Sorry, I thought I had an issue submitting, and I see I made 3 comments that did get posted out of order. The only one I wish went through was the comment of the Conservatives and Reforms probably not sending their kids to this if they weren’t local.
But, I find this discussion bizarre, and offensive. Not so much current kids who claim to be ‘half-jewish’, the people who seem to think we’re all intermarried 10 generations ago. So what you are telling me, is that although all of my American ancestors are clearly Jewish, but because they are not the so-called “ultra-Orthodox” that in 1700 or 1600 I have a non-Jewish mother somewhere in Austria-Hungary or in the Ukraine? Goodness, now I have “Jews” (this thread gives us pause to question!), white nationalists, Arabs, and academics questioning my genealogy now! If only I could get some type of affirmative action out of that!
I have a collection of old books about the history of Jews written by various Academics and Christians, and they all seem to agree with you. To use their language, these books claim that the modern Jews are not related to the original Hebrews at all. Just like this website, they have no proof other than their own snide beliefs. Congratulations.
Maybe we can debate what’s going on with this new thing (to me) of these mixed parental units, but going back to the old country is a bit much. And with historical precedent sadly, which claims that there are no Jews.