Are Jewish people white?

A people, not a race

In Jewish law one is Jewish by birth to a Jewish mother or by conversion. Since anyone can convert, and conversion makes a person fully part of the people, Jewishness cannot be a racial category. Ruth the Moabite, ancestor of King David, is the classic example. The Torah describes Israel as a family that became a nation, and later as a people bound by a covenant.

Many communities

After two thousand years of dispersion, Jewish communities took on some of the appearance of the lands they lived in. Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe are often light-skinned; Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews from Spain, North Africa, Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Syria have a range of Middle Eastern complexions; Beta Israel from Ethiopia are Black; the Bene Israel and Cochin Jews of India are South Asian. In Israel, a large share of the Jewish population – often estimated at about half – has Middle Eastern or North African roots.

Why the question is asked

In some countries, especially the United States, many Jews of European origin are seen as white and share in that experience. Yet antisemites have historically regarded Jews as a separate “race”, and many Jews do not identify with the label at all. Jews of colour are part of the Jewish people and of its communities everywhere. The answer therefore depends on the individual and the society: there is no single Jewish skin colour.

The Jewish view

Jewish sources teach that all human beings descend from one ancestor, “so that no one can say ‘my father is greater than yours’” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Every person is created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). Jewish identity is about belonging to a people and its covenant, not about appearance.