This week I read an article by David Benkof of the Times of Israel. It can be found here. http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-exist/

Benkof's goal of this article is to prove that the Palestinian identity is a valid one. Some people try to assert that Arabs have invented the idea of a Palestinian people, and thus there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  David's point is that all peoples are invented, whether it happened recently, or centuries ago. He ends the article by saying that this argument needs to be dropped so that we can move on to a meaningful discussion about the conflict. I definitely agree with the writer's point that the Palestinians are just as much a people as anyone else, because all people's are invented. 

What interests me most about this article is when Benkof says that even the Jewish people is invented, as it had to begin at some point. This isn't exactly related, but it reminds me of a question I have wondered about for a long time. It has never been clear to me whether Judaism is a race or ethnicity, as well as a religion. I remember asking my dad what I should say when people ask me what ethnicity I am, and he responded that saying I was Jewish is acceptable. My mom didn't agree with him, saying I should cite the countries my ancestors come from. Race is something passed down genetically, so Judaism cannot be a race, because anyone can convert to Judaism. Ethnicity is defined as the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition, and according to that definition, I think Judaism could be considered a race. However, there are many different traditions within Judaism. While lots of Jews share many aspects of their culture, there are lots of different groups with different traditions, such as the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform, as well as the distinction between Ashkenazi and Sephardic. I know that being Jewish is definitely an identity of some sort, but I don't know exactly what it is, other than a religion.