Patrilineal Descent  The Reform movement's watershed resolution
of 1983.  Print this page Print this page  On March 15, 1983,
the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Reform
movement's body of rabbis, passed a resolution prepared by a
committee on patrilineal descent entitled "The Status of
Children of Mixed Marriages." The CCAR resolution stated that
"we face, today, an unprecedented situation due to the changed
conditions in which decisions concerning the status of the child
of a mixed marriage are to be made." Contrary to nearly 2000
years of tradition, the resolution accepted the Jewish identity
of children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers under
certain circumstances.   patrilineal descentThere was a great
deal of controversy about this resolution, both before and after
its adoption. Some saw it as a radical and unwarranted departure
from tradition, while others hailed it as a productive and
inclusive approach to increasingly-common interfaith families.
Who is a Jew?  Although the He