Define "people".
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/people
See definition 3.
Or look up "nation" in an encyclopedia.
The difference being...?
I'm afraid explaining difference between what people are and what people do is quite a difficult task and perhaps justifies a blog post in itself, if not a book of several volumes.
I'll gladly refer you to Martin Luther King, who perhaps put it best when he spoke of his dream that one day people will be judged not by the colour of their skin (who they are) but by the contents of their character (what they do).
So the post wasn't about the jewish race, but about the jewish religion? then my apologies to any non-jewish (religion) jew (race) I may have offended. And no, under most sane definitions of the word you're not "family", please strive for accuracy over poetic flavor.
1. There is no "Jewish race". It was an invention by the Nazis and I find it extremely upsetting that people still think in those terms.
2. The letter spoke of the Jewish _people_, not the Jewish religion. Not all Jews are religious.
Poetic flavour is what makes a culture. Jews do indeed see each other as "family" whether you like it or not. Your own way of referring to Jews as a "race" and your ignorance of the concept of a "people" is in itself a problem with accuracy that you might have to look at.
The first four I understand, as result of a common religion, but the same "enemies"? and same "country"? Israel has only existed for ~60 years so it can't have had anything to do with the Spanish Inquisition et al and, therefore, isn't the country in question. Which one is it, then?
We have had the common language since before we have had the religion. Hebrew is a Canaanite language spoken by the people who lived south of Lebanon 4000 years ago. It is closely related to Phoenician and less closely to Aramaic and Arabic.
The country of Israel has existed since 1400 BCE and has been under different rulers since then, again becoming independent in 1948.
Alexander the Great did not invade a non-existing place, he invaded Israel. Cyrus the Great before Alexander did not return the Jews to a place that doesn't exist, he returned them to Israel. And Caliph Umar did not call on the Jews to fall into a black hole, he called on them to return to the land of Israel. The Qur'an, in suras 5 and 17 does not refer to a non-existing place when it claims that the land was given to the people of Israel, it referred to the land of Israel.
There is ample proof that a country named Israel has existed for over a thousand years before the Greeks invaded it and it didn't stop existing while being ruled by others either. I live in Ireland and most people here would be rather surprised if you told them that Ireland didn't exist when it was under English rule. Of course it did. And the Irish are from here.
The Spanish inquisition did indeed affect the Jewish people, although mostly those who converted to Christianity (since the inquisitors only had jurisdiction over baptised subjects of the king, not non-Christian Jews or Muslims).
Because I've yet to see a German posting about what the "German people" have achieved, they may talk about how well their government has done their job but don't associate it to anything inherent in them as a race/country/religion-followers/whatever. Kinda like how the rest of the world talks, y'know?
Perhaps you don't read enough or you are simply to focused on that "race" fixation of yours.
I have seen lots of articles and essays written by many people about the achievements of their nation. Heck, have you ever heard Americans talk about the American people? Nothing wrong with being proud of one's people, if one aspires to becoming part of the achievers.
If you think that Jews are a "race" and are the only ones who talk like that of their own people, you are seriously deluding yourself.
No, perhaps you should invent a new term for either the jewish race or the jewish religion, so people don't get them mixed up.
Why should I invent a "new term" for either the "Jewish race" (which doesn't exist) or the "Jewish religion", which the article isn't talking about.
And which people apart from you got them mixed up?
KFC posted the article and she isn't Jewish. I am sure she understands what a "people" (or a "nation") is and what a religion is and I don't think she was confused by those concepts (or felt a need to bring "race" into this).
What exactly is the "Jewish race" anyway? Are we black or are we white? What about ethnic Chinese Jews? What's the point of even worrying about race?
Let me tell you that I totally don't understand why Jews would be a "race" or why "race" is relevant in this context at all. (I understand race is relevant in certain medical cases when certain diseases are related to genetics. For example Sickle Cell Anemia depends on certain genes. But that has nothing to do with achievements of the affected people.)
So, the religion. Sweet.
I don't know if all the people in the picture are religious. Those with the kippas probably are. The others I don't know. They could be secular or atheists. But they were Jews.
Can you perhaps try to leave religion and race out of this? I think you are seriously impeding your chances of understanding what's going on by limiting your thoughts to questions of religion (which is nice but not the point here) and race (which is entirely inappropriate).
When I talk about the achievements of the Germans in the last 60 years (achievements which I applaud), I am not talking about their religion (mostly Christianity) or their race (most are white*), I am talking solely about the people.
Not religion. Not race. People.
(*Except those, apparently, who are also Jewish. They would belong to the "Jewish race", right?)
So the Jewish faith has officially joined the ranks of Christianity, Catholicism, Protestanism, Islam, Hinduism and a thousand other religions who managed to survive 'til the year 2009.
Again, it's the people, not the religion we are talking about.
But yes, both the people and the religion have survived, despite the fact that both were under constant attacks, they survived several genocides. Also note that Judaism, the religion, is 2000 years older than the other religions you mention there (except Hinduism which started in the iron age, but Judaism is older even than that).
Nobody ever set out to exterminate all Christians, but several have tried exactly that with the Jews. If for you surviving the Holocaust is the same as sitting in a chair for a few years, I'd find it difficult to explain to you why some people are so amazed that Judaism is still with us.
Also I know that KFC's point was really that the Jewish people are still around. She doesn't care about the religion except in as much as it is the predecessor of Christianity and an attribute of the Jewish people. That is all fine and good but it should tell you that the point here was not the Jewish religion.
Still can't see why it'd make you proud to believe in the same God as a survivor from the Inquisition did, lest of all why you'd all insist on using the word "we" to describe such events when clearly you didn't personally participate in them.
When I was a student in Haifa Hizbullah fired rockets at my university.
When I went to Iraq, Kurdish miliamen were amazed to meet a Jew and told me not to tell anyone further south.
Over the last two weeks I did security at my synagogue, checked bags for bombs and coordinated with Irish police.
The events you refer to are not history, they still happen. And while I have seen neither the inquisition nor the Holocaust (although I know many people who have seen the latter), I have seen anti-Semitism to a degree you cannot imagine.
And ALL OF IT came from individuals who believe Jews are a "race", usually one bred from dogs and monkies, if I recall correctly.
It is weird that just 65 years after being referred to as a "race", the Jews have suddenly lost the right to be considered a "people".