Every
\nonce in a while a story comes along so jolting that it is scarcely
\nbelievable. One such story was that which appeared in the New York
\nTimes of all places this past Sunday about how the Jews’ Free School in
\nLondon has been ordered to admit a child whose mother had a
\nnon-orthodox conversion after the child’s parents sued. I will not here
\nenter into the ongoing and bitter divide in England between orthodox
\nand progressive Jews. It was a battle that I witnessed and worked hard
\nto mend through countless essays and public forums over the eleven
\nyears that I lived in the UK. Less so will I here address the very
\npressing questions of Jewish status as determined by conversion on the
\npart of Judaism’s three major branches. I am a passionately orthodox
\nJew who is equally passionate about Jewish unity. Our divisions must
\nindeed be addressed and healed. But this shocking story in Britain
\nraises something far more pressing that is of equal concern to orthodox
\nand non-orthodox alike.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What is mindboggling is how a British
\ncourt of appeals, which ruled against the school, said that the Jewish
\ncommunity’s ancient tradition of deciding Jewishness through parenthood
\nis ethnically-based, discriminatory, and therefore unlawful.<\/p>\n
“The requirement that if a pupil is to qualify for admission his
\nmother must be Jewish, whether by descent or conversion, is a test of
\nethnicity which contravenes the Race Relations Act,” the court said.
\nWhether the reasons were “benign or malignant, theological or
\nsupremacist makes it no less and no more unlawful.” In an astonishing
\nruling, the court said that if the child practiced Judaism then he is
\nJewish. But to base it on his parents was an unlawful emphasis on
\nethnicity rather than on religious faith. One can immediately
\nunderstand the implications for Jews who are not at all observant.
\nPresumably the British government would not consider them Jews.<\/p>\n
Now, let’s put aside for a moment the unbelievable infringement of
\ngovernment in the affairs of a religion and focus instead on the
\ncourt’s rationale. In you are living in Britain you become a citizen
\nautomatically if your parents are British. Even if you don’t behave
\nparticularly British, or hate the country of your birth, the UK cannot
\ntake away your passport. And if you’re an American living abroad, your
\nchildren automatically acquire American citizenship. I should know
\nbecause six of my nine children were born in Britain. And even though
\nonly one of their parents was American and living in Europe to boot,
\nthey automatically became Americans. Even if you never celebrated the
\nFourth of July or ever heard of Abraham Lincoln, you and your children
\nare as American as George Washington himself.<\/p>\n
So is it really that difficult for British judges to understand that peoplehood is conveyed through a parent?<\/p>\n
The Jews are first and foremost a people and only secondary a faith.
\nWe were the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before we received
\nthe Torah at Mt. Sinai and began practicing Judaism’s tenets.
\nPeoplehood comes first and is completely independent of any kind of
\nreligious affirmation. Jewishness is not something that can be lost and
\nit is not something that can be renounced.<\/p>\n
In this sense Judaism is radically different to Christianity which
\nis a conscious act of affirmation. While there cannot be atheist
\nChristians there are plenty of atheist Jews.<\/p>\n
I am gobsmacked that a British court is challenging this. In my
\neleven years living in Britain I never heard anything so outrageous.
\nThis ruling constitutes a legal assault on the very integrity of the
\nJewish religion as practiced in Britain and is a watershed moment in
\nmodern Jewish history. And with all the recent stories of British
\nacademics seeking to bar their Israeli counterparts from conferences
\nand the rise of anti-Semitic incidents in the British isles, it will
\nonly further cement world opinion that Britain is a country that is
\nbecoming hostile to Jews.<\/p>\n
Being a people does not make us a homogenous ethic group. There are
\nblack Jews and white Jews, European Jews and Asian Jews. Converts of
\nevery ethnicity can of course join us at any time. But in so doing they
\nare not adopting a faith but a people. They do not become merely
\npractitioners of the Jewish fait but part of the Jewish family. A
\nconvert is transformed from an outsider into a Jewish brother or
\nsister. But the process must of course have standards. To be a British
\ncitizen is not an arbitrary act. It takes approximately ten years of
\nresidency. Likewise, my Australian wife’s naturalization as an American
\ncitizen took many years of residency and passing a test of American
\nknowledge.<\/p>\n
Now just imagine how absurd it would be if the United States told
\nBritain to alter its residency requirements, or vice versa, and you can
\nbegin to understand the chutzpa of British judges trying to alter the
\nidentity requirements of a three-and-half thousand year faith that is
\nthe precursor of Christianity.<\/p>\n
Next week my organization This World: The Values Network will
\nsponsor the first-ever conference on Jewish values. It will feature
\nsome of the world’s leading Jewish personalities, including Rabbi Adin
\nSteinsaltz, Yeshiva University President Richard Joel, Alan Dershowitz,
\nDennis Prager, Michael Steinhardt, AIPAC president David Victor and
\nMarianne Williamson. One of our religion’s principal values is
\ncommunity and peoplehood. For thousands of years, dispersed throughout
\nthe world, Jews have always looked out for each other. You could turn
\nup in any city and, regardless of level of observance, you would be
\ninvited to someone’s home for the Sabbath and feel like family even
\nthough just moments before you were a complete stranger. In light of
\nthis outrageous British legal challenge to this time-honored principle
\nof Jewish peoplehood we will be adding an entire plenary devoted to
\nexplicating the special Jewish value of identity and peoplehood and
\nhope that it will assist British Jewry in knowing that they are not
\nalone in this critical battle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n