Since I don't believe that god exists, I don't believe he's punished anyone for anything.
I understand. This is the Comparative Religion subforum and we're talking about the mythology. In Judaic mythology, what is the reason that God has been punishing them so consistently for so long?
My understanding (as someone who was raised Methodist) is that Israel was chosen to serve as an example. In times when the nation kept God's laws, they prospered. When they fell by the wayside, things turned crappy.
It's been about 2500 years since the Covenant, and for more than 2000 of those years, things have been relentlessly "crappy" for the Jews. Their land was occupied, their temple destroyed, their nation obliterated, their people scattered, their language limited to liturgy, their people restricted to shtetls, their shtetls burned, ultimately an organized attempt was made to exterminate them, and when that only succeeded in reducing their numbers by 50% they were relocated onto somebody else's homeland in the middle of the desert surrounded by hostile Muslims. Yet throughout all of this they maintained a large core of faithful who did not "fall by the wayside" but continued to maintain their faith, laws and traditions, and ultimately reestablished a Jewish theocratic state and even revived the language.
Very few other ethnic groups have succeeded so remarkably in retaining their identity and traditions amid aggressive hostility from the surrounding peoples; the Roma (Gypsies) are the only others I can think of. The Aramaeans survive only in a language; the number of American Indian tribes dwindles with every passing decade; the Cornish and the Manx are fighting a losing battle to retain their identity; does anyone remember the Prussians, the Ostrogoths, the Dacians or the Manchus?
All in all, by the standards of our species, the Jews have done amazingly well despite all of the hardships God has sent them. So I repeat: what exactly did they do
wrong to earn these hardships?
So are you a Jew ? if yes , on what do you base your self to be a Jew ?
"Jewish" has several overlapping meanings. It can simply mean someone descended from the ancient Hebrews. (Hitler's one-fourth rule would have applied to me, but Jewish law excludes me because it was my father's father.) Or it can mean someone who claims to be and is accepted as a member of the Jewish community, regardless of DNA or religious practice. (In more Westernized communities this embraces children of mixed parentage and secular outlook if they just eat matzo ball soup and show up for Passover.) Or it can mean someone who adheres to the Jewish religion... which brings us to Alex.
Judaism is primarily a religion of laws rather than doctrine, so one who does not believe in God is still considered Jewish so long as he doesn't proselytize atheism and observes a few key rituals and restrictions. Obviously the Chassidim and other Orthodox Jews would not accept him as a member of the tribe, but in America's largely Reform and heavily secular congregation he would be unremarkably welcomed. I have many friends who eat pork, marry Gentiles, don't believe in supernatural beings and are not supportive of Israel, but they show up at the temple for a few major holidays and make sure their children get the training to pass their bar or bat mitzvah, and the Jewish community counts them as members.
). Jews leave you alone about religion (thank you).