Identity is part and parcel of the human condition. We seek to define ourselves, those around us, how we are similar, and what makes us unique. This seems to be hardwired evolutionarily as well. A study conducted by Harvard University1 illustrates that the first things we notice when meeting another person are their race and gender. We take pride in our heritage and our background. If you are a man, chances are you enjoy being a man. The same thing is true of women. If your parents are from India, and you grew up eating Indian foods and being surrounded by Indian culture, you’ll probably take pride in that. There’s nothing wrong with this, granted as long as you do not claim that you are somehow superior to others based on your background, gender, etc. We also want to precisely define who we are, for ourselves and in relation to others. So, our identity is further broken down into ethnicity, culture, and religion.
For most people, these three questions are easy to answer. “Oh, that’s easy. I’m Celtic, British, and Anglican”, or whatever you might happen to answer. However, for some, the answer doesn’t come so easily. How does culture play into ethnicity? Is religion an axis of identity? Does genetic background play a role at all? These are complicated questions, with no easy answer. For instance, many would say that genetics play at least some role in determining ethnicity. But we risk going down a rabbit hole with that argument, and one that does not end well. Alright, so let’s say that culture and religion are the two main cruxes of identity. If so, then most Christian Arabs should cease identifying as Arab. Any way you try to slice it, our paradigms of identity are going to leave someone out in the cold, or encompass such a broad approach that it can’t possibly be the case. And nowhere does this identity issue come more into play than with the question, “What is Jewishness?”.
A friend and I had recently tried to take a crack at this issue. We quickly found ourselves in a rut. Nothing stuck. I had tried to argue that Jews were an ethnoreligious group, but that did not do well to account for converts, who happen to be some of the most important people in Jewish history2. However, to say that ethnicity plays no role in Jewish identity doesn’t seem to be correct either. Children born to a Jewish mother, even if they have no connection to anything Jewish, are considered Jews according to Halacha. We also take pride in our descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and from the twelve tribes and those who were enslaved in Egypt. Hell, we were often persecuted for our ethnicity. What if Judaism isn’t a religion at all? Let’s use Rudy Rochman’s3 definition, that the Jews are a people first, and a religion second. This again is difficult to parse. The Jews only emerged as a distinct people because of our adamance about our singular G-d and his Torah. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been distinct from other Levantine groups such as the Phonecians or Aramaens.
It becomes incredibly hard to classify what exactly is Jewishness and what are its parameters. Of course, we have the basic definition that a Jew is either someone born to a Jewish mother or one who converts, but beyond that scope, it becomes difficult to describe what unifies us as a people. Ashkenazi, Sefaradi, and Mizrahi Jews happen to be incredibly close genetically, and obviously, share roots and have common origins.4 Other Jews however, such as the Jews of India (Cochin and the B’nei Yisrael), Ethiopian Jews, etc. are more ethnically ambiguous. Jews happen to have very similar cultural values all over the world. But, the problem with a purely cultural definition is that there are no boundaries to entry, which every group has. So we come to the major question of our discussion, how exactly do we define a Jew?
The answer to this question is that, maybe there’s no concrete answer. We emerged as a people LONG before notions such as race, ethnicity, culture, and religion even came to be. Ergo, we do not fit neatly into those boxes, and that’s okay. We get to define ourselves and everyone else is going to need to deal with that. But, if we absolutely need a definition, I would say the best way to describe the Jewish People is exactly the way we started, a tribe. A tribe has its own religion and culture, but may have different branches that have their own traditions and sub-cultures. A tribe may emerge from a specific family or people, but may integrate those who wish to join as one of their own. At the end of the day, we’re a family. Dispersed all over the world from our homeland, we’ve managed to keep our identity, and become the prime example for an everlasting nation, and eventually achieved resettling in our ancient home. Am Yisrael Chai - The Nation of Israel, lives.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/when-interacting-with-other-people-we-first-notice-race-and-gender/
I’ve spoken of this elsewhere, but to name a few, Ruth, Shemaya and Avtalyon (leaders of the Great Sanhedrin), and Onkelos (translator of the Torah into Aramaic) were converts. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir were descendants of converts, and without them, the Oral Torah would’ve been lost.
Rochman’s definition of Jewishness is faulty for various reasons. I will return to it at a later date.
See my article here:
Bravo! Another fantastic post that is right on the money. Jewishness is very much a triple access of ethnicity, religion and culture, which transcends the traditional categories because it emerged before they were really understood as such and created.