Series: BCBM

Halacha:

Children,  Geirut 

History:

20th Century CE 

Machshava:

Exploring Judaism,  Non-Jews,  Pluralism,  Rabbinic Authority 

Collections: Rabbi Pruzansky Great Decisions

Description

A discussion of the 1983 decision of Reform Judaism to embrace patrilineal descent, thereby declaring as Jews the children of either a Jewish mother or father (along with affirmative acts of commitment to the Jewish people). This was a dramatic change to the prevailing conceptions of Jewish identity, and in retrospect made intermarriage acceptable and opened the floodgates to mass assimilation.