#AND a lot of other countries around the world - esp ukraine

[hacash]

once again I’m struck by how ‘I don’t care if Trump gets in, I don’t care about allowing matters to get worse - both for America and vulnerable countries around the world - as long as I personally feel morally comfortable at the end of the election’ is a statement that people are actually saying with a straight face and meaning it

[magnetothemagnificent]

Hi, I've been trying to learn on my own regarding this subject but I've been having a lot of trouble. Is there some sort of cultural disconnect between Jewish Westerners (esp Americans) and Jewish Easterners (esp Eastern Europeans but Middle East as well)? I had the weirdest conversation the other day with a Jewish American who didn't seem to think Ukrainian Jews counted as Jewish? Am I insane, or did I stumble across a cultural or political divide I wasn't aware of? How do I even go about researching something like that? thank you for your patience and help, and I hope people are kind to you.

So, they might be referring to the fact that not all Ukrainian (and any formerly USSR country) Jews are matrilineal Jews.

According to traditional Jewish law, in order for a person to be Jewish they either have to convert to Judaism or have been born to a Jewish mother. This law of matrilineality comes from a time when Jews were being exiled and scattered around the world, and preserving Jewish identity was extremely important. Before DNA tests, you really couldn't be 100% sure who a person's father was, but you could for their mother cause y'know......there would have been people witnessing them being born. Thus, it was decided to make Jewish descent exclusively matrilineal.

The USSR was very good at eliminating much of Jewish life and identity. Jewish documents were destroyed, so many people now don't have a reliable paper trail proving their ancestry and Jewishness. Additionally, some may be patrilineal Jews, but not matrilineal Jews, and therefore not considered valid by some Jewish denominations.

Now, I wouldn't quite say this is a "West" versus "East" issue, since many Israeli Charedi and Dati Jews feel the same way as American Orthodox Jews do. According to Israel's current Right of Return, people from former USSR countries qualify if they have even just a Jewish grandparent. This policy has allowed many lives to be saved during the Soviet era. With the war in Ukraine and a new influx of refugees, many Israelis are suspicious and don't want non-Jewish Ukrainians to be shown deference, and they are wary of Ukrainians who claim Jewish heritagr because they think they're lying just to have access to Israeli resources.

The situation regarding Jews and those descended of Jews in former USSR countries is pretty unique, and the "controversy" has more to do with interpretations of Jewish law than global location.