Question: Does Reform Judaism require conversion when only the father is Jewish?
My fiance's father is Jewish and his mother is not. He was raised Jewish and identifies himself as Jewish. I am not Jewish. When we have children, we want to raise them Jewish. Will a reform congregation consider our child(ren) Jewish based on my fiance? Will I need to convert for our child(ren) to be considered Jewish? Will our child(ren) need to convert?
Answer: Thank you for your question. You ask if a Reform congregation would consider your future children to be Jewish despite the fact that you are not Jewish and your fiance has only a Jewish father.
The answer is a qualified yes.
In 1983 the Central Conference of American Rabbis (the organization of Reform rabbis) adopted a resolution on the status of children of mixed marriage. The resolution stated that the Reform Movement would accept as Jews children with only one Jewish parent (regardless of that parent's sex) provided that the parents confirm the child's exclusively Jewish identity with "appropriate and timely acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people."
If you wish to raise your children as Jews and enter them into the Jewish community with a brit milah (Jewish ritual circumcision) or a Jewish baby naming, they will be Jews according to the standards accepted by almost all Reform congregations and rabbis in the United States. The Reconstructionist Movement has a similar standard.
Conservative and orthodox Jews would require conversion for your children to be considered Jews. According to their standards, only the children of a Jewish mother or one who converts to Judaism is considered to be Jewish.
There is no need for you to convert for your children to be accepted as Jews in the Reform Movement. However, since you are making a commitment to raising your children as Jews and creating a Jewish home, I hope that you will consider and explore the possibility of converting. Conversion can be a powerful and wonderfully fulfilling spiritual experience. I think you would make a wonderful Jew.
Best wishes,
Rabbi Jeffrey W. Goldwasser
