A confidential emissary was sent to the U.S. by the Director General of the Interior Ministry, Arye Deri, to determine whether Shoshana Miller, converted to Judaism by a Reform rabbi in the U.S. five years ago, intends to return to Israel to claim citizenship, Davar reported Monday.
Miller, who arrived in Israel in 1985 as an immigrant, was denied status as a Jew by the rabbinical authorities on grounds that her conversion was invalid. She appealed to the Supreme Court which ruled that she must be registered as Jewish and issued an identity card.
Miller subsequently returned to the U.S. to care for her ill father. Her future plans are not known. The Interior Ministry wants to prepare itself to deal with the matter should Miller return to Israel, Davar said.
According to Davar, the Interior Ministry confirmed the report but stressed that the unnamed envoy did not meet personally with Miller but sought to ascertain her plans through a third party. It said the envoy’s mission included an examination of various legal matters pertaining to population registry.
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.
