THE DROP OF BLOOD According to the Wikipedia, the term race was first used to refer to speakers of a common language, for example Semites, Bantu people, the Han, or Germanic speakers. Later the language idea was broadened to peoples from different parts of the world who could be identified by distinctive physical traits. Blond Aryans were a different breed then the red men of the Americas of the Black men of Africa. Of course physical traits are heritable .. if one could breed different kinds of dogs then human races must be like dog breed. That idea became central to the concept of a Jewish race tied by blood, that is genetics, to the Jews who killed the Christian God, Jesus. Spaniards descended from Jews, even generations after intermarriage and conversion to Christianity, carried a genetic guilt because of the Crucifixion. Even generations after conversion and intermarriage, the muranos, descendants of Jews were still considered of impure blood. As Spain spread across the Atlantic and needed people to grow yucca, tobacco and cotton, this idea ..a drop of blood … proved to be a blessing to European colonialism. According to the Christian beliefs, black people, Africans, were uncivilized because they were descended from one of Noah’s sons, Ham. Ham was different from the Europeans, a lesser breed. Chattel slavery, the treatment of humans as cattle, was born.
Is There a Jewish Race?
Dear Aaron,
The descendants of the now ancient root in the hills of Judea do not account for all of today’s Jews. Even the 6 millions killed by the Nazis included descendants of converts. Jews intermarried with people of other cultures and often the non Jewish parent joined the Jewish people. My own paternal
Since the second half of the 20th century, the associations of race with the ideologies and theories that grew out of the work of 19th-century anthropologists and physiologists has led to the use of the word race itself becoming problematic. Although still used in general contexts, race has often been replaced by other words which are less ambiguous and emotionally charged, such as populations, people(s), ethnic groups, or communities, depending on context.
genome traces back to the Cro Magnons, the early inhabitants of Europe dating before there even were Semites. That genome lived in Spain until modern times. Presumably some male impregnated a female Jew who became pregnant with my ancestor. Today genetic Jews with ancient lineages can look like Swedes, Bantus, Hindus or Chinese. All with valid, deep roots.
Today we Jews come from several populations .. including Africans, Hindustani, Chinese and, yes, many European peoples. You would need to look like an Eskimo or an aboriginal Australian for there to be any meaning to the old questions “Funny you do not look Jewish?”.