On Jewishness, conversion and citizenship

Here is an excerpt from a quite interesting article by Michele Chabin about new Israeli conversion rules:

In a potentially divisive flare-up in the ongoing Who is a Jew struggle, Israel’s Interior Ministry is poised to institute new, stricter guidelines for diaspora converts wishing to immigrate to Israel, The Jewish Week has learned.

According to the new guidelines, spelled out in a two-page draft document in the works since 2005, potential converts from all religious streams seeking to make aliyah must study Judaism a minimum of 350 hours in “a recognized” Jewish community.

They must also spend a total of 18 months in the community where they are converting (at least nine months following the conversion), in order to prove their sincere commitment to Judaism.

Until now, the ministry has never dictated the number of hours a convert must study.

The 18-month requirement is six months longer than the ministry’s long-standing criterion, which the Supreme Court deemed illegal in 2005.

Converts who do not want to wait the full nine months after conversion will be allowed to come to Israel but will not be granted citizenship until they can prove they are Jewish — often a long and complicated process with no guarantee of success. They will receive no health insurance or other benefits in the interim.

Although non-Jews are permitted to live in Israel with their Jewish Israeli spouse, they will not be granted citizenship unless their conversion is recognized by the Interior Ministry or they can prove they have one Jewish grandparent. Righteous Gentiles are the exception.

Finally, the guidelines — which are retroactive, according to sources — automatically refuse citizenship to anyone whose visa application to Israel was rejected in the past for any reason.

The new guidelines apparently are, in part, an effort to prevent non-Jewish foreign workers who reside in Israel from converting quickly in Jewish communities overseas, and then declare aliyah.

A decision by the Justice Ministry to approve the new guidelines is expected in the next few weeks, according to those close to the situation. Members of the committee that drew up the guidelines say the timing of the new rules is no accident. They say the Interior Ministry, currently headed by Kadima’s Meir Sheetrit, is trying to implement the new protocols before a new ministry head is named, after the recent national elections and shakeup of the government.

It is believed that the number of converts who seek to make aliyah annually is in the hundreds.

The new Israeli government protocols, viewed by The Jewish Week, have been so carefully guarded that even the ministry’s spokeswoman said she was unaware of them.

Critics say the new requirements cut to the very heart of the most contentious issue between Israeli and diaspora Jews: Who is a Jew? - MORE