Half Jew half Gentile

Question

I always thought it was a misconception to be "half-Jewish". Usually the speaker means one of their parents are Jewish, making them either fully Jewish or fully Gentile.

However, I saw today that the Minchas Chinuch (Kometz HaMincha #347) suggests the possibility of such a status (although in Minchas Chinuch he seems less sure). The case is two people own a non Jewish slave (not an Eved Kenaani, but with קנין הגוף). One frees their half, and the half slave converts. The free half is Jewish, and when the remaining half is freed, it remains Gentile.

I'm looking for other sources which discuss such a status. Maybe they disagree with the concept and say the Jewishness spreads (as Minchas Chinuch suggests, unlike in his Kometz HaMincha). Maybe they discuss the practical ramifications that the Kometz HaMincha brings, or suggest new ones.

I'm already aware the Ben Ish Chai in Benayahu (Eruvin 18a), amongst other places, discusses this concept, and relates it to Siamese twins. The Kometz HaMincha also quotes a Turei Even which discuses this, but I don't know what he says.

Answer 1

The source is from the gemara in Kiddushin and Gittin which Kiddushin daf 6a Rashi cites the gemara in Gittin daf 43a which asks a question about if a half-emancipated goyish slave who is now half-Jewish marries a Jew, what is the din? I believe this is the source that Minchas Chinuch used.

This is also explained in the Chumash about a charufa which Kiddushin 6a talks a little about. Basically a charufa is a goyish slave woman who was reserved for a Jewish man when she gets redeemed and then comes a person and marries the charufa when she was not redeemed yet. this is in sefer Vayikra perek yud-tet, pasuk chuf-alef. Of course, if someone today says they are half Jewish because of their dad, they aren't Jewish at all.

Regarding the matter of the Judaism spreading, I can use the gemara in Kiddushin daf 7a that says that if a man says to a woman that he wants to marry half of her, the kiddushin doesn't spread to the other half since her mind stops it. Therefore, since a woman can't be married halfway since she can't marry two men, the kiddushin stops there and doesn't spread and she isn't even married halfway because she can't marry too men as I said before. I can also use this case to say that since the Jewishness here stops halfway because of the other master, it doesn't spread but still doesn't disappear since we don't have the problem here of a woman who can't marry two men. Because of this, the Jewishness of the slave doesn't spread fully and only partially does it spread. Also, a disclaimer, please don't pasken out of anything I just said since I'm not a posek in regards to marriage or anything. Just a regular bachur.