Last night my suitemates and I were sitting around our common room when the subject of conversion came up.  It was an interesting chat, but a question came up that I didn't know how to answer. 

One suitemate (who was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church as a teenager but now only attends Episcopal worship services) mentioned that her mom (originally Catholic) did a lot of religion-hopping when she, my friend, was a kid, but when my friend was born her mom was fully Jewish.  What my friend wanted to know was that if her mom was Jewish when she was born, did that technically make her Jewish, at least before she was baptized?  Now, I know there are a lot of other factors that go into determining whether a person is Jewish or not (like, have they ever identified themselves as Jewish, for one)...but can anyone help me out with this?

 And by the way, this was a really interesting article.  I enjoyed reading it.