Negotiating Jewishness through genetic testing in the State of Israel
The Israeli State recently announced that it may begin to use genetic tests to determine whether potential immigrants are Jewish or not. This development would demand a rethinking of Israeli law on the issue of the definition of Jewishness.
just my thought .. being a jew .. is it a religion or a genetic marker from a past time. i thought anyone could convert .
I suspect the issue isn't "the definition of Jewishness". Israel already extends the right of return to people who have Jewish ancestry but who are not Jewish according to how Judaism has traditionally defined Jewishness. For example if your father was Jewish but not your mother you can emigrate to Israel under the right of return even though you are not Jewish. I'm not sure how far back this extends (grandparents maybe?), but basically if you would have been persecuted as being Jewish in natzi Germany then you qualify regardless of whether or not you are actually Jewish..
This could clear up issues with people who don't have proof of their ancestry but wish to apply under the right of return. Judaism will continue to define a Jew as someone with a Jewish mother or someone who has undergone conversion.
@robb65 traditionally, the religion has passed through the mother, if you have a Jewish mother you are considered Jewish. The tribe is dependent upon the father though. Then there are Eastern European Jews, generally Ashkenazi, and western Europe, Sephardic.
@robb65 The right of aliyah was extended to those who technically weren Jews because their mothers weren't Jews. This was because the Nazis killed those who had Jews in their ancestry even if their grandfathers had converted out or only their fathers were Jews. The thought was that if THEY could be killed for being Jews, they could be accepted.
Welll, Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group. Yes, people can convert to Judaism (how easy it is depends on the branch of Judaism,), however Jewishness is also a culture with language, history, folklore.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, it caused a major exodus from the Levant.
Those who left to Central and Eastern are the Ashkenazi Jewish people. Interestingly, while they have Levantinr ancestry, they also have a lot of Southern European ancestry according to genetics.
Those who had ancestors who lived in Spain, Portugal and North Africa are the Sephardic Jews. They have more Levantine ancestry.
Finally, the Jewish people who remained - the Mizrachi Jews, are the closest genetically to the earliest Jewish people. Interestingly, their genetics are extremely close to Lebanese, Palestinians, Assyrians and Syrians.
@Roundandroundwego funny how someone who throws apartheid around so easily wouldn't be activist at all about the unis in his own country (Harvard, U of PA, Stanford among others) actually practicing it. Is ironic the word I'm looking for -- or hypocritical. And I doubt if such a law would pass.
@nickir my hypocrisy justifies things in US universities for you. Seems normal! I threw a word? Nah. I'm very good in the English language. Everyone knows about the genocide and the denial.
It used to be a religion, but as time went on, it kinda morphed into an ethnicity. Jewishness was defined by commitment to Talmudic Judaism, but then it started being defined by if your ancestors practiced Judaism. The same thing happened with the Copts, a sect of Christianity which became an ethnic group.
@JimboSaturn At the United Nations This Week, It’s Trump and Netanyahu vs. the World .. and my president was just nuts.. sorry world on behalf of the american people
@vic7ory Funny how the the Hebes knew to conspire against Christians 600 years (BEFORE Jesus was BORN) (when the Bible was written down, 1200 years AFTER Abraham founded it). I'm thinking they may be so good you should just give up & surrender!
