On Sep 21, 2007, at 5:25 PM, Duveyoung wrote:
The Jews consider the child's mother to be proof of being a Jew. A man can say, "That's my kid and I'm a Jew, so the kid is a Jew," but that doesn't carry the "religious validity" as "my mom is Jewish." The man could be lying, but a womb can't lie.
Jews from a Jewish father are not technically considered Jews by Halakha in Orthodox Judaism, but in some other branches as long as one is Jewish, the off-spring are considered Jewish.
I study Kabbalah, my very best friends are Jewish, my grandmother was Jewish, and I think they have some spiritual insights that can match anything in Hinduism or mystical Christianity or Sufi or whatever. The Sefirot of the Kabbalah is quite a deep, inspirational documentation of divinity.
The study of Kabbalah by non-Jews is IMHO one of the greatest remedies against anti-Semitism. In a very real sense, Christianity is incomplete and almost sterile without it. I've studied Kabbalah since I was a teenager.
A world class goy Kabbalah fan: HH the 14th Dalai Lama. If you want a real interesting read on this check out The Jew in the Lotus, written by an orthodox Jew.
I bet if we got together we could talk into the wee hours on this.
