Who is a Jew?

Who is a Jew?
Name	Who is a Jew?
Caption	Diverse Jewish communities
Region	Israel, United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, Germany
Language	Hebrew language, Yiddish language, Ladino language, Judeo-Arabic
Scriptures	Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Mishnah
Related	Judaism, Zionism, Diaspora Judaism, Sephardi Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews

Who is a Jew? is a question that encompasses religious law, ethnic descent, cultural identity, and civil status, with different answers in contexts such as Halakha, national law, and individual self-identification. Debates about the definition have influenced institutions like the State of Israel, movements such as Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Orthodox Judaism, and public controversies involving entities like United Nations organs and national courts.

Definitions and criteria

Scholars and institutions offer multiple criteria drawn from sources including Rabbi Akiva-era tradition, rulings of sages such as Maimonides, decisions by bodies like the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and modern rulings from courts such as the Supreme Court of Israel. Legal debates have engaged jurists and politicians from Theodor Herzl to Menachem Begin and affected laws like the Law of Return 1950 and amendments influenced by cases involving figures such as Shlomo Amar, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and litigants before the High Court of Justice (Israel). Anthropologists and historians referencing populations like Khazars, Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazim, and Ethiopian Jews also contribute criteria tied to descent, community affiliation, and continuous practice cited in studies by Salo W. Baron, Benny Morris, and Bialik.

Religious law (Halacha)

Under classical Halakha, descent from a Jewish mother determines status, a principle discussed by medieval authorities like Rambam (Maimonides) and Rif and codified by later poskim such as Rabbi Joseph Karo in the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbinic debates involving figures such as Rashi, Nahmanides, Rabbi Moses Isserles, and modern decisors including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik address issues of matrilineal descent, patrilineal claims, and the status of converts. Halakhic processes for conversion and questions of apostasy were adjudicated historically by courts like the Sanhedrin and in modern times by rabbinates in cities such as Jerusalem, New York City, London, and Buenos Aires.

Ancestry, ethnicity, and peoplehood

Ethnogenesis of Jewish groups—Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East, and other populations including Beta Israel, Crimean Karaites, and descendants linked to Bene Israel—shows a complex interplay of genealogy, migration, and conversion. Scholars like Geneticist Harry Ostrer and historians like Shlomo Sand and Paul Johnson have debated genetic continuity, while populations in places such as Poland, Spain, Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, India, Ethiopia, China (Kaifeng Jews), and Rome reveal diverse ancestries. Movements asserting Jewish identity—e.g., Bnei Menashe, Lemba people, and Ethiopian Jews—interact with rabbinic authorities, state institutions like Knesset committees, and NGOs such as World Jewish Congress.

Secular and legal definitions (citizenship, civil law)

Civic definitions vary: the Law of Return grants immigration rights to those with at least one Jewish grandparent or who are married to a Jew, creating tensions with halakhic standards as adjudicated by bodies like the Supreme Court of Israel and offices including the Ministry of Interior (Israel). Diaspora states address Jewish status differently: United States immigration policy, court decisions involving figures like Elie Wiesel and organizations such as American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League influence recognition and civil rights; France and Germany deal with restitution and community recognition via institutions like the Central Council of Jews in Germany and legal frameworks stemming from post-World War II jurisprudence and rulings about provenance examined in cases connected to Nazi-era confiscations. National censuses, municipal records in cities like Buenos Aires and Cape Town, and synagogue membership rolls shape communal recognition.

Conversion processes and recognition

Conversion pathways differ across movements: Orthodox conversions typically follow standards set by rabbinical courts (batei din) and authorities like Rabbinical Council of America; Conservative conversions are overseen by the Rabbinical Assembly and institutions including Jewish Theological Seminary; Reform conversions are administered by bodies such as the Union for Reform Judaism and programs at Hebrew Union College. State recognition of conversions has led to disputes involving figures like Menachem Porush and institutions such as the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and foreign ministries. High-profile conversion controversies have involved immigrants from Ethiopia, India (Bene Israel), and Soviet Union aliyah, with NGOs like Mizrachi and Jewish Agency for Israel mediating processes.

Identity, culture, and self-identification

Jewish identity is expressed through religious practice, language, literature, and institutions: cultural icons include writers such as Isaac Bashevis Singer, Sholem Aleichem, Elie Wiesel, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, musicians like Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, and activists from Hannah Arendt to Simon Wiesenthal. Community organizations—Synagogue Council of America, Hadassah, Jewish National Fund—and educational institutions such as Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yeshiva University, Bar-Ilan University, and Brandeis University shape communal life. Self-identification debates surface in literature by Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, and sociologists like Barry Kosmin; political figures from Golda Meir to Benjamin Netanyahu have engaged identity questions in policy. Contemporary dialogues examine hybridity, secular Jews in cities like Tel Aviv and New York City, and revival movements in places such as Berlin and Buenos Aires.

Category:Judaism