Who are the Jews?

Oriental/Mizrachi Jews

Iraq, Iran, Yemen

eastern

Sephardic Jews

Spain (expelled by inquisition)

• Went to Turkey, Greece, northern Africa, Middle East

  • Some pretended to be Gentiles and would secretly engage in Judaism (conversos) 

• Mizrachi and Sephardic influenced by the culture of Islam and Arabic, Europe

  • Own language (Ladino) 

  • Spoke Judeo-Arabic 

  • Morroco and Algeria: influence from France and French culture, spoke French 

Ashkenazi Jews

central/eastern Europe (Yiddish) 

• Term means German 

• Most of North America

• Influenced by Europe

Differences within these broad categories of Jews

German Jews and Eastern European Jews 

• Did not like each other when they came to North America 

• Friction among the group 

• German Jews were fancier and more assimilated 

jews are not a race

10% in US/Canada are not white 

Part of a visible/racialized minority (Morrocan)

Jews from the Middle East have darker skin 

• Ex. Moses

jewish identity

transcended from the mother (biological descent group) 

• Still a patriarchal religion 

• Can be very assimilated and still be a Jew

genetic population group

Jewish diseases like Tay Sachs

Jews do well on re-morbidity, life expectancy 

• Not entirely sure

• Because of culture/social structure, differences throughout the course

  • Ex. religious Jews wash their hands before every meal, they catch fewer diseases (cultural)

  • Ex. Jews had warmer homes, and more resources, which meant they had a better quality of life (social) 

racial groups canada

Until 1951, all ethnic groups in Canada were called racial groups 

• After Holocaust

• Nazis believed in racial identity

DNA (genetic population group)

DNA shows the origins of Jews: original Jews (Hebrews) were Semitic-looking, dark-skinned

• Jews have come to look like the host populations in the diaspora

  • Due to intermarriage 

The conventional story

Follows expulsion from Israel in 70 AD, into Europe via Rome

• Went to Italy, further into Europe → move east due to anti-semitism 

Koestler and Khazar theory

Khazars are a tribe in the 9th century in western Russia, allegedly converted to Judaism (Slavs and Tatars)

• At this period, there are two big religions: Islam and Christianity, leading the Kahzars to convert to Judaism not anger the big two religions 

Koestler’s argument (anti-Zionist) that Poland and Lithuanian Jews do not have a connection to Israel 

• Popularized this theory 

Brought forward by people who are opposed to Israel: light-skinned Jews came from Kahazar

Disproven via DNA evidence, the conventional view is that Jews share similar patterns to people from the Middle East

• Traces of the migration of Jews 

• Genetic similarities between Jewish people and non-Jewish people in the Middle East 

intelligence (genetic population group)

Jewish people score above average on IQ tests

Due to nature or nurture 

Marriage patterns were linked to high IQ

• In Catholicism, the best became priests or nuns

• In Judaism, the best were paired off to strengthen the gene pool

race and antisemitism

(going back to the Spanish Inquisition)

• Many Jews practice secretly (conversos and Morano) 

  • Were discovered by their Christian neighbours → how could this happen when the Jews were exposed to the love of Christ

    • This led to the view that the Jews were not really people

• Esoteric Jewish communities (India, Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa, south-west USA) 

  • Could be the lost tribes from the bible 

  • Trying to debunk fascination with Jews being one white race

Jews and the body

 Is there a Jewish type in terms of speech and looks? 

• Increasing interest in growing numbers of non-white Jews in North America

  • Sephardic, North African ancestry (some identify as white) 

Israel

Homeland/territory is a basis of identity for many types of minority groups (ex. First Nations, Quebecois, China, Italy)

Jews in the Western diaspora had the typical experience until mid 20th century was Ghettos

• Recently similar to Armenia, Kurdistan, and Palestine (idealized mythologized, expected, struggle) 

  • Ex. genocide in Armenia linked to the Turks in 1915, Armenian Republic struggling against the Soviet Union

Ghettos (Israel)

Ghettos were a place where the Jews were forced to live there 

• Oldest Western Jewish Ghetto in Venice 

Ex. Catholics (Vatican), Muslims (Mecca)

The role of place: neighbourhoods in NYC, Montreal, Toronto

Neighbourhoods: ex. Little Italy, China Town, Cote St Luc for Jews 

Nostalgia in the old neighbourhoods (still go back to the neighbourhoods even if they have moved out) 

Zion (Israel)

Important element of Jewish culture, history, and religion

• In prayers and an idealized homeland transformed into the Zionist movements and then into the state of Israel  

  • Torah comes from Zion

  • Mythologized struggle 

travel to homeland (Israel)

Role of Israel in the lives of North American Jews

• Many Jews go to Israel and relatives/family who live there

  • More often Canadians (American Jews are one generation further removed from the Old Country than Canadians, one more generation to lose that connection (assimilation))

• Engage in Israeli culture 

Religious Group

Seen as the most important aspect of Jewish identity by many 

• Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Hasidic)

• Canada has a more ethnic focus

• USA has a more religious focus 

Torah (Old Testament, foundation and story of the exodus) and Talmud (commentary on the Torah) and Commentaries (to study)

• All literature of the Jews

• Yeshiva: religious school to study the Talmud (written in Aramaic, a key volume for Orthodox Judaism)

Role of God

• Texts play a major role for the Jews

  • The nature of God is more important in Christianity

Religious holidays (Religious Groups)

Are observed by non-Orthodox Jews 

• Life cycle events: birth, puberty (bar mitzvah), marriage, death 

  • Ex. An Italian wedding is a big deal 

• Synagogue (Churches, Mosques) 

  • Where the life cycle events take place 

  • Role of place, a place with other Jews

    • Do not pray alone 

Pluralism

Diverse population 

Pluralism used to adapt to modernity 

Denominations: (right) Orthodox, Conservative, Reform (left)

• Fluid spectrum

  • Tend to fight each other

  • Both follow the Torah and Talmud, reform has opened more options to other scriptures/books

• Role of rabbis and congregations 

  • No female Orthodox rabbis, some reform options 

Abrahamic religions (Religious Groups)

(traced back to Abraham) 

Judaism has a wide set of religious options (super religious organizations vs modern and progressive organizations)

Protestant: similar spectrum to choose

Catholic: top-down approach from the Vatican

Islam: traditional is the only choice 

• Women’s rights in catholicism and Islam 

Judeo-Christian (monotheistic, started from the same place)

• Many Jews do not like this term 

• Focus on morality and ethics (ex. Bible, Ten Commandments, Jesus) 

Greco-Roman (other branch of Western tradition)

• From Greece and Rome, foundational sources of Western Europe and modernity

• Emphasize beauty, art, philosophy, ideal of democracy

• Ex. drink wine to celebrate the body and party 

• Ex. Jews drink wine to celebrate the holiday 

Immigrant group

Jews are a significant group

Immigration integration into Canadian society 

Immigration struggles and discrimination: (economic) poor and working class, Jewish group historically 

• Involved in the labour movement 

• “No Jews Apply” 

Compared to other white European or Asian immigrants best of all

• Voluntary migration group

  • Wanted to escape the old country

  • Ex. to North America after WW2 

• Second generation: children of immigrants and how they deal with their ancestral ties

Cultural group

Linked to ethnicity 

High culture: classics, elites

• Ex. Bach and Betoven

• Vs popular culture

Jewish languages: Yiddish, Ladino, Hebrew

Jewish literature, translated into English, French, German

Jewish food (ethnic food during celebrations), material culture (objects, ex. Mezuzah, candle sticks, Israeli art), music (Cantorial (religious music, in synagogues, Yiddish, Israeli, Clesmer (Jewish-Russian)) 

• Fewer religious songs in Churches and Mosques 

• Ex. Christmas hymns composed by Jewish songwriters 

Jewish role in the general arts world (literature, paintings)

Educated, middle-class group

Jews value education (had to master the Torah)

• Seen in Europe for high male literacy (had to learn the Hebrew language) 

  • Also seen in Scotts 

• Higher quality universities 

Upward mobility to middle and upper-middle-class

Positive social status group via intermarriage

• Ex. daughter of Clintons, daughters of Donal Trump, family of Al Gore, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris 

• Filo-Semitism: seen as the most admired religion in USA

  • Kind of acceptance

  • Seen in Asian groups in the USA

Despite this → significant and increasing anti-semitism

jewish family

Family is the core of their identities 

Stereotypes of the Jewish mother: always pushing others to eat

• Ex. Jewish-American-Princess/Prince (bad word, entitled young people) 

multigenerational (jewish family)

grandparents linked to parents linked to children, often live either close by or in the same house 

• Phone contacts of Jewish kids and parents are more frequent than non-Jews 

• Conflicts: grandparents are more traditional, goes down from parents to kids (even less) 

  • Common in all minority groups, ancestral tradition 

• Very elderly community (proportional): fertility rates are low

  • Ex. snowbirds: go to Florida for the winter

  • Ex. self-segregate in gated communities  

pressures to marry/child-centred life (jewish family)

Pediatric Judaism: child-centered religion 

Ex. message of Christ for Christmas is no longer relevant, more important to appeal to the children 

• Religions used to be very serious adult business 

Young Jews pair up but have few children (ZPG: low fertility rates) 

• ^ non-Orthodox Jews 

Fairly liberal: acceptance of LGBTQ+ young people and couples 

Orthodox denomination: still struggling to grasp modernity 

• Other denominations: female rabbis, LGBTQ+ peoples

organized jewish community

Range of communal institutions: can be seen as polity

• Hard to survive individually as a religious minority

• Ex. Jewish family services, agencies, immigration groups  

• Ex. Jewish General Hospital (not welcomed in other hospitals): defensive strategy (social structure explanations)

  • Other ideas: (culture explanations) Jewish culture moves people to seek institutions (synagogues, burial associations, collecting money for poor Jews to participate in organizations) 

divisions (organized jewish community)

The conception of the Jewish community is far more different from “the Jews” 

• “The Jews” is a stereotype VS the community sets up things to help Jews

• Divisions within the community as a result of diaspora experience

• Ex. Jews fled Egypt, there were 12 tribes of Israel in the desert: they marched under different banners 

• Divisions can weaken a community BUT it could be a sign of innovation and each grouping is concerned with its group which leads to more vibrancy 

• Ex. competing organizations (political vs religious) 

• Ex. Jewish schools: group has a high priority on educating the young in the Jewish tradition (more common after Oct 7)

Jews as political liberals

In North America and most of Europe

USA: 70% of Jews support Democrats

• Religious Jews support Republicans 

Canada: Jewish ties to Liberals may be eroding 

• Conservative Party is making significant inroads into the Jewish votes in Canada

• About 55% of Jews are voting for the Conservative Party in Canada

Americans voting (jews as political liberals)

Jewish people who earn above-average income continue to vote for the party of the less affluent 

• Ex. Jewish people are pro-immigration

• Democrats are pro the welfare state and are pro-taxation 

Historically, the Democratic party was very affiliated with Jews

• Conflicts with Jews and Blacks with the civil rights movement 

• Republican party are anti-Semitic adjacent (close to anti-semites) 

  • But, they are more pro-Israel than the Democratic Party 

Big debates: have the Jews become white? 

• Jews used to be very involved with racialized struggles of other groups and immigration, and are now more conservative 

• Haven’t met a Jew who identifies as White 

• Debate about support for Israel, not its actions, but for its right to exist