Re: Yes, Virginia -- Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli Was Jewish

William Black wrote:

Obviously the idea of 'Jewish Ethnicty' is absurd.

There can be more than one point of view on this issue and categorical
statements
prove nothing.

For a start the word
'Ethnicity' is essentially meaningless.

It is not: "A sense of being different than other groups because of
cultural tradition, ancestry, national origin, history, or religion."
Makes a lot of sense, especially if
you live in a multicultural country.

One may argue that a notion of a _single_ 'Jewish Ethnicity' is
meaningless.
However, there are numerous smaller groups for which it makes a perfect
sense.
For example, the Jews of Bukhara, the Jews of Ethiopia, etc. all the
way to
'the Jews of Brighton Beach' ( :-) ).

Actually, within a framework of this definition, it is factually
correct to say that all
Jews from the former SU had the same ethnicity regardless of the
religious and
even cultural aspect of the issue. And the relevant point is that,
regardless the
differences in cultural background, etc. the Jews of the US (or at
least quite a few
of them) identified themselves as being a part of the same greater
'Jewish entity'
(whatever it may mean) as the 'Soviet Jews' or the Jews of Israel (who
are, again,
anything but uniform). How you are going to define this common
denominator is not
really important.

..

.

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