[h=2]T
annaitic Judaism[/h]According to the
Mishnah, the first written source for
halakha, the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined matrilineally.
According to historian
Shaye J. D. Cohen, in the Bible, the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined patrilineally. He brings two likely explanations for the change in Mishnaic times: first, the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures (
kilayim). Thus, a mixed marriage is forbidden as is the union of a horse and a donkey, and in both unions the offspring are judged matrilineally. Second, the Tanaim may have been influenced by Roman law, which dictated that when a parent could not contract a legal marriage, offspring would follow the mother.[SUP]
[11][/SUP]
[h=2][
edit]
Contemporary Judaism[/h]All
Jewish religious movements agree that a person may be a Jew either by birth or through
conversion. According to
halakha a Jew by birth must be born to a Jewish mother.
Halakhastates that the mere acceptance of the principles and practices of Judaism does not make a person a Jew. However, those born Jewish do not lose that status because they cease to be observant Jews, even if they adopt the practices of another religion.
Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism often accept a child as Jewish if only the father is Jewish. As the various denominations of Judaism differ on their conversion processes, conversions performed by more liberal denominations are not accepted by those that are less so.
[h=3][
edit]Jewish by birth[/h]According to
halakha, to determine a person's Jewish status (Hebrew:
yuhasin) one needs to consider the status of both parents. If both parents are Jewish then their child will also be considered Jewish, and the child takes the status of the father (e.g., as a
kohen). If either parent is subject to a genealogical disability (e.g., is a
mamzer) then the child is also subject to that disability. If one of the parents is not Jewish, the rule is that the child takes the status of the mother (
Kiddushin 66b,
Shulchan Aruch, EH 4:19).[SUP]
[12][/SUP] The ruling is derived from various sources including
Deuteronomy 7:1-5,
Leviticus 24:10,
Ezra 10:2-3.[SUP]
[12][/SUP] Accordingly, if the mother is Jewish, so is her child, and if she is not Jewish, neither is her child considered Jewish. The child can be considered Jewish only by a process of
conversion to Judaism, and the child is also freed from any disabilities and special status to which the father may have been subject (e.g., being a
mamzer or
kohen) under Jewish law.[SUP]
[13][/SUP]
All branches of
Orthodox Judaism and
Conservative Judaism today maintain that the halakhic rules (i.e. matrilineal descent) are valid and binding.
Reform and
Liberal Judaism do not accept the halakhic rules as binding, and accept a child of one Jewish parent, whether father or mother, as Jewish if the parents raise the child as a Jew and the child fosters a Jewish identity, noting that "in the Bible the line always followed the father, including the cases of
Joseph and
Moses, who married into non-Israelite priestly families."
Wikipedia