Don Johnson

In my understanding, Timothy was not considered Jewish, that is why he was circumcized in Acts 16, so he would be. As a God fearing gentile, he could only get up to the gentile barrier in the temple area; but as a Jew he could get to where any Jewish male could get.

IIRC, Jews switched from tracing thru males to tracing thru females due to the high number of rapes and therefore lack of assurance of paternity.