Who is a Jew? It's an age-old question that in Israel been determined by government-selected rabbis in the decades since the country was established in 1948.
But now a group of Orthodox rabbis is challenging the state's control on determining who is and isn't Jewish — a status that affects many important aspects of life in Israel.
The parents of 7-year-old Lihi Goldstein weren't thinking about their daughter's future wedding when they adopted her as a toddler. Israelis Amit and Regina Goldstein picked the blue-eyed girl from a crowd of children at an orphanage in Ukraine.
They didn't know her family's religious background, but it didn't matter to them, says father Amit Goldstein. They are Jewish — so she would be, too.
"She lives in a Jewish house, in a Jewish family," Goldstein says, describing their life as largely secular but observing "the basics" of Jewish practice. That includes saying a prayer on Friday night, going to synagogue on Yom Kippur and not working on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
"That's what she knows," Goldstein says.
![An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays along the Mediterranean Sea in the Israeli city of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays along the Mediterranean Sea in the Israeli city of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/10/10/orthodox-jew_wide-73443930b0c14f7b28e67e989a3aa758897a46d2-s300.jpg)
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays along the Mediterranean Sea in the Israeli city of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.
But that's not enough for Israel's chief rabbinate to consider Lihi Goldstein Jewish.
Since the country's founding, the rabbinate has determined who is considered Jewish and overseen conversions of new Jews. In Israel, only Orthodox conversions are recognized, following Halakha, or Jewish law. Reform and Conservative Judaism, while widespread in the U.S., have only small followings in Israel and are are not officially recognized by the rabbinate.
Secular Israeli Jews joke that the synagogue they don't go to is Orthodox. The Goldsteins, although not religious, are recognized as Jewish because their mothers were.
But if the rabbinate says Lihi isn't Jewish, she won't be counted as Jewish by the government. That means she would have to leave Israel to get married, even to a Jewish Israeli, because only Orthodox Jews are allowed to marry in Israel, although marriages performed abroad are recognized. Her children would not be considered Jewish.
The Goldsteins could have converted Lihi through Israel's official rabbinate. But it would have required displays of faith such as attending religious school or following strict dietary rules that conflict with the family's largely secular Jewish life.
"It's hopeless," Regina Goldstein says, "because it's common knowledge that you have to convert all your life around or you have to stand there and lie."
An Alternate, Unofficial Conversion
According to research compiled by the Israel Democracy Institute, half of those who begin the conversion process under the auspices of the rabbinate quit.
Even religious Jews can run into trouble. Ya'akov Lasri, a devout Jew his entire life, sat in on official conversion classes for more than a year while his wife, Galia, attended. She is a Ukrainian immigrant, born Catholic. They married abroad.
In what should have been the couple's final interview before her conversion was approved, Lasri says a rabbi asked him, "How is it that you, a religious person, active in synagogue, are sleeping with a goya?"
Goya means a non-Jewish woman. In this context, it's derogatory. Lasri felt angry and humiliated. His wife felt rejected by her adopted homeland. Despite that, they continued with classes, and tried to finalize the conversion again months later. In the interview this time, Lasri says a rabbi implied the couple faced a high risk of divorce.
Lasri says he and his wife were comfortable that she had fully embraced Judaism, but he says there was "a lot of talk" among people at his synagogue, wondering when she would officially convert.
Eventually, both the Lasris and the Goldsteins turned to a new, alternative way to convert to Judaism in Israel. One of the key leaders behind this effort, Orthodox Rabbi Seth Farber, describes the project as a "game changer" and a direct challenge to the official system.
The court began working this summer. Over the first six weeks, some 50 conversions had been approved, including Lihi Goldstein and Galia Lasri. Farber says the court hopes to reach 2,000 over the first year, which would exceed the annual average of conversions through the official rabbinate. He says with tens of thousands of Israelis with Jewish heritage not counted by the rabbinate, he expects no trouble hitting those numbers.
"Whether this will bring down the rabbinate or not remains to be seen," Farber says. For now, the new conversions are not recognized by the Israeli government.
'They Don't Feel Connected'
The alternative conversion process requires candidates to show knowledge of Judaism. For example, a panel of rabbis asked Galia Lasri if she could cook on certain holidays and to recite a prayer.
It is led by Orthodox rabbis, who, like the ultra-Orthodox-led rabbinate, follow Halakha. But it is not as rigid in measuring Judaism through behavior. Rather, says Farber, it aims to "open doors." The Goldsteins had never told Lihi that she wasn't Jewish, so they also didn't tell her the rabbis asking her questions would be converting her. When it came time for the final step — a dip into a pool used for Jewish religious rites — the rabbis simply asked Lihi to show them if she could dive.
Faber has been battling the rabbinate for a long time. He founded an organization, ITIM, to help Jews navigate the religious bureaucracy in Israel. The court is a new project; its main target is Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
About a third of the million Soviet Jews who moved here in the 1990s easily become citizens under Israel's Law of Return, which allows anyone with a Jewish grandparent to immigrate. But an estimated 350,000 — and in many cases, their children — are excluded from being designated as Jewish because of the rabbinate's strict rules.
Farber says that approach is turning people off and undermining the unity of Israeli Jewish society, by excluding citizens who must serve in the Israeli military but cannot officially be registered as Jews.
He believes this also alienates Israel from less religious Jews around the world. "They don't feel connected," he says. "And it's not only about the security thing. It's about their personal status."
A Never-Ending Debate
One of the top critics of the new conversion court, Ziv Maor, a former spokesman for the government rabbinate, worries that if the conversions are validated, it will open the door to permit conversions by branches of Judaism the rabbinate does not see as legitimate — including the Reform movement that is widespread in the U.S.
This would lead to Jewish assimilation with people he views as non-Jews in Israel, he fears. That's a real threat, in his eyes, to the future of Judaism.
"When people are getting married with non-Jews," Maor says, "the unfortunate result is that their children and grandchildren will no longer be Jews."
Maor argues that the Law of Return should narrow the definition of who is Jewish for the purposes of becoming an Israeli citizen. He also warns that since the government doesn't recognize the conversions performed by the new court, it won't end the debate over who is Jewish. This keeps the new court's converts in limbo, he says.
"This dispute probably will be between great camps of great rabbis, but there is a person in the middle of it," Maor says. For now, he says, someone who wants to be Jewish enough to convert should "be on the safe side."
Rabbis backing the new court say the dispute is temporary. Their aim is to convert so many people that Israel's government — and courts — cannot ignore them any longer.
![](http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=In+Israel%2C+A+New+Battle+Over+Who+Qualifies+As+Jewish&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDE1MTIxMDg0MDE0MDQ3NTY3MzkzMzY1NA001))
Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Israel, a group of government rabbis decide who is officially Jewish. The designation is critical. It affects marriage options and the status of children. But the rules exclude hundreds of thousands of Israelis who consider themselves Jewish. Now a rival rabbinical group is challenging the system with a new path for converting to Judaism. NPR's Emily Harris reports.
LIHI: (Foreign language spoken).
AMIT GOLDSTEIN: (Foreign language spoken).
EMILY HARRIS, BYLINE: Seven-year-old Lihi loves swimming and dancing and playing with her dad's phone. Israelis Amit and Regina Goldstein adopted Lihi from Ukraine when she was a toddler. They didn't know her religion, but that didn't matter says Amit Goldstein because she's now their child, and they're raising her Jewish.
A. GOLDSTEIN: She lives in a Jewish house, in a Jewish family. We do keep the hagim, the holidays. We don't work Shabbat, you know, the basics. And that's what she knows.
HARRIS: But if Lihi's national ID doesn't say she's Jewish when she's an adult, Lihi would have to leave Israel to get married. There are no civil marriages here. Her children would not be considered Jewish. Amit Goldstein says he didn't want his daughter to feel different from mainstream society or from her siblings.
A. GOLDSTEIN: It's important for us that she would be also like them, like us.
REGINA GOLDSTEIN: No doubts.
A. GOLDSTEIN: No doubts.
HARRIS: The Goldsteins could have converted Lihi through Israel's official rabbinate, but they didn't want to. It would have required certain displays of faith, such as attending religious school or following strict dietary rules that conflict with the Goldsteins' largely secular Jewish life. Regina Goldstein.
R. GOLDSTEIN: It's kind of hopeless because it's, like, common knowledge that you have to convert all your life around, or you have to stand there and lie.
HARRIS: Even religious Jews have run into trouble. Ya'akov Lasri, a devout Jew his entire life, sat in on official conversion classes for more than a year while his wife attended. She's a Ukrainian immigrant, born Catholic. They married abroad. In what should've been the couple's final interview, a rabbi asked him this.
YA'AKOV LASRI: (Through interpreter) How is it that you, a religious person active in synagogue, is sleeping with a goya?
HARRIS: Goya means a non-Jewish woman. In this context, it's derogatory. The couple quit the official process, as more than half of those who sign up do. Eventually, they and the Goldsteins turned to a new, alternative way to convert to Judaism in Israel.
SETH FARBER: This initiative is a game changer.
HARRIS: Seth Farber is an Orthodox rabbi and a key force in the new conversion court, which requires knowledge of Judaism but gives more latitude in how it's practiced. These conversions are not recognized by Israel, but they challenge the system.
FARBER: Whether this will bring down the rabbinate or not, that remains to be seen.
HARRIS: The new court is mainly targeting Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union, some 350,000. A third of the million who moved here in the 1990s were Jewish enough to easily become citizens, but they and their children, including Israeli soldiers, are not Jewish enough for the official rabbinate's stricter interpretation. Rabbi Farber.
FARBER: We've created, in Israel, a fifth column of people who are serving our country and are fully part of our country, but our country doesn't recognize them.
HARRIS: He says this also alienates Israel from less religious Jews around the world.
FARBER: They don't feel connected, and it's not only about the security thing. It's about their personal status.
HARRIS: Farber wants more Israelis to be active, religious Jews. And one of the top critics of the new conversion court doesn't question the religious credentials of the organizers. Here's the thinking of Ziv Maor, a former spokesman for the government rabbinate. He says this new court could open the door for all kinds of conversions. In his eyes, that means mixed marriages and a real threat to the future of Judaism.
ZIV MAOR: There is no gas chambers, and there's no death. And there is no sorrow. There is only happiness of a young couple and their families that wants to be together. And I appreciate it. But the unfortunate result is that their children and grandchildren will no longer become Jews.
HARRIS: Maor argues converts should be held to a higher religious standard than those born into Judaism. Plus, he argues, since these conversions are not official, they don't end Israel's debate about who is Jewish.
MAOR: This dispute will be, probably, between great camps of great rabbis, but eventually, there is a person in the middle of it. When a person wishes to become Jewish, they should be on the safe side.
HARRIS: Rabbis behind the new court recognize this problem, but they call it temporary. Their aim is to convert so many people that Israel's government or courts cannot ignore them any longer. Emily Harris, NPR News, Jerusalem. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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