Haredi-Controlled Rabbinute's Unprecidented New Jewish ID Demands Blocking Marriages, Jewish Immigrants Say

Immigrants applying for marriage licenses are being asked by local rabbinical courts to produce ritual wedding contracts from their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents or other often unattainable documents to prove their Jewishness.

Rabbinate's new Jewish ID demands stymieing marriage plans, immigrants say
By Raphael Ahren • Ha'aretz

Immigrants applying for marriage licenses are being asked by local rabbinical courts to produce ritual wedding contracts from their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents or other often unattainable documents to prove their Jewishness, Anglo File has learned.

One rabbi close to the affair called the new process "unprecedented humiliation," and said it was the direct consequence of new guidelines to prove Jewishness the Chief Rabbinate recently implemented.

"During the last few weeks, we've seen a dramatic increase in calls from people who fundamentally have a strong Jewish identity but have their Jewish identity challenged," said Rabbi Seth Farber, the head of Itim, a nonprofit group helping Jews navigate Israel's religious bureaucracy. "They came on aliyah and are shocked that as far as the [rabbinical court] is concerned they're not Jewish ... This is the first time in Jewish history that people are being asked in an unprecedented manner to prove their Jewishness. And there are no standards for proving it."

Farber pointed to the absence of clear criteria in the new guidelines as to which documents would suffice.

"Every time [the rabbis in the local court] ask for something different, it's complete chaos," he added. "Sometimes they ask for three [generations of] ketubot (Jewish marraige contracts ), another time they ask why your birth certificate doesn't state that you're Jewish. They have no clue that in America birth certificates don't contain such information."

One woman was told to undergo a conversion process because the rabbi in the religious council questioned the authenticity of her paperwork "without even asking the most basic questions" or making any other efforts to assert her Jewishness, Farber added.

The Rabbinate responded that it had not received specific complaints but is ready to adapt its guidelines if Farber's claims are substantiated.

Israel lacks any framework for civil marriage, forcing couples to either go through the Rabbinate or marry abroad. Couples have long complained of the difficult process of convincing the Rabbinate's marriage department of one's Jewishness, forcing many immigrants to produce hard-to-obtain documents or letters from overseas rabbis recognized by the Rabbinate.

But the new guidelines - which automatically send marriage candidates whose parents did not wed in Israel to a local rabbinical court to attest their Judaism - make the process even more distressing, according to Rabbi Michael Melchior, an Orthodox former Labor MK and chief rabbi in Norway.

Melchior, too, received many complaints from distressed couples, he said, relating the story of one immigrant woman who has four Jewish grandparents.

"Nobody ever doubted this, but she can't satisfy what they want from her," he said. "They don't accept the letter from the [Scandinavian] rabbinate anymore, even a very Orthodox rabbinate doesn't count anymore. The [rabbinical court] said there's nothing wrong with the letter but it doesn't count for anything, we need birth and death certificates for three generations."

Melchior says he understands a rabbi's need to demand some kind of proof in certain cases. "But that people have to have birth and death certificates for three generations - I don't know anybody who has that," he said.

Progressive Jewish groups say they plan to fight the new regulations, opening another front in their battle against what they see as an attempted takeover of religious life in Israel by the ultra-Orthodox. This week, leaders of the Reform and Conservative communities here and in the United States harshly condemned a bill that would effectively give the Haredi-dominated Rabbinate sole authority over conversions to Judaism.

The local Reform Movement's Israel Religious Action Center told Anglo File they approached the State Attorney's office and Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman demanding the cancellation of the new rules when they were issued in May.

"These regulations were written without jurisdiction. Regulations that have legal implications can only be issued and signed by the minister," said Nicole Maor-Center, who directs IRAC's legal aid center for new immigrants.

IRAC sent two letters to the Rabbinate's legal adviser, asking him to revoke the new regulations. If no one responds to their communication within one week, the group will petition the High Court of Justice, she said yesterday.

Avi Blumenthal, an assistant to Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, told Anglo File their legal advisers had looked into the matter and concluded the Rabbinate has the right to establish procedural guidelines.

The Rabbinate says the new rules were instituted to protect brides and grooms-to-be from corrupt private individuals or organizations attesting people's Jewishness that often charge large amounts of money to attest to someone's Jewishness. In the past, several local rabbinates had sent couples to such people, who also often have stringent demands, Blumenthal said. Now, only certifications by recognized rabbinical courts are being accepted, he added.

Blumenthal denies the new rules made life more difficult for candidates. They do not require proof of Judaism for three generations, he said, adding he was unaware of cases where this was asked.

"If one [local] rabbi did something improper and didn't follow our regulations we'll invite him" to discuss the matter, he told Anglo File. "If there are specific instances [of exaggerated demands] and we find the claims to be justified we will discuss them and we will find a solution."

However, a handful of couples that recently filed for a marraige license told Anglo File their interaction with the Rabbinate was burdensome, with one person calling it "complicated and ugly."

One American-born woman, who filed for a marriage license two weeks ago and now finds herself struggling to document her Jewishness, told Anglo File she hesitates to reveal to certain people she's having issues with the Rabbinate.

"Perhaps some of them might think I'm not legitimately Jewish. That is a weird feeling," she said. "It's alienating."

She says she considered marrying overseas to circumvent the Israeli system, "But that's just not the way I imagined my wedding," she said.

Eran, who was born in Israel and moved to New Jersey, has a birth certificate stating he is Jewish. Yet when he filed for a marriage license earlier this month - he is marrying an Israeli in Israel and considers moving back here - the Rabbinate questioned his Jewishness.

"My family is not observant, and since I taught Judaism for so many years they jokingly call me the family rabbi," Eran, 39, said. "For someone to say to me prove that you're Jewish is chutzpah."

Since his parents came to Israel from Communist Poland, they no longer have their ketubah, he says, adding that he is currently struggling to think of another way to demonstrate he's a Jew. "It's impossible to prove these things, but I shouldn't even have to prove them."

For many Jews, their wedding is the first time they interact with the Rabbinate, Melchior said. "It should be a meeting that brings them to feeling uplifted, to a feeling of a Judaism that can be important to their lives," he said. "Instead it becomes a nightmare. And it's totally unnecessary, that's what's so absurd. It's as if we're asking new immigrants not to come to this country."
What's in a birth certificate?

Immigrants from Western countries have been hit especially hard by the Rabbinate's new guidelines, according to Rabbi Seth Farber, of the Itim organization. As opposed to immigrants from the Former Soviet Union - where birth certificates indicated a person's religion - Western newcomers are often at a loss about what additional papers to give a rabbinical court to prove their claim.

"There is an enormous gap between the expectations of the Rabbinate and the window they have on the landscape of American or British Jewry," said Farber, who was born in New York and now lives in Ra'anana. "Rabbis serving in the rabbinical courts think that there are records there like there are here, but there are no official rabbinical courts in America. And the vast majority of Jews are not affiliated with the Orthodox community. There is no one in the Rabbinate who is an expert of North American Jewry who can help people navigate the system."

Farber thus considers calling on the Rabbinate to appoint a "troubleshooter" for North Americans who do not know how to prove their Judaism. He also believes there should be a review of the guidelines, as currently they are not clear about what constitutes conclusive evidence of one's background, he said.

Rabbinate official Avi Blumenthal told Anglo File that if Farber can show his claims to be true, the rabbis would consider issuing new guidelines specific for U.S. Jews.

"We don't barricade ourselves, we are not obstructive. On the contrary, we are happy when people tell us about problems," he said.

Comments

[Reader]

They DO NOT WANT ALIYAH.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to the Who:

Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?

I woke up in a rabbinic courtroom
A dayan knew my name
He said "You can sleep with your wife tonight
If you can produce a ketubah today"
I staggered back to the Egged bus
And the breeze blew back my peyos
I remember throwin' punches around
And davenin' "Aleinu L'shebe'ach"

Well, who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
'Cause I really wanna know (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)

I took the bus back out of town
Back to the Beit Din
I felt a little like a Purim clown
With a streak of goy mixed in

I stretched back and I learned a blatt
And looked back on my busy day
Eleven hours in the Beit Din
God, there's got to be another way

Well, who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oy, who's a Jew(Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oh Tell me, who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oy, Who the fuck's a Jew? (Who are Jew? Who, who, who, who?)

Who are Jews?
who are who are who are you x11

Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?
Who are Jews?
Who, who, who, who?

I really wanna know (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
C'mon tell me who are Jews? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oh, I really wanna know (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)

I know there's a place you lived
Where conversions are done with ease
Under the chuppah there's a broken cup
The rabbis want me on my knees

My great grandma's ketubah is gone
Yet I still receive your kiss
How can I measure up to any rabbi now
After such a love as this?

Well who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
tell me who's a Jew? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oy, I really wanna know? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
tell, tell me who are Jews? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

C'mon, c'mon Jews? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oy, Who the fuck are Jews? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Who are Jews? (Who are Jews? Who, who, who, who?)
Oh, tell me who are Jews (Who are Jews?, ooy?)

I really wanna to know
Oh, I really want to know
C'mon tell me who's a Jew, Jew Jew?
Who are Jews?

[A. Nuran]

Brilliant, Yochanan

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, AN.

[Jay]

Yeah, right, I'll go back to Poland, Russia, and Hungary and go get my grandparents' birth and death certificates. Oh, wait, no can do. Nazis burned the evidence. Think the Chareidim are aware of that? Oh, right, they do know. I guess that all Jews who want to be married in Israel will now have to convert to Chareidism and live in fear of having that conversion retroactively annulled should they slip up in the least.

[A E ANDERSON]

The haredim are worse than the Nazis, who only asked for 1/8 Jewish ancestry!

[rebitzman]

You guys are making this too hard.

Pop over to e-Bay. For $100 - $150 MAX you have a string of blank ketuvot that date back to 1900.

Better still - buy the oldest one filled in - and work forward OR work backwards from what you legitimately have.

These guys deserve no less than a forgery.

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

How did people were able to go to Israel during Aliyah Beit (the aliyah of the people who survived the concentration camps), how did the rabbinate let those people in ? the rabbinate should find the children of those survivors and revoke their Judaism.

Maybe the rabbanout should send those children of survivors to have sex with Tropper and his wife and then they will be considered full blown Jews.

[Radical Feminist]

This is the beginning of the end of the Beis Din and its strangle hold on Israel. They have managed to isolate themselves from everyone; even other Orthodox Jews. It reminds me of the last days of the McCarthy witch trials when, in a frenzied state of paranoa, McCarthy began accusing even other members of his special committee of being communist. That was the beginning of the end for McCarthy and his henchman policies. Just watch, this is their undoing.

[OMG]

Ok I think it is time to start the Jewish Underground Railroad, where we will proved fraudulent ketubot’s, like the north help the south african americans, with fake freed slaves paperwork.

Yochanan Lavie; this is one of the best, you ever wrote.

[OMG]

Sorry it should say “provide”

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, OMG.

[A E ANDERSON]

I find it interesting that this "bet din" is with its unfounded quibbling being מבטל the positive precept (מצות עשה) of פרייה ורבייה (procreation).

I hope these "rabbonim" remember to include that in their confession (ודוי) this coming Yom Kippur.

:-)

[Bartley Kulp]

This is a poorly written article with a lot of spin and misinformation. These standards have always been in place. They are just being enforced to a stricter degree. That being for better and worse.

To be fair though a hell of a lot of people came into the country from the FSU using forged documents during the 90's. They came for economic reasons. The ministry of interior has also been getting stricture in recent years because of this.

I have said this many times before. If one wants to introduce universal rights to civil marriage into the country. There is much merit to this argument. But telling an Orthodox beit din to register 10's of thousands of people based on the honor system is ludicrous.

A case in point. The "Hareidi" prophet Ezra converted a whole population of people who could not have their Jewishness properly verified.

[IH]

To spell this out for those of you who don't understand nuanced words: this article is about Modern Orthodox American Jews whose Jewishness is being questioned.

[Bartley Kulp]

Just a comment to radical feminist regarding your Joseph McCarthy outburst. You obviously have never heard of the Verona Papers.

These are KGB documents that were declassified by the Russian government in 1994 and made available to the general public. Basically they attested to the fact that McCarthy was essentially correct in his assessment. His problem was the way he went about solving the problem with his Salem which hunts that had no real science to their investigation and inquiry procedures. Thus driving everybody to the brink of paranoia and hurting innocent people. All the while this provided cover for the real communists who had then been employed on many levels within the system.

He was actually the best thing that ever happened to communism for the aforementioned reason. He also made it unpopular to publicly suspect someone of being a communist in real cases.

One area that these infiltrators were particularly successful in leaving a mark is was at all levels of education.

[Radical Feminist]

BK
Who cares, it was not illegal to be a communist and thus unconstitutional ie it violated the first Amendment.

[Bartley Kulp]

Radical Feminist said...

Who cares, it was not illegal to be a communist and thus unconstitutional ie it violated the first Amendment.

Yes you are right. It also would not matter if they were communists covertly or promoting and advocating for covert reasons.

The problem is(and I should have been clearer)when they are doing these activities in cahoots with or on behalf of a foreign government. That is what was meant by infiltrators and was, at least according to the KGB was happening in the US.

[Reader]

The Jews from the FSU did not NEED forged documents. They had their birth certificates, their parents' birth certificates, and often their grandparents' birth certificates with the ethnicity of BOTH parents shown. Religion was not shown because it was a secular state and it persecuted Judaism but the state still kept track of Jews and people with Jewish "blood".
Let me know when 1.5 million American Jews make aliyah for ANY reason and then you may have the right to impugn others' motives.
Birth certificates from the FSU at least were good enough to make their bearers eligible under the Law of Return. What will the Western Jews do?

[Reader]

I know, I know.
The Western Jews are going to FORGE their documents (as some have already suggested) to spite the Rabbanut.

[seymour]

I am very saddened by this article or maybe I should be happy.

I am not a Jew according to these nuts. my parents both survivors cannot prove they where Jews since they cannot produce any documents. what does this make me?

Now we could claim what many of us already know. We can say many of the cheridiem are not Jews like the satmar, since the chassidiem and the rebbie cannot produce documents that they are Jews.

That would explain the hatred of the satmar rebbie towards jews Zionists , he was a goy who hated Jews

[seymour]

Yochanan Lavie

do you sing or play guitar?

you should an album or at least make a utube video

[Russian PhD]

Haredi dogs usially don't deal with English-speaking Olim, since they have money, influence, and used to go to the courts. However, last time Haredi dogs started to bark also on anglo-saxon Olim. Now you can imaginate how Haredim opress, humiliate and torture Russian immigrants (that have few money, influene and pracrice tp go to the courts)

[Milwaukee]

Bare shoulders on that Hummel?!? Shocking!

[Reader]

Last time I checked (a couple of years ago) there were 2 offices in Israel that occupy themselves with questions of Jewish status - one for the Ethiopians and the Russians, and another one for everyone else.
Russian PhD is correct - they are (or were) afraid to harass Americans but this might be coming to an end.
A huge American aliyah will be even more problematic to them in terms of Jewish status.

[avraham]

how about a simple definition - the "non-jew" is the guy or woman you push out of the line on the way to the gas chamber because they "don't belong". This racial purity thing is rather disgusting.

[harriet jackson]

Nu! So is any one Jewish nowaways? We have tiers in Israeli society from top to bottom - ashanazim, Sephardim, Mizrahi. On top of that we have ultra orthodox who disagree and are in sects and don't support Zionism. We have the modern orthodox who support Zionism and have all over all power over whom defines what a Jew is. If you Masorti, Reform or Progressive you are considered an apostate. If you marry under the latter 3 your marriage is not considered Halachic and your children are considered bastards? Is this right? Is fair? It Holocaust Memorial Day and here I am pondering these questions? Did Hitler care about our broguses between one another? We were all sent to the gas chambers - whether secular or ultra-orthodox. Do Muslims today care about these debates? Does anti-semitism?
The Jews remain divided as ever. Pray tell me how are the Jewish race going to survive in 100 yrs when they can't even define what a Jewish person is. If Orthodox takes the argument its simply faith and has nothing to do with family background why do they insist on the purity of the matriarchal line. This is a contradiction in terms! In other words, Jewishness is an ethnicty as well as a faith. That is what angers me when the Orthodox say you are only a Jew if you go to shul and follow all the mitzvat yet if a goy or shikse went to shul and lived a proper kosher life he/she would never be considered Jewish unless he/she converted. Given that conversion is near nigh impossible anth the British Beth Din being the strictest and most elite in the world if you aren't Jewish halachically, it's a case of 'You aren't on the list mate, you're not coming in!' Analogus to that silly you tube song called 'The Bounder' yet so apt for the exclusivity in Judaism. In Israel people are finding their marriages suddenly being annulled after going through a complete conversion - this applies especially to immigrants? Where does that leave them? they lose their marriage and cannot obtain the full benefits of Aliyah. They are in the odd position of being neither Jewish people or not Jewish people? If they are defined as non-Jewish thy cannot enter an ultra orthodox household - they are considered goyim, treif (Yiddish for rubbish). And Israel and amongst the Jewish people themselves they are out casts.
Is this what Moses intended as the fate for the Jewish people when he stood upon Monut Sinai and read out the ten commandents? Did he expect this sectarianism amongst the Jews? The more Sectarian we become the more likelihood of Jewish people marrying out, further rebellion to what they view as akin to a totalitarian and racist society. We becry anti-semitism and it is the most tragic of tragedies and yet we as the Jewish people are even more racist than Hitler. Whilst Hitler wanted to create the pure blooded Aryan race and Ultra-Orthodox ideal is create the pure blooded Jewish race? The main difference is that Jewish people are not violent, do outwardly show their racism and have a 'live and let live' attitude towards gentiles. Judaism is about peace and life affirmation where as Islam is highly violent and inflicts terrorism as did the Christians during the crusades.
For any potential Jewish converts to Orthodoxy forget going overseas. The Beth Din in the UK does not accept a significant number of conversions carried out in Israel or internationally.
Ultimately, all this warmongering between the Jews and its rejection of conversion (it is practically impossible to find any one who will allow conversion to Orthoxism and should you manage, by miracle of Hashem to do so, if you are married, you are considered not married, have to effectively divorce your spouse if you married in a Masorti, Reform or Progressive shul), live 6-12 months with a frum family and seperated from your husband for 3 years before you can resume being husband and wife under an Orthodox wedding.
The more I read in the Jewish press about all these divisions in Judaism the more despondent I feel. Is Judaism is a religion or has it become a highly elitist tribe like the aristocracy who look upon the goyim as treif or at the very most, on a lower order.
If a gentile is not allowed not allowed in an ultra-orthodox house, even if if he/she is prepared to observe all the rules - dress, kashrut, respect etc, what does that say to the outer world? That we ourselves are racist. That we consider gentiles so profane and unclean, akin to dirty pigs in status.
I reflect upon all this on Holocaust Memorial week. I bet most of the people killed were secular Jews any way, but hey ho, they were seen by the non-Jews as an ethnicity. We are collaborating with the Nazis if we set about such exclusive rules - the comparison between a pure blooded Jew with a perfect lineage and the fair hair, blued perfect Aryan.
I wonder to what extent some of the Jews have internalized so-called 'Stockholme Syndrome' where in they identify with the former aggressors, the Nazis. Certainly they use the same criteria of being a Jew as set out by Hitler for being able to do Aliyah to Israel!

I am ever as confused about Judaism as anyone. If noone can agree on anything why bother at all? The Jews have existed 5000 yrs and still have not come to define the question of 'Who is a Jew?' Even heard of a nation state taking so long to define who is eligible for citizenship or even identifying who is a citizen? Nope! You are simply born in the UK whether you are white, black, yellow or red and automatically given UK citizenship. Nope. Plus, as a refugee you are eligible for all the benefits some times even more o that born UK citizen.
But in Israel and in Judaism your status is forever precarious as the question of 'Who is a Jew?' is being revised and refined each year to ever increasingly puritanical standards.
I am very pro the Jewish faith, going to shul, observing Shabbos and High holidays but I'll be blunt about it. I don't like the direction Judaisn appears to be taking whereby it is also becoming more and more extremist like the Muslims, albeit without the violence. Amen.