Send to Friend  Bookmark  Print  Half-Jewish: Starting a
Wholesome Conversation  Originally published on Reprinted by
permission.  July 19, 2010  It is easy enough to use the term
"half-Jewish" as a mechanism for claiming celebrities as members
of the Tribe.  However, what does it actually means when someone
identifies or is labeled as "half-Jewish"? From pride, to
insult, to an outright denial, there currently exists a vast
range of understandings and tensions regarding the term "half-
Jew."  woman looking at half-full glass of waterIt is no wonder
then, as Robin Margolis noted in a recent article, that many
organizations have been unsuccessful in their capacity to
properly engage an emerging population of people that identify
as half-Jewish. While there may be several root causes of this
issue, the Jewish community could certainly benefit from a close
examination of what it might mean to identify as half-Jewish,
and how this fits into the structures and understandings of
contemporary Jewish life.  As part of