#39 @TAUTKUS
1. His father being Jewish is very unofficial, to say the least. Very disputable. 'Fake news', as some would put it.
As to his mother etc., look:
2.1. Indeed, the Jewish tradition is to consider Jewish everyone whose mother was Jewish. But this is THEIR tradition - whereas normally, secularly, that would mean a person would be just a 50% [ethnicity]. With the normal reasoning, we don't even know how much Jewish his mother was. If she was, in turn, 50% (say, German father and Jewish mother), that would mean Fischer was 25% - and, as I've mentioned, he did not look Jewish by any means, nor he behaved as such.
'Wender' (his mother was Regina Wender by birth) might easily be a German surname, whereas she was born in Switzerland where German last names prevail indeed. We do lack exact information about his grandparents, but we know what Fischer said:
"I am not today, NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN A JEW, and as a matter of fact, I am uncircumcised."
2.2. "Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated" (Wikipedia). That is, Jewry is determined by more than just bloodline. So, whereas it's highly likely Fischer was only partly Jewish (50% or 25% or less), we must also take into account his own opinion, religious affiliation, and behaviour. Fischer was not a follower of Judaism and its traditions; he disliked Judaism and Jews, being a member of the Worldwide Church of God for a long time instead; he said he had nothing to do with Jews; he was born in the United States, and his official nationality was American.
3. Hence: we have every reason to not call him a Jew.
Of course, the Jewish people might think otherwise according to their tradition and view of the world, but why should others care? It is as though Muslims would expect the rest of the world to live according to Sharia law.
Truth is not supposed to be the monopoly of a single ethno-religious group of people.
1. His father being Jewish is very unofficial, to say the least. Very disputable. 'Fake news', as some would put it.
As to his mother etc., look:
2.1. Indeed, the Jewish tradition is to consider Jewish everyone whose mother was Jewish. But this is THEIR tradition - whereas normally, secularly, that would mean a person would be just a 50% [ethnicity]. With the normal reasoning, we don't even know how much Jewish his mother was. If she was, in turn, 50% (say, German father and Jewish mother), that would mean Fischer was 25% - and, as I've mentioned, he did not look Jewish by any means, nor he behaved as such.
'Wender' (his mother was Regina Wender by birth) might easily be a German surname, whereas she was born in Switzerland where German last names prevail indeed. We do lack exact information about his grandparents, but we know what Fischer said:
"I am not today, NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN A JEW, and as a matter of fact, I am uncircumcised."
2.2. "Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated" (Wikipedia). That is, Jewry is determined by more than just bloodline. So, whereas it's highly likely Fischer was only partly Jewish (50% or 25% or less), we must also take into account his own opinion, religious affiliation, and behaviour. Fischer was not a follower of Judaism and its traditions; he disliked Judaism and Jews, being a member of the Worldwide Church of God for a long time instead; he said he had nothing to do with Jews; he was born in the United States, and his official nationality was American.
3. Hence: we have every reason to not call him a Jew.
Of course, the Jewish people might think otherwise according to their tradition and view of the world, but why should others care? It is as though Muslims would expect the rest of the world to live according to Sharia law.
Truth is not supposed to be the monopoly of a single ethno-religious group of people.