David Beckham says he is ‘proud to be part of the Jewish community’

During a fundraiser hosted by JW3 in England, a Jewish education community center, David Beckham said he is proud to be part of the Jewish community.

The famous soccer player was participating in a panel discussion at the St. John’s Wood Synagogue in London, where he spoke about signing soccer star, Lionel Messi.

“I am part of the Jewish community and I am proud to say it,” Beckham told the attendees.

“My grandfather always made sure we would keep up with certain traditions,” he continued. “We went to bar mitzvahs and weddings and I would wear a kippah.”

David Beckham told the crowd traces his Jewish heritage to his maternal grandfather Joseph, who kept many of the Jewish traditions during his life.

“Every Saturday morning, I used to go to see my grandfather. You'd walk in the house to my grandmother preparing chicken soup and matza balls and latkes,” Beckham said. “We always kept to those traditions; it was always about the family coming together and spending time together.”

Beckham is not considered Jewish according to rabbinic law in Orthodox Judaism, however, reform Jews in Europe and North America say that anyone who claims to be a Jew and who does not practice any other religion is considered Jewish.

In the First Temple Period, being Jewish was something one inherited from one’s father, as can be seen in the multiple genealogies listed in the Bible.

During the early rabbinic period, following the destruction of the Second Temple, matrilineal descent became the determining factor in proving who was Jewish.

While Beckham does not practice Orthodox Judaism, he said he continues to participate in Jewish holidays and local events in his community.

Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girls pop singer Victoria Beckham, both have tattoos in Hebrew from the Song of Songs that read: “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.”

During the panel discussion, host Ben Winston quoted the first part of the traditional blessing recited over foods containing bread, called Hamotzi. Beckham completed the blessing flawlessly.

Beckham’s son Cruz attended a Jewish preschool in Los Angeles in 2008, and his oldest son, Brooklyn, married Jewish American actress Nicola Peltz in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony last year.