Recently, as the calls to allow free entry of non-Jews to the
State of Israel have become more common and have come from
higher and higher levels, we see how self-destructive is the
liberal and permissive ideology that underlies these
feelings.
Even the Minister of Absorption declared that she is happy to
see non-Jews come to Israel because she views the separation
of the Jewish people from the Jewish religion as a positive
development. Members of the press also welcomed the non-
Jewish immigrants, calling them allies in the struggle with
religious Jews about the social and cultural future of
Israeli society.
"If it were up to me, I would change the Law of Return to
allow not only half-Jews and eighth-Jews to come. I would
happily bring even complete goyim. The non-Jewish immigrants
are our foreign legion; the allies of the secularists in
their struggle over the chiloni image of this State. .
. . They cannot be brought to teshuva or be softened
by memories of their grandparents. They want to eat pork with
milk, take buses on Shabbos and have a secular education.
"As one whose pedigree extends to Meah Shearim, I can say
that I feel that I have more in common with pork-eating
Provoslavs, kein yirbu, than with my cousins with
curled payos." -- the words of Arye Caspi writing in
Ha'aretz.
Many Leftist writers do not go this far, and some express
concern about the trends that are clear from the latest
official figures which put the proportion of non-Jews who
immigrated this year at almost 60% -- and according to the
independent research of the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei
Giyur headed by HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth the true figure is
closer to 80%, as discussed elsewhere in this issue.
One angle of this problem is the Law of Return itself, which,
due to the shifting demographics of the Jews throughout the
world, probably applies to many more non-Jews than Jews. This
is acknowledged to be true of Russia, and whispered to be
true of America as well. The law as it currently stands
allows relatives of relatives to come in and benefit from the
whole generous absorption package )partly funded by donations
from American Jewish communities(, even though they have no
special relationship or feeling for the Jewish people. The
parents of someone married to a Jew for example, are fully
entitled to come.
Citizenship in every state is predicated on some commonality
between all the citizens. When the Law of Return was passed,
most Jews, whether religious or not, had a lot in common, and
assimilation was much lower so that it was reasonable to
assume that an immigrant under the Law of Return had so much
in common with the majority of the State of Israel that he or
she was entitled to become a citizen immediately upon
arrival.
This cannot be said of the "Provoslav pork eaters." It is
shortsighted to view them as allies. In the long -- and even
intermediate -- run they will undermine the Jewish character
of the country and not just support its secularization.
There is no doubt that those whose Jewish identity is weakest
have the most to fear from these immigration trends.
We know what we might have to do to defend our own social
integrity. If there is no choice, we may have to implement a
database of Jews that will register all those known to be
Jews. This may be the only way that our descendants can be
sure that someone they want to marry is truly Jewish and not
the offspring of someone who bought false documents for a few
dollars.
Of course this registry would include everyone known
conclusively to be Jewish, regardless of his or her level of
religious observance.
Let no one ever accuse us of divisiveness. It is not our
defensive actions that are divisive but the policies and
ideologies that force us to take these steps.
It goes without saying that such a momentous step must be the
decision of maranan verabonon gedolei Yisroel shlita,
poskei hador ve'amudei horo'oh.
