It's a good job somebody takes themselves seriously.
As I understand it, Jewishness is passed on via the mother and not the father. That would seem to be a religiously orientated way of defining the passing on of racial characteristics. If you were of a race as commonly understood then fathers would also pass on those racial characteristics.
The powers that be see it differently. But then that happens a lot when you stick your oar in.
Actually it is a combination of ethnicity, religion and tradition. While the concept does indeed draw from scripture, it is a generally accepted principle that one can be a Jew if your mother is a Jew, yet still be an atheist where religion is concerned. Plus, passing on genes is obviously a practical question of ethnicity and not one of religion. However the principle began, the fact is that for centuries now the lineage of Jews has been an ethnic one, save for the small minority of converts to Judaism. Therefore, in practical terms again, most Jews share a Semitic commonality and heritage and are as much an ethnic group as a religious one.
As indeed do many not identified as Jews possess the same commonality. They're excluded due to religious reasoning that has itself changed tack several times over the centuries from male lineage to female lineage to both parents ( as long as you make a song and dance about being Jewish in public ) to God knows what else.
