ETYMOLOGY OF “JUDAISM”
The word "Jewish" refers to Hebrew "yehuda" - Judah, members of the tribe of Judah.
Judah was one of Jacob's twelve sons, who was considered the ancestor of Judah, one of
the tribes of Israel, which was named after him.
Likewise, the word Judaism is the combination of "Judah-ism," that is, the religion of the
“yehudim” (Jews).
The term “Judaism” is derived from the Greek form Ioudaïsmos, from Ioudaios, and then
Latin Judaismus.
Originally, therefore, the term “”yehudi” meant “Judean,” a members of the tribe of
Judah, but later, when Israel was split into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Judah and the
kingdom of Israel, it indicated anyone from the kingdom of Judah, even though the
kingdom of Judah included other tribes - Benjamin and Levi.
The word as a verb (“mityahadim”) appears in the (biblical) Book of Esther, but its
meaning is unclear. See the translations into English below:
‫הוּדים‬
ִ ְ‫וּמ ִדינָה וּבְ כָל־עִ יר וָעִ יר ְמקוֹם אֲ שֶׁ ר ְדּבַ ר־הַ מֶּ לְֶך וְ דָ תוֹ מַ גִּ יעַ ִשׂ ְמחָ ה וְ שָׂ שׂוֹן לַיּ‬
ְ ‫ָל־מ ִדינָה‬
ְ ‫ יז וּבְ כ‬,‫אסתר ח‬
‫ֵיהם‬
ֵֽ ֶ ‫הוּדים ֲעל‬
ִ ְ‫ִמ ְשׁתֶּ ה וְ יוֹם טוֹב וְ ַרבִּ ים ֵ ֵֽמעַ מֵּ י הָ אָ ֶרץ ִ ִֽמ ְת ִֽיה ֲִדים ִ ֵֽכּי־נָפַ ל ַ ֵֽפּחַ ד־הַ יּ‬
Est 8:17: And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and
his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And
many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the
Jews had fallen upon them (RSV)
Est 8:17: ... And many of the people of the land pretended to be Jews, for they feared
what the Jews might do to them (TLB)
Est 8:17: ... And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the
Jews had seized them (NIV and others)
Mordecai, one of the main characters in the Book of Esther, is called “Yehudi.”
THE DEFINITION OF “JUDAISM”
Trying to define Judaism or what it means to be Jewish is difficult, if not impossible.
Instead of giving an absolute definition and then force everything in the mold, to fit with
this definition, we will try to let the definition emerge from the discussions. The problems
will become clear from reading the PEW survey from October 2013: A PORTRAIT OF
JEWISH AMERICANS.
Judaism’s religious aspects cannot easily be separated from its national, ethnical, or
cultural dimensions.
Many Jews, especially in the US, define themselves as secular, and the number continues
to grow. Other Jews, especially in Israel, define themselves as religiously or traditionally
Jewish.
1. Is Judaism a religion?
2. Is Judaism a race?
3. Is Judaism a nationality?
4. Is Judaism ethnicity/ethnic belonging?
5. Is Judaism a culture?
6. Is Judaism a civilization?
1. IS JUDAISM A RELIGION?
In order to answer this question we need a definition of “religion.”
The traditional definition of “religion” is:
1. The belief in and worship/service of a superhuman/supernatural controlling
power, especially a personal God or gods.
2. A particular institutionalized system of faith and worship (an organized system of
principles, beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of
gods).
According to these definitions, Judaism is a religion.
Every aspect is a result of Judaism being a religion. For example:
Judaism as a religion affects the Jewish culture.
Judaism as a religion determines the calendar.
It defines what food Jews may eat or not eat.
It involves a “Jewish” language – Hebrew.
3. IS JUDAISM A RACE?
Let us look at the definition of “race”:
“Race is a category/group of humankind (family, tribe, people, or nation) that shares
certain distinctive physical or genetic traits.”
Judaism is not purely racial.
There are Jews of many races.
People can convert into Judaism, and once converted, they are considered as full Jews,
as if they were born Jewish. One cannot convert to another race.
However, according to Jewish law, being Jewish is passed through a genetic connection.
Anyone who is born Jewish, remains Jewish, and cannot choose not to be Jewish.
Therefore, we can say that Judaism is a religion which has racial/genetic components.
Indeed, one can hear or read sentences like “"He is mixed. His mother was Jewish and his
father was black.” But this expression assume that one cannot be black and Jewish at the
same time. Sammy Davis Jr., Amar'e Stoudemire, Lenny Kravitz, and many others are
black/African-American Jews.
We will continue to discuss this interesting topic later.
3. IS JUDAISM A NATIONALITY?
It depends.
This requires 2 different definitions – of “nation” and “nationality.”
“Nationality” is being a member in a particular nation. We talk about “national status”
and “nationality” in a form or in a passport, which is a legal and political term - the fact
or state of belonging to a particular country, or the state of being a separate country:
“The president spoke to the nation about the new tax.”
“She's American, but her parents are of Japanese nationality.”
“The university has students of over 50 nationalities.”
We will discuss this later, in relation to decisions of the Supreme Court in Israel.
However, there are other definitions of “nationality.” For example:
A: “a people having a common origin, tradition, and language and capable of forming
or actually constituting a nation-state.”
B: “an ethnic group constituting one element of a larger unit (as a nation).”
So you can hear the following sentence:
“The country is home to five nationalities and seven languages.”
The same applies to the definition of “nation”:
“an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language
or cognate languages.”
According to this definition, Judaism can be a nationality. Jews speak Hebrew and other
Jewish languages, such as Yiddish and Ladino.
“Nation” is defined as “a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history,
culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.”
According to this definition, Judaism can be a nationality. There is Jewish history and
Jewish culture, and there is a Jewish state – Israel.
The question remained to discuss is whether Jews who live outside Israel meet this
definition.
“a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently
conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly of its own.”
This was true throughout Jewish history (“Next Year in the Built Jerusalem”), which
ended in the establishment of the State of Israel.
The concept that a nation must have a territory and a government is new,
beginning in the 19th century - this is the political philosophy of nationalism.
In most countries, Jewish communities were unique in that they had a tremendous
amount of political autonomy.
Each community had its own set of bylaws, with leaders who were laypersons and led the
community, elected a rabbi for the community, etc. the rabbis served as “judges”
(“Dayyanim”), and had jurisdiction over religious law and also the laws of the
community as a whole.
Each community also had its own courts, its own educational, health, economic and
social services systems.
The Jewish community received the authority from the local rulers to maintain law and
order, and the right to punish its members just as in the state/country laws (including
fines, imprisonment and other types of punishment).
4. IS JUDAISM ETHNICITY/ETHNIC BELONGING?
This question relates to nationality and race, but is a little different:
“Ethnic” is defined as “of or relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or
dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition.”
“Ethnicity” is defined as “the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a
common national or cultural tradition.”
According to this definition, Judaism is ethnicity. Converts are thus ethnically Jewish.
5. IS JUDAISM A CULTURE?
“Culture” is defined as “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group,
place, or time” and “a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc.”
There is no one single, specific culture which is “Jewish.” Jews have many different
cultures, but they ARE Jewish cultures.
Jewish cultures were influenced by the people in the country they lived in.
There are differences in the culture of Ashkenazi Jews (Jews of central or eastern
European countries) from the Sephardi Jews (Jews of Spanish, Portuguese, the Middle
East or North Africa). Yet both are Jewish cultures.
Jewish culture, thus, includes heritage through the languages, literature, art, dance, music,
food, and celebrations of the Jewish people.
6. IS JUDAISM A CIVILIZATION?
This is the concept that Judaism ought not to be defined as the religion of the Jews, but
the sum of Jewish religion, culture, language, literature and social organization.
We will discuss this definition when we deal with the Reconstructionist movement and
the book Judaism as a Civilization, published by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.
As we could see, the answer to what Judaism is, is very complicated.
Judaism and Jewishness are all of these at once: religion, culture, nationality, etc.
Jewish life and Jewish law are simultaneously religious, ethnic, political and cultural
in nature.
Only in modern times Judaism/Jewishness shifted from the community to the individual
Jew, to define his or her own identity.
We hear about "Jewish atheist" (someone who doesn't believe in any god) or “Jewish
agnostic” (someone who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of God) and this
does not necessarily imply a contradiction.
One can even be a Jewish Buddhist (or “Jewbu,” or “Jubu” or “Buju”)
This conclusion may not be entirely satisfying, but as they say - Simple answer is not
possible because for complex questions there are no simple answers!