Daves2017 wrote on Nov 16
th, 2025 at 9:34am:
I’d like to give my definition of a Jew?
This could be a great topic if we manage to answer in good faith?
IMO a Jew is someone of faith Judaism .
As in my ( catholic) religion this includes an enormous amount of people of different beliefs and backgrounds.
Yes, like Christianity, Judaism is sectarian - there are over a dozen of them, some vehemently opposed to each other. The most recent sectarian political split is that between the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and those sects that support the existence of the Israeli state, those that identify with Zionism, and all secular Jews.
The term Jew is applied not only to the religious Jews but also to those born of (or descended from) Jews, regardless of their religious affiliation, and often against the will of the individual so labelled. This occurs with non-Jews towards those they deem Jews significantly more often than Jews towards others.
For example, those secular Jews not descended from Jews on their maternal side are considered half-Jews at best, and not Jews at all where the maternal line ends beyond a grandmother.
For a goy (a non-Jew) to say 'I support the Jews' is comical to Israelis and diaspora Jews.