What is a Jew? Part 1
Parashat Toldot
Parashat Toldot
Ethan Tucker
This week, we will begin a four-week series on Jewish identity, explored through the lens of apostasy—the fancy term for a Jew who abandons Jewish belief and practice, often by embracing another religion or faith system. In this first essay, we explore the basic construction of Jewish identity as either ethnicity or religion, tracing the development of the issue from biblical to post-Hellenistic times.