Mihu Yehudi: Difference between revisions

This is a problematic issue in Israeli law that has sparked many controversies over the years and has been at the center of Chabad's struggle for many years.

The question of who is a Jew - who can be registered in the population registry as Jewish and be entitled to aliyah rights granted by the Law of Return to Jews - has not been resolved since the establishment of the state. The common practice generally aligned with Jewish halacha, which has determined who is a Jew throughout the generations. In 1958, when the Minister of Interior sought to change this, controversy arose and the final decision was to continue following halacha, as established in the Interior Ministry regulations. In 1970, following attempts by the Supreme Court to undermine and register non-Jews as Jews, the "Who is a Jew" clause was added to the Law of Return, stating that a Jew is "one who was born to a Jewish mother or converted, and is not a member of another religion." The word "converted according to halacha" was deliberately omitted from this clause, opening the door to fake "conversions" such as Reform and similar ones.

== Setting Interior Ministry Guidelines ==

In 1958, controversy over "Who is a Jew" first arose when Interior Minister Israel Bar-Yehuda instructed to register anyone who declares they are Jewish as "Jewish." This caused an uproar and the National Religious Party decided to leave the coalition as a result. Then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, seeing the necessity to resolve this question, turned to fifty "Sages of Israel" - whom he defined as such according to his own view - to express their opinion regarding the definition of Jewish identity in the State of Israel. Out of 59 who were asked, 46 responded, and the vast majority - 37 respondents, including those far from observing mitzvos - proposed supporting the halachic definition.

Among those asked was the Rebbe, who answered in part: