Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense ofperceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to beingJewish.[1] It encompasses elements ofnationhood,[2][3][4]ethnicity,[5]religion, andculture.[6][7][8] Broadly defined, Jewish identity does not rely on whether one is recognized as Jewish by others or by external religious, legal, or sociological standards. Jewish identity does not need to implyreligious orthodoxy. Accordingly, Jewish identity can be ethnic or cultural in nature. Jewish identity can involve ties to the Jewish community.
Conservative andOrthodox Judaism base Jewishness on matrilineal descent. According to Jewish law (halakha), all those born of a Jewish mother are considered Jewish, regardless of personal beliefs or level of observance of Jewish law.Progressive Judaism andHaymanot Judaism in general base Jewishness on having at least one Jewish parent, whileKaraite Judaism bases Jewishness only on paternal lineage. While these differences between the major Jewish streams are a source of the disagreement and debate aboutwho is a Jew, all interpretations of Rabbinic Judaism agree that a valid Jewish identity may also be achieved viaconversion.[9]
Jews who are atheists or Jews who follow other religions may have a Jewish identity. While the absolute majority of people with this identity are of Jewish ethnicity, people of amixed Jewish and non-Jewish background orgentiles ofJewish ancestry may still have a sense of Jewish self-identity.
Jewish identity can be described as consisting of three interconnected parts:
Inclassical antiquity, Jewish identity was ethnic and based on birth. Ancient sources consistently portray it as a matter of descent and belonging to the ethnic group, with religious practices regarded as integral to their ethnic character and recognized as such by outsiders.[11] ContemporaryGreek,Roman, and Jewish sources consistently referred to the Jews as an ethnos, one among the manyethne inhabiting theGreco-Roman world.[12][13] Van Maaren utilizes the six attributes that co-ethnics share, as identified by Hutchinson and Smith, to show why ancient Jews may be considered anethnic group in modern terminology.[12] Those include:
Anthony D. Smith, an historical sociologist considered one of the founders of theinterdisciplinary field ofnationalism studies, however, wrote that the Jews of the late Second Temple period provide "a closer approximation to the ideal type of thenation [...] than perhaps anywhere else in the ancient world." He adds that this observation "must make us wary of pronouncing too readily against the possibility of the nation, and even a form ofreligious nationalism, before the onset of modernity."[15] Historian David Goodblatt writes that there is a "distinct possibility of finding premodern groups that meet the criteria for a nation (not just for ethnicity), with the Jews providing perhaps the clearest example".[16] Agreeing with Smith, Goodblatt proposes dropping the qualifier "religious" in the definition of Jewish nationalism by Smith, noting that according to Smith himself, a religious component in national memories and culture is common even in the modern era.[16] This view is echoed by political scientistTom Garvin, who writes that "something strangely like modern nationalism is documented for many peoples in medieval times and in classical times as well," citing the ancient Jews as one of several "obvious examples", alongside theclassical Greeks, theGauls and theBritish Celts.[17]
Adrian Hastings argued that Jews are the "true proto-nation", that through the model of ancient Israel found in the Hebrew Bible, provided the world with the original concept of nationhood which later influenced Christian nations. However, followingJerusalem's destruction in the first century CE, Jews ceased to be a political entity and did not resemble a traditional nation-state for almost two millennia. Despite this, they maintained their national identity through collective memory, religion and sacred texts, even without land or political power, and remained a nation rather than just an ethnic group, eventually leading to the rise ofZionism and the establishment of Israel.[18]
The writings ofPhilo, a Jewish philosopher fromAlexandria who flourished in the first half of the first century CE, reflect on Jewish identity in the diaspora during the late Second Temple period. At the time Philo lived, Jews had been present in the Diaspora, particularly in Alexandria, for a very long time. Because his fellow nationals had lived there for many generations, Philo appears to have regarded Alexandria as his city. To explain the status of the Jews in terms Greek readers would understand, Philo depicted them as immigrants who established "colonies" (Greek:apoikiai), with Jerusalem serving as their "mother-city" (metropolis). According to Kasher, Alexandria could only be regarded as a homeland in a political sense because it was the site of a Jewish "colony," structured as a distinct ethnic union with a recognized political and legal status (politeuma), with Jerusalem being the colony's mother-city.[19]
Jewish identity underwent a significant shift in the centuries that followed thedestruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The initial conception of the Jews as anethnos, albeit one with a distinctive religious culture, gradually shifted to that of a religious community that also identified as a nation.[13]
In the aftermath of theFirst Jewish–Roman War, theFiscus Judaicus was imposed on all Jews in the Roman Empire, replacing the annualhalf-shekel tribute that Jews paid to the Temple in Jerusalem. It appears that the Romans chose to use Jewish religious behavior rather than Jewish ancestry to determine tax liability, and this Roman interference in Jewish tax-collection may have prompted this transformation in Jewish identity.[13] The process was accelerated by the Christianization of the Roman Empire. InChristian theology, ethnic identity held little significance, and Jews were primarily valued for their religious heritage, seen as foundational to the development ofthe new covenant. This ideological framework further influenced perceptions of Jewish identity, emphasizing religious rather than ethnic or national aspects.[13]
Jewish identity can becultural, religious, or through ancestry.[20] There are religious, cultural, and ancestral components to Jewish identity due to its fundamental non-proselytizing nature, as opposed to Christian or Muslim identity which are both "universal" religions in that they ascribe to the notion that their faith is meant to bespread throughout all of humanity, regardless of nationality.[21] However, Jewish identity is firmly intertwined with Jewish ancestry dating back to the historicalKingdom of Israel, which was largely depopulated by the Roman Empire c. first century CE[citation needed], leading to what is known as today as theJewish Diaspora.
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Jewish identity began to gain the attention of Jewish sociologists in the United States with the publication ofMarshall Sklare's "Lakeville studies".[22] Among other topics explored in the studies was Sklare's notion of a "good Jew".[23] The "good Jew" was essentially an idealized form of Jewish identity as expressed by the Lakeville respondents. Today, sociological measurements of Jewish identity have become the concern of the Jewish Federations who have sponsored numerous community studies across the U.S.;[24] policy decisions (in areas such as funding, programming, etc.) have been shaped in part due to studies on Jewish identity.
According to social-psychologist Simon Herman, antisemitism contributes to the formation of Jewish identity.[25] This view is echoed by religious leaders such asRabbiJonathan Sacks who writes that modern Jewish communities and the modern Jewish identity are deeply influenced byantisemitism.[26]
Right-wing antisemitism, for example, is typically a branch of white supremacy: it traditionally conceives of Jews as a distinct race with intrinsic, undesirable qualities that must be exterminated from the population.Left-wing antisemitism, by contrast, frequently views Jews as members of the white race, an idea that is a precursor to the criticism of Zionism as a racist ideology, as well as the exclusion of Jews from goals of intersectionality.[27]
Jewish identity was a matter of birth: you were a Jew because you were born one. Jewish identity was a matter of ethnicity. Ancient sources all show Jewish identity was tied to birth and being part of the ethnic group of Jews. [...] Being a Jew was an ethnic identity. It is just that religious practices were part of ethnic identity and were regarded by outsiders as part of the characteristics of the Jewish ethnos.
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