The last time we discussed something about Elon Musk was on whether or not Elon Musk is the Antichrist. I have decided to bring up another discussion, and it’s on the topic: Is Elon Musk Jewish?
You’ve likely heard claims of Elon Musk being antisemitic and all of that, especially if you’re on X, formerly called Twitter. But why do people ask if Elon Musk is Jewish? Sounds paradoxical, or doesn’t it? Well, I would think that depends on whether or not he was antisemitic or mistaken to be.
But what does it mean to be antisemitic? Do we have to go there? “Yes, you brought it up instead of going straight to the point, so deal with it.” Okay, I’ve heard. So let’s get it done with already.
What Does It Mean To Be Antisemitic?
The term antisemitic is a construct of two words to describe a course. Anti means against and is used as a prefix to indicate that someone or something is not in support of the other. While Semitic refers to an ethnic group.
Semitic people, or the Semites, are a particular people who dwell in the part of the world known as the Middle East, with cultural and racial affiliations. They could be Akkadians, Arabs, or Jews and are said to be linguistically of the Afroasiatic language family.
However, the term Semitic can be used relatively to describe the Jews in particular. Therefore, the usage of the term antisemitic often has a lot to do with Jews or Jewish people. But what does it mean?
Simply put, antisemitic is to be against the Jews or those living in the Middle East. It is a term that connotes a display of hatred for Jewish people and can be shown in some ways, including hate speech, denial of the Holocaust, accusation of the Jews of killing the Christian God, blaming the Jews for the evil in the world, and so on.
So, we have two things on the table, being antisemitic and yet Jewish. Does that follow, especially for those asking if Elon Musk is Jewish or antisemitic? Hold on, let’s see what it means to be Jewish. How about that?
What It Means To Be Jewish
The word Jewish, describes a relationship between a person and the Jews. A person who is said to be Jewish is either a Jew by ethnicity, culture, or religion. That is to say that they identify as Jews in some ways, including being a descendant or converting to Judaism. Perhaps profession could be a thing.
Some time ago, I was privileged to watch and listen to a conversation between two Jewish scholars, an Ethiopian Jew and an American Jew. The conversation was thought-provoking, and it got to a point where the Ethiopian Jew brought up an issue from the other side that affected their own group. As it appeared, in response, the American Jew accused him of being antisemitic.
Anyways, the Ethiopian Jew pushed back, and that went on to show that one could be a Jew and yet be accused of being against the Jews, or a sect of Jews because they said something that didn’t fit well with the other. It doesn’t take away their Jewishness from them, for lack of a better word.
Is Elon Musk Jewish?
The quest to address the case of Elon Musk being Jewish and antisemitic has gotten us here if you followed. A particular scenario where Elon Musk was accused of being antisemitic was when he showed support for a publication on his X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The platform poses to be in support of free speech, and apparently, someone made a free speech tweet on the platform. It was deemed to be antisemitic by some others, and rather than have it taken off, Elon allowed it. Therefore, he endorsed it as the truth.
So, is Elon Musk Jewish? I would say, Yes, he is, but that would be a long jump. So let me trace back my steps and take it one at a time. Don’t worry; it won’t be long, and we will be done with this.
There have been speculations about Elon Musk being of Jewish descent in order to affirm him as a Jew or Jewish, but whether or not that followed, there is a solution to the problematic question. I call it problematic because come to think of it, what difference does it make whether or not Elon Musk is Jewish?
Well, let me not digress any further. Elon Musk has professed himself to be Jewish. He said he has relationships with Jews and supports them. More so, he describes himself as aspirationally Jewish while showing uncertainty over being genetically Jewish. What more is there to say?
Wait! Aspirationally Jewish? What is that? Being aspirational is endowed with the desire to achieve a particular status, and if that is relatively what Elon was referring to, it could mean that he desires to achieve a common status with the Jews and be identified as in support of Jewish people. Or what could it mean?
Well, this goes on to show that instead of being antisemitic, Mr. Elon Musk sees himself as Jewish and professes with his mouth that he is Jewish. I think this is a good place to take a long break. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments section.
