The first "why" question, in the first chapter, explains the fact that why the religion of the mother is the primary factor in determining if a child is Jewish or not. I'm pretty sure I've discussed this topic before in my blog; how Judaism only considers those born from a Jewish mother as Jews. You are considered non-Jewish, if your mother is non-Jewish. Doesn't matter if your dad is a rabbi, you're still not among the chosen ones.
This rule was established because of a pretty simple reason (here comes the why). One can be sure who gave birth to a child - but of the father you can never be sure. Or to say the least, in some circumstances it can be questioned. Fine, nowadays we have those mail order DNA tests and all that to help you if you're in doubt, but back then for the Jews, perhaps just a teeny tiny bit suspicious by their nature, the mother was the 100% source of Judaism and this remains until today.
So, us shiksas out there, out here. Anything that would crawl out of our foreign loins would never be considered Jewish. But here comes the catch: if I did have kids with a Jew, the kids would be entitled to receive Israeli citizenship. And even my children's children would still have this birth right.
This is where the confusion begins. Israel, the state established for Jews, historically based on Zionism, is willing to grant its citizenship just-like-that to someone that officially, according to the real, religious rules isn't even Jewish. My little book of whys does not answer my question why is this and how this contradiction persists.
One could argue back that not all Israelis are Jews. And this is true. While Jews are the majority in the country, there are minorities of Arabs/Muslims, Druze and Christians. Therefore, you might catch an Arab with an Israeli passport at the airport. But no "outsider" Christian or Arab would be granted the citizenship without ifs or buts and allowed to do aliyah, unless their would prove one of their grandparents being Jewish (the Orthodox Jews would probably add here, that it would have to be the maternal grandmother - if any). And we come back to the matter of one having a Jewish bloodline.
And yes, shiksas can convert. Someone might point out here that even the first Jews ever were converts. But Judaism is not something you can just go and be 100% , is it? Same thing if I convert, I'd always be Christian by background. If I lived in Switzerland for 20 years and got citizenship, I'd still be Finnish under the surface. Nationality and religion are something more profound, something you're born into. Political ideologies e.g. communism doesn't know this kind of so-called restrictions. One can be a 100% communist regardless of where they come from. But can a convert-Jew ever be considered 100% Jewish? This is probably a matter of opinion...
When it comes down to it, Judaism and Israel are more than just a plain religion or a plain sovereign country. They are like Siamese twins, so grown together that you can't separate the one from the other. There are two heads thinking independently: the Jewish one thinking in religious terms and the Israeli one tuned into a more secular mindset. Somehow, though, they need to co-exist, because both without one another, would be way worse off.
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