The Jewish People: Race, Ethnic Group, or Religion?
For years there has been an on-and-off, unofficial debate among Jewish and non-Jewish scholars as well as lay people on whether or not Jews constituted a race, ethnic group, or are just a group of people living all over the world in different cultures, united only by a common religion. Let's examine, if only superficially, what these concepts are. Here below are a few definitions of race : 1. A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics. 2. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race. 3. A genealogical line; a lineage. 4. Humans considered as a group . Okay, so what is an ethnic group ? Here's a definition , with "Hebrews" or "Israelites" as one example: Noun 1. ethnic group - people of the same race or nationality who share a ...