I have a friend whose father is english and mother is israeli jewish. What does that make her? I know that the

Question

daughter will carry on the religion according to jewish religion. During conversations earlier she mentioned that she didn't have a future with a guy she was seeing because of the religion (he is christian). Can anyone shed a clearer light on this? I feel that in this day and age especially given the fact that her father is english (and christian) and she appears completely english shouldn't really be an issue. What about her brother? If he marries someone non jewish then the children will not be jewish but if she does then the children will be jewish. All a bit confusing.

Answer 1

If her mother was a Jew, then she is a Jew by birth. This does not necessarily mean that she has to follow Judaism as a RELIGION though. But no matter which religion she chooses to follow, she will always be a Jew by birth. If she chooses Christianity though, she will no longer be considered JewISH, by the Jewish community.

Christianity isn't passed down by birth like that, so her father cannot pass it down in that manner. He can teach her about Christianity, but she can always choose it, or not choose it as a religion to practice.

She has no choice about being a Jew. Her mother was, so she is, by blood.

If her father was Jewish, then the only thing he would pass down is Tribal Affiliation. A father cannot pass down being Jewish to a child by blood.

Reform Judaism, of course, changed the law for themselves on this because the Reform movement mainly consists of Jewish men married to non-Jewish women. Orthodox traditional Judaism has always had that being a Jew is passed down by blood, from the mother.

Recently, science has actually discovered the "Jewish gene". It is found on the mtDNA, the mitochondrial DNA in every cell in a Jewish person's body, BUT is passed on ONLY by the MOTHERS. So if a mother has sons, she passes down the gene to him, but the sons CANNOT pass it down to their own children. Only her daughters can pass it down to their children. This is why the son MUST marry a Jewish woman in order that their children be Jews by birth.

As an aside:
Then there is the Kohen gene, which is the ancient Jewish priestly gene that has been located on the male Y chromosome, traced back to the time of Aaron, the first priest assigned by God. 75% of the Jewish families who have kept the tradition of being Kohanim (priests) since ancient times, came up positive for this gene when tested for it. So the males do pass this down to their sons, but not their daughters, obviously, since girls do not have the Y chromosome. This is also the Tribal affiliation of Levi, from which the priests were assigned.

Back to the topic of your friend:
If your female friend who is Jewish, marries a non-Jew, her children WILL be Jews, BUT it is usually very difficult to raise children under those circumstances if one parent wants to observe one religion and cares that their children are that same religion, and the other wants to live according to THEIR religion and wants the children to be THEIR religion. Especially if both parents are the religious types. The kids can end up hating both religions, just sick of the arguing over it by the parents.

Yes you are right, if her brother marries a non-Jew, his children will not be Jewish. Her brother will then have cut off an entire branch of Jews that would have existed. This is something that both he and any future non-Jewish spouse need to consider very, very seriously before deciding that this is an ok thing with them both to do.

As far as the religion, even though your friend was born a Jew, she can choose to practice Christianity. Or she can choose to practice Judaism. In either case, she will still be a Jew, by birth. If she chooses to practice Christianity, though, she will no longer be considered to be JewISH, a part of the Jewish community, etc.

This is because Christianity is pretty much idolatry to Judaism - with its turning God into a man, worshipping that man, human virgin sacrifices for sin, messiah born of a virgin and a god, etc. that are all taken from ancient pagan religions, not Judaism.
Hope this helps clear things up for you

Answer 2

Being Jewish goes through the mother. Being Christian goes through the father.

Still, a lot of Jewish people won't consider you *really* Jewish if your mother is the only one who's Jewish.

Answer 3

The Six Day warfare became in 1967, you're thinking of the 1948 warfare. And confident, the accepted version is greater propaganda than actuality. whilst the Arab governments engaged in the worst styles of threats and sabre damn, they actually gave the Palestinians little or no via way of financial and protection rigidity help, and the thought Arab armies poured into Palestine to rigidity Israel into the sea is organic unadulterated BS. The Israelis did in actuality have have the greater advantageous forces in 1948 and the end results of the warfare became in no way truly uncertain, it became Israel that captured the lion's proportion of Palestine, no longer the Palestinians.

Answer 4

for jewish it goes through the mother if ur mother is Jewish so u r a Jewish..i know that cause I'm Jewish haha=P

Answer 5

She is Jewish

Answer 6

It's really quite simple.
If she goes to temple and practices Jewish culture she's a jew.
You ARE the Culture you follow.

Answer 7

White