Speaking of “Who’s Jewish at the Oscars?” (News & Shmooze, Feb. 23), who’s Jewish at the Jewish Light? By which I mean who has some Jewish soul or Yiddishkeit? I am thinking of Ellen Futterman’s list of Oscar nominees who are Jewish (movie people with a Jewish parent or grandparent).

According to traditional halacha (religious law), a child born of a Jewish mother is Jewish. According to Reform responsa (rabbinic opinion), you are Jewish if you have a Jewish mother or father. By what calculation (religious, mathematical, biological?) does the editor of St. Louis’s Jewish community newspaper come up with “half-Jewish?”

Of the celebrities Ms. Futterman mentioned, are any of them affiliated with a Jewish congregation? Do they donate to Jewish causes? Do they support Israel? Are their lives enriched by Jewish rituals which keep them and their children connected to the Jewish people? The editor of a Jewish publication should know that the most important part of being “Jewish” is living Jewishly. More important than passing on Jewish DNA or Jewish blood cells is passing on Jewish traditions and values.

Samuel “Sam” T. Wexler

St. Louis