To Jews of WSO: How much do you identify with your Jewish heritage?
topic
Trending Content
| +81 | GF doesn’t care about her looks | 49 | 10h | |
| +52 | Affair with my Associate… In Desperate Need for Advice | 23 | 1h | |
| +40 | How to sound more eloquent? | 16 | 58m | |
| +39 | Insurance as High Finance? | 10 | 1d | |
| +38 | 400k/year in HVAC sales? | 26 | 20h | |
| +33 | Would you rather live alone in an outer borough or with roommates in Manhattan? | 23 | 1d | |
| +27 | Why do people listen to Jim Cramer Investing Advice? | 10 | 4h | |
| +26 | Is my boss gaslighting me? | 3 | 4h | |
| +25 | Carnivore Diet | 9 | 5h | |
| +25 | WSO Ranking On Resume??? | 6 | 1h |
Career Resources
0%, most don't even know I'm Jewish. I celebrate Christmas/Easter secularly (I'm atheist).
The degree to which I identify as Jewish depends on the situation/how it suits my purposes.
Can someone tell me once and for all whether I'm Jewish or not:
I was born in Ukraine. Mother and father are both Ukrainian. I did a DNA test and I'm 97% ethnic Ukrainian (and 3% Neanderthal, 95th percentile bitches).
My grandparents celebrate Jewish holidays and my grandma says she believes in God. She doesn't know anything about Judaism though and doesn't pray or anything. Religion was pretty frowned upon during the Soviet Union, when my grandparents and mom grew up. I think maybe it's a way for her to cope with having to spend 4 years on the run from Nazis. I have no idea. Mom isn't religious and I don't know about my dad, but he was in the mob, so I'm pretty sure he wasn't either.
I went on the Birthright trip to Israel just because I wanted to. 90% of us there weren't religious, but they called themselves secular and said they identify with the culture. But they come from the same background as me, so I don't see how they can identify with it.
How I see it, Judaism is a religion. If you don't believe in their God, then how are you Jewish? But Jews keep telling me I'm Jewish. Oh, and my older sister started taking Judaism pretty seriously at like age 30 for some reason. Married an agnostic Italian dude who was raised Catholic though.
...so what the fuck am I?
@GoldenCinderblock
you didn't do the penny test
you're jewish
It's entirely how you decide to identify. If you chose to identify as Jewish, then you are. I have a few friends in a similar situation as you. Born in the former Soviet Union where religion was suppressed, but just now starting to embrace their roots.
For what it's worth, I firmly believe Judaism is more than just a religion, but rather a culture and a community. I, like many of my Jewish friends, am an atheist. But I still don't see atheism and Judaism as mutually exclusive (though I wouldn't blame you if you disagree with me). I practice Judaism because it was the community I was raised in and is a major part of my identity, but it doesn't mean I believe all those stories in some book written thousands of years ago in Aramaic, which were written down from the Oral Torah of many generations before that. The Torah (Bible) is intended more as a guide for living your life morally rather than as a strict history book. What I really love about Judaism is that it's one of the few religions that really forces you to question what you know as opposed to taking something on its face value (almost scientific in nature without the framework of the scientific method).
Sorry if my response just made your identity crisis even tougher to figure out (leave it to a Jew...), but good luck!
unless u convert, you are jewish in your blood. typically, or at least in my case, being Jewish is in my DNA (I'm 87% Ashkenazi Jewish). Being Jewish is both an ethnicity (that's why we come from the same place and look the same) and a religion (Judaism). No matter if you are an athiest or an observer, the Torah, Israel, and the orthodox community will see you as a Jew.
I think you got your answer right there
if your mother is Jewish, you are technically Jewish by blood and Jewish law.
If your mother's mother was Jewish, you are Jewish. Judaism is a matrilineal faith. By Jewish law, if your mother is Jewish (because her mother is Jewish, and so on, back to Sinai, or maybe Egypt), then you are Jewish. That's Jewish law, plain and simple. Don't shoot the messenger...I'm just telling you the facts. The rabbis will tell you a Jewish soul (called a neshama) was distinctly chosen by G-d from the Treasury of Souls, and was placed in your mother's womb on the 40th day after conception. That would be your Jewish soul. Jewish souls are distinctly Jewish. If that sounds racist, I'm sorry - again, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just giving the deets, ok? So basically because one's mother is Jewish, they get a special kind of soul for their baby. And Jewish is Jewish is Jewish, not my father is not Jewish, I'm half-Jewish, we aren't observant, etc etc. Mother Jewish = Jewish.
Capische? If your sister became interested in her faith, again, a rabbi would say it's because of her soul - she's kind of following a natural urge that's insider her. This is actually common. Sometimes people become very interested/observant and then find out they actually are Jewish.
Ukraine had a huge Jewish population back in the day. Again, your mother's mother (and her mother, etc) is the relevant factor.
Yeah but..... that is the orthodox view and probably the conservative view as well. The reform are modern/egalitarian and recognize kids of a Jewish father and non Jewish mother to be Jewish . As long as you are willing to pay $4,000 per year to join a local temple, they will accept you.
I don't think of myself as Jewish until I hear something anti-semitic at which point I get very defensive about it.
100%
nothing like walking on the trading floor and being the only person with a Kippah on. (late 20s)
I feel you, how many orthodox Jews do you see? is it common for people to wear kips out there.
religious vs “jew-ish”. you’ve got about a dozen people wearing kippahs at my bank, but when I talk to people a lot seem to be Jewish on some degree or another (I’d say about 50).
Hey man, Im not Jewish myself but know some that Identify as Conservative Jews. What is the difference between them and Orthodox? Don’t know any that identify as Orthodox.
simplest way to put it. Orthodox is the strictest (adhering to old customs and all), while conservative is slightly more relaxed than that.
Doubtful anyone can tell me with 100% certainty but would entertain ideas.
So I'm half black, half white. I actually am more white based on % per Ancestry DNA and it comes from Eastern Europe. Like Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Czechia, Serbia, etc ... that side of Europe. I know historically there have been Eastern European Jews and while I was raised Catholic, my grandmother said there was a high probability there is Jewish blood on her side.
Is the location of my ancestors enough to determine if I am Jewish or not? Or would more research need to be done? I'm thinking the latter but would appreciate advice from those who know what they're talking about
More research would be needed to to trace your ancestry through the matrilinear line to a Jewish ancestor.
Sometimes Ancestry DNA will actually specify "X % Ashkenazi Jewish", so if you did Ancestry you'd probably get some % Jewish if it were so. Is your Grandmother estimating some portion Jewish because of where family was from, or because she has heard stories, or saw her mother light candles or celebrate something Jewish? I think that is a more likely indicator, actual stories or observance, than purely by location. Because in Eastern Europe, the Jews often lived separately in their own little towns. You'll have to ask her what more she knows.
J-swipe. Not Jewish. Zero matches.
I have a very finely tuned j-dar, not only because I am German but because it´s easy. Funny how you can almost always pick them out by their faces and their manner of speaking and/or typing alone, especially the "non-observing" ones you so often have in America. It´s really fascinating to me.
Typing? How can you tell when their typing lol
Choice of words and such. Not easy, of course, but given enough data, let´s say, an essay on a random topic, really anyone can differ between a person of African descent and one of European descent and so on. And between men and women, of course, though that´s far easier.
I wonder if you could also pick out the Italians or the Irish or other caucasians by their faces?
Your comment about "especially the non observing ones" does not make much sense at all. It would be much easier to identify the observant ones, obviously.
First, "Caucasian" or "white" is a pretty ridiculous term. The West Indo-European peoples, the ancestors of modern Europeans, developed on what is today the Donbass plains and the northern part of the Black Sea. Second, you cannot, of course, see the nationality by itself. You can, however, very definitely see which group of Europeans a person belongs to, provided he or she is of "pure" ancestry, meaning low regional genetic exchange for a few generations. For example, many Provencalians, Padanians and Catalonians look very similar, despite stemming from different nations. Similarly, most "Atlantids" share common traits, despite living in Northern France, South Britain, West Germany and the Benelux countries. The same goes for the rather flat face and stubby nose you so often see in Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia and Bohemia. Interestingly enough, Irish people tend to have a rather unique looks due to the high Celt admixture extinguished in modern French and British (to say nothing of German Celts, which vanished in pre-Roman times). I really love anthropology, such a fascinating subject.
Hmm, I guess you´re right, they do tend to look rather unique. I wonder how non-observing jews see them. Do they find them funny? Stuck-up, maybe?
I like my lulemon yoga pants, and latkes. Yup, I am a Jewish American Princess on the UES.
Et molestiae et expedita voluptas. Cum similique corrupti atque culpa. Non corrupti error neque sunt eveniet odit non. Earum harum libero maxime aut.
Quos vero nostrum maiores libero laborum et sapiente qui. Dolore sed aut non distinctio. Distinctio debitis aut quam nobis.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Quasi est est quia et dicta molestias enim. Ad sit tempore dicta dolor nobis quia. Et quae dolore sunt dolorum explicabo libero occaecati. Eligendi omnis qui rem distinctio aut dolorem aspernatur consequatur. Placeat incidunt voluptas corrupti consequuntur in.
Eligendi nulla dolore eligendi ea. Voluptas dolorem numquam ad reiciendis expedita architecto. Est minus sed et quas.
Alias sunt ad deleniti ipsam in reiciendis. Amet eligendi alias vitae magnam. Officiis sunt dolore aliquid et nemo et nulla. Culpa enim repellendus rerum omnis. Sunt id ullam dolorem occaecati doloribus minima voluptatum.