Matrilineal Descent (Jewish Status Follows the Mother)
Who is born Jewish? In classical halacha the answer follows the mother: a child of a Jewish mother is Jewish, a child of a non-Jewish mother is not — whatever the father. The Talmud roots this in a verse in Deuteronomy, and it remains one of the most consequential — and debated — principles of Jewish identity today.
The halachic principle that Jewish status passes through the mother: a child of a Jewish mother is Jewish, and a child of a non-Jewish mother is not (absent conversion), regardless of the father's status. The Talmud derives it in Kiddushin 68b from Deuteronomy 7:3-4, and it is stated in Mishnah Kiddushin 3:12 and Yevamot 23a; codified in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Issurei Bi'ah 15:3-4 and Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 8; Yoreh De'ah 268). Academic scholarship (Shaye J. D. Cohen) places its firm establishment in the Tannaitic period, contrasting it with earlier biblical narratives of patrilineal identity. In the modern era it is a central fault line of Jewish status: Orthodox and Conservative Judaism uphold the matrilineal principle, while Reform Judaism (CCAR, 1983) recognizes patrilineal descent where the child is raised with a Jewish identity — producing a recognition gap between movements.
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