There are three (3) ways by which a person is considered a "Jew":
- If a person is a direct descendant of Judah, he/she is a Judaite (a "Jew").
- If a person belonged to the southern kingdom of Judah, he/she was a "Jew."
- If a person is an adherent of Judaism, he/she is considered a "Jew."
Modern-day professing "Jews" are extremely confused and misinformed. They mistakenly believe that Jewish identity is bestowed by the mother. This is false. By that reckoning, Jews do not exist. Why do I say that? Because Judah married Tamar, who was a heathen woman from the nations ("gentile"). According to modern-day Jewish thinking, that means that every descendant of theirs was "gentile" and not Jewish. Since one must be a descendant of Judah in order to be a Judaite (a "Jew"), that means, according to their reckoning, there is no such thing as a "Jew" and never was.
Sorry, I do not make the rules. If you cannot follow your own faulty logic, that is a you problem.
All throughout Yahweh's holy Scripture, we see that identity is bestowed by the father. If the father was a Hebrew (a descendant of Eber), then the children were Hebrews. If the father was an Israelite (a descendant of Israel [Jacob]), then the children were Israelites. If the father was a Judaite (a descendant of Judah), then the children were Judaites ("Jews"). All identity is determined and passed along by the father. The father provides the seed of life. The man's sperm determines whether that child will be a male or a female. There is a reason the wife takes the husband's name; she identifies with him.
Many of those who identify as "Jews" today based on their mother are, in fact, not Jews at all if their father is not Jewish! Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba were heathen women from the nations ("gentiles"), which means their children would be "gentiles" if it was determined by the mother. This would mean that there were never any Judaites ("Jews"). The shift from patrilineality to matrilineality is said to have occurred as early as A.D. 10-70 to modern times. I am willing to pinpoint A.D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem as the precise point of this change. There is a reason why this change was conspired in disregard to the Scriptures and reality. Every nation, every ethnicity, a child's identity is determined by the father.
The children of the other eleven (11) tribes are not, never were, and never will be "Jews"! Collectively, they are all Israelites (descendants of Israel) and Hebrews (descendants of Abraham the Hebrew). But individually, they are Reubenites, Simeonites, Levites, Danites, Naphtalites, Gadites, Asherites, Issacharites, Zebulunites, Josephites (Manassehites and Ephraimites), and Benjaminites. This should be obvious to a discerning individual. However, modern-day "Jews" who claim they are from one of these specific tribes clearly do not have a clue what a "Jew" actually is when they attempt to identify as one. If you can truly trace your lineage and genealogy to the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, or Joseph, then YOU ARE NOT JEW!!! If you can truly trace your lineage and genealogy to the tribe of Benjamin, then, with the exception of being a member of the southern kingdom of Judah (which has not existed for roughly 2500 years), YOU ARE NOT A JEW!!!
Sorry, but if you identify as a "Jew" but your father was not Jewish, then it does not matter what your mother was; YOU ARE NOT A JEW!!!