Israeli law of return

[NewsGuy]

ok, I'll take a stab at this and try to tackle one of the most difficult subject, IMO, relating to Israel.

In July of 1950, Israel passed a law that basically gives every Jew the right to live in Israel. The law does not necessarily prevent non-Jews from living in Israel. On the contrary -- a very large percent of Israeli citizens are not Jewish.

Maybe a good place to start would be the law itself, verbatim.

Right of aliyah (immigration to Israel)

1. Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh (immigrant).

Oleh's visa

2. (a) Aliyah shall be by oleh's visa.
(b) An oleh's visa shall be granted to every Jew who has expressed his desire to settle in Israel, unless the Minister of Immigration is satisfied that the applicant


(1) is engaged in an activity directed against the Jewish people; or
(2) is likely to endanger public health or the security of the State.


Oleh's certificate

3. (a) A Jew who has come to Israel and subsequent to his arrival has expressed his desire to settle in Israel may, while still in Israel, receive an oleh's certificate.
(b) The restrictions specified in section 2(b) shall apply also to the grant of an oleh's certificate, but a person shall not be regarded as endangering public health on account of an illness contracted after his arrival in Israel.


Residents and persons born in this country

4. Every Jew who has immigrated into this country before the coming into force of this Law, and every Jew who was born in this country, whether before or after the coming into force of this Law, shall be deemed to be a person who has come to this country as an oleh under this Law.

Implementation and regulations

5. The Minister of Immigration is charged with the implementation of this Law and may make regulations as to any matter relating to such implementation and also as to the grant of oleh's visas and oleh's certificates to minors up to the age of 18 years.

Signed:

DAVID BEN-GURION
Prime Minister

MOSHE SHAPIRA
Minister of Immigration

YOSEF SPRINZAK
Acting President of the State
Chairman of the Knesset

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Then, the law was slightly refined in 1954, basically to change a comma to an "or" and to add the exclusion of someone with a criminal past who is a "danger to public welfare", and it also changed the "Minister of immigration" to "Minister of the Interior."

----------------------------------------------------

In 1970, a few more provisions were added by then PM Golda Meir. Here are the changes, whic are also not very substantial, EXCEPT that it gave rise to the main issue often discusse din connection with this law, which is the definition of "Who is a Jew" to qualify for automatic citizenship rights under this law.

Here are the 1970 changes:

Addition of sections 4A
and 4B 1. In the Law of Return, 5710-1950, the following sections shall be inserted after section 4:

"Rights of members of family

4A. (a) The rights of a Jew under this Law and the rights of an oleh under the Nationality Law, 5712-1952, as well as the rights of an oleh under any other enactment, are also vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person who has been a Jew and has voluntarily changed his religion.

(b) It shall be immaterial whether or not a Jew by whose right a right under subsection (a) is claimed is still alive and whether or not he has immigrated to Israel.

(c) The restrictions and conditions prescribed in respect of a Jew or an oleh by or under this Law or by the enactments referred to in subsection (a) shall also apply to a person who claims a right under subsection (a).

Definition

4B. For the purposes of this Law, "Jew" means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion."


Amendment of section 5

2. In section 5 of the Law of Return, 5710-1950, the following shall be added at the end: "Regulations for the purposes of sections 4A and 4B require the approval of the Constitution, Legislation and Juridical Committee of the Knesset.".

Amendment of the Population Registry Law, 5725-1965

3. In the Population Registry Law, 5725-1965, the following section shall be inserted after section 3:

"Power of registration and definition

3A. (a) A person shall not be registered as a Jew by ethnic affiliation or religion if a notification under this Law or another entry in the Registry or a public document indicates that he is not a Jew, so long as the said notification, entry or document has not been controverted to the satisfaction of the Chief Registration Officer or so long as declaratory judgment of a competent court or tribunal has not otherwise determined.

(b) For the purposes of this Law and of any registration or document thereunder, "Jew" has the same meaning as in section 4B of the Law of Return, 5710-1950.

(c) This section shall not derogate from a registration effected before its coming into force.".

Signed:

GOLDA MEIR
Prime Minister
Acting Minister of the Interior

SHNEUR ZALMAN SHAZAR
President of the State

----------------------------------------------------

[NewsGuy]

So this is the Israeli law of return.

Like I said before, the main points of contention are in defining "Who is a Jew."

In general, anyone born of a Jewish mother is a Jew. Or, anyone who converts to Judaism under Jewish law is a Jew.

But there is a disagreement between the Orthodox and the Conservative and Reform movements within Judaism, as to which group has the right to authorize conversions.

In Israel, it is the Orthodox, and this presents a possible problem.

For example, if a woman converts to Judaism and the coversion is authorized by a Reform Rabbi, and then that woman has a child, then the Orthodox (and the State of Israel) do not recognize that child to be Jewish, because the mother was not considered Jewish in their eyes, and therefore the child is not Jewish and the entire marriage of the couple may not even be a valid jewish marriage in the eyes of the Orthodox.

This is the basic problem, although in very recent years, there is a tendency by Israel to allow more Reform and Conservative authority over marriages and conversions.

That's it in a nutshell.

Again, I wish that there were some Orthodox members of this forum who would be willing to shed more light on this subject.

[NewsGuy]

Just realized that just recently there was a decision by the Suprme Court of Israel, that allowed conversions to Judaism by Conservative and Reform Rabbis to be recognized as Jews eligible for the Law of Return.

Just today, it was reported in the Israeli press that Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein will appeal that decision to allow Conservative and Reform converts to qualify, and that he will try to get the court overturn that decision.

If they do, then there could be a lot of trouble between the Conservative and Reform movements, which account for the majority of American Jews, and Israel. In the past, these movements threatened not to do any more fundraising for Israel if their conversions were not recognized.

This is a very complicated situation.

My own guess is that he will not succeed in his appeal and that Conservative and Reform conversions will stand.

[cerulean]

Thanks NewsGuy for the informative post. Here are a couple of articles on the latest Israeli court decision in this regard:

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/02/26/Opinion/Editorial.44094.html

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20020222024200.19686.00000009%40mb-cb.aol.com&output=gplain


For practical purposes, consider the following real-life scenarios:

Mother is Jewish (from indefinitely), father is Catholic. Parents were married as Catholics, and the mother agreed to raise the children as Catholics. Do the children in this situation qualify under the Law of Return? (I think yes, and they would also qualify as fully Jewish by Orthodox and Conservative standards. They might not qualify as Jewish under Reform standards, because the Reform standards are that children of intermarriage will be considered Jewish if raised as Jews, regardless of whether the Jewish parent is the mother or father.)

Mother is Catholic, father is Jewish. Parents were married as Catholics, and parents agreed to raise the children as Catholics. I think the children in this case would qualify under the Law of Return, but not as Jews under either Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform standards.

Father is Jewish, mother is a Reform convert (before the children are born). Parents raise children in a secular fashion. I think the children in this case would qualify under the Law of Return, but would not qualify as Jews by Orthodox or Conservative standards, but would by Reform standards.

However, all of these children could be listed as Jews on their identity cards in Israel now.

I hope I have this right, but please clarify anyone who knows.

[McSceptic]

How strictly were the rules applied in the case of the Russian immigrants to Israel?

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by McSceptic
How strictly were the rules applied in the case of the Russian immigrants to Israel?

So far as I know, the Russian immigrants were accepted into Israeli society as immigrants, but some of them had trouble proving their Judaism when they wanted to get married by Orthodox Rabbis.

But it was not really an issue of Conservative and Reform vs. Orthodox conversions. It was an issue of whether the Russian immigrants were Jewish at all or just posing as Jews to escape the economic conditions in Russia.

[cerulean]

Remember the case of Russian leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky (who does not scruple from anti-Semitism, of course) who was found to have been seeking entry to Israel some years ago on the basis that his mother married a Jewish man other than his biological father when she was five months pregnant with Vladimir. (I hope I have that right.)

[sharonbn]

Here is my input regarding the issue of Israeli citizenship of Conservative and Reform converts. It offers an in-depth insight into the complexity and often absurdity of Israeli internal politics:

Conservative and Reform converts cannot receive automatic Israeli citizenship under the Israeli “Law of return” when they immigrate to Israel. The recent changes take affect only for Conservative and Reform converts who are already Israeli citizens. e.g. Israeli parents adopting a non Jewish child, then converting him/her to Judaism the Conservative/Reform way. Such people do bare a full Israeli citizenship. However, in their Israeli identity card, under the section of Nationality, they were listed as “Non-Jewish”. The issue of Conservative and Reform converts and Israeli “Law of return” is still in debate in Israeli courts.

On January this year, a special forum of 11 judges of the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC) ruled that Conservative and Reform conversion to Judaism will be acknowledged for the entry “Jewish” in Nationality section in Israeli identity card. ISC accepted the 3 motions of the plaintiffs: The Conservative movement, Naamat movement (Hebrew women union) and The Jewish center for pluralism. The motions were submitted on behalf of Israeli parents aho adopted non-Jewish children and later converted them to Judaism through Conservative/Reform procedures, as well as Conservative/Reform Israeli adults.

In its ruling, the ISC stressed that it does not attempt to pass judgment on the essence , quality or validity or of the conversion process itself. furthermore, the nationality registration serve only bureaucratic purposes and has no force on legal matters, such as marriage and divorce. The ruling establishes that once Israeli citizenship is granted, Israeli Official institutions cannot judge the Judaism of a person and should regard Israeli Jews in a unified manner, regardless of their past. The ruling was passed by a majority of 9 over 2.

As can be expected, the decision was met with fierce opposition and negative response from orthodox and national religious (“kiput srugot”” i.e. Mafdal), and with positive responses from left-wing and liberal groups.

Two days after the decision was announced, a pair of parents from Jerusalem appeared in the offices of the ministry of internal affairs to register their child, a six-years-old girl who was adopted in Guatemala and underwent Reform conversion to Judaism in London, for registration as Jewish nationality.

The secular parents refused to undergo orthodox conversion of the child, since it requires the parents to observe religious laws and way of life. The orthodox court agreed to relieve the parents of this duty, as long as the child itself will attend orthodox kindergarten and school and will observe orthodox rules, Kosher rules and orthodox way of life. The parents refused to comply to this demand as well. Their request to register the child as Jewish at the age of 8 months was refused.

Israeli minister of internal affairs, Shas chairman Elli Yishai, stressed that he will only act in accordance to the decisions of Shas mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. He said he will register converts as “Conservatice Jewish” and “Reform Jewish” under the section of nationality (instead of “Jewish”). Shas also plans to bring a suggestion for a new law that will vest ultimate power in regard to conversion to Judaism in the hands of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate (Rabanut ha-rashit)

Later on, after repeated pressure from various political figures (incl. Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, "kipa sruga" himself), Yishai gave the order to register the converts as “Jewish” but to add the initials LPPB (“according to ISC ruling” in Hebrew.) This act, again, met with threats by liberal movements to file a court complaint against the minister if he will not fully comply with ISC’s decision. In a discussion held by PM Ariel Sharon with leaders of the parties Shas, Yahadut Ha-tora and several labor MPs, a compromise was reached: The nationality section will be erased altogether from the Israeli identity card. This compromise was not accepted by the Mafdal party, who threatens to submit a vote of no-confidence in the government on the issue.

Shas senior representative responded to the compromise by saying Shas will never agree to register Conservative/Reform converts as Jews and that’s why Shas supports the compromise (is allows Shas to “ignore” the issue.) He stated that the compromise is only a middle phase while the process of passing the law mentioned above is in progress.

Two weeks ago, the compromise got an official stamp of approval from the Knesset’s “Constitutional committee”. Starting a month from now, new Identity cards will be issued without the Nationality section. During the discussion, MPs heard a surprising opposition to the new regulation from the representative of the Police, who said the Nationality section allows easy recognition of Arab Israelis (The entry in this case says “Arabic”), and aids the police in its work “in these hard times.” This resolution does not solve the case of 20 applications submitted by Conservative/Reform Jews prior to the passing of the new regulation (none of which received the Jewish nationality)

Do you think the story is over? Guess again.
Only a day after the new resolution to erase the nationality section from Isaeli identity card was passed, and minister Yishai found a new way to distinguish between “old” Jews and new Conservative/Reform converts: The minister decided that the nationality section will be erased ONLY from the identity card of the new converts. This decision, again. Was met by new threats to personally prosecute Yishai in a court of law. Shas threatened to withdraw from government if the issue will not be resolved to its satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, sent a letter to the ministry of internal affairs, regarding the outstanding 20 applications of Conservative/Reform Jews. In the letter Rubinstein states that if the registration of the applicants will not be complete ASAP, he will have no choice but to inform ISC that the minister is disgracing the court. Further in the letter, the Attorney General states that there is no alternative and no justification for not fully complying with court ruling. “It is the essence of a lawful state [to comply with court ruling]”. As a result of the warning, the head of the Israeli populace administration (a body inside the ministry of internal affairs) allowed the registration of seven converts as “Jewish”. This was done in contradiction to the direct order of the minister. The remaining applicants declared they will file a court complaint against minister Yishai within a few days. The response of Shas spokesman was “We are not afraid of such actions and will defend Yishai in court”.

The saga continues...

[sharonbn]

cerulean,

Mother is Jewish (from indefinitely), father is Catholic. Parents were married as Catholics, and the mother agreed to raise the children as Catholics. Do the children in this situation qualify under the Law of Return?
The answer is No. In 1965, an American man, born Jew (to a Jewish mother), converted to Catholic applied for Israeli citizenship. He was refused. The refusal was backed by court ruling which stated that the law of return is intended “in spirit” to imply only to Jews who declare themselves as members of the Jewish religion.

Mother is Catholic, father is Jewish. Parents were married as Catholics, and parents agreed to raise the children as Catholics. I think the children in this case would qualify under the Law of Return, but not as Jews under either Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform standards.
The answer is No. The children will not qualify under the Law of Return. Jewish nationality and religion are established based upon the nationality and religion of the mother alone. This is regardless of the nationality and reliion of the father, or the upbringing of the children (as long as the children do not convert to other religion.)

Father is Jewish, mother is a Reform convert (before the children are born). Parents raise children in a secular fashion. I think the children in this case would qualify under the Law of Return, but would not qualify as Jews by Orthodox or Conservative standards, but would by Reform standards.
The answer is it depends. If the parents do not bare Israeli citizenship, then the Law of return do not apply to the mother and her children. If the parents are Israeli, then the children receive automatic full Israeli citizenship. According to the new ruling by the Israeli supreme court of justice, the children should be registered as “Jewish” under nationality section in the Israeli identity card. (should be does not necessarily mean they will be registered as Jewish, see my previous post.)

[cerulean]

Sharonbn, thanks for your responses. What if the children who are raised Catholic (particularly in the case where they have a Jewish mother) do not practice Catholicism? Suppose they were either raised with only the slightest nominal practice, or if they rejected the Catholic religion? Many in this circumstance have returned to Jewish practice.

My understanding is that at least some of the Russians (and other Soviets) who have gone to Israel and are Jewish by halachic standards did indeed have at least a nominal affiliation with the Orthodox (as in Orthodox Christian) church. Most likely they have given this up to return to Israel.

And practically speaking, what if the parties involve lie about any practice, substantial or otherwise, of a non-Jewish religion?

[sharonbn]

cerulean,

When a new immigrant comes to Israel, and wish to receive Israeli citizenship through the Law of Return, he/she has to prove their Judaism by two means:

1. Show some proof of the "Jewishness" of their mother (and possibly grandmother as well), e.g. via birth certificate, letter from the local rabbi, etc. If they succeed in this, they will receive the citizenship without having to prove their own religiousness. They only need to declare themselves as followers of the Jewish religion.

2. If they were converted to Judaism (the orthodox way), they have to show proof of the conversion, again through documents that can be verified.

Of course, they sign a formal statement of the truthfulness of their documents and declarations. If it is later discovered that their documents/declarations were falsified, they will be prosecuted and their citizenship revoked.

[sharonbn]

in regard to my previous post #9, there is one absurd situation that actually hapenned in real life (not to me :))

All the confusion regarding the issues of Conservative/Reform conversions, Law of return, “who is a Jew”, etc. only take affect for people outside Judaism and outside Israel.
If I am an Israeli citizen, born and raised in Israel to a Jewish mother and father, I will be forever Jewish in the eyes of the Israeli government, as well as orthodox institutions, even if I will convert to Christianity and start practicing Catholics.

[NewsGuy]

Sharonb,

Very insightful. Fascinating.

Thank you for taking the time to post this summary.