Jewish identity

Ashkenazi Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. Traditional elements shown include tallit, the torah, kippot and the segregation of men and women in the synagogue. (1878 painting by Maurice Gottlieb)

Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under the broader definition, the Jewish identity does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or sociological norms. Jewish identity does not need to imply religious orthodoxy. Accordingly, Jewish identity can be cultural in nature. Jewish identity can involve ties to the Jewish community. Traditional Judaism bases Jewishness on matriachal descent. According to Jewish law (halacha), all those born of a Jewish mother are Jewish, regardless of personal beliefs or level of observance of Jewish law. Jews who are atheists may have Jewish identity. While the absolute majority of people with this identity are of Jewish ethnicity, people born from a mixed Jewish and non-Jewish background may have Jewish identity. (See also "half-Jewish".)

Categories

Jewish identity can be separated into three separate, independent parts:

1. ethnic Judaism (those of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi or other Jewish ancestry)
2. religious Judaism (those Jews who follow the tenets of the Jewish religion)
3. cultural Judaism (those Jews who celebrate Jewish holidays and were "raised in a Jewish home")

A cultural concept

Jewish identity can be cultural as well as religious. There are religious and cultural components to Jewish identity, just as there are religious and cultural components of Christian identity or Muslim identity. However, Jewish identity also has a strong ethnic component to it, absent (especially in the United States) in most of the Christian identity.

Antisemitism and Jewish identity

According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, modern Jewish communities and the modern Jewish identity are influenced by antisemitism. Many Jews in the Jewish diaspora have suffered persecution. They were landless and suffered periodic massacres, expulsions and other abuses.

See also

• Jewish population
• Who is a Jew?
• Basic Laws of Israel
• Halakha
• Knesset
• Law of Return
• Matrilineality
• Patrilineality
• Politics of Israel
• Ashkenazi Jews
• Jewish diaspora
• Sephardi Jews
• Mizrahi Jews
• Karaite Jews
• Jewish cuisine
• Secular Jewish culture
• Cultural diversity
• Identity politics
• Self-concept
• Social identity

External links

• Leadel.NET - Leading Jewish Inspiration ; What makes Jewish Identity on the web?
• Love, Hate, and Jewish Identity, Jonathan Sacks
• The Meaning of Jewish Identity, Rabbi Barry H. Block
• Jewish Identity: A Social Psychological Perspective
• Jewish Identity by David Theo Goldberg, Michael Krausz
• half-jewish.org
• The Peace Encyclopaedia
• Zehut Institute
• Laurent Cohen,Three Intellectuals and a People, an article about the Jewish Identity of Hannah Arendt, Gershom Scholemand Simone Weil,Eretz Acheret Magazine