Judaism is classified as a race AND a religion right?

skateordieamirite

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Aug 7, 2008
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In english, we are reading Night by Elie Wisel and my teacher, well both (got a student teacher also) were saying how Judaism is the only religion that's classified as a race and religion. That's why even if you had Jewish blood in you, you were deported to the concentration camps. I got in a discussion with 2 of my friends about how it is and they refuse to believe it isn't classified as a race.

So is it a race and a religion, and can u give a reliable source?
 
no, judaism is not a race.. first judaism is a way of living.. classified under being jewish which is a religion, so by saying that judaism is a race would be the same thing as saying christianity or christians are a race
 
No it's a religion. The nazis claimed it to be a race. i will star this question for Jewish contacts. but since it is currently Shabbat you may have to wait for an actual Jewish answer.

cut&paste
Are Jews a race, as well as a religion?

Answer: No

There is no such thing as the 'jewish race'. Never has been. If we were a 'race', how could anyone convert to Judaism? Think back to the bible: Ruth was the first convert.
It was Hitler who popularised the idea that Jews were a separate 'race'. According to him, , a person was 'tainted' with 'jewish blood' even if they had only one Jewish relative, several generations back. It didn't matter if the person was a practising Christian, for example. If there was any record of their having a Jewish relative, then their fate was sealed.

Today, many people still refer to 'jewish blood'. Usually, it's a genuine misunderstanding. Occasionally, the phrase will be used by those with a more negative agenda. But the fact remains that Jews are a people, a religion, and a family. We are not a 'race'. There is nothing 'biological' about being Jewish.

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http://www.ajewwithaview.com/judaismfaqs.htm

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No. It is a religion. There are Jews of all races, and converts, if tenacious and sincere, are welcomed. Here's what I wrote the last time this question came up:

There is only one Race, the human race. We all share 99.9% of our genome with one another (however, since the genome is composed of three billion base pairs, that remaining .01% does leave a sufficient three million base pairs for DNA fingerprinting.)

The reason why some Jews, as well as non Jews start thinking of Jewishness as a Race, is the attempts by outside agencies to exterminate Judaism. When the Nazis knocked on your door, they didn't care how much or how little you practiced the religion. They didn't care if you looked even more Teutonic than Der Fuhrer himself. All they cared was if your name bore a the faintest whiff of some Jewish Ancestry. The mid twentieth century abomination being only the largest of many historical attempts, these have left us Jews with something of a siege mentality, which lends itself to a mistaken identification with race vs. family of adherents.

But then again, since the whole notion of race is a)incorrect, and b) has a long history of being used by one "race" of people against some other "race", the sooner we all start to recognize our common humanity, the better we'll all be.
 
it is both a race and religion. you are a jew if you originated from jerusalem, and you are a jew if you believe in the torah
 
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