Inquiry On Possible Jewish Ancestry

Shalom from the Philippines! I just to share my inquiry about my possible Jewish ancestry. Let me share my family tree in a glimpse and my family background. My father's father's (who was my Paternal Grandfather) middle surname was MOSES. In mother side, the father of my mother (who is my maternal grandfather) is the son of my great-grandmother and the middle surname of my great-grandmother was MOSES also. My paternal grandfather and my maternal great-grandmother were siblings. To add the story of my ancestry background, their father who was my great-grandfather in my paternal side and my great-great grandfather in my maternal side was a World War II veteran who was allegedly a member of Freemason, after the World War II, he spent his life at United States. That is the only I know about my family and the sad part here is that some of my relatives would be hiding something about the past. Thank you.

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

One whose mother is Jewish, is also Jewish. One whose mother is not Jewish, is not Jewish even if the father is Jewish. Therefore, one who can trace one’s lineage back through Jewish women is Jewish no matter what religion these people did or did not practice. There is no such thing as a "hidden Jew." You are either Jewish or your not. That's all that halacha cares about.

There are a number of sources that point to matrilineal lineage as being the determining factor if one is Jewish.

One source for this is the Mishna which clearly sates (Kiddushin 66b) that if the mother is not Jewish then the offspring is not Jewish. The Talmud (Kiddushin 68b) cites a verse to prove this “And you shall not marry with the non-Jews. Do not give your daughters to his sons; and do not take his daughters for your sons. For he will turn your son away from me and they will worship other gods” (Deut. 7:1-5). The Talmud elaborates on how this verse proves that lineage is determined by the mother.

There is another source cited to prove linage follows the mother. There is a verse in the Torah that states, “The son of an Israelite woman…who was the son of an Egyptian man” (Leviticus 24:10). The Torah tells us that even though his father wasn’t Jewish he was still “a member of the community of Israel” implying that lineage follows the mother.

In the book of Ezra we also find support for matrilineal descent. Regarding the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile it says, “We have sinned against our God and have taken foreign wives of the people of the land….Let us make a covenant with our God to send away all the foreign wives and those who were born from them… let it be done according to the law” (Ezra 10:2-3). Here we see that the children of the “foreign wives” were “foreign” as well.

There are other sources, as well. I trust that this suffices.