Expert: Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine - 5/21/2011

Question
Hello Rabbi Yochanan Levine,according to the Old Testement what make a person Jewish.I have heard that a person is only Jewish if their mother is Jewish. Does it say this in the Old Testement anywhere? thank you.

Answer
Hi Simon,

Its important to understand that Judaism is not a static religion. In the Torah we find "Israelites" -- the 12 Houses -- however after the Babylonian exile 10 of the Houses were "divorced" by God leaving the Houses of Judah and Benjamin. "Jews" are those of this remaining dual House.  

According to rabbinic Judaism (the largest sect: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionst, Tikun, Hasidism etc) one is accepted as Jewish if:

Ones biological mother is Jewish
Or
One formally converts to Judaism. Not all Jews accept all conversions.

Being Jewish is not about believing what Jews believe or doing what Jews do. One must formally convert into Judaism if one is not born of a Jewish mother to be accepted as a Jew.  


According to Karaite Judaism (aka Karaism) one is Jewish if ones father is Jewish
Or
One formally converts to Judaism.

The Rabbinic view is based more on the Oral Torah (i.e. Talmud and Mishna) than on the Written (i.e. the Tanakh or "Old Testament").

The Torah does not directly address this question however there are several passages that show the child of a Jewish woman and a non-Jewish man is accepted as a Jew, while several other passages show that the child of a non-Jewish woman and a Jewish man is not accepted as a Jew. For instance:

Deuteronomy 7:1-5, forbids intermarriage and says" "he [i.e., the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." No such concern is expressed about the child of a non-Jewish female spouse. From this, we infer that the child of a non-Jewish male spouse is Jewish (and can therefore be turned away from Judaism), but the child of a non-Jewish female spouse is not Jewish (and therefore turning away is not an issue).

Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man as being "among the community of Israel" (i.e., a Jew).

On the other hand, in Ezra 10:2-3, the Jews returning to Israel vowed to put aside their non-Jewish wives and the children born to those wives. They could not have put aside those children if those children were Jews.

So while this is spelled out clearly in the Oral Torah, it is not without support in the Written Bible.

As authentic Messianic Jews we accept as Jews:

Everyone accepted as Jewish by Rabbinic and/or Karaite Judaism
Or
Those who formally convert to authentic Messianic Judaism through a system we accept as authentic. This does bring beliefs into question. Converts through all forms of Judaism must come to understand the essential beliefs and agree to live as Jews. Each Movement of Judaism chooses whom they will accept among the converts and none of the non-Messianic movements accept the converts of Messianic Judaism.

If one wishes to convert to non-Messianic Judaism one should consider doing so through the Orthodox as their conversion requirements are accepted by most Jewish movements.

Those who convert through Conservative, Reform and so will often not be accepted by the Orthodox.

If you are interested in learning authentic Messianic Judaism we invite you to consider our free online yeshiva (school) of Messianic Judaism: http://templebethhashem.org/yeshiva

I hope this has been helpful,

Shalom,
~ Messianic Rabbi Yochanan