Something is happening in Israel. Signal boost because I know there are Jewish people who read me. I don't konw enough about it to have any informed opinion or even to discuss it intelligibly. I'm just sayin'.
The short of it is that that there is a bill in the Knesset that would change the outlook of who is considered Jewish in Israel from the viewpoint of conversions. There are many denominations of Judaism, starting with the least 'strict' on following halacha (which are the laws and traditions): Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. There are overlapping areas too, such as "Conservadox" to try and show there are no lines drawn in the sand; there are also the Ultra-Orthodox, where the Chassidic Jews are placed on the spectrum, if you will.
The bill is trying to eliminate the recognition of all conversions that are done in any movement other than the Orthodox one, so anyone wanting to claim being a Jew in the Reconstructionist, Reform, or Conservative movements due to conversion will be SOL.
On July 5, 1950, the Israeli Knesset passed the Law of Return, fulfilling the dream of Theodor Herzl, Zionism's founder. Herzl experienced anti-Semitism in Europe and saw its effects in many countries. He saw that there was only one solution: the mass immigration of Jews to a land that they could call their own.
The law begins with a few simple words that defined Israel’s central purpose:
* Every Jew has the right to immigrate to this country ...
The State of Israel was established for the very purpose of repatriating the Jewish people from the Diaspora, to enable the "Ingathering of the Exiles", to give every Jew anywhere in the world the option to return to the land of his fathers. Two thousand years of wandering were officially over.
The Law of Return (and related Law of Citizenship) states that every Jew in the world has the inherent right to settle in Israel as an automatic citizen; it emphasizes the purpose of Israel as a homeland for all Jews. The law does not attempt to define the term Jew, which has caused controversy in Israel from time to time. A 1970 amendment accords the right to immigrate to Israel to non-Jews who are either children or grandchildren of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew or the spouse of a child or grandchild of a Jew. The amendment was intended to accept in Israel families, mainly from Eastern Europe, where mixed marriages were abundant.
So, people like me would have no problem saying to the customs official at Ben-Gurion airport that I want to make aliyah and become an Israeli citizen under the Law of Return. But my friend JJ would have an issue if this bill passes, as she converted through the Reform movement. She still upholds the tenets of the religion and loves being Jewish, yet they would deny her the ability to be Israeli (if she so choosed) because she wasn't converted through the Orthodox movement.
Unfortunately, I cannot think of a decent paralleled example to help here. Hopefully you'll understand it all better from what was written above. But, yes, it's a HUGE deal... I've been getting mail from various people affiliated with USCJ about it. (Speaking of which, you might find more info from http://uscj.org if you care to research further.)
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The bill is trying to eliminate the recognition of all conversions that are done in any movement other than the Orthodox one, so anyone wanting to claim being a Jew in the Reconstructionist, Reform, or Conservative movements due to conversion will be SOL.
The reason that it is important stems from the Law of Return (and this excerpt comes from http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_lawofreturn.php, but was written rather well, so I chose this over other sites):
On July 5, 1950, the Israeli Knesset passed the Law of Return, fulfilling the dream of Theodor Herzl, Zionism's founder. Herzl experienced anti-Semitism in Europe and saw its effects in many countries. He saw that there was only one solution: the mass immigration of Jews to a land that they could call their own.
The law begins with a few simple words that defined Israel’s central purpose:
* Every Jew has the right to immigrate to this country ...
The State of Israel was established for the very purpose of repatriating the Jewish people from the Diaspora, to enable the "Ingathering of the Exiles", to give every Jew anywhere in the world the option to return to the land of his fathers. Two thousand years of wandering were officially over.
The Law of Return (and related Law of Citizenship) states that every Jew in the world has the inherent right to settle in Israel as an automatic citizen; it emphasizes the purpose of Israel as a homeland for all Jews. The law does not attempt to define the term Jew, which has caused controversy in Israel from time to time. A 1970 amendment accords the right to immigrate to Israel to non-Jews who are either children or grandchildren of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew or the spouse of a child or grandchild of a Jew. The amendment was intended to accept in Israel families, mainly from Eastern Europe, where mixed marriages were abundant.
So, people like me would have no problem saying to the customs official at Ben-Gurion airport that I want to make aliyah and become an Israeli citizen under the Law of Return. But my friend JJ would have an issue if this bill passes, as she converted through the Reform movement. She still upholds the tenets of the religion and loves being Jewish, yet they would deny her the ability to be Israeli (if she so choosed) because she wasn't converted through the Orthodox movement.
Unfortunately, I cannot think of a decent paralleled example to help here. Hopefully you'll understand it all better from what was written above. But, yes, it's a HUGE deal... I've been getting mail from various people affiliated with USCJ about it. (Speaking of which, you might find more info from http://uscj.org if you care to research further.)