Eternal Question # 2: What Is A Jew?

For the longest time we had a no-brain answer to the question of what is a Jew; namely, it's anyone with a Jewish mother.

But that really answers only the question of who is a Jew. So, with a moment of further thought, we answered that a Jew is anyone who is Jewish.

We weren 't getting very far, so we took another tack. We asked what is an Italian? Ans.: Anyone who is an Italian citizen. What about an Italian-American? Ans.: He, or she, is someone with roots going back to Italy. Okay, what's a Catholic? Ans.: Anyone who subscribes to Catholicism.

So, what's a Jew? Ans.: Anyone who subscribes to Judaism. Ah, ha, there's the rub. First, we have Christians who might say they subscribe to Judaism, as a first step. But then they say they've added Christto Judaism. So are Jews Christians sans Christ? There's a further problem; namely, some percentage of Jews don't believe in God. How then can they be Jews when the most central articulation of Judaism is the Shema (Hear O Israel, God is our Lord, God is One)?

The answer is that, while Judaism can be described as a religion, it is more than that. It is a peoplehood. It is people sharing a bond that goes beyond religion. Oppressors have rarely singled out a particular group of Jews. When they attack Jews, they attack all Jews, French Jews, German Jews, Italian Jews, etc.

Anti-Semites used to shout, "They have no country, but they control the world." Now, these same people shout, "They have only this tiny, inconsequential Zionist entity, but they control the world." And, these same people remain enamored of their blood libel. Before Israel, anti-Semites libeled Jews by alleging that Jews killed Christian children for the blood they allegedly used in preparing matza. Now, with Israel standing proud and tall, they allege that the IDF troops gather the organs of dead Muslims for transplanting into sick Jews. It never ends, and the target is always the same, Jews.

The Jews are a peoplehood because they share a common destiny. This is something especially important for young Jews to understand. From the Jewish texts, the world is admonished to beat their swords into plow shares, but one can hardly do away with one's swords when one's enemies threaten to wipe them off the map. Young Jews yearn to be citizens of the world, to help the oppressed wherever they might be. Unfortunately, this becomes a problem when it is the leadership of the oppressed who create misery for their own people. This is as true for the people in Gaza as it is for the natives of Zimbabwe, or the people of Darfur. The UN's General Assembly presumably represents the global community. How then is it that the nations of the world disregard the horrors of Darfur, and elsewhere, and focus their wrath on the only democracy in the middle east, Israel.

The history of the Jew is indeed unique. There's been a lot of suffering, but there's also been a solid record of achievement. If this is what you're connected to, your a Jew. If you reject it, what are you?

The Eternal Question: Who Is A Jew?

I doubt the question will ever get answered in an entirely satisfactory manner. The most inclusive definition of who's a Jew was Hitler's. But, having him set our standards for who is a Jews is indeed repugnant.

Jews have traditionally agreed that anyone born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. Also, people who convert to Judaism are also accepted as being Jewish. However, as Jewish movements have splintered away from Orthodox Judaism, things have gotten more complicated. The Reform folks, for example, have adopted "patrilineal descent." They have added some conditions; namely, that the person so defined as a Jew, must accept his Jewishness. Also, they require that the person be given some Jewish education. But that has not won the support of non-Reform Jews. This, of course, leaves us with a situation where a person is Jewish for some Jews, but not for others.

Heretofore, this has been a question for Jews. (Others may watch, but not play.) But, now, in England, the game has changed. British law holds that religious schools can give preference to religious, but not ethnic factors. A lower court had ruled that JFS (Jews Free School) could give priority to children understood to be Jewish according to the JFS charter and the chief rabbis. This ruling was, however, overturned by the Court of Appeals, which held that the Jewish school could only use a "faith test" to determine whether a child was Jewish. Ethnicity (matrilineal descent) was not acceptable. A Supreme Court ruling is expected at the end of December 2009.

In the case at hand, a Jewish man had married a Catholic woman, who had converted to Judaism under Reform standards. The parents divorced and the father was now raising his son as a practicing Masorti (Conservative Judaism) Jew. (The Jewish Week, Dec 4, 2009)

Confusing? The mother converted to Reform Judaism, but is no longer in the picture. The boy is being raised in the Conservative Jewish tradition. And, none of this has any bearing from an Orthodox point of view. Into this stew, enters the court, which says, as a British subject, the boy has rights. This includes the right to a religious education. We, the court, find he's Jewish, so, if he meets their academic standards, the JFS must accept him.

That's what happens when Jews can't work out things on their own.