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Prof. Sam Lehman-Wilzig: Who Should(n’t) Get Automatic Israeli Citizenship?
Like a cat with nine lives, once again the question of “Who is a Jew?” has arisen in Israel – one of the most controversial since the country’s establishment.
The issue is important because of Israel’s nature as a “nation-state.” Although today we tend to ignore the first part of this term and consider each country merely as a “state,” centuries ago, each new state (“country”) came into existence based on some ethnic commonality, whether language, religion, or historical experience. Today, in our multi-almost-everything world (especially among liberal democracies), that “national” ethnic, common denominator has been largely forgotten as its civil “state” character becomes predominant.
In this, Israel is an outlier – for good reason. Given antisemitic attacks over the past centuries, and especially mass expulsions (not to mention the Holocaust), the need for a Jewish State clearly became paramount – the reason for the emergence of Zionism. However, Zionism left open the basic question: who would be considered “Jewish” in order to automatically immigrate as a citizen?
Although several answers were bandied about and fiercely argued, the two main positions were these: either someone converted in Orthodox fashion – or (to paradoxically use the Nazi criterion), to accept anyone having at least one Jewish grandparent. It doesn’t take a genealogist to understand who that leaves out (e.g., those converted in Reform or Conservative fashion) and who that includes (one paternal grandfather without any maternal Jewish provenance, the standard Jewish criterion for 2000 years).
Enter (once again), MK Avi Maoz – a religious, right-wing lawmaker from the extreme Noam party – who recently put forward draft legislation that would eliminate the 1970 law’s clause offering citizenship to anyone not considered Jewish by religious law but with at least one Jewish grandparent.
There are two problems here. First, it is estimated that 500,000 people immigrated to Israel since that law’s passage, but many have no understanding or interest in anything “Jewish”; for them, Israel was/is a place of refuge, not much more than that. Second, several hundred thousand have not been granted automatic Israeli citizenship because they lack proof of Jewish lineage e.g., those from the former Soviet Union , where the authorities would not provide documentation, or non-Western countries such as Ethiopia, where such documents never existed.
Clearly, this is not a good situation, but it’s not easy to square the circle between “conversion hard-liners” (the Orthodox) and “conversion-lite” (anyone with any semblance of “Jewish blood”). Nevertheless, there is a general solution, and it stems from the Bible at least twice.
First, in the Book of Exodus (12:38), when the Israelites left Egypt 80% of the escapees were the “eyrev rav”: not Israelite, but taking the momentary opportunity to escape as well (the great Torah commentator Rashi explained that they were a motley assortment of Egyptians and perhaps other foreigners). Many of them continued the trek with the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, presumably becoming part of the Israelite “nation” – without any formal conversion process (the Five Books of Moses has no directive regarding “conversion” to Judaism). Second and more clear is the story of Ruth (1:16) who becomes part of the Jewish People (and King David’s great-grandmother!) merely by stating: “my nation is your nation; your God is my God.”
Note the two elements here in Ruth’s short proclamation: nationhood and religion. The first involves allegiance to a people; the second is a matter of spiritual belief. However, there’s also an unspoken aspect to both: Ruth had married Naomi’s son and therefore understood well what the Jewish nation and its religion were all about. In other words, Ruth’s short statement was not some unknowing mumbo-jumbo to join the club, but rather was based on familiarity and knowledge regarding who and what she was joining.
It is precisely this aspect that is missing from Israel’s current approach to defining a Jew. Someone who, by chance, was born to a Jewish (grand)parent but knows nothing about Judaism, Jewish history, Jewish religious culture, or even about Israel and what it stands for, should not be considered Jewish (and thus automatically Israeli) ipso facto by birthline. On the other hand, someone not born with any Jewish lineage but who does wish to become part of the Jewish people and a citizen of the Jewish State, should undergo some “education” for such inclusion, religious and civil, within the Jewish State.
That’s far from a radical idea. For one, this is precisely what the United States demands of anyone wishing to become a naturalized citizen: they have to be at least 18 years old (to fully understand what U.S. citizenship entails); hold a Green Card for at least 5 years, or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen (to absorb American culture: behavior, norms etc., just like Ruth); maintain continuous residence in the U.S. (no faking in-and-out); show the ability to read, write, and speak basic English (again, American “culture”); and be tested for a basic understanding of U.S. history and government (ditto, writ large). In short, even in the U.S., where religion and state are separate, one has to understand what it is to be part of the American nation.”
Such a general approach is also part of what Israel’s Orthodox demand: studying Judaism. Unfortunately, such “study” involves far more breadth and depth than most people are willing (or able) to do; moreover, it contains a very restricted perspective on what Judaism entails (far beyond what Ruth had to know); and ignores completely anything having to do with the State of Israel and its history.
The solution is for a future Israeli (non-haredi coalition) government to gather all segments of Jewish society and come up with a course of study and “final exam” that makes sense for the modern world. This would entail: basic knowledge about “Judaism” as a religion; understanding why “Zionism” is a response to Jewish history; and having rudimentary Hebrew proficiency. Such a process would ensure that becoming a Jewish-Israeli citizen has real meaning, based, like Ruth, on comprehending who, what, and why being part of Israel is necessary and worthwhile.
