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Does the Tanach give guidelines to Identify who is a Jew and who is not?

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    If we take "Jew" to refer to the children of Israel, national identity group, then we can look for textual explanations of who is in that group and who isn't. judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/6704/matrilineal-descent points to the textual sources for matrilineal descent whereas the book of Ruth outlines joining by belief and the Book of Esther gives that process the name "mityahadim" - becoming "Jewish."
    – rosends
    Mar 10, 2013 at 13:00
  • thanks , i was reading about this topic and found that different Jewish sects have different opinions on this , reform judaism allows binneal descent :either from father or mother. Karaites still stick to father descent
    – knowit
    Mar 10, 2013 at 14:58
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    I don't understand the downvotes...the poster may not have the knowledge to be more specific. Nonetheless it's a very basic and very important question!
    – SAH
    Mar 10, 2013 at 17:23
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    Down vote for obstinately ignoring every answer and comment left to date on all your questions, as well as the hundreds of lines of chat, in which you've been told that our tradition is not based solely on what is written in the Tana"ch and the reasons why that is, and the fact that mainstream Judaism follows matrilineal descent and has for thousands of years even if it didn't always.
    – Seth J
    Mar 11, 2013 at 2:24
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    @sah see above. The downvotes are less for the quality of the question than for the insinuation that Jewish tradition isn't valid. Ironically, this situation, LeHavdil, kind of demonstrates how important Torah SheBe'Al Peh is. Without knowing the context and history of this poster, it looks like we are ganging up on someone for asking an innocent question. However, if you're "holding in this sugya" you'll understand why that's not true.
    – Seth J
    Mar 11, 2013 at 2:28

1 Answer 1

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No. All information about how to identify who a Jew is comes from interpretation of Tanach according to the tradition we've received from our rabbis over the millennia. None of it is explicitly in Tanach, which seems to be what you're seeking. For more on verses so interpreted see answers elsewhere.

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  • So over a milenia it was not clear who would be a Jew , and only now it clear who can be a Jew ?
    – knowit
    Mar 11, 2013 at 4:25
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    @Ali I recommend that you read more about the Oral Torah before trying to start any more arguments here.
    – Isaac Moses
    Mar 11, 2013 at 4:40
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    No @Ali, it was perfectly clear. It just wasn't written down in the Tanakh. Which, as others have told you repeatedly, is not our only source of revelation. Your continued attempts to argue about this are more than tiresome. Mar 11, 2013 at 21:06

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