British court rules chief rabbi’s definition of a Jew is discriminatory

November 12, 2009

A British appeals court has ruled that a Jewish school unlawfully discriminated against an applicant who was not a Jew according to the British chief rabbi’s definition of Judaism. The applicant is the son of a Jewish father and a mother who converted at a Reformed synagogue; according to Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a child of a mother who converted to Judaism is Jewish only if the mother converted at an Orthodox synagogue.

Whether this definition of Judaism is “benign or malignant, theological or supremacist … the requirement that if a pupil is to qualify for admission his mother must be Jewish, whether by descent or conversion, is a test of ethnicity which contravenes the Race Relations Act,” the court ruled.

 

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Further information:

• Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question (New York Times)