Orthodox Mk’s Charge Non-jews Being Registered As Jews

The question of who is a Jew was aired again in the Knesset yesterday by two Orthodox MKs who charged that the government was indiscriminately registering non-Jews as Jews in order to grant them all the rights of new immigrants. Rabbi Menachem Porush of Agudath Israel and Rabbi Kalman Kahana of Poalci Agudath Israel charged that by condoning the “automatic conversion” process being carried out in Vienna to expedite the admission of Soviet Jews into Israel, the government was destroying the achievements of generations of tradition. They claimed that the word “conversion” had been emptied of any real meaning and that Israel was in danger of total assimilation. Rabbis Porush and Kahana urged the Knesset’s various factions to unite in spite of their political differences to guarantee “the future of a Jewish Israel.” Interior Minister Yosef Burg of the National Religious Party, himself an Orthodox Rabbi, replied for the government and said it was not interested in registering non-Jews as Jews. He agreed that incorrect registrations should be avoided at all costs, and suggested that the Porush-Kahana motion be sent to the Knesset’s Interior Committee for study. His suggestion was approved by all factions except for the State List and part of Gahal, which voted to reject the motion.