a) Neither, but I have ancestry that is both and I have Mizrahi ancestry, too. I'm a third generation Southern US Jew.
b) Reform
c) Too long to post, but I will links to two past answers that helps explain why I feel connected to Judaism. https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20080704120305AAAowNR
d) A foundational principle of Jewish ethics originating in Genesis called Tzelem Elohim – image of God – is that every human being is created in the image of God and must be treated accordingly
Judaism also teaches a concept that one human being was created originally so that no one can say, "my father was greater than your father.‟ known as Adam Yachid – a single human being – teaches us that every human being is unique and inherently precious. Every people have a purpose and there is nothing in the Hebrew Bible that precludes God from choosing anyone else or any other nation for a specific purpose, too.
It certainly is NOT Judaism or Torah, nor the concept “chosen people” in the context of the eternal covenant between Israel and God that claims that all others who do not adhere to Judaism are somehow worth less or are incapable of direct connection to the Divine. That is antithetical to the covenant and the purpose of the covenant people to exist as a light unto the nations.
It is a bigoted canard to turn the Torah concepts that all humans are equal before God and equally able to directly know and connect to God into false claims that violate Jewish law to state Jews teach some form of supremacist notion. Jews are chosen by God for the purposes of the covenant between God and Israel, because Avraham and the patriarchs CHOSE God. The concept "chosen people" is the most often misused phrase that misrepresents Judaism. Non-Jews almost always tell us that it means something that it doesn't mean to us, and then insult us for THEIR meaning.
In actuality when this misinformation is taught that Jews believe we're elevated above others with some exclusive right to God, it is most often a PROJECTION of what the insulter believes about themselves. A root source of this is the replacement theology of Christianity that decided to redefine the meaning to claim that only those who adhere to their dogma are the people who have God's exclusive blessing and that only those who believe the way they do can connect to God or merit atonement as well as achieve their notion of "salvation".
The role of Israel as the "chosen people" does not mean that God chooses Jews and not anyone else, nor could it mean that God chose to reject his eternal covenant and “choose” someone else for Israel's purpose. Nor does it imply that God is exclusive to Jews or that Jews are or believe we are better than everyone else. The Jewish covenant people still choose to follow the eternal covenant made between God and Yisrael.
Belonging to the eternal covenant of Israel is a CHOICE. Jews are the people who choose to follow the Torah, and God chose to make this eternal covenant with us. We have greater obligations placed upon us because of the choice to adhere to this covenant. The covenant of Israel in no manner implies that other nation peoples or individuals are not capable of direct knowledge/connection to God.
The role of Israel is to be a light unto the nations, an example of a path that helps humans connect to God and to one another as children of God. All humans are equal before God according to the Torah. We are given the obligation to live as a light unto others in striving to bring the world to a state of holiness through justice and mercy.
Torah teaches that all humans shall always be able to connect directly to God. Jews are obligated to remain exclusive to God, not vice versa.
Gentiles are shown being blessed, meriting atonement and blessing, right in our Jewish Bible. The Christian concept that one has to believe in a particular dogma or suffer eternal damnation is foreign to Judaism. Gentiles prayed at both First and Second Temples, too. Isaiah teaches that the righteous of all nations merit blessing. Torah teaches that all humans are of equal worth.
The replacement theologies of Christianity and Islam and their redefined notions of “chosen people” remain irrelevant to the eternal covenant of Israel. It only has relevance to us in how their beliefs about us, inspire them to TREAT us as history and answers reveal.
"The Master Race" = Hiter's Aryan ideology of a superior race of beings to rule and lord over humanity
"God's Chosen People" = Torah's notion of a covenant nation who took on a role of obligation to live ethically as an example to all nations and to better the world for all people in SERVICE TO others.
Difference..the first one imparts an attitude of superiority and expecting others to be subservient, Torah imparts an attitude of service to humanity. That’s it in a nutshell.
No where in any Jewish writing or in Jewish ethics is there any connection between the notion of a "chosen" people related to superiority or exclusive blessing or connection to God. The false notion of Jews as a race is a non-Jewish redefinition of our identity to negate the Jews as a distinct eternal covenant nation people with a purpose. Israel is repeatedly called the servant of God, in Tanakh and the prophets are servants of God to Israel.
e) No, but I am hoping to go someday. I have relatives who have lived there, who live there now, and I have friends there. I also discovered that I hope to be able to go within the next few years.
f) I usually vote Democrat but I think both parties are screwed. .
When it comes to Republicans and Democrats I've LONG been frustrated that both parties are simply the mouthpieces for a different set of multi-national corporate sponsors. I can't vote Republican and when I've voted Democratic it's been AGES since my vote was anything more than being cast as the lesser of two evils..
The US is the laughingstock of the "civilized" western world for our fear of socialized medicine. I have friends who moved OUT of the country to get good medical care. That is so screwed up. WE have the best technology and best capacity to deliver the best health care..but we DON"T. Many of us are worse off with healthcare than countries WE consider "third world". Why do we permit this?
For years I supported trying to get the Green Party as a viable third party..at a grass roots level..that was until 2000 when I finally had to admit that IT had been hijacked by left wing extremists who supported terrorism! Not simply people who were passively being duped by supporters..but actively supporting them! I was crushed...so heartbroken it made me feel physically ill to see that the word LIBERAL had been so hijacked.
I cannot support the Green Party anymore. I REMAIN active in environmentalism, human rights,child advocacy animal welfare and other causes near and dear to the original values of the Green Party. but now that they are so far from supporting equal accountability and true human rights and justice..I part company and speak out against the utter hypocrisy.
I still wish we had a viable alternative party for those of us who want to return to TRADITIONAL liberal values..before it was hijacked and before it became a dirty word.
The values of the people who brought us civil rights, child labor laws, the endangered species act, the clean air act, worked to rid us of DDT and to clean rivers so polluted they would catch on fire..
THAT is a party I want. A party that is concerned for the actual welfare and human rights of all people with equal accountability and who is concerned for future generations rather than the bottom line. Whose values aren't based solely on cost-benefit analysis and whether they'll look popular but are based upon the Constitution, Bill of Rights and upon the basic human rights under the Declaration of Human Rights. A decent person can't even get close to the top office anymore..they have to kiss too many corporate asses to get close to nomination.
Insurance companies control more of our lives than many people realize, ..between Big Oil and Big Insurance..the decisions they make and the other companies and investments they control determine if we live or die.
From the beginnings of the Green Party in the US in the mid 1980's until it became so totally hijacked by people who support the elimination of Israel and so much antisemitic rhetoric that I actually feared for my safety at meetings..when I LEFT..I will speak out against their support of attempts to eliminate Israel in doublespeak. Peace in the Middle East MUST come from equal accountability and equal rights and NOT attempts to destroy a democratic secular state legally created and whose attempts have been to exist in peace alongside her neighbors. That it's party platform openly promotes libelous charges against Israel to justify dismantling it..and makes NO mention of the larger number of Jewish refugees but wants to give lands to Palestinian refugees that didn't even have legal deeds to them..( when legal deeds from Jews expelled from 14 Arab coutries covers more than three times the entiere size of the land of Israel itself )..when their solutions to PEACE are clearly NOT peaceful..then I separate myself and now speak out against a party that I tried to help get off the ground in the US for more than a decade.UNTIL the Green Party actually RETURNS to the VALUES of justice and equal accountability for all humans then I will speak out against it. This is why the Green Party in the United States is full of more hypocrisy than either of the other two parties put together: