ANTISEMITES use the State of Israel as an empty excuse to 'justify' their irrational hatred, violence, and slaughter of Jewish civilians. For them, if Israel would not grant citizenship to converts, this would 'prove' Israel is 'racist'; and if Israel does grant citizenship to converts, then it somehow 'proves' that Israel is not an indigenous people in 'Palestine' (the Land of Israel). Of course, they hold all other countries, including the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, to a completely different standard.

Are all converts accepted by the State of Israel?

According to the State of Israel's Law of Return, full Israeli citizenship is the legal right of all Jews everywhere, including converts to Judaism. However, in practice, the State of Israel only accepts converts from certain major Jewish organizations. Although the State of Israel's laws can and should be improved, it is reasonable and necessary to define the word 'Jew' and to have some limits in place. This is because anyone can claim to be Jewish, even if they are not sincere. Consequently, the State of Israel only accepts converts from widely recognized Jewish organizations, such as converts from the Reform Movement, Conservative Judaism, and major Orthodox organizations. The Reform Movement and Conservative Judaism are each single organizations with centralized administration. Orthodox Judaism, on the other hand, does not have a single centralized authority functioning in modern times. This means that Orthodox Jewish converts are sometimes not recognized by the State of Israel, even though they may be more strict and devout than Reform converts who are accepted by the State of Israel.

To make matters more complicated for Orthodox Jewish converts, the most extreme sectors of the Orthodox Jewish world have what is essentially a monopoly on recognition of Orthodox conversions in Israel. Many moderate Orthodox Jews recognize that this is unfair and a serious problem. Consequently, an Orthodox conversion does not necessarily ensure automatic Israeli citizenship. There are ways around this bureaucracy and corruption, but it is not simple. For this reason, it is important that people who convert to Orthodox Judaism do so from a sincere heart. Moving to Israel should not be their motivation to convert, even if it may become a possibility for them in the future. What is most important is that we recognize that the God of Israel is the God of all creation, and that we embrace His Torah, for His Guidance is our wisdom and a promise and hope for our children.

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