Jewish Matrilineal Descent Challenged in British Court

A recent article appeared the the New York Times entitled, "Who is a Jew" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/europe/08britain.html?_r=1&em). It dealt with a decision by a British appellate court that a Jewish School (state-supported as are all religious schools in Britain) cannot refuse to accept a student because it doesn't consider him a Jew since his mother was converted to Judaism in other than the Orthodox tradition. In fact, the court went further by saying that admissions criteria must depend not on family ties, but “on faith, however defined.” It proposes that belief and practice define religion rather than heritage. The British Supreme Court will take up the issue soon and make a final decision.

As I have mentioned before, the Orthodox tenet of defining Jewish identity as transmitted by the mother alone was not always part of Jewish law and is a major factor in keeping Jewish numbers low, as well as creating a division between Jews of the Orthodox/Conservative persuasions who follow the rule and the Reformed/Reconstructionist persuasions who don't. Despite claims to the contrary, the rule is not a 5,000 year-old tradition. It was instituted in about 70 AD at around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple and may have been intended to identify the children of raped Jewish women as Jews.

Why does Judaism seem to be the only religion in which belief and practice of the religion is not considered enough for membership? What do bloodlines have to do with religion? Was Hitler correct in thinking that Jews are a race more than a religion? The sooner we get away from that notion, the better. Fortunately, Judaism's genetic distinctiveness is diminishing due to intermarriage, adoption of children from non-Jewish backgrounds, and immigration to Israel of Jews from Africa and West Asia. Just as with other religions, Judaism would do well to reach the point where one cannot recognize a Jew by the shape of his nose or the combination of his skin/hair/eye color. The antiquated, arbitrary, divisive rule of matrilineal descent that weakens Judaism should find its way to the trash can. Let religion be defined by belief and practice! And let ethnic identity be up to the individual.