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Fife Ten
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, April 23, 1965
CARY SANDERS
TV, Appliance,
Air-Condition
tv
SALES AND SERVICE
3759 Roswell Rd., N.E.
Phone 233-4275
EfH
ONE STOP SERVICE
1 Have ClMiilna
H A Speciality J
azan Q
Tailors
A Clpanera
1008 Paachtraa, N. E.
At Tenth TR. 6-0616
Atlanta, Oa.
LADIES' and MEN'S HATS
OFFEE
LATCH
by VIDA GOLDGAR
Who Is A Jew - Do You Know
‘good for the Jews’.” Mother says,
“A people is a chain of genera
tions united by a common his
tory and culture, the origin of
which can be traced to life in a
particular land. Jewish people-
hood is based on historical con
tinuity, language, literature and
art, law, mores and folkways. It
attains its consumation in re
ligion.
Shana said, ‘‘Okay, Vida, so
we need a chain of generations.
I agree with your farbrente Mo
ther! But as to the big question,
‘Who is a Jew?’ don’t the rabbis
sgy anyone who accepts the
faith (whether he has Jewish
parents or not) becomes a child
of Abraham and Son of Israel,
of equal worth to all others? So
a Jew is: somebody who accepts
the faith.”
Can a Baptist be a Jew?
“I couldn’t agree less, Shana,”
argued Sheila. ‘‘You’re too lim
ited! Because look here, does the
converse hold true? I mean, sup
pose a Jevv r decides to join the
Baptist church. Does he stop
being a Jew when he professes a
belief in Christianity? Or will
his fellow churchmen always
consider him a Jew—a Jew who
has ‘seen the light’ of course, but
still a Jew.”
“Yes,” Ruth agreed, “Old time
Jews look with scorn on a
‘meshumed’ — that’s their word
for a renegade from Judaism.
They can understand someone
coming into the fold, naturally,
but never anyone leaving it.”
The girls said their goodbyes.
Rinsing out our coffee cups I
still puzzled over the true ans
wer.
Who is a Jew? And-—when is
a Jew NOT a Jew? When he’s
a practicing Christian? Is being
a Jew something you can do “by
mirrors?”
Any comments? We’d like to
hear them. Passover is a time to
ponder the answers, I think.
cl965
With all its serious import,
symbolized in the Sfeder, Pass-
over has brought me to a graver
frame of mind this week. The
age-old question: “Who—or what
•—is a Jew?” started to bother
me again. My thinking processes
got all clogged up with such in
triguing riddles as “When is a
Jew not a Jew?” and so forth.
So I summoned an emergency
“Koffee Klatch.” Figured if any
of the gals could shed any light
for me on this fascinating sub
ject — however unauthoritatively
—dayenu!
Right off, Shana, an Israeli
who married an American Jew,
tried to bow out. “Look here,
girls, leave ME out of this. In
,Israel we’ve kicked this question
around ever since the establish
ment of the Jewish State in '48.
But you see, over there it’s all
mixed up with the “Law of Re
turn.” So Israeli’s have a lot
different viewpoint than over
here.”
Sylvia asked: “Well, first of
all, shouldn’t we determine a
definition /for Judaism? That
should clue us in pretty well.”
At this'I took down a reference
book from the shelf. Alowd I
read, “According to the 1937
Guiding Principles of Reform
Judaism, ‘Judaism is the histor
ical religious experience of the
Jewish people.”
“Doubletalk!” Sheila popped
up.
“Not at all,” said Ruth. “We
know our history is so inter
twined with our religion that they
are one and the same. From
those ancient wandering tribes
to today’s conception of one God
—that’s a mighty long road we’ve
traveled. And it’s all in the Old
Testament — the record of the
Jewish people’s search to find
God and truth.
“But what,” asked Sheila,
“means this expression ‘the Jew
ish people’? What is a ‘people’?”
“Want my mother-in-law’s def
inition?” I volunteered. “Mo
ther’s a farbrente Jew if there
ever was one; all for Judaism,
Hadassah, UJA, and everything
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