<p>And btw, Hitler would agree with you all that Jews are a race or an ethnic group as would ever other anti-Semite in history. Keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Wow, shock value much? Hitler was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Hitler was correct in his thinking that that the Jews are an ethnic group, because they ARE. What he decided to do with that information is another story entirely. </p>
<p>I think your problem is that you don't know the distinction between race and ethnicity.
Race is a broad term with only a few categories: Caucasian, Black, Asian, etc. Each one of those categories however, has subcategories and this is where ethnicity comes in. An Irishman and a Greek are both caucasian and so are part of the same race but are of different ethnic groups because of more subtle characteristics which include both biological and cultural traits (ie-language and physical traits like the fact that Greeks tend to have curlier, darker hair while the Irish are noted for their straight blonde/reddish hair).
It is in this sense, that the Jews can be considered their own ethnic group. They have the cultural bond of the Hebrew/Yiddish languages and similar biological backgrounds which can often manifest itself in similar physical traits (such as how the Japanese for example tend to have similar physical traits). </p>
<p>To bring up Hitler was a very childish ploy on your part. To consider the Jews to be an ethnic group (which they certainly are) is not prejudiced by any means regardless of what fear-mongers such as yourself like to believe.</p>
<p>Ashkenazi and sephardic jews are different also becuase of their praying, beliefs, rituals, location and etc.
I never heard that the genes are also different O__o</p>
<p>Writing "Jewish" would make the applicant look silly at best and unintelligent at worst. Our family is Jewish, of Eastern European ancestry. We are every bit as Caucasian as the descendents of Eastern European Catholics, so why on earth would we put Jewish as our race? It's not as though they're white and we're Jewish. We're all white. </p>
<p>If, of course, you're an Asian Jew, or an Afr-American Jew, you'd put down Asian or Afr-American.</p>
<p>*so why on earth would we put Jewish as our race? It's not as though they're white and we're Jewish. We're all white. *</p>
<p>Yes, you're all the same race but of different ethnicities. As I mentioned in my previous post, ethnicity is more of a subcategory that splits race into more specific groups. So a Frenchman and Jew are of the same race, but different ethnicities.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sure, anyone can technically convert to Judaism, but the majority of Jews also share a common ethnic background.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>OT, but German Jews and Eastern European Jews have / had quite a few differences. I daresay most American Jews of Ashkenazi descent are a mixture of both strains, but nonetheless ...</p>
<p>This is a logical fallacy called an ad hominem argument, specifically reductio ad Hitlerum. Just because an evil figure holds the same opinion as you, that doesn't make you wrong.</p>
<p>And, to throw my own opinion in, I do consider Jewish as an ethnicity. My grandfather's family, which came from Poland, is very Jewish. I remember that he once told me that being Jewish is different from being Polish. For one thing, the Polish Jews didn't want to call themselves Polish because of all of the persecution they faced from the other Poles. Additionally, there was a separate ethnic identity for the Polish Jews than there was for the other Poles. They had a separate lineage and a separate ethnic identity.</p>
<p>I am jewish as well. You put white down. Judaism is not a race, it can be considered an ethnicity though. Also jews are overrepresented, it will not help your cause, but trust me they will know. Either by your last name or a picture, but its usually quite obvious.</p>
<p>"So a Frenchman and Jew are of the same race, but different ethnicities."</p>
<p>Sigh. I'm of Polish descent. I'm Jewish. My friend is of Polish descent. She's Catholic. Our ancestors came from the same area of Poland, though probably didn't mingle a hell of a lot, LOL. We are both white. We are both Polish. I am no less Polish than she is. </p>
<p>You don't expect the German Catholic to distinguish his ethnic background from the Polish Catholic, so why are you expecting the Polish Jew to do that?</p>
<p>No, Villanovagirl, it wouldn't be. While I agree that putting down Jewish is gratuitous, the OP's mistake is not in differentiating Jews but in assigning 'Jewish' as its own race. As someone previously stated, a race is a larger group that correlates to a person's skin tone relative to geographical/continental heritage (ie Asian Pacific Islander/Asian, Black/African, Hispanic/C or SA, Caucasian/white European, etc) while an ethnicity is a state of belonging in a social group bound by common national, cultural or religious traditions. As a Jew, when asked my race I say white, when asked my ethnicity, I say 'Jewish'.</p>
<p>Catholicism is neither a race nor an ethnicity; it is solely a religion. Through missionaries, crusades, etc people from every continent have joined the Catholic church. Judaism, while still allowing outsiders to convert, is a much more closed RELIGION. Traditionally, one is only considered Jewish if his/her mother is Jewish (calculated by the same formula). Jews, historically, have lived together, apart from other natives of their diaspora destinations, with the possible exception of certain W. European countries in which Jews become more assimilated and moved out of little Jewish villages (shtetls). Anyways, historically, the vast majority of Ashkenazi (also Sephardic) Jews have intermarried (ie Jews marrying other Jews versus people of other ethnic backgrounds) furthering solidifying a Jewish identity, both socially and genetically. So, when a person says s/he is a Jew, it can a mean a lot of things. She or he may be a recent convert and not a biological Jew, or more likely, someone who was born to atleast one parent who identifies as Jewish culturally, religiously or both. So, whereas being Catholic does not reflect your genetic or ethnic status at all, only your religious one, being Jewish is much more nebulous.</p>
<p>Selena731, ashkenazi Jews are prone to getting Crohn's (spelling?) Disease which is a disease in the stomach. If you have ashkenazi "blood" you're also at risk of getting it. However, sephardic Jews are typically not at risk for getting it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But don't put "Jewish" down as a "race" on a college application.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This has come up on this thread a few times, and I don't disagree, but unless I missed it later in the thread, the OP never said which application she's filling out. I assumed the Common Application, but in the personal data section they say nothing about race.</p>
<p>They say:</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you wish to be identified with a particular ethnic group, please check all that apply:
[/quote]
</p>
<p>They then list such non-races as "Puerto Rican," and leave space open for tribal affiliation of Native Americans, and Native Alaskans.</p>
<p>Since it's optional, and since they emphasize what you wish to do, it seems to me that there are three perfectly fine options here. (1) leave it blank, (2) check "white or caucasion," or (3) check "white or caucasion" and check "other," writing in Jewish.</p>
<p>I think I'd probably choose (1) or (2), but if you wish to be identified as a Jew, I can't imagine what the big deal is.</p>
<p>Lily, that is one of a handful of diseases that Ashkenazi Jews are prone to. Sephardic Jews are prone to others; every small ethnic group has its medical predilections.</p>
<p>Random Q-
If you check "white/caucasian", and then do other - "Human", do you think adcoms would be ****ed, or would think you're racist.
I want to do it to like point out that color shouldn't do with race, since we're all humans.
But I'm getting a weird sense that if I put down WHITE and HUMAN, they'll think I'm implying that only WHITE people ARE human, which I don't want to imply as I do not believe that.
Thoughts?</p>
<p>According to a Supreme Court ruling in the 1980s, Jews ARE CONSIDERED their OWN race. This means that it is 100% legal and acceptable to check the 'other' box on applications or any form for that matter and write in 'Jewish' as your race. Us jews are our own race. While I will not be electing to check the 'other' box on my application and fill-in 'Jewish' as my race, it will absolutely be an important factor of my application. So all you who don't know what you're talking about in regards to this issue -- don't make yourself look like an idiot again, just don't speak unless you DO know what you're talking about.</p>