Comparison With Jewish Law
All streams in Judaism agree that there are two routes to Jewishness: ancestry and conversion.
Regarding ancestry, Orthodox and Conservative Judaism consider the offspring of a Jewish mother to be Jewish (matrilineal descent): the ancestry of the father is irrelevant. In the postwar era, Reform Judaism adopted the innovation of patrilineal, or bilineal descent: a person with a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother may also be considered Jewish if he/she identifies as such.
Karaite Judaism, including only the Tanakh/Pentateuch in its canon, traces Jewishness exclusively through the father's line, (patrilineal descent).
Regarding conversion, the various streams of Judaism apply different levels of stringency with respect to the prospective convert's level of observance and commitment, but all agree that the ancestry of the convert is irrelevant. People of all parentage and backgrounds have joined and continue to join the Jewish religion.
The modern State of Israel allows anyone who does not practise a religion other than Judaism to settle in Israel as a beneficiary of the Law of Return, provided that the person has one Jewish grandparent, a Jewish spouse, or that the person is a valid convert to Judaism.
Finally, a person of Jewish ancestry who converted to another religion is still considered Jewish in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, whereas Reform Judaism and the State of Israel consider such people not to be Jewish.
Read more about this topic: Mischling
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