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asked 4 years ago

I dare to be bold after Zionism has spread so much:
Was the Jewish people really a people, a nation during their time in exile? Every sociologist agrees that necessary conditions are needed to be a nation, such as a language, a common territory, etc., which the Jews in exile did not have. Shouldn’t the Jews during the exile period be seen as having only a religious unity? What do you think?
And do all these questions have any merit? Perhaps they help us recognize our identity, that is, is it a violation of the Torah or Jewish thought (to the extent that there is such a field, your method is known, and I agree with it) to say that Judaism is only a religion and not a nation?


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מיכי Staff answered 4 years ago
This is a question that does not have a clear answer. The concept of a people is not well defined, and therefore it can be defined as yes or no. It is simply a matter of definition. It is clear that there was inter-communal Jewish cohesion, and there is certainly room to treat this as a national definition. The fact that there is no territory and no common language (although the Holy Language was shared by most of them, in the prayer book and in the Bible, for example), is a useful characteristic but not necessary. When there are other cohesion factors, it is also good. But these questions have no basis in fact and are not interesting. As stated, they are simply a matter of definition. Therefore, there is no harm to the Torah or Jewish thought here (especially since there is no such thing). In general, the truth is not supposed to harm the Torah, and therefore the only important question is whether it is the truth and not whether it harms someone or something.

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