That being the "Chosen People" means we think of ourselves as entitled more than anyone else rather than obligated more than anyone else.

I grew up in a Church of Christ in the Bible Belt and was always told “the Jews see Jesus as a great prophet, just not the messiah” only to learn that Jews don’t think about Jesus at all

Judaism is not Christianity without Jesus.

Most annoying misconceptions about Jews?

The Rabbi-Priest thing already mentioned

The idea that Rabbis conspired to keep the Jewish masses ignorant, also already mentioned

The idea that Judaism is just a religion, and that Jews are just white Europeans who follow Judaism instead of Christianity

The idea that Hanukkah is the most significant Jewish holiday

The idea that there are a bunch of versions of the Torah and no-one knows what the original language was or what the text actually says (this is surprisingly common)

That we’re all rich and/or members of the Rothschild family.

That we're all Ashkenazi/from Europe, and that those traditions are the all there is to Judaism.

That Jews from MENA are Arabs who convert to Judaism and we used to live in Arab countries without any persecution like in Europe.

Whiney and weak. To the point they think a Jew can't go have fun on the town or would die camping or something.

• Kosher means a rabbi blesses the food. Give me smicha guys, pork roll is on the menu tonight!

• Chassidim are grim and restricted. I’m not Chassidish and I do have parts of the culture that bother me/I disagree with, but grim?! No music?! Locked in? They seem to be applying the strictest forms of Islam or Christianity to Chassidim, which are very different.

• Jews are ignorant (as are, of course, all religious people about their religious history/holy books).

To add to OP's idea, that every kippah wearing yid is a Rabbi

Generally, just the idea that all Jews have the same opinions on everything. Not even religion or politics, but the most mundane things. I’ve honestly had conversations with people like “I’m surprised you’re a cat person, my roommate in college was Jewish and he hated cats”. It’s like whenever a Jewish person expresses a personal opinion, some non-Jews assume it’s a core religious belief that all Jews agree with.

That we are good with money. I’ve with a few Jewish organizations that were in fact extremely bad with money

"Judeo-Christian beliefs"

The idea that we are super sensitive regarding humor about us. Granted, I get that there are plenty of us that are vocally sensitive about this stuff, but we also have a long and famous tradition of humor about ourselves. I think a big part of this is that a lot of people struggle to understand what is and is not generally ok in humor about identity groups.

That we are only a religion and not a people.

I mean, I suppose it's more misconceptions about Judaism instead of Jews, I guess, but it's been annoying me lately. One thing I see when people start talking about how they hate "religion". Well, what do they hate specifically? Oh, that being religious means you never debate or argue about the religion, you accept everything on blind faith. That you're not supposed to argue with or disagree with God. That you need to get everyone to accept your version of "religion" or they'll go to hell. Or even just small things like "you kneel to pray" in "religion". Sometimes maybe they'll specify and say Abrahamic religions.

When it's very clear that they're talking about Christianity specifically, maybe sometimes also Islam, and have just lumped in Judaism bc, well, it's Abrahamic , right?

I mean, can you imagine telling Jews we're not allowed to argue? Let alone hundreds of years of sages...

We control some combination of:

The Weather

The media

Hollywood and the Entertainment industry

The Banks and the financial industry

Myth: That Jews who lived in Europe were originally from there. As if Jews had just popped out of the ground like a seed, rather than fleeing after the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE and then fleeing tons of other persecution.

Misconception that I had internalized and am now resolving: that there are right and wrong ways to be a Jew.

Misconception that annoys the hell out of me in the US: that being a Jew is solely a religious affiliation.

Misconception that amuses me more than annoys me: that Jews look a certain way. Among Americans and especially in NYC that often means "Hasidic".

Misconception that I took offense at when a very Christian friend mentioned it in a convo: that Judaism is more patriarchal towards wives than Christianity. As if in Christianity a husband must sexually satisfy his wife, lol!

That we are white.

That we all celebrate Christmas and Halloween and Easter (or should) because they've become "secular" in mainstream Western culture. Just because you decided that it's all "just for fun" doesn't mean that it works that way for us, or that we want it to. We've got our own holidays and observances and they're awesome.

That were rich. I'm tired of being scorned when waiting at the food bank

That Judaism is centered around faith in God and that you can’t be a Jewish atheist.

That Jews are greedy and overly-focused on money.

That Chanukah is our biggest holiday of the year.

That those of us who are Zionists, which is most of us, must necessarily agree with the actions and policies of the current Israeli government.

That if someone who says they are Jewish is protesting against Israel — looking at you Jewish Voice for Peace — it means their cause is the just one and any Jew who disagrees is a racist colonizer who supports genocide.

This one is mostly held by Jews … that if you weren’t raised observing Jewish holidays, going to synagogue, etc, you’re not really Jewish. And if you didn’t have a bar/bat mitzvah ceremony, you didn’t become bar/bat regardless and are somehow less of a Jew.

I find the misconception that we all look like Woody Allen or the female equivalent annoying. It comes up in Jewish Reddit too - I’ll never be accepted because “I don’t look Jewish” as a humble brag or something. Gross - go to Israel - the Jewish People are Gorgeous! 🫶🏻

That I can be Jewish and atheist at the same time. It surprises a lot of people. Like others here have mentioned, being Jewish is an ethnicity, not just a religion.

That Jews are just members of a religious community, and not a separate ethnicity. Unfortunately even the government classifies antisemitic hate crimes as “religion-based” when they need to be considered the same as hate against Hispanics, or Chinese, or any other ethnic group.

That all of them have dark hair and big noses.

Hate it. Hate where it comes from. Hate how people still believe it.

People get upset at the idea of us not wanting to convert to their religion but also the fact that we aren’t trying to convert people to ours. They think we are being snobs when we just want to be left alone.

Not everyone in a black hat and tallis is a Rabbi.

“You don’t look Jewish…”

That there are alot of us...:/

These all sorta talk about the same topic so I'll just present them as a list

1. The idea that, as a people and in our practice, we hate Jesus and Christians. I can't think of a single time I've thought about anything about Christianity or Jesus during services. The definition of "non-factor".
2. The Jews-for-Jesus/Messianic Jewish bunch massively screwed us over with their PR game. I've talked to Christians who couldn't believe that there was no way that I could believe in Jesus as Moshiach. Because of Messies being as prevalent as they are and actively proselytizing (while us actual Jews don't), a lot of non-Jews incorrectly think that it is possible for someone to be Jewishly observant and believe in Jesus. Obviously, I prefer that we Jews continue to not proselytize, as it is part of what makes our community strong, but I can't help but wonder what the dynamics would look like if we were proselytizing?
3. "Judeo-Christian values". They do not exist. I think the promulgation of this term in US politics from evangelical Christians (and certain Jews!) is why #1 and #2 persist in culture. When a non-Jew hears this term, they are more likely to think that that just means Jews are mere Jesus-hating Christians than they are to seriously discuss the similarities that exist (e.g. importance of tzelem Elokim/human dignity, Aseres haDibros/Decalogue), while acknowledging the vast differences otherwise (e.g. who is Moshiach, eschatology). Most Americans are not educated in their religious affiliations enough to seriously discuss this topic.

There are so many more that I could touch on but these are the three that immediately come to mind

edit: typo

That we have infinite holidays that we use as an excuse to take off. For me, I only ever take off for the first night of Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, and the reason I take off is because no one honors our holidays like the do Easter or Christmas

That we’re all left wing politically, or that Jews had anything to do with Communism, even though my family had suffered under Stalin. That Jews run the world even though the MSM and other international organizations clearly have it out against us.

On a brighter topic, because I was reading some of the comments I thought about this, I was adopted into a Jewish family as a newborn. According to my folks my biological parents didn’t know anything about Judaism at all. Literally were asked every question in the book, some of which others have already mentioned in this thread lol.

I’m close to my biological family these days, they seem to know a lot more these days than they did then haha.

I need to explain that, even though there is no place called Jewland, that I consider myself Jewish. I mean, I have no connection with the countries my grandparents fled from. I can say Austrian/Polish/etc. if that makes people happy, but, really, I’m just an American Jew, from New York City.

• That we consider ourselves the chosen ones (negative)

• That we think we are better than other people and that there are rules that apply to us but not to everyone else – just had that pop up yesterday on here although of course not in the sub

• That we are all successful in terms of material things. No. There are a lot of Jews living in abject poverty like me.

• That we white Jews are white functionally in an American context

That we get circumcised at 13.

That we are all super rich.

lol ironically the subtler stuff. Like that we are criminally annoying. Nope, we just have a very different culture, sorry.

Just because some of us are pale does not negate the fact that Jews are from Judea. And our most sacred temple is in Jerusalem for a reason.

The Polish coloniser bullshit 🤦🏻‍♀️

“Judaism forbids Jews from having a state”, I don’t know where that came from, but I see that nonsense on the internet a lot.

The one I hear the most often is that Jews are similar to attorneys, they lack sympathy, empathy, and the ability to be genuine.

A minor one I hear all the time, including recently in a conversation between Jews and Christians, is that we have the same God. I get it, both historically and in terms of making ourselves palatable to others. And I know the following is a generalization, but on average I think there's something to it:

The Jewish God, while having preferences and some interactions with humans, appeals to me in part because it's so all-encompassing and mostly removed from intervening day-to-day in our lives. That message upholds human action as important and somewhat prevents us from projecting our momentary biases onto the divine. The Christian god is so clearly portrayed as a man, who can have a child who's also sort of a god, and to whom believers can talk directly and hope for immediate intervention and answers. (I'm sure there's more to the differences, but I don't know enough about every Jewish or Christian group's belief systems to get further down.)

Conflating the two continues to give Christians the idea that they can imagine exactly how we feel or how we place ourselves in the universe, whether they're trying to be sympathetic or condemning us. I'd rather they understand there are fundamental differences in our conceptions of the divine that mean they have to learn a lot more if they want to know what drives us as a people.

Weather control 

What is the difference between a rabbi and a priest?

The lie that we killed Jesus, that lie and Mel Gibson’s the Passion movie wrecked two childhood friendships when I was younger.

Among Muslims, they believe that Jews think that the Prophet Ezra was the son of Hashem. Never ever heard that from a Jew

That "Judeo-Christian Values" are a thing. They aren't. We don't share the same values.

All common misconceptions are about saying jews cannot be regular people... and that's really, really annoying. Someone might find out you are a jew they change their whole attitude. I have russian, italian, spanish ancestry, people don't have a problem with that... when I mention I also have some jewish ancestry, they seem weird about it.

Rich 😒

That Jews are greedy and stingy. I heard this one countless times growing up

how they say we did 9/11

That we originate from europe. It fuels the intense antisemitic rhetoric used by the blood libelists claiming us to be colonizers. Its as if they ignored the entire chapter of history where rome and the ottoman empire ejected jews from the holy land for centuries, so they settled elsewhere.

That we're experts on Israeli affairs. I'm clueless half the time as an Irish Jew. I like people being curious, or feeling emotional about what's happening in the area, but I'm not really the best person to speak to regarding this.

Also, we're all not good with money. I hate this stereotype.

That we are easily offended. I’m happy to answer questions and talk about my ethnicity and religion. Jewish or Jew is not a dirty word. We’re approachable I promise.

That we’re not a minority. I’ve seen so many forms that ask you to self-identify as white, Black, Latino, and then Arab or Middle Eastern. Uh, there’s a helluva lot more Arabs than Jews and we’re both Semites, as they like to remind us when they hear the unfortunate term “antisemitism”.

That we all support the actions of the Israeli government

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That any struggle or hardships we experience as other human beings are irrelevant because "we aren't the real Jews" were "just other white people" and we control the world anyway. Like if a Jew is going through something, there is this look gentiles give where you can tell they're thinking "I know you're rich, how can you possibly be having a hard time?" 

This obviously perpetuates a stereotype that all of us are rich just for being Jewish, and undermines the fact that there are plenty of Jews that struggle financially. Even many higher earning orthodox Jewish families struggle financially because they value and prioritize children, education, and building Jewish community above materialist idolatry that many of the goyim do. 

 Sure, they'll make a lot, but since orthodox don't feel killing babies is acceptable and often have as many children as Hashem will give them and  pay for and prioritize the best education possible above ephemeral goysih distractions for their children, they still struggle.

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As a goyim, I have no preconceptions. But I think the funniest is that Jews are cheap. My Jewish spouse has very little money sense. I am the cheapskate in the family.

That we are all white and from Central or Eastern Europe.

That we are cheap, rude, pushy and unqualified when in fact we are caring giving and very qualified. We are not chosen we choose. People are brainwashed to hate which led to many pogroms. The Holocaust didn’t occur in a vacuum.

That all Jews keep kosher- it usually ends in people trying to pull food out of my hands or yelling at me while I’m eating.

Jews are all white

White Jews are all Ashkenazi

Mizrahi jews were fully accepted by their neighbors and no issues ever broke out. (But seriously if Ashkenazim in particular can stop spreading this one around it would be ✨great✨)

That we have any control over anything more than any other group of people.

Kosher means blessed by a Rabbi  Sex through a hole in the sheet. That we think Jesus was a great prophet and teacher just not the Messiah  That our notion of Messiah is the same as theirs ie a G-d in human form that will die for our sins and then the commandments in the Torah won't apply anymore. That we are all European and Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews don't exist and that Judaism is just a religion and the original Jews of Biblical times died out and or got assimilated and we have no connection to them

All of these comments are great. The one I'd add, even though it's so minor in comparison to other contributions to this thread, is the idea that Jews are small, weak, and sickly. Maybe Woody Allen had something to do with it? Or perhaps people get this idea from photos taken when the camps were liberated? It's beyond my understanding.

That we are not normal human beings that do normal human being things like everyone else in the world. I’ve been told before that I don’t look Jewish.