This link has been bookmarked by 170 people . It was first bookmarked on 11 Mar 2008, by Nishant Mehta.
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28 Nov 12
ASIA AOne day last fall, a young Israeli woman named Sharon went with her fiancé to the Tel Aviv Rabbinate to register to marry. They are not religious, but there is no civil marriage in Israel. The rabbinate, a government bureaucracy, has a monopoly on tying the knot between Jews. The last thing Sharon expected to be told that morning was that she would have to prove — before a rabbinic court, no less — that she was Jewish.
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professor of law and Jewish studies at Bar-Ilan University, told me that in Judaismâs classical view of itself, Jews are best understood as a âlarge extended familyâ that accepted a covenant with God. Those who didnât practice the faith remained part of the family, even if traditionally they were regarded as black sheep. Converts were adopted members of the clan. Today the meaning of being Jewish is disputed â a faith? a nationality? â but in Israeli society the principle of matrilineal descent remains widely accepted. Sharonâs mother was Jewish, so Sharon knew that she was, too. And yet it seemed impossible to provide evidence that would persuade the rabbinate. Sharon left the office infuriated. Her mother was Jewish enough to leave affluent America for Israel; her brothers had fought for the Jewish state. Now, she felt, she was being told, âFor that youâre good enough, but to be considered Jews for religious purposes youâre not.â Sharonâs mother, Suzie, is 66, a dance therapist, even tinier than her daughter, a flurry of movement in the living room of her kibbutz bungalow. Suzieâs m
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