{"id":188,"date":"2006-11-27T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-27T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/11\/jewish-genes-vs-jewish-identity.html"},"modified":"2006-11-27T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-27T19:30:00","slug":"jewish-genes-vs-jewish-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/11\/jewish-genes-vs-jewish-identity.html","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Genes vs. Jewish Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

There have always been two sides to the “Who is a Jew?” question<\/a>. There are those who identify Jews primarily through blood and genetics, and those who see being a Jew as being more about choosing to identify with the Jewish people and adopt a certain lifestyle.<\/p>\n

With an intermarriage rate hovering around 50 percent, Diaspora Jewry has for the most part adopted choice and lifestyle as their determining criteria for who is a Jew. On the other hand, the Israeli chief rabbinate continues to privilege blood and genetics<\/a>, rejecting Reform, Conservative, and even many Orthodox conversions.<\/p>\n

This past week, the chief rabbinate’s blood-and-genetics position was put on display.
After years of political negotiations, historical research, and genetic testing, Israel welcomed the Bnei Menashe<\/a>. The Indian group, which claims to be descended from one of the 10 lost tribes, was allowed entry into the country under the Law of Return<\/a>. At the same time, however, that the chief rabbinate was opening it arms, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar proposed <\/a>denying the Law of Return to anyone not born of a Jewish mother. Only Jews born Jewish would be eligible for automatic citizenship; all others would have to apply through the regular channels.<\/p>\n

Many in Israel laughed<\/a> at the whole Bnei Menashe episode. One commentator in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz<\/a> described the story of these long-lost Jews as comparable to fables such as “Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, or…Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs.”<\/p>\n

But these commentators’ criticisms are misplaced. Their issue should not be the absurdity of the Bnei Menashe story, but rather with a system that continues to privilege a form of identity that Jews worldwide are increasing moving away from. While the chief rabbinate continues to stress blood, Diaspora Jews are increasingly seeing Judaism as being about a way of life (and not about one’s DNA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have always been two sides to the “Who is a Jew?” question. There are those who identify Jews primarily through blood and genetics, and those who see being a Jew as being more about choosing to identify with the Jewish people and adopt a certain lifestyle. With an intermarriage rate hovering around 50 percent,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nJewish Genes vs. Jewish Identity - Virtual Talmud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/11\/jewish-genes-vs-jewish-identity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jewish Genes vs. Jewish Identity - Virtual Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There have always been two sides to the “Who is a Jew?” question. 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