Zera Yisrael
Zera Yisrael (Seed of Israel) is a Jewish legal category for people who are descended from Jews but are not considered Jewish by religious law because their Jewish ancestry comes through the father, not the mother.
In traditional Jewish law, Jewish status is passed through the mother. Orthodox and Conservative communities generally hold that a person is Jewish by birth only if their mother is Jewish. So a person with a Jewish father but a non-Jewish mother is sometimes regarded as Zera Yisrael. In more liberal communities, if such a person was raised Jewish and identifies as Jewish, they may be considered Jewish.
Historically, some Jewish communities practiced patrilineal descent, such as the Kaifeng Jews and Beta Israel, but Rabbinic Judaism today is mainly matrilineal. Karaite Judaism, however, rejects maternal lines and follows paternal descent. The term Bnei Anusim refers to descendants of Jews who were forced to hide their Jewish identity or convert; Sephardic Bnei Anusim is a related concept, and other groups, like descendants of Soviet Jews, may be viewed as halakhically similar.
In Jewish thought, Zera Yisrael is sometimes given a special spiritual significance. Some rabbis say people with undiscovered Jewish ancestry have a natural pull toward Judaism and can help repair what is described as the sparks of holiness in the world, aiding the ingathering of the exiles.
Because of this status, some rabbis have suggested lenient conversion policies for Zera Yisrael, such as allowing a basic understanding of Jewish law for conversion. In Israel, a conversion accepted by the government would also help with legal rights like marriage. There have been cases of formal conversions for Zera Yisrael, as well as declarations that certain groups are halakhically Jewish. Another idea is to convert the non-Jewish mothers of Zera Yisrael children to keep the families within the Jewish fold.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:14 (CET).