Maternal Lineage

I’ve been exploring my family history and found out that both of my great-grandmothers on my mother’s side were Jewish, and my Jewish ancestors were born in Bethlehem—on my maternal side. My mother’s father was also Jewish, and she was raised Jewish until she converted to Christianity. I’ve always felt connected to my Jewish heritage, but I’m not sure if I’m considered Jewish according to Jewish law. Do I need to formally convert, or am I already Jewish because of my maternal lineage?

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. That's all that halacha cares about.

Therefore, if you are sure, that your mother’s mother’s mother (etc) was Jewish, you are Jewish. If there is some doubt, a symbolic conversion would be required. Your local orthodox rabbi should be able to help you with this.

Allow me to share with you some of the 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.

We wish you luck in your journey!