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Cultural appropriation
is the adoption of some specific elements of one cultureby a different cultural group. It denotesacculturationorassimilation, but often connotes a negative view towards acculturation from a minority culture by adominant culture.[1][2]It can include the introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment,musicandart,religion,language, or social behavior. These elements, once removed from theirindigenouscultural contexts, may take onmeanings that are significantly divergent from, or merely less nuanced than, thosethey originally held. Or, they may be stripped of meaning altogether.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation#Examples
 Jewish Identity, Sermon Given by : Rabbi Barry Block 1998
Some of these culturally-identified Jews continue their ties to the Jewishcommunity and support Jewish causes. They richly endow organizations thatmemorialize the Holocaust and ultra-Orthodox institutions that seem to representthe lost Jewish world of Bubbe and Zayde. They do have a Jewish identity, but onethat is linked entirely to the past. They don’t feel authentic enough to be Jewishparents and grandparents themselves. Though they loved the matzo balls, theydon’t know how to make them. Worse still, they don’t know why Bubbe madethem, or when they were served. They may be Jewish in their hearts, but theirchildren have no Judaism in their lives.Don’t get me wrong. I like bagels and lox as much as the next guy, maybe more. Ieat at Max’s, and I bless the memories of the Bubbies and Zaydies who did theirbest to preserve their heritage. Today, though, Judaism in America must thrive,with or without an East European flavor. The forces that will keep Judaism strongand vital in the twenty-first century are not nostalgia and chicken fat, but a sincerestruggle toward faith in God, the study of God’s word, expressed in Torah, and theperformance of God’s will, the
mitzvot 
, at home, in the synagogue, andeverywhere we go.Source: http://www.beth-elsa.org/be_s0116.htm
About.com Article, Jewish Identity, Lisa Bloch, 2001
Being Jewish is not a race
 Being Jewish is not a race because Jews do not share one common ancestry or biologicaldistinction. People of many different races have become Jewish people over the years.
Being Jewish is not a nationality
 Being Jewish is not a nationality because Jews have been dispersed throughout the world for almost two thousand years. People of many different nationalities are Jewish.
Being Jewish is like being a citizen of a religious movement
 Being Jewish means you are a part of a religious movement. However, the great majority of Jews become a part of the religious movement through birth and not due to their beliefs or actions. In this way, being Jewish is like being a citizen of a religious movement.A Jewish identity is automatically bestowed on the babies of Jewish mothers (according toOrthodox and Conservative Judaism) and of Jewish mothers or fathers (according to ReformJudaism). This Jewish identity stays with them throughout life even if they don't actively practice Judaism. If a person is not born Jewish, he/she can undergo the process of conversionto become a Jew. A person who was not born Jewish or has not gone through the conversion process is not considered a Jew even if he or she believes in Judaism and observes Jewish
 
 practices. The conversion process is very meaningful because it is the only way for a non-Jewto become Jewish.
Source:http://judaism.about.com/od/abcsofjudaism/a/beingjewish.htm
What Makes A Jew Jewish, Article on Chabad. Org,based on the teachingsof Lubbavitcher Rebbe
Jews defy all conventional definitions of a "people" or "nation." We lack a common race,culture or historical experience. While we all share our eternal rights to the Land of Israel, for all but a few centuries of the last 4,000 years the overwhelming majority of Jews have not livedor even set foot in the Jewish homeland.Throughout our 3300-year history, what has defined us as Jews is a relationship andcommitment. We are Jews because G-d chose us to be His "cherished treasure from all thenations... a kingdom of priests and a holy people" (Exodus 19:5-6). We are Jews because G-dchose us to play the central role in the implementation of His purpose in creation: to orientateour lives in accordance with His will, and to develop a society and world community thatreflects His goodness and perfection.The substance of this relationship, the charter of this commitment, is the Torah. The Torah isG-d's concept of reality as communicated to man, the blueprint that describes the perfectedworld envisioned by its Creator and details the manner in which the Inventor of Life wishes itto be lived.This would seem to define our Jewishness as a "religion": we are Jews because we adhere tothe beliefs and practices mandated by the Torah. But the Torah itself says that this is not so.The Torah itself proclaims (Leviticus 16:16) that G-d "dwells amongst them in the midst of their impurities" -- that His relationship with His people remains unaffected regardless of their  behavior. In the words of the Talmud (Sanhedrin 44a), "A Jew, although he has transgressed, isa Jew."According to Torah law, a person's Jewishness is not a matter of life-style or self-perception:one may be totally unaware of one's Jewishness and still be a Jew, or one may consider himself Jewish and observe all the precepts of the Torah and still not be a Jew.In other words, it is the relationship between the Jew and his Creator that defines hisJewishness -- not his acknowledgment of this relationship or his actualization of it in his dailylife. It is not the observance of Torah's mitzvot (Divine "commandments") that makes him aJew, but the commitment that the mitzvot represent.
Source:http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45132/jewish/What-Makes-a-Jew-Jewish.htmWhat is Judiasm Article from LiberalJudaism.Org
Judaism denotes the civilization of the Jewish people, their history and realities, their secular aswell as sacred lives, their culture and social institutions of all types. Equally, Judaism standsfor the Jewish religion. Whist many elements of the former are woven into the fabric that isJudaism, the religious element has been the constant that has ensured the continuity of the people. The religious element of Judaism is itself far from being simple and homogeneous. However,seven strands might be recognised by all those who hold belief, and practice the variety of Jewish religious expressions, as being essential elements of Judaism:
 
1.A doctrine concerning God, the universe and humanity.2. A morality for the individual and society.3. A regimen of rite, custom and ceremony.4. A sacred literature.5. A body of law.6. Institutions through which the above find expression e.g. the synagogue.7. The people, Israel2.The different approaches to the Jewish religion reflect the fact that the dominant formof Judaism remains that of a religious philosophy of inquiry, the search for meaning inlife and central to that, what God requires of us during our short stay on earth. In thissense, Judaism is extremely unorthodox as it can never rest upon dogma. LiberalJudaism is one of the religious expressions of Judaism.Source:http://www.liberaljudaism.org/lj_whatisjudaism.htmWhat is Reform Judaism:Reform Judaism affirms the central tenets of Judaism - God, Torah and Israel - even as itacknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God, and that we are God’s partners in improving the world.
Tikkun olam
— repairing the world — is a hallmark of Reform Judaism as we strive to bring peace, freedom, and justice to all people.Reform Jews accept the Torah as the foundation of Jewish life containing God’s ongoingrevelation to our people and the record of our people’s ongoing relationship with God. We seethe Torah as God inspired, a living document that enables us to confront the timeless andtimely challenges of our everyday lives.In addition to our belief that Judaism must change and adapt to the needs of the day to surviveand our firm commitment to
Tikkun Olam
, the following principles distinguish Reform Jewsfrom other streams of Judaism in North America.
•
Reform Jews are committed to the principle of inclusion, not exclusion. Since 1978 theReform Movement has been reaching out to Jews-by-choice and interfaith families,encouraging them to embrace Judaism. Reform Jews consider children to be Jewish if they are the child of a Jewish father or mother, so long as the child is raised as a Jew.
•
Reform Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewishlife. We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women cantors, andelect women presidents of our synagogues.
•
Reform Jews are also committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians insynagogue life as well as society at large.Source:http://reformjudaism.org/whatisrj.shtmlInteresting Sources on Reform Judaism :
•
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/363_Transp/centenary_perspective.html
○
“We celebrate the role of Reform Judaism in North America, the growthof our movement on this free ground, the great contributions of our membership to the dreams and achievements of this society. We also feelgreat satisfaction at how much of our pioneering conception of Judaismhas been accepted by the Household of Israel. It now seems self- evidentto most Jews: that our tradition should interact with modern culture; thatits forms ought to reflect a contemporary esthetic; that its scholarshipneeds to be conducted by modern, critical methods; and that change has been and must continue to be a fundamental reality in Jewish life.Moreover, though some still disagree, substantial numbers have also
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