Italian Pipes

Why is being Jewish Maternal?

My friend is an Orthodox Jew and lately his really changing my view on things, as most of you would know.. Judaism is matrilineal, the heritage passes via the mother. your father is irrelevant. they have their strong views on this and lately his been telling me about them, My mother is Italian and my father is Irish, he said because of the way he thinks he would consider me 100% Italian because I came from "my mothers pipe hole", you never know who your father is, the torah says "the seed of a woman", you'r always sure whos womb you came from, you have a jewish soul. and he says things that make a lot of sense and makes me feel like maternal genes are more important. I feel like I'm more Italian now.. BUT THATS NOT THE QUESTION my question is.. WHY IS JUDAISM MATERNAL? WERE JEWISH WOMEN RAPED IN THE PAST? because thats what I heard. GodsKid24: Which Nationalitys do go by fathers blood line? they must be pretty un-educated. It's obvious that you can go by the mothers blood line because YOU CAME from her and there are many other reasons, and for the paternal blood line, there is none! J P: WHY DO THEY GO BY THE PATERNAL BLOOD LINE when its obvious that fathers are NOT EVEN HALF as important as mothers and mothers dna seems to be more dominant.

Public Comments

1. Women of all nationalities have been raped. Some cultures go by the fathers blood line others go by the mothers. You have both nationalities in you. Be proud of them and don't worry about man's traditions
2. It's because in the old days the only way you KNEW who was your parent was from being born of your mother. Anyone could be your father.
3. Some cultures just are. It's not the only one in the world that bases it on maternal lineage.
4. It used to be paternal but it was changed in ancient times because in that particular period of time because of certain wicked practices among the Jews, the only way to be sure who your parent belonged to was to assign your lineage based on your mother. Now days most nations use the paternal bloodline which is a great system so long as you don't go sleeping around.
5. The Torah does not specifically state anywhere that matrilineal descent should be used; however, there are several passages in the Torah where it is understood that the child of a Jewish woman and a non-Jewish man is a Jew, and several other passages where it is understood that the child of a non-Jewish woman and a Jewish man is not a Jew. In Deuteronomy 7:1-5, in expressing the prohibition against intermarriage, G-d says "he [i.e., the non-Jewish male spouse] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods of others." No such concern is expressed about the child of a non-Jewish female spouse. From this, we infer that the child of a non-Jewish male spouse is Jewish (and can therefore be turned away from Judaism), but the child of a non-Jewish female spouse is not Jewish (and therefore turning away is not an issue). Leviticus 24:10 speaks of the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man as being "among the community of Israel" (i.e., a Jew). On the other hand, in Ezra 10:2-3, the Jews returning to Israel vowed to put aside their non-Jewish wives and the children born to those wives. They could not have put aside those children if those children were Jews. What about King David: was he a Jew, given that one of his female ancestors, Ruth, was not a Jew? This conclusion is based on two faulty premises: first of all, Ruth was a Jew, and even if she wasn't, that would not affect David's status as a Jew. Ruth converted to Judaism before marrying Boaz and bearing Obed. See Ruth 1:16, where Ruth states her intention to convert. After Ruth converted, she was a Jew, and all of her children born after the conversion were Jewish as well. But even if Ruth were not Jewish at the time Obed was born, that would not affect King David's status as a Jew, because Ruth is an ancestor of David's father, not of David's mother, and David's Jewish status is determined by his mother.