Q&A: Who Is a Jew?
Who Is a Jew?
Question
What is the definition of a Jew? After all, if according to rabbinic Jewish law a Jew is someone born to a Jewish mother, then the question just comes back again: what caused the mother to be defined as Jewish? What defines us as Jews? The language? The Torah? The nation? The religion?
Answer
This is a recursive definition (a regressive chain), and as with such definitions, you need a starting condition. So the full definition is: Sarah was a Jew, and anyone born to a Jewish mother or who converted properly according to Jewish law is a Jew. (I am of course ignoring the question of whether before the giving of the Torah lineage followed the mother. If you want, define all the women present at the giving of the Torah as the starting condition.)
The question of what defines us as Jews culturally—I have written a great deal about that. Search here on the site for “Jewish identity.” In short, what defines Judaism is commitment to Jewish law. Nothing more. One can propose various ethnic and cultural definitions (based on language, etc.), but none of these are essential or interesting in my view. Ethnicity is a question of fact (albeit defined in a very loose and vague way), not of values.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously.
Then why is it forbidden to cause him to sin if he is not a Jew?
Or, more precisely, why does the global consideration of preventing a Jew from sinning apply to him too?
First of all, who said it is forbidden?
Second, it is also forbidden to cause a gentile to stumble.
And third, I was talking about his Judaism, not his Jewishness. Judaism is Jewish law. A Jew is anyone born to a Jewish mother or who converted.
Obviously he is obligated in the commandments even if he does not understand that.
Certainly Haredim who brazenly violate the commandment of helping the Jewish people in times of distress are not Jews.
In fact, there are only three Jews left in the whole world.
Exactly which Jewish law does one have to be committed to? No two Jews are careful in the same way.
Are Yemenites considered Jews even though they are committed to different laws? Is a Muslim who is committed to Shi’ism considered a Jew?
Nehemiah the Amsonite,
Were you asking seriously?
So basically, someone who does not observe Torah and commandments is not a Jew?