I would tend to agree, however, I'm not aware that Africans were the common people in Israel at the time and moreover, were the common Jews of the time.
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McBell
mantra-chanting henotheistic snake handler
What difference does it make?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it has something to do with his previous thread on skin color: What did Jesus look like?
epronovost
Well-Known Member
McBell
mantra-chanting henotheistic snake handler
I suspect you are correct.
But I am still wanting to know what difference skin color makes
epronovost
Well-Known Member
Ancient Hebrew were a Semitic people not much different from all the Semite people of the region. They looked pretty much like the Syrian, Egyptians, Iraqis of today except when it came to fashion. The still naïve art style and the degraded pigmentation of the mosaic can give the impression that it depicts black people with afro while it's probably white people with a strong tan (painted on dark stone) with dark, curly, hair. There is nothing really special there.
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Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Maybe Ethnic Jews are based on lineage, not skin color.
MatthewA
Active Member
Is this image authentic? If so, why does it show Abraham and other Hebrews with dark skin colors and afros?
Beth Alpha - Wikipedia
The Binding or Sacrifice of Isaac ~ Biblical Archaeology Society
^
How Jews and Christians see differently
Found this: Did a google search on the image.
Which describes the image as this: The sixth-century C.E. floor mosaic from the Beth Alpha synagogue, in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. The mosaic lay near the door, so that anyone who entered was confronted by the scene. Walking from here to the apse, visitors crossed a large mosaic zodiac and then a panel depicting a lulav (palm branch) and etrog (citron), menorahs, and the Ark of the Law—the same objects that accompanied the Akedah image at Dura-Europos 300 years earlier.
Is this image authentic? If so, why does it show Abraham and other Hebrews with dark skin colors and afros?
Beth Alpha - Wikipedia
I am guessing you don't know that one of Abraham's wives was Egyptian. I am also guessing you've never seen what some middle eastern Jews and Egyptians look like. Contrary to popular belief they don't look like Christian Bale from the movie Exodus. How dare Hollywood lie to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this image authentic? If so, why does it show Abraham and other Hebrews with dark skin colors and afros?
Beth Alpha - Wikipedia
That could absolutely be authentic. Have you seen some of the ways Greek people portrayed themselves (examples below)? People from North Africa and the Mediterranean did a lot of mingling during those times. Egyptians and Greeks and Jews could all live in the same city. Egypt mingled with areas to the south of them too, so sometimes even folks that we would identify as black today would be living in Greece. As for the hair, tight curls were pretty common in that part of the world at the time, so that lines up. I don't know if that's an authentic piece, but the skin and hair definitely don't disqualify it.
I wouldn't call those afros though.Is this image authentic? If so, why does it show Abraham and other Hebrews with dark skin colors and afros?
Beth Alpha - Wikipedia
The women just look like they have curly hair. Abraham kind of looks like he has an afro, but I think that's supposed to be a Halo.
Edit: sorry, I was thinking of Christian art. Don't know if Jewish artists ever depicted the Patriarchs or prophets with halos.
Per the biblical story, those are the two (male) servants that came with Avraham and Yitzchak, so not women.
Just can't seem to get away from that topic these days.Per the biblical story, those are the two (male) servants that came with Avraham and Yitzchak, so not women.
Edit: gender issues I mean.
Is this image authentic? If so, why does it show Abraham and other Hebrews with dark skin colors and afros?
Beth Alpha - Wikipedia
WORRY ABOUT RACISM:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/isr...s-rage-as-bidens-cease-fire-call-ignored.html
With all of the antisemitism heaped upon the Jews over the millennia, I worry that those who talk about Jewish race and afros might have an ulterior motive to bash Jews.
Tense quiet in Gaza border towns after overnight strikes inside enclave
Especially in light of Middle Eastern terrorism (prompted by Gaza occupation (link above the link above)) spilling into the streets of Los Angeles (link above, Los Angeles 5/19/2021) "Haim Yisraeli tells Channel 12 dozens of people waving Palestinian flags badly beat diners after asking “who is Jewish.”
US: Man faces domestic terror probe tied to racist extremism
(Link, May 11, 2021, above): White Supremist, Brian Thibodeau was arrested for possessing an unregistered gun silencer (Thibodeau claimed it was marketed as a fuel filter), and allegedly online planning of domestic terrorism in the United States.
As Louis Lamour, the famous western writer, said: (paraphrasing) Terrorism isn't done for their stated reasons, but for the glory of the attack.
ANSWER:
Jews are Semitic, the same race as Arabs. Thousands of years ago, Jews looked like Arabs. Today, Jewish DNA shows that they have interbred with the people where they lived (Germans, for example). Some Germans are blond, so now there are blond Jews.
Orthodox Jews are not (and have not been) allowed to marry outside of their religion. However, this still allows Jews to marry converts (they must adopt the Jewish faith, and men must get a bris).
Being Jewish is both a religion and an ethnicity. It is possible that someone can be related to Jews (so ethnically Jewish) but not of the Jewish faith. It is also possible that someone could convert to the Jewish faith (like Black comedian/dancer, Sammy Davis Jr.) and not be of the Jewish ethnicity.
We should bear in mind that Jesus (on his mother's side) was Jewish. Maybe on dad's side too?
Teritos
Active Member
Why shouldn't it be important? Knowing the color of Jesus' skin is important to me personally. And he certainly did not have a European appearance.
rosends
Well-Known Member
It depends if you see the aspect of Judaism that you consider an "ethnicity" to be separable from the rest of the religion. Judaism does not see this. If a Jewish man has a child with a non-Jewish woman, the child is not Jewish (according to Orthodox Jewish law) even though she is related to her father biologically. There is no "ethnically Jewish" which is distinct from "being Jewish" in Judaism.
So this is a thread about Jesus, as suspected.
But what does it matter what his skin color was?