Does it affect the childs status as a Jew if the mom converted to Judaism before or after marriage?

If a woman was married and then converted to Judaism before having kids, would that affect her kids status as a Jew? Do you have to be married after the conversion for it to ';count'; for your kids? I think you get what I mean...





Thanks!





Shalom, SalaamDoes it affect the childs status as a Jew if the mom converted to Judaism before or after marriage?
What determines a child's status as a Jew is whether or not the mom [was already Jewish or ] converted to Judaism according to halacha before the child's birth.


You've probably heard that a child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. That's the essence of your answer. Judaism does not base one's religious identity on any of the other factors that you mentioned. Rather, the individual woman's status as a Jew/non-Jew at the moment that she gives birth is passed on to her progeny.Does it affect the childs status as a Jew if the mom converted to Judaism before or after marriage?
The status of the kids is based on the mother's status at the time of the child's birth. If a child is born to an unmarried mother, if she is Jewish then the child is still Jewish whether or not the parents are married.
If the mother is Jewish when the child is born, the child is Jewish. if the mother is not Jewish when the child is born, then the child has to be converted as well and is not Jewish.





As fro marriage- it has nothing to do with the children's Jewishness or lack thereof- the only deciding factor is the Jewishness, or lack thereof, of the mother.





edit: Just to answer some of the issues that have come up


1) A mamzer is NOT a bastard as in being born out of wedlock. A mamzer is a child born from a union for which a death penalty is prescribed for the participants eg: incest and adultery.


2) The important factor is birth, not conception.


3) Converting the children if they are born after the conversion is not as automatic as people make it sound. If the family is not observant, most Orthodox Beis Dins will not convert the child. Generally thy will insist on the family at least keeping kosher, being shomrei shabbos and being a member of a community. (This applies to Orthodox Judaism- Conservative, Reform and the other liberal movements are more lenient.)
What else can be said - the other posters are correct. As long as the mother is Jewish at the time of birth, then the child is born Jewish. If she converted BEFORE the birth then the child is NOT Jewish.


You might be thinking of the concept of ';mamzerim';, which is a translated as b@stards (pl.) in English and technically an illegitimate child. However, in this day and age, I suspect that this is not as widespread a concept as it used to be!








BTW - How rude of me! And Shalom and Sa'alam to you as well!
I believe the conversion must have occured beofre CONCEPTION, not just birth.
It only matters that the mother has converted before having the child(ern). What her status was at the time of the marriage does not matter.





Good Luck!!!
If the mom converted after the birth of her child and the child is raised Jewish, then he or she has to undergo a minimal conversion before bat or bar mitzvah.


A girl has to make a formal declaration that she chooses to be Jewish, then go to the mikvah.


A boy has to make the same formal declaration, be pricked if he was already circumcised (for symbolic purposes), then go to the mikvah.
As long as the mother is Jewish when the kids are born the kids are Jewish.
This is only in my experience as an assistant instructor to a community conversion class- but I believe that as long as she is halakhically Jewish (orthodox conversion) before the birth, the children are Jewish. If she had the children before conversion, depending on their ages they will either need to convert on their own at bar/bat mitzvah age (which, if they have been raised to identify as Jews, is fairly simple and not like the adult process), or if they are very young she can simply take them to the mikvah with her.