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My family is Jewish (Aschkenazi) and not religious. Growing up we celebrated most of the Jewish holidays but did not go to synagogue. We also celebrated some of the Christian holidays, which started gradually when we were growing up.
When I fill out paperwork that asks background, I list white for race, Jewish for heritage/nationality (although twice recently when answering for a phone registration, they didn't have Jewish as one of the check boxes and wanted me to come up with a real nationality!), and I leave the religion question blank or check off no preference.
When I was pregnant I was tested to see if I was a carrier for Tay-Sachs and if I had breast cancer they'd offer to test me for a specific gene mutation. If I converted to Judaism they would not have tested me, and the gene tests have nothing to do with whether I am religious.
So, I would say Jewish is a nationality/heritage and also a religion, although there are always different opinions about this, even within my own family.
: of or relating to races or large groups of people who have the same customs, religion, origin, etc.
: associated with or belonging to a particular race or group of people who have a culture that is different from the main culture of a country
That's always been confusing to understand since perhaps one term is being used to describe both a religion an ethnic group.
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What complicates the matter is that there are Kurdish Jews. Kurdish is an ethnic group and they can be of any religion. Persian Jews also exist. So it's confusing. There are also Arab Jews.
I think there are even Gypsy(Roma) Jews.
That's why I think if anything its more so a religion.
But that is where you are wrong. My wife and her mother are atheist but they are both culturally observant. They observe Passover and Rosh Hashanah, to date, they have taken part in five of my nieces and nephews Bat Mitzvahs as well as my daughters. Being Jewish is extremely important to them. By doing so, they maintain a connection with Jews across the world just as the Jews that you cited maintain a connection with each other regardless of whether or not they believe in god, or follow any particular rabbinical tradition.
Frankly I think that my daughter (who is obviously bi-racial) strong Jewish identification is away for her to belong to an ethnic group without having to appear to divide here allegiance between her white Jewish mother and her atheist African American father.
Was the Catholic babysitter Hispanic/Latino/a? Many Latin Americans have Sephardic Jewish ancestry, and many still due things thar were passed down from and indicitive of being s converso and a marrano.
I don't know, but yes, I've read stories of the "Crypto-Jews".
i think jewish is a religion so it could not be detected with dna but it there was a group of people from a certain area that had the same dna that just happens to be jewish, it could be followed to that area, they will alway be some people in that group that share the dna that are not jewish, chritian, budda, what ever, maybe non religion. so they would have to be included but not classified as a jewish gene. but more these people from this area had jewish tendacy gene.
I tell everyone that I am not a practicing Jew but Jewish by heritage. The Jewish faith doesn't recognize me & my sibs because our mother was not Jewish-but our father was. We were supposed to be raised in the Jewish faith but the local synagogue wouldn't let us join. We did celebrate the Jewish holidays along with the Christian ones. People used to say, "Aren't these kids confused?" Everyone else was confused but we weren't. We thought everyone celebrated Passover & Easter as well as Hanukkah & Christmas.
I was later baptized in the Episcopal Church but I'm not a practicing Christian now either. I am a Pagan. But, I still light the candles on Hanukkah to recognize my Jewish heritage even though I know Hanukkah is a minor holiday and everyone wants to turn it into the Jewish Christmas. But for me, it is just a little something to honor my father's side of the family.
My family is Jewish (Aschkenazi) and not religious. Growing up we celebrated most of the Jewish holidays but did not go to synagogue. We also celebrated some of the Christian holidays, which started gradually when we were growing up.
When I fill out paperwork that asks background, I list white for race, Jewish for heritage/nationality (although twice recently when answering for a phone registration, they didn't have Jewish as one of the check boxes and wanted me to come up with a real nationality!), and I leave the religion question blank or check off no preference.
When I was pregnant I was tested to see if I was a carrier for Tay-Sachs and if I had breast cancer they'd offer to test me for a specific gene mutation. If I converted to Judaism they would not have tested me, and the gene tests have nothing to do with whether I am religious.
So, I would say Jewish is a nationality/heritage and also a religion, although there are always different opinions about this, even within my own family.
JFTR I'm a convert. The reason why Tay Sachs is so commen in ashkenazi Jews is not because of a long term shared genetic history. It's because Eastern European jews were forced to live in small insulated communities in eastern europe. They married within those small communities, as such the Tay Sachs gene evolved in higher numbers there. It's also common in some other highly insular groups like in the Cajun community, certain Franch canadian communities anlong with the old Amish community.
I agree about the "nation". That's what I often hear. One can be born into it or one can be "Nationalized" via conversion
Location: East St. Paul 651 forever (or North St. Paul) .
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If Ashkenazi Jews have higher rates of certain cancers it's non debatable that they are an ethnicity. The religion thing is secondary to Jews. How many times have you heard a famous person say they are Jewish yet are atheist?
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