Author |
Share Topic Topic Search Topic Options
|
shahab6
Immortal Guard
Joined: 25-May-2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0
|
Quote Reply
Topic: Questions to the Jews... Posted: 14-May-2007 at 23:37 |
Originally posted by Kapikulu
Originally posted by Dolphin
I don't call someone by their religion anyway, like ''Hey, Catholic''. I tend to say, "Hey, Peter" and refer to him as 'a Catholic', the exact same as with a Jewish person. |
But the difference with the Jewish people are, the term their tribes/folks are called is the same with their religious affiliation.
You can be a Catholic, but your nationality can change. However with the Jews, it is the same. |
Jewish is a religion, not a nationality, it use to be a nationality, now most of the Jews we have now have converted to Judaism in the last few 100 years. They say only one percent of jews of today are from the same tribe from 2500 years ago
Edited by shahab6 - 14-May-2007 at 23:38
|
|
|
pekau
Caliph
Atlantean Prophet
Joined: 08-Oct-2006
Location: Korea, South
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3335
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 17-Apr-2007 at 20:09 |
Great answer, Yisahshkhahr.
|
Join us.
|
|
Guests
Guest
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 12-Mar-2007 at 15:51 |
Pekau,
Its not a silly question.
I'll echo some comments here by saying that the word "Jew" itself is fine, kind of like "Black", its all in how you say it. If you say the word with the same degree of respect as you'd give to any other ethnic group, then its normal.
Also, "Jew" is a proper name or noun, its not an adjective, and is usually offensive if used as a descriptive, as in "that Jew newspaper", or "the Jew Senator." "Jewish" on the other hand is fine.
This reminds me of a lecture that I recently sat in on, where the Jewish speaker humorously scolded us, the Jewish audience, for calling ourselves "Jew-ish" rather than "Jews." He said that years of anti-Semitism has made "Jew" into a bad word, even to us Jews! And to escape this uncomfortable label, we use the term "Jew-ish".
But I think this very question necessitates a deeper look into the semantics of the term. Like the Swedish, I think the best way to show respect to another people is to refer to them, as they refer to themselves, in their own language.
So "Jew" is an English or Romantic version of the Hebrew term "Yehudi" which stems from the tribe of "Yehudah" (Judah.) When the ancient Kingdom of Israel, centered in Samaria, was destroyed by the Assyrians circa 722 BCE, the Hebrew remnant resided in the southern Kingdom, called Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem. When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, and carried the Judahites into Diaspora -- that's when the "Yehudim" or Jews started to develop a consciousness of being primarily 'Jews'.
As for Israel (Yis_Ra'EL) which means "those who strive, contend for, and wrestle with GOD", even though the kingdom was destroyed, the national name lived on among the Jewish remnant, used as a spiritual term for their collective identity as the chosen people.
Today, modern Israelis carry on that traditional name (as Yisra'ELiym), but the Anglo-sized term "Israelite" is reserved to describe the ancient ancestors -- although in jest or good humor, its certainly okay to call a Jew an "Israelite" or even a "Hebrew" (which was my great-grandfather's "ethnic" category on his passport when he came to America) -- since it is quite a noble term, in terms of its deeper meaning.
|
|
Dan Carkner
Baron
Joined: 07-Nov-2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 490
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 05-Mar-2007 at 18:10 |
No, certainly not, it's pretty much a slur when said by a non-Yiddish-speaker! Just substitute "Jewish person" for Jew if you are worried.
|
|
Maharbbal
Sultan
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 08-Mar-2006
Location: Paris
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 05-Mar-2007 at 18:09 |
Yeah the next one you meet in South Korea . Just remember that all jews are not ashkenazee (i.e. yiddish speaking) so some may whether don't get you or fail to see the joke.
|
I am a free donkey!
|
|
pekau
Caliph
Atlantean Prophet
Joined: 08-Oct-2006
Location: Korea, South
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3335
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 05-Mar-2007 at 17:02 |
So, should I call Jews Yid instead?
|
Join us.
|
|
Top Gun
Baron
Suspended
Joined: 19-Jan-2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 493
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 05-Mar-2007 at 02:55 |
what the hell are you talking about
|
|
Onogur
Janissary
Joined: 18-Feb-2007
Location: Bulgaria
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 28
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 23:08 |
As in every other religion, the Jewish people are converting or at least trying to convert their children, even in case the other parent has a different religion or does not have religion. I know few cases. Is this not a kind of convertion or one of the parents is supreme and the other one does not matter?!
|
|
Maharbbal
Sultan
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 08-Mar-2006
Location: Paris
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 22:41 |
Originally posted by Kapikulu
You can be a Catholic, but your nationality can change. However with the Jews, it is the same. |
You're just about 2,500 years late! You can be an American jew, Russian jew, Iranian jew (although I wouldn't try if I were you), etc. Judaism is a religion like any other, with the slight difference that they rarely try to convert anybody to it.
|
I am a free donkey!
|
|
Guests
Guest
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 19:51 |
I'm confused, there were periods in British history when Catholics were treated as Catholics first and then British second. the 16th and 17th centuries spring to mind.
|
|
Dolphin
Arch Duke
Suspended
Joined: 06-Feb-2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1551
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 16:15 |
Ok, good point, didn't look at it that way. Even if the wrong term is used, if it is not meant offensively and said in innocence, then maybe it's not so bad.
|
|
Kapikulu
Arch Duke
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 07-Aug-2004
Location: Berlin
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1914
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 14:58 |
Originally posted by Dolphin
I don't call someone by their religion anyway, like ''Hey, Catholic''. I tend to say, "Hey, Peter" and refer to him as 'a Catholic', the exact same as with a Jewish person. |
But the difference with the Jewish people are, the term their tribes/folks are called is the same with their religious affiliation.
You can be a Catholic, but your nationality can change. However with the Jews, it is the same.
|
We gave up your happiness
Your hope would be enough;
we couldn't find neither;
we made up sorrows for ourselves;
we couldn't be consoled;
A Strange Orhan Veli
|
|
Maharbbal
Sultan
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 08-Mar-2006
Location: Paris
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 12:24 |
Originally posted by Top Gun
I don't care at least if you are not begining about the holocaust what some people do |
What is this supposed to mean?
|
I am a free donkey!
|
|
Guests
Guest
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 12:16 |
Actually here the fact you can call someone by an insulting nickname shows friendship.
Not kidding.
|
|
Dan Carkner
Baron
Joined: 07-Nov-2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 490
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 10:15 |
It's come to be an insulting term. But originally it just meant "nation". Technically anyone who is a non-Jew is a Goy.
|
|
Guests
Guest
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 08:00 |
Very bad to call people names. However, it is a practise that all people of the world do one time or the other. It should be controlled, at least like a bad manner or just plainly biggotry.
By the way, I read somewhere that Jewish people sometimes call Christians and other non-Jewish peoples with the term "Goy" and plural "Goyim".
What does really mean that word? It is an insult or just a way to describe the "other"?
Pinguin
|
|
Top Gun
Baron
Suspended
Joined: 19-Jan-2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 493
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 04-Mar-2007 at 06:37 |
I don't care at least if you are not begining about the holocaust what some people do
|
|
Maharbbal
Sultan
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 08-Mar-2006
Location: Paris
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-Mar-2007 at 09:53 |
Yeah, my grandma calls me yid, and it is ok, but if any goyim does , he gets my fist in his face... The reason being that she says it it yiddish whereas anybody else would say it in French which means they'd be using the same term as the fascist during wwii.
|
I am a free donkey!
|
|
Dan Carkner
Baron
Joined: 07-Nov-2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 490
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-Mar-2007 at 09:02 |
An example: Up to about 10 years ago, members of Islam were often
adressed as Muhammedans in the Netherlands. The Islamitic society let
know that they found this term unpleasant, and within no time, the
vocabulaire had switched to the more acceptable and accurate Islamists.
This is a positive change.
I don't live in the Netherlands, but what about "Muslim"? In english you would probably get in trouble for saying Islamist, it's like calling any Jew a Zionist..
I don't call someone by their religion anyway, like ''Hey, Catholic''.
I tend to say, "Hey, Peter" and refer to him as 'a Catholic', the exact
same as with a Jewish person.
Although no catholic would say "hey Catholic, c'mere!" but in Yiddish when you are addressing a person it's presumed you would only be talking to a Jewish person, so you say "Hey, Yid!"(Jew). "How's a Jew doing?" etc. So again I think it's pretty much based on context.
|
|
Dolphin
Arch Duke
Suspended
Joined: 06-Feb-2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1551
|
Quote Reply
Posted: 02-Mar-2007 at 07:27 |
Ditto, Zagros.
I don't call someone by their religion anyway, like ''Hey, Catholic''. I tend to say, "Hey, Peter" and refer to him as 'a Catholic', the exact same as with a Jewish person.
|
|