See the latest opinion pieces on our page
Our conversion reform would have meant that we would be actively engaging tens of thousands of Ilyas, young men and women who are committed Israelis, who see themselves as an integral part of the future of the Jewish state.But alas – the cabinet decision last Sunday to nullify that conversion process now means we are back to only four conversion courts, and 33 rabbis who are legally permitted to perform conversions throughout the State of Israel. This was not just another government decision.With the cabinet’s second announcement placing rabbinic judges under the jurisdiction of the Religious Services Ministry, and the new religious services minister’s decision to drop policies demanding accountability from state-hired rabbis, we are going backward to religious services being a “service” for the rabbis and their cohorts to whom they give jobs. Unfortunately, it is no longer about serving the people.Now tears roll down the cheeks of those girls and of many Ilyas throughout the country, but they are not tears of hope. Rather they are tears of sadness as they have been shut out. The door has been closed to them. They won’t become Jewish. And how ironic – they are good enough to serve in the IDF, perhaps even losing their lives defending us, God forbid, but we won’t reach out to help them become Jewish. They are good enough to attend our universities and earn a livelihood, contribute to our country’s tax revenue, but we hold them at arm’s distance when it comes to life-cycle events such as marriage and burial. Shame on us.I often think that if my great-grandfather had not immigrated to the United States from Russia in the late 19th century, I would be one of them. Those girls would be my daughters. Ilya would be my son. They are from us – our brothers and sisters who were forcibly divorced from our people during the 70-year reign of the Soviet Union, who assimilated through no fault of their own.Aside from their unethical attitude, the ultra-Orthodox political leaders are making a tragic blunder that will lead to an erosion of Jewish Israel and that could absolutely destroy us as a country. Jewish Israelis are going to meet these non-Jewish Israelis. They will fall in love.And, in seeking to live happy lives, they will find a way to marry. Make no mistake: These young couples will figure out how to circumvent the obstacles which the ultra-Orthodox political establishment will place in their way, and they will establish families. And this scenario – mass intermarriage played out among hundreds of thousands of citizens in our small country of just 8 million people – will lead to tribalism and polarization that will threaten the very identity of our Jewish state.The issue at hand goes even deeper than the tangible dangers of the government’s decision regarding conversion. There comes a time when every country must confront its identity.In May 1948, David Ben-Gurion courageously stood up and declared a Jewish state. But since that moment, we’ve never taken the time to have the conversation: What does a “Jewish state” mean? As a result, the more extreme and stringent elements have taken the reins and defined it for us. In so doing, they not only have pushed away hundreds of thousands who should be converting to Judaism, they have distanced millions in the secular population who want no part of the Judaism which the ultra-Orthodox political leadership is offering them.Once the majority of Israeli citizens no longer connect to the Jewish nature of Israel, we will be left with a soulless country that is constantly fighting for its very existence.Devoid of our national soul, our future is not sustainable. And we will lose.The moment Israel surrenders its Jewishness to the control of extremists who have no interest in the broader nation, we are setting ourselves on a path toward destroying ourselves from within.Iran? Hamas? ISIS? The Palestinian conflict? The greatest threat to Israel’s existence may be ourselves.The writer served in the 19th Knesset with the Yesh Atid party.
The ambush killed the unit’s commander, Maj. Benaya Sarel, team commander Lt. Hadar Golden, and St.-Sgt. Liel Gidoni. Dichno has since begun the army conversion program, and so deep was the love and connection between Jewish commander and non-Jewish commando that Dichno chose Benaya as his second Jewish name.