Are Jews White?

While some Ashkenazi Jews may appear white and identify as such, the concept of whiteness is complex.
Historically, Jews were considered a separate and inferior race and yet, over time, antisemitism, assimilation efforts and rising socioeconomic status have influenced the perception of “Jewish whiteness.”
However, this categorization overlooks the experiences of Jews of Color and non-Ashkenazim and further perpetuates the ongoing antisemitism Jews face today.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:33 Global Jewish communities
00:44 Do Ashkenazi Jews identify as white?
01:03 What does it mean to be white?
01:25 Origin of whiteness
02:06 Definitions of whiteness
02:56 European Jews were not white
03:14 Racial discrimination against Jews in America
04:46 Antisemitism and Jewish racial ambiguity
05:33 Failed attempts by Jews to be accepted as white
06:27 Jewish-black interracial tensions
06:50 GI Bill benefits and white collar jobs
07:09 American Jews achieve "whiteness"
07:20 Jews (and non-Jews) reject Jewish white identity
07:58 Jews don't fit into a racial box
08:35 Conditional whiteness is oppressive

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Recommended video—Are Israelis White?

Let’s connect:
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Image and footage credits:
Thomas E. Watson
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Executive Producer:
— Barry Skolnick
Co-Executive Producer:
— Shmuel Katz
Silver Level:
— Sephardic Community Alliance
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#Jewish #antisemitism #conspiracy

[jgoff]

A lot people who are now considered white like Irish and Italians weren’t considered white for a while.

[TheAlchaemist]

It took me years to realize how obsessed with race Americans are.

[MrRobster]

Gamal Nasser President of Egypt quipped that his problem with them is that "They left black and returned white".

[OleJoe]

I remember reading once about the founding of The State of Israel. They were trying to decide who was a Jew and who was not. Was it a race? Was it a religion? Was it both? The discussions got really heated and one guy got up in disgust and said, "Whoever is crazy enough to want to be a Jew, is a Jew." In the history of the United States, any new group of immigrants had problems. Who was ever here first, looked down on the new commers. My own family came around the 1840s from Germany. They changed their name so it wouldn't sound German. They particularly kept a low profile during WWI. The anti-German feelings were running high then.

[houseofbreadsoul]

I really appreciate the videos made my Unpaked. I ususually finish each video with some sort of clarity BUT this one is a word salad. "...Oppression olympics is a harmful game." But he is playing it the whole time.

[shanna_]

Thank you for this video ❤ I'm an extremely white-skin-colored Ashkenazi Jew from Eastern Europe, but my grandfather had very dark skin, so it isn't so simple even within one family 💯

[Renfield]

David Baddiel released a book a year or two back called "jews don't count" which explores this topic through the lens of a Jewish man living in the uk

[BoozewithNick]

I’m half Ashkenazic, and proud of it, and I do not identify as wholly white. Looking at pictures of my paternal (Ashkenazic) grandparents and my maternal (white Anglo-Saxon) ones leaves little doubt that many “white” Jews are ethnically distinct from our Germano-Celtic neighbors.

If it helps clarify a murky question, I think it is fair to say that white-ish Jews are “socially white” in a post-war American context, but perhaps not in other ways. I take after my dad physically and am dark-complected and rather typically Jewish looking. I sometimes get mistaken for Greek, or Sicilian, or occasionally a light-skinned Hispanic, but no one ever looks at me and says “Gee, do you have Scandinavian ancestry?”. Anyway, good job with the video.

[carenlettofsky]

At least in the US, the government classifies Jews (and Arabs) as White when it suites them. We are "other'ed" when it suites them as well.

[maryrowe]

“White” often meant “WASP” and other European descended people weren’t considered to be of the same caliber. I remember my grandma (born 1921) saying “we aren’t Irish we’re Scots-Irish”!to describe our ethnic origins. She was technically right- researching our genealogy proved this so, however due to prejudice this was a common way to distance ourselves from the “other”. My bio dad was Cajun- another ethnicity not considered “white” at times. I think in this case it was a language issue- I remember French language tv shows on our local stations in the 70’s and 80’s and many of us had parents and grandparents who were native speakers. Kids were paddled for speaking French in school and the language dwindled but there are valiant efforts to restore it. Long story short I believe that prejudice is as much based on social class and money as it is skin tones

[Ccavemark]

I really enjoyed much of your vid. I didnt care much for the phrase
"whiteness is by definition, white supremacist."
I did like you say that victim Olympics is dangerous. well done on the vid my man!

[jackreacher]

8.9k likes / 8.1k dislikes for those who can't see the dislike button due to censorship.

[Nuss-js]

Regarding your explanation of whiteness, I come from Europe and have white skin color, may I nevertheless not be considered "white" if I lack certain privileges or experience discrimination?

[funnyunkle]

Why just yesterday I was shared a story of a polish Jew who sadly raised his children up denying jewish identity because of fear they would be targeted. He ask how I was so bold to always wear my kippah? I corrected him gently and stated not bold just me, proud and visible. My heritage is mixed and I identify as half white. UNPACKED team is so Great. keep up the amazing videos.

[tali]

My grandma is a Jew (nationality-wise, she is not religious). Both of my sisters made DNA-tests in different labs, and they showed 25% of Jewish DNA. My skin is light, but I never get sunburns and easily tan to dark brown shades.
However, many Jews are light-skinned, blue-eyed, with light hair. For some of them, having appearance like this saved their ancestors from the Holocaust.


It's so much more complicated than just skin color.

[rutypikovsky]

That's a great video. I'm a jew from Israel and we don't view race like Americans do (we do seperate to ashkenazi and mizrahi and so on but these concepts really became obsolete in the last decade, since a lot of jews in Israel are now mixed), and I always wondered why are jews considered white in America, whereas we were considered outsiders everywhere in Europe. In fact, in many cases you can easily tell who is jewish and who is christian, even if they both have a white skin tone, just based on facial features. I learned a lot from this video and it really helped me understand the American mentality.

[Chef_Pooh]

Great job on this! Great subject and very instructive! Bravo!

[dallasgrey]

The variety of types of Jews there are is why I will no matter what mention that they exist when someone makes a joke about Jews being white. Not all of them are and this video is actually a good explanation of that and an amazing explanation about how the way race is seen defines Jews and others. Btw am I the only one who think Hollywood needs more representation of non Ashkenazi Jews ?

[tarsisvanbrussel]

Not all Jews are Whites. Jews are very diverse. Beautiful people !

[rebellerevelle]

Nowadays in the US, it doesn't matter what your ancestral heritage or religious identity is. If you have fair skin and facial features that appear European, then you pass as "white". If you have darker skin and/or facial features that appear non-European (i.e. Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Native American, Aboriginal, etc) then you aren't considered white or fully white, but can attain honorary whiteness based on your class status and cultural assimilation. If you don't look white, then you won't be considered white. If you look white, then you'll be considered white...