Patrilineal? Matrilineal? Both? (#2: Modern Responses)

Modern-Day Viewpoints of Different Denominations

Exert from Chabad.org Article: Why Is Jewishness Matrilineal? Maternal Descent In Judaism By Tzvi Freeman and Yehuda Shurpin

Ezra is one of the last books of the Hebrew Bible. Many have asked why this issue was not raised earlier—even in the times of Moses?

If the Hebrew Bible provided a detailed exposition of every law and custom, this would be a question. But with even a cursory look it’s obvious that this is not so. Some laws, such as priestly rites and offerings, or the design and artifacts of the Tabernacle are described in detail.

Others—generally the most common ones—are presented with no specifics at all.

For example, we are told to “rest on the seventh day” and “do no work.” What is rest? Are we meant to sleep the entire day? What is work? Does it mean exertion, or productivity, or just anything not enjoyable? The few details that the text provides are of little help. (“Don’t burn fire in your dwellings.” “No one should move from their place.”)

Moses is told that we are to slaughter an animal “… as I commanded you.” But nowhere are we provided the details of just what Moses was instructed.

So why are some details provided and others left out?

One possible answer is that it is only necessary to commit details to writing that are easily forgotten. Those matters that all the people are intimately familiar with are left to be passed down organically and tacitly.

But whatever the reason, the fact that there is no explicit verse stating which parent makes you Jewish is not unusual.

There are many things in Jewish tradition that are hard to understand. The Five Books of Moses provide many instructions, but rarely provides the “why.” And even the explanations that we do have are not the ultimate reason, as Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains. We’re speaking, after all, of the wisdom of our Creator. It’s wondrous that we understand anything at all.

Nevertheless, in this instance, writes the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, not only is matrilineal descent perfectly reasonable, it’s absurd to imagine otherwise.

Let’s start with a simple question: To which parent is the child more biologically connected?

Yes, the father provides half the chromosomes. But there’s more to a person than two sets of chromosomes.

An embryo must sit within its mother’s womb and develop for nine months. During those months, the fetus is nurtured from the bloodstream of the mother, affected by her emotions, by the sounds she hears and the places she goes. And none of this, especially the birthing process, is a terribly comfortable experience for the mother.

This aside from the nursing and nurture, both physical and psychological, in the primary years that are most critical to the child’s development. Generally, that’s provided by the mother, who is capable of providing far more than the man.

Now, ask yourself, to whom would you give dominance in the fundamental identity of this child? Is it justified to ignore the woman’s role, and identify the child after the father? If the mother is, say, Cherokee, determining that the child is Jewish because the father is Jewish is in conflict with the basics of biology.

The Rebbe sharply criticized those who insist we change Jewish law and accept patrilineal descent. Firstly, he said, they cannot succeed. Torah law does not change, and every attempt to make changes of this sort has failed in the long run.

But aside from that, these people do not realize what they are playing with. Each human being is created with a role in this world that is tied to their identity. To tell a person that he is Jewish when he is not is a crime against both mother and child. It is robbery in the worst sense to steal away a person’s identity and the fundamental meaning of their life.

That’s a point many who argue for patrilineal descent ignore. They argue that we must have compassion, that we must be more inclusive, and we should open the doors of Jewishness to those who have either a mother or father who is Jewish. Why demand a conversion in these cases?

But this argument ignores not only the fundamental makeup of the child, but the dignity of the mother of the child, as well as women in general. “I would have expected all the women of the world to protest,” the Rebbe said.

And it is extremely ethnocentric, as though Jewish identity exists in a vacuum. There are people in the world besides Jews, and they also have identities. By simple biological fact, that identity principally follows the mother.

Exerpt from the 1983 Central Conference of American Rabbis report entitled "Report of the Committee on Patrilineal Descent" which made it reform practice to accept patrilineal Jews

Jewish law recognizes a person as Jewish if his mother was Jewish, even though the father was not a Jew. One born of such mixed parentage may be admitted to membership in the synagogue and enter into a marital relationship with a Jew, provided he has not been reared in or formally admitted into some other faith. The child of a Jewish father and a non- Jewish mother, accoridng to traditional law, is a Gentile; such a person would have to be formally converted in order to marry a Jew or become a synagogue member.

Reform Judaism, however, accepts such a child as Jewish without a formal conversion, if he attends a Jewish school and follows a course of studies leading to Confirmation. Such procedure is regarded as sufficient evidence that the parents and the child himself intend that he shall live as a Jew. (Rabbi's Manual, p. 112)

We face today an unprecedented situation due to the changed conditions in which decisions concerning the status of the child of a mixed marrige are to be made.

There are tens of thousands of mixed marriages. In a vast majority of these cases the non-Jewish extended family is a functioning part of the child's world, and may be decisive in shaping the life of the child. It can no longer be assumed a priori, therefore, that the child of a Jewish mother will be Jewish any more than that the child of a non-Jewish mother will not be.

This leads us to the conclusion that the same requirements must be applied to establish the status of a child of a mixed marriage, regardless of whether the mother or the father is Jewish.

Therefore:

The Central Conference of American Rabbis declares that the child of one Jewish parent is under the presumption of Jewish descent. This presumption of the Jewish status of the offspring of any mixed marriage is to be established through appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people. The performance of these mitzvot serves to commit those who participate in them, both parent and child, to Jewish life.

Depending on circumstances, mitzvot leading toward a positive and exclusive Jewish identity will include entry into the covenant, acquisition of a Hebrew name, Torah study, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and Kabbalat Torah (Confirmation). For those beyond childhood claiming Jewish identity, other public acts or declarations may be added or substituted after consultation with their rabbi.

9- Gershom Scholem

"On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Times."

Excerpts from an essay

The text below is from a speech delivered by Gershom Scholem in 1970, addressed to the annual convention of Reform rabbis, when the Israeli government was changing its rules about 'Who is a Jew' for the Right of Return.

... "It is not only a question of joining synagogues or communities. It is a question of general public reaction, and I can discover no sign that we prefer or that we insist upon the old rabbinical definition of Judaism. There has been a great change in psychological outlook, and this determines the situation in which we find ourselves today. Formerly, ninety-five percent or even more of people who intermarried or were the offspring of mixed marriages were not interested in retaining their Jewish identity, let alone insisting on it. During the last forty years there has been a complete reversal. Through the vicissitudes of history, through the tragic fate that befell our people, they decided and insisted on being counted. And when such people said, 'I want to be counted as a Jew,' everyone was glad to have them counted, and nobody said, 'You are not one of us.' To my mind, it is very important that we take cognizance of such historical and psychological facts."

... "There was a time when, for people of doubtful identity in the halakhic sense, Judaism was a burden and not a privilege. It was easy, and sometimes it is so even today, to throw off this burden. There are now many people who want to share the Jewish destiny and who wish to be counted. This is a phenomenon of which we are all aware, and we should not make light of it."

... "There are many definitions of a Jew which make sense...There are people who think that a Jew is anyone who considers himself a Jew. And there is the definition that a Jew is one who is born of a Jewish parent and considers himself a Jew by taking upon himself the burden and privilege of being a Jew. This is the definition to which I would adhere, and which is in my opinion the view taken by most Jews of European or American descent."

... "I think that the threat of dividing the Jewish people, of which we hear so much, is greatly exaggerated. It may even be the other way around: that the divisiveness may come from the other party. In nineteenth century Hungary there were two different kinds of officially recognized Judaism - Reform [or Neolog] Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. I advise everybody to read the sorrowful history of the Hungarian schism, which was brought about by the Orthodox, who said they did not consider the Reform Jews to be Jews."

... "Our acceptance of our own history as a realm within which our roots grow is permeated with the conviction that the Jews, following the shattering catastrophe of our times, are entitled to define themselves according to their own needs and impulses; and that Jewish identity is not a fixed and static and even dialectical thing, because in its spiritual, no less than in its social and political aspects, it involves a living and creative body of people who call themselves Jews." ...

6- Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA)

Statement of Ishut - 2013

Rabbis are among the stewards of Jewish community and continuity. As such we are dedicated to keruv, to reaching out and drawing people nearer to Judaism and Jewish community. Our goals are to increase engagement, deepen the connections of those committed to Jewish tradition and practice, provide avenues for those who wish to join the covenant of the Jewish people and remove stumbling blocks to participation in Jewish life in order to help those who are alienated or disaffected from Judaism. We do this so that people can live meaningful Jewish lives and that Jewish tradition is passed down to the next generation.

... One way to understand the division between identity and status is that “identity” derives from the individual (yachid) and “status” derives from the collective (tzibur). In dealing with issues of status and identity, rabbis play multiple roles due to our multiple responsibilities. Rabbis have an obligation both to the individuals and to the circles of Jewish community which they serve: their individual communities, the Reconstructionist Movement and Klal Yisrael.

... Judaism has always included a biological component to the transmission of Jewish status. In the Torah, tribal membership and status were patrilineal, passed down the father’s line. In later rabbinic tradition, Jewish status became matrilineal; if one’s birth mother is Jewish then one is Jewish, and anyone whose birth mother is not Jewish would require conversion. Contemporary liberal Judaism has introduced the concept of ambilineality, which states that having either a Jewish father or a Jewish mother can convey Jewish status.

... A child who is conceived with at least one Jewish biological marker (womb, egg or sperm) and is raised with an exclusive Jewish identity by at least one Jewish parent has Jewish status.

4- Not conversion but affirmation

Rabbi Uziel

Rabbi Benzion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953) was a profound scholar from a distinguished Sephardic rabbinical family, who served as Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi from 1938 until his death in 1953. He was a prolific author, having published many volumes of rabbinic responsa (Mishpetei Uziel), as well as studies in Jewish law and literature, rabbinic homiletics, and issues relating to contemporary Jewish life. One of Rabbi Uziel’s areas of concern was the issue of conversion. He suggested that patrilineal conversion does not leat to a convert, but to a full Jew, who returned to the roots. The process should not be called conversion, but rather affirmation or confirmation.

He further suggested in one of his responsa that "A person may be accepted for conversion, even initially, even if he/she gives no indication that he/she will observe all the mitzvoth. “From all that has been stated and discussed, the ruling follows that it is permissible and a mitzvah to accept male and female converts even if it is known to us that they will not observe all the mitzvoth; because in the end, they will come to fulfill them. We are commanded to make this kind of opening for them. And if they do not fulfill the mitzvoth, they will bear their own iniquities and we are innocent.”

In addition, he admits without embarrassment that "my heart is filled with trembling for every Jewish soul that is assimilated among the non-Jews. I feel in myself a duty and mitzvah to open a door to repentance and to save [Jews] from assimilation by invoking arguments for leniency. This is the way of Torah, in my humble opinion, and this is what I saw and received from my parents and teachers.” ...

May a convert use a name other than ―Ploni ben/bat Avraham Avinu? Rabbi Barry Leff, Approved by the CJLS (Conservative)

There is a clear tradition that converts are named ben/bat Avraham Avinu. In the Shulhan Arukh it states: אבינו אברהם בן פלוני: כותב גר בגט― In a convert‘s get is written: Ploni son of Avraham Avinu.‖1 The Rosh in a teshuvah states, בכתובות לכתוב נוהגין כך אלא our is it thus ―וגטין של גרים: פלוני בן אברהם, ושמו המובהק כותבים, ואב המון גוים הוא אבי כלם custom to write in ketubbot or gittin of converts: Ploni ben Avraham, and his preferred name is written, and he is the father of a great nation, father of all.‖

...

2) If a convert chooses a different name, it is preferred that in any official documents, such as ketubbot or gittin, that the convert be identified as הגר or הגיורת in order that there will not be any possibility of confusion in identifying the person, as described in the teshuvah from the Mintz.

3) In accord with the Reisner responsum mentioned earlier, children who are converted and adopted into a Jewish family may certainly use the patronymic and matronymic of his adopted parents, and need not use אבינו אברהם בת\בן. 19

The same is the rule for people of patrilineal descent (children of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother who underwent conversion). Such persons also do not need to be identified as הגר or הגיורת in official documents.

4) And certainly, בדיעבד ,after the fact, if a convert had received a name other than Ploni ben/bat Avraham Avinu at the time of a halachic conversion, there is no requirement for the person to change his or her name, providing that he/she is identified as a convert in any official documents such as ketubbot or gittin

Rabbi Elliott Dorff Concurring Opinion

In the meantime, in the far more common setting of being called to the Torah, Rabbi Leff’s ruling enables converts to choose to use “Abraham our Father and Sarah our Mother” but also their parents’ names (or a Hebrew version thereof) if they find the medieval custom embarrassing and a constant reminder to them and everyone else of their non-Jewish roots. His responsum thus enables us to retain the medieval custom for those who choose to do so but also to be faithful to the Mishnah’s principle for those who find the medieval custom embarrassing and disenfranchising.

10- Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards

On the Conversion of Adopted and Patrilineal Children

RABBI AVRAM ISRAEL REISNER

This paper was adopted on November 18, 1988 by a vote of eighteen in favor, zero opposed, and one abstaining (18-0-1).

Sheelah: What procedures must be followed in converting adopted and patrilineal children? May they be given the Hebrew name of the adoptive or patrilineal father?

Tshuvah: The need to convert a child comes before us primarily in instances of adoption and the children of Jewish fathers in mixed marriages.

...

... On the Patrilineal Jewish Home

... One exception to this basic rule needs consideration, and that concerns the patrilineal Jewish home. Rav I:Iuna's dictum establishing the practice of the conversion of minors states simply that minors may be converted by a court.

... Thus the normative interpretation of I:Iuna's dictum is not that conversion is in the hands of the court, but rather that it is in the hands of the natural father.

... for a patrilineal home. There the father is present and it is specifically at his behest, certainly not that of the non-Jewish mother, that the court considers conversion. But it is precisely the problem of patrilineality that intercedes. Jewish law does not recognize paternity across the line of intermarriage. Thus this child has a natural mother and no father, under the law. The Jewish father has no claim to bring the child before the court, except as an adoptive or custodial parent whose authority stems from the implied consent of the natural parent, in this case the mother, or from the general authority of guardianship. But here the natural parent has not relinquished her prior right to authority over the child. It follows, then, that the court may not convert a child in a patrilineal home without the consent of the non-Jewish mother. This may prove to be a significant stricture. Beyond that, the decision whether meaningful conversion can be effected for a child in a home where there is an unconverted mother who consents to the conversion but remains an active participant in another faith, therefore whether conversion should be done in such a case before the child reaches majority and opts to act on his/her Jewish identity rests in the good judgment of the court.

15- Rabbi Ethan Tucker

www.mechonhadar.org

Outline: Berg Lecture on Jewish Identity #1

o A simple matrilineal principle is not representative of the richness of halakhic discourse

o A simple matrilineal principle is blind to contemporary realities and ignores important historical and sociological factors

o We must take mixed heritage more seriously and develop a concomitant halakhic approach