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 .
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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.
