WHAT IS THE JEWISH PEOPLE?
“Klal Yisroel”, “Knesseth Yisroel” or whatever name we may call that entity which is commonly known as “the Jewish People” is according to the views of Judaism something that cannot be defined. (When we use the phrase “Jewish People”, we do so only for the sake of convenience and brevity in spite of the fact that, as we shall try to prove, this name is essentially inappropriate.) The very idea of definition automatically requires as a preliminary condition that the object to be defined form part of some distinct group or species. Every definition is necessarily divided into two parts: it identifies the group or species to which the object belongs, and only subsequently, indicates of the specific individual character by which the object is distinct within such a group or species. (When defining a “chair”, for example, we first have to say that it is a piece of “furniture” (i.e. it belongs to the group of “furniture” and then that it is used as a seat-meaning that it is thereby different
