It isn't as simple as you are trying to make it. Because there are elements of ethnicity, religion and culture involved that aren't as distinct as in Western culture, there exists a difficult balance. It isn't either-or.
"Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension." (Daniel Boyarin)
My son has been dating a Jewish woman for over two years, and we became interested in what this might mean for them and their children.
Conversion is not simple. CHristians can convert easily by accepting Jesus, but becoming a Jew involves a great deal of formal study. Some conversions aren't accepted by other branches of Judaism. It is definitely not just a matter of saying, I believe.
As the Jewish identity shares some of the characteristics of an ethnicity and a religion, the definitions of a Jew may vary, depending on whether a religious, sociological, or ethnic approach to identity is used. Throughout the Jewish history, Jews have been characterized in many different lights.
According to most definitions, a Jew is either born into the Jewish people, or becomes one through religious conversion. The debate centers around some of the following questions:
Mixed parentage debate - tries to identify when people with mixed parentage should be considered Jewish, and when they should not be.
Conversion debate - centers around the process of religious conversion in an attempt to specify which conversions to Judaism should be considered valid, and which should not.
Life circumstances debate - focuses on whether people's actions (such as conversion to a different religion) or circumstances in their lives (such as being unaware of Jewish parentage) affect their status as a Jew.
According to Halakha (Jewish law), only a convert or a child born to a Jewish mother is counted as Jewish. A child with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is considered a non-Jew. Although an infant conversion might be contemplated in some circumstances (such as in the case of adopted children or children whose parents convert), children who convert would typically be asked if they want to remain Jewish after reaching religious adulthood, which is 12 years old for a girl, 13 for a boy. This standard is applied within Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, which accept Halakha as normative (although differing in their interpretations).
Other Jewish denominations, which do not accept Halakha (Jewish law) as normative, have adopted different standards. American Reform Judaism and British Liberal Judaism accept the child of one Jewish parent (father or mother) as Jewish if the parents raise the child as a Jew by Progressive standards. All mainstream forms of Judaism today are open to sincere converts.
Though there is also controversy surrounding conversion to Judaism, all religious movements accept converts converted by their denominations fully as Jews.< |
