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No, it's not "just like Christian or Muslim" - Jewish people have genetic markers specifying them as Semitic, and it's more of an "ethnic group" than other religions. My brother had his/our DNA tested, and it came back as 93% Ashkenazi JEWISH. Would a Christian's results say they were genetically Christian?
Even if it weren't for those genetic markers, most consider it to be more of a cultural identity than your typical Christian... that's why people (like me) call themselves "secular Jewish" or "culturally Jewish," even if they don't ever attend synagogue. I thought this was fairly common knowledge by now, but I guess you don't get too many Jews in the Ozark Mountains. LOL
No, it's not "just like Christian or Muslim" - Jewish people have genetic markers specifying them as Semitic, and it's more of an "ethnic group" than other religions. My brother had his/our DNA tested, and it came back as 93% Ashkenazi JEWISH. Would a Christian's results say they were genetically Christian?
Even if it weren't for those genetic markers, most consider it to be more of a cultural identity than your typical Christian... that's why people (like me) call themselves "secular Jewish" or "culturally Jewish," even if they don't ever attend synagogue. I thought this was fairly common knowledge by now, but I guess you don't get too many Jews in the Ozark Mountains. LOL
I don't think anyone can answer that for you, since we all have our own sense of cultural identity - as proven by the variety of responses on this thread! But if that was MY background, I'd probably just call myself Mediterranean-Jewish by blood (American by birth).
If asked about my actual heritage, I usually say that I'm "Slavic-Jewish heritage, but third-generation American." And in my line of work this comes up frequently, since I run programs for and work directly with ESL learners. They're always curious about my background, especially since we get a LOT of folks from Russia and Ukraine! Telling them I have Slavic blood always elicits a positive response; but I make sure to mention the third-gen American part, mostly so they don't expect me to speak Russian.
I’m Swedish and English, not episcopal and Lutheran.
Yeah, but once again - Judaism has a MUCH different sense of cultural identity/heritage vs Christian denominations. It's hard to explain to a Gentile, but for us it's much more than a religion. It's usually a deeper part of who we are, even if we're not practicing, and gives us a sense of community with other Jewish people.
Honestly, if I had to pick one descriptor for myself it IS "Jewish." Of course I have pride in being American-born, but it's not as important to me as my Jewish heritage. Sorry if that offends anyone, but really I'm not that sorry. This would be kind of like asking why an African-American doesn't just call themselves "American," as though we have the right to shame someone for their distinct self-identity. We should not do that.
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