Judaism Options

[pebkac]

Ok, isn't it determined whether you're jewish or not based on your mother?

I just found out that my mother's mother's mother was jewish. Does that technically make me a jew too?

[Spectatrix]

From Wiki (the pinnacle of human civilization):

The North American and British Reform movement has changed some of the traditional requirements for a Jewish identity in two ways: (1) Children born of just one Jewish parent — regardless of whether the father or mother is Jewish — can claim a Jewish identity. A child of only one Jewish parent who does not claim this identity has, in the eyes of the Reform movement, forfeited his/her Jewish identity. By contrast, the traditional view is that any child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, whether or not he/she is raised Jewish, or even whether the mother considers herself Jewish.

So, yes or no depending on whether you go by Orthodox or Reform rules. And if your great-grandmother was a Jew by conversion, it still doesn't count by Orthodox law.

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Nov 26 2006, 10:12 AM