Israel News is reporting a scheme by a Shas Member of the Knesset, Rabbi Chaim Amsalem, which would confer Jewish status on non-Jewish “descendants of Jews” (meaning Russians) in exchange for serving in the military.
There are currently between a quarter and a half million Russians in Israel who are not Jewish. Because of a 1970 relaxation in the Law of Return, grandchildren of a Jewish person may now make aliyah to Israel. These non-Jews have rights which even Israelis of Palestinian heritage do not, but they have become difficult to integrate into Israeli society and their non-Jewishness has become a problem for the Jewish state.
Amsalem’s plan was sent to a thousand Orthodox rabbis in Israel. His efforts were ridiculed by the haredi newspaper, Yated Neeman last week, which answered him with the Aramaic phrase afra lefumey, meaning essentially “shut the f— up". Concerns that these new converts would not really be observant Jews have apparently undermined Amsalem’s effort.
