What does it mean to be Jewish? Judaism is often a misunderstood religion, complete with myths and misconceptions. For instance, the simple question of whether Judaism is a religion or a race has been a very real inquiry in our popular culture. It’s hard to believe that something has been in existence for over 4000 years but is still so misunderstood!
Here are the basics: Judaism is a religion, one that has its own set of beliefs. These beliefs are often taught to children in Hebrew schools. However, it becomes confusing when you realize there are many people who call themselves Jews, but they are not believers in Judaism. In fact, more than half of the Jews in Israel consider themselves “secular” with no belief in God. More than half the Jews in the United States are not members of a synagogue.
So obviously, there is more to being Jewish than following a religion!
The United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1980s that Jews are a “race” of people. However, many Jewish people were angered by this, and for good reason. Though the Supreme Court labeled Jews as a race for anti-discrimination purposes, the fact remains that a race is a genetic distinction. A race is a group of people with shared ancestry and shared genetic traits. Your “race” is embedded in your DNA.
Another reason the “race” designation bothered so many people is the image is conjures up – one of the terrible Holocaust and the extermination of certain “races” by the Nazis. By labeling all Jews as a “race” of people, the Supreme Court was inadvertently dragging that painful history into the spotlight.
When secular Jews think about the Jewish religion, they consider the more traditional things that everyone seems to associate with Judaism: The Yiddish language, the food, the holiday observances, and the culture. However, Jews are not a cultural group, nor an ethnic one.
So that leads to the next question: What, exactly, does it mean to be a Jew?
The best answer is that Jews are all of the things listed above…but that doesn’t come close to summing up the whole of the Jewish people. Ultimately, the best answer came from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s book, where he claims that Jews are a “family.”
Just as every family can be filled with varying beliefs, ideals, and even cultural traiditons, each person is still identified by their family name. Jews are family, just like any other – only on a much larger scale!
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