What Is a Jew?

[Page 11]

     Time magazine reports a heated debate in Israel over an announcement by Premier David Ben-Gurion's government that any person may register as a Jew who declares "in good faith" he is one, and professes no other religion. Orthodox Jews have contended that the Talmud recognizes as a Jew only one born of a Jewish mother. The present government would permit children of an unconverted gentile mother to be registered as Jews if

[Page 12]

both parents desire. The effect of this ruling will be to weaken the Talmudical influence in the modern Jewish mind and to encourage mixed marriages. This straw indicates the wind is blowing toward the battering down of age-old differences. The day may come when men will agree with the Jew of Tarsus, that, "He is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God." That is the kind of identification card God validates.