Does Christian Baptism Nullify Jewish Identity?
Does Christian Baptism Nullify Jewish Identity?Answer: You wrote about how your Catholic wife, after agreeing with you to raise your children as Jews, had your daughter baptized in the Catholic Church without your knowledge or consent. You are concerned that the baptism will, somehow, nullify the Jewish naming you had for your daughter and that you will not be able now to raise her as a Jew. I understand your distraught feelings and I can assure you that, in this case, baptism does not change your daughter’s status as a Jew. Unfortunately, there may be other problems in this situation that you may not have anticipated. Christian baptism has no status in Jewish law or observance. When a Jew freely chooses to be baptized as a Christian, the Jewish community considers that person to be an apostate — one who has rejected Judaism. However, in the eyes of traditional Jewish law, that person still is regarded to be Jewish and subject to Jewish obligations, even if he or she does not accept t
