"35%-55% Ashkenazis are of European Descent"

[Osweo]

I'd like to add something about Yiddish that might be found interesting:

Yiddish hasn't been spoken in my family for three generations on my mother's side, and four generations on my father's side. My maternal grandmother told me that her parents only spoke Yiddish when encountering other Ashkenazi Jews who did not speak Romanian. Yiddish was used as a common language amongst European Jews of different nationalities. Native tongues were spoken in the home and in all other occasions.

That only takes us to around 1900. Very recent. The situation in the shtetls of the former Recz Pospolitas was quite different.

[Hess]

here is my view, in a nutshell-

I really couldn't be bothered if their eyes are bluer than sapphires or if their hair is blonder than a polar bear's ass.


Being European involves MUCH more than just genetics- it's a culture, mentality, and way of life that Jews lack.

[PetiteParisienne]

If South Italians are considered as white , then so are Sephardi Jews (including those from North Africa who are usually very Frenchized).

Secondly ,there's usually a minsundertood. Many Sephardic Jews were culturally much more West European than Ashkenazim. But since Ashkenazi Jews have a more Germanic culture and are blonder hair , they're usually seen as more "European" but that doesn't mean Sephardi Jews from Netherlands Italy or the upper class of Morocco are less "European" in their way of life. It's just a question of standard for people. A French journalist said that the Sephardi Jewish quarter of Paris in the 70's was much more European-French in flavor than the Ashkenazi one of the 40's , as the latter imposed their Eastern European culture outside their houses , while the former assimilated completely.

In today's world, a lot of it hinges upon how religious a Jewish person is. An Ashkenazi Jew who is minimally religious or completely secular is indistinguishable from a European gentile. The same can be said for a secular Sephardic Jew of of predominantly Spanish or Portuguese heritage. Iranian Jews also consider themselves to be Sephardic. It's not just about genetics and appearance, but also about customs. Sephardic traditions and food are very different from Ashkenazi ones.

[Insuperable]

I'm all for learning ching chong chang and indian. where are those languages spoken, if I may ask?

I am surprised that British act like this. British culture touched almost every culture in the world to some point. In some time chinese culture will touch yours. Then you wont act like this. I do not care nor about yours nor chinese but if it has to be any id rather choose british.
China and whole asians are on rise.
So you see I am not for preservation of someones culture on some other indirect way.
As I have said on some thread before I know a lot people Croats or foreign who are so obsessed with Japanese culture that their wear kimono inside the house all the time. That is total opposite of what this forum stands for.
No one thinks about this.

[Portukalos]

Indeed. In Israel though, the Sephardi and Misrachi are classified as 'twin' cultures.

"Mizrahi culture" just doesn't exist. A Goergian Jew doesn't share the same culture as an Iraqi Jew , randomly taken.

[PetiteParisienne]

"Mizrahi culture" just doesn't exist. A Goergian Jew doesn't share the same culture as an Iraqi Jew , randomly taken.

Exactly my point. It's very different. One of my close friends is a Sephardic Jew of Iraqi and Iranian descent. She and a Jew for Georgia would not have much in common at all.

[Portukalos]

In today's world, a lot of it hinges upon how religious a Jewish person is. An Ashkenazi Jew who is minimally religious or completely secular is indistinguishable from a European gentile. The same can be said for a secular Sephardic Jew of of predominantly Spanish or Portuguese heritage. Iranian Jews also consider themselves to be Sephardic. It's not just about genetics and appearance, but also about customs. Sephardic traditions and food are very different from Ashkenazi ones.

The problem is that an Iranian Jew is not a Sephardi , it's just a minsunderstood from your own. Anyway , food and traditions are of course very different since Ashkenazis lived amongst Germans and Slavs.

[Portukalos]

I'm from the UK, but my father is from paris, and his side of the family is French and Austrian.

Is your farther part French of Jewish background or ethnic French Catholic ?

[PetiteParisienne]

here is my view, in a nutshell-

I really couldn't be bothered if their eyes are bluer than sapphires or if their hair is blonder than a polar bear's ass.


Being European involves MUCH more than just genetics- it's a culture, mentality, and way of life that Jews lack.

Which Jews? The Hasidic? Definitely. The Orthodox? Yes. The Reform? A little.

[PetiteParisienne]

Is your farther part French of Jewish background or ethnic French Catholic ?

My father was born in France. His parents were born in France. Two of their grandparents were born in France, one other was from Romania, and the last was from Austria. There have been gentiles in my family, as well as apostates and converts to and from Judaism. But no one in my family has been born outside of Europe.

And Catholicism came long after paganism in France.