Please solve an arguement about being "Jewish"

[stickyj]

My grandmother was Jewish. According to Jewish law, am I "Jewish"? I think that it passes down in through the female line, am I right? How do I square this with my DS2 who thinks it's all bull? I have said to him that if he gets married and has a female child, she will be of the Jewish line. He is horrified because he is a very strongly practising Baptist.

Who's right or wrong? I just watched the June brown programme and feel exactly how she does, even tho I go to the same church as my son. I would love to learn more about my heritage, especially my great, great grandmothers who were born in London, (where all my family are from).

Any hepl please?

stickyj if your grandmother lived in London it may well be that there are records held centrally and a friendly rabbi will be able to find them for you.

My great grandmother was very 'active' but my grandmother and her husband turned their back on Judaism during WWII when their house was bombed, my mum said it was 'too personal'. As a result my mother was not raised in an observant way.

This silence on the matter meant that I did not discover I was Jewish until my late-20s, by which time my grandparents were both dead - I have so many unanswered questions.

My son is Jewish but we do not observe -apart from the fact I cannot bring myself to eat pork.;)

One day I must make contact and fill in the gaps because I feel something is missing, and although I've been to shul I don't have a clue what's going on. I feel that if I could get my great grandmother verified as it were, then I'd not feel 'fake'.

To have real proof of your jewish roots you need to try to get a copy of your great grandmothers jewish marriage certificate (ketuba). I have no idea where you could get this from.. .

Also I think that your ds's future children, if he has them with a non jewish woman, will still be thought of as jewish in a reform jewish synagogue.

OP where do your grandparents come from? Were they British?
My grandmother is of Polish and Russian descent. Their second name was Alter.

frankie spurred on by this post, I asked my mother (again) for more info and this morning she's mailed me copies of birth and wedding certificates of my grandparents - information slightly different to what we were all 'led to believe'. I'm going to check the census records until I get a hit, then go to the synagogue direct if I can't find the actual certificate online.

For anyone else searching, there are some incredible websites out there for helping trace Jewish ancestors. Will post links if anyone is interested.

Oh I'm having so much fun with this... except my family appear quite "colourful" - not everyone was married. purses lips

Whether you can trace a matrilineal line or not is only really important if you want to be Jewish. So, if you want to have a Jewish wedding, or have your child barmitvahed you will need to prove that your mother is Jewish, usually by showing a marriage certificate. If you can't show this you need to convert, which is a hassle.

If your son is a baptist, it won't be important to him at all, except as a piece of family history.

I'd be far more worried about my son being horrified than anything else here. He sounds a prime candidate for manipulation from those who use religion as a force for bad, rather than a force for good.

As others have said, you seem to have got confused with the lineage.

In this country I find that people tend to think of Jewish as a religion and a choice. In other countries I've lived in, it is thought of as a race.

You can find that split within Judaism, too, eurostar.

I also went to school with a lot of orthadox Jewish girls and found their faith fascinating. At the time I was a complete atheist but now i'm a completely convinced Christian.

If you're Christian and might have Jewish roots it would be really interesting to trace them. You might be interested in a group called Jews for Jesus ( here) - they are a group of Jewish people who are also Christians - i.e. they have a Jewish background and they believe Jesus is the messiah foretold in Jewish prophecy (as infact most of the disciples and New Testament believers, and Jesus himself!). I think it gives even more depth to a faith in Jesus to understand more about Jewish faith and therefore how God's plan for salvation was laid out before Jesus was born and fulfilled by Him.

I've just seen this thread and wanted to respond - hope you are still following it.

1. The reason Jewishness passes through the mother is because you always know who the mother is, because she carries the baby! This means that if your maternal grandmother was Jewish, then your mother, you and your son would be considered Jewish. If he was ever to marry a Jewish girl (which from what you've said sounds unlikely), he'd need to validate this with the last existing Jewish marriage certificate - probably your great grandmother's.
2. Records in the UK are the best in the world and so you could probably investigate the Jewish marriage records and find your great grandmother's marriage certificate and work from there to find out more about your family's Jewish history. You're probably best contacting the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain here as a starting point.