Question:

Hello Rabbi, I hope your day is going great. I have a question. I recently found out that im 5% Jewish. Other close family members also have Jewish ancestry. Would I be considered a Jew and should I start practicing the Religion?

Answer:

I appreciate your inquiry. It can be confusing because ancestry/DNA companies use "Jewish" differently than the Jewish community does. While they typically focus on nationality, they recognize that the Jewish community was mobile and didn't usually mix genetically with the various nations that hosted them. 

Judaism looks at Jewishness differently. The traditional definition is that one is Jewish when born to a Jewish mother or by conversion supervised by a rabbi. Consequently one either is or isn't Jewish and we don't recognize partial percentages of Jewishness. 

I should add that Judaism isn't monolithic and there are branches of Judaism that now accept patrilineal descent which means that they will accept someone as Jewish without conversion who only has a Jewish father as long as that person is raised in the Jewish community. 

To further complicate matters, we live in a time where self-identification is accepted by many. And there are people who have one parent who is Jewish and one who is not and identify themselves as half Jewish and may participate in two religious traditions. 

And as a final factor in this realm, when Israel established their Law of Return that allows Jews to become citizens, they adopted a standard of a person who has at least one Jewish grandparent, accepting that being "25% Jewish" is a benchmark of some sort. 

With all that as background my answer to your question is that the results if your DNA test do not make you Jewish. If you are interested in exploring Judaism, then I would encourage you to find a local rabbi in your community. I'm happy to help you so. 

From an email by Rabbi Mark (question follows):

"This year we have the unique combination where the two days of the holiday fall on Thursday & Friday leading directly into Shabbat. This will be the case this week for Rosh Hashanah and then again for Sukkot and finally for Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah. As you may know cooking is prohibited on Shabbat and while it is allowed on Festivals, it is only permitted to cook for that day, but not for the upcoming Shabbat unless you begin to cook for Shabbat before the start of the holiday and make a connection between the pre-holiday cooking and Shabbat itself; this process is called Eruv Tavshilin. The text is found in the front of a Passover Haggadah.

Here's what you do - on Wednesday before the holiday begins place two cooked items on a plate, often people will use a hard boiled egg or a piece of chicken or fish along with a baked item like a challah roll or a piece of matza. Holding the plate recite the bracha, the blessing - "Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha'olam, asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al mitzvat eruv." Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of time and space, who instills in us the holiness of mitzvot by commanding us concerning mixtures. And then you make the following declaration: "With this eruv it shall be permissible for us to bake, cook and keep food warm, to light candles from an existing flame, and to do all things necessary on the Festival for Shabbat. This shall be permitted to us and to all Jews who live in this city." And then you set the plate aside until Shabbat when you are permitted to eat your cooked item."

Question:

Thank you for this information but could you please expound on the below statement in the context of Conservative and not Orthodox Judaism? "...to light candles from an existing flame,..." I cannot use a match or a cigarette lighter to light my Shabbos candles?

Answer:

That is correct you should not light Shabbat candles on a chag from a match or lighter. As Conservative Jews we are prohibited from lighting a flame on Shabbat or Chagim. So on a Chag when a flame is permitted it must come from an pre-existing source; most common include a pilot light from a gas stove or a yahrzeit candle lit before chag begins

Question of the Month:

How do you determine whether you are a Kohen, Levi or Yisrael?

Answer:

The mother determines if the child is Jewish or not according to Halakha and then if the child is Jewish, the father determines if the child is Kohen, Levi or Yisrael. All of this was ritually based and in the orthodox world only men/boys were involved in those rituals, so being the daughter of a Kohen or a Levi didn't mean much. However, in today's egalitarian world the situation has become more complex because there is no agreement or uniformity of practice. At our synagogue we consider a Bat-Kohen or a Bat-Levi to be the same as a Kohen or a Levi for all ritual functions which means that we will call either a Kohen or a Bat-Kohen for the first aliya to the Torah and a Levi or Bat-Levi for the second aliya. However, there are egalitarian Conservative congregations that only give the first two aliyot to men and treat a Bat-Kohen or a Bat-Levi the same as a Yisrael. A Bat-Kohen can get up and Dukhen here, but that is not true in all congregations where Kohanim offer the Priestly Benediction. A Kohen has right of first refusal in leading Birkat Hamazon after a meal and we would offer it to a Bat-Kohen in the same way. The main difference between being a Kohen and being a Bat-Kohen is that a Bat-Kohen does not transfer her Kohanut to her offspring, since she is determining her children's Jewishness, but the father of her children determine the tribe.

Question of the Month:

Can a Gentile be buried in a Jewish cemetery?

Answer:

Good questions! A person who converts to Judaism follows all the same mourning practices for their non-Jewish parents as one born Jewish. You sit shiva and you say kaddish. At times one may have to make modifications because of the other non-Jewish relatives, but as much as possible one mourns as a Jew. Non-Jews are not allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetery; however, there are now some mixed religion cemeteries where interfaith couples can be buried together.

Question of the Month:

Is it more important to daven the Amidah to yourself or to listen & participate in the Reader's Repetition? Because of being late, I wanted to daven the most important prayers - such as Sh'ma and then I found myself starting the Amidah quite late. Is it more important to daven the Amidah to yourself, or to listen to and participate in the Reader's Repetition? During the Reader's Repetition is it ok, bad (or neutral) to put money in the Tzedakah box? Some of these questions came up today because I was reading the Rabin Mishnah Study group - most of it is way over my head. but there was a discussion of what to do or NOT do during the Reader's Repetition. Please point me in the right direction (Could I find answer in Klein's book?) During the Reader's Repetition, is it ok, to put money in the Tzedakah box?

Answer:

Rabbi Isaac Klein's Guide to Jewish Religious Practice has a chapter devoted to daily prayer that is rather extensive, however, he does not deal with the questions you are raising. But we can find what you are looking for in Rabbi Hayim Donin's To Pray as a Jew. The basic goal of public prayer is to be able to recite the Kedusha with the congregation when they say the Amida. However, the Amida has to be said after the Shema. So it is a question of how late one arrives at the service. If you can start at the Shema section in time to join the congregation for the Amida, then that is what you do. And then, after you have done the Shema & Amida, you can go back and pick up most of Birkhot Hashachar and Pezuke D'zimra.

There are some parts that you cannot technically add later, they are al netilat yadiyim, the Torah blessings and Elohai neshamah as well as Baruch She'amar and Yishtabach. Consequently, if you arrive earlier, and you you can include more of the service prior to the Shema section you start with those. The first three can be said on their own, while the later two are the opening and closing blessings of Pesuke D'zimra, so you'd at least have to do the Ashrei in between. If you have more time, you can include more of the preliminary service, but all the rest can be done later on.

On the other hand, if you are so late that you can't do the Shema section prior to joining the congregation for the Amida, then you forfeit the privilege of joining them and simply begin at the start of the service and go at your own pace. I know that this can be confusing, if you need further clarification, I'd be happy to look at the siddur together with you.

As to your question on when to put money in the pushke - customs vary. Our practice is to do it after finishing the Amida. Some communities do it at the end of services, while others do it during the Ashrei after reciting the line "Potayach et yadecha" which praises God as the one who opens our hands to provide for the poor. You can do this during the Reader's Repetition of the Amida, as long as you don't do it during the Kedusha, when movement or talking is prohibited.

Question of the Month:  Answering Your Child's Questions About God:

I hope that you might be my husband and I with a small problem. Ben just began kindergarten, both at public school and at Shomrei Torah, and he has asked us "What is God?" Usually we are able to field very tough questions from Ben, but for some reason this one has us stuck. This is a hard question for adults, let alone a five year old. My intellectual understanding and experience is simply not up to providing him with an answer he can understand. I was hoping you might have some suggestions, both as a Rabbi and as a parent, on how we might explain this to him so that he has a better understanding. I appreciate your thoughts, and your help.

Answer:

I think that it is important to answer children's questions about God when they ask them, rather than put them off. We want it to be a topic that they are comfortable discuss with us. There are no right answers, it's about being honest and sharing our own beliefs with our children. There is nothing wrong with their learning that we don't have all the answers and that this is a topic that adults wrestle with too.

There are some nice Jewish books for children on God - you can find a selection at www.judaism.com (go to books, then children). A publisher that has an extensive list is www.JewishLights.com (again click on children's books).

Question of the Month:

Why was the Cantor standing sideways on the Bima during Rosh Hashanah services?

Rabbi Mark's answer:

In some communities the person leading services faces the Congregation, in others they face the Aron HaKodesh or Ark. Here at Shomrei Torah you'll see both styles depending on who is leading and what they are doing. Even in a Congregation where they leader faces the members, one turns to face the Ark for the Barchu, for the silent Amida and whenever the Ark is open. Additionally, during the time you do the silent Amida you are not to talk or move and for the leader this is true for the entire Reader's Repetition of the Amida. So the problem the Cantor was trying to solve is that 1. Our prayer leaders face the Congregation most of the time, 2. During the Amida she can't move & 3. Periodically, we open the Ark; she solved the dilemma by standing sideways where she could see the open Ark as well as the Congregation and do all of it without having to move while she was leading the Amida

Question of the Month:

We've been invited to a wedding this weekend. Before the services [at a Chabad center], the bride is going to have a "Bedeken". Could you tell me what this is all about.

Rabbi Mark's answer:

A Bedeken is the term for the Veiling of the bride just prior to the start of a Jewish wedding ceremony. The Torah tells us that when Rebecca gazed upon Isaac for the first time, "she took her veil and covered herself" (Genesis 24:60). The veil symbolizes the value of modesty. The word itself means to "check" or confirm and is drawn from the Biblical story of Jacob's wedding. He has fallen in love with Rachel and they are to be married. Jacob does not look under the veil and discovers after the ceremony that he has married her older sister Leah. And so today, at the veiling of the bride, the groom is present to make sure that he is marrying his intended.

The Bedeken can be a private ceremony, done with the wedding party while the guests are being seated for the ceremony. Alternatively, it can be done as a public ceremony for all to see. Generally, at a public Bedeken there is a large whicker chair for the bride; she is danced into the room by her attendants and seated. The veil is lowered in the grooms presence and some Biblical verses are read by the Rabbi or the Bedeken Officiant (who may also provide explanation) and then the bride is danced out of the room by her attendants to await the start of the wedding ceremony.

Question of the Month:

My brother recently attended a funeral and had a few questions about Jewish funeral customs. They were: why do we put rocks on the gravestone, and why do we wait so long for the unveiling?

Answer:

Placing rocks on graves that we visit is a minhag - some connect it to the use of the term Tzur Yisrael - Rock of Isreal as a name for God. Others trace it back to our early nomadic days, as a way of marking that a visit had been made to a gravesite. The only time you are not supposed to put rocks on graves is when you go to the cemetery for a funeral. The custom is not to visit other graves when you attend a funeral. But rather to go for the express purpose of burying the dead.

There are different custom as to unveilings - in the Sephardic community they do it after Sheloshim - while in the Ashkenazic community is has become a way of marking the first yahrzeit and combines with the idea of visiting the grave yahrzeits.