The Cabinet committee named to re-draft regulations on the definition “who is a Jew” for registry purposes today sent letters to more than 50 outstanding rabbis and Jewish scholars in the United States, Britain and other Jewish communities, asking their opinions on the proper religious identification of children of mixed marriages in Israel.
The letter notes that mass immigration has brought to Israel the problem of mixed marriages and that the opinion of the rabbis and scholars is being sought on what Jewish Law provides in cases where both parents want their child to be listed as a Jew but in which the non-Jewish mother does not wish to be converted to Judaism.
The letter was also sent to rabbinical law authorities in France, Italy, Belgium and Holland, as well as to many experts in Israel. The dispute over registration of such children was part of a conflict between religious and non-religious groups in Israel on the issue of how Israelis were to be Identified as Jews for registration purposes. The plan to write to the authorities stemmed from the dispute in which Religious Party bloc members quit two Cabinet posts, the Ministry of Religions and the Ministry of Posts.
Observers here said that the plan of writing to rabbinical law experts might produce results which would be unwelcome to the religious elements because among those whose opinions were being sought were Conservative and Reform Jewish scholars who might take a more liberal stand on the issues than that of the Orthodox who control Israel’s religious parties.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
