Question...

[Amica]

Shalom/peace to all of you--

I just have a simple question: is semitic race important to Jews/Judaism, and if so why?

Lots of people told me yes, but I never trully asked any Jews to clarify this to me.

I mean no offense, just want to get more knowledge. Thanks.

 

[bananabrain]

well, amica, the simple answer is "no". there is no such thing as a "semitic race", scientifically speaking, the only reason this notion ever came into being is because of C19th theories about race, which have since been discredited. the only real meaning of "semitic" nowadays is from linguistics:

Semitic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

as it is possible to convert to judaism without being a member of any particular ethnic group, the concept of such a thing as a "semite" therefore becomes meaningless over time.

usually (and apologies if this is off-topic) the reason for this subject being discussed is because someone is trying to claim that "arabs can't be anti-semitic because they're semites". this is, of course, nonsense, because anti-semitism means "hatred of jews", not "hatred of semites". if you replace the term with "anti-jewish", you'll soon see if the statement makes sense or not.

Antisemitism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

it's a bit confusing in my opinion, which is why i tend to avoid the word anti-semitism as a result.

b'shalom

bananabrain

 

[Amica]

Peace--

Thanks for you reply. Helped a lot!