Half-Jewish?


Bohr's mentioned in the film the he was "half-Jewish." Judiasm is not an ethnicity; it is a religion, so one is either a Jew or not a Jew. I didn't fully understand what he was getting at. One can't be half Christian or half Muslim, so how could one be half Jewish? If I am incorrect in my analysis, I did not mean to offend anyone.

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Sometimes people want the label without the effort, hence euphemisms like 'lapsed catholic' or 'ethnicity' rather than 'indifferent-to-superstitous-mumbo-jumbo.'

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

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If I am incorrect in my analysis, I did not mean to offend anyone.

No offense taken, but you are mistaken. To be Jewish can mean to be a member of an ethnicity, a religion, or both.

Bohr was socialized for achievement by both the paternal AND maternal sides of his family. His aunt was the famous, progressive Danish educator, Hannah Adler, who was said to have been hugely influential inside Denmark.

Jewish relatives, Adler above all, undoubtedly had an enormous impact on Bohr's values and interests. It's also important to appreciate that some of the most creative work is done by people who don't perceive themselves as wholly part of their own society or culture, people who retain an identity as an outsider. Thus, Bohr's perception of himself as half-Jewish is not irrelevant to his later accomplishments.

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This is like the duality of light.
Being Jewish is an ethnicity and religion.
In the world of reality I'll go for the ethnicity...

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nm

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Judiasm is not an ethnicity; it is a religion, so one is either a Jew or not a Jew.

Not the way the Nazi's saw it. So far as they were concerned Jews were an ethnic group, and someone certainly could be half Jewish.

In fact, if you watch Conspiracy on Youtube, you will notice that there is a point when they discuss the difficulty of estimating the number of Jews in Britain and America, precisely because those countries had a different definition of the term "Jew".

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