|
|
 |
|
THE JUDAISM OF SILENCE IN ISRAEL
by Naomi Chazan
Ha'aretz, Feb. 4, 2004
The Judaism of silence - that is what we called the Jews living behind the Iron Curtain under Soviet rule. When the curtain was brought down, many members of this large Jewish community immigrated to Israel, built their new home, and integrated into the fabric of Israeli life.
Nevertheless, it is possible to continue using the term "the Judaism of silence" for a not-insignificant portion of this group. They live their everyday lives with us, perform their obligations, including army service, but when they want to marry, they find they are facing an iron curtain. They are not in the habit of yelling or demonstrating, but when they do protest, they are met by a stony silence.
About 300,000 of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union were described in the 2002 annual statistical report as "lacking religious classification," which does not qualify them to be married through the Orthodox rabbinate. Some of them would not want it, anyway, for reasons of conscience. In Israel, the religious law is also the state law.
According to this law, you can be married or divorced in Israel only in accordance with religious law, which is given to the judgment of the Orthodox rabbinical courts. As such, the state denies Israelis who want to get married in accordance with their own wishes the opportunity to do so on Israeli soil, within the framework of its laws and institutions. The right to be married is a humanitarian right recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but not in the State of Israel, which has committed to uphold this declaration.
Some of the immigrants who arrived in Israel by virtue of the Law of Return, but whose Jewishness is not recognized by the rabbinate, make efforts to convert. In most instances, they are unable to meet the demands of the Orthodox rabbinate, which requires ultra-Orthodox education for their children, observance of kashruth laws and meticulous observance of the laws of Sabbath - and they therefore despair and give up the idea.
A survey of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, conducted by Majid al-Haj and Elazar Leshem of Haifa University, found that 93 percent are interested in the availability of civil marriage and divorce. Quite a few Israelis, immigrants and veterans share this interest. Fifteen percent of Israelis who married in 2002 were wed in non-Orthodox ceremonies (Reform, Conservative or civil). Those choosing to have a civil ceremony were forced to do so outside the boundaries of the state.
Of all these, the situation of the immigrants who are not defined as Jews, or of those who would like to marry someone not defined as a Jew, is especially grave. The continual increase in the number of non-Jews arriving here from the former Soviet Union exacerbates the problem of freedom of marriage and the problem of conversion. In 1990, the number of non-Jews among that year's immigrants amounted to fewer than 10 percent. Conversely, 60 percent of those arriving in 2000 were non-Jews, and this average has remained constant.
In terms of the sense of identity of the immigrants, it develops that they feel they are Jewish - but this feeling has a mainly secular, not religious, orientation. Their children serve in the Israel Defense Forces (40 percent of the draftees who are the children of immigrants are not considered Jews according to religious law). They have integrated into the economic and social systems and contribute a great deal to the community in which they live. Only when they wish to marry do they feel alien and ostracized.
Given the changing reality brought on by the absorption of approximately 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the basic rights of members of this group - which for various reasons cannot or does not want to begin their shared lives in a religious ceremony - should be taken into consideration, and they should be permitted to marry according to their conscience and their choice.
As a modern country, the State of Israel should provide marriage and divorce services, including civil marriage, to every citizen in accordance with his conscience and faith. Similarly, the time has come to permit a person to convert according to his choice - be it Orthodox, Reform or Conservative conversion.
|
The writer is the chair of Hemdat, the Council for Freedom of Science, Religion and Culture in Israel. |
|
|
|
