Do You Capitalize The Word “Jewish”? Learn The Rules

Knowing how to capitalize must be one of the essential rules when writing. It will make you stand out from other writers as long as you know how to use the terms, sentences, and words.

Remember always to capitalize races, nationalities, and religions. When you mention the word “Jewish,” you’re not just referring to an ethnicity, a race, or a religion. The term “Jewish” can be all three of them! In other words, it should always be capitalized.

We understand how important it is to have good writing skills. That’s why we will see definitions and information related to the word “Jewish.” Still, before we proceed, we would like to point out the rule of always capitalizing a religion, race, and nationalities.

Why Should We Always Capitalize Nationalities, Race, And Religion?

Race, nationalities, and religions should be capitalized to signify being used as a proper noun, which is “one of a kind” definitions of names. Some examples of these three terms can be:

• Latino
• Swedish
• Hindu
• Christian
• American
• African American
• Buddhist
• French
• Caucasic

However, these rules may not apply to some informal “racial” terms such as “black” or “white” since they could recur on the racism and unofficial slang. Why should I use capital letters?

Remember to use Capital letters to mark an important word, a title, sentence, write names, official titles, countries, etc. Don’t worry if your friend is not capitalizing words correctly when you’re both talking through a chat app. We can say we are “allowed” to break some rules in an unofficial conversation. Still, please keep in mind whether you’re writing an important essay or helping a friend with his homework, you should always strive to write correctly and capitalize the words without the need to think about it. Following these rules will let your boss, family, and even a boyfriend or girlfriend know you’ve been studying and working hard to develop your grammar skills.

Who Are Jews?

Jews are descendants of the ancient Hebrew people, often called “Child of Abraham,” they’re also related to the traditional religion called Judaism.

Can I Still Be Called “Jewish” Even If I Was Born Outside Israel?

According to Jewish law, a Jewish is every boy or girl born from a Jewish woman. It doesn’t matter if you were born in South America or the Antarctic. If your mother is Jewish and regardless of your personal beliefs, you could consider yourself as Jewish.

A good example would be the Jewish who were born before the foundation of Israel in 1948.

Descendants and religion-followers were called Jews as a discriminatory term by Germans during World War II.

Ex:

• “The Nazis had more than three hundred Jews prisoners when the Americans arrived.”
• “Almost all the stores in Austria and Poland are from Jewish people.”
• “My father told me I must not play with Jewish kids.”
• “In my country, there are more than two thousand Jewish people.”
• “I have Latino, African American, and Jewish friends.

Why Is Jewish Considered A Race?

While some experts do not consider the Jewish as a race, it is well known they have been treated as a race when many years ago they were segregated by an essential part of the European people through the late 30s and 40s, they were mistreated. European armies eliminated a big group of Jewish people. More than six million Jews suffered death, hunger and were put into concentration camps.

This group ran into other nations outside Europe to escape the persecution and still managed to be treated as non-equal from different races and people.

Why Is Jewish Considered A Religion?

Jewish as a religion comes from the term “Judaism,” which is directly a religion formed in the east of Asia by a group of people who believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (which later was named Israel). This group of people was originally from the East of Asia. They were from the kingdom of Judah, one of Israel’s sons, and is the origin of the word Judaism, which is 100 percent related to the official religion of the Jewish people.

Example:

• “There are more than six million of Jewish in Israel.”
• “In my class, there are Jewish, Hindu and Christians.”
• “My friend is Jewish, and I’m an Atheist.”
• “My father tried to convince me to follow the Jewish religion.”
• “This is a Jewish church.”

Is “Jewish” Considered A Language?

Jewish is not a language. However, it is good to mention there are “Jewish languages,” which consist of the languages derived from the Jewish culture, land, religion, and race. Some of the most important are Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, and Djudezmo, mostly known as Judeo-Spanish.

Although Jewish is not considered a language, some people refer to it as a language in an informal way, for example:

• “He was speaking “Jewish” even though we were in Italian class.”
• “My kids are learning “Jewish” and Spanish.”
• “In the mid-1940s, Germans weren’t allowed to speak “Jewish.”
• “Some of my Arabic friends can speak “Jewish” too.”
• “Are those girls speaking “Jewish?”

What Is The Origin Of The English Word “Jew”?

The English word “Jew” comes from the Hebrew word “Yehudi,” which means “related to the Kingdom of Judah.”

As mentioned before, Judah was one of Israel’s sons, his kingdom was one of the largest of all the 12 sons of Israel, and according to the experts, it was the last kingdom before the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. That’s why when they were outside their land, they were called Jews.

Some early variations of the word in English before evolving to Jew were:

• Giu
• Iuw
• Iew
• Gyu
• Iuu

There are plenty of famous people that are Jewish in ethnicity or religion, some of them are:

• Gwyneth Paltrow’s father is Jewish. However, she announced she was converting to Judaism in 2014.
• Joaquin Phoenix.
• Daniel Radcliffe is a Jewish descendant of his mother, but he is agnostic and doesn’t believe in Judaism.
• Jack Black is also an atheist, but his mother was Jewish.
• Wynona Ryder, who states some of her family died in concentration camps during World War II, is not religious but considers herself Jewish.
• Elizabeth Banks stated she’s learning and following Jewish practices, although she’s not “converted” yet.
• Noah Schapp, who wasn’t born in Israel but is converted to Judaism, and his mother is a Jewish descendant.

We can also talk about Antisemitism in a more significant way, which is the hate and discrimination about Jewish as a racial or a religious group. The first time it was mentioned was in the 19 century. But, it began being a popular word after the episode of the holocaust until the end of World War II in 1945. Today, there are still some antisemitic groups where Jewish are considered a problematic issue in today’s civilization. These groups are not only against Jewish as a race but as a religion as well.

Final Thoughts

Remember, good writing skills are based on the rules and norms we should follow. Our research and good reading will make a difference and will help you in your writing journey. Keep in mind this article when capitalizing the word “Jewish” and capitalizing races, nationalities, religions, etc. We hope we have addressed you to develop your knowledge and simplify the word’s meaning described in this article. And, as a Chinese proverb says, “Do not be afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”