What does it mean to be Jewish in a time of rising antisemitism?

The state of California is poised to become the first in the nation to recognize being Jewish as an ethnic and racial, not just a religious, identity.

On Aug. 13, a key committee of its state Senate passed a bill that would add “Jewish” to its long list of recognized identities. This is an important step forward in a longstanding debate about whether that label denotes just a religion or is an ethnicity or race. As The New York Times observes , it is “a first step toward acknowledging and demystifying the multifaceted nature of Jewish identity.”

But it comes at a dangerous moment for American Jews, a moment of rising antisemitism and anti-Jewish hate crimes.

Critics contend that the bill “could well exacerbate antisemitism.” They draw lessons from history, noting how Nazis and others have denounced Jews for being members of an inferior race . Germany’s Adolf Hitler and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin treated Jews as an ethnic group and used that designation as justification for state-sponsored antisemitism.

That is why California, which has the second-largest Jewish population in the U.S. , needs not only to allow the state to recognize them as members of an ethnic or racial group but, as it does so, to redouble its efforts to combat antisemitism in the state and protect its Jewish population.

If the bill passes, the governor and legislature should be ready for it to be weaponized by hate groups. Although Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has already signed important legislation addressing antisemitism and the rise in hate crimes, new efforts should include increased funding for security at Jewish community centers, schools and houses of worship.

California should also adopt the recommendations contained in the 2023 National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, including tracking antisemitism online and developing robust information-sharing strategies to help stop violence against Jews before it happens.

And rest assured, the legislation’s impact will not be confined to the Golden State. Jewish leaders and government officials everywhere need to keep their eyes on what is happening in California and be ready to deal with the ripple effects.

Whatever its fate, the bill will not settle the longstanding debate about whether being Jewish is more than a religious designation. An article from the Federation of Jewish Ministries says , “The history of the Jewish people goes back to the early 2nd millennium BCE (over 4,000 years ago). They began as a family. However, as they grew, over the centuries, the Jewish population has experienced diaspora and dispersion, leading to various cultural and ethnic branches.”

Twenty years ago, biologist Alain F. Corcos entered the fray, arguing that because “they never avoided crossbreeding and converted many non-Jews … therefore there is no way to genetically characterize them as a race.”

Even courts in this country have been pulled into the debate about how to categorize Jews. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the case of a Jewish congregation in Maryland that sued the perpetrators who had allegedly painted their synagogue with anti-Semitic slogans. They contended that those acts violated federal civil rights laws passed in the wake of the Civil War prohibiting racial discrimination.

A federal magistrate judge in Louisiana put it this way in 2018: “Modern sociologists and anthropologists … debate whether Judaism is a people, a religion, or both. There is no doubt, however, that many people have and continue to view being Jewish as a racial identity.”

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center confirms that view. “When asked whether being Jewish is mainly a matter of religion, ancestry, culture, or some combination of those things … just one-in-ten [said] it is only a matter of religion.”

In the end, as President Biden wrote in 2023 , antisemitism “undermine[s] our efforts to build a culture of respect … and to our broader vision of a thriving, inclusive, and diverse democracy.” The bill now before the California legislature should be applauded for recognizing that the diversity Biden praises is not just about what happens between groups but also within them.

As California state Sen. Henry Stern (D), the bill’s chief sponsor, told The New York Times, to be a Jew in America requires “being really comfortable with tension … and understanding that we’re a people, we’re a nation, we’re an ethnicity, we are a religion, too.'” His bill reflects just that understanding.

Austin Sarat is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College.