{"id":347,"date":"2007-06-11T17:15:09","date_gmt":"2007-06-12T00:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347"},"modified":"2007-12-09T07:26:38","modified_gmt":"2007-12-09T14:14:38","slug":"pick-one-people-one-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347","title":{"rendered":"Pick One People, One Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jewcy.com\/dialogue\/2007-06-11\/wertheimer1\">Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions is a fantasy, and you know it because of the very ways you think about yourselves&mdash;&ldquo;FrankenJews,&rdquo; &ldquo;mongrelized&rdquo; are terms <em>you<\/em> employ to describe your fractured  selves.<\/p>\n<p>No authentic Judaism can be built on the religious syncretism you demand. And no concept of Jewish peoplehood ought to be capacious enough to approve of the premise that Jewishness has merely a vote but not a veto, a phrase, by the way, coined by Mordecai Kaplan and the Reconstructionists in reference to Halakha, but <em>not<\/em> accepted  by the Conservative movement.<\/p>\n<p>So to answer your two questions directly: &ldquo;Has America annihilated Jewish peoplehood?&rdquo; It has eroded the willingness of a significant sector of your generation to take responsibility for fellow Jews.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><!--adsense--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judaism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Ford\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-12T00:03:09+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2007-12-09T14:14:38+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#blogposting\",\"name\":\"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford\",\"headline\":\"Pick One People, One Religion\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#articleImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-11T17:15:09-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-12-09T07:26:38-08:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Judaism\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=31#listItem\",\"name\":\"Judaism\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=31#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Judaism\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=31\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#listItem\",\"name\":\"Pick One People, One Religion\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Pick One People, One Religion\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=31#listItem\",\"name\":\"Judaism\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#personImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347\",\"name\":\"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford\",\"description\":\"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=347#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-06-11T17:15:09-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-12-09T07:26:38-08:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"alternateName\":\"No Sacred Cows\",\"description\":\"No sacred cows.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford","description":"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions","canonical_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#blogposting","name":"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford","headline":"Pick One People, One Religion","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#articleImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"},"datePublished":"2007-06-11T17:15:09-08:00","dateModified":"2007-12-09T07:26:38-08:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#webpage"},"articleSection":"Judaism"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31#listItem","name":"Judaism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31#listItem","position":2,"name":"Judaism","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#listItem","name":"Pick One People, One Religion"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#listItem","position":3,"name":"Pick One People, One Religion","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31#listItem","name":"Judaism"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#personImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#webpage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347","name":"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford","description":"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"datePublished":"2007-06-11T17:15:09-08:00","dateModified":"2007-12-09T07:26:38-08:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/","name":"Luke Ford","alternateName":"No Sacred Cows","description":"No sacred cows.","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford","og:description":"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions","og:url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347","og:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:width":800,"og:image:height":600,"article:published_time":"2007-06-12T00:03:09+00:00","article:modified_time":"2007-12-09T14:14:38+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@lukeford","twitter:title":"Pick One People, One Religion - Luke Ford","twitter:description":"Jack Werthheimer (provost of Jewish Theological Seminary) writes on Jewcy.com: Pick a single religion and a single people. It will save you much grief. I hope the religion you choose is Judaism and the people with a claim on you is the Jewish people. Your wish to create a Jewish identity mixing multiple religious traditions","twitter:creator":"@lukeford","twitter:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"347","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2023-05-10 18:34:11","updated":"2025-06-04 10:56:17","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31\" title=\"Judaism\">Judaism<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tPick One People, One Religion\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog"},{"label":"Judaism","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=31"},{"label":"Pick One People, One Religion","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=347"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}