A child of a Jewish mother and a Mexican Father is Jewish. (It really doesn't matter if the Jewish mother is Sephardic or Ashkenazi, or Mountain Jew, etc). quote]
They're also Mexican, Q...and that's coming from the mouths of many who are Mexican Jews (just as there are others who are Nigerian Jews, Jamaican Jews, Indian Jews and others). Many have noted the ways it is racially offensive whenever others claim they're not able to identify with their ethnic backgrounds apart from the Jewish side and many in Judaism have long noted where such denial of ethnic heritage was never to occur in the first place.
One of the Messianic Jewish groups I love listening to----called Hazakim--spoke in-depth on the issue regarding how they were mixed and felt that many of the terms for "black" and "white" were often pitted against one another in ways that seem arbitrary at times...and discussing the discussions within Judaism as it concerns ethnic identity and acknowledging things in one's genes regardless of where they come from. For more, one can go online to their blog and investigate the article entitled
A Multi-Cultural Perspective About "Race" in America And The Presidential Race in America. for more about them, one can go online/hear their story at their Record Label of "Lamp Mode", as seen in
Lamp Mode Recordings » Hazakim Interview. As they themselves come from a mixed background, I was glad Hazakim mentioned what they did when it came to debate about whether the President was "Black" or "White" and how that reflects battles others go through daily...including Jewish people. A lot of people treat things like it was during the Jim Crow era with what was known as the "One Drop" rule where someone was considered to be "100 Black%" if they even had one percentage of black genes in their blood....for in their minds, one could no more be "part black" than they could be "partly pregnant". Of course, that's changed...but the same principle has evolved over the years in many respects when it comes to people doing similar today. For more on that issue, one can
go here ..or they can go here to the following:
Some of these dynamics are similar to what I've witnessed when it comes to those within Jewish culture who come from a mixed heritage and yet feel that even they are forced to choose sides...especially as it concerns their having to be told what it means to be "Jewish" and yet still feeling as if their experience isn't really reflected in a place where they're not the majority....or the terms used to describe something have often changed to mean differently over time. Brother SHimshon, as noted earlier, shared more on that when it came to His Puerto Rican heritage and his being Jewish simultaneously...and people questioing him about his being Taino, Puerto Rican and Jewish..( #
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164 ). But as he well noted as it concerns the issue of how those not ethnically Hebrew were still seen as Israel:
Originally Posted by
Shimshon
This mixed multitued of egyptians and hebrews were all Yisrael because they all followed by faith the Elohim of Yisrael. Or they would not be there. .
It's the lifestyle rather than the genetics alone that count...
And 100% Mexican (or whatever else is in their background by lineage as well), based on what other Jews/Jewish groups have long noted on the issue.
Unlike a convert, there is no need to deny or abandon a former practice and there is nothing wrong with being Mexican. I am not explaining this very well. Going back to biblical times, there surrounding cultures were pagan and worshipped false gods. So a person who was not Jewish was required to abandon their false religion and believe only in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Religion and ethnicity are two different things altogether---and that's often where disconnect comes into things, as many Jewish scholars have noted how not all things Gentile were automatically equated to be "pagan"/"false god worship", especially when seeing the multiple ways the Lord used things from those cultures and implemented them into the culture of the Hebrews and how often the Lord never condemned things unique to aspects of cultures outside of the Hebrews. Where it went against the Lord's standards, that is where issue laid.
The other factor is identifying with a people. If a non-Jew converts to Judaism, and becomes a Jew, there is also a needed committment to being a member of the Jewish people. Since at various times in history, the Jewish people are persecuted, when persecution comes, will the convert remain Jewish, or deny being Jewish, reclaiming their former people
The logic of operating in fear is something many Jewish people have pointed out as hindering the Jewish community...paticularly when it comes to claiming others apart of the Jewish community can NEVER identify with things outside the Jewish community for fear that they'll reject it. That's not logical and there's a reason many Jews have noted how often Jews remained faithful to defending their Jewish brother/sisters and heritage while also working with Gentiles who helped them out---or acknowledging ethnic heritage apart from the Jewish people as a matter of truth.
Something which is very unique about scripture, is that looks, such as hair or skin are mentioned, but races are not mentioned.
Race is never mentioned, although ethnicity and ethnic issues are mentioned frequently..including ethnic clashes. Acts 6 being one of the greatest examples where certain Jews of one ethnic makeup were being overlooked by another.
While in Ashkenazi congregations, most will be European looking, white, so a darker skinned Jewish person might stand out, at the same time, an Askenazi Jew would stand out in other parts of the world of Jewry.
Indeed. Had this come up once when talking to someone I took a class with. She was from an Sephardic Jewish community and went to schools that were made up solely of that ethnic group--and she noted how often she was tired of others making it out as if they had to be fearful of other Jewish groups not like them. When I mentioned the issue of Indian Jews and how they've often been mistreated in Israel/other places by differing Jewish communities for "not looking Jewish", she was shocked...for although she knew of the ways that Jewish people in certain camps often seemed to be ethnocentric for their group, she had no idea that there was such a thing as Indian Jews. The same thing happened for other friends/family of mine who were Jewish and yet were mistreated on the basis of having ethnic ties to groups outside of what others were used to.....one of my friends being from Puerto Rico and finding out that her grandmother was Jewish and her father kept it a secret because he was so ashamed that the Jewish side was mixed with the Hispanic.
Jewish people are blonds, red heads, brunettes and black hair, very fair skin to brown skin to yellow skin to black skin. And the majority are Jewish by linage. Until the last 30 or so years, the majority of Jewish people would not marry someone who was not Jewish, so for a marriage to occur, the non-Jewish person would convert. And all children would be Jewish by linage.
There've actually been a lot of cases where Jewish people married others who were not Jewish--although in many cases over the centuries, the marriages were kept secret. The book "Color of Water" is an excellent read on the subject (more shared here in #
25 when talking on Black Jews). The book discusses the story of Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew (and daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi), immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan met and married a black man, making her experience an isolation that was very profound. And it was interesting seeing her battles since many didn't consider her "Jewish" just as others didn't consider her "
What occurred during Ezra's time was that Jewish men married non-Jewish women who did not convert, but continued to worship pagan gods. That is what made the marriage illegal and the children non-Jewish. The mothers were not Jewish. They never converted.
Indeed. Nonetheless, the same parallel is present even with Joseph since there is absolutely no record that his wife was not apart of the Egyptian religion or religious system of the day. Only that she was given in marriage to Joseph by Pharoah and that she was a high priest 's daughter. Again, there's no record of the mother of Ephraim/Manasseah ever converting---just as there's no record of the wives of the priests coverting in Ezra 9-10. ..although it could have easily been the same reality and things evolved by the time it reached the scene with Ezra. With Ezra, the primary issue was one of worship practices rather than ethnicity alone....but the children themselves could have been adopted later if they wanted to convert.
I can remember thinking about Sammy Davis Jr, a convert to Judaism, and being the first black Jew I had heard of, I worried about the children, who were Jewish. Who would they marry? (Interracial marriage was not common at all at that time and faced a fair amount of persecution).
He (Sammy David Jr) seemed to do pretty well, from what I heard. Although many took issue with it just as they often do with biracial marriages, many adapt rather easily
