What a blessing!
Mazel tov!
I never heard the phrase Schrodinger Jew before and Google doesn’t help. Please explain.
It’s my own invention.
For many years I was not sure if my mother actually converted or not, although my father was born Jewish. This resulted in a situation where whether or not I was considered Jewish was dependent upon the observer, akin to how the status of Schrödinger’s cat was dependent upon observation.
There are, no doubt, still some extremely conservative Jews who would not accept my mother’s conversion but it has been resolved to my satisfaction.
Has someone ever argued to your face that you were not a “real” Jew? You have to show people a note or something??
Yes, I have had that to my face more than once. Not in the present company I keep.
Sorry to hear that, seriously. BTW do you have any idea if Muslims tend to be more/less/about the same willing to accept someone’s word that they are of that faith?
If your mother is Jewish, you are Jewish.
In general,
Reform says that if your father is Jewish and your mother isn’t but you have a Jewish identity, you are Jewish.
Conservative says if your mother converts before you are born, your mother is Jewish.
Orthodox says if your mother converts before you are born, your mother is Jewish but it has to be an Orthodox conversion. At least the more extreme ones.
So for the overwhelming majority of Jewish people, @Broomstick is official. A very large majority would never have not considered her Jewish even prior to that knowledge.
Aside: I never really understood that phrase until a friend of mine died a year ago. But on looking back, all of my memories of time with him are happy ones, and in my mental image of him himself, he’s laughing. Whenever I think of him, I cry, but I smile. So, yes, his memory is a blessing.
If it matters to you, then of course it matters to us!
… and I can’t think of much more important than a name & an identity.
My mother’s conversion was Reform. This would be recognized by both Reform and Conservative Jews.
15% of Jews world wide are Orthodox and still would not consider me Jewish.
10% of Jews world wide are Sephardic and still would not consider me Jewish.
The current Israeli Minister of Finance would not consider me Jewish even now and my parents’ marriage an abomination.
The current Israeli Minister of Security would also deny me as a Jew.
I may be Jewish to the majority of the Jews in the world today but despite that I am, apparently, not welcome in Israel (to certain government officials - I expect the average Israeli wouldn’t care one way or the other outside of extremists). So even now my status is questionable, but not as questionable as I thought it was.
Nope, it’s pretty uniform that the Orthodox only recognized Orthodox conversions, not just the extremists. However, the Orthodox Jews I associate with, even if they don’t think I am actually Jewish, have no issue with me as a person, acknowledge that I am related to the “tribe” and have to deal with anti-Semitism just as they do, and have been welcoming towards me. And my descent from a Reform convert keeps the Chabad from bothering me about living like they do. Likewise, although the few Sephardic Jews I have met would not consider me Jewish they, too, acknowledge that there is a relationship there. By and large, it’s not an issue.
The synagogue I attend in the area from time to time is Reform. The Conservative and Orthodox folks in the area have made it clear I am welcome to attend services. So by and large they’re all pretty cool with me hanging around.
How does one say, “Ah, fuck 'em both!” in Hebrew?
Moderating:
I’m not sure what you intended this to mean, but it is really misplaced in this thread, which is both serious and heartfelt.
Indeed but you could emigrate and no one would be the wiser. Not defending them, obviously.
Why would I want to emigrate to Israel? I’m an American. I get that many Jews do feel a special attachment to Israel but I don’t happen to be one of them.
Honestly, not even inclined to visit at this point, engaging in tourism in a nation at war doesn’t strike me as a good idea. I pointed that out as an illustration as to how my Jewishness might still be questioned, not from any actual feelings of attachment to a land my family left at least 1800 years ago. I don’t have any feelings of attachment to Ireland, Germany, or Russia either, all nations I’ve had ancestors live in more recently than in Israel. Although it’s sad that a nation that is supposed to be a haven for Jews now seems intent on rejecting millions of them for not being Jewish enough.
This is lovely news. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Nor do I. I would only go there if it was my last possible escape. I was just saying that in the hypothetical, you wouldn’t be kept out.
Just saying, you do not have to be Jewish to go to Israel. A friend of mine recently took on a job there. He is not Jewish, not Jew-adjacent, not Palestinian, not Schroedinger anything, not sort of interested; what he is is an employee of an Israeli company.
Obviously. Pretty much anyone can visit. We were discussing emigration which is automatic for Jews.
Exactly.
Jews are automatically allowed in.
Non-Jews not so much.
Here’s the difference: a non-Jew has to obtain permission to enter Israel (visa), get permission for permanent residency, move to Israel, live there three years, demonstrate proficiency in Hebrew, and renounce their prior citizenship to become an Israeli citizen. Unless they’re Palestinian, then there are additional barriers to citizenship even if they were born within the borders of Israel.
A Jew just has to set foot in Israel and >boom< instant citizen. In Israel only Jews are legally allowed to have dual citizenship.
There are now people in the Israeli government who want to declare millions of Jews to be non-Jewish and therefore no longer entitled to entry. Would not surprise me if they’d also like to strip citizenship from quite a few of those people or force them to undergo “conversion” on their terms.