Re,...People are free to convert into Judaism; once converted, they are considered the same as if they were born Jewish.
LOL...............
Most people (including Orthodox Jews) define a Jew as someone born to a Jewish mother. Under the Israeli Law of Return it is not your degree of faith in Judaism that defines your Jewishness but your Jewish parenthood. On the opposite side of the picture under the Nuremberg laws it was not how often you went to synagogue or whether you even believed in God that made you a Jew in the eyes of the Nazis. It was having Jewish parents or even grandparents. Being Jewish therefore is an accident of birth not necessarily a religious commitment. If being committed to the synagogue and to Judaism is your definition of Judaism then a large proportion of the Hebrew speaking population of Israel is not Jewish.
‘Teen told she can’t join Birthright without DNA test’
Youth program reportedly casts doubt on Russian woman’s Jewishness because her father didn’t register her birth until age 3
A Professor from St. Petersburg, Russia, is claiming that in an act of “blatant racism,” his daughter was made to undergo a DNA test in order to prove that she’s Jewish – and eligible for a Birthright trip to Israel...
