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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: "Jewishness" of non-blood-relations
Message-ID: <9039@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 7-Mar-85 10:49:51 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.9039
Posted: Thu Mar  7 10:49:51 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Mar-85 05:41:24 EST
References: <146@pyuxww.UUCP>
Organization: USAMC ALMSA
Lines: 31

> I know the sad story of a woman whose father was Jewish and her mother
> was not.  Her mother had passed away when she was about 2 and she grew
> up raised by her Jewish grandparents; that meant keeping kashruth and
> for the most part keeping Shabbos.  It also meant that she suffered 
> through the concentration camps.  Having been fortunate ( if you could
> call it that ) to survive Auschwitz she longed to go to Israel, her
> father having instilled in her the Zionistic urge.  She attempted to 
> shortly after the State of Israel was formed and found that despite the
> numbers tattooed on her arm she could not enter under the "Law of Return".
> ( I realize had the grandparents been Orthodox they would made sure
> that the girl was converted as soon as possible )   She had always
> considered herself a Jew.  She was very disillusioned, and upon hearing 
> the story so was I.  Please note I realize that without a conversion
> no faction of Judaism would consider her Jewish and I am not saying 
> that she is; what I question here is the "Law of Return" and its purpose 
> in saving the persecuted "Jew".
> 
> 				------Sharon Levy
> 			              pyuxn!levy

I find some of the implications of this sort of confusing. Is it then true
that an adopted child (of unknown parentage) or an infant foundling,
raised from just after birth, according to all the laws and principles,
but still also of unknown parentage, can never be Jewish, unless they go
through a conversion process as an adult? (Or is that not even enough?)

This is no criticism; just a query.

Will Martin

USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin     or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA