60mn ‘potential Jews’ could be converted to promote Israel – govt report
Some 60 million people worldwide have an affinity with Judaism or Israel, including plenty of groups and individuals who could be screened for potential conversion and immigration to Israel, a committee set up by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry has concluded.
In what it calls an “unprecedented strategic opportunity,” the committee calls for mapping potential communities, providing learning materials about Judaism, the Jewish state, and the Hebrew language, and designing a special track for those interested in working, living, and perhaps even converting to Judaism to come to Israel, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported Wednesday.
Orthodox rabbis immediately attacked the idea, saying that Judaism is not a proselytizing religion. Reform Jews said the government was more interested in expelling people not considered Jewish enough than in recruiting new ones — a reference to cases in which individuals have had their citizenship revoked for various reasons.
he Diaspora Affairs Ministry said in a statement that the report had not yet been adopted and that the aim was not mass conversion but rather strengthening the relationship between Israel and non-Jewish communities abroad.
One of the report’s recommendations is to review the potential of these overseas communities to serve as positive representatives of the Jewish state who can also help in the battle against anti-Semitism.
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Among the millions of potential recruits, the report identifies descendants of Jews who are not eligible to immigrate to Israel without formal conversion — so-called Marranos descended from Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity several centuries ago; descendants of so-called “Red Marranos” from Eastern Europe, who hid their Judaism from the Communist regime; communities that declare themselves to be Jewish but are not officially recognized, such the Falashmura of Ethiopia and the Bnei Menashe of India; groups in Africa and Asia claiming a more distant connection with Judaism; and other groups worldwide who feel ideologically and spiritually close to the Jewish people.
The reports breaks these groups down into circles of proximity, with more than 14 million people in the closest group (Jews in Israel and overseas), followed by nine million who are entitled to immigrate under the Law of Return, five million who are the descendants of converts, and around 35 million people who are already known to have an affinity with the Jewish state.
The Law of Return gives citizenship rights to people who have at least one Jewish grandparent or who are married to a Jew.
In all, says the report, some 60 million people can be defined as “future potential,” among them people who are not yet aware of this.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/60-mil...nistry-report/