Judaism AMA

[Politruk]

11.2% is a trend when eighty years ago the percentage was around 1%.

Trends don't work that way. There's nothing about it to suggest the percentage will be 22% in another 80 years.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

See Clifford's Principle: "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence."

Why are you bringing Christian theology into a thread about Judaism?

 

[AnomalyLady]

The European form of antisemitism -- CTs about Jews controlling things from behind the scenes -- was never very important in the U.S., where antisemitism usually took the form of social prejudice -- Jews being kept out of certain neighborhoods, hotels, clubs. (WIlliam Levitt, the founder of Levittown, was Jewish himself, but he would not sell to Jews -- if there were Jews in Levittown, the better (Anglo-Saxon) class of gentiles would not want to live there. Needless to say, selling to blacks was not even to be considered.)

But if you lurk a bit on Stormfront, you will see that the Euro form is very important in the thinking of American White Nationalists. Probably because they admire the German Nazis, and have copied the whole package of Nazi antisemitism. But they've put their own American twist on it: Jews were the nefarious force behind the black civil rights movement, because they want to encourage race-mixing, because a mixed-race population is stupider than a white population and therefore easier for the Jews to control.

I recall reading in The History of White People in America, by Martin Mull:

Q: Are Jews white?

A: Technically, yes, but . . .

I do find the “Are Jews white” question to be interesting. @BrightShinyGirl could you please respond to that?

Personally, when I was young my hair was blonde, not beach blonde but light blonde. As I have aged my hair has turned darker and more red has come in. My grandfather was 100% Jewish and had red hair.

Am I white? Yes, I identify as white. Am I the anomaly in my family? Yes, all of my Jewish side family is brunette, brown eyes except for one sibling who was a total redhead like our grandfather. Plus, all of my family has olive skin whereas I am a “medium” when putting on make up.

 

[Politruk]

Why are you bringing Christian theology into a thread about Judaism?

Because of post #37.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I do find the “Are Jews white” question to be interesting. @BrightShinyGirl could you please respond to that?

Personally, when I was young my hair was blonde, not beach blonde but light blonde. As I have aged my hair has turned darker and more red has come in. My grandfather was 100% Jewish and had red hair.

Am I white? Yes, I identify as white. Am I the anomaly in my family? Yes, all of my Jewish side family is brunette, brown eyes except for one sibling who was a total redhead like our grandfather. Plus, all of my family has olive skin whereas I am a “medium” when putting on make up.

Jews are as white as the haters need us to be. In Europe we had “Semitic” features so we were “outsiders”. In the Middle East we’re lighter than Arabs, so now we’re “colonizers”.

There are Jews with pale skin and red or blonde hair and blue eyes. There are also Jews with black skin, and dark brown eyes. The white v. black dichotomy breaks down when you try to apply it to Jews.

 

[Politruk]

Jews are as white as the haters need us to be. In Europe we had “Semitic” features so we were “outsiders”. In the Middle East we’re lighter than Arabs, so now we’re “colonizers”.

There are Jews with pale skin and red or blonde hair and blue eyes. There are also Jews with black skin, and dark brown eyes. The white v. black dichotomy breaks down when you try to apply it to Jews.

I've read that Ethiopian Falashas have had a lot of trouble being accepted as equals in Israeli society.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Because of post #37.

Christians colloquially refer to all religions as “faiths” even though the concept of faith doesn’t apply to Judaism.

 

[Politruk]

Christians colloquially refer to all religions as “faiths” even though the concept of faith doesn’t apply to Judaism.

I have heard Jews call Judaism "the faith."

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I've read that Ethiopian Falashas have had a lot of trouble being accepted as equals in Israeli society.

It’s true that there are racist Jews who don’t like black people. But every culture has their racists. Jews aren’t any better or worse in that regard.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I have heard Jews call Judaism "the faith."

As I said, “faith” is a common colloquial term for religion. But there is no concept of faith in Judaism. The Torah exists. We can see it with our own eyes. You don’t have to believe it has a divine origin to follow it. Applying Christian terms to Judaism leads to a lot of confusion.

 

[Noor]

I do find the “Are Jews white” question to be interesting. @BrightShinyGirl could you please respond to that?

Personally, when I was young my hair was blonde, not beach blonde but light blonde. As I have aged my hair has turned darker and more red has come in. My grandfather was 100% Jewish and had red hair.

Am I white? Yes, I identify as white. Am I the anomaly in my family? Yes, all of my Jewish side family is brunette, brown eyes except for one sibling who was a total redhead like our grandfather. Plus, all of my family has olive skin whereas I am a “medium” when putting on make up.

Have you looked at your dna? That the best to tell how “white” you are. I was pretty surprised by mine.
It’s not unusual for Eastern European Jews to have red hair, pale cool skin, btw.

 

[Noor]

As I said, “faith” is a common colloquial term for religion. But there is no concept of faith in Judaism. The Torah exists. We can see it with our own eyes. You don’t have to believe it has a divine origin to follow it. Applying Christian terms to Judaism leads to a lot of confusion.

Jews have a contract/convenant with G-d, a binding agreement or G-d makes promises and the Jewish people commit to actions and observances.
The most important ones right are the covenant with Abraham, which includes promised of the land of Israel, descendants and blessings, and the one with Moses, which establishes Torah and the Jewish people’s obligations.
The Jewish G-d is not a paternal all forgiving one, they are of the Old Testament as Christians would say.

 

[John_von_Neumann]

Then you take umbrage at Muslims who demand that everyone else accommodate their religion in their workplaces and in public, right? Like they shouldn't be trying to force all women to wear headscarves or burkas and they shouldn't be trying to ban people from eating pork or drinking beer, right?

Of course. Islam is a garbage religion.

 

[AnomalyLady]

Have you looked at your dna? That the best to tell how “white” you are. I was pretty surprised by mine.
It’s not unusual for Eastern European Jews to have red hair, pale cool skin, btw.

My great grandmother came to the US during WW2, she came from Russia I was told, whether she lived there or was there just right before, I do not know.

But when I did 23andme, I came up for 44% France / Germany, 27% Ashkenazi, 13% Ireland / UK, everything else was in the under 10%. I do not know where the red hair came from, but it is certainly randomly there.

 

[Noor]

My great grandmother came to the US during WW2, she came from Russia I was told, whether she lived there or was there just right before, I do not know.

But when I did 23andme, I came up for 44% France / Germany, 27% Ashkenazi, 13% Ireland / UK, everything else was in the under 10%. I do not know where the red hair came from, but it is certainly randomly there.

I’d suspect it came from ashkenazi and Irish heritage. It doesn’t seem random at all. Red hair is recessive so it could also come from France/germany which sounds like Alsatian

 

[Noor]

I have heard Jews call Judaism "the faith."

Really? I’ve seriously never heard that. Culture, and people, but never faith.

 

[Noor]

Jews are as white as the haters need us to be. In Europe we had “Semitic” features so we were “outsiders”. In the Middle East we’re lighter than Arabs, so now we’re “colonizers”.

There are Jews with pale skin and red or blonde hair and blue eyes. There are also Jews with black skin, and dark brown eyes. The white v. black dichotomy breaks down when you try to apply it to Jews.

However if you take a look at the current idf generation, most of them are not lighter skin than Arabs.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

Religious folks are gullible dangerous idiots and have no place in proper society.

The world would be better off if Abraham had been a pagan idolater -- or, better still, an atheist.

Bro, BSG is NOTHING like that ^, whereas EVERY "Christian" MAGAt is basically the same.



BSG = NOT a cultist.



"Christian" MAGAts = Cultists..



Also:

ANYONE who skipped (glossed?) right over 10/7 and IMMEDIATELY went full “From the river to the sea” / “Israel is the real bad guy” on 10/8 = Cultist.



We. Told. Them. So.

These are poor takes.

There are lots atheist Jews. (I'm one of them!) What culturally-Christian atheists don't get about Judaism is that it's not a belief like Christianity.

It's a set of stories about our history and things we do because they're what Jews have always done. It's an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture all rolled into one!

Part of the reason that Christianity and Islam are so fucked up is because they borrowed Jewish scripture without understanding its history or its context.

Not gonna lie, this surprised me. Everyone has their own opinion. But I had the impression that Jews are Jews because they believe what they read in a book and that a higher power was involved. Just like avowed Christians. An atheist Jew sounds like an oxymoron. I believe in the possibility of a higher life form and I don't believe just because you believe in the possibility of a higher power, that it makes you an idiot.

I have nothing against those privately practicing their faith or religion. It's up to the individual to find their happiness in whatever way suits them best. But religious conservatism and fundamentalism has no place in modern, decent society.

Being open to another's opinion is not wrong. I don't ever want a Jehovah's Witness knocking on my door. Just sayin'.

BSG, why is your book of beliefs valid when others are not? Why have we waited so many thousands of years to suddenly decide one view is correct? Is intelligent life on other planets addressed? Why is it that our Creator. who may or may not exist, seems obsessed with what's going on here and nowhere else?

 

[icanhelp1]

So is Ukraine, Canada, Greenland, and Piuerto fucking Rico.

What's your point? And how are they an "ally" when we have a very unfair balance of us sending them billions every year and they receipticate jack shit?

Ukraine is not an ally.

The Jews have lived continuously in the land that is modern Israel for thousands of years. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 by Palestinian Jews as a Jewish enclave to escape the repression of Arab Jaffa.

In 1948, Israel’s neighbors tried to snuff out the nascent Jewish state. They told the Arabs to flee while they exterminated the Jews. The Israelis fought back, so now the grandchildren of the Arabs who fled want “their” land back.

Israel is bombing Iran out of self preservation. The fact that Robbie will take every opportunity to berate, condemn and lambast Christians and Jews alike while standing shoulder to shoulder with a deranged murderous theocracy is just a remarkable testament to Robby's anti-Semitic beliefs. Some people think they can rewrite history.

Hebrew culture and religious beliefs (Judaism) existed well before Christianity and Islam. Ancient Hebrews resided in the Levant region (Canaan)-( Lebanon, Palestine, modern day Israel and Jordan.

The ancient Palestinians did exist but were more of an amalgamations of tribes coexisting together.

The formation of modern day Palestine was an Arab initiative around 1964 that set into motion what is called the PLO under Arafat's leadership with an explicit National Charter calling for the destruction of Israel. That set in motion the dispute over the West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza.

 

[ll74]

Ukraine is not an ally.

Ukraine is absolutely an ally.

 

[John_von_Neumann]

Ukraine is not an ally.

Путин благодарит вас за службу, товарищ.

 

[Lazaran]

These are poor takes.


Not gonna lie, this surprised me. Everyone has their own opinion. But I had the impression that Jews are Jews because they believe what they read in a book and that a higher power was involved. Just like avowed Christians. An atheist Jew sounds like an oxymoron. I believe in the possibility of a higher life form and I don't believe just because you believe in the possibility of a higher power, that it makes you an idiot.

Being open to another's opinion is not wrong. I don't ever want a Jehovah's Witness knocking on my door. Just sayin'.

BSG, why is your book of beliefs valid when others are not? Why have we waited so many thousands of years to suddenly decide one view is correct? Is intelligent life on other planets addressed? Why is it that our Creator. who may or may not exist, seems obsessed with what's going on here and nowhere else?

Typical Fucking MAGAt is dumber than a box of “poorly educated” rocks…



We. Told. Them. So.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

These are poor takes.


Not gonna lie, this surprised me. Everyone has their own opinion. But I had the impression that Jews are Jews because they believe what they read in a book and that a higher power was involved. Just like avowed Christians. An atheist Jew sounds like an oxymoron. I believe in the possibility of a higher life form and I don't believe just because you believe in the possibility of a higher power, that it makes you an idiot.

Being open to another's opinion is not wrong. I don't ever want a Jehovah's Witness knocking on my door. Just sayin'.

BSG, why is your book of beliefs valid when others are not? Why have we waited so many thousands of years to suddenly decide one view is correct? Is intelligent life on other planets addressed? Why is it that our Creator. who may or may not exist, seems obsessed with what's going on here and nowhere else?

Some Jews believe the Torah was divinely inspired, but many of us just obey the law because it's what Jews have always done.

When Jews say we're the "Chosen People" we mean that we were chosen to receive the Torah. It's our book and its laws apply only to us. That doesn't mean than other traditions aren't equally valid. Who are we to judge? This is why Jews don't proselytize. We do our thing. The goyim should do their things and leave us alone.

 

[Noor]

These are poor takes.


Not gonna lie, this surprised me. Everyone has their own opinion. But I had the impression that Jews are Jews because they believe what they read in a book and that a higher power was involved. Just like avowed Christians. An atheist Jew sounds like an oxymoron. I believe in the possibility of a higher life form and I don't believe just because you believe in the possibility of a higher power, that it makes you an idiot.

Being open to another's opinion is not wrong. I don't ever want a Jehovah's Witness knocking on my door. Just sayin'.

BSG, why is your book of beliefs valid when others are not? Why have we waited so many thousands of years to suddenly decide one view is correct? Is intelligent life on other planets addressed? Why is it that our Creator. who may or may not exist, seems obsessed with what's going on here and nowhere else?

Jews are born of a Jewish mother, it is a matriarchal people. Some are religious, some sre Buddhist, some are atheists.
Jews didn’t wait many thousand of years tell anyone what religion to tell anyone that their religion is correct, esp as many of other religions did not even exist back then.
Judaism does not proselytize. If you want to be a Jew, you’ve gotta have a damn good reason and go through a lot of work to become one. It’s not that Judaism doesn’t accept converts if they really want to convert, one of the matriarch’s of Judaism, Ruth I believe was a convert, but it’s not easy to do and you need a very good reason to able to.
Jews care about survival, they don’t care what anyone else’s beliefs are. Almost every Jewish religious holiday tells the story of an event that comes down basically translates to they tried to kill us, but we won, so let’s eat.
The Jews enemies don’t care if the are observant/religious or not, when they try to kill them.
Before Oct 7, much of the idf was not observant and not all Jewish, but they didn’t stop Hamas from killing and anyone else they could get that day.
The people around the world hurt and killing Jews, attacking businesses, sprout hate against the Jews don’t care about the religion either, they are antisemites, they want to hurt the Jewish people who share mitochondrial DNA.

 

[DeluxAuto]

Ukraine is not an ally.

The weapons and money we give them disagree with you.