From Birth to Bris: Lineage and Commandment as the Foundations of Jewishness

Judaism. So many definitions. But boiled down to its (Rabbinic) core a very specific and gendered essence begins to emerge. 

Consider the Eved Canaani. He is obligated in mitzvos like a Jewess. When he is freed he is stepped up to the full observance reserved for Jewish men. 

What about a Shifcha Canaanis? Is there any difference between her obligations in mitzvos and that of a full fledged Jewish woman? Apparently not (see Avnei Neizer YD 350:2). She is under the same halachic system as a Jewish woman (personal status issues aside). What then distinguishes her from a Jewess? Her ability to birth Jews. She is just as obligated in mitzvos as a Jewish woman but being that her children aren't Jewish she too isn't. 

Prior to Mattan Torah, Chazal are of the opinion that Avraham and his progeny were Jewish. 

What was the implication of that designation? For males it was circumcision. 

What about for females? Ramban writes that from when Avraham entered the Bris he was no longer reckoned amongst the nations vis a vis patrilineal nationhood but rather Judaism is bequeathed matrilineally. That's to say that although females weren't yet obligated in any precepts their Jewishness was manifest in their ability to produce Jews. 

Two sides of the same coin. On one side we have a woman bound by the mitzvos that bind Jewish women and as of yet incapable of congenitally passing Judaism to her children. She therefore is not classified as Jewish. Inversely, on the other side of the coin, we have a woman completely free from observing the precepts but possessed of the ability to give birth to Jews. She therefore is classified as Jewish. 

What begins to emerge is a picture of Judaism which distilled to its constitutive elements means religious activity for men and religious continuity for women. 

The first Jewish male attained his Jewishness with the first distinctly Jewish act—Milah. 

The first Jewish female attained her Jewishness with her acquired ability to give birth to Jews. 

Apparently, boiled down to its core, Judaism's mandate differs along gendered lines. 

For men it is in the performance of Jewish acts whereas for women it is in the continuity of Judaism, perpetuating the next link in the glorious chain of Jewish history.