@djjd62,
djjd62 wrote:
unless i'm wrong, the bloodline follows from the women
i was always under the impression that a jewish women could have children considered with a gentile and the children were considered jewish, but the children of a jewish man who had children with a gentile weren't considered jewish
if this is so, i was using it to illustrate my point, that before the advent of advanced genetic testing, an observed birth could prove maternity, but nothing could prove paternity
Well, you are right from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, I believe, in that a child with a Jewish mother (born Jewish or converted by Orthodox ceremony) is considered Jewish. A child with a Gentile mother and Jewish father is not Jewish at birth. However, if that child is a boy and gets circumcised and Bar Mitzvahed, he became Jewish. And, a girl could similarly get Bas Mitzvahed. Now, this is in context of the watered down version of Judaism that I am familiar with. Orthodox, or Ultra-Orthodox might not play by these rules?
However, a child with a Gentile mother and Jewish father still has to live in society, and therefore many people do consider that child "half Jewish." I was asked by some people if I am "half-Jewish." Why? Perhaps, I did not fit a stereotype of what they though a Jew should look like? And, if I've spoken a little Spanish to an Hispanic, they might ask if I am "Spanish" or "half-Spanish."
Now that we have genetic testing, the day will come when people will learn that they had ancestors that they would have never guessed.
