This week three sites - two of them Jewish - tackled an age old question: Who is a Jew? Not surprisingly, the identity of the mother was at the center of all three discussions.

The first is an opinion piece from the Jerusalem Post, in which author Raymond Apple argues that matrilineality is still the most important factor when determining an individual's Jewish identity. In early biblical times Jewishness could be traced through the father, but this eventually changed because you always know who the mother is - even if the father's identity is elusive. And what's more, Apple continues: mothers have a stronger bond with their children, as well as more influence over their child's religious development. Hence the mother's identity is paramount. "Matrilineality is here to stay."

Apple's article raises difficult questions. For instance, what about children with a Jewish father who are raised Jewish and identify as Jews? Or identify as half-Jews? In a blog post titled "The Half-Jew's Complaint" Sadie - a young woman with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother - struggles with just this issue. Half-Jew is an identity, she argues, though after enduring a lifetime of Jews accusing people like her father of ruining Judaism she also feels ambivalent. "It's hard to know how we'd suddenly feel if the rabbinate suddenly let us second-classers in," she concludes.

So far eighty-seven people have responded to Sadie's post, making comments that ranged from serious to somewhat tongue in cheek. "I've been told I'm a 'half breed' or - my favorite - a 'wrong half.' And then non Jews tell me I am stupid for calling myself 'half Jewish' because its just not possible," remarked one reader, while another one asked "What about us quarter-Jews? I feel so under-represented I could shalom a chutzpah." One point was made several times throughout the comments: half and quarter Jews were Jewish enough for Hitler.

Apple's article also begs the issue of mothers who have converted to Judaism. What about their children? This question was at the center of a recent U.K. ruling that Jewish schools are guilty of racial discrimination if they reject children because of who their parents are. The way a family practices Judaism - not birth or conversion - should be the standard by which schools evaluate their students, the Court of Appeal said. The decision was prompted by the JFS of London (the oldest and largest Jewish school in England), which denied "a boy admission because it did not recognize his mother’s conversion." The boy's father sued the school claiming that its actions were racist and illegal. Initially he lost the case, but on June 25th - two years later - the Court of Appeal found in his favor.

I've heard mixed reactions to the U.K. ruling. Some of the people I've chatted with think the court has overstepped its bounds and is imposing a secular (perhaps even Christian) standard on Jewish schools. Others think this is an important step towards inclusiveness. Whatever comes of the U.K. case, all three of these articles demonstrate the same thing: Jewish identity is not easily pinned down and the conversation of "Who is a Jew" is still very much alive today.

What are your thoughts?

Today I have a new blog feature to share with you called "Ask the Rabbi." Every day questions arrive in my inbox and while I'm more than happy to answer them, sometimes people will ask for a rabbi to weigh in on their question. That's where this new feature comes in. Previously, "Ask the Rabbi" was a part of the "Judaism Basics" section of this site, but I've moved it over to the blog so that the questions will be highlighted on the front page and so readers like yourself will have the opportunity to respectfully share their thoughts. Of course, I'll always ask for permission before sharing a question.

This week Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, a Conservative Rabbi from Temple Beth El in Connecticut, answers a question about cremation in Judaism.

Q. My husband and I are Conservative Jews. We have decided to be cremated when we die because our families on both sides (siblings and children) do not associate with us. We have no one, and even though we relate very much to the Holocaust, we believe there will be no one who will be with either of us during this period of death and mourning. We aren't clear on Jewish views of cremation though - would it be allowed if we were Reform Jews? Would we have to be buried in a non-Jewish cemetery? Please help us with this matter.

A. Thank you for your question, which I want to address on a few levels.

First, yes, the practice of cremation is something foreign to Judaism, and that runs across the board, to all denominations. Surely the Holocaust plays into this in our generation (although I've recently heard of some Jews desiring TO be cremated precisely in order to show solidarity with Holocaust victims - a practice that in my mind is counter-intuitive), but the rationale goes to the heart of what it means to be a Jew. We believe that human beings are created in God's image; there is something about each of us that is of infinite value. Our bodies are therefore sacred and should not be summarily destroyed. If we treat the dead with dignity, the hope is that we will treat the living with the same measure of respect. The Nazis did the opposite, of course, branding people like cattle, crushing them like insects and slaughtering them like sheep.

That having been said, Conservative and Reform rabbis alike should always be looking toward the needs of the mourners and, in many cases would officiate at memorial services and Shivas, regardless of how the deceased was interred. There are even rulings allowing for the interment of ashes at a Jewish cemetery. I don't see any significant difference between Reform and Conservative practice in that regard. Some rabbis might even officiate at the interment, but be assured that most would officiate, at the very least, at a service taking place elsewhere, before the cremation occurs.

My greatest concern regarding your letter, however, has to do with your feelings of isolation. There is an old adage, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone" (The rest of the quote goes, "For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own"). Judaism believes that, in fact, no one should weep alone. The mourner's Kaddish, for instance, is recited with a minyan, at least ten present, representing a community. Online communities are terrific, but as of yet, they have not replaced the flesh and blood communities that visit during Shiva and pull together a minyan for Kaddish. At a time of great mobility, where so many people are without family nearby, the importance of community has intensified. We all need such connections or we feel cast aside, lonely and adrift.

So you are not alone in feeling so lonely. It's a problem so many share. While I always encourage relatives to reconcile, what's most important for you now is to find a community, somewhere near you, and connect. I'd be happy to suggest congregations if you wish. That way, when the time comes - as it inevitably does - where you suffer a loss, you will have the support you so desperately need.

In friendship and peace,
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Over the past couple weeks several Jewish newspapers/websites have featured a story about former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Where is the Jewish connection? Well, apparently, Taylor has converted to Judaism. His wife Victoria told the BBC that he "is now a Jew. He's practicing Judaism."

Of course, this "conversion" is in the eyes of Taylor and his family alone. Among other things, conversion to Judaism usually entails studying with a rabbi, meeting with a beit dein (rabbinic court) and immersion in a ritual bath known as a mikveh. In the case of men, circumcision (brit milah), or symbolic circumcision if the man is already circumcised, may also be required. According to reports, Taylor has done none of these things - and to top it all off, his wife claims that Taylor still believes in Jesus' divinity. As Forward writer Rebecca Daube aptly remarked: "the former warlord seems to be as unclear on the basic tenets of Judaism as he is on the principles of international human rights."

Still, Taylor's declaration does beg the question: What if he sincerely wanted to convert? Can someone be too evil to convert to Judaism?

Daube posed this question to a number of rabbis and found that the answer is not a straightforward one. Some rabbis felt that a person who has committed atrocities should not be allowed to convert to Judaism. "The Jewish community is not a recovery house," said Modern Orthodox Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg. Reform Rabbi Robert Levine felt similarly, noting that although repentance and forgiveness are important concepts in Judaism, if a person has committed horrifying acts they cannot be allowed to convert. "Judaism is an interlocking system of rituals and ethics," Levine said, "There is a small group of people whose total lack of ethics and morality would dismiss them at the outset."

Others, such as Rabbi Avi Shafran, who is the Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, did not agree with Wohlberg or Levine. "The whole idea of conversion is that one is changing radically, [and] an intelligent beit din would have to see some evidence of him wanting to change his ways, but crime in and of itself is not a bar to conversion."

You can read the entirety of Daube's article on The Forward's website, but before you go, what are your thoughts? Can an evil person convert to Judaism?

Happy 4th of July everyone! With the big day less than 24 hours away I couldn't resist the temptation to post about the significant role Jews played in this uniquely American holiday. How so, you wonder? Read on.

In my post about Jewish pirates a couple weeks ago, I mentioned how many Jews came to the New World following their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Thanks to this immigration - among other things - by the time the War of Independence erupted some two hundred years later there were more than 2,000 Sephardic Jews living in America. They didn't tarry in the sidelines, but fought against the British beside their Christian counterparts and were key financial backers of the war effort. Two of the most famous Jews who played a role in the Revolution were Francis Salvador and Haym Solomon.

Francis Salvador was the first American Jew to die in the Revolution, fighting for his country on the South Carolina frontier. A representative to Congress who was one of the earliest champions for Independence, his involvement on the battlefront began when the British started encouraging Indians to attack frontier families as a diversionary tactic. The first attack took place on July 1, 1776 and Salvador sounded the alarm by racing his horse to Major Andrew Williamson's doorstep twenty-eight miles away. He then took part in the battles that followed, fighting bravely until he was shot and scalped by Indians at 29 years of age. Of his death, Colonel William Thomson wrote:

"Mr. Salvador received three wounds; and, fell by my side... before [we] could find him in the dark, the enemy unfortunately got his scalp... He died, about half after two o'clock in the morning... sensible to the last. When I came up to him, after dislodging the enemy, and speaking to him, he asked, whether I had beat the enemy? I told him yes. He said he was glad of it, and shook me by the hand – and bade me farewell." (Documentary History of the American Revolution by Robert Wilson Gibbes, pp. 125–127.)

Jews also played a critical role as financiers, with the most important of them being Haym Solomon. The son of a rabbi, Solomon was a Polish Jew who helped prisoners of the British escape and eventually coordinated the majority of the war aid that revolutionaries received from France and Holland. He also supported members of the Continental Congress, including James Madison and James Wilson. There are a number of unsubstantiated legends about Solomon, including the claim that he designed The Great Seal of the United States and that he placed the Star of David above the eagle's head. (The seal is on the back of a $1 bill, on the right side.)

President George Washington later remembered the role Jews played in the Revolution in a August 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island, writing:

"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in the land continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants. While everyone shall sit safely under his own vine and fig-tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

There were, of course, many other Jews involved in the American Revolution. Yet I hope that knowledge of Salvador and Solomon adds a little something to your celebrations tomorrow!