We come then to the issue of who is a Jew. There are few topics in the Jewish world which have been more debated than this one. To this day there is no consistent definition.[/quote]
He offers the five definitions people believe as to what defines a Jew.
1. Religious Definition:
Only those who believe and live in Judaism. The problem with this def. is that one can be ethnically born Jewish and be an atheist and then not be considered a Jew. As one Rabbi told Arnold, he was not a Jew anymore because he was a Christian even though he thought an atheist Jew was still a Jew. Arnold pointed out how inconsistent this was.
2. The Benjamin Shalit Case in the Israeli Supreme Court
A case that came up twenty or so years after the state of Israel was born. A Navy commander (a Jew) with a Gentile wife, who were both atheists. filed to have his children registered as Jews the Minister of the Interior rejected this request. It went to the court. Nine of the ten justices presided over the case. The full ten did not to avoid a tie vote. Shalit argued a twofold theory: (1) That Jewishness was based upon nationality, i.e. if one is born in the country that person is then a Jew, and (2) Jewishness was not a biological question but one of historical, sentimental and intellectual identification. At that time the Court ruled in his favor.
3. A Nationalistic Definition
David Ben Gurion (who Arnold calls the George Washington of Israel) defined at a speech at the Hebrew University in Israel as one who comes to Israel, settles in Israel, and raises his children in Israel. Jewishness then is defined as Israeli nationalism. Those living outside of Israel, even biological Jews born of a Jewish father, were not really true Jews.
4. Public Opinion Poll
As a consequence of all of the confusion, and the Shalit court case, a pool was conducted to let the people decide what made one a Jew. The results were:
-12% delcared that a Jews is a person whose father or mother is Jewish or who has a Jewish spouse
-23% said whoever simply claims to be a Jew is a Jew
19% said one who has a Jewish mother and converts to Judaism.
13% said one who lives in Israel and identifies with a Jewish state.
-13% A Jew is one who observes the Jewish religious practices
-11% answered a Jew is one who is raised and educated as a Jew.
-9% said it could not be defined.
Before speaking of the 5th definition it is important to note that every one of these def. is subjective and based upon tradition, human reasoning, and without divine revelation being the authoritative standard.
5. The Hebrew Christian Defintion
Builds upon an objective standard; it goes back to the very source of Jewishness, the Scriptures. As Dr. Fruchtenbaum says, "
the further any definition departs from the Scriptures, the foggier it gets. The Hebrew Christian is forced to define Jewishness in the biblical sense of the term, for to him the Scriptures are the source of authority. Hence the Hebrew Christian definition can also be called the biblical definition. The biblical basis for defining for defining Jewishness lies in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis."
He goes on to show that in Gen. 12:1-3, Gen. 15:4-5, Gen. 26:-2-5, 24, and Gen. 28:13-15 we can clearly see how God defined the Jewish ethnicity. He shows that it "
lies in the repeated statement that a nation will come through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and thus defines Jewishness in terms of nationality. But unlike trhe view of many Israelis, this nationality is not confined to the state of Israel alone, but it includes all the Jewish people no matter where they are. It is a nationality based upon descent and not on Zionism. Biblically speaking, the Jewish people are a nation. Today we are a scattered nation, but we are, nevertheless, a nation. We are a nation because we are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The implication of this definition is that no matter what the individual Jew may believe or disbelieve he remains a Jew . . . . Nothing, absolutely nothing, can change the fact that he is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
But of course people logically ask: what if the mother is a Gentile? Or what if the mother is a Jew and the Father is a Gentile? What about in those cases?
Arnold goes ont o correctly explain: "
The theology of Judaism teaches Jewishness is determined by the mother; if the mother is Jewish, then the children are Jewish. But again, this is a departure from the biblical norm and is therefore rejected by Hebrew Christianity. In the Scriptures it is not the mother who determines Jewishness but the father. consequently the genealogies of both the Old and New Testaments list the names of men and not of the women, except in the cases where a mother was notable in Jewish history. Thus if the father is Jewish, the children are Jewish. King David was definitely Jewish, although his great grandmother Ruth and his great-great grandmother Rahab were both Gentiles."
Therefore, the key is simple to how we define a Jew. We must first determine what will be our authority base. Will we first let Scripture define our terms. Second, once we do this we see that a Jew is one who is physically born of the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus it is passed down through the father and thus we can see there is a twofold definition: (1) A Jew is one who has a Jewish Father, and (2) it is by biological descent that defines who is or is not a Jew.
Dr. Allen
I urge you to go to Dr. Fruchtenbaum's website:
www.ariel.org for more info
Also, if you want another great resource on this I urge you to read "
Israeology: The Missing Link to Systematic Theology." Arnold spent 14 or so years of research on this topic and earned his Ph.D from New York University on this subject. It is a massive volume (1,000 plus pages) that has not been answered or refuted by any reputable theologian or philosopher to date.
He is also producing a commentary set on the whole Bible from a Jewish frame of reference. Over the years he has become one of the strongest leaders among the Hebrew Christian Movement (Messianic movement) and his discipleship training center has trained thousands of people for ministry in the fields of Jewish evangelism and discipleship as well as in Rabbi roles within Messianic Churches.
