Sages and mystics explore the primordial "mind" of G-d to ask: Is it the Torah that makes the Jew a Jew, or is it the Jew who makes the Torah a Torah?
71 Comments Posted
"This means that G-d's relationship with Israel "pre-dates" (in the conceptual sense) the Torah, for the Torah comes to serve that relationship."
Yet the Torah defines who is part of Israel!
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Thank you for the beautiful and insightful teaching.
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If this is so, why then Jewishness justified through maternal lineage, when the nation of Israel composed of the inheritance of the twelve sons, not of Dinah's descendants.
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What is it that transpires when a non-Jew becomes a Jew that makes the commandments a commitment? What does it mean for a non-Jew to have a Jewish heart? Is it just the recognition within the community that someone has converted? How does someone "become" Jewish?
By the way, great article. :)
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My most valuable possesion, my Bible, sitting open to Psalms on an outdoor table while I am relaxing in the morning, and a homeless man is slowly walking by, he says "I'm thirsty, I'm going to get a beer", then as he is staring at the open Bible, he says " I'd like to have a Bible". This is a man who scoffed, while drunk, when I was reading Psalms one rainy night, who would not accept a Bible from me when I offered it to him. Now I see the result of praying for this person. I thought briefly about what I was about to do. Can I give up this treasure? How can I possibly.... ? It didn't take much thought, what the man is really thirsting for is right here, and that was a request as far as I was concerned to give drink to the thirsty, so I followed him, found him sitting a block away, sat down beside him and handed the book to him. I said, you said you would like to have a Bible? Here, enjoy it, it is life for you. When he looked up to thank me the greatest reward was in that smile.
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There are two views on this.
According to one view, the "non-Jew" actually is a Jew. He has a Jewish soul that somehow got "lost" in a non-Jew's body. His Jewish soul calls out and sometimes finds its way "home" to us. And if he insists on "converting" even though he is discouraged, he is permitted to be immersed in the mikveh with a bet din as witnesses, to formalize his Jewishness.
However, others think that a true non-Jew who desires to convert and who learns and then goes into the mikveh will, at that moment, receive a Jewish soul. There are plenty of Jewish souls in heaven, and one of them will join him. I have heard people who have undergone orthodox conversion {or even other Jewish conversions) say that they felt this happen.
Either way, once a person has been in the mikveh, s/he has a Jewish soul.
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Isn't the deeper idea of 'who is a Jew' and 'what is a Jew' the story that Gd asked each nation to accept the Divine Laws but no one wanted to follow this way of life until he came across the rag tag slaves of Mitzraim-the descendants of Yaakov. These people CHOSE Gd's Divine Laws (I hear and I will do). Therefore, it is a misnomer that we are "The Chosen People"-because ALL PEOPLE ARE CHOSEN. The Jews are, in reality, THE CHOOSING PEOPLE. And, because we are called "Yehudim" , we are the people who give THANKS to Gd (the root of yehuda is lehodot- to give thanks- the only tribe that was not "lost" by the way). Therefore, a "Jewish" Soul is one who has turned towards the One Gd that is all and everything, expresses his/her life in GRATITUDE for Gd's omnipotence and chooses Gd's Divine Laws to live by. Gd continually asks all people to turn towards Him and abide by His laws. Therefore, this is a potentially all-inclusive state of being, depending on ones own self-determination. If all "gentiles" and "jews" knew this, then anti-"semitism" might not exist.
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We're all worms, admit it!
Soon all of humanity will rejoice together; all of us, being one of G-d's special creations, will experience consumate joy and prosperity.
Jew this, non-Jew that, Moshiach will sort it all out. The universe is destined to be composed as a perfect symphony by our Moshiach. What a great conductor this One will be.
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Recent genetic studies have shown that Jews all over the world share a common hereditary pattern, Especially the Cohens and Levites (Cohen Modal Haplotype ). Also the fact that one must have a Jewish mother to be considered so (Halakha) is a sure indicator (given the millenia old tendency not to intermarry with non-Jews . i.e. Jewish males can marry and Jewish women cannot) of Jews as people or what the Germans call a "Volk ".
"we are all one people " ---Theodor Herzl
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that is one of the best articles i have read all week. please keep up the good work. it made me feel good what you wrote mam. thank you very.
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that was an article i was truly looking for,
thank you
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Israel was part of G-d’s creation of the world. It is there that he decided to lay his laws by ways of the Torah for the people who would follow his commandments and thus become the “Jews”, who became his chosen ones for doing so. That is a Jew.
To be a Jew is to never forget it and thus follow our ancestors’ thousand years old Jewish traditions.
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First of all, I bet you a dollar that Chabad will NOT publish this comment.
Are we, the Jews, unique as a people?
All human groups that have ever existed had their own gods, saints, idols, etc., i.e. a belief system.
Each one of these groups were convinced that they were chosen by their own god(s) to occupy their lands, to sing their songs, to speak their language. Further, their god(s) inspired them to do their works of art and, if they had a writing system, also gave them their own sacred books.
With all my sorrow to disappoint you, the Jews are no different from any other human group in terms of considering themselves unique. But that is NOT enough to make us unique or "chosen".
In other words, Jews are no different from other cultures in considering themselves unique and chosen by the god they believe in.
But there are many Jews are atheists and do not believe in anything.
We Jews have a common CULTURE.
IT IS CULTURE, and NOT RELIGION is WHAT MAKES US JEWS !!!
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The statement that "we have a common culture" needs to be examined. I see very little common culture within the great diversity of Jews from North Africa to Poland to India to Omaha.
The comparison to other people's beliefs and religions is also very questionable. The history of the Jewish People is unique in many aspects. Yes, there are saints and heros, but G-d spoke to all of us and His covenant is with each of us individually, as well as within a community. That is both unique and radically different.
What you could say is that we are a people due to our common history--and belief in that history is our religion.
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In any human group, its belief system is just a part of its culture. It is NOT the other way round.
This of course also applies to us Jews. Those Jews who follow the Jewish religion are performing a cultural act.
Culture is all what we learn and know, that is not genetically acquired.
All the cultures that exist and have existed have universal things in common. A belief system is just one of these.
This applies to the Navajos, the Hitites, the Romans, the Chechnians, etc., as well as to the Jews.
It is our common Jewish culture and history that makes us Jewish, wherever we may have been born in the world.
Rabbi Freeman says G-d spoke to us and gave each one of us a covenant. Zeus also spoke to the Romans. Many Hindu tribes have the same claims.
No people is free from believing itself unique, which make us Jews still more alike other peoples, and in turn, LESS UNIQUE!!!
Put in other words, we are NOT the world champions of looking at our own navels.
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I don’t know if we are born with a Jewish soul, but what I know is that it develops time after time from generation to generation and to have a Jewish heart is to follow what the Torah instruct you to do since it is all based on rational and compassionate values. There is no difference between Culture and Religion. Religion dictates how to live one’s life thus becoming their Culture. Therefore Culture is Religion.
There are three religions in Israel and each one has a different G-d. Each one believe that they are unique and chosen by their Gods, as we are by ours. G-d has lay down his laws to all mankind inviting all of them to follow him, he did not differentiate among people. They were free to choose or change their minds. Who ever followed became the chosen ones.
As for other cultures/religions, most of them have disappeared, but we still are here, which makes us unique.
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What you said in the beginning of your comment- I agree. Being Jewish has its source deep in the soul. The part I disagree with is the 'culture is Judaism' part. Lox and bagels are not Judaism. Fancy Bar Mitzvahs that vie for vain extravagance- this is not Judaism. The minhag (custom) of ashkenzim are not the minhag of sephardim. If a convert (or secular Jew) knows nothing of 'Jewish' culture having not been brought up with Jewish tradition, are they any 'less' Jewish? If a Jew is not 'observant'- are they 'less' Jewish than an 'observant' Jew? If a Jew is orthodox and 'observant' but lives as a thief off a 'Ponzi' scheme- he is, Gd forbid, still Jewish. His outward culture does not translate as Jewish religion. Etc.
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... because the two served together are part of the Jewish kitchen.
On the other hand, lox alone is not traditionally Jewish as it is proudly served as part of the Scandinavian smorgasbord.
Showing off at a Bar- or Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, when buying a new car, etc., is also a Jewish trait, however it is not particularly Jewish as it is common to many peoples (just remember aboriginal "potlach" ceremonies).
Ponzi, the inventor of the pyramidal scheme, by the way, was Italian, as many famous mathematicians.
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For G-d to project himself via the Torah? Does this come about by praying according to the Torah? Or does that mean if we do what G-d says than he has to do what he said he would do?
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I`m a secular raised jew and as jewish and religious as anyone can be. But still I havent been able to find a community that accepts me because I dont have the paperworks. So whatever the jewish commitment it is the jewish communities that decides who they let into their folds. Its a pity that there arent more sensible rules about whos a jew and whos not.
Though I haf to live my life, anyway.alone......
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Jewish communities are astoundingly eclectic. Chabad's reason for existence is to be a home for ALL Jews.
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I love chabad, it is the only community that welcome jews from all over. But Im talking about the orthodox communities of, in my case Sweden and Denmark.
My wife is jewish too, and she have the paperworks and even she have had problems with the Swedish orthodox community as she was born into the free synagog of New York.
Believe me, that not all jews lives by the code.
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In those communities you have to be observant and trying to educate yourself about being Jewish. Better to start with Chabad. That's why being Jewish isn't about ethnicity, bagels or genetics.
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You know Yehudit, I´m fifty years old and I started out with ChaBaD in the late eighties when I first layed teffilin with some lubawitcher on the streets of Zafed. I soon came to know the Tanya, which I still study. I have worked as a writer,artist, musician,producer, I have children and grandchildren. I really can´t complain about life. But after all these years what hurts the most, and still hurts is to spend the shabbats without a community. Shabbat is like turning the skin insideout. Shabbat is what jewishness is all about. And believe me, If I could spend the second half of my life in a chabad community and devote all my time to torah. In the meantime I pray to G-d, He the only one.
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Jewish religion, like ANY religion, is UNIQUE only to its believers.
The belief in a COVENANT, or in the SACRED character of certain BOOKS, is part of a dogma to which you can adhere or not. That does not make you a Jew. You are a Jew if you share the culture or the common ancestry, without the need of believing in supernatural things or beings.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman says, "What you could say is that we are a people due to our common history--and belief in that history is our religion".
I object the phrase "believing in history" because history is not a matter of belief. Religion does not result from believing in history. It rather results from trying to explain phenomena, and lacking the capacity.
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and a community of like-minded Jews. However, I never heard of anyone needing 'papers' or needing to prove they are Jewish (except to the Israeli govt if one is immigrating). Many people have this situation of feeling isolated from other Jews, so you are not alone there. So one must prioritize/reorganize in order to live near the synagogue/community of our choosing. They meet the rabbi and the people there, decide if this is what they are looking for and relocate.
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I was in La this summer, as I can see is where you come from. There where many jewish communities around van nuys and ventura blwd, I suppose you live somewhere there.Here in Sweden jews are a very small minority theres about three synagogs spread out in the whole of sweden and even in them theres only a few of the elders attending shabbat service. Though being a orthodox community, the jews of Sweden are indeed secular, i e kocher is still not permitted in sweden, and so was forced babtizising of jews far into the sixties. Well being born into this society one is quite used to it. The headline for this chapter was "what makes a jew -Jewish" and I think that I have in some way given a hint of the problems in secular sweden. Here you have to carry the shul around and with you all the time. You never know what lurks behind the corner.My firm belief is that we jews are all alike concerning "the jewish soul" what makes us different are the way we live .
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Sigmund Freud, a remarkable Jew, wrote a very interesting book with the above title, about, 1) the very likely Egyptian origin of Moses, 2) the chain of events that led to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, and 3) the very likely origin of Jewish religion as a derivative from dissenting pharaoh Akhenaton who favored monotheism instead of the Egyptian polytheism.
I strongly recommend you to read it, you will be surprised at his findings.
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Your problem is geographical and not the Jewish community. I went online to check Jewish organizations in your apparently small town. Not many. Unfortunately this is what Orthodox groups are, they have very strict rules and we have to respect that. If an American is rejected by Yale or Harvard or other elite schools, does that make him less of an American. I had an Orthodox cousin rabbi, we respected each other ways of life.
No Jewish group should reject anyone willing to join them. “The Nazis would not have.”
It is rather how you feel about yourself that really makes you a Jew, deep down in your heart. G-d and the Torah do not differentiate among various Jewish groups nor do they if you transgress some of the rules, as G-d knows how weak the human race is. As long as you are trying your best to follow his commandments, he doesn’t measure or weigh your efforts, he acknowledges.
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Some friends I´ve got over there, Yehudit and Feigele. I do agree that part of the problem is geographical. Due to my turning to G-d some thirty years ago, I have never really been alone. I don´t like to pity myself, I´m more like the shoemaker who inscribed every shoe he made with the precious words of a prayer, and I´m quite satisfied with that. But there are moments in life when you feel trapped in the prayershawl and wished for a life of flesh and blood. This is the very meaning of shabbos. Jews coming together for a real tish. I love you two, You have made this week a joyous one.
Yehudit and Feigele. Sometimes the yearning of the heart becomes too strong and you have to communicate with someone. Sometimes prayers is not enough. The striving to belong to a community is a real one, fundamental to humankind and also for jews. Though we have figured that out in some way by the very same that makes us jewish. The strife of the spirit is´t a journey you do on your own.
G-d bless you
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You went to LA and discovered so many Jewish communities there. This is America. Unfortunately you can’t find same opportunities in Europe and have to live the best you can. I was born and raised in Paris, France, so I understand how you feel.
Jewish culture is derived from History, thus it is our Religion since we abide by it for thousand years. Bagels are neither a religion nor in the Torah but was created by Jewish people. It has been proven that some people were/are or not Jewish by checking their DNA, so that’s genetics. Any group with traditions/customs is ethnical.
Being Jewish is following our ancestor’s traditions according to the Torah, which was given by G-d to the people of Israel, therefore becoming the “Jews.”
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Why we have survived for so many years is that by being persecuted for thousand years, we have spread out through the world thus ensuring our survival as oppose to other civilizations that stay together and later were destroyed, none of them were found in other countries. Maybe it was G-d’s plan! Again, if we all live in Israel, then our people will disappear as well. I went to Israel and loved it, I have family there too. It was home, but I am still convinced that we have to be apart in order to survive as painful as it can be.
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We have just begun a new torah cycle, year after year we study the same torah, we uncover layer by layer, depth by depth, we ascend to the top only to find ourself at the very beginning. There is this story about the man who had doubts about himself and said on the yom kippur eve that I have failed last years goals to study the torah, he cried. And so came his child to his rescue and said - papa don´t worry, this year it will be true. He immediately begun study again. What is it in this ongoing circle of life and torah that makes us cling to G-d , He the only one. What is it that makes the jew - jewish.
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Jews often define themselves through the way other people view them or treat them. I would not consider a person who is not profoundly, existentially, distressed by a description of the holocaust, a Jew, even if both his parents were born Jewish.. In a book written by a French Jewish historian, Jules Isac I believe, I read this interesting and more universal definition of the word 'Jew' : "One who follows the law of G-d, is a Jew!" In every country, among all people, and religions there are good and bad people. The so-called Jewish people are no exception. Wherever there is Wisdom, Goodness, Righteousness, Compassion, Love, Justice, there, only, G-d’s law is being followed. For me, the heroic Christian who did not hesitate to put his life at risk to save Jews, is a real Jew. That is jewish religion in action, not in word or otherwise.
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Oh, how I wish that all Rabbis that ones told me that I was not "Jewish enough" could read this article now.
This article really made my day. At last to know for "sure" that I was "right" all along by answering to them that if I was Jewish enough in Russia to be hated as a Jew, I must be a plenty of Jew here ( in US) as well.
In my soul , I always knew that to be "truth" in and now reading this here ...makes it sooo much special. Thank You!
Also, I think that this article must be printed , framed and displayed in every Shoul, in every Jewish school and other place for Jewish gathering be remind us over and over again that we shall never look down on another Jew regardless who they are and where they are coming from.
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You want to be a member? Your mother had to be one, or you can apply through a tedious and time consuming application process that may or may not work.
You want to quit? If your mother was a member you cannot. And if you applied through a tedious process, ytou most probably will not.
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It pains me so much to see how some Jewish people suffer at the hands of other Jewish fellows who think they are superior and can judge anyone not “Jewish enough!”
Who is to say who is what? A lifetime is not enough to know it all and be able to judge anyone. To be knowledgeable about the Bible or having more money doesn’t give anyone the right to be so condescending.
It is not a “club”, G-d is everywhere and for all human beings, Jewish or not. Being Jewish is a choice that was inherited from our ancestors and will continue for generations to come, it’s up to you to feel more or less Jewish and not for others to judge you.
Am I not Jewish enough when my whole family died in holocaust for just “Being Jewish”, doesn’t that make me enough Jewish? The Germans were more knowledgeable as who were and who were not Jewish – they didn’t differentiate who had a higher degree in being more or less Jewish. So what gives you the authority to judge your fellow Jews?
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With Israel on a spiritual level, and also not on a physical level. The reason is that I see it as worshipping a natural phenomenon. An idol. Israel is not an idol to me. Wherever I live, this is where G-d is and where G-d lives. I am Jewish in America, in China, in Spain. I am Jewish anywhere in the world. Israel is not ME and I am not Israel. To me, saying I am a country and a country is me is an insult, actually. The IDEA of Israel can't even be adequately materialized until Moshiach comes.Until then, we have only imperfect humans leading the country imperfectly with imperfect people surrounding the country trying to make their points imperfectly. To me, G-d is PERFECT. Thus, these three can not be equated.
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in the world! it is our roots, where our ancestors came from It’s a place to live and not to be idolized, which would be against G-d’s laws. Jews don’t idolize material things and Israel is a physical place. We yearn to live there because of our ancestors but mainly also because no other countries want us, so it would be ideal for us to be there, if only we could live there in peace forever. Like any other country, we have our history and it belongs to Israel and to us, and it’s a rich and beautiful story. Meanwhile, we feel Jewish where ever we live. As for politics today, it has nothing to do with loving and yearning for Israel. They have survived several wars and suffer so much for generations to keep this Jewish State for you and all Jews in the world. I think they deserve some respect and gratitude no matter how good/bad the results.
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Sorry Feigele, to me it's like a large old club. It has branches all over the world. Its main branch was established for the 3rd time in 1948.
It even has an official religion and places for worship, to which you may adhere or not.
The religion thing is a sideline, you may adhere or not;you can even be an atheist. That does not make you more or less of a member.
But if you adhere, be prepared to believe in matters that overtly contradict science and the scientific method.
It has members who do not get along with other members.
It even has members who dare say you are not enough a member.
And what I am most grateful about is, in most cases other members welcome you warmly, anywhere in the world.
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then each country is a club. You are a member of each country living in America, France, China, Japan, a member of your family, schools, even animals have clubs, they walk in packs, or, or or, etc. We are all members of this world. True some members of any institution are not friendly and bring their own tsures to the club and by being condescending on others make them feel good about themselves, for some reasons. If your mind and soul and heart are open, you can also be a member of both science and religion, which compliment each other. We, as humans, need to know that there is something more powerful that guide our steps in this life, that we are not alone. We all belong to the same club, which is life, which started with one, then two, then more and more and more.
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You are very right, Feiguele, as a human being you Need To Know "that there is something more powerful that guide our steps in this life, that we are not alone". That does not mean that such something does necessarily exist. It reveals your religiousness derives from your own Wishful Thinking.
Science is constructed by knowledge and experiment. Religion is constructed by the need to know and wishful thinking. No wonder science contradicts religion so often.
They do not complement each other, just read about Galileo. Or ask any Chabad rabbi if Darwin was right.
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I started this conversation and now I feel that I must provide info on "why" it was said to me so. Here it is.
In one case : The director of Jewish School in the US told that in my face while defending their behavior. What happened?
Night before we went to the movie. Then children got hungry and I bought them a cheese pizza ( with no meat ) and they ate it. Next day, on Monday the teacher of my son asked children what they did over the weekend. My son, being an honest boy told the truth. The hell broke loose. Children started to make jokes that Pizza was not Kosher enough and that he was not a Jew. Teacher also shamed my 9 years old son. When I came to picked him up, he was in tears and told me what happened. I talked with a Rabbie and you know the rest.
Just to be clear : My both parents are Jewish. And my pain comes from the fact that I learned hard way how to love and respect that part of me and my roots.
Never I imagined that "picking" on my Jewishness will come from a Jew.
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Dear Russian Jew,
Nobody is entitled to tell you how much of a Jew you are.
Jewishness is an unmeasurable magnitude.
You are a Jew because you have common ancestors and a common history with the rest of the Jews. Period.
Following the Jewish religion or eating according to old dietary restrictions or choosing how you travel depending on the day of the week, etc etc, all of that does NOT make you more Jewish.
Your boy was in tears because you granted authority to someone who does not deserve it.
Jump out of the restrictions, liberate your mind from so many uneventful constraints, enjoy being who you are and damn those who censor your (or your child's) mind.
That will make you MORE Jewish, rather than the contrary!!!
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Your soul, spirit, mind and conscience, your ability to speak and walk on two legs unlike animals, also comes from evolution or the big bang at the burst of the atom, nuclei, proton, etc. What about your destiny, in your lifetime, were you always in control of events, hopes, and directions in your life? I am logical and rational, I am aware of scientists, physicists, researchers and philosopher’s theories and discoveries and what they all predicted for centuries. Stephen Hawking just said recently that there is no G-d. I’m sure his suffering is part of it not only his physics knowledge. Should we then discard this minute all our beliefs about G-d? Religion and History (Jewish History) is also knowledge and experiences that, like scientists, our ancestors discovered. No one is trying to convince anyone about anything. Maybe science prevails but not to the happiness of mankind. Not a wishful thinking, but respect and devotion to our past generation after generation for years.
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Your soul, spirit, mind and conscience, your ability to speak and walk on two legs unlike animals, also comes from evolution or the big bang at the burst of the atom, nuclei, proton, etc. What about your destiny, in your lifetime, were you always in control of events, hopes, and directions in your life? I am logical and rational, I am aware of scientists, physicists, researchers and philosopher’s theories and discoveries and what they all predicted for centuries. Stephen Hawking just said recently that there is no G-d. I’m sure his suffering is part of it not only his physics knowledge. Should we then discard this minute all our beliefs about G-d? Religion and History (Jewish History) is also knowledge and experiences that, like scientists, our ancestors discovered. No one is trying to convince anyone about anything. Maybe science prevails but not to the happiness of mankind. to be continued
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Not a wishful thinking, but respect and devotion to our past generations for thousand years. It would be pretentious and arrogant to suddenly dismiss our ancestors' customs, beliefs and life experiences, which have served us for better life for ourselves.
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A friend of mine is part-Maghrebi Jewish descent and follows Torah, but is connected to Christian inlaws. Is my friend still considered Part-Jewish? Her part-Jewishness is sometimes questioned by Jews of Ashkenaz origin. What I'm saying may sound foolish, but the location of certain Jews as well as Jewish rite and skin complexion have been somewhat contraversial issues.....maybe someone can clarify this for me. Thank You.
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There are hundreds of thousands of Jews from North Africa, and they are universally accepted as Jewish by Jews from other parts of the world. If your friend can trace her Jewish lineage through a direct line of females then she is 100% Jewish.
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Israel was a person and a tribe. It referred to human beings. This must be so because if the land were destroyed totally, we would still be Jews and metaphorically Israelites. It is within our souls to be called "Israel" as a nation, no matter where we live. No? Also, if Israel was the main intention of Go-d for His people, then why did He create the Garden of Eden NOT in the land of Israel? Why didn't He create the land of Israel before the Garden of Eden? So, I believe that your "knots" idea does not deal with the land, but the people.
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As for skin complexion!!! Ha ha ha! Both my parents were Ashkenazies. As a child I had a very light complexion although my hair was not very light and a small nose I guess! their friends would always say that I didn’t look Jewish, why? It did affect me for years thinking that I was different and didn’t belong with Jew people although I went to Hebrew schools and my parents followed the Torah. Of course, later on, I realized how foolish this was and ignored it completely.
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What if my friend doesn't have actual paperwork to prove her Jewishness? Only the fact that she was taught Torah?
She's also half Black!!! But Matrilineally, her Jewish ancestors left the Maghreb, went to Scotland, then went to Ireland, then to the United States. That's all she knows.
Even though she is surrounded by Christian in-laws, she still studies Torah and keeps the Holidays, and fights against Anti-Semitism. She often says she relates to the life of Felix Mendelssohn.
Does all of this affect her Jewishness? Let me know. Thank You.
By the way, my friend has attended Chabad service, and absolutely enjoyed it. She didn't feel completely left out; then again, it was Purim.
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Give it a rest! If she says she had Jewish ancestors and above all if she practices the Jewish religion, which is more valuable than any paperwork, and where did it come from, she had to learn it from somewhere, that should be sufficient as a proof. Many people don’t have any paperwork showing that they are Jewish. Rabbis are teachers who study the bible in order to inform all Jews to insure continuation of our religion.
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Fellow bloggers of this website, forget not the question that attracted us here.
It is not nationality, because we Jews are of many nationalities.
It is not our race or skin color, because we Jews are of many different ones
It is not what you eat, because we Jews follow a variety of diets, with or without food type restrictions
It is not religion, because we Jews have different degrees of adherence to that of our ancestors.
It is our mother's ancestors, because under the currently and widely accepted truths, the transmission of Jewishness is matrilineal.
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Will come from DAVID's line (patrilineal). The matrilineal is a human decision, not G-d's.
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A person being Jewish? So, she had a mixed marriage. This does not make her a non-Jew.
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If you love bagels, lox and cream cheese and know what is kishka. Hahahaha.
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Why is there such an issue for a Jew to be a Jew through mother and / or father, especially when Torah lists those who are Jewish either patrilineally or matrilineally.....It's all Just sad.
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Have no basis other than man made rules. Many become very sad, as you say. Then, people try to justify the rules and it turns out being not logical, to say the least. For those who follow the tradition of believing you are a Jew based on genetics, particularly the mom, it does cause people some heartache in some instances. But, it is tradition. On another article site here in Chabad.Org, it said that we began in the Bible with the fathers begetting the sons who begat the sons, etc. PEOPLE changed the rule, and I don't see, in the Scriptures, where it changed to the mother. It must be written in the other books somewhere (Tanya, Mishna, etc). One of the justifications of this traditional belief is that we always know who is the mother, but we can't always know who is the father. My idea is that there were so many rapes occurring that the father idea became impossible. Another justification is "land ownership" goes through the father to son, but being Jewish is the mom's realm.So?
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article to which I was referring in my post above. My question is did this change from patrilinear to matrilineal occur when Mary gave birth to the baby called J-sus. The Xtian religion tries to tie Mary to King David. It is a coincidence that the change occurred about the same time?
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I am not sure if Maggidim (preachers/prophets) are still popular in the Jewish community.....After all, they're one of the few Jewish groups believing in Heaven and Hell. ;-)
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Is the feeling of belonging. That is all. I know the "legal" def. is different. However, when they come for us in the gas chambers, they won't be looking at any legal definition. Will they.
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My fathers' parents on both sides were Russian Jews. My father was a Jew. My mother was not a Jew. However, I was genetically tested an have the Cohen Modal Haplotype gene and my name is Cohn. I feel in my heart that I am a jew.
I am sure if I lived when Hitler ruled, I would have been treated as a Jew. Should I change my name to Smith and forget my jewishness because my mother is a non jew?
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I am shocked to read that contributors Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell, Anonymous of Jan 25, 2012 and others are inclined to use the gas chambers selection method or Hitler's criteria to define who is a Jew.
How come do we grant the enemies of humanity the right to classify us or anyone?
By the way, neither surnames nor genes nor religion do make of us less or more Jewish.
The real key to our belonging lies in our culture, which is transmitted in our homes when we are children.
It is our sharing of Jewish cultural heritage at our early age that makes us Jews; all other considerations are accessories to it.
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A board of Rabbis in Israel can vote on who is or is not a Jew, can determine who can marry in a Temple and who can't based on their determination of a person's ancestry, that is at question. In my opinion, this nit-picking of who is a Jew and who isn't is extremely fraught with rejection of people from our folds. I am all about including, inclusion, and adding to our numbers. My challenge to those who insist on people showing that they come from a lineage of female Jews and rejecting those who came from a lineage of male Jews is that when you are so strict in that definition, we lose people from our fold. In addition, I challenge anyone who is so judgmental to prove their own lineage down through Abraham. They can't. Even the most strictly adherent Jewish people can not adequately prove their ancestry genetically unless they have the special genetic marker. We have learned even people with Jewish genetic markers are rejected if their moms aren't Jewish. Just a perspective.
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Now the question is, will authorities accept this statement as the truth? Ashkenazim don't have to prove their connection, but Falashas / Indian / Igbo / Pakistani / descendants of Kaifeng (the list goes on)? Watch out!!! Who can even mention Karaim without someone else flipping a lid? I know from experience. Also, some observant Jews look down on less-Orthodox Jews; but if a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, then why is the issue so complicated? And where does Torah fit in when it comes to lineage and geography? Is Torah being maneuvered to fit with man-made decisions? Torah lists Jews patrilineally (through most of the Scriptures) and matrilineally (such as Hiram the smith whose mother was from Naphtali and father from Tyre). So.....?
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In Judaism, abstract and practice, mystical and legal, go hand in hand. Everything discussed here is predicated on the recognition by Halachah (Jewish law) that a given person is Jewish. It is not within the purview of any individual to redefine Jewishness in a way other than as per Halachah. Halachah is clear (first recorded in the Mishnah, close to 2,000 years ago) that a Jew must either be born of a Jewish mother, or convert as Halachah prescribes. The questioning of certain people's Jewishness is based solely on the inability to satisfactorily confirm that they are Halachically Jewish. No issues such as race or skin color are factored in; their are recognized Jews of all races and hues. You are correct that less-observant Jews should not be looked down on. As far as matrilineality, please see Was Jewishness always Matrileneal.
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How far down in that 2,000 year period can you prove that your lineage was always Jewish based on mother's religion? There is mostly no notation on birth certificates which state this is so. In fact, when were birth certificates even begun? This creates a glitch in Halacha law. No one can prove they are Jewish down through the 2,000 years.
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Down through 2,000 years? What do our judges have to see as a confirmation? 200 or so birth certificates?
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