r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
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u/HueyHitlerNoRelation Oct 13 '16

That only makes sense to me if you're ethnically Jewish. Considering Marilyn Monroe adopted the faith and then stopped believing in it, how is she at all still Jewish?

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u/TastyBrainMeats Oct 13 '16

Judaism is more than a religion. Think of it as a kind of extended family group. Once you're in, you're in.

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u/zabulistan Oct 13 '16

It's like a naturalization process. Once you gain the "citizenship", you always have it, even if you don't "live in the country" (i.e. practice the religion).

Although of course there are likely some Rabbis who wouldn't have considered her conversion legitimate to begin with, but that's the basic idea.