by explaining how the religon of your parents decide whether or not a person can be considered a "real Jew"?

an understandable defense of YOUR Jewish faith and beliefs?

The line you remember was me pointing out to Michele that only children who have a Jewish mother are born with a "birthright".

Your comments I suspect had more to do with payback for mic's claiming your dimished capacity due to your past lifestyle rather than a defense of your beliefs.

Unless you can find the thread I'll stick with my original opinion.

Also in terms of the matriarcal claim, originally patriarcal descent was the dominating "birthright".

Interesting in your discussion with Michelle this was never mentioned. Afterall if it had been the ambush, gotcha or 1-uping as you call it wouldn't have worked. But since when is an informed opinion important?

There are those who see Judaism uniquely as maternal in descent, "matriarchal descent" as you noted. This follows Jewish law of the past 2000 years. It does seem that before then it was "patriarchal descent" and we don't really know why there was a change.

Rabbis of the first 200 years of the Common Era (0-200 CE or AD) saw how many children were being born of rape, slavery and all forms of sexual abuse of Jewish women. In an act of compassion, and working within the Roman concept of citizenship, they made the law accept the child of a Jewish mother as a Jew by birth. So, what began as compassion and inclusiveness and leniency "then" has made a situation today that they could never contemplate - an open society in which Jews could marry non-Jews - a complicated situation if not a crisis for the family.

So, what began as compassion and inclusiveness and leniency...

Why do you make it your mission to try and discredit another person's beliefs and faith?

Impressive, wasn't it? =)

All that mumbo jumbo is secondary to the issue I raised. When you start going after someone's core beliefs you might as well go after their family.

You frame it as an intellectual exchanging of ideas and maybe in your mind you remember it that way. If that is what it had been then it would not have stuck with me.

After this long it isn't difficult to see when you’re setting someone up and in the case of that discussion it was aimed squarely at Michelle's pride in being Jewish. Just like your signature once you clamped onto her throat and started shaking you weren’t about to stop. I guess you saw it as a righteous kill.

That discussion was from:
Ask Rabbi Lerner
Daughter of Jewish Father and Catholic Mother

"There are Jews who feel that it is a blood issue, and they refuse to accept converts to Judaism because they weren't "born" into the Jewish People. Similarly, your father believes that he has given you Jewish blood and no one can take it away. In both cases, I respectfully disagree; Judaism is a religion, a community of faith and identity, and it has nothing to do with "Jewish blood."

If your daughters are truly searching to become Jewish, you and they need to have the above facts and information in hand and consider it seriously. We would welcome you. If you wish to be Jewish and identified as a Jew, I'd urge you to speak with a Rabbi directly and deal with the details with him/her. Please let me know the closest communities/cities to you and I am certain to know the right Rabbi to whom to refer you for a personal relationship.

Whenever I dealt with such a circumstance - and by the 80's and 90's it was very frequent - I would urge a visit to the mikveh, the Jewish equivalent of "immersion" or full body baptism; it is the ancestor of what Christianity created as baptism. In this fashion, there could be no question in the minds of anyone as to the authenticity of identity as a Jew. It isn't as much a conversion as a confirmation of Jewish identity. "

Wow! You were impressed. I just had no idea how much.

certain moments connect with me and if weren't for the a-holes here who choose to use personal comments against a person I might explain further

You were the a-hole that brought this very old personal comment of mine back to life. Are you trying to use it against me?

you call your discussion with michelle personal comment?

No, my discussion with Michele was a discussion. Your memory of one line in that discussion, taken completely out of context, is obviously something you consider a "personal comment" of some sort since it "connected" with you...even though you didn't remember the discussion at all.