<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<font size="-1"><font face="Arial">I had a professor in college named
Joe Rosenbloom. He wrote a book called "Conversion to Judaism: From
the Biblical Period to the Present". It was published by HUC Press,
and later by Ktav. It's pretty much the party line from the Reform
Movement on the issues of conversion and descent.<br>
<br>
I haven't read it. I had quite enough of him in college.<br>
<br>
On this page:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.reformjudaism.org/ask-rabbi-topic/patrilineal-descent">http://www.reformjudaism.org/ask-rabbi-topic/patrilineal-descent</a><br>
<br>
A Reform clergyman says that no one really knows how it was done before
the "beginning of Rabbinic Judaism" around the time of the Mishnah.<br>
<br>
When I was in college, right around the time that Reform formally
adopted patrilineal descent (1983), though they'd been going by it
unofficially by decades at that point, Hillel House had a Friday night
talk on the subject. I remember very clearly the rationale that was
given by the speakers. They pointed out that since Brezhnev's son
married a Jew, his grandchildren were Jewish, and since Ben Gurion's
son married a goy, his grandchildren were goyim. QED, there's
something wrong with a system that goes by matrilineal descent. In all
honesty, that was his argument.<br>
<br>
Of course, the real reason for patrilineal descent is that, along with
conversion at will, it allowed them to vastly increase their reported
membership by redefining goyim as Jews. It was a practical and
financial decision.<br>
<br>
Lisa<br>
<br>
</font></font><br>
On 11/18/2013 8:21 AM, Arie Folger wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAAHqfx314dPVxpgzZJbMUVyah7ZXRSRAqjyXEYCeg76gnc0ybg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Rabbossai,<br>
<br>
</div>
I am sure a great many of us have at one time or another been
confronted with the claim that until the time of the Mishna, Judaism
was transmitted through patrilineal descent, and it was "the rabbis"
who changed that. According to a further elaboration, that had been an
act of mercy of the many women who had been raped by Roman soldiers
during the siege of Jerusalem and later the Hadrianic persecutions.<br
clear="all">
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I am not asking for Torah sources here, as they are well known.
Ki yassir et binkha me-a'harai, etc. Likewise the multiple sources in
Tanakh that condemn intermarriage are relevant. But that is not what I
am asking for.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Instead, I wonder who first came up with this idea and evidence
the supporters of this idea marshal. We can much more effectively
respond when understanding their claims better.<br>
<br>
Kol tuv,<br>
</div>
<div>-- <br>
<div dir="ltr">Arie Folger,<br>
Recent blog posts on <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/</a><br>
* Berichte über die CER-Konferenz in Berlin<br>
* Media Reports from the Latest CER Conference<br>
* Should we Circumcise the Children of Non-Members?<br>
* Another Reason for More Widespread Use of Halakhic Prenups<br>
* Kann man die Beschneidung nicht mit einem symbolischen Ritual
ersetzen?<br>
* I Made the Front Page…<br>
* Sind innerreligiöse Ehen altmodisch und vorbei?<br>
* Die ware Entstehungsgeschichte der Hatikwá-Hymne<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<pre wrap="">
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
_______________________________________________
Avodah mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Avodah@lists.aishdas.org">Avodah@lists.aishdas.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/avodah-aishdas.org">http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/avodah-aishdas.org</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>