Penelope
Diamond Member
- Jul 15, 2014
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since they want to say Israel is a jewish state.
Who is a Jew? It's an age-old question that in Israel been determined by government-selected rabbis in the decades since the country was established in 1948.
The parents of 7-year-old Lihi Goldstein weren't thinking about their daughter's future wedding when they adopted her as a toddler. Israelis Amit and Regina Goldstein picked the blue-eyed girl from a crowd of children at an orphanage in Ukraine.
They didn't know her family's religious background, but it didn't matter to them, says father Amit Goldstein. They are Jewish — so she would be, too.
"She lives in a Jewish house, in a Jewish family," Goldstein says, describing their life as largely secular but observing "the basics" of Jewish practice. That includes saying a prayer on Friday night, going to synagogue on Yom Kippur and not working on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
Secular Israeli Jews joke that the synagogue they don't go to is Orthodox. The Goldsteins, although not religious, are recognized as Jewish because their mothers were.
Even religious Jews can run into trouble. Ya'akov Lasri, a devout Jew his entire life, sat in on official conversion classes for more than a year while his wife, Galia, attended. She is a Ukrainian immigrant, born Catholic. They married abroad.
In what should have been the couple's final interview before her conversion was approved, Lasri says a rabbi asked him, "How is it that you, a religious person, active in synagogue, are sleeping with a goya?"
Goya means a non-Jewish woman. In this context, it's derogatory. Lasri felt angry and humiliated. His wife felt rejected by her adopted homeland. Despite that, they continued with classes, and tried to finalize the conversion again months later. In the interview this time, Lasri says a rabbi implied the couple faced a high risk of divorce.
In Israel, A New Battle Over Who Qualifies As Jewish
Who is a Jew? It's an age-old question that in Israel been determined by government-selected rabbis in the decades since the country was established in 1948.
The parents of 7-year-old Lihi Goldstein weren't thinking about their daughter's future wedding when they adopted her as a toddler. Israelis Amit and Regina Goldstein picked the blue-eyed girl from a crowd of children at an orphanage in Ukraine.
They didn't know her family's religious background, but it didn't matter to them, says father Amit Goldstein. They are Jewish — so she would be, too.
"She lives in a Jewish house, in a Jewish family," Goldstein says, describing their life as largely secular but observing "the basics" of Jewish practice. That includes saying a prayer on Friday night, going to synagogue on Yom Kippur and not working on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
Secular Israeli Jews joke that the synagogue they don't go to is Orthodox. The Goldsteins, although not religious, are recognized as Jewish because their mothers were.
Even religious Jews can run into trouble. Ya'akov Lasri, a devout Jew his entire life, sat in on official conversion classes for more than a year while his wife, Galia, attended. She is a Ukrainian immigrant, born Catholic. They married abroad.
In what should have been the couple's final interview before her conversion was approved, Lasri says a rabbi asked him, "How is it that you, a religious person, active in synagogue, are sleeping with a goya?"
Goya means a non-Jewish woman. In this context, it's derogatory. Lasri felt angry and humiliated. His wife felt rejected by her adopted homeland. Despite that, they continued with classes, and tried to finalize the conversion again months later. In the interview this time, Lasri says a rabbi implied the couple faced a high risk of divorce.
In Israel, A New Battle Over Who Qualifies As Jewish
