Rabbi Eliyahu Birnboim, a member of the Amishav ("www.amishav.org.il") organization that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people, discussed with Arutz-7 today the restrictions placed on lost Jews from India when they want to immigrate to Israel.
Rabbi Birnboim, a judge in the Rabbinical Court for conversions, said today, "It used to be that about 100 of the Bnei Menashe community used to come to Israel each year, and would then study and convert officially to Judaism. For about a year now, however, the Interior Ministry has been placing restrictions and not allowing them to become citizens. They are allowed to enter Israel, but only as tourists and not as immigrants."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal: "Why don't they just convert once they are here?"
Rabbi Birnboim: "In such a case, they would be allowed to become citizens - but that's exactly the problem, because the Interior Ministry must give its approval to this process, and is not doing so."
A-7: "Can't they convert in India?"
Rabbi Birnboim: "This is good question, and the answer is that we are interested not in clandestine measures, but in precisely the process that we had before: 100 come every year, they learn openly, they convert, and integrate into Israeli society. I have to say that our success so far with the Bnei Menashe, both socially and spiritually, has been not 90%, but 100%... We have been working to try to get the Interior Ministry [headed by the anti-religious Shinui Party's Avraham Poraz] to change this; there is no progress to report on so far, but I am optimistic."
Rabbi Birnboim, a judge in the Rabbinical Court for conversions, said today, "It used to be that about 100 of the Bnei Menashe community used to come to Israel each year, and would then study and convert officially to Judaism. For about a year now, however, the Interior Ministry has been placing restrictions and not allowing them to become citizens. They are allowed to enter Israel, but only as tourists and not as immigrants."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal: "Why don't they just convert once they are here?"
Rabbi Birnboim: "In such a case, they would be allowed to become citizens - but that's exactly the problem, because the Interior Ministry must give its approval to this process, and is not doing so."
A-7: "Can't they convert in India?"
Rabbi Birnboim: "This is good question, and the answer is that we are interested not in clandestine measures, but in precisely the process that we had before: 100 come every year, they learn openly, they convert, and integrate into Israeli society. I have to say that our success so far with the Bnei Menashe, both socially and spiritually, has been not 90%, but 100%... We have been working to try to get the Interior Ministry [headed by the anti-religious Shinui Party's Avraham Poraz] to change this; there is no progress to report on so far, but I am optimistic."