Resumo de Who Is A Jew? (hebrew: ????? ?????)

Who is a Jew? (Hebrew: ????? ?????) is the name of the religious, social and political debate on the exact definition of which persons can be called Jewish. As Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, a religion, an ethnicity, and a culture, the definition of who is a Jew may vary, depending on whether a religious, sociological, or national approach to identity is used. "Who is a Jew?" has also become a well-known rhetorical question within Judaism, referring to a cultural and religious battle to define who can be described as truly being a "Jew" and what the "correct" definition for being "Jewish" actually is.
Within the Jewish community
According to Halakha (Jewish law and traditions), only a child born to a Jewish mother is counted as Jewish. A child with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is considered a non-Jew. Although an infant conversion might be contemplated in some circumstances (such as in the case of adopted children or children whose parents convert), children who convert would typically be asked if they want to remain Jewish after reaching religious adulthood, which is 12 years old for a girl, 13 for a boy. This standard is applied within Conservative and Orthodox Judaism.
Ultimately, according to Halakha, a Jew is anyone who has the yoke of Torah. That yoke is acquired in two ways; either by being born of a woman who already has the yoke, or by taking on the yoke voluntarily, i.e. conversion. It is for this reason a baby donated as an egg or as an embryo, by a non-Jewish woman, is birthed by a Jewish woman as a Jew and does not require conversion. This clarification dispels the idea that Jewishness is genetic or ethnic. It has its basis in Torah. Therefore it is impossible to reject Torah and continue to define one as a Jew.
Jewish denominations that do not accept Halakha as normative have adopted different standards. The Reform movement in the United States (though not elsewhere) considers anyone Jewish who has at least one Jewish parent; but if there is only one Jewish parent, the person has to affirm his/her Jewish identity to maintain this status.
Though there is also controversy surrounding conversion to Judaism, all religious movements accept converts fully as Jews.
In liberal secular societies
Members of most secular societies accept someone as a Jew if he says that he is, unless they have reason to believe that the person is misrepresenting himself for some reason. Some members of the reform movement within Judaism have also adopted this viewpoint.
In societies with race laws or traditions
Whether someone is viewed as a Jew may make the difference as to whether a person may have a certain job, live in certain locations, receive a free education, live or continue to live in the country, or even be imprisoned or officially murdered. Within Roman Catholicism, especially in times such as the Inquisition, it was usually considered that if Jewish people made a sincere conversion to Christianity, they were no longer legally regarded as Jews. In Nazi Germany, being a Jew was considered as a racial designation, and one could not become a non-Jew in the eyes of the government by being non-practicing, marrying outside the religion, or converting to Christianity. If one grandparent, either male or female, were Jewish, even someone who actually adhered to the Christian faith could be subject to the race laws.
In modern Israel
The phrase Mihu Yehudi (transliterated from Hebrew: ????? ????? "Who is a Jew?") came into widespread use when several high profile legal cases in Israel grappled with this subject after the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. These legal cases arose because being Jewish is not simply a matter of subscribing to a set of religious beliefs. For a variety of reasons related to Jewish history, Judaism's religious laws, and cultural norms, being a Jew involves being part of a people, ora nation in modern terminology. For most, it is a product of their birth when they are born into a Jewish family; for others, becoming Jewish involves applying and formally "converting" to Judaism. Identifying who is a Jew matters for religious reasons as well. A valid Jewish marriage can only exist between two Jews; a traditional minyan (the quorum required for communal prayers), can only be formed with ten adult Jews (necessarily male according to Orthodox authorities).
According to Jewish tradition, the first converts were Abraham and Sarah, and Biblical and post-Biblical literature provide numerous examples of individuals, such as Ruth, and Onkelos, who joined the Jewish people for a variety of reasons.
All Jewish denominations and groups within the Jewish community agree that it is possible for virtually anyone to become a Jew, but since the mid 20th century there has been increasing disagreement about what precisely determines whether someone is born Jewish, or what it would take to join the Jewish people.

Resumos Relacionados