Shlama l'kulkhon James Trimm wrote: >MANY people have, like myself, learned >that some of their ancestors >were ethinc Jews who lived >as Christians, often for acceptance >in a Christian world. >This is NOT unussual at >all. That may be, but in the orthodox community, that wouldnt fly for one second! You would not be considered Jewish by ANY orthodox Jewish synagogue or community if you walked in with such a preposterous claim! You are more than welcome to convert, but if you havent converted under the authority of an Orthodox Rabbi, you are by no means Jewish! And to go around claiming to be a Jew simply because some of your distant ancestors MAY have been Jewish, coupled with limited exposure to a synagogue is irresponsible, especially from someone in a position of authority. Do you, James Trimm, qualify to make Aliya to Israel as a Jew?? Was your marriage to your Jewish wife recognized by the state of Israel? Do you have a Ketuba signed an orthodox Rabbi? If you were a Jew, you would and you could! But it seems that you are stretching every definition in order to establish yourself as a Jew in order to gain recognition and credibility. Dont you realize that you'd be laughed out of any orthodox synagogue? Its very simple -you either converted to orthodox Judaism or your mother was a Jew. WHICH ONE WAS IT? Based on what you've written thus far, you dont qualify on either count. Someone who claims to know and teach Halakha should know better than to formulate such sloppy & deceptive reasoning. Lets just distill it down to these two qualifications, shall we? 1)IS YOUR MOTHER A RECOGNIZED JEW BY THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY? or 2) WERE YOU CONVERTED TO JUDAISM BY A RECOGNIZED ORTHODOX JEWISH RABBI? If you cannot answer "yes" to at least one of the above questions, I encourage you to stop falsely claiming Jewish identity. YOU ARE NOT A JEW. Additionally, if you answered yes to question #2 only, than I encourage you to stop claiming Jewish ancestry! YOU ARE NOT A JEW BY BIRTH. Anything short of the two qualifications above renders you a non-Jew in the eyes of the orthodox Jewish community. And the orthodox Jewish community has been the sole representative of Historic Judaism since the first century. Now some might wonder well what about the other branches of Judaism Conservative and Reformed. Firstly, either other branch would throw out the distant ancestor theory as well as the Jew-by-Osmosis theory (i.e. I hung around a synagogue since age 14 story) The only real difference between the other Jewish branches deals with some accepting ones father as the determining factor and conversion by other groups are generally accepted by all groups except the orthodox. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not being Jewish. What is wrong is the Hijacking of an entire nationality and religious identity, claiming it as your own and redefining it! -Dean
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