But Is It Good for the Jews?
Friday February 18, 2022 – י״ז אַדָר א׳ תשפ״ב
Imagine for a moment that you are an Israeli couple who wants to get married but not through the Chief Rabbinate. Now imagine that instead of hopping a plane to Cyprus or waiting for a visa to clear to the U.S. for a long-overdue trip – which would include a stop-over at city hall for a short and meaningless perfunctory marriage – one could simply pop into any foreign Consulate or Embassy in Tel Aviv or Herzliya and get married. Technically, each Embassy and Consulate is a sovereign entity of the country it represents, so why not?
This not-quite-believable concept is the conciliatory prize proposed this week by Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana of the Yamina party. Having pushed through reforms on Kashrut regulation and Conversion (keeping both strictly according to Orthodox rabbinic supervision, merely breaking the stronghold of the Chief Rabbinate over personal status issues), Kahana has set his sights on allowing civil marriage in an embassy or consulate of your choice. This is, on the surface, a positive development, yet it comes with a huge price tag: The Law of Return.
No, not canceling it but severely amending it.
The Law of Return was passed into law in 1950 clearly stating that “Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh (immigrant).” However, in 1970 the law was amended, adding a critical clause:
4A. (a) The rights of a Jew under this Law and the rights of an oleh under the Nationality Law, 5712-1952***, as well as the rights of an oleh under any other enactment, are also vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew, and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person who has been a Jew and has voluntarily changed his religion.
Known as the “Grandchild clause” (“סעיף הנכד”), this clause means that anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent can claim citizenship in the State of Israel whether they themselves identify as Jewish or not. Said to have been inspired by the Nazi Nuremberg laws of 1935, the prevailing notion was that if someone could be killed for being Jewish, then the Jewish State would welcome them as a citizen. This clause was particularly emphasized during the 1990s when over one million immigrants made their way to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of whom would not be considered Jewish by Orthodox standards.
Minister Kahana had previously vetoed the consular marriage bill, originally proposed by MK Sharren Haskel (New Hope Party), but reportedly said he could support consular marriages in exchange for repealing the 1970 grandchild amendment to the Law of Return. Kahana believes that the repeal of the grandchild’s clause is critical to maintaining the Jewish character of the state.
Minister Matan Kahana is an interesting character on the Israeli political scene. Kahana grew up in the B’nei Akiva modern Orthodox Youth Movement and was drafted into the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. After 3.5 years as a fighter, he changed course and became a fighter pilot, rising to the rank of Colonel as a commander of a squadron of F-16 aircrafts. After his military service, he began his political career by joining the Yamina party with now PM Naftali Bennett, with whom he is personally very close.
His first major speech in the Knesset as the appointed Minister of Religious Affairs was downplayed as it came just an hour before the now-infamous swearing-in ceremony and inaugural speech of PM Bennett. In his speech, Kahana delivered a thundering rebuke to the various ultra-Orthodox MKs, who themselves never spent a day in uniform defending the country in which they serve as legislators, and who had been castigating incoming Prime Minister Bennett and his new coalition as anti-Jewish, wicked, and a direct threat to the integrity and character of Israel as a Jewish state:
“Who are you to teach us about fearing Heaven?” Kahana demanded of the ultra-Orthodox legislators from the Knesset podium. “Who are you to lecture us about sanctifying God’s name? You should be ashamed of yourselves. Your behavior is the worst imaginable desecration of God’s name.”
“When did you ever get special permission to pray the Amidah (Standing) while lying down in an [IDF] ambush, in the pouring rain and bitter cold?” Kahana asked furiously. “When did you ever pray to God before going into battle?”
MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Israel’s first Reform rabbi Member of Knesset and chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, sees the idea of amending the Law of Return as crossing over a firm red line:
“This is an idea that undermines basic Zionist principles and shows an absolute disconnect from the challenges facing the Jewish people in the 21st century,” said the Labor lawmaker in a statement Monday.
“Freedom of choice in marriage and divorce should be promoted without any connection to the Law of Return or any other issue. The current monopoly exercised by the Rabbinate and the rabbinical courts harms both the basic rights of Israeli citizens and the status of Jewish tradition in Israeli society.”
Intelligence Minister Eliezer Stern (from the Yesh Atid party) also said on Twitter that he would object to such a compromise.
“The ‘grandchild clause’ is of strategic importance to Diaspora Jewry and Israel. It was not and will not be negotiable in this government.”
Is this good for the Jews?
Yes… and, No.
Any progress in moving towards changing the ‘Status Quo’ on marriage (and other life cycles/personal status issues) is a good thing. As our readers are no doubt aware, the current situation is that Jews wishing to marry non-Jews or same-sex partners must travel to another country — often nearby Cyprus — to do so. This is true for anyone wishing to marry outside the framework of the Rabbinate. It is the same for Christians wanting to marry Muslims — or anyone marrying outside of their own religious group.
However, amending the Law of Return will cause considerable damage and will continue to play into the monopoly of the ultra-Orthodox political parties on the “Who Is A Jew?” question.
Kahana’s previous reforms on Kashrut and Conversion led to the weakening of the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly on those issues and enabled an Orthodox free market to take root – completely ignoring the rights of the liberal religious streams. As a leader of the National Religious Camp, Kahana has no love for the ever-increasing Haredi pressure on the political system (despite the main Haredi parties currently sitting in the opposition). Of course, despite his purported pluralism, he still regards as taboo Reform and Conservative Judaism.
While this unusual proposal of linking civil marriage in a foreign embassy or consulate within Israel to the Law of Return is unlikely to pass, it is certainly causing more than a small ripple in the ebb and flow of the relationship between Judaism and the Jewish State. As Reform Jews and as the largest Zionist Movement in North America, our voices are critical here. Ours are the voices calling for Israel to be a Jewish State and to continue to reimagine what it means to be Jewish in the Jewish State, to remind the government that our Movement is providing legitimate answers to the biggest questions concerning the nature of Jewish identity and the Jewish character of the state. Our Reform rabbis are increasingly regarded by many Israelis as religious authorities and as authentic conduits of Jewish tradition and expression. We are leading a broad-sweeping coalition of those who want the government to foster a panoply of options and to recognize that in a democracy no one group can dictate observance.
One simple way for us all to join the struggle here is to become an ARZA Member. Whether as an individual or congregation, membership helps grow our Movement in Israel, supports our advocacy efforts through the Israel Religious Action Center, and is critical to strengthening the Reform Movement’s voice within Israeli National Institutions (World Zionist Organization, Keren Kayemth L’Yisrael – Jewish National Fund, Jewish Agency for Israel), the Israeli political system, and Israeli society at large.
Thank you for your support.
Shabbat Shalom.