Yeah, I think the political explanation is more realistic.
There's a lot of mixing up over the generations. Someone today might be a descendant of Babylon, but how would we know, what with all the countries rising and falling.
There's a few exceptions. China has been around an awful long time. And though they went through many dynasties due to internal conflict, they haven't often been conquered by outside forces. So a Chinese person who traces their Chinese roots back 5000 years could be plausible.
There's some of that in Judaism as well, due to tribes and the Cohens. Tribal heritage is determined by your father. So if you're a convert, your tribe might just be a general "Israel" or maybe accepted into the tribe of Judah, but you wouldn't be considered a Cohen or a Levite. We still have people who identify as Levites today (including myself). As well as Cohen. A Cohen means they are a descendent of the priesthood, which ultimately means that their father-son line goes all the way back to Aaron. Levites and Cohens today have special ceremonies or rituals that they may conduct in synagogues.
For example, during the Yom Kippur ritual, a Rabbi may ask anyone who is a Cohen to step to the front of the Synagogue, face the congregation, and raise their hands during a certain prayer. (I can't remember which prayer it is. And since Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashonah services are many hours long... about half the day just for one of them... that's a lot of prayers).
There is a strong Jewish custom to marry within the faith. Of course, history is replete with Jews marrying gentiles due to proximity, love, and some intermixing will be due to rape. (One of the reasons a person is Jewish due to the identity of his mother. A raped woman who had to raise the offspring at least could count that her child would not be excluded from the community by being considered a gentile). At one point, all Jews were orthodox. Now, the orthodox seem like a minority of the Jewish community while most Jews you might know are Reform. But in the future, all Jews may be orthodox again. Why? Because the orthodox have children that they raise Jewish. Reform are more likely to marry non-Jews, and then the children will be half-Jewish, the grandchildren quarter-jewish, and by then the Jewish identity is so diluted as to not be worth mentioning about.
Which led to the joke about Trump.
What does Donald Trump have that most of his Reform Jewish critics do not have?
Yeah, I think the political explanation is more realistic.
There's a lot of mixing up over the generations. Someone today might be a descendant of Babylon, but how would we know, what with all the countries rising and falling.
There's a few exceptions. China has been around an awful long time. And though they went through many dynasties due to internal conflict, they haven't often been conquered by outside forces. So a Chinese person who traces their Chinese roots back 5000 years could be plausible.
There's some of that in Judaism as well, due to tribes and the Cohens. Tribal heritage is determined by your father. So if you're a convert, your tribe might just be a general "Israel" or maybe accepted into the tribe of Judah, but you wouldn't be considered a Cohen or a Levite. We still have people who identify as Levites today (including myself). As well as Cohen. A Cohen means they are a descendent of the priesthood, which ultimately means that their father-son line goes all the way back to Aaron. Levites and Cohens today have special ceremonies or rituals that they may conduct in synagogues.
For example, during the Yom Kippur ritual, a Rabbi may ask anyone who is a Cohen to step to the front of the Synagogue, face the congregation, and raise their hands during a certain prayer. (I can't remember which prayer it is. And since Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashonah services are many hours long... about half the day just for one of them... that's a lot of prayers).
There is a strong Jewish custom to marry within the faith. Of course, history is replete with Jews marrying gentiles due to proximity, love, and some intermixing will be due to rape. (One of the reasons a person is Jewish due to the identity of his mother. A raped woman who had to raise the offspring at least could count that her child would not be excluded from the community by being considered a gentile). At one point, all Jews were orthodox. Now, the orthodox seem like a minority of the Jewish community while most Jews you might know are Reform. But in the future, all Jews may be orthodox again. Why? Because the orthodox have children that they raise Jewish. Reform are more likely to marry non-Jews, and then the children will be half-Jewish, the grandchildren quarter-jewish, and by then the Jewish identity is so diluted as to not be worth mentioning about.
Which led to the joke about Trump.
What does Donald Trump have that most of his Reform Jewish critics do not have?
Answer: Jewish grandchildren.