What are the chances that it was a Jew?

[Errata]

Hello Damaso. Intelligent post.

I wonder if the suggestion is not so much one of Jewish law but of early childhood training? I have had Jewish students were were self-described as atheists, and yet they could not write "God" in an essay but substituted "G-d."

Cheers.
LC

A lot of Jewish law is superstition and vice versa. If you write the name of god, or even just the word god, it cannot be destroyed. So since essays typically end up in the trash, the hyphen has become common usage. And like any religion, there are a lot of things we are told not to do, but we never really learn why not to do them. Writing the name of god is one, I only know because I did it and my rabbi put me through the whole thing with burying it in sanctified ground. The penalty for dropping the Torah is a forty day fast, so for love of god don't do it, but I don't know why.

I don't buy any scenario in which Jack was killing these women because he was Jewish. There is absolutely nothing in our teachings, laws, superstitions, etc. that could remotely support his actions. Another problem is that Judaism is not easy, and there aren't a lot of answers to be had. Unstable people need more than the litany of "maybes" that goes along with the faith. So unstable people tend not to be practicing Jews.

And of course since we have the rare distinction of being considered both a religion and a race, it is very easy for Jews to be atheists. I know any number of practicing Jews who are atheists. Any practicing Jew whether they believe in god or not is unlikely to be a serial killer. Not even because it goes against the faith, but because we are pretty comfortable with both black and white issues and grey areas. We are told what to do. Very black and white, no room for argument. But we are never told what we get out of it. Very grey.

And since Jews as a race tend to value academia and arts above anything else, we do have a certain amount of discipline drummed into us, and socially acceptable outlets for emotions available to us.

That being said, there are more Jewish serial killers than there should be. We represent far less than 1% of the population, but make up I think 8% of serial killers. And I can't find any practicing Jewish serial killers, but there have been two or three practicing Jews I think would have been serial killers if they hadn't gotten caught their first time out. So there is something about us that lends itself to serial killing. We still don't even remotely represent the majority of serial killers, but we are over represented. Jewish serial killers tend to be adopted, for what it's worth. They also have a tendency for dismemberment, but not always. Adoption is kind of rough in Jewish culture. It's certainly not frowned on or anything, but the religion really emphasis blood ties, which adopted kids don't have. It's isolating. As for the dismemberment thing, I have no idea. It's usually for disposal or eating, but I can't think of anything I've ever experienced in Judaism that would make me prefer dismemberment over just rolling up someone in a rug and tossing them off a bridge.

Jack might have been Jewish. But he wasn't killing because of his religion or ethnic background. I tend to think he wasn't, because this was clearly a guy who not just blended in, but didn't look suspicious. Jews at the time were viewed with at least mild suspicion. They were different, and weird, and kept to themselves. Like today, he couldn't be Amish because we notice Amish people immediately. And likely he couldn't be Muslim because many people are mildly suspicious of Muslims. If these murders happened in modern New York, every possible witness would have mentioned a Middle Easterner if one was on the scene. Its not so dissimilar to Jews in 1888. They were still different enough to stand out in people's minds. Now a third generation blond, green eyed Polish secular Jew might not stand out at all. But at that point, there's no point in him even being Jewish, because no one would have described him as a Jew.

[GUT]

G'day Errata

Jack might have been Jewish. But he wasn't killing because of his religion or ethnic background.

Now that I agree with.

[lynn cates]

training

Hello Errata. Thanks.

I agree. Merely offering why some could not see "JTR" as Jewish. They have a problem with Jewish custom and its attitude towards dead bodies. I think a Jewish person, due to training, would indeed avoid such a behaviour.

Cheers.
LC

[Dr. John Watson]

If I recall correctly, none of the witnesses who reported seeing a victim with a man around the time of her murder described the man as "jewish" or foreign looking, with the possible exception of the woman who heard a man say, "Will you?" to Chapman. Schwartz never said Stride's assailant was Jewish or foreign looking, merely that someone yelled "Lipski." The man seen with Eddowes looked like a sailor (but not a Jewish sailor), and the bloke seen with Tabram looked like a British soldier. Hutchinson's fancy dresser doesn't fit the bill, and how many Jews have a "carroty" mustache?

Descriptions aside, could a Jew have written the "From Hell" letter, or would he have pointed the finger at his own people by posting a chalk message claiming the "Jewes" won't be blamed for nothing?

There's no reason to believe the Ripper was anything more than a depraved native son who knew the East End like a glove, could entice women into darkened areas during the height of murders, and was smart enough and agile enough to slip past police cordons, evade capture and maintain his anonymity to this very day.

Dr. John

[GUT]

G'day Dr John

Descriptions aside, could a Jew have written the "From Hell" letter, or would he have pointed the finger at his own people by posting a chalk message claiming the "Jewes" won't be blamed for nothing?

But did the ripper write either of those.

[Damaso Marte]

and how many Jews have a "carroty" mustache?

Red hair is very common among eastern european jews.

Anyway, I take it that Isenschmidt must not have been Jewish, otherwise Lynn would be making very different sly comments in this thread.

[The Good Michael]

I don't buy any scenario in which Jack was killing these women because he was Jewish. There is absolutely nothing in our teachings, laws, superstitions, etc. that could remotely support his actions. Another problem is that Judaism is not easy, and there aren't a lot of answers to be had. Unstable people need more than the litany of "maybes" that goes along with the faith.

There is nothing in any religion that could support such things, yet such things happen in the name of religion, so this part of the argument holds no water.

Mike

[lynn cates]

conclusion

Hello John. Can we conclude anything from the fact that ONLY Mrs. Long described a foreign looking man?

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Swiss

Hello Damaso. Thanks.

Jacob had what some might consider a Jewish name. He might also be considered Jewish looking (whatever that means). Of course, he was Swiss and not Jewish.

Cheers.
LC

[Errata]

Red hair is very common among eastern european jews.

Anyway, I take it that Isenschmidt must not have been Jewish, otherwise Lynn would be making very different sly comments in this thread.

Red hair is not common amongst eastern European Jews. It's not common among any ethnic background. Even the British, who clearly have a monopoly on redheads only manage about 10%. It's a double recessive trait, so just generally rare. Libyan Jews tend to knock out the most redheads, its a dark vibrant red. German Jews are probably the most likely Europeans to produce redheads.

Now, I'm a redheaded Jew, but it's auburn, and I get it from my Catholic Scottish half. My great aunt was a redheaded Russian Jew, but my great aunt was viewed with suspicion and derision for her hair color, the assumption being that she was the product of infidelity. At least amongst those who were not members of the family. So I'm guessing if kids tease redheaded Jews by saying that they are the mailman's byblows, it's not considered a normal color variation. On the other hand, my great aunt was the only fair haired child out of six kids, so it's possible that her parentage is up for question.

2% of the population has red hair. .002% of the population is Jewish. Statistics are not on the side of carroty mustache guy being Jewish. But since it does occasionally happen, he could be one of those rare birds. But it would not be normal.

[Abby Normal]

Red hair is not common amongst eastern European Jews. It's not common among any ethnic background. Even the British, who clearly have a monopoly on redheads only manage about 10%. It's a double recessive trait, so just generally rare. Libyan Jews tend to knock out the most redheads, its a dark vibrant red. German Jews are probably the most likely Europeans to produce redheads.

Now, I'm a redheaded Jew, but it's auburn, and I get it from my Catholic Scottish half. My great aunt was a redheaded Russian Jew, but my great aunt was viewed with suspicion and derision for her hair color, the assumption being that she was the product of infidelity. At least amongst those who were not members of the family. So I'm guessing if kids tease redheaded Jews by saying that they are the mailman's byblows, it's not considered a normal color variation. On the other hand, my great aunt was the only fair haired child out of six kids, so it's possible that her parentage is up for question.

2% of the population has red hair. .002% of the population is Jewish. Statistics are not on the side of carroty mustache guy being Jewish. But since it does occasionally happen, he could be one of those rare birds. But it would not be normal.

I thought irish had the most red heads?

[DVV]

Irish Jews who drink too much George Killians should deserve to be redheaded. And one-armed.

[Errata]

I thought irish had the most red heads?

Technically it's the Scots, who pull in a whopping 13%. The Irish do 10%. Yay genetics term paper.