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In Israel, the "non-Jewish Jews," as some Israelis call them, are
everywhere. They drive buses, teach university classes, patrol in army Jeeps
and follow the latest Israeli reality-TV shows as avidly as their Jewish
counterparts.
For these people -- mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are
not Jews according to Israeli law -- the question of where they fit into the
Jewish state remains unanswered nearly two decades after they began coming
to Israel.
At an estimated 320,000 people and with their ranks growing due to
childbirth, the question is growing ever more acute.
"They are not going to be religious, but want to be part of what is called
the Jewish secular population," said Asher Cohen, a political scientist at
Bar-Ilan University who has written a book on the subject.
"Thousands are being born here, and they are no longer immigrants. They are
raised just like their secular neighbors, and these children want to know
why they are not Jewish because their mother is not Jewish," he said. "The
problem is just getting worse."
In almost every respect, these Israelis live as do their secular fellow
countrymen, even marking the Jewish holidays, lighting candles on Chanukah
and conducting seders on Passover. But because they do not qualify as Jews
according to halachah, or Jewish law, they are treated differently when it
comes to matters that are the purview of the Orthodox-controlled religious
establishment, such as lifecycle events like marriage, divorce and burial.
'We Are Part of This Country' For some, the real question is about identity
and fitting in.
Unlike non-Jews residing in Israel illegally, these are people who qualified
to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, which grants the right of
Israeli citizenship to all descendants of a Jewish grandparent or those
married to such persons. But the Israeli government does not consider them
Jews because their mothers are not Jewish. Non-Jewish Israelis constitute
almost a third of all immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Some of these people say that they've always considered themselves Jewish
and were thought as such by others -- until, that is, they came to Israel.
Lilia Itskov, 36, grew up in Siberia with a paternal grandmother who
preserved the traditions of her observant Jewish home. She said that she is
heartbroken when her daughter questions whether they are Jewish because
Itskov's mother was not Jewish.
"She studies the Bible in school; it's all she knows," Itskov said of her
daughter. "She cannot understand why she is not considered a Jew."
Itskov observed Jewish holidays even back in Siberia, and she says she never
tried to hide her Jewishness.
"I want people to understand we are part of this country and where we lived
before we were always considered Jews," she said. "And now, after so many
years, I am told that I am a goy."
Others are believing Christians who struggle to maintain their religious
identity while living in Jewish communities in Israel. Keeping a low
profile, many of them attend religious services on Sundays in community
members' apartments, or go to Arab-run Christian churches in Jerusalem and
Jaffa on major holidays. In the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh, near
Jerusalem, there are church services held in Hebrew.
"Little is known about them; there is no research about them and they try to
hide their faith," Cohen said of the active Christians among the
Russian-speaking immigrants. "It's hard for them to be Christians in any
overt way here."
For Vera Gorman, 21, whose family immigrated to Israel from Russia seven
years ago and whose mother's grandfather was Jewish, the sting of exclusion
hit for the first time when it came time to marry.
In Israel, where there is no civil marriage, all citizens must be married by
clergymen, and Jewish clergy are not allowed to perform intermarriages. Vera
is Jewish, but the man she planned on marrying, Maxim Gorman, was not, so
there was no way for the couple to get married in Israel.
Instead, they went to Prague; marriages abroad are recognized in Israel.
Vera noted that she and Maxim were angry and bewildered by the rules.
Maxim, 25, who served in an IDF combat unit and twice was injured in
fighting in Gaza, said that he doesn't understand why, if he spilled blood
for his country, he had to go abroad on the most important day of his life.
"It was especially hard because although I am not Jewish according to
halachah, I do feel Jewish in my heart," he said. "In my opinion, state and
religion simply do not go together. Israel needs to be democratic and
Jewish, and we need to protect our traditions because this is what unites
us. But we live in the 21st century, and we need to be going forward."
Some Israelis, especially religious ones, take issue with the large number
of non-Jews able to become Israeli, saying they threaten the Jewish
character of the state.
They complain about the rising number of butchers that sell pork, and they
condemn the proliferation of Christmas trees, tinsel and plastic Santa Claus
dolls that go on sale at shops around the country around Christmastime to
cater to the growing population in Israel that celebrates the holiday.
Russian immigrants -- Jews among them -- retort that they're not so much
celebrating Christmas as participating in festivities honoring the new year,
which do involve a tree.
A few rabbis and members of Orthodox parties in the Knesset have suggested
changing the Law of Return to exclude non-Jews from becoming Israeli. But
many secular Israelis argue against such changes, claiming that immigration
is vital to the country's future.
New Legislation in the Works?
Despite the challenges they face in Israel as non-Jews, only a minority of
non-Jewish immigrants to Israel choose to convert to Judaism.
Because Orthodox conversions are the only kind accepted by the Israeli Chief
Rabbinate, which controls religious law in Israel, prospective converts must
master Jewish knowledge and pledge to become strictly observant Jews. Most
immigrants from the former Soviet Union are secular and uninterested in
enduring a lengthy, restrictive conversion process.
To try to deal with the problem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office
announced this week that it was adopting recommendations to help restructure
the conversion process to increase the number of religious-court judges
officiating in conversion cases and drop the demand that converts become
religious Jews as a condition of the conversion. Olmert's office hopes these
changes will prompt more immigrants to choose to convert.
The army is also trying to ease the conversion process. Nativ, a program
sponsored jointly by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the government, is
known for its welcoming attitude toward prospective converts and focuses on
soldiers who are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. To date, it has
shepherded about 2,000 soldiers through the process.
Daniel Gordis, vice president of the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem think tank,
feels the issue is not so much whether the immigrants are Jews according to
halachah, but how the state treats them.
"How do we reach out to these people," he said, "to help them see their
connection to Judaism as the unfolding story of the Jewish people in this
land?"
By Dina Kraft
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tel Aviv
Source: http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15024/
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