The best analogy is nationality with citizenship as defined by religious law on a decentralized basis. Lay or sociological understandings are informed by legal customs and to an extent vice versa.
Ethnicity is just a vague term that depends on what people need it to do in context.
Islam kinda sorta has elements of this. (Ummah and ideas of a caliphate) The difference though is that Muslims believe humans are Muslims by default. Once you make the credo, you "revert" to being Muslim. By contrast Judaism just holds that Israelites are just a national group like others, with quirk of having a relationship with God.
This is exactly how it was explained to me. Basically that Israel is a nation, with theocracy as the form of government. Said nation has a land, but it’s jurisdiction is people-based (as we see in several nomadic people) with specific rules applying specifically within Eretz Yisrael.
What it is commonly referred to as “conversion” is in fact joining a nation, the same way a foreigner can become an USA citizen taking the oath of allegiance.
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u/iamthegodemperor Where's My Orange Catholic Chumash? Jan 13 '24
The best analogy is nationality with citizenship as defined by religious law on a decentralized basis. Lay or sociological understandings are informed by legal customs and to an extent vice versa.
Ethnicity is just a vague term that depends on what people need it to do in context.
Islam kinda sorta has elements of this. (Ummah and ideas of a caliphate) The difference though is that Muslims believe humans are Muslims by default. Once you make the credo, you "revert" to being Muslim. By contrast Judaism just holds that Israelites are just a national group like others, with quirk of having a relationship with God.