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According to most definitions, a Jew is either born into the Jewish People , or becomes one through religious Conversion . The debate centers around the following questions:
PERSPECTIVES Within Jewish religious communities According to Halakha (Jewish law and traditions), only a child born to a Jewish mother is counted as Jewish. A child with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is considered a non-Jew. Although an infant conversion might be contemplated in some circumstances (such as in the case of adopted children or children whose parents convert), children who convert would typically be asked if they want to remain Jewish after reaching religious adulthood, which is 12 years old for a girl, 13 for a boy. This standard is applied within Conservative and Orthodox Judaism. Jewish denominations that do not accept Halakha as normative have adopted different standards. The Reform movement in the United States (though not elsewhere) considers anyone Jewish who has at least one Jewish parent; but if there is only one Jewish parent, the person has to affirm his/her Jewish identity to maintain this status. Though there is also controversy surrounding Conversion To Judaism , all religious movements accept converts fully as Jews. In liberal secular societies Members of most secular societies accept someone as a Jew if he says that he is, unless they have reason to believe that the person is Misrepresenting himself for some reason. Some members of the Reform movement within Judaism have also adopted this viewpoint. In societies with race laws or traditions Whether someone is viewed as a Jew may make the difference as to whether a person may have a certain job, live in certain locations, receive a Free Education , live or continue to live in the country, or even be Imprisoned or officially Murder ed. Within Roman Catholic ism, especially in times such as The Inquisition , it was usually considered that if Jewish people made a sincere conversion to Christianity , they were no longer legally regarded as Jews. In Nazi Germany , being a Jew was considered as a Racial designation, and one could not become a non-Jew in the eyes of the government by being non-practicing, marrying outside the religion, or converting to Christianity. If one Grandparent , either male or female, were Jewish, even someone who actually adhered to the Christian faith could be subject to the race laws. In modern Israel The phrase ''Mihu Yehudi'' (transliterated from grappled with this subject after the Founding Of The Jewish State In 1948 . These legal cases arose because being Jew ish is not simply a matter of subscribing to a set of religious beliefs. For a variety of reasons related to Jewish History , Judaism 's Religious Law s, and cultural norms, being a Jew involves being part of a people, or a Nation in modern terminology. For most, it is a product of their birth when they are born into a Jewish family; for others, becoming Jewish involves applying and formally " Converting " to Judaism. Identifying who is a Jew matters for religious reasons as well. A valid Jewish marriage can only exist between two Jews; a traditional '' Minyan '' (the ''quorum'' required for communal prayers), can only be formed with ten adult Jews (necessarily male according to Orthodox authorities). All Jewish Denominations and groups within the Jewish community agree that it is possible for virtually anyone to become a Jew, but since the mid 20th century there has been increasing disagreement about what precisely determines whether someone is born Jewish, or what it would take to join the Jewish people THE CONTROVERSY The traditional definition of a Jew is "someone born to a Jewish mother or who has converted to Judaism ." The requirement for a valid conversion is that the candidate for conversion understand the obligations of being a Jew, show commitment to fulfilling these obligations, (for a male) to undergo '' Brit Milah '' (ritual Circumcision ) or one of its exceptions, perform immersion in a '' Mikvah '', and satisfy the scrutiny of a '' Beit Din '', or rabbinical court. The ''beit din'' act not only as judges but as witnesses in the course of conversion, and it follows that its members must be '' Kosher '', i.e. suitable and qualified for these purposes. Three basic disputes The controversy of "who is a Jew" concerns three basic disputes: # The North American (who was raised Catholic and was unaware of her Jewish heritage) would all be Jews according to '' Halakha '' (traditional Jewish law), since their mother's traceable female ancestors were all Jewish (Dr. Albright only has daughters). (2) The requirement of ''brit milah'' has been relaxed, as has the requirement of ritual immersion. (Conservatism also permits conversion without circumcision in the case of Hemophiliacs .) # The Orthodox movements assert that non-Orthodox rabbis are not qualified to form a ''beit din'', and are generally restrictive in their willingness to accept the ruling of a beit din with whom they are not familiar. This has led to the fact that non-Orthodox conversions are generally not accepted in Orthodox communities. Since Orthodox Judaism maintains the traditional standards for conversion — in which the commitment to observe Halakha is an absolute requirement — non-Orthodox conversions are generally not accepted in Orthodox communities because the new movements perform conversions in which the new convert does not undertake to observe Halakha as understood by Orthodox Judaism. # A third controversy concerns those who no longer consider themselves Jewish because they no longer practice Judaism, do not accept or follow Halakha, or now adhere to another religion. Nonetheless, all Jewish denominations would still consider such a person to be a Jew if he otherwise met their definitions. In practical terms, this means that a growing number of traditional Jewish families are increasingly concerned about the genealogy of their children's potential spouses, fearing that their grandchildren may not be Jews according to ''halakha''. It also creates awkward situations in the course of Jewish rituals, e.g. in creating a '' Minyan '' during Synagogue services or when searching for a Jewish spouse. It has also become an important issue in Israeli Politics . The Law Of Return largely relies on the traditional interpretation of who is a Jew, albeit with the added stringency that the person wishing to make '' Aliyah '' to Israel — that is, to immigrate under the Law of Return — should not have formally converted to another religion. (It should be noted however, that the Law of Return also ''includes'' the children and grandchildren of Jews, indicating that the aim of the Law of Return is somewhat different than that of resolving the theoretical question of who is Jewish.) Leaders of the Conservative and Reform movements have vehemently opposed the Israeli Chief Rabbi nate's claim that they alone can determine what is and what isn't a legitimate Jewish conversion. There have been several attempts to convene representatives of the three major movements to formulate a practical solution to this issue. To date, these have failed, though all parties concede the importance of the issue is greater than any sense of rivalry among them. RELIGIOUS DEFINITIONS For the most part, a Jewish identity has been seen as a religious question stemming specifically from the Torah and Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible ) as a whole. As a result, Religious Authorities , namely scholarly Rabbi s, have traditionally taken the responsibility of determining the criteria for being a Jew. Traditional (Halakhic) perspective According to the traditional Rabbinic view, which is maintained by all branches of Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism today, only Halakha ("Jewish law") can define who is or is not a Jew when a question of Jewish identity, lineage, or parentage arises about any person seeking to define themselves or claim that they are a "Jew" or "Jewish". Therefore, Halakha defines a "Jew" as someone, male or female, who is: ''Either'' :(1) The child of a Jewish mother, known in English as " Matrilineal Descent ". This tradition is derived from Deuteronomy 7:4. "Question 10.11: What is the origin of Matrilineal Descent?" , Shamash, accessed March 16, 2006. " What is the source of the law that a child is Jewish only if its mother is Jewish?" , Torah.org, accessed March 16, 2006. ''or'' :(2) A person who Converts , meaning, ''formally'' converted to Judaism under the auspices of a halakhically constituted and recognized '' Beth Din '' ("Court Jewish-Torah Law ") consisting preferably of three learned Rabbi s acting as '' Dayan im'' ("judges"), but also possibly two learned and respected lay members of the community along with a rabbi who then issue a ''Shtar geirut'' ("Certificate of Conversion"). Who the first Jews were is a matter of some controversy. Some maintain that it was those who were present, bodily, at the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai; others maintain that Abraham and Sarah were the first Jews. This standard for conversion is mandated by a long series of codes of law and texts, including the Talmud , through the Shulkhan Arukh , and subsequent interpretations that are held as authoritative by Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism . As a result, mere ''belief'' in the principles of Judaism does ''not'' make one a Jew. Similarly, non-adherence by a Jew to the Jewish Principles Of Faith , or even formal conversion to another faith, does not make one lose one's Jewish status. Thus the immediate descendants of all Female Jews (even Apostate s) are still considered to be Jews, as are those of all her female descendants. Even those descendants who are not aware they are Jews, or practice a faith other than Judaism, are technically still Jews, as long as they come from an unbroken female line of descent. As a corollary, the children of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother are not considered to be Jews by Orthodoxy or Conservatism unless they formally convert, even if raised practising Judaism. Those not born to a Jewish mother may become accepted as Jews by the Orthodox and Conservative movements through a formal and usually difficult process of Conversion To Judaism in order to become "true converts" (''Geirei tzedek'' in Hebrew ), and they are then accepted as Jews by the movement doing the conversion. In addition, Halakha requires that the new convert commits himself to observance of its tenets; this is called ''Kabbalat Ol Mitzvot'', "Acceptance the Yoke the Commandments", the most important being the observance of Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), Kashrut (the dietary laws), Niddah (husband and wife abstaining from sexual contact during menstruation). Conversion is still relatively rare, and typically discouraged. Orthodoxy does not accept the validity of non-Orthodox conversions; it recognises only those conversions in which the new convert accepts and undertakes to observe Halakha as interpreted by the teachings of Orthodox Judaism. Non-Orthodox rabbis do not require that converts make this commitment, and therefore do not perform conversions accepted under Orthodoxy. Additionally, because of the constant internal differences within all groups, it is not unusual for rabbis to be suspicious of conversions performed by their colleagues. Conservative Judaism may accept the validity of some Reform and Reconstructionist conversions, but only if they include (at a minimum) ''brit milah'' (i.e., circumcision) or "hatfah dam brit" (symbolic circumcision for those already circumcised) for men, immersion in a '' Mikvah '', and appearance before a '' Beit Din ''. Perspective of Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism In recent times, two Theologically Liberal Jewish groups have allowed people who do not meet the classical ''halakhic'' criteria to define themselves as Jews. The two groups are Reform Judaism , which began in mid-19th century Germany , and Reconstructionist Judaism , which began in mid-20th century United States. Both exist primarily, but not exclusively, in the United States, where Reform Judaism is the denomination of about half of all Jews who nominally affiliate with any movement. Their procedures for Conversion To Judaism often vary from the Orthodox ones, and they accept a person as a Jew even if their mother is non-Jewish. In the case of Reform Judaism in the United States (though not in the United Kingdom), a person with one Jewish parent is considered to be a Jew if he or she performs "appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people"; while this may in principle be taken to require a Reform upbringing, it is also stated that "for those beyond childhood claiming Jewish identity, other public acts or declarations may be added or substituted after consultation with their rabbi", and at least some — possibly most — Reform rabbis in the U.S. find any form of clear and public self-identification, religious or not, to be sufficient. This policy is commonly (though somewhat inaccurately) known as Patrilineal Descent ; bilineal descent may be a more appropriate name. The Reconstructionist position is similar. Thus, today many Reform Jewish and secular American Jews born from originally Gentile mothers consider themselves to be Jews, although they are not considered Jewish by Orthodox Judaism or Conservative Judaism . Not every movement outside the United States affiliated with the World Union For Progressive Judaism (an organization to which both Reconstructionist Judaism and American Reform Judaism belong) accepts bilineal descent. The Liberal movement in the UK does, but the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain adhere to the traditional view that a Jew is the child of a Jewish mother, or is a person who has converted to Judaism. "Reform conversion to Judaism" , SomethingJewish, accessed March 16, 2006. Some Reform Jews view Judaism as a is always an Israelite , but no longer a Jew; in order to be considered a Jew again, the apostate must repent. Jews who have practiced another faith All Jewish Denominations welcome the return of any Jews who have left (or who have been raised in a faith other than) Judaism, and these individuals would not require a formal conversion, though they would be expected to abandon their previous beliefs and adopt Judaism. Males would be required to have either a full '' Brit Milah '' (ritual Circumcision ), or a symbolic one (if already circumcised). In some communities, Orthodox and otherwise, people who return to Judaism may be required or encouraged to participate in a ceremony similar to conversion, including ''tevilah'' (immersion in a Ritual Bath ) and appearance before a '' Beth Din ''. Conversion to Judaism See Also: Conversion to Judaism A ''ger tzedek'' is a "righteous convert" or more literally a "convert {Link without Title} righteousness". The laws of conversion to Judaism are based in discussions in the Talmud . Jewish law is generally interpreted as discouraging Proselytizing , and Religious Conversion is also discouraged. This is due to the Jewish belief that all nations have a share in the World To Come , and thus, do not need to accept Judaism and live as Jews. However, a rabbi convinced of the prospective convert's sincerity may allow him or her to follow the process of conversion, and thus appear before an established three- Judge Jewish religious court known as a Beth Din ("religious court") to be tested and formally accepted. There is no specific time frame for the conversion process and procedures. The prospective convert is taught the basic laws and beliefs of Judaism, and must show an ability to keep the laws and make a commitment to keep them. See How does one convert? . A male convert is known as a ''Ger'' (or ''Ger tzedek'', meaning "righteous convert") and a female is a ''Giyoret'', from the Hebrew root word ''gar'' ( גר ) (to "live" or "sojourn [with]".) As discussed above, some denominations of present-day Judaism do not follow traditional Jewish laws concerning conversion. As a result, their converts are frequently not recognized by other Jewish denominations. DEFINITIONS IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL The situation in Israel is somewhat ambiguous. Israeli rules for aliyah creates Israelis but not Jews One area where the traditional definition of Jew is not followed by the Israeli government is in deciding who qualifies to make '' Aliyah '' (" Emigrate Israel ") and acquire citizenship under the Law Of Return . The requirements here differ significantly from the definition of a Jew under '' Halakha '', in permitting anyone with only one Jewish grandparent, or as non-Jewish spouses of Jews, to move to Israel. A person with only one Jewish grandparent is presently allowed to make Aliyah but that does ''not'' confer the status of Jew upon that person according to Jewish law neither in Israel nor anywhere else. Thus, because the secular Israeli Law of Return functions in far broader terms than would be allowed according to Judaism 's definition of "Who is a Jew?" it is consequently estimated that as a result of the easing of standards, in the past twenty years, about 300,000 avowed non-Jews and even practicing Christians have entered Israel from the former Soviet Union on the basis of claiming to have one Jewish grandparent or by being married to a Jew. The net result has been that Israel has not resolved the question of how such a large group of immigrants who are now Israelis but who are still not Jews should be formally converted to Judaism.Jonathan Rosenblum, "Our New Mixed Multitude" , Jacob Richman Home Page, accessed March 16, 2006. Current Israeli definitions however, specifically excludes Jews who have openly and knowingly converted to a faith other than Judaism . This definition is not the same as that in traditional Jewish law; in some respects it is a deliberately wider, so as to include those non-Jewish relatives of Jews who may have been perceived to be Jewish, and thus faced Anti-Semitism , but in other respects it is narrower, as the traditional definition includes apostate Jews. Israeli laws governing marriage and divorce A second area where the definition of Jew is relevant is in Marriages and Divorces , which are under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Ministry Of Interior (see Ministry Of The Interior ) which, unlike the Law of Return, defines Jews strictly according to ''halakha''. Israeli definition of nationality A third relevant area is in the registering of " Nationality " on Israeli Teudat Zehut ("identity card"). This is also controlled by the Ministry of the Interior, which has generally only registered as a "Jew" those who meet the traditional definition according to the (Orthodox) Chief Rabbi nate. However, in a small number of cases the secular Supreme Court Of Israel has forced the ministry to register as Jews individuals who did not meet that definition. Secular Israeli views A minority of secular Israelis consider themselves to be "Israeli" enjoying a new Israeli Culture and reject the title "Jew" as derived from ''halakha''. They assert that one who is devoted to Zionism , believes and lives in the modern State Of Israel , serves in the Israel Defense Forces , and works for the Ingathering Of The Exiles from the Diaspora , is "the real Jew." According to this redefinition, even a gentile who meets these criteria can be an "Israeli." . OTHER APPROACHES TO JEWISH IDENTITY There have been other attempts to determine Jewish identity beside the traditional approaches given above. These range from Genetic population studies (see Y-chromosomal Aaron ) to controversial evolutionary perspectives (see Kevin B. MacDonald , Yuri Slezkine ). Anti-Semitism and the definition of Jew Although there are many reasons that the definition of Jewishness is important within the Jewish community, the question of "who is a Jew?" has often been used by Anti-Semites as a precursor to persecution or discrimination against Jews as an ethnic group. The Nazis , for example, ruled that anyone with one Jewish grandparent was either a Jew or a Mischling , and therefore subject to persecution (see Nuremberg Laws ). Similarly, Neo-Nazis and modern anti-Semites often attempt to trace the ancestry of individuals to determine the existence of "Jewish blood" in a family tree, rather like Racist efforts to identify individuals with "African blood." Sensitivity over the historical and present use of the definition of Jewishness for the purposes of ethnic persecution makes some Jews uncomfortable when discussing the topic outside of the context of religious identity. Views of secular philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre , not a Jew himself, suggested in ''Anti-Semite and Jew'' (1948) that Jewish identity "is neither national nor international, neither religious nor ethnic, nor political: it is a quasi-historical community." While Jews as individuals may be in danger from the anti-Semite who sees only "Jews" and not "people", Sartre argues that the Jewish experience of anti-Semitism preserves – even creates – the sense of Jewish community. In his most extreme statement of this view he wrote, "It is the anti-Semite who creates the Jew." Conversely, that sense of specific Jewish community may be threatened by the democrat who sees only "the person" and not "the Jew". Hannah Arendt repeatedly asserted a principle of claiming Jewish identity in the face of anti-Semitism. "If one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend oneself as a Jew. Not as a German, not as a world-citizen, not as an upholder of the Rights of Man, or whatever"; "A man attacked as a Jew cannot defend himself as an Englishman or a Frenchman. The world can only conclude from this that he is simply not defending himself at all." Sociological and anthropological approaches As with any other ethnic identity, Jewish identity is, in some degree a matter of claiming that identity and/or being perceived by others (both inside and outside the ethnic group) as belonging to that group. Returning again to the example of Madeline Albright, during her Catholic childhood her being in some sense Jewish was presumably irrelevant. It was only after she was nominated to be Secretary Of State that she, and the public, discovered her Jewish ancestry. Ido Abram claims that there are five aspects to contemporary Jewish identity: #Religion, Culture , and tradition. #The tie with Israel and Zionism. #Dealings with anti-Semitism, including issues of persecution and survival. #Personal history and life-experience. #Relationship with non-Jewish culture and people. "What does it mean to be Jewish" , Jewish Historical Museum, accessed March 16, 2006. Monica Săvulescu Voudouris and Camil Fuchs, ''Jewish identity after the Second World War'', Editura Hasefer, Bucharest, 1999, p. 16. ISBN 9739235735 The relative importance of these factors may vary enormously from place to place. For example, a typical Dutch Jew might describe his or her Jewish identity simply as "I was born Jewish," while a Jew in Romania , where levels of anti-Semitism are higher, might say, "I consider any form of denying as a proof of cowardice."Monica Săvulescu Voudouris and Camil Fuchs (1999), p. 56. NON-RELIGIOUS ETHNIC AND CULTURAL DEFINITIONS See Also: Secular Jewish culture The traditional European definition of Jewishness (although it was not evenly distributed across Europe - the least developed European countries were almost always more prone to see the Jews in racial terms) differs markedly from the American progressive definition. In the former USSR, "Jew" was a nationality or Ethnicity ''de jure'' all the way to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today laws concerning Jewishness are unwelcome and unethical almost anywhere in the world, but of course ''de facto'' the situation remains. In fact, the European definition is traditional in many respects, and reflects not only how the Europeans saw Jews, but also how Jews saw themselves. For the purposes of the Secular Jewish Nationalist Movement the Israeli Law Of Return draws on external understandings of Jewishness (such as the Nazi and Soviet views), rather than traditional Halakhic criteria. "Ethnic Jew" ". The term can refer to people of diverse beliefs and backgrounds due to the complex concepts of what makes a person "Jewish". The term "ethnic Jew" may be a Misnomer since "ethnic" often carries a Racial connotation that doesn't fit the diversity of Jews worldwide. Since "ethnic Jew" is often used to distinguish non-practicing from practicing (" Religious ") Jews, a more precise term might be "secular Jew." The term sometimes can refer exclusively to Jews who, for whatever reasons, do not practice the religion of Judaism, or who are so casual in their connection to that religion as to be effectively secular. Typically, secular Jews are cognizant of their Jewish background, and may feel strong cultural (even if not religious) ties to Jewish traditions and to the Jewish people or nation. Like people of any other ethnicity, non-religious ethnic Jews often assimilate into a surrounding non-Jewish Culture , but, especially in areas where there is a strong local Jewish culture, they may remain largely part of that culture, even to the point, for example, of participating in many Jewish holiday traditions, or of retaining a diet that stays close to the Kosher laws. "Ethnic Jews" include Atheists , Agnostics , non-denominational Deists , Jews with only casual connections to Jewish Denominations or converts to other religions, such as Christianity or Buddhism . Many ethnic Jews reject the traditional Jewish view of Jewish identity being based on Matrilineal Descent , and consider someone Jewish if either parent is Jewish, whereas the Halakhic definition of a Jew is matrilineal-based. Religious Jews from any of the main Jewish Denominations reach out to ethnic Jews, and ask them to rediscover Judaism. In the case of some Hasidic denominations (eg. Chabad-Lubavitch ) this outreach extends to active proselytizing. Israel i immigration laws will accept an application for Israeli citizenship if there is proven documentation that any grandparent—not just the maternal grandmother—was Jewish. This does not mean that person is ethnically Jewish, but Israeli immigration will accept that person because they have an ethnically Jewish connection, and because this same degree of connection was sufficient to be persecuted as a Jew by the Nazis . "Half-Jewish" "Half-Jewish" is a controversial new term, describing people who have one Jewish parent. According to Jewish law, only a person born of a Jewish mother or lawfully converted can be considered Jewish. The Orthodox and Conservative movements maintain that Jewish status is passed down matrilineally, and that a person with a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father is Jewish, but that a person with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is not. As a result, many Jews reject the use of the term "half-Jewish". Other Jews may use the term "half-Jewish" to imply that Jewishness is more of a cultural or ethnic identity than a Religious one. People of mixed heritage may not fully identify as Jewish, whether or not they embrace Judaism as a religion. In the United States, because of Intermarriage , the population of "half-Jews" is beginning to rival that of Jews with two Jewish parents, especially among young children. "Half-Jewish" is emerging as an independent identity with its own traits of tolerance and adaptation, but also perhaps a sense of detachment, spiritual indifference, or unclear identity.Daniel Klein and Freke Vuijst, ''The Half-Jewish Book: A Celebration'', New York: Villard Books, 2000. NOTES SEE ALSO
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