: What we call a "Jew" today is actually an
: abreviation of a family name, and Jewish is not a religion.
: The name Jew is from the tribe of Judah (one of Jacob's 12
: sons). The ten northern tribes rebelled and broke away.
: Judah and Benjamin remained together and this is the
: "family" that the jews come from.

From an earlier post about Judaic origins, Messianic prophecies, and apocalyptic literature:

The Jews

The term “Jew” has never referred exclusively to those Israelitish people who are linear descendants of the biblical King, David. David M. Scholer reports that the term refers to “the ethnic-racial descendants of Abraham and adherents of the religion centered on the Mosaic Law...and was particularly common beginning in the postexilic period (Mercer, 452).” Scholer goes on to note that the term can be found in the Old Testament books of 2 Kings, Zechariah, Jeremiah, and Ezra. He cites usage of the term by Josephus and Philo. Noted also is the use of the term in the Gospels, Pauline, and Johanine literature of the New Testament.

Mills, Watson E. General Ed. Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon: Mercer University Press, 1992.

vM