Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinate in Israel Divides Jews

What craziness! The March 18, 2011 issue of The Jewish Advocate, a Massachusetts weekly, reported that Israeli Jews seeking to get married in their own country must first prove that they’re Jewish. Due to the fact that the religious party is inevitably needed to form a majority coalition government in Israel‘s legislature, the Ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate has been perpetually ceded exclusive jurisdiction over marriage, divorce, burial, and conversion, Jewish rituals that carry legal weight in Israel. That means that two Jews can be married in Israel only by an approved Orthodox rabbi. Now, in an escalation of their efforts to make all Israelis adhere to the Ultra-Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law, the rabbis have been asking for proof that aspiring spouses are Jewish. This has caused much aggravation to many who have no documentation of their Jewishness beyond their own knowledge of their family history. While some have gone through the effort to dig up family records, many other have preferred to either live together out of wedlock or to get married in a foreign country. Also, while Israel’s Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent, the Rabbinate deems only those with a Jewish mother to be Jewish., thereby denying 320,000 immigrants to Israel status as legal Jews. In addition, the Rabbinate does not recognize conversions performed by Conservative or Reform Jewish rabbis or even conversions by many Orthodox rabbis outside of Israel.

This situation is insane. All other major religions welcome converts with open arms, but those given power over Jewish law in Israel not only make it extremely difficult for those who want to become Jewish to do so, but actually deny participation in major Jewish rituals to those whose identity and family history are undeniably Jewish. What a perfect way to drive Jews out of the fold and to perpetuate the status of Judaism as a relatively tiny and weak member of the world’s community of religions. With the high birthrate of the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel (see my last blog entry) and much lower birthrate of less religious Israelis, the entrenchment and audacity of the Chief Rabbinate seems likely to escalate further. This can only serve to divide the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel both from other Israelis and from Jews around the world. This does not bode well for either Israel or for the unity among Jews needed to stand up against the military and political threats by which it is constantly besieged. Israelis must take the bold step to greatly weaken the power of the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel and spread it more equitably among Jews of various levels of religiosity.

Will Demographics Ruin Israel?

An interesting article by Larry Lowenthal appeared in the March 11, 2011 issue of The Jewish Advocate, a Massachusetts weekly newspaper. The author is a former excutive director of the Greater Boston chapter of the American Jewish Committee. In it, Mr. Lowenthal highlights the population boom among ultra orthodox (Haredi) Jews in Israel along with a population bust among non-Haredi Jews, which he feels can lead to major changes in the country, mostly for the worse. He cites the fact that the Haredi, which make up only 10% of the population, have 30% of the babies, since they average 8-9 children per family in comparison to the 1.7 children per non-Haredi family. If these numbers keep up, the author predicts that the Haredi will comprise 17% of the Israeli population by 2025 and a majority by 2050. The problem the author sees with this is that such a trend can work against the "high-tech, industrialized, globally-connected" country that Israel has become. Seventy percent of the Haredi do not work, but they receive money from the government in the name of preserving the Jewish religion, and because the religious bloc is always needed to form a coalition government. In addition, while the Haredi study Judiasm, they shun important subjects such as science, math, political science, economics, foreign languages, and non-biblical history, and are allowed exemption from military service. Thus, as they become a larger proportion of Israel's population, they threaten to weaken the country's industry, economy, involvement with global intellectual life and, most dangerously, Israel's defense against its hostile neighbors. These possibilities don't bode well for Israel.

It is possible that the scenario Lowenthal describes will not play out. Not all Jews raised as Haredi will stay so. Some percentage of them will be intrigued by the outside world and will become part of the larger society. That certainly happened to most of the Orthodox Jews that immigrated to the United States from the late 1800s until after WWII. But the Haredi community has developed over the last several decades very effective systems for acculturating its children and inculcating in them a sense of belonging and religious fervor. Perhaps, while the less religious are still a majority in Israel, government policy will change so as to eliminate subsidies for the Haredi, forcing them to work in order to survive. That would put them in greater contact with the less religious and likely increase the number of them who merge into the larger society. Whatever happens, we can only hope that the current demographic trend does not weaken Israel's strong scientific, economic, and military status, and turn it into a vulnerable Third World country.

In the following week's Jewish Advocate, Mr. Lowenthal will describe another demographic threat to Israel. That is, the high birthrate of Isreali Arabs that is steadily increasing their proportion of the Israeli population.