Is been jewish genetic? if not then, why would my kids with a jewish woman would be considered jews?

Question

I agree that is a choice, i'm not jewish, my wife is a secular jew, but many many people say that because she is jewish then my sons would be also.
I strongly disagree.

Been greek or chinese, is not etnicity, is nationality.

Answer 1

No. Your kids are considered Jewish under halakhic law that states that a child is born Jewish if they are born of a Jewish mother. This appears to not be true historically as Judaism is eurocentric interpretation of Hebrewism. Basically, Judaism became constructed as a race or genetic as a result of a desire to make it exclusive and estblish an authority to discern who is Jewish and who is not for the sake of political motivations. In the days of the religious patriarchs, all one had to do to become a member of the Hebrew community or beleif system was to simply take on the beleifs and the culture. This construction of Judaism as an ethnic identity is relatively new in history. This is substantiated by the fact that if one gives total credence to the genetic theory, then David (King of the Jews) was not a Jew. His mother was a Moabite and his father was of the kingdom of Judah...not his mother. So its is a historically problematic assertion.

There has been increasing evidence that suggest that Ashkenazi Jews (92% of the world Jews) have no semetic genes at all as "semetic" is not a genetic or ethnic term. It as a term relative to language. All semetic languages (that I am aware of) are spoken in Northern and Eastern Africa and the Middle East. There are no semetic languages that have their origin in Europe and most Jews are from Central and Eastern Europe (Germany, Hungary, Poland and Russia). In addition to this, Ashkenazi Jews' earliest progenitor are beleived to be Togar, Magog, Gomer, Tyras and Ashkenaz which were geographically located in what is now the Caucusus mountains...hence Caucasion. They are ethnically no different than any other white European.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not challenging the authenticity of their "Jewishness" simply because under the initial ideas of the patriarchs of the faith, they are Jewish because they practice it, but frankly, this genetic thing is a poorly constructed myth. They are Jewish because of their practice of the religion, not because they are some unique ethnic group.

Answer 2

Unfortunately Mindy isn't very well-informed. There are two elements to being Jewish: one is religious, and that's of course a personal choice. The other is ethnic, and if you're Jewish then that's your ethnicity, just like being Greek or Chinese is an ethnicity. The way the Jewish people decide whether a child is part of their ethnic group or not is based on the child's mother. If she's Jewish, then according to Jewish people, it doesn't matter what the father's background is, the kid becomes part of the tribe.

Two things. One, it doesn't matter if you disagree or not. According to Jews the kid is Jewish. If you had a problem with it, you should have chosen someone else to father your child. Two, it seems that you don't understand the difference between ethicity and nationality, or alternatively you're being purposefully dense. If I said Basque or Han instead, does that make my point clearer?

Answer 3

Traditionally people are Jewish in two ways. 1. If they convert and 2. If their mother is Jewish.

Answer 4

I think that you are asking a couple of questions. First of all, you can trace through DNA jewish roots, hell or any roots for that matter. Secondly, within the confines of the jewish beliefs and customs the offspring always assume their pedigree from their mothers. But we do not believe ourselves to be a race. We are all human.

Answer 5

It's a religion, not a genetic anomaly! It's a choice the parents make to raise their children as a certain religion, just as people choose to raise their kids as catholic or Mormon or whatever. traditionally if both the parents are Jewish then most likely they will choose to raise their children Jewish, But I must emphasize its A CHOICE!

Answer 6

if you convert you are jewish, if your mother is jewish, so is the children - why u mixing races anyway - anyone can tell if they are jewish by their noses. - barbara streisand, ben stiller, henry kissinger, einstein, etc.