Jews and Family

“Jewish history begins in the choice of a family, the Divine election of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their children…The choice of Abraham was the election of a family. Judaism is difficult to define in conventional categories. It is not simply a religious faith, for a secular Jew is still a Jew. It is not simply a nationality, a state, a country or a land, for the Jew who lives outside Israel is still a Jew. It is not a race or mode of ethnicity, for there are Jews of many races and colours and backgrounds and cultures. Judaism embraces these things, but it is something other than and prior to them all. To be a Jew is to be a member of a family.”

Traditional Alternatives/Arguments for the Sake of Heaven, p. 241