The multi-ethnic society and racial harmony — Judaism

What the specification asks for

Paper 1, Section 4, 4.3 (Judaism). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

The Torah commands love of the neighbour once and the protection of the stranger more than thirty times. The tradition evidently expected that being decent to people like you would need saying once, and that being decent to outsiders would need saying repeatedly. That frequency is an argument in itself.

What it means

The teaching rests on two moves. The single origin of humanity — everyone descends from one pair, so no group can claim superior ancestry — and the repeated command not to oppress the ger, the stranger, with the reason given as memory: you were strangers in Egypt.

B'nei Noach means the children of Noah: all humanity, descended from one family. Prejudice is judging somebody before knowing them on the basis of a group; discrimination is acting on it. The command to love your neighbour sits in the same chapter as the command about the stranger, which is not accidental.

Jews are themselves ethnically diverse — Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jewish communities are all Jewish — so the teaching is tested inside the community as well as outside it. That is worth stating, because it makes the internal case as examinable as the external one.

Chosenness has to be handled precisely. Jewish teaching treats it as additional obligation rather than higher status — more commandments, not more worth — and holds that the righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come. Describing it as a claim to superiority misdescribes the doctrine.

Why believers hold it

The reasoning combines a claim about origins with an argument from experience. The single-origin move removes the basis for hierarchy rather than condemning it: if everyone has the same ancestor, no lineage claim is available. The Egypt move supplies the motive, and it is directed at a people who had been on the receiving end.

That second move is unusual and worth pressing in an answer. Most anti-racist arguments appeal to the equality of the other; this one appeals to the memory of having been the other. The honest weakness is that historical suffering does not reliably produce solidarity, and memory attenuates across generations.

The objection that must be met is chosenness. Choosing one people looks like ranking, and the tradition's answer — additional obligation rather than additional worth, with salvation open to the righteous of all nations — is coherent but has to be argued rather than asserted. This is the question every serious evaluation of Judaism on this topic has to face.

The internal test is the more interesting one. A people containing Ethiopian, Yemenite and Polish Jews either lives the teaching or visibly fails to, and the honest criticism about the treatment of Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews within Jewish communities is made from inside. Reporting it is better than pretending it away.

Where it comes from

• The Torah — Genesis 1:27 (translated)

  God created humankind in his own image.

  B'tzelem Elohim — every human bears the divine image, which grounds the infinite value of a human life and the equality of all people.

  What it is doing here: Establishes the single origin and the shared image, which is what removes the ground for any claim about superior descent.

• The Torah — Leviticus 19:18 (translated)

  You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

  The command from which the surrounding chapter's social laws follow — fair wages, honest weights, care for the deaf and the blind, and the stranger.

  What it is doing here: Sets the command about the neighbour beside the commands about the stranger in the same chapter, which is where the deliberate joining happens.

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  What it is doing here: Supplies the chosenness that has to be handled — a covenant of obligation and blessing rather than of rank.

• The Tanakh — Nevi'im (Prophets) — Micah 6:8 (translated)

  To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

  The prophetic summary of what God requires: justice, mercy and humility, in place of sacrifice performed without them.

  What it is doing here: Gives the standard against which any community's treatment of outsiders is measured, including the community's treatment of its own minorities.

Where it bites

It shows in the very high Jewish participation in the American civil rights movement, including rabbis arrested and, in one case, killed; in Jewish anti-racist organisations working alongside other minority communities; in refugee support; and in the integration of Ethiopian Jewish communities into Israel, which is simultaneously an example of the principle and a case where its implementation has been criticised from within.

The internal example is the more useful one for an evaluation, because it lets a learner show the teaching being applied and being argued about at the same time — which is what a living tradition looks like rather than a slogan.

What people get wrong

People think: A multi-faith society and a multi-ethnic society are the same thing.

Actually: One is about religion and the other about ethnicity, and they are separate specification points examined with different arguments and different examples. The examiners record this confusion, and an answer about interfaith dialogue scores nothing on a question about racial harmony.

People think: Being the chosen people means Jews believe they are superior.

Actually: Jewish teaching treats chosenness as additional obligation rather than higher status — more commandments, not more worth — and holds that the righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come. Describing it as superiority misstates the doctrine and hands away the answer to the strongest objection in the unit.

People think: Judaism is the Old Testament part of Christianity.

Actually: Judaism is a living religion with its own scriptures and interpretive tradition. It matters here because the community described is itself ethnically diverse across four continents, which is a fact about a present people rather than about an ancient text.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Give the Egypt reason for protecting the stranger; the memory argument is the distinctive move.
• Use the frequency point — the stranger is commanded far more often than the neighbour.
• Handle chosenness as obligation rather than status, because it is the objection you have to meet.
• Name an example of racial harmony in Jewish practice, since the wording asks for one.
• Do not answer this point with interfaith material; ethnicity and faith are separate points.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

Judaism's teaching against racism rests on the single origin of humanity — all people descend from one pair, so no one has a better ancestor — and on the repeated command to protect the stranger, grounded in the memory of Egypt. Jews are themselves an ethnically diverse people: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jewish communities are all Jewish, which makes the internal case as important as the external one.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Ger (also gerim)

The stranger or resident alien, whose protection the Torah commands repeatedly.

B'nei Noach (also Noachides)

The children of Noah — all humanity, descended from one family after the flood.

Prejudice

Judging someone before knowing them, on the basis of a group.

Discrimination

Acting on prejudice — treating someone worse because of that group membership.

Mizrahi

Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin; one of the major Jewish ethnic groupings alongside Ashkenazi and Sephardi.

What Judaism teaches

• shared — All human beings descend from a single origin, so no group can claim superior ancestry.
• shared — The stranger must not be oppressed, and the reason given is that you were strangers in Egypt — the obligation is grounded in memory.
• shared — Love your neighbour as yourself is stated in the same chapter that commands love of the stranger, so the two are deliberately joined.
• shared — Jews are ethnically diverse — Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and Ethiopian communities — so the tradition's teaching is tested inside its own community as well as outside.

Why it teaches this

The reasoning combines a claim about origins with an argument from experience. The single-origin argument removes the basis for hierarchy; the Egypt argument supplies the motive, and it is directed at a people who had been on the receiving end. That second move is unusual: most anti-racist arguments appeal to the equality of the other, and this one appeals to the memory of having been the other.

Sources of authority

• The Torah — Leviticus 19:18 (translated)

  You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

  The command from which the surrounding chapter's social laws follow — fair wages, honest weights, care for the deaf and the blind, and the stranger.

  How to use it: Reading it with its own chapter turns it from a sentiment into legislation, which is a much better answer than quoting the verse alone.

  What it does not settle: Shared with Christianity, so it is not distinctively Jewish.

• The Torah — Genesis 1:27 (translated)

  God created humankind in his own image.

  B'tzelem Elohim — every human bears the divine image, which grounds the infinite value of a human life and the equality of all people.

  How to use it: Because the value comes from God, it belongs to a person whatever their condition — the same premise reaches life, disability, race and human rights.

  What it does not settle: It does not settle abortion. Jewish law can require abortion to save the mother's life, which follows from the same premise read alongside pikuach nefesh.

• The Torah — Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 17:1–14 (translated)

  I will make of you a great nation ... and you shall be a blessing.

  The covenant with Abraham — the promise of descendants and land, and the sign of circumcision (Brit Milah).

  How to use it: The covenant is the reason Jewish identity is a relationship rather than a set of opinions, and it is why Brit Milah is a covenantal act and not a custom.

  What it does not settle: The covenant's relation to the land is politically contested and the specification does not require that argument.

• The Tanakh — Nevi'im (Prophets) — Micah 6:8 (translated)

  To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

  The prophetic summary of what God requires: justice, mercy and humility, in place of sacrifice performed without them.

  How to use it: It answers the accusation that religion is ritual: the prophet himself says ritual without justice is worthless.

  What it does not settle: It states the standard, not the policy.

Different interpretations

• The command about the stranger read as concerning resident non-Jews in ancient Israel and read as a general principle about minorities; both are used and the second is standard in Jewish social-justice argument.
• Chosenness read as implying superiority — which Jewish teaching denies, treating it as additional obligation rather than higher status — and read as a responsibility; getting this right is essential to the unit.
• Jewish ethnic diversity read as a fact about the community and read as an argument: a people containing Ethiopian, Yemenite and Polish Jews cannot coherently rank by descent.

Differences within Judaism

All Jewish traditions condemn racism and affirm the single origin of humanity. Where honest criticism exists it is internal — about the treatment of Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews within Jewish communities — and reporting that is better than pretending it away.

The traditions broadly agree here. Saying so is a stronger answer than inventing a division.

Application to the issue

It shows in the very high Jewish participation in the American civil rights movement, including rabbis arrested and killed in it; in Jewish anti-racist organisations working alongside other minority communities; in refugee support; and in the integration of Ethiopian Jewish communities into Israel, which is both an example of the principle and a case where its implementation has been criticised from within.

Arguments supporting

• A people that remembers slavery has a durable reason to protect minorities. — The Torah's command about the stranger gives the memory as the reason. (judaism)
  Answered by: Historical suffering does not reliably produce solidarity, and memory attenuates over generations.
• The single-origin argument removes the ground for hierarchy rather than merely condemning it. — If everyone has the same ancestor, no lineage claim is available. (shared)
  Answered by: Racism has rarely depended on a genuine belief about ancestry, so removing the justification may not remove the attitude.

Arguments challenging

• The idea of a chosen people is itself a hierarchy. — Choosing one people implies ranking. (non-religious)
  Answered by: Jewish teaching treats chosenness as additional obligation — more commandments, not more worth — and holds that the righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come.
• Racial harmony needs law and education, not theology. — Equality legislation has achieved more than sermons. (non-religious)
  Answered by: True, and the Jewish claim concerns motivation and the reach into attitudes that law cannot touch, rather than exclusivity.

Secular / non-religious perspective

Humanists hold racism to be irrational and cruel, treating a morally irrelevant characteristic as decisive. They support equality law, integration and education, and would argue that shared humanity is a sufficient basis — while frequently noting that Jewish communities have been both major victims of racism and prominent participants in fighting it.

Examinable throughout Paper 1. Nothing here earns a mark on Paper 2.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether chosenness undermines the anti-racist teaching or is compatible with it. This is the question every serious evaluation of Judaism on this topic has to face.

Defensible conclusions

• The Egypt argument is the strongest anti-racist reasoning on this specification, because it grounds the obligation in the community's own experience rather than in an abstraction.
• Chosenness is genuinely awkward and the tradition's answer — additional obligation, not additional worth — is coherent but requires arguing rather than asserting.
• The internal test is the more interesting one: a people that is itself ethnically diverse either lives the teaching or visibly fails to, and honest answers acknowledge both.

Not defensible

• Confusing a multi-ethnic society with a multi-faith one; the examiners name this error and they are separate specification points.
• Describing chosenness as a claim to superiority, which Jewish teaching denies.

Exam use

• Identify · 3 marks — Three Jewish teachings that oppose racism, or three examples of racial harmony in Jewish practice.
• Outline · 4 marks — Two developed. 'Jews are commanded not to oppress the stranger (1) — and the reason the Torah gives is that they were strangers in Egypt themselves (1).'
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain how Jewish teaching promotes racial harmony: the single origin, love of the stranger, the memory of Egypt, and examples of Jewish anti-racist work.
• Evaluate · 12 marks — 'Religion is the best way to bring different races together.' The Egypt argument is strong, and chosenness is the objection that must be met.

Common mistakes

• Writing about interfaith relations when the question is about ethnicity.
• Presenting chosenness as superiority, which misdescribes the teaching.
• Naming no example, when the wording asks for examples of racial harmony in Jewish practice.

“A multi-faith society and a multi-ethnic society are the same thing.” — One is about religion, the other about ethnicity. They are two different specification points with two different sets of arguments, and the papers examine them separately.

Write instead: A multi-ethnic society contains people of different ethnic backgrounds (4.3, racial harmony, prejudice, discrimination). A multi-faith society contains people of different religions and none (4.4, proselytisation, exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism). They overlap in practice and prejudice can run along both lines at once — but the terminology the question uses tells you which one is being marked. (Named in the 2022 examiner report for Paper 1.)

“Judaism is the Old Testament part of Christianity.” — Judaism is a living religion with its own scriptures, its own two-thousand-year tradition of rabbinic interpretation, and its own account of what God requires. The Tanakh is not the Christian Old Testament in either arrangement or authority.

Write instead: The Tanakh has three divisions — Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim — and is read alongside the Talmud and rabbinic tradition. Jewish teaching about the afterlife, salvation and law is developed on its own terms. The scriptures overlap substantially, and the differences in ordering, canon and interpretation are real. Naming the Tanakh's structure is directly examinable at Paper 2 1.2.

Grade 9 insight

The Torah commands love of the neighbour once and protection of the stranger more than thirty times. A Level 4 answer draws the inference: the tradition evidently expected that loving people like you would need saying once and that treating outsiders decently would need saying repeatedly. That is a piece of realism about human nature embedded in the frequency of a commandment, and it is far more persuasive evidence than any single verse.

Carry on through Judaism

• Previous unit: 4.2 · Equal rights and equal opportunities
• Next unit: 4.4 · The multi-faith society and interfaith relationships
• The multi-ethnic society and racial harmony in the other religions: Buddhism · Christianity · Hinduism · Islam · Sikhism
• All of Judaism · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification