Neve Campbell

We often struggle with preconceived notions that surround one's Jewishness. The biggest one seems to be that being Jewish is always a religion, but not an ethnicity.

Of course, as you have seen from the previous 600 profiles, it's not necessarily one or the other. There are people ethnically, but not religiously Jewish (Kathie Lee Gifford). There are those who are religiously, but not ethnically (Marilyn Monroe... Monroe for Gifford? We'll make that trade any day!). There are even those who are neither ethnically nor religiously, but consider themselves Jewish (Michael Richards).

And then there is actress Neve Campbell ("Scream", "Wild Things"). Neve is supposedly half-Jewish by birth through her mother, making her Halachically Jewish. But Campbell is a practicing Catholic, making her... not Jewish? To quote her, "my lineage is Jewish, so if someone asks me if I'm Jewish, I say yes".

Confused yet? It gets weirder: when Campbell's ancestry was traced, it turned out that her mother's supposed Jewish lineage was, in fact, Dutch goyishe. So where does it leave Neve? What do we do with this verdict? Does that put Campbell in the Michael Richards category? (Not exactly two people who have much in common, and yet...)

Let's just let it go, rewatch "Wild Things", and call it a day.