A Jewish bagel weighs about three times as much as a non-Jewish bagel, and is about three times as dense. It doesn't have the airy, bread-like consistency that a non-Jewish bagel has. As my Jewish friends like to say (paraphrasing), "If I can throw it at your head and risk knocking you out, then it's a Jewish bagel."

Jewish bagels have holes. Non-jewish bagels, the ones with yeast, often rise so much as to occlude any hole. They are more hamburger bun than bagel.