Way back in 2000 I thought I had learned that I had a Jewish ancestor, whom I was connected to via a purely maternal line. I made the following thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=11778&page=1&pp=50&highlight=israel
(warning: this thread is so old the msgs are displayed in the wrong order, so it’s tough to make sense of it)
I learned in that thread that since the line was purely maternal, by Jewish tradition I was as Jewish as anybody.
Well, the only way my life really changed was that I felt freer to make Cartman-esque Jewish jokes to a Jewish friend of mine. Yeah, kinda like on that Seinfeld episode.
Well guess what? I found out last weekend that my grandmother looked into it further, and now she says this ancestor was not Jewish. I don’t know the details, but now she says we are not Jewish in any way.
I’ll try to get details from my grandmother this Christmas, but she’s not the easiest person to communicate with. I may never actually get a straight answer on this. Not that it’s hugely important or anything, I’d just like to get the facts about my ancestry.
