Tag Archives: jew

Without doing any research, I knew “Jewess” is outdated at best and offensive at worst, though I wasn’t sure precisely why.

Sometimes being Jewish feels inherently controversial. Hence the old saying: “Ask two Jews, get three opinions.”

Jonathan Cook took us on a tour of the newly finished museum dedicated to Hebron’s Jewish heritage, which focuses on various acts of violence done to Jews there and their triumph over them, which in his narrative, lead to the reality today.

Most of my friends agreed that the intention behind the use of “Jew” is what matters most. (They also shared the opinion that “jew” as a verb is always pejorative.) A friend who is especially knowledgeable about Judaism made the key distinction between “Jew” as a noun and the same word as an adjective. The latter is plainly offensive.