Li_l_Pluck: Li_l_Pluck: Black Jew jumping in to add that this… …is not always true (or, rather, it’s not true that ethnic Jew = only white people), not only in a global context, but also in the U.S., as can be attested to by the many JOCS (Jews of color–black, Asian, Hispanic, etc.), some of whom I know personally, who were “born”* Jewish (and not all–actually, not a whole lot–have at least one white, Jewish parent). *I’ve always hated that phrase “born Jewish”. What utter bullshit. You’re *born *human; you are *raised *Jewish. Also, this… …is not always true. In Reconstructionist Judaism, for instance, patrilineal descent counts just as much as matrilineal descent. (I know that this isn’t the case in Orthodox Judaism, and I’m guessing that it’s not (yet) the case in Conversative Judaism. I don’t know if Reform Judaism has begun to move in this direction, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it does in the foreseeable future.)

I know all that but the points still stand socially speaking. There is a (mostly white) Jewish culture in the U.S. that is much a social club as a religion. Believe me, I have run up against that barrier when I have dated Jewish women. You can only get so far before they tell you they love you but their mother would not approve. I also know that someone from any racial or ethnic group can be as Jewish as long as their ancestors converted at any point in the past but that is relatively rare. It doesn’t work like Christianity or other, larger religions that have a focus on converting large numbers of people quickly.

You are black Jew? That is pretty cool and rare. I thought it was really interesting when I watched a documentary recently about Jewish people in Africa (Ethiopia) that claimed for thousands of years that they true descendants of Jewish people that fled from the middle-east and are possibly a legitimate lost tribe of Israel. People were skeptical but they had variations on all the old ceremonies and language and still do to this day. DNA evidence confirmed it. You can’t get any more Jewish than that.

http://www.bluestarpr.com/ethiopian-jews-documentary.html?gclid=CMPUwrWI9rUCFUhV4AodIxsA6A