Dr. Netanel Fisher is a visiting lecturer at Israel’s Open University and head of a research group at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. Dr. Fisher holds a PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has served as a an adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University and as an Associate Researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute.
The following exchange will focus on Dr. Fisher’s new policy paper, The Challenge of Conversion to Judaism in Israel, published (in Hebrew) by the Israel Democracy Institute.
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Dear Netanel,
Your curious new policy analysis paper begins with some interesting stats about conversion in Israel – since 1995, only 7% of Israel’s non-Jewish immigrants (25,000 people out of over 350,000, most of which come from the former Soviet Union) have converted to Judaism, and only 25% of this group are interested in conversion. You then state that the Israeli public as a whole seems uninterested in this issue and that both the political establishment and the religious establishment are definitely not making things any easier.
My first question – if the immigrant population, the Israeli public, and Israel’s leaders all don’t really care about conversion, why is this a ‘challenge’? Why can’t Israel’s non-Jewish citizens (who go to the army and pay their taxes) simply continue living as non-Jews according to the halakhah? What is the problem here?
Yours,
Shmuel.
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Shmuel Shalom,
Thank you very much for your interest in my new book. (The policy paper was published in Hebrew, with a short English summary. It's important to note that it reflects my conclusions based on my research and not necessarily the positions of the Israel Democracy Institute). Thank you for this question as well, since it forced me to think deeply about this issue.
On the one hand, the findings are clear: most Israelis don't want their children to marry non-Jews. Public opinion polls reveal that even among secular Jews in Israel, 70% want their children to marry Jews. This attitude has been reflected in Israel's unique conversion-to-Judaism policy: to the best of my knowledge, Israel is the only country in the world that has an official policy encouraging its citizens to convert to the majority religion. This policy has a high level of support from the Israeli public (this too emerges from public opinion polls) and is supported by most Israeli politicians as well.
Interestingly, in contrast to other issues concerning religion and state in Israel (e.g., religious vs. civil marriage, the observance of Shabbat in the public sphere, etc.), there seems to be little dispute about the conversion issue. Hardly any politicians argue against the idea that it is in the best interest of both immigrants (Olim) and the State as a whole that Israelis who are not recognized as Jews by Jewish law undergo Orthodox conversion.
I imagine that this must seem strange to Amercian eyes, since the United States has a strict separation of church and state and – to the best of my knowledge – most American Jews are not opposed to intermarriage, at least not publicly. In this respect, Israel is a far more traditional society, with most Israeli Jews leaning towards the Orthodox perspective, at least when it comes to marriage and conversion.
The above explains why conversion is commonly called a “national mission,” a term coined by the late Ariel Sharon, and why many Israeli rabbis and politicians vie to come up with the best plan for increasing the number of converts.
However, there is not enough effort to promote conversion in Israel. I think there are some deep-seated reasons for this:
Secular Israelis have a problem encouraging people to participate in a religious process to which they themselves are not fully committed. This “hypocrisy” is hard to reconcile, especially in Israel, where most “non-Jewish Jews” who are candidates for conversion are characterized by basic Israeli features such as speaking Hebrew, going to the army, etc. For this reason, Ben Gurion opposed conversion in the 1950s. He argued at the time that non-halakhic Jews are national Jews, and that was sufficient for Ruth the Moabite and for King Solomon's wives to be recognized as Jewish. (We can talk about that in our next correspondence, if you would like).
Ben Gurion's secular-national agenda is weaker in today's Israel; nonetheless, it is hard for the average Israeli to advise his or her non-Jewish contemporary to enroll in a conversion course, especially in the politically correct atmosphere in which we live.
Orthodox Israelis have their own problems concerning conversion. How can they encourage conversion when they know that most converts ultimately do not become observant Jews? As mentioned in my book, my research indicates that even in the Modern Orthodox community in Israel, which has a very Zionist ideology, there is a split (about 50–50) between those who believe the religious bar for conversion should be lowered (even when the conversion will be conducted in accordance with Jewish law) and those who believe that it should remain high.
As a result, there is a situation of limbo, in which the majority of Israelis want to maintain Israel's Jewish character and want the next generation of Israelis to be Jewish in the same manner as they themselves are. At the same time, however, the definition of Jewishness is a religious one and there are gaps between the core principles of Judaism and the national and modern values to which we are committed. In many other areas of our lives, most Jewish Israelis find ways to reconcile these internal contradictions; in matters of conversion, however, the barrier is harder to overcome.
To conclude my answer on a positive note, though, I do believe there is a way to move on. While I don't think we will be able to “solve” the problem completely, I do believe we can address the challenge in a better way.
I hope this is a good start for further discussion.
Thank you very much for your interest in my book,
Netanel.
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