Whenever religion gets thrown in the mix things get heated. Sorry if this becomes one of those threads. I truely am learning in this area and would like others opinions.

One man has a black mother and a white fater. His mother is jewish.

One man has a black father and white mother. His mother is jewish

One man has a white mother and a white father. His father is jewish

One man has a black mother and black father. his father is jewish


Are any of them jewish?

I only ask this because My father is jewish and my mother was catholic but i have chosen to live a christian life. Does my father being jewish and having a jewish blood line make me jewish?

AND i ask this because on one of the the ships two men are jewish and niether one of them got a small pox vac given by the command. It is against the religion i guess. But one man is throwing the other man under the bus.

One man said that since him mother is black and jewish it does NOT make him jewish.
The man making the claims about the other man has a jewish father and he believes jewish is in the blood of man. Not woman.


I asked why it was such a big deal about black and white and he said, Because black woman or black men are not allowed to marry into a jewish family. It makes the jewish family blood line void.

PLEASE NOTE: i'm not trying to show any racisim here. Just stating the fact of what happened which is why i'm asking questions

Depends on what sect of Judaism. In some sects, no. In others, yes.

Really? so there are diff sects? How interesting. I should buy a book and read up on it.

BUT until then.. LOL, what are the diff sects and what is the mass diff in both?

Depends on what sect of Judaism. In some sects, no. In others, yes.
:yes I had a co-worker who was telling me about herself and how she was Jewish, but her DH isn't yet he didn't want to convert because he would have to follow the rules strictly where as she didn't have to, but their son would be the same as her since he was born to a jewish parent. if any of that made sense. :giggle

I'm not that knowledgeable in Judaism, but I've always sort of had it in my head that there are differences in Judaism as a heritage and Judaism as a religion... they can overlap but sometimes I think they are different. It would then make sense to me that different divisions of Judaism have different views on ethnicity. They probably believe you wouldn't be Jewish by heritage if someone is black, but the ones who have chosen to convert and believe would probably accept other ethnicities. Does that make sense? I'm totally not knowledgeable, and not saying I agree or disagree, just postulating. Judaism has a lot more interest in heritage than many other religions though, so I could see someone making that argument, well-founded or not.

I thought it passed from the mother, so if your mom is christian, you are as well. Altho, in my opinion, you can be what ever you want to be :)

I thought it passed from the mother, so if your mom is christian, you are as well. Altho, in my opinion, you can be what ever you want to be :)

Christianity has no such heritage stipulations. It is religion by choice. (Parents or family may "make you" go to church, but one is not considered Christian only by heritage.)

I was always told the mother had to be jewish for the child to automatically be jewish, but that you can convert.

A jewish mom is key is what my jewish friends always told me growing up. I can remember one of my best friends dating a jewish man and they were pretty serious....she had to convert first before his parents really recognized how serious the two of them were because for him to have jewish children she had to become jewish as well. She converted, they married and have three beautiful children.

I think for alot of people being jewish is more than just religion......most of my jewish friends are very attached to israel and have alot of ties there. They donate and do as much in israel as they do in the united states.

ETA that I grew up around alot of Jewish reforms......they were pretty traditional, but allowed for people to convert to judaism thus having jewish children.

Christianity has no such heritage stipulations. It is religion by choice. (Parents or family may "make you" go to church, but one is not considered Christian only by heritage.)

that is what I always thought as well......I mean I was born to catholic parents, baptized, confirmed etc, but no longer follow catholocism........

its by mother, if your mom is jewish, so are you. thats the rule

Christianity has no such heritage stipulations. It is religion by choice. (Parents or family may "make you" go to church, but one is not considered Christian only by heritage.)

Christianity by definition requires a conscious choice; to be a Christian, you have to accept that Jesus Christ is the Savior.

Dat ain't genetic. :D

Depends on what sect of Judaism. In some sects, no. In others, yes.

Yup traditionally Judaism is passed down via the mother, although exceptions are now being made in some sects to children of mixed marriage where the mother is not Jewish. Judaism is a non-western religion in non-western thinking your religion (lig is the same root word as ligament to tie together etc) IS your life. For western thinking that is hard to understand and they say all kinds of things trying to compartmentalize it. In non-western life (meaning not from Europe or colonized America etc) your religion, culture, traditions, are all very closely tied. You can't tell where one ends and the other begins. The Jewish religion IS the Jewish heritage is the Jewish traditions and on and on.

Religiously (orthodox or conservative) only those with Jewish mother's are Jewish. Reform would consider them all religiously Jewish.

And they're all Ethnically Jewish.

You can be racially Jewish without being religiously Jewish.

Oh, and OP, since you asked: Orthodox are the most religiously conservative and follow the traditions the most literally, conservatives are kind of in the middle, and reform is the liberal end of the Jewish Religious spectrum. That help? Any better details I'm sure someone else can provide for their own sect. I'm reform, so I'm not gonna be a good wealth of knowledge on the more conservative groups.

Christianity by definition requires a conscious choice; to be a Christian, you have to accept that Jesus Christ is the Savior.

Dat ain't genetic. :D

:yes True.

okay, here is another one. My grandmother who died young but was jewish said that jewish is in the "eye" of the beholder. She always said you can tell who is a jew by the color of eyes.?.?. She used to say if Your eyes are blue you have Jew.

I know, totaly sounds silly. But i wasn't sure.

okay, here is another one. My grandmother who died young but was jewish said that jewish is in the "eye" of the beholder. She always said you can tell who is a jew by the color of eyes.?.?. She used to say if Your eyes are blue you have Jew.

I know, totaly sounds silly. But i wasn't sure.

No not true. :)

Christianity has no such heritage stipulations. It is religion by choice. (Parents or family may "make you" go to church, but one is not considered Christian only by heritage.)

Yeah, I should have put if the mom is Jewish, then you are, by birth. You can always convert.

I, too, was brought up with the belief that if the mother is Jewish the child is as well. I found it odd growing up because of how, initially, women weren't allowed to learn the Talmud and were separated from the men at prayer time, yet the religion survived through them.

Suppose that's a bit TMI.

I think its what you believe.. How many people convert etc? I don't see how race plays into it at all.

If your mother is jewish, you are jewish. Period. A jew can convert to christianity, but will always be jewish, even if not practicing.
Color has nothing to do with it. Whoever told you that is a moron or racist or both.
There are tribes/villages in Africa that were discovered in the 70's. They were Jewish. They were practicing a very biblical form of Judaism for generations.

Judaism is broken down into the very liberal (Reform), to the ultra orthodox, (Hasidic, Lububbivitch (spelling?)
in approximate order of strictness...reform, conservative, reconstructionist orthodox, than the various orthodox sects such as mentioned above.
Than there are the various traditions, Sephardic, who are from spain, and the ashkanazie, who are from europe. The traditions and local languages differ tremendously. (ashkanazies speak yiddish, the Sephardic Speak Ladino).

Hope this helps. Any more questions, just ask.

My father is jewish and my mother was catholic! I fallow the Jewish faith, but I am open to anything. I go to church and with friends all the time. It depends on the person.

the way my religion teacher who is Jewish explained it. Was that if the mother is Jewish than the child will/can be jewish. Only bc you(generally speaking) might know who your father is.