Jewish Identity Who is a Jew?

Jewish Identity: Who Is a Jew? compiles the forty-three responses to Israeli Prime Minister Ben Gurion’s request in the 1950’s for opinions from Rabbis and scholars around the world, Reform to Orthodox, on the “Who is a Jew” (Im Yehudi) issue.


First published in 1965, this volume provided a variety of answers to a major issue in world Jewry. In 2012, it is an even more pressing issue, due to the ingathering of Jews from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Ethiopia, as well as the increasing rate of intermarriage in the United States and around the world.


This second revised edition has been edited by Jeanne Litvin, the granddaughter of Baruch Litvin, who compiled the original responses. This edition includes new contributions from Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Yeshiva University, Rabbi Michael Broyde, founder of the Young Israel of Toco Hills Synagogue in Atlanta, and Rabbi Kenneth Brander, David Mitzner Dean of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future.