Jewishness is holistic and multifaceted. There are no wrong answers to this question, and I would not take away from any or all of the above. The article suggests the difficulty in getting a handle on the topic.
I believe in Judaism the answer is always the bigger picture, as with "Shnei kesuvim hamach’chishin".
In the past, no one asked the question of 'Who is a Jew'? Since at least the advent of Reform rejecting nationality, public perception is variously tied to race, ethnicity, culture, DNA, residency, sovereignty, affiliation etc. Moreover, every discussion of Jews in any of those terms will be confused by dissention focused on one of the others.
However, Torah explicitly uses the terms for nation and citizenship numerous times.
Therefore, my preferred formula to relatably present Jewish status is as a legal matter. A Jew is a loyal and law-abiding citizen under classic Jewish law of the Israelite/Jewish national collective.
Most of us are natural-born citizens, and some are naturalized or descended from naturalized citizens.
Conversion is no other than a citizenship naturalization process, and the Beis Din acts as an authoritative agency of the process.
Criteria and implementation details obviously differ from generic or secular naturalization in modern Western democracies, but are reasonably distinctive as compared to other historic and contemporary societies.
Jewishness is holistic and multifaceted. There are no wrong answers to this question, and I would not take away from any or all of the above. The article suggests the difficulty in getting a handle on the topic.
I believe in Judaism the answer is always the bigger picture, as with "Shnei kesuvim hamach’chishin".
In the past, no one asked the question of 'Who is a Jew'? Since at least the advent of Reform rejecting nationality, public perception is variously tied to race, ethnicity, culture, DNA, residency, sovereignty, affiliation etc. Moreover, every discussion of Jews in any of those terms will be confused by dissention focused on one of the others.
However, Torah explicitly uses the terms for nation and citizenship numerous times.
Therefore, my preferred formula to relatably present Jewish status is as a legal matter. A Jew is a loyal and law-abiding citizen under classic Jewish law of the Israelite/Jewish national collective.
Most of us are natural-born citizens, and some are naturalized or descended from naturalized citizens.
Conversion is no other than a citizenship naturalization process, and the Beis Din acts as an authoritative agency of the process.
Criteria and implementation details obviously differ from generic or secular naturalization in modern Western democracies, but are reasonably distinctive as compared to other historic and contemporary societies.
It's a long process
https://open.substack.com/pub/marlowe1/p/the-witching-snakes-pt-30?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=sllf3
No one wants to.eat at the mikvah, especially when they are naked.
https://open.substack.com/pub/marlowe1/p/the-witching-snakes-pt-30?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=sllf3