Its considered to be both - an ethnic group (depending on the region of origin) and a religion. They were ethnically distinct in Europe and the Middle East. In Central Asia (Khazar regions) they were the same ethnicity as the other locals.
On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 11:54 AM, G Money <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 8:28 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> But do all jews originate from Israel? Remember the Khazar Empire >> (located in parts of Russia and the Caucuses) that converted from >> Tengri shamanism to Judaism in the 8th century AD. These people can >> not be considered genetically descended from the Jews of Israel or the >> Diaspora. >> > > Ok, i know i'm an idiot but....isn't Judaism just a religion? I mean...we're > talking about genetics and descendants and all that....but uh....if i were > to decide to join the Judaism faith...couldn't I become a Jew? And > conversely, if MD were to renounce his faith, he'd no longer be a Jew, > right? > > So...how can there be genetic links and descendants and all that????? Are > Jews a race, and not a faith? > > i'm so confused. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:331956 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
