Are you of Davidic descent?

Abner Goldstein was a Jew. Not so much a top baller.

 

Any of these guys make the cut?

 

Good to see this guy on the list:

 

I am the son of Jewish parents who were children of Jewish parents who themselves were children of Jewish parents who were children of Jewish parents. As a fifth generation Jew in this country all of whose direct ancestors were Jewish and who came from Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia I can say with certainty that aside from the occasional individual convert to Judaism, generally, you are originally from the Jewish exile from Israel, and Judea of around 70-135 AD. SOme went north, some went west and a few went east.

There are no mass conversions to Judaism in the last 2000 years. No medievial or earlier families and areas in Europe or Eurasia converted to Judaism. Humans maybe masochists at heart, and a few may chose to be Jewish, but the world has not revolved for the last 5000 years for people trying to be members of the tribe

 

Wasn't it part of the religion for much of that time that one could not convert to Judaism?

 

No. One narrow branch doesn't do conversion, but for the most part there's no recruiting, but conversions (often after a lengthy process) are accepted.

 

It isn't encouraged, and in fact, my understanding is the process is difficult by design. My sister-in-law converted, and so did the father of one of the kids my son was in Scouts with, but I never really talked to them about what they had to do in order to do so.

 

I always assumed that one narrow branch was the norm until Reform Judaism started.

 

No, very very narrow. Syrian Sefardim is the only one I know of.

 

What about the belief that only people born of Jewish mothers are Jewish? I thought that was an Orthodox belief.

I probably shouldn't get my knowledge of Judaism from the members of Baseball Think Factory.

 

My wife's cousin grew up Catholic and converted to Judaism (I don't know what branch), and I once taught a kid in Sunday school (Episcopalian) whose mother, who grew up Jewish, converted to Christianity. I was at the latter's baptism, and it was very emotional for everyone (except her ... she seemed very non-plussed about the whole thing). When the priest asked her if she desired to be baptized and she said, "I do," he broke down.

That sort of thing -- the moving away from an identity you've had since birth -- amazes me. My wife's cousin had no particular trauma or drama she was escaping -- she remained close to her parents and her siblings -- and, as far as I know, neither did the mother of my Sunday school student. Each just felt a call to walk a very different path.

 

Womb Factor plays into it.