If you ask a Non Jew “What are you?” the likely response will be something like “I’m American,” or “I’m British.” On the other hand, if you ask a Jewish Young Adult the same question, the response will undoubtedly be “I’m Jewish” regardless of their nationality. In addition, if you ask a Non Jew about their ancestry, the response will be something like “I think my mom’s family is from Germany, and my dad’s is Scottish or Irish or something.” Conversely, any JYA will respond to the same question with an answer like “They were Polish Jews”, or “They were Russian Jews”, or “They were Moroccan Jews”.
Even though on standardized tests JYAs are obligated to check the “Caucasian, Non-Hispanic, including Middle Eastern” box, in practice the average JYA would prefer to check the “Other” box. Indeed, JYA “Jacob” says that he always writes in “Eastern European Jewish,” despite the fact that the available options make it clear that for the purposes of the survey, this additional information is irrelevant. This self imposed demarcation, with its anti-assimilationist undertones, is reinforced by countless academic articles written by Jewish Elders that further encourage JYAs to feel unique due to cultural, historical, or genetic “reasoning.”
When involved in discussions about race, a Non-Jew will be strenuously corrected if they make a statement that includes the JYA in the category of white, such as: “As white people, we look kind of stupid and racist quoting that Chris Rock sketch.”
“Oh I’m not white, I’m Jewish.” The JYA will correct.
Non-Jew “Christina” reported that her JYA boyfriend would explain his preference for warm temperatures by saying, “My people are a desert people.”
“It was weird though,” she recalled, “Because his grandparents were from Russia. And I was like, um, I don’t think there is a desert in Russia”.
Usually this racial obfuscation is as harmless as trust fund kids pretending to be hard up in Williamsburg while their parents transfer cash every month. But the invariable denial of Caucasianism, even though JYAs look at sound like White people, does leave one demographic group irked: Non-Ashkenazi Jews who actually are not White.
So true. This is my life. I always write “Eastern European Jewish” in the OTHER line.
I would disagree. Many American Jewry will respond they are American before they utter they are a Jew. This is so prevalent that there are books written on this topic because it is believed this is one of the causes for the slow dying of Judaism in America.
To that end, many known American Holocaust survivor families will respond with, “Polish Jews”. Non Holocaust survivor families will say something very very different frequently.
Considering “Jewish” to be other than Caucasian is not necessarily self-imposed. In the Soviet Union, for example, ID cards for Jews listed their “nationality” as Jewish.
Aren’t most American Jews a mix of (brown) semitic and (white) European? If we are going to go through the largely fictional process of racial classification, semites are not “white,” so isn’t it legit for most Jews to consider ourselves a separate ethnic group?
Interestingly, most hispanics (those who check that box on the census) also identify as white (as ‘hispanic’ is considered an ethnicity, while white is a race). Whiteness, how it’s measured, and what it means is a very interesting topic and I recommend, for example, Mary Waters’ Ethnic Options for a good take on what people mean when they ‘check the box’, or identify as ‘Jewish’ or ‘Irish’ instead of ‘White’. In the same vein, check out this recent NYtimes article.
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Wait, how did I confuse this blog for something serious? Something must be off today…
Damn, Dan. Way to up the ante. I was just hoping to leave a simple-minded rhetorical question dangling out there, and you go citing people who actually study this stuff. Now I have to learn.
Ya know, I’m not pure-blooded, but I always thought I was white. I mean, you know, we’re white. Pink-skinned.
I hear you, SFG. But there are, at least in the U.S., plenty of dark-skinned people (including Italians, Greeks, and some Jews) who identify as white and are identified as white by others.
There are also people with light skin who are identified as black because they have have African blood and darker skinned African-Americans in their family.
Being white in our culture is not as simple as having white skin, as appealing as that simple approach may be to some of us. Ya know?
[...] to assimilate) and the role of the Jew as (still) the other in white American culture. In addition, this post from the blog “Stuff Jewish Young Adults Like” offers a humorous perspective of the [...]
[...] Stuff Jewish Young Adults Like: Denying that they are white [...]
Many people throughout history did not consider us white, but spawned by the devil. Many people think we’re just a little bit black. I once read an article years ago in the NY Times magazine by a black women who liked us because we’re less white than other white people.
By the way, what do the Beastie Boys think they are?
Kol hakavod from this non-white JYA.
We’re NOT white, we’re Jewish. How could we identify with Europeans after what they did to us? Not to mention that we come from the Middle East…
Ashkenazi Jews are definitely do not originate in the middle east. Ashkenazi Jews were originally Khazars, a group of people from eastern europe, who converted to Judaism en masse centuries ago.
White is not based on skin colour. It means anglo-saxon. And so when asked if one is white (anglo-saxon) then why, if jewish, would you answer yes to that question??
Now on the other hand there is this question of identity- what best describes ourselves. I myself am half white, half jewish.
First and foremost I would say that I am jewish however and British (British being my nationality and jewish and anglo-saxon being my race.)
Jews like any other peoples (like armenians for example) who have been subject to systematic oppression and trauma, either assimilate to try and hide for protection from any future acts of discrimination, or do the exact opposite and put their race/religion first and foremost. Some of the more extreme Zionist philosophies can be seen to have emerged from this environment.
Of course we are all so mixed ethnically anyway that we can only assume our ancestry in line with what we know of it. At the end of the day it should be up to us, as individuals to associate however we feel best identifies ourselves. To call myself anglo-saxon (or white) is to deny my jewish racial heritage, something that countless tyrannical regimes have tried to do in the past and which has been a very real and sad consequence of descendents of Eastern european jews. It is ironic that today Israel goes off the Nazi Germany definition of jewish (which is whether you have a jewish grandparent).
Uh, Polish Jews are Polish. Russian Jews are Russian. Moroccan Jews are Moroccan. Where is “Jewish” on a map? Those questions ask for somewhere you can point to on a map, not your religion. *shakes head* People.
“Uh, Polish Jews are Polish. Russian Jews are Russian. Moroccan Jews are Moroccan.”
Sarah, you are perfectly entitled to this opinion, but don’t present it as fact. There people from each of these countries (both Jewish and goy) who would agree with you, and people from each of these countries (both Jewish and goy) who would disagree with you. That there is no definitive answer here is why this subject is interesting.
“Where is “Jewish” on a map?”
Where is “Hispanic” or Black” on a map? Anyway, were it not for the diaspora, it would likely be pretty easy to find “Jewish” on a map.
“Those questions ask for somewhere you can point to on a map, not your religion.”
When was the last time you filled out a form asking for your ethnicity? They do not ask for places you can point at on a map; especially the term “non-white Hispanic,” a category in which people with various geographic backgrounds can fit. Also, you are overlooking the fact that while Judaism is a religion, most Jews share similar genetics.
“*shakes head* People.”
It must be frustrating for you to be surrounded by mental inferiors. Maybe if you keep shaking your head fast enough you’ll dumb down to our level of foolishness.
What about the mexican jew? He mows the lawn and then kvetches the entire time.
http://state-of-exile.blogspot.com/2009/04/rejected-stone-becomes-cornerstone.html
As per the evolution of sociology and mass culture, the definition of “white” has changed significantly over the years, and will probably continue to change.
Pre-World War I Northwestern Europeans only were considered white in the United States, between wars they added Germans, and it was not until the post-World War II period that Southern Europeans and, well, everybody who looked white was considered to be so by the American public. “White” is ambiguous.
Being “White” is a cultural convenience in America, one of the world’s most racists societies in the extreme.
To “pass” as White was what many Jews in America did to get ahead.
Hollywood is a prime example. During the early years, although Hollywood was heavily Jewish, they all adopted Anglo-Saxon names in order to “pass”.
To pretend that Jews do not share a different and distinct ethnic background is to ignore reality.
Our roots are in the Middle East…far closer to Africa geographically than Western Europe…which simply means we are closer to the original humans who walked out of Africa into the rest of the world.
I dare say many American Jews would be terrified that they may not be “considered” White in the eyes of White America.
Be who you are, not what you are afraid of being.