"Lionel" wrote in message
...

Is Jewish a religious word or an ethnic one ?


That is an excellent and very perceptive question.
It is both; Jewish has two different meanings,
ethic and religious.
One can be ethnically a Jew and not be religious,
however, a religious Jew is always considered
an ethnic Jew, even if he/she is a convert.
That is automatic acceptance into the clan.
Of course, the above is a statement in general.

In particular, the Jewish religion accepts one as a Jew, even though one is
not religious.
This is as long as one's mother was Jewish, and she
need not be a religious Jew.

This can get very complicated, for there are
several branches of Juddaism. There can be
a situation like this:

A person is converted to be Jewish in America
in a Reformed or even Conservative synagogue;
however, it the person were to emigrate
to Israel, he would not be considered Jewish until he
converts again, in an Orthodox synagogue.