ICJudaism: A Teacher’s Guide to Judaism

      Hosted by ICTeachers                                                                Formerly: Mike’s Rough Guide to Judaism

Disclaimer:

The contents of these pages represent the author’s personal views, experience and understanding.
There are bound to be some things here that some Jews would disagree with.

 

What is Judaism? 2

What is a Jew? Who is a Jew?

There is no single definition of Jewishness that would be agreed by all Jews. It is certainly not as simple as belief in one God; whilst many Jews would say that a person who doesn’t believe cannot be a Jew, many others would say that belief is not necessary at all. Judaism is sometimes referred to as an ethno-religion.

Jewish Law and custom hold that Jewish status is matrilineal ie. you are Jewish if your mother is Jewish (the idea being that you can know who a person’s mother is but cannot be a certain about his / her father). Increasing numbers of progressive communities now accept children of Jewish men as Jewish (as was the case in Biblical times) ie. you are Jewish is either of our parents are Jewish.

Most Jews would agree that, if there is a defining factor, it is that of belonging to the Jewish people, the Kehillah (Community) of Israel (not the country - the people). This belonging is as much about a sense of shared history, culture, continuity and connectedness as it is about belief.

Whilst the majority of Jews would probably count themselves as believers, a significant minority would claim to be “Jewish Atheists” or “Jewish Agnostics” - but still Jewish.

Conversion

Judaism does not seek converts, nor is membership denied to a person who can show serious commitment to becoming Jewish. To be accepted as a convert to Judaism usually requires a great deal of study and experience of all aspects of Judaism (eg studying Torah and Hebrew, regular synagogue attendance to experience and understand the whole annual cycle of observance, and much more) and, finally, acceptance by a Beit Din (Religious Court). To get an idea of the journey to conversion in a progressive community see www.wimshul.org/introduction-to-judaism/ (opens in a new page)

Orthodox Judaism is considerably stricter on the matter of conversion, insisting on a much longer (several years) and more rigorous programme of preparation. A serious difficulty for those whose conversion is through a progressive Beit Din is that such converts are not recognised as Jews by Orthodox Judaism.

Once certified by a Beit Din a convert will be welcomed and fully accepted by the community - that a member is a Jew-by-choice is not a matter of particular note.

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