Who Is A Jew?
A MOMENT REPORT WHO IS A JEW? An old puzzle becomes an urgent political problem It surely strikes many American Jews as strange that the issue of who is a Jew has become a political football in...
...It is the matter of conversion that is at the heart of the current dispute...
...Prime Minister Begin, in forming his new coalition, has promised the Agudah that he will lobby for the proposed amendment...
...that was the price he had to pay in order to win Agudah support for his new government...
...On the other hand, Israel is, formally, a Jewish state, and it is not at all clear that a Jewish state can muddle along without a definition of the word "Jew...
...Jewish religious law holds that anyone born of a Jewish mother is a Jew, as well as anyone who has been converted to Judaism...
...An old puzzle becomes an urgent political problem It surely strikes many American Jews as strange that the issue of who is a Jew has become a political football in Israel...
...Because few domestic debates within Israel impinge so directly on the interests and sensibilities of American Jews, Jewish religious leaders in this country have strong views on the issue...
...The Law, in its present version, refers to "Jews" but does not define the term...
...Israel's Agudat Yisrael party seeks an amendment to the Law, which would insert after the word "Jew" the words "according to Halachah"—that is, according to Jewish religious law...
...The Agudah has stated that it will not live indefinitely within the coalition unless the amendment is passed...
...The specific issue at hand, for example, is an amendment to Israel's Law of Return, the basic law that gives Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and to be accepted there as citizens without going through a process of naturalization...
...In the traditional Orthodox view, there are very precise requirements that must be fulfilled for a valid conversion...
...We have spoken with three such leaders, and herewith share their views with our readers...
...Moreover, both the Conservative and Reform movements have sought to establish their presence in Israel, where religious pluralism is still very fragile...
...The question in Israel today is whether that traditional view, and those precise requirements, shall become the prevailing law of the land...
...American Jews, accustomed to the radical separation of church and state, may instinctively reject such a prospect...
...But he has thus far resisted the Agudah proposal that he make support for the amendment a condition for coalition participation...
...Yet there are certain legal areas where the matter of definition matters very much...
...Adoption of the Agudah position would be seen by these movements as an insulting setback...
...The underlying concept, as the name of the law implies, is that a Jew coming to Israel is merely reclaiming his earlier—pre-exilic—status rather than coming to a "new" country...
...The result is an uneasy compromise...
...With all the problems the Jewish people and the Jewish state confront these days, it might appear that debating definitions is hardly a priority matter...
...And, in the meantime, American Jews—especially the Conservative and Reform movements—have registered their objection to the amendment in no uncertain terms...
...Begins own coalition party, who would object to such a stipulation...
...There are many members of the Likud, Mr...
...The tradition of religious pluralism that American Jewry enjoys does not readily square with the institutionalization of a particular definition, much less a particular political party's interpretation of these matters...
Vol. 6 • September 1981 • No. 8
