EXOD330 What makes a Jew? -- is a question that is often asked. The answer--two things: membership of the Jewish brotherhood, and the loyal fulfillment of those obligations which that membership imposes. Most of these ethical duties are enumerated in the 19th chapter of Leviticus, which commands the entire nation to be holy, just as the Decalogue addressed itself to each individual. Here is a brief summary of what this chapter and other pronouncements of the similar nature require of us. To abstain from all things which defile, physically or spiritually; to avoid forbidden food; to shun the heathenish modes of disfigurement over the dead; to bar intermarriage with those of other faiths. The Torah expects us to be learned and proud members of "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" [this verse] in which holiness is not a mystical or an abstract idea but a directive and dynamic principle in daily life.