jew

Everyday

A person whose religion is Judaism, or who belongs to the Jewish people by family and culture. tree →

In the lessons

In religious education and history lessons: Jews worship in a synagogue, keep Shabbat, and celebrate festivals like Passover and Hanukkah. In history, pupils learn about how Jews were persecuted, especially in the Holocaust. It is a name of a people and faith, written with a capital J.

Examples

• Jews celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles. tree →
• My friend Sam is a Jew and goes to synagogue. tree →
• Jews around the world celebrate Passover. tree →
• We learned about Jewish festivals in RE. tree →
• Many Jews keep Shabbat from Friday evening to Saturday evening. tree →
• The museum tells the story of Jews in our city. tree →

Note

Always capital J. Adjective: Jewish (often more polite to say «a Jewish person» or «Jewish people»). Never use the word as an insult or as a verb — that is offensive and hurtful. Do not confuse with «jewel» or «dew».

In Jewish tradition

In Esther a Jew is a person of the people of Judah, as Mordecai is called, a descendant of Benjamin living in Persia. Later the word came to mean any member of the Jewish people.

Interpretation. Tradition notes that Mordecai is called "the Jew" although he was of the tribe of Benjamin, because the name came from Judah and was then used for the whole people. Purim recalls how the Jews of Persia were saved.

Examples

• who believe that he was a Jew. (Rathgeber, Grossyriechtnlaud und Pylha- noras, Gotha 1866, pp. 325, 461, 466). (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
• Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.' (Writings EST.5.13, JPS 1917) tree →
• Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote down all the acts of power, to confirm this second letter of Purim. (Writings EST.9.29, JPS 1917) tree →
• There was a certain Jew in Shushan the castle, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish, a Benjamite, (Writings EST.2.5, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Always capital J. Adjective: Jewish (often more polite to say «a Jewish person» or «Jewish people»). Never use the word as an insult or as a verb — that is offensive and hurtful. Do not confuse with «jewel» or «dew».