Premier Golda Meir declared here Friday that the unity of the Jewish people was paramount in finding a solution to the Who is a Jew issue. Addressing the 85th annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), she noted that the special ministerial committee her coalition government will establish to find a solution would consult with scholars and leaders of all branches of Judaism and would seek “the best advice of the best minds in Jewish life on all sides.”
She cautioned, however, that a solution to this long-term problem could not be expected overnight, It can come about to the satisfaction of all she said, if all sides approached the issue with the unity of the Jewish people as the uppermost consideration in their minds. She recalled that last year she had opposed a bill by the Independent Liberal Party leader Gideon Hausner to establish limited civil marriage in Israel. This year she opposed the National Religious Party’s position on the Who is a Jew issue. in both instances, her primary consideration had been not to aggravate the divisions among the Jewish people, she said.
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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.
