This week, the depth to which Israeli parliamentarians can sink was explored by MK Bezalel Smotrich, and he may well have set a new record, which is an impressive feat all by itself.
This ultra-right religious MK presented to the plenum an amendment to a law that was originally passed by the Knesset in 1950 to assure that the Jewish people could “return to their homeland” and become part of the new “Jewish Nation”.
Already with the passing of the law in 1950 it became clear that the question that was not addressed by this law (at least not sufficiently according to some), surrounds one of the most vexing problems Israel has been trying to deal with: Who is a Jew. The law was amended twice mainly to address this issue, and in the final version (that is on the books today) states that anybody who has at least one grandparent who is Jewish, has the right to immigrate to Israel.
It is not entirely clear why this formulation was chosen in the end. Some mythical stories relate it to the Nazi Nuremberg Laws (from the beginning of the Nazi Era in Germany) but this is unclear and probably inaccurate. (The Nazi laws prevented a person who is three quarters Jewish from having German citizenship, but persons who are half or less Jewish while considered of mixed race, where allowed German citizenship).
The wording of the Law, and in particular its 1970 amendment, where bound to raise the ire of certain circles in Israel and in a way it is surprising that not more and earlier attempts were made to change the Law.
The law brings to the fore the basic question of who is in control over the Jewish State. Smotrich wants to amend the law because in his world view, and that of his religious fellow Jews, anybody who was not born from a Jewish mother (or converted according to their rules of Halacha) is not Jewish. And thus, the Law of Return has made it possible for many (mostly East European and Russian) people with a Jewish grandparent, to come to Israel and become Israeli. But these people are not Jewish according to the rules that Smotrich uses and thus in Israel they will not be able to marry, not be able to register their children as Jewish and (in principle) not be able to for instance buy a house on land that needs to be leased from the Jewish Agency.
The Jewish State decides that these people are entitled to citizenship of the Jewish State but the religious establishment degrades them to second class citizens unless they agree to convert (according to halachic rules of course). A religion is in principle allowed to decide who they will allow into their ranks and who they don’t, but the moment the State picks up on those rules and uses them to exclude people from becoming full-fledged citizens, we are looking at a theocratic dictatorship.
And while Smotrich retracted the law at the last moment because he recognized that there currently is a lack of support (for political reasons, not humanitarian), it is bound to come up again sometime in the future and may very well succeed then (I guess also this will depend on the approval of our Prime Minister, Netanyahu, like everything else).
There is one more aspect to this amendment that is worrisome and maybe even frightening.
Smotrich explicitly (and I guess many others in silence) talks about having to save the Jewish people and the Jewish State from the encroachment of hundreds of thousands of non-Jews. Non-Jews will dilute the Jewish genes and assimilation in both the U.S. and Europe has reached frightening proportions and the future of the Jewish people is in danger. The survival and purity of the Jewish race is at stake.
I can’t help but get the impression that this sounds like what the Germans were saying about the Aryan race. The Aryan people should be pure and cannot be mixed with (for instance) Jewish blood. Marriage to a Jew was forbidden and sexual intercourse with a Jew would land you in prison. While in Israel we are not (yet) at such extremes, the marriage with a non-Jew being allowed (albeit not to be performed in Israel), but the off-spring of such a marriage is not Jewish if the mother is not. And while the state will give such a non-Jewish child citizenship, the Jewish religious establishment, that controls many aspects of life in Israel, will discriminate him all his life.
There is of course a simple solution to this despicable situation. It is called the separation of Religion and State. By drawing clear boundaries between the authority of the State and that of the Jewish religion, discrimination will be prevented simply because all citizens will be subject to the same rules and regulations and have the same rights. In Holland for instance, you are allowed to get married in any religious ceremony you like, a Catholic one, a Protestant one, a Jewish one, a Buddhist one, a Muslim one, but it is ILLEGAL to hold such a ceremony before you are married according to the law in a civil procedure. The Dutch State demands that civil regulations, that are in force for everybody, will be followed and adhered to, but afterwards, everybody is free to do as he pleases (as long as it doesn’t involve bothering others of course).
In Israel, the lack of clarity of the boundaries of the State’s authority and the authority of the Jewish Religion, often leads to confrontations, and politics is called to solve the problem, which mostly results in political blackmail of the religious parties and creates resentment among the secular population.
The fact that Israel is a Jewish State is a great victory for the Jewish people and that one of its goals is the ingathering of the Exiles, is laudable, but in a State that is also interested in being a Democratic one, there are limitations that must be obeyed. And it can be done. France and Italy are States where most people are devout Catholics that live according to the rules and decrees of the Catholic church. But Italy and France are Democratic States and the State will decide the issues of the State, and not the Pope in Rome (as the leader of the Catholic Church). This does not at all mean that the State cannot or will not take into account religious beliefs and traditions, but only if it does not affect those that do not want to be affected by religious beliefs and traditions.
One of the biggest lies told by politicians when they want to deal with the issue of religious coercion but cannot find the means to do so is: “Israel is Jewish and Democratic”. A State cannot be both democratic and religious, simply because of the nature of religion, that will demand absolute adherence, while excluding all that do not conform. And there is no middle ground here. Israel will have to choose. Israelis will have to choose. The price will be the influx of goyim into this country but the Jewish race, and its religion can be as pure as they want to be, as long as they do not force the rules of that purity on others. The State will give equal rights to all of us, as Israelis, and the Religious establishment will take care of the Jews in whatever way they see fit.
And assimilation? In America, nobody forces a Jew to marry a gentile. It appears that for more and more Jews, being a happy human being and marrying the one that you love is more important that being a Jew. Food for (Jewish) thought?
