I was born Jewish but I was baptized. Am I still Jewish?

Do Jews still baptize today? Reply

The Rebbi's reply is so beautifully put. And it moved me! I am a Jew, born of two atheists, raised with no knowledge of what is means to be a Jew. I have always felt like I didn't belong. I couldn't relate to Jewish people and felt like an outside with non Jews, although I have practiced many other faiths. At this point in my life (I am going to be 70 at my next birthday) I know in my heart, I am a Jew, and want to learn, but don't know where to start, or if at this point whats the point??? Reply

To Eliezer Zalmanov for Chabad.org I understand the concept of why a mother would need to be Jewish and the Father not ( as the Mother is usually the one nuturing and teaching the child her beliefs, while the father may not even be apart of the child's life) But if this is an accurate way of finding one's Jewishness, then why in all of the Old Testament are the descendant scriptures of father and son.
Ie. Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 5

Thank you for your time. Reply

But how Jewish Am I? Dear Rabbi Kogan,

Thanks so much for such an inspiring response. In my case (and my brother's as well), we recently learned through DNA testing (I'm the family genealogist) that we are 50% Jewish, but on our paternal side. (Since there is not a scintilla of evidence in the documentary evidence of Jews in the family, this has been quite a shock -- not because we're paternally Jewish but because it came out of nowhere!

So my question to you, in follow-up to your response, is a modified version of the one posed in the previous post: Are we Jewish, too? I know, having had many Jewish friends over the years, that there is quite some "lively" debate on whether one's Jewishness is solely passed on maternally or whether the rest of us "count."

Most grateful in advance for your reply! Reply

Very wise and kind response from Rabbi Kogan. That's what Judaism is about:)
B"Hashem
Have a very Happy Chanukah everyone Reply

Yes, you are Jewish. Period. Please read my posts in the "Jews for Jesus" section explaining how I became Christian and then came back to Judaism. I still, however, absolutely refute being Orthodox or Chassidic, although I attend both the Chabad and the Reform temple and sometimes go to neither. I'm just not starting to add more to my Shabbot at home. I do this alone. I'm trying to make it beautiful for me in my feeling to be close with G-d in spirit. It's a little different than the Christian idea of the spirit of G-d. Reply

Conversion Living as I do in the buckle of the Bible Belt, I am bombarded by what I feel are well-meaning Christians who simply cannot fathom that I reject their guy. I’ve read their book in Greek and poorly translated English and cannot find a single thing that squares with what Messiah will be.

I’d always thought that once someone converted, they had lost their Jewishness. After all, how can a cow be a horse?

Christians take smidgens of Torah and N’veim and tear them to shreds to “prove” that their guy was who he said he was. Unfortunately for them, I have read Torah and know what it says (although not a scholar by any means). Some of my friends have converted (they call it completed which makes me want to throw up) They refuse to even look at anything that refutes their new religion. What, if anything, can be done to bring them back? Reply