We jews are a people and a nation but not a race because it´s always been possible to convert to judaism and then being part of the jeish nation. Therefor we are a people and nation of many races. White, black, yellow, brown and red. It´s in fact rasism to claim that we are a race.

In fact many of our people are not semites, and have therefore no ethnic connection with the semitic arabs. One important thing that makes us strong is that we are a multiethnical and multicultural people willing to make people with different etnical background to be part of our people and nation. That is something we should be proud of.

No rina I´m not observer. What article do you refer to?

Jews are not a race, but we're not really a religion either, since we never proselytized and most of our adherents are genetically and ethnically related. Therefore, I suggest using the term tribe. Tribes are collectives of people with a connection to a specific homeland, language, culture, customs, traditions, art, religion, and ethnic background. All the things that define Jews as a people. Yet, one can also marry or join into a tribe. So, it's probably the best definition. That or maybe a "nation"?

but also by culture. to say jews are not semitic is absurd. the jewish nation not only has descents from patriachs like rev. fred klett said, they didn't just pass the religion down the generation lines, but customs, culture and a language. the customs, culture and the language were developed during many centuries in the former cnaan \ israel \ judea . only an arab can still doubt this, despite reading articles. if you understood that article you could never use the words "we jews", since jews differ a great deal, but what they have in common is the passion to debate those differences. "we jews", stifles that passion & creativity, that constant questioning, cause "we jews" sounds like many people who think the same, a mob. jews are the last people to be that. if you look at the european jews, or islam countries jews, they did try to marry within the community, because those that left to marry elsewhere usualy stayed outside the community. still, even as a very homogenous community, they found a way to create differences and create lively thought provoking debates. as for skin colour, i think it's also to do with evolution, if you look at 2nd 3rd generation arabs who went to colder climate countries, they also became paler then they would in the ME, and recessive genes find a way to kick in. not only that, but face features change through understanding, (cultural understanding) & way of life, not only genetics .

alternative explenations to the jewish origin. it was the article of rev. fred klett about jews NOT originating from khazar mythology, but tfrom munti-racial marriages. when typing khazar and synagogue on google, this article is high up on the list. guessing khazars built synagogues isn't substantiated archeologicaly. on the other hand, mosks were found in khazar cities. .

yes i bwas born in jerusalem iam 60 years old but i know jews from their articles i have little contact with them it is only on y net pages .i like this press even i read the torah portions on its pages .but iam a clever enough to know that the one is what he say .. no one enter in the heart or souls of others to know them well

#36 Well. We can of course call us tribes. In the case of american indians it´s more accurate. But in our jewish case it´s a bit different because we have been living in the diaspora for such a long time and always been mixing with other races. Don´t forget that even king David`s grandmother, i think it was, was a convert. I would therefore rather call us a people than a tribe. Also it´s very difficult to know if and who is originated from our old Israeli tribes. I mean, who knows who our ancesters were a 1000 years ago or more? Did we have one or more ancesters that wasn´t jewish, or did we have converts in our familyline? I think no one or very few of us really knows what happened under, lets say a period of 200-3000 years before our time. That´s why i think the word people is better to use than the word tribe. To use the word nation is rigt anyway. And right is also to call our nations state Israel our homeland.

#37 & 38 Thank you for comments. We´re not a race but a people and nation of mixed races. Race has nothing to to with being a jew or not. What makes us a people and nation is therefore, like you point out, customs, culture, religion, language but also history and geography. All these things together is what we jews share and makes us a people and nation. And all these things originated in the land of Israel. And therfore it´s right the land of Israel to be our homeland.

IT WASN'T THE UNITED NATIONS ( FORMED IN 1949) IT WAS THE 'LEAGUE OF NATIONS." A SMALL CORRECTION BUT BIG WHEN YOU THINK OF THIS UN......

the pals want Israel for themselves not for any Jew period. That's why they continue to call it by it's mythical name, 'palestine'. No such place and that makes them crazy. As if they need an excuse.

ISRAEL IS NOT TO BE NEGOTIATED AWAY FOR ANY REASON. IT IS THE PROMISED LAND.

Syria believed, believes, and will always believe that Lebanon is an integral part of 'natural Syria'. If it is expedient to open an embassy in Beirut out of diplomatic necessity, by all means, they will do so. Just as long as the "Lebanese government's" decisions are made in Damascus, Pax Syriana will reign supreme. Syria the puppet master will see to it that the power brokers in Lebanon are creatures of Syria, and anyone who attempts to carve out an independent role for Lebanon will be terrorized into kingdom come. For the PA to claim they recognized an entity named Israel as a partner for negociations means nothing, and has nothing to do with an authentic 2 state solution. The PA understands that 20%+ and growing of Israelis are Arabs, and the PA insists that Palestinians have the "right of return" to Israel, i.e. they have every intention of flooding Israel with Arabs to flush out the Jewish majority. And then, what will it matter if the state next to the Arab Muslim Palestinian State happens to be called "Israel"? It will be Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, etc., it's a duck! Mission accomplished!

There is no such thing as a 'Semitic race', and there never was, only a grouping of languages. Today's Semites include Arabs, Jews, Syriacs, Maltese, and Ethiopians, all of whom speak Semitic languages but cannot be said to be of one race. The principal DNA markers shared by Jews are also found among among other ethnicities whose ancestors dwelled around the Mediterranean and Fertile Crescent since Neolithic times, and who speak today a wide variety of Semitic, Indo-European, Turkic, and Caucasic langages. Even among Arabs, even Palestinians, there are black African Arabs and blonde-haired, blue-eyed Arabs. Today's British and French are multi-racial. Go to London or Paris you feel like you're at the Tower of Babel.