A Jew or Not?

[woodelf]

My mother was a Jew, my father was not. I was put up for adoption at three months. My adopted parents were, supposedly, C of E. I was not circumsised. Am I a Jew or not? Ta Muchly.

[I.Don No]

you can have a religion imposed upon you by members of that religion??

what a lot of utter nonsense.

religion is a man-made concept. faith on the other hand is what you yourself perceive it to be.

[Andyvon]

Aren't Jews considered a separate race rather than just people who hold religious beliefs? Judaism is certainly a culture as every aspect of Judaism affects observing Jews throughout their lives from the day they are born until the day they die. After all, the Nazis regarded the Jews as a separate and inferior race, as do Muslims. That's why the Nazis were prosecuted for their racial ideas and the crime of 'genocide'. It's also why Muslims consider themselves superior to Jews. If Jews weren't considered a separate race (and by the peoples of the Christian-cultured West too) then the Nazis wouldn't have been convicted of genocide, just religious persecution.

If your mother was Jewish Woodelf then that makes you half-Jewish regardless of your later upbringing. As with everyone else, whether you are male or female, black or white, Jewish or Christian, you should be proud of who and what you are. Sadly, there are plenty of people around who are not. I hope you are proud of being half-Jewish.

[RATTER15]

You are what you want to be, you don't need to listen to a load of old religious tripe! make your own mind up!!!

[NOX]

Jewish religion and Jewish race or culture are two entirely seperate things, you religious feelings are your own affair, be a Moonie if it appeals to you, but it still doesn't stop you also being Jewish on a racial / cultural level.

[DTCwordfan]

Your inheritance is and you will be welcomed if you wish to prepare for the Barmitzvah - and that will include circumcision. The inheritance line in the faith is through the mother, not the father.

[DTCwordfan]

pinking scissors work well and would give you a different finish - that was what was threatened on me when I married into the faith........obviously not an Orthodox Jewish.....

[NOX]

Actually you don't have to be circumcised to have a Bar Mitzvah DT, although some Rabbi's get irky over it, a lot are more than happy since there is now quite a strong anti circumcision feeling among a lot of Jews ( my wife's sons for instance are not circumcised) and it's becoming increasingly common.

[Kiki-frog]

'Jewishness' is passed down the female line, so in that sense you are Jewish. However, it's your choice what faith or none you follow.

[DTCwordfan]

true Nox but the community here is still very traditional and the pressure will be put on....we tried to cobble a joint faith wedding here many years ago and that was virtually impossible in terms of finding a Rabbi - the wedding was here as my father was seriously ill and died a couple of weeks later...we did find an inter-faith guy in the end that teamed up with our family minister.

[NOX]

Where are you DT?

[DTCwordfan]

Deepest Cornwall - which in itself made life at that time tricky! We managed to shape something really nice though, registry and then a hotel blessing service service - the wedding would have been overseas but the old man was that ill - the outlaws had had experience of not being present at the wedding of their eldest and were gracious to host it here.

[NOX]

Ah Cornwall, well yes, I imagine there is a dearth of Rabbi's in Cornwall generally. We were slap bang in the West End, so we had pretty much the whole of London to mooch about in and things are a bit more progressive there.
Sounds like you had a lovely wedding anyway, which is really the only important thing.

[FredPuli43]

DT,in the cobbled together wedding, was one party expected to convert, or abide by Jewish customs at home? Perhaps the one wanted to do that, and so the other naturally accepted whatever, and to the extent, the first preferred.

The few women I know who married in all converted, and were notable for observing, or at least knowing the details of, Jewish customs more fully than many Jews!

[DTCwordfan]

No, we kept our own and the kids brought up in both customs, neither of us that religious, in my case particularly so.....they have the choice to make their decision when they are mature enough.....and that differs from kid to kid as we know.

[woodelf]

Very Many Thanks to You All for some fascinating answers. I could not, like any other person, choose my existence, but I do appreciate, not the right word, the infinite lineage which I bear, though I do not prescribe to any religion and am more a believer in Mother Nature than anything else, I suppose, but Thank You All again.