Posted on 07/27/2011 4:49:39 PM PDT by SJackson
Gwyneth Paltrow has, at one time or another, announced that she does not believe in religion, is simply spiritual, and is raising her kids Jewish. Perhaps she is a little confused about what she wants to do, or practice, but at the end of the day, does it even matter? I say yes it does.
The Jewish population is getting smaller. With inter-faith marriage, people opting to not have children at all, or simply stepping away from religion entirely, there are less and less Jews every year, so I figure if a woman wants to raise her kids Jewish, who am I to judge?
We need more Jews! Our faith dictates that our religion is passed on from mother to child, so by that criteria, Gwyneth Paltrow is not Jewish, so neither are her kids, so she cannot possibly raise them to be Jews. That is simply a ridiculous argument in any scenario.
Lance Armstrong’s mother was not a champion cyclist, but she raised one. Neil Armstrong’s parents never went to space, but they raised a son to walk on the moon. I have never won an Oscar, but I am raising a child who will be an award-winning actor and director one day.
I am Jewish by birth. My family has been Jewish, on both sides, for as far back as we have been able to trace, so does that qualify me to raise my son Jewish more than Gwyneth is to raise her children Jewish? Are Jews so elitist that we would tell her she can’t do it?
My son spent ten years in a private Jewish Day School and I had to Google half of the holidays they closed for because not only did I not know what the holidays were, but had never heard of them. I eat lobster and make my son cheeseburgers, so am I qualified to raise a Jew?
Paltrow is a big star, people listen to what she says, so if she can make it cool to be Jewish, I say rock on sister. Jews are cool baby. On behalf of my Jewish self, and my Jewish son, I say welcome. Do whatever you want. It’s an important thing to give your children faith.
To clarify, Apple will need to convert if she wants to marry my son, but no worries, you will have done all the legwork so it will just be a formality. In a world where Jews continue to struggle to be accepted, I welcome those who wants to take it on and say to you all, keep the faith.
That sounds like the story of Phineas, as in, "Phineas priest" (q.v.); they take their name from him.
You are wrong. The term "Jew" has been universally applied to all Israel since the days of Ezra. Ask any Cohen or Levi today (both are from the Tribe of Levi, not Judah). They'll identify as Jews, and every Jew on the planet would recognize them as such. Heck, consult your Christian Bible. Paul was from the Tribe of Benjamin. But he clearly identifies as a Jew.
Under Jewish law, a Jew can never forsake his or her obligations to keep the Law of Moses. So a Jew who becomes an apostate is just a bad Jew, not a non-Jew. The child of a bad female Jew is a Jew.
I once asked a Jewish acquaintance if there were any identifiable remnants left today of the Tribe of Dan -- there is some reason to believe that they were Danuna (Egyptian name for them, the Phoenicians called them dynnm), identifiable with the Greek Danawoi, or "Danaans", who were the actual people who brought the Greek language from the steppes of Russia to the land of Hellas. Moreover, out on the steppe, they may have been the enemy people identified by the Vedic hymns as the Danawo.
If so, then these Danaans are mentioned in the Vedas, are the authors of Greek civilization and are prime actors in the Iliad and Odyssey, had their images and their names carved in the Ramessid monuments of Egypt, and came at last to the Bible as the Tribe of Dan -- certainly the most spectacularly rich patrimony of any identifiable people on earth.
The answer is "yes," but very few. It is a myth that 10 tribes disappeared completely. The Bible is pretty clear that four tribes survived largely intact (Judah, Benjamin, Levi and Shimon), and that refugees from the other tribes flooded the Kingdom of Judah after Israel got overrun. And Assyrian records make clear that they deported only about 27,000 people -- mostly the nobility and young strong men.
Over time, however, tribal identifications almost entirely got lost, and nearly everyone started identifying themselves as Jewish, thanks to Judah's size and wealth. You see a similar phenomenon today in various Jewish communities. In Brooklyn, for example, the big Sephardic Jewish community largely self-identifies as "Syrian," even though many of the people who call themselves "Syrians" actually have their roots in Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq.
A small handful of families, however, diligently preserved oral traditions of tribal affiliations. I once knew an Iraqi Jew, for instance, who's mother's maiden name was "Dani." Her family had a tradition of being from the Tribe of Dan.
I should also add that the Ethiopian community identifies itself as the Tribe of Dan, and that some prominent Rabbis, such as Ovadia Yosef, fervently back that claim. I’m more skeptical. I think the Ethiopians have their origin almost entirely from converts, as the genetic evidence supports, albeit converts from a very, very long time ago.
Then she is the heiress of a tradition of which I stand in special awe, even though she may not be aware of it herself. Her people are very, very special. And living in Iraq, it turns out they weren't all that terribly far from the countryside of their origins, out on the steppes north and northeast of the Caspian Sea.
Before that, of course, they were part of the Proto-Indo-European-speaking Yamnaya or Kurgan Culture, 4300 years ago, and before that, of the Sredny Stog culture which appeared on the shores of the Black Sea, somewhere around the outfall of the River Bug, 7400 years ago, or just after the Black Sea basin filled up. (They might have been living down in the basin before that, who knows?)
Yep, he converted. Went though the whole deal and didn’t back out.
Yep. Until Abraham, G-d had made no everlasting convenant to anyone specific inhabiting the earth.
I thought Divine had died.
“if either parent is Jewish you are considered 1/2 Jewish.”
Ah, the “Jewish according to Hitler” test.
“But to be a Jew, you must be from the line of Judah. Others are followers of the Jewish faith.”
So me, a lowly Cohen of the Tribe of Levi, is not Jewish?
Sorry, you may have a point in the original technical sense of the word, but for 2500 years or so, that’s a distinction without a difference.
“And to be entirely truthful, Jews have always looked down their noses at converts.”
Abraham and Sarah were converts, so no.
It is a specific mitzvah to accept and treat Jews-by-choice (real ones, with the mikvah and everything) the same as every born Jews.
A convert’s soul was present at Mt. Sinai and accepted the covenent, just like mine.
SO then actually what you are saying is that people are born as Jews and Gentiles even if your Mother is a Muslim and Father is a Jew you are still born a *Gentile*?
Judaism I suppose is the only religion you can be born into and become that automatically upon your birth from your birth mother...
To be a Christian you have to make a decision all on your own to convert to the gospel of Jesus Christ..
Islam I am un-sure if they convert or are forced automatically by there Muslim parents..
On thing that is interesting in the Book of Revelation is it says” The temple in Israel will be over-run by the gentiles which could be Arabs, Atheists or Pagans....
Sorry, I am not buying the Abraham was a “convert” story.
“Sorry, I am not buying the Abraham was a “convert” story.”
So you are not buying the Bible/Torah?
OK. Suit yourself.
What's with the red stings?
Roite bindele. It’s B.S. and no legitimate source.
That said, it’s a an OLD tradition. My great-great grandmother used to wear one on her left hand. Some B.S. regarding the evil eye.
Peasant stuff. Witchcraft posing as Judaism.
Evil eye? I’ll google that one... Thanks for sharing.
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