Unthinkable
January 31st, 2006, 12:36 PM
There are a great many false ideas about the Jews. They are said, for instance, to belong to a 'Semitic race.' There is, however, no such race; there are only Semitic-speaking peoples, showing varying racial compositions (cp. above). The Jews, again, are said to be a race in themselves, 'the Jewish race.' This is just as mistaken; a casual glance at once shows men of greatly differing appearance among the Jews. Or again, the Jews are said to be a 'confessional community.' This is the most careless of errors, for there are Jews of all European faiths; and among those Jews in whom the ideal of a Jewish nation is most defined, the Zionists, there are many that do not accept the Mosaic dispensation. Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), that English Prime Minister who was a High Churchman, was at the same time a Jew very full of pride of his race.
The Jews are a nation, and, like other nations, may belong to several religions; like other nations, too, they are made up of several races. The two races which are, so to say, the foundation of the Jewish nation are, as was said above, the Hither Asiatic and the Oriental. Besides these there are lesser strains of the Hamitic, Nordic, Inner Asiatic, and Negro races, and heavier strains of the Mediterranean and the East Baltic. This is explained from the racial history of the Jewish nation, which I have given in the appendix to the Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes, where also the appropriate illustrations will be found.
Within the Jewish nation two divisions are distinguished: the Southern Jews (Sephardim) and the Eastern Jews (Ashkenasim). The former are about one-tenth, the latter nine-tenths of the whole people, which numbers about fifteen millions. The Southern Jews make up the main Jewish population of Africa, the Balkans, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and part of this population in France, Holland, and England. They show a mixture of Oriental, Hither Asiatic, Mediterranean, Hamitic, Nordic, and Negro, the Oriental predominating. The Eastern Jews make up the Jewish population of Russia, Poland, Galicia, Austria, and Germany; probably the greater part of that of North America; and part of that of Western Europe. They show a mixture of Hither Asiatic, Oriental, East Baltic, Inner Asiatic, Nordic, Hamitic, and Negro, the Hither Asiatic predominating to a certain extent.
In both branches, however, of the Jewish nation selective processes have been at work in the same direction to narrow down, as it were, the range of variations which otherwise would be possible from such a mixture of races. The result is that in the Jewish people as a whole there are always static and psychological characteristics recurring, and with such uniformity for the great body of Jews in every land, that it is easy for the impression of a 'Jewish race' to be formed. The Jews are (or at least were, down to the time of the so-called Jewish emancipation), through seclusion and inbreeding on a definite selective principle, on the way gradually to become a race, a 'secondary race' (as we might call it), the possibility of whose formation is discussed in Chapter V.
The Jews are a nation, and, like other nations, may belong to several religions; like other nations, too, they are made up of several races. The two races which are, so to say, the foundation of the Jewish nation are, as was said above, the Hither Asiatic and the Oriental. Besides these there are lesser strains of the Hamitic, Nordic, Inner Asiatic, and Negro races, and heavier strains of the Mediterranean and the East Baltic. This is explained from the racial history of the Jewish nation, which I have given in the appendix to the Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes, where also the appropriate illustrations will be found.
Within the Jewish nation two divisions are distinguished: the Southern Jews (Sephardim) and the Eastern Jews (Ashkenasim). The former are about one-tenth, the latter nine-tenths of the whole people, which numbers about fifteen millions. The Southern Jews make up the main Jewish population of Africa, the Balkans, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and part of this population in France, Holland, and England. They show a mixture of Oriental, Hither Asiatic, Mediterranean, Hamitic, Nordic, and Negro, the Oriental predominating. The Eastern Jews make up the Jewish population of Russia, Poland, Galicia, Austria, and Germany; probably the greater part of that of North America; and part of that of Western Europe. They show a mixture of Hither Asiatic, Oriental, East Baltic, Inner Asiatic, Nordic, Hamitic, and Negro, the Hither Asiatic predominating to a certain extent.
In both branches, however, of the Jewish nation selective processes have been at work in the same direction to narrow down, as it were, the range of variations which otherwise would be possible from such a mixture of races. The result is that in the Jewish people as a whole there are always static and psychological characteristics recurring, and with such uniformity for the great body of Jews in every land, that it is easy for the impression of a 'Jewish race' to be formed. The Jews are (or at least were, down to the time of the so-called Jewish emancipation), through seclusion and inbreeding on a definite selective principle, on the way gradually to become a race, a 'secondary race' (as we might call it), the possibility of whose formation is discussed in Chapter V.