What do you mean by “to have a Jewish character with a Christian family”?
I’m thinking of having a family in my story who are Christians but they have a daughter who chose to b Jewish as she didn’t agree with Christian things.
If that so, then it won’t be disrespectful. And my answer is based on cases that I read about, like a Lebanon-born Israeli soldier who always wanted to be Jewish and he converted, and later his brother and sister converted too. His parents are still Christians, but they want to convert as well (by the way, the conversion to Judaism is really difficult).
However, there are things that you have to keep in mind:
- “Bishul akum” - eating certain foods if they are cooked entirely by non-Jews is prohibited. Food that was grilled or fried by non-Jews is prohibited as well. The prohibition does not apply to all foods.
(By the way, a wine made by non-Jews is prohibited)
- If she converted to Reform or Conservative Judaism, she will not be recognized as Jewish by the Orthodox Jews. In Israel, the state {and the chief Rabbinate} will not recognize a person who converted to non-Orthodox Judaism).
So, make the character convert to Orthodox (or even modern Orthodox) Judaism.
There are some Jews who either are converted or they have a father who’s not Jewish.
Can I ask if that character lives with her parents?
Yes she will live with her parents for almost all of the book.
So I have to make her an Orthodox Jew and she can’t eat some foods her parents make and she can’t drink their wine.
Got it
If you don’t mean Haredic, then I suggest you add the word “Modern”, so she’d be defined as a Modern-Orthodox Jew.
If you want, I can give you more details about it (recommended).
If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to know
- what foods she can’t eat?
- what foods she can’t eat if a non Jewish person makes them
- other things she can’t do
^^ (if something is unclear, feel free to ask, but be specific)
Before answering that question, let me say that when a Jew lets a non-Jew cook (a cooked food that he can eat when it was made by a non-Jew), at the beginning of the cooking needs to be done by the Jew.
Now, my answer to that question is: She cannot eat milk that was milked by non-Jew, meaning that she can’t eat its products, and as I said she can’t drink wine they made or drink with them. Also, she cannot at meat that was slaughtered by non-Jews (Jewish people usually don’t eat meat made by gentiles).
In addition, if a non-Jew cooks food in a Jew’s vessels, not only are the foods prohibited for consumption, but the vessels may not be used anymore without first koshering them by immersing them in a pot of boiling water on the fire (“ Hag’ala ”).
(By the way, Jews usually do separation between the meat vessels and dairy vessels. But not all the Jews stick it, whether they keep Kashrut or not)
It also depends on the situation of supervision (and some other factors) as to whether she could eat the food cooked by the non-Jew.
(This is kind of complicated, but I am trying my best to be as clear as possible )
Well, on Passover, she cannot eat bread and anything that is considered Chametz (H’ametz). There is a special Kashrut for Passover.
Definition of Chametz food
It is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and “rise.” This includes flour (even before it is mixed with water), cake, cookies, pasta, breads, and items that have chametz as an ingredient, like malt.
In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening—is to be considered chametz.
I hope this helps you.
That is super helpful thank you so much
I added it (in “More information”)
What if she was lesbian? Same rules apply?
Well, the “negiah” rule means that opposite sexes cannot touch each other. Even if she is lesbian, she still cannot touch men (by the way, it also means no hand shaking, hugging and kissing. It doesn’t only means no doing intimate things). But she can touch women (like hugging and shaking hands).
I forgot to say, I suggested you make her Modern Orthodox, I did it because sometimes when (at least some) people say that a Jewish person is Orthodox, they tend to think that he’s a Haredi, but Orthodox Jewish isn’t necessarily equal to Haredi.
Not gonna lie this gave me a lot of personality ideas
Nice to know it (I added two or three words… but I hope you got the point of the whole “negiah” thing, didn’t you?)
I did yes
Thanks so much
Jewish-BUMP
Note: if you want to add female religious Jewish character who is married, then you have to be careful with the thing of head covering. I mean:
If you want the character to wear a sheitel (the Jewish wig), you have to keep in mind that it is only worn by Ashkenzai women. For Sepharadi/Mizrahi Jewish women, it is forbidden. But there are some non-Ashkenazi women who do wear wigs.
How come I forgot to say it …?
Bump
Bump.
Does anyone have questions to ask me regarding Judaism?
I wanted to know the differences between the denominations.