Originally Posted by Halx

As an atheist, I get slightly annoyed (not offended) when people say that I'm Jewish just because my mom is. Everyone who learns that my mom is Jewish has told me that I am Jewish because of this. My mom's not even real Jewish, you know? After raising me around Hanukkah and Yum Kippur and Passover, even she's an atheist now. My family is that Los Angeles brand of Jewish; you need SOME social circle to belong to, right? I'm not even circumcised.

The idea that you're Jewish because your parents are (specifically, your mother) is actually just a vile lie concocted by a French anti-semite over 100 years ago. I forgot his name, but its in my old college notes kept at my parents house. Can you believe I studied this? The idea was if you could define a Jew by their features and heritage, it would be easier to identify them and thus remove them from society. He drew up the rules of Jewish identification, starting with heritage and moving on to the shape and size of facial features.

Obviously, this was done in a period where hating Jews was all the rage, so people actually listened and this big fiasco was assimilated into popular knowledge. Now, today, when it is now not so cool to hate Jews, this lie persists. People think it is elementary to just suggest that someone is a Jew because their mother is one, or because their nose is big with a crook it in. Well, I'm writing this to re-educate you. You're wrong.

My grandparents might be Jewish, and when I was born, my mother might have identified with the Jewish faith, but I am not Jewish. Judaism is a religion; a personal choice. Please respect someone when they say they are not Jewish, because that probably means they AREN'T.