What does it mean to be Jewish?
- Thread starter S.A.M.
- Start date
You do realise that at least 2 of those would require a whole essay to answer, even relatively succinctly.
No they Have the Torah.
Christians Have the Torah and the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles combined into a book of books called the Bible.
All Praise The Ancient of Days
Jewish follow extreme traditions of who to marry and what laws to follow, very precise laws and rules. And Jewish population generally carries their specific DNA which comes from intermarriage between close family members. This makes Jews smart but not healthy in sense that they carry many genetic diseases.
Funny isn't it, three people have answered and none are Jewish, so how can they be of any help? They didn't even bother to suggest to use Goggle to get most of the information you asked for as well. Seems that you, SAM, are baiting someone to talk about themselves and try to show them how wrong they are, which is a way you go about things here I've found out. Your a clever woman and understand what research is all about. Why not just use your abilities to search out those answers in books or online for it would seem if you were really interested you would do just that as any intellectual would do. :shrug:
I think the best way to find out how someone defines themselves is to ask them. Even a book is written by someone with an opinion of what a point of view is. Besides, isn't that the whole purpose of a discussion forum?
I thought maybe I was missing out on some Jewish culture since I could not come up with anything for Tylers thread. :shrug:
First off i am a conservative Jew, unlike Dragon.
1.) I define myself as one of few and part of a close knit family, because if there's one thing Jews do really well, it is helping each other. It means to be part of a religious family that will always support each other.
2.) What the heck is Jewishness? A word?
3.) Icons: the bible, family, community, and Israel. Most people honestly do not know just how important Israel is for the Jews, many of us would be willing to die for Israel so long as we know that we protected it. Call it brainwashing, call it faith, i call it family, and to a Jew nothing feels better than going to Israel, because no where else in the world does a Jew feel truely at home than in the promised land.
4.) Jewish culture can mean hardly ever going to temple, or going to temple very often, it doesn't matter.
Thanks. You're right, I don't understand the affiliation with Israel. I mean, I've been to Mecca and it was all very pleasant and historical but I never thought of it as home. I wished they had not "modernised" it, but I appreciated the facility of modern plumbing. Beyond that, it was just a place. I'm a Mumbaikar, wherever I go. :shrug:
I was more interested in what makes you "feel" Jewish. What songs, art, literature? What do you "share" with other Jews?
For me it is being a member of a cultural/ethnic group with whom I personally have few real ties. Some of my relatives follow Jewish traditions more seriously, one relative prefers to date Jewish people, using a Jewish dating site. Many of my relatives are from Israel, where I lived a couple years very early in my life. They tend to leave Israel for the US as soon as they get out of the army (they have dual citizanship). For my relatives that celebrate Jewish holidays, they get together, eat traditional Jewish food (which is horrible) and atone for their sins.
gefilte fish, matzoh, challah (bread), borscht, chicken soup, matzoh ball soup... brisket is very popular....
Israeli food is quite different and good, mostly inspired by Arab, Mediterranian, and Lebanese food.
Israeli food is quite different and good, mostly inspired by Arab, Mediterranian, and Lebanese food.
Honestly, nothing. It's purely spiritual, and youd think a society like that would fall apart, why it hasnt is a good question. It's really wierd but nice. Like if you have a bad arguement or something and you learn you are argueing with a jewish person and you are also jewish that person is suddenly almost like family.
I've heard of challah bread and matzoh, but I don't know what they are. Haven't heard of the rest. I will ask my Jewish friends to make them for me.
Makes sense, it beats the European food hollow.
I know exactly what you mean. Its like when I go to some strange place and run into an Indian.
How do we atone for our sins? Mostly by eating the food with our relatives.
i have a jewish friend . He is mixed romani and askhenazi . he told me ,u cant be a jew if ur mother is chritstian. because a real jew is jew through his mother,not father.
Another friend of mine is askhenazi jew,throug her father .But Her mother is a very religious christian . she said that is not right,it doesnt matter wich one of ur parents are jew,as long as one of them is jew,you are a jew.who is right?
Another friend of mine is askhenazi jew,throug her father .But Her mother is a very religious christian . she said that is not right,it doesnt matter wich one of ur parents are jew,as long as one of them is jew,you are a jew.who is right?
Bearing in mind this is just trivia I've accumulated over the years...
Who is or isn't a jew, like any religious/ethnic/cultural question, really depends on who you ask.
In general on the religious side, if you are born to a jewish mother you are in free. I don't know about the more extreme orthodox variations, but there are ways to convert to most forms of judeaism if you wish. If you renounce judeaism and adopt another faith then you would no longer be religiously a jew, though you might consider yourself culturally or ethnically jewish.
From what I've seen if some one considers themselves jewish and participates in the culture/community then that's generally good enough for every one except the stuckup sticky beats. You might need a bit more to be a rabbi but that's life.
I agree the fundie xtians that pose as 'messianic jews' full of shit.
Who is or isn't a jew, like any religious/ethnic/cultural question, really depends on who you ask.
In general on the religious side, if you are born to a jewish mother you are in free. I don't know about the more extreme orthodox variations, but there are ways to convert to most forms of judeaism if you wish. If you renounce judeaism and adopt another faith then you would no longer be religiously a jew, though you might consider yourself culturally or ethnically jewish.
From what I've seen if some one considers themselves jewish and participates in the culture/community then that's generally good enough for every one except the stuckup sticky beats. You might need a bit more to be a rabbi but that's life.
I agree the fundie xtians that pose as 'messianic jews' full of shit.
Its antijew to say bad things about Zionists, which is a movement started by an atheist Jew. Atheist Jews are like tribalists, they don't believe in the Jewish God but they have an ethnic affiliation towards those who do, even if they are not ethnically similar. One is not permitted to make derisive remarks about the ideologies of those who swear by ethnic identities that make no rational sense. But its okay to make derisive remarks about theists and Muslims and even Christians. That comes under a separate category called "freedom of expression*".
This thread is an attempt to make sense of all these categories of Jewishness. I was attempting to keep it straightforward, but it was not to be.
*Jews are exempted.
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