— Yumi Tomsha

PSA, because I've now seen a few posts floating around like this and also just hear it all the time IRL: Please don't use the term "convert" (or any synonyms) as a stand-in for any other concept or experience except Jews that had to go through a conversion process.

Jews who went through a conversion process may:

The reality is that unless and until all branches of liberal Judaism and all branches of orthodox Judaism agree on what's a valid conversion (and I am not personally holding my breath) we are going to have children born to Jewish parents who only practice Judaism and raise their kids as Jews, but whose mother's conversion is not accepted in all branches and therefore must convert to be married in their preferred community, count in minyan, etc.

Those experiences are so vastly different from mine, someone who was a true outsider before my conversion - and everything in between. I personally have far more in common with, say, a halachic Jew from birth who was adopted out to xtian parents and never knew they were Jewish until they became an adult and is now a baal teshuvah. And on the other hand, a convert who went through a conversion process so they could join a more traditional movement has way more in common with halachic Jews by birth who were raised Jewish than me. Yet people (inside and outside the community) use "convert" as a shorthand to refer to people like me when they really usually something more along the lines of "person raised totally outside the community who has had to assimilate in and most likely has no or distant Jewish ancestry."

The only thing that connects all gerim in terms of experiences vis a vis Jewish identity is the fact that we all went through a conversion process to establish our halachic status in our communities. That's it.

tldr; we need better, more varied words to describe the diversity of Jewish experience and identity, but regardless please don't make assumptions about someone's Jewish background based on whether or not they went through a conversion process.

Periodic reminder that this is still true and something to be mindful of!

Apparently people don’t know this, so just to clarify: 

Ashkenazi (Rhymes with Fozzie) - A name for the diasporic group of Jews who first settled in and around the Rhineland after Roman expulsion from Judea in the first millennium. Jews at the time referred to the region as “Ashkenaz,” a word derived from the biblical Hebrew name אשכנז. The plural of Ashkenazi is Ashkenazim, as in “Many Ashkenazim were forced to migrate to Eastern Europe during the Crusades due to anti-Jewish violence.” 

Nazi (Rhymes with Yahtzee) - The racist, genocidal dipshits who systemically murdered millions of the above between the years of 1941 and 1945. Created as a descriptive abbreviation for members of the “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei,” a fascist political party. Coined in analogy with the existing Germany term “Sozi,” which referred the rival Sozialdemokrats. 

VERY DIFFERENT WORDS THANK YOU 

A PSA on Jewishness, because apparently non-Jews just have to know this stuff and can't figure it out on their own

Jews are an ethnic group. Global Jewry is made up of several different ethnic groups, the largest of which are: Sefardi Jews, whose ancestors historically lived in the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and western Europe; Ashkenazi Jews, whose ancestors historically lived in central and eastern Europe; and Mizrahi Jews, whose ancestors historically lived in MENA (Middle East/North Africa). There are other groups of ethnic Jews living in other places in the world as well. Jews from all of these groups have moved across the world, largely due to persecution in their host countries, and formed new communities in new places, so that there may be longstanding communities of Ashkenazi Jews in France, and Sefardi Jews in Morocco.

All ethnic Jews have ancestral, genetic heritage stemming from the Levant (specifically, the area now known as Israel and/or Palestine). All Jews also have cultural heritage stemming from the Levant. This is no less important or relevant than genetic heritage.

Some Jews have mixed heritage (one Jewish parent only). They are also Jews. The matrilineal descent question is a question of Jewish religious law, and is interpreted differently by different Jewish denominations and individuals. (My personal stance is to affirm patrilineal descent.) 

The religion historically practiced by Jews is Judaism. Ethnic Jews may practice any religion they please; this does not mean they are less Jewish in terms of their heritage. Non-ethnic Jews may convert to Judaism; this does not make them any less Jewish in terms of their religious practice. Judaism does not proselytize.

Judaism as a whole takes no global stance of Zionism as a political ideology. Different Jews have different opinions on Zionisms (plural intentional, because Zionism takes a lot of forms), and while they may be good or bad people, and you may agree or disagree with their politics, their Zionism or anti-Zionism does not inherently make them any more or less Jewish. 

The question of Jewish identity is ultimately not the purview of non-Jews. It is nothing more or less than gross arrogance for non-Jews to assume that their opinions on this question are remotely relevant or of interest to Jews, and the persistent insertion of some non-Jews into these private conversation is extremely offensive.

If you are not Jewish, and have written, or are considering writing, a post on  Jewish identity/ethnicity, I have some advice for you: don’t. You almost certainly don’t know what you’re talking about, and you definitely can’t have a better understanding of these complex issues than someone who is actually Jewish themselves. If you really feel, for some inexplicable reason, that you simply must weigh in on this issue, consult an actual Jew before doing so. 

I’m a transethnic adoptee (declared Jewish as an infant) and was culturally Jewish for the majority of my teens and 20s, but not religious.

If your parents are Jewish, you are Jewish. It doesn’t matter if your parents are your parents by biology or by adoption.

There will be some Jews who will not accept you, because they are too beholden to their ideas of normativity (the same as Jews who will never accept patrilineal Jews absent a conversion). They are people who refuse to shift their ideas and relinquish normativity while at the same time refusing to acknowledge and realize that those concepts actually affect and hurt individuals. They are hurting the very community of which they profess to be “guardians.” But to me and to others you are Jewish no matter your religious views or absence thereof.

While I am not a transracial adoptee and do not pretend to understand exactly what that experience is like, I am a transethnic adoptee and would be more than happy to be a sounding board for the anon if they are in need!

This blog supports converts.

If someone converts to Judaism they are Jewish, full stop. They are ethnically Jewish as well, because ancestry is only one of the characteristics of ethnicity. The Jewish people are a tribe, and goyish concepts of race are foreign to our self-concept. We’ve always accepted converts, starting with Ruth, but even before — when we went out of Egypt we were a “mixed multitude.” This has always been a part of who we are and, G?d willing, it always will be.