Indiana Jones, Jewish style

I24 NEWS – Olga (33) came to Israel from the Ukraine 15 years ago as a student. Her encounters with the Jewish Agency (the Israeli agency tasked with encouraging immigration) in her hometown were rather pleasant. They talked to her about the Law of Return (which is the legal basis for Aliyah, or immigration of Jews). They talked to her about the sense of belonging she was about to experience in her natural homeland. They only forgot to mention one crucial piece of information: “Oops! Once you land in Israel, Olga, you’re not considered Jewish. Sorry about that. That’s the law. The rabbinical law.”

So Olga came, with a group of other Russian-speaking students. Most were offered Orthodox conversions – the only kind recognized in Israel. The offer was a combination of promises and threats, stressing the benefits of being Jewish in a Jewish state. “You don’t really want to expose your child to a life of difficulties and conflicts,” is the standard line. Small wonder, then, that a group of young olim (immigrants) from the former Soviet Union published a statement in 2008 saying: “The plan to impose mass conversion on immigrants is a form of collective rape.” Few choose to go that road and many who do drop out in the process.

The problem of immigrants who came to Israel legally just to find out they are not really Jewish and are therefore second-class citizens – has erupted occasionally over the years. It’s now making big headlines because a group of Orthodox nationalist rabbis, defying the Chief Rabbinate, have established an institution offering more user-friendly conversions. “The gathering of the exiles and the substantial immigration from the former Soviet Union…. Demand responsible and courageous attention from national leaders”, those prominent rabbis said in a statement. ”Our moral responsibility is to attend to their full integration for their sake and for the sake of the continuation of the Jewish people”. In response, other Orthodox rabbis warned that this might spell the beginning of separation between church and state. This might not sound like a threat to many, but certainly it is to Israel’s all-powerful religious establishment.

Jewish abroad, not Jewish at home

Thus, 25 years after the massive Russian immigration to Israel, its biggest core problem has yet to be resolved.

Olim come to Israel based on the Law of Return, secular Zionist legislation designed to include as many Jews as possible; once they are here, the process of their absorption is based on rabbinical law, narrowing the definition of who is eligible. A child of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, for example, is eligible to immigrate and welcome to immigrate to Israel under the Law. Once they arrive, however, they suddenly lose that privileged status. Unless they reluctantly succumb to the pressure and step down the road of conversion supervised by the Chief Rabbinate, they will forever not be considered Jewish.

The numbers are striking: 350,000 out of more than one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union are not Jewish according to Rabbinical law. Most of them are spouses and children of mixed marriages, a popular arrangement in their countries of origin. Most felt Jewish in Russia or any other Soviet Republic, and often suffered for being Jewish. Yet only 2,000 choose to convert each year in the only way recognized by the state. At the same time, about 4,000 non-Jewish (officially) babies are born every year to angry and resentful parents.

The former head of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, defined this situation as a “strategic domestic threat.” He also acted upon it. Four years ago he joined a new organization called “Roots” – a Jewish version of Indiana Jones. The delegates of Roots leave home to go to godforsaken villages in all post- soviet Republics, search old archives messed up by time, wars, collapsed regimes. They interview old neighbors and look for clues that might prove that olim denied the right to get married in Israel since they cannot prove their Jewishness – are, in fact, Jewish. Maybe the old Christian neighbor remembers the dead grandmother baking matza bread for Passover? Maybe the small community recalls the family whispering in Yiddish? Something, anything, to spare the young couple the pain and the expense involved in having to go from Israel to another country to get married even though they have made Israel their home.

Before launching their alternative, more user friendly conversion initiative, the rabbis met with a group of young Russian-speaking adults, who came here as children and challenge the Israeli system in many ways, conversion being one of them. “I oppose all conversions and need no invitation to join the people of Israel” says Katya Kupchik, a member of the group. “I’m willing to passively support any initiative that undermines the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate. We have to prove that the borders of Judaism are much broader than those of rabbinical law.”