There is an old yiddish expression that “if one asks a question, the answer is
‘treif’ – i.e. ‘forbidden.’” That is all too often the case with regard to the
way the rabbinical courts in Israel deal with questions of Jewish identity and
conversion.
In 2010 the Israeli Chief Rabbinate decided to require
documents proving the Jewishness of one’s mother, grandmother, great-grandmother
and greatgreat- grandmother when applying for marriage. Needless to say this is
a near impossibility for most people. Is this really Jewish law?
Many immigrants
who claim to be Jewish have difficulty proving it to the satisfaction of the
chief rabbinate because of the lack of reliable documentation.
Ketubot,
or marriage contracts, have been largely non-existent among Russian Jews for
over half a century. The result has been that often people who sincerely
consider themselves Jews, and may indeed be, cannot prove that fact and are
turned away by the official rabbinate when they wish to be
married. Similar problems occur for American olim and others in Israel as
well.
The well-known journalist Gershom Gorenberg wrote an article on
such a case for
The New York Times entitled “How Do You Prove You’re a Jew?”
(
New York Times Magazine, March 2, 2008) in which he stated that formerly in
Europe, “Trust was the default position.”
He also cited the fact that the
leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Israel in the years before and after the state
was established, Avraham Yeshayahu Karlitz (known as the Hazon Ish, the name of
his magnum opus on religious law), held the classical position. If someone
arrived from another country claiming to be Jewish, he should be allowed to
marry another Jew, even if nothing is known of his family.
A brief survey
of sources in Jewish law will show that these current strictures were not always
the norm. A story told in the Talmud (Pesahim 3b) about a non-Jew who would go
to the Temple in Jerusalem to eat the paschal lamb – something forbidden by the
Torah – and who was not stopped or questioned until he aroused suspicion by some
action, was used by the Sages to prove that no attempt was made to check the
Jewish identity of those who ate the Passover meal in the Temple. From this they
inferred that one who claimed to be an Israelite was accepted automatically
without further investigation. Only when there was reason to doubt the
individual’s Jewishness was an investigation undertaken. It would seem that
indeed “trust was the default position.”
Medieval sources also used this
story as the basis for halachic rulings. The
Maggid Mishne (Vidal of Toloso,
14th-century Spain) to Rambam’s
Mishne Torah, Sefer Kedusha, Hilchot Isurei Biah
13:10, writes: “We do not investigate any person who says, ‘I am an Israelite.’”
Tosafot to
Yebamot 47a reiterates that one who claims to be a Jew is
believed.
Recently the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the
Rabbinical Assembly adopted a responsum written by this author which stated, “We
affirm that trust is the default position in these matters. Therefore unless
there is reason to be suspicious we do not question one’s Jewishness. If,
however, the person or the family is not known to us or if there is reason to
suspect that one is not Jewish, further investigation is needed. This can be
done through questioning the individual, through testimony of those who know the
person or knew the family, or, if available, documents that indicate a Jewish
background.
“In many cases, especially concerning those coming from the
former Soviet Union, it is understood that documentary evidence will be
difficult to produce, and therefore we may rely on the evidence of friends or
neighbors and on the impression made by the individual. Questioning is to be
done in a sensitive way so as not to violate the honor due to human beings and
not to shame the individual. It is incumbent upon the Beit Din or the rabbi to
exercise good judgment and common sense on these matters, relying on the
halachic principles cited above.”
It is time for the Israeli rabbinate to
adopt a similar position rather than placing stumbling blocks where Jewish law
itself has not placed them.
The writer, former president of the
International Rabbinical Assembly, is a twotime winner of the National Book
Award. His latest book is The Torah Revolution
(Jewish Lights).