Every religion has ways of deciding who “counts”, who doesn’t, who can convert,and so on. With Judaism this question becomes more and more complicated. The Torah and long standing tradition says one thing, but someone could be culturally Jewish as opposed to religiously Jewish, or Jewish by conversion, or raised Jewish by a non-Jewish parent. The debate of who is Jewish and who is not can be quite an irksome internal battle. Rachel Sarah struggles with this herself. By tradition and by halacha Rachel is not Jewish. Her mother was not Jewish, therefore she cannot be Jewish. Except, Rachel grew up entirely Jewish. She followed all the traditions, believed in every prayer, and knew nothing of her “controversial” claims to Judaism. In any case she could honestly be claimed to have more Judaism than me, though I was born to a Jewish mother. Rachel Sarah ultimately decides that she is Jewish by her own personal standards.Secular and Humanistic Jews are often met with rude comments and dismissal because we put human efforts above “faith”. I was raised in a Humanistic Jewish congregation. I was met with endless questions from my religious Jewish peers as to how I could call myself Jewish when I don’t pray in synagogue or submit to belief in God. Humanistic and secular Jews put human action above divine action in that we believe thatwe hold the duty of making this world better, not God. Many people argue that, although we follow the traditions and are deeply connected to our Jewish heritage and culture, we are not Jewish. Even more complicating, my mother was raised in an orthodox Jewish home, therefor by birth I am “more Jewish” than a convert or someone born to converted parents. Claiming Judaism is a complex issue in modern times.No one can really seeming to put specific boundaries on “who is a jew” and who is not or how religious one must be to be Jewish. Leonard Saxe makes some great points in his article about who we are. It must be increasingly difficult, as more people seem to embrace Judaism as a cultural heritage and less as a religious belief, especially with young people seeming to be much less “Jewish” than their elders. However, I am not surethat anyone will be able to put a legitimate boundary on who is Jewish. This discussion could potentially go on for ages.Sephardi versus Ashkenazi never crossed my mind because I grew up in a congregation with more Sephardic Jews than Ashkenazi. As a child Sephardi and Ashkenazi only meant more variety of foods on the table at Shabbos and Seder. Reading this article about Ashkenazi never really accepting Sephardi was quite eye opening. I never imagined Jews being separated by ethnic background. However, they are two very different cultures. Perhaps Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews can share their own cultures with each other in the same way that my congregation shared.Interesting that Judaism is constantly predicted to do one thing and then surprises everyone by doing something entirely different. Perhaps this time around Judaism will take a turn towards Humanistic or maybe there will be an up-surgence of cultural discovery as opposed to swinging towards a specific level of religiousness. Perhaps we will be saying Kaddish for the religious traditions of all sects of Judaism. It will be quite interesting to see how Judaism will turn everyone who has a strong prediction (like Lamm) on the heads.Wow. The campaign encouraging Israeli expatriates to return home could definitely be viewed as offensive. Just because they are living in America does not meanthat they will become assimilated. My next-door neighbors growing up were Israeli, called their parents “Ima” and “Abba”, and participated in American culture while still absolutely holding onto their roots as Israelis. I can see that in Israel’s current state perhaps they are concerned, however, just because someone leaves their home country does not mean they will lose their roots.The Chabad-Lubavitch movement sounds intriguing. I have met a few Chabad-Lubavitch Jews as they had a center located near my home. They were a small but vocal community so I can definitely see how they would have grown so immensely even with Schneerson’s death. I am sure they will continue to grow and gain movement as with any religious sect. However, more and more people seem to be straying from the more religious end of Judaism. Black Jews were unheard of not long ago. Now we have a black rabbi. It’s amazing how far we have come. The face of Judaism is ever changing. Seeing as we don’t really have any set boundaries for who is Jewish or can become Jewish, it will continue to change and grow. This is a wonderful thing, the evolution of a religion and the acceptance and openness of said religion to new and different people.It is astounding and appalling to me that even today and even after all that the Jewish people as a whole have been through, we still discriminate against our own people. Just because they are of a different ethnic background or have different beliefs or follow the traditions differently. Jews as a people should stand together in all areas. Especially today when so many people are recognizing their Jewish roots, converting to Judaism, or even just married into the religion. With all these new “types” of Jews we should stand together as a whole, not