.

So the answer is that you are descended from at least some members of the ancient semitic tribe, but are not under any obligation to talk about it.