Who is a Jew? Covenant and Contract


 

Publication Date: January 1989

Publisher: Jewish Agency for Israel

Author(s): Leonard Fein

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Jewish Law (Halacha); Church and State; Diaspora Relations; Jewish identification

Type: Other

Abstract:

The author examines the uproar amongst American Jewry surrounding the Israeli governments attempts to revise the Law of Return, considering a halachic (Jewish legal) standard for the question of who is a Jew. The author contends that the heart of the debate is the divide between choice and circumstances -- meaning that American Jews are Jews by choice, whereas in Israel, Jews are Jews by circumstance.