Shavtza Baketball player claims his mother is Jewish going to Israel

[mord]

  another Black HeBro         


http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/07/28/2740247/hoops-star-stoudemire-israel-bound-to-explore-jewish-roots   







Hoops star Stoudemire Israel-bound to explore Jewish roots

July 28, 2010

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Basketball all-star Amar'e Stoudemire reportedly was on his way to Israel after learning he had Jewish roots.

"On the flight to Israel. This is going to be a great trip," Stoudemire, who recently joined the NBA's New York Knicks as a free agent, wrote on Twitter, according to Haaretz.

Stoudemire, a power forward formerly of the Phoenix Suns, was heading to Israel for a voyage of discovery after finding out he has a Jewish mother, Haaretz reported.

According to an Army Radio report, Stoudemire plans to spend time in Israel learning Hebrew.

"The holy land. Learn about it," he wrote, adding "ze ha'halom sheli" -- Hebrew for "this is my dream.



Just take a look at him he has no Jewish mother he's as black as they come 


take a look at his photo in this link 


http://www.nba.com/playerfile/amare_stoudemire/

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Maybe his mom or her mom was a convert?

There's nothing here about black hebro stuff, so I wouldn't assume that.

It COULD be she had a "reform conversion" and in that case he's not actually Jewish.  I think that's the most likely thing in this scenario.

[muman613]

It is not completely beyond belief that his mother could be Jewish. But I agree with KWRBT that if his mother converted there may be some question as to the validity of her conversion. We should only recognize true Orthodox conversion according to Halacha.

[Dr. Dan]

Black or white I have to hand it to him for at least feeling or wanting to be Jewish. Maybe he'll be a supporter of Israel if he doesn't fall into the wrong crowd

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Black or white I have to hand it to him for at least feeling or wanting to be Jewish. Maybe he'll be a supporter of Israel if he doesn't fall into the wrong crowd

I can only kind of chuckle because he has no idea what he's getting himself into if he's really going to 'enter the Jewish world' so to speak and familiarize with our ways and our discourse, and all of our internal issues and quarreling that comes with that.  He may run and never come back lol...    In seriousness though I do hope he will have a positive experience in Israel in whatever format because he has influence over many people.  I also hope that if he is not really Jewish that he is let down easy about that  but will get the truth about it.

[Zelhar]

Maybe his mom or her mom was a convert?

There's nothing here about black hebro stuff, so I wouldn't assume that.

It COULD be she had a "reform conversion" and in that case he's not actually Jewish.  I think that's the most likely thing in this scenario.

One would think, had his mother was a true convert, he would have found out about this a little bit sooner.

[david1967]

His mother is very light skinned, so one of her parents was probably Jewish. 

[Ulli]

In the article and in the article of Haaretz is nowhere mentioned a conversion, so perhaps his mother was Jewish by birth.

[mord]

In the article and in the article of Haaretz is nowhere mentioned a conversion, so perhaps his mother was Jewish by birth.

BUT HOW CAN HE BE SO BLACK LIKE HE COMES STRAIGHT FROM THE CONGO

[Zelhar]

There is a famous former basket ball player in Israel called Wille Sims who looks 100% schwartze, yet he played in the International Maccabia games and later he played in the Israeli league including Maccabee Telaviv and he also became citizen. But he is not a real Jew, he grew up as a Hebro. 

[Yaacov Ben Yehuda]

maybe his mom was a falasha

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Even if one parent is white and the other black, you can look "as black" as Stoudemire.  He's not even that dark relatively speaking, mord.  There are plenty of blacks who are even darker.

[Dr. Dan]

meh, I try to look past the color or the lack of it if possible...If a gentile is encouraged by "his Jewish roots" to go seek it out, I only hope they hang with the right crowd that represents Jews well.

[Raulmarrio2000]

This thread is silly. His mother could be Jewish because she may have a continous matrilineal Jewish descent, even if she is mosltly Black Gentile. It is possibly for someone to have just one Jewish great-great gandmother (matrilineal) and the rest of his ancestors be Gentile. If that's the case he would be Jewish.
Now, there are millions of white Gentiles, so a white claiming to have a Jewish mother  should also prove it. What's special the problem with this this case?

[Baltimore]

Here is a photo of his mother:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-04-06/news/yo-mama/

[Dan]

He just signed a Huge contract with the NY Knicks...
                           maybe he wants to butter up to the Jewish community and join the Park East Synagogue

[Raulmarrio2000]

It seems that he only intends to make a trip to Israel, not to stay. So it'll be quite difficult to prove if his claims are right or not. Israelis would only require a proof if he wants to stay under the Law of Return.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

He just signed a Huge contract with the NY Knicks...
                           maybe he wants to butter up to the Jewish community and join the Park East Synagogue

hahah

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

It seems that he only intends to make a trip to Israel, not to stay. So it'll be quite difficult to prove if his claims are right or not. Israelis would only require a proof if he wants to stay under the Law of Return.

But people are going to talk to him about it.  When he's in Israel, he's not going to be in a cocoon.  It's not about "proof" necessarily.  The subject is bound to come up.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

This thread is silly. His mother could be Jewish because she may have a continous matrilineal Jewish descent, even if she is mosltly Black Gentile. It is possibly for someone to have just one Jewish great-great gandmother (matrilineal) and the rest of his ancestors be Gentile. If that's the case he would be Jewish.
Now, there are millions of white Gentiles, so a white claiming to have a Jewish mother  should also prove it. What's special the problem with this this case?

Because he's a famous NBA basketball player?

[Raulmarrio2000]

This thread is silly. His mother could be Jewish because she may have a continous matrilineal Jewish descent, even if she is mosltly Black Gentile. It is possibly for someone to have just one Jewish great-great gandmother (matrilineal) and the rest of his ancestors be Gentile. If that's the case he would be Jewish.
Now, there are millions of white Gentiles, so a white claiming to have a Jewish mother  should also prove it. What's special the problem with this this case?

Because he's a famous NBA basketball player?

Perhaps... but I gueses the thread was started here just because he is Black.

And, no. If he goes to israel as a foreigner to learn Hebrew or to know the country, I doubt people there would ask him questions. And it's not clear whether he claims to be Jewish or just to have Jewish roots. On one sentence, he says that his mother is Jewish (if he knew about Judaism and his mother were in fact Jewish, he should have said that HE is Jewish). On the other sentence he claims to have Jewish roots, which could only imply that his mother has some Jewish ancestors not necessarily by matrilineal descent. In that case he is only a Gentile wishing to visit that land of some possible Jewish ancestors. Israelies don't ask Gentile tourists about their reasons to visit the country.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Tangential but fascinating
http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/May09/archives09May29-09.html

Ashkenazi Jews of Uganda

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

This thread is silly. His mother could be Jewish because she may have a continous matrilineal Jewish descent, even if she is mosltly Black Gentile. It is possibly for someone to have just one Jewish great-great gandmother (matrilineal) and the rest of his ancestors be Gentile. If that's the case he would be Jewish.
Now, there are millions of white Gentiles, so a white claiming to have a Jewish mother  should also prove it. What's special the problem with this this case?

Because he's a famous NBA basketball player?

Perhaps... but I gueses the thread was started here just because he is Black.

And, no. If he goes to israel as a foreigner to learn Hebrew or to know the country, I doubt people there would ask him questions.

Dude, people are gonna talk to him about it.  He's a famous millionaire basketball player.  He's a celebrity.  There's already been an article in haaretz written about him.    He claims his mother is Jewish and therefore thinks he is.  It's not very complicated.   If his mother is not actually Jewish, he needs to find this out somehow and stop "frontin" and if she really is Jewish, well welcome aboard fellow hebrew.

[Raulmarrio2000]

Even if Hallachically Jewish by birth, it means nothing for the Israeli Law of Return. In order to be accepted in Israel under the Law of Return, a person must be both Hallachically Jewish (birth or conversion) AND identify himself as a Jew without practising another religion, or be a child or grand-child of a Jew/Jewess by Hallacha even if he, himself, is Gentile and keeps another religion. Interestingly, under israeli Law, a Gentile of Jewish origin can be a citizen even if he practises another religion but, if he is Jewish himself, he is not accepted in case of having rejected Judaism.
It would be interesting to know what religion, if any,  had this man up till now and if he gave it up when he supposedelly discovered that he is Jewish.

But if he goes with a tourist or student visa just to know and learn, no questions are asked. The media might harrass him with questions fro being famous, but he is a human being as any other and has every right to make his trip a private issue.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Even if Hallachically Jewish by birth, it means nothing for the Israeli Law of Return. In order to be accepted in Israel under the Law of Return, a person must be both Hallachically Jewish (birth or conversion) AND identify himself as a Jew without practising another religion, or be a child or grand-child of a Jew/Jewess by Hallacha even if he, himself, is Gentile and keeps another religion. Interestingly, under israeli Law, a Gentile of Jewish origin can be a citizen even if he practises another religion but, if he is Jewish himself, he is not accepted in case of having rejected Judaism.
It would be interesting to know what religion, if any,  had this man up till now and if he gave it up when he supposedelly discovered that he is Jewish.

But if he goes with a tourist or student visa just to know and learn, no questions are asked. The media might harrass him with questions fro being famous, but he is a human being as any other and has every right to make his trip a private issue.

He's not making aliyah, he just got a 100 million dollar contract to play basketball for the Knicks.  It's only a temporary visit and he's trying to find out about Jewish culture.   One of his twitter messages last week said time to find out "who we R"

But why do you think no one is going to talk to him during his trip?  He's not exactly a recluse.  He's a very social person.  part of learning about a culture is talking with people and hanging out.  He's going to do plenty.  It wouldn't surprise me if he actually sat in on a talk or two by a rabbi throughout his trip also.  How else to learn about Jewish culture?   Somewhere someone is going to ask about his  Jewish roots, Jews are very curious